9.6.26 | Sam Fischer

Sugar Plain Friends Chruch: I'll be preaching from my heart today about something that has been a concern, been heavy on my mind, and be preaching the scriptures that have given me encouragement for that and how God has been guiding me through this time. Ephesians chapter two, beginning at verse eight through ten. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast, for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. For the past two or three months, I've been going through a time of prioritizing in a way, asking God what his what his plan is for my life, what the plan is for my family, and wondering how he's gonna make what he's called me to do possible. While I praise this morning for how God has worked so far and that's part of it, before but before that part, I was at the point of seriously considering if ministry was something viable for our family long term. And I'm still in that wrestling. And that's difficult to say, because I know that part of it is a own lack of faith of mine, that I need to trust God to be able to make what He's called me to do possible. But also the other part of my own convictions that I'll never abandon my family for a ministry, because I believe that God has called me first and foremost to my family, and then ministry second. And I was determined throughout Bible college that I would not become like the missionaries that I read in my classes. David Livingston was a missionary from the early 1800s. That he was a pioneer missionary in the sense that he explored into Central Africa. He went deep down in there and mapped out the areas and did preach to villages and places. But he was mainly, I wouldn't so much call him a missionary as he was an explorer and cartographer and was an influencer to the countries in the north. But Through all of it he went alone and he left his family in Europe. He ended up not ever returning to his wife and his children. And his wife did end up being left destitute because he did not send money back. And his wife and children had to move in with her sister and stay with her. And her sister had to care for them and provide for her children. But David Livingston received all the accolades from the countries in Europe because he provided maps into Central Africa, which was highly sought after so that they could bring trade into Africa. He did indirectly influence the slave trade into Central Africa. He is considered a missionary and he's within history not because he was a great missionary, but because he was influential. I wouldn't call him a great missionary by any sense, but he was influential to how missions were handled in the future. At that time, there was a missionary philosophy. They called it, there was the three C's of missionary philosophy at that time. There was commerce, Christianity, and culture. And at that time, it was believed that the three best things you can bring during missionary work was Christianity, bring God into it. That's great. We all agree with that. Bring your own culture into it, and then bring commerce to it. And that's where we disagree, and why we've seen how missions have been abused in that way. And how they've actually been like the the royalty in Britain would would sponsor missionaries because they influenced the culture of where they went and they brought commerce. That's one reason why the crown would sponsor missionaries to India, would sponsor missionaries to Africa. But regardless of this, back to the main point. David Livingston became very, very popular. And he would give talks and expos throughout Africa and then in Europe. But through all of it, he kind of abandoned his family. Another that comes to mind, I don't remember his name, so I apologize for that. But he was one of the first missionaries to China. He was one of the first missionaries to China. He was there for both translation work. He was one of the biggest translators of the first Chinese translations of the Bible there. But through it, he was called to missions and he went and took his whole family with him. But his wife was not called. She didn't feel like she was called. She didn't want to go. But she went anyway because that's his that's her husband. So she went and all of her children went. But while she was there, she had a complete and total mental breakdown. She fell into hysteria, and historically it says that while her husband was working, she no longer tended to the children, and she would walk around outside in her nightgown, crushing leaves and flowers in her hands all day. She had a complete and total mental break because she was in a place to where she had no friends. She lost her culture, her home, and it's not a place that she wanted to be. In that way, I see that as another example of a missionary who abandoned their family for the work. Now, I of course affirm that when God calls us to something, that He'll enable us to do it. But I don't see that as good things, good that results of it. And I know that this is a nuanced and complicated topic in that. But this is the conviction that I've had since Bible college that I would not become like them, that would leave my wife to hysteria, would drag her along to China, to a place that she could not handle and could not do. And I would not become like David Livingston and abandon and leave to go ahead. Well, I know that they probably could have found a way to make it work. There's probably something they could have done. Maybe it was the wife's fault in the way that she was in China. She didn't make any friends. Maybe there was things that could have been done to prevent it. But regardless, I was determined not to make those kinds of mistakes. God prepares us for the work that we are to do. The scripture today as we read, God qualifies us for the work of God. As we read, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus, why did he do that? Why did he save us? For good works, which God prepared in advance. That preparation that God did both prepared the opportunities for us, but also prepared us to do it. Just the salvation that God gives us prepares us for the work of God. In addition to that, God doesn't just save us and then expect us to be able to be competent and all that. Surely we understand that salvation doesn't make us competent to being able to un to things. It doesn't make us competent to do work. It qualifies us in a way. It prepares us to be competent, but it doesn't make us competent. And I've been seriously prioritizing and considering what God is calling us to do. A few weeks ago with looking how my family's health and the stress of everything, I'll be honest, I was kind of not doing well mentally. Was not doing great and I did talk to some friends and it did help. But it's considering, because I am continuing in my preparation for ordination, the Nazarene Church, when you become an ordained minister in the Nazarene Church, there are things you you make a covenant with the church. You, of course, you pledge your lifelong commitment to the ministry, your lifelong commitment to service of the church. But part of it, one of the questions that they ans that you have to answer before you become ordained the day of. Is you have to say that I affirm that my family, my wife, and I are prepared to handle the ministry of all of its stresses and all of its works that come with it. And a few weeks ago, I didn't believe that I could wholeheartedly affirm that statement. And I'd wondered, wondered in that moment. is if it was in my position then if I could no longer affirm that statement, if I should even be pursuing it to begin with. Now of course you can understand my mindset then because I didn't understand an idea that things could get better. I was kind of not doing well in that. But this passage, Ephesians two ten, has been my family's verse since I was a child. It has been the focus of my family that God prepares us to for the work that we are to do, that God enables us to do it. And it is something that I have to keep reminding myself. I talked with a I first want to apologize, this doesn't have much of a structure. I have a structure here, but it's not fitting the direction that God's leading me right now. But I talked with a mentor of mine, and he reminded me that God doesn't call us to neglect the natural and covet the supernatural. He told me that while I'm in what looks like I don't have any way out right now, sometimes the answer isn't for God to come down and supernaturally save me out of my mindset, save me out of my weakness, if I'm neglecting the natural things that God has given us to overcome weakness and overcome difficulty. God first gives us the natural and then gives us the supernatural. It's supernatural because it goes above the natural but doesn't replace it. In that sense, he was telling me that I needed to sleep well, eat well, drink water. I needed to rest, have recreation, and I needed to spend time with God in prayer and reading the Bible. I needed to focus on my own mental, spiritual, and physical health and not neglect those things. Because honestly, I was not looking very good. He has a little illustration, my mentor does that. He says, here's your five things. He says, you're eating well, sleeping well. You have recreation, exercise, and you have a spiritual life, devotion life. And he says, well, if you're not doing good sleeping, if you're not doing good eating, you're not doing good exercise, and I mean you're kind of doing okay with recreation and your spiritual life's kind of wavering. It's like, here's your hand. Now try to go do something with it. This is not a very good looking hand if your hand is formed like this. It can't is not effective to do anything. And he helped me understand to prioritize that. And trust God to give supernatural. Where I can't go any further. God prepares us for good works. Of course we know that works do not save, that's made abundantly clear in this. But one commentator says it is the response, the natural progression of being saved is good works. After we are saved, it is expected and natural for us to participate in good works. It is a response of faith. For mi espacially. Good works are a faith. Faith practice, it's something that I have to trust that God is working in it. I will say when you are exhausted not eating well, I'll say that I this is probably a part of it, but I've been dieting for like two months. And I think I went a little bit too much the past couple weeks. And I've tried to make adjustments on that. So that may be qu a contributing to everything. But It's hard to do God's work when we're not caring for ourselves. It's hard to do God's work when we're not caring for ourselves. Scripture says to love each other. Love one another as you love yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. All of that has to do with valuing yourself. Have self love in that. Because scripture makes it almost so obvious, it doesn't even argue the point. It doesn't argue the point. It just says that it's obvious. It says, love do unto others as you would have them do to you. It says in another passage that it says, Love your wife as you love your own body. Because you care and you feed and you nurture your own body. So why would you not do that for your wife as well? It makes it a base assumption. It doesn't defend the point that you should care and nurture for your own body. So it is something that's natural, something that is assumed by the Bible that you would care and love for yourself. And if we were to kind of take that logically, if you were not caring for yourself, how can you really love your spouse or love others as you would have them do to you? If you care if you abuse your body, that does not bode well to how you would care for others. And that's difficult, difficult to wrestle with, especially for me. And it's taken a reframing of understanding about how God calls us to do work to understand that. But God prepares us for good works spiritually. The spir God does give the supernatural to us. First Corinthians twelve says that the Spirit gives us gifts. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord, different kinds of working, but it's the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good, just as he determines. God gives you exactly what you need to do what he's calling you to do. He's giving you every access to it. But the important thing that I've been learning is I have to take hold of what God has been giving me. God doesn't say he'll do it for me. He gives me everything to do it, prepares me to do it. That's something that I've had to understand. God gives us the natural ways of doing things. And we have to take hold of that. He doesn't do it for us. He doesn't feed you. I mean, we remember Elijah, he did get fed by God, but that's supernatural in that. But God gives us the natural and he gives us the supernatural, but we have to take hold of it. To go ahead and do the work without it. While you may think that you're doing it in faith that God's gonna provide through it, sometimes God's provision comes in ways that are more obvious before we go ahead and do something. In another way, God's also given us something that I forget often, which He's given us other people. Ephesians four says that leaders prepare us for good works. It says, so Christ gave himself the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, for what? Why did he give them to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Scripture says that these people, these leaders, are helping us attain the full measure of what it means to be in the image of Christ, the fullness of Christ. <unk> Qualifies us for the work of God. He prepares us for it. He gives us everything that we need to accomplish it. And so maybe the application today is to don't be like me and to neglect the natural. To expect the supernatural to save you in a way. And in a roundabout way, not trust God in his provision. I will say before the appointment last week, I was. At a point of cutting my losses in a way. So I wasn't expecting anything. So I wouldn't be disappointed. But I was looking to let's see the most we can get 'cause we know we can't get everything. And I still think about my original call to ministry was to missions. And I think about How in the world is God going to do it? How is he going to do it? And even now I wonder, how is he going to do it? And I'm reminded by these passages over and over that God's given us the natural, He's prepared us and promises the supernatural where we are weak, and God gives us other people to encourage us. I think part of it was my mentor pointing out to me that right now your brain's not working correctly. If you are so far into it that you are think that that you think that you're alone, that you're lost, that there's nothing you can do, your brain's not working correctly because that's not true. And he kinda he's a little bit more n on the nose with what he counsels. He doesn't hold things back. He tells me how it is and I need that kind of person. But he just told me, Your brain's not working, so whatever you think right now doesn't matter. Trust in what you know is true. And hold on to that because your brain will catch up eventually. And I think that's part of it is faith. It's not necessarily blind faith because we can be fully convinced of the truth but still not believe it. I was fully con I still believe and affirm that God does prepare us for that. But it's understanding emotionally what God is going to do with that, what he's going to do. And I know comparatively that God has done work in my life and has prepared me to do things I couldn't have done three years ago. That he's already done those things and that he's been preparing me for good work. And I know that even in this time for my calling, that God is preparing me for something. I don't know what yet, and maybe that's why God's not telling me yet. But I have to rem be reminded of the original purpose of why I began. I think I kind of forgot that. Why did God call me? He didn't call me so that I could fill an office seat. He didn't call me so that I would have a title. Why did God call me? I could list so many reasons, mainly from these passages. But the point of it all was to become mature to the fullness of Christ, to prepare others for maturity and the fullness of Christ. This is also a direction to me as a pastor to equip people for works of service, to prepare them for maturity. And so if you are wrestling right now. And struggling with things that you don't know how you're going to get through them. You don't know what is going to happen. And you were kinda like me, at the end of your rope, not knowing what God's gonna do, hoping that He shows up, but kinda not believing that it's possible. Remember that God saved you. So that you could get through the works that he's called you to do, that he gives you spiritual gifts to do it, that he's given you the natural to hold on to, and most importantly, and I believe this is the most important part, God has given you other people to tell you the truth, to prepare you, to equip you, to tell you how it is. So just want to remind you that pastors are here to counsel. Fellow leaders are in the church are prepared to help. And I think there's part of it a lack of faith and trying to do it all alone. I certainly struggle with trust and community. It's kind of ironic because I took like a test, like a spiritual test thing my first year in college, and it tells you what you're well at and what you're doing poorly at. I don't put a whole lot of weight into it, but it was pretty accurate for me at least. It told me I was really good at work to service, agape love, and one other one I don't remember, but I was poor at trust and community. Trust in God and vulnerability in community. And those were my three weakest. And a few weeks ago, I kind of realized that that's back to where I was my first year of college. It was a few weeks ago, where I was too low in trust in community, too low in trust in God. So I think I get to that spot when I don't believe that God's able to pull me out of where I'm at. But what's the answer? The answer is to stop listening to your brain that says you can't trust God and you can't trust people, and to believe God's word that says that He is preparing you for good works, that the Spirit gives you gifts, and that there are people, leaders, Christ appointed them, that God gave us those people to prepare us for those things, to make us ready. We are qualified for the work of God. And so as I'm working through. my own lack of faith in that and working through kind of relearning the basics in that. I trust that perhaps you who are struggling can see kind of a path out, can see the truth that there is hope for that. Let us pray. Heavenly Father Want to thank you for your provision for us, how you've given everything that we need to do your work. And Father, I ask that you increase our faith and increase our ability to see it, that we don't try to do it on our own. Lord, we want to trust in your word that says that we are qualified to do it, that you've prepared us to do it. Lord Jesus, I trust that you would ease the minds and hearts in this room for whatever burdens or struggles that we're going through that for I don't know that perhaps they've not shared with anyone. And Lord, I encourage your Holy Spirit to move and to show them that they can trust people with these burdens and can trust you with these burdens. And so I'm asking that you pour out your love and assurance upon me and those in the room that we can become. More into your image in the fullness of Christ, reaching maturity. Because it says in your word that we can't reach maturity on our own. So we pray all this in your precious and holy name. Amen. You are dismissed. Go in peace. That's