Amos 8:11Scripture
This morning I want to take a small break. Next week we will be looking at Exodus 7, verses 1–7. I just want to take a pause and want to talk about something. It is a verse I have mentioned a few times here at the church; I want to reiterate it again today. I want to talk about a few things that will maybe go backwards and frame some of what we have been learning in Exodus chapters 1–6, and then also set precedence for what we will continue studying throughout the rest of Exodus. And it's a prophetic warning to the nation, the Jewish people at the time, the nation of Israel, and it's from a prophet of old. His name was Amos. This will sound familiar; I've quoted this often, and it's really been reverberating in my thoughts this last week. It's Amos 8:11 is where we're going to be, so if you can turn
Point 1Our joy belongs in Christ, not in stuff
There. I had the privilege this last week of traveling to Africa. I was there for about nine days, something like that. I didn't really add them up; it's a little while. And we flew in 30 people from different countries around Africa, and we had the opportunity of training them to do Bible translation, specifically to make sure that they run tech well at the events, the software that helps Bible translation, the technology. Whenever they run events, they do quite an extensive amount of Bible translation in those events, two to three books at a time during a one-week event. That's the local people in the village who speak the heart language, and they're specifically helping different places around Africa that have villages that don't have the Bible translated into their tongue, into their language. And so they're very essential to making sure, or ensuring, that the gospel gets into the heart language of people around the world. And so we were training them to make sure that they knew how to run the software and make sure the event goes off without a hitch. These are people that come from places that are destitute and where people are starving, people are hungry, where people are truly persecuted for their belief. And so we're really dealing with people that, in my personal opinion, have an understanding of what it is to labor in the kingdom and to have their joy placed in the Lord over stuff, right? And honestly, the reality is, the richer this nation becomes and the more successful this nation becomes, the more at risk we are of placing our joy in the wrong places. Okay. We have the awesome privilege of being able to share. You know, before we opened up our sessions, there were several gentlemen from our team who shared. Now, our team represents all different theological backgrounds, so that's interesting. And it's interesting when we break bread together, because everybody's kind of just, you know, they say those statements; your theological background or your roots, you say these key catchphrases that you can identify people really quick about where they stand theologically, right? I'm going somewhere with this, just hang on. And that gets temperamental at times. It's interesting to navigate that and to hear it. But that then is represented when we open the Word, and at times we fail, innocently we fail. I fail at times of allowing God's Word to stand on its own without bringing preconceived ideas and notions into it, that we're not framing it. It's like a chisel: it stands in granite on its own. God has already chiseled it; he don't need you to re-chisel it, right? In other words, another way of saying that more simply would be, we have a hard time preaching the gospel without preaching it with our spin on it. Or another way of saying it is, we have a difficult time preaching the gospel without entertaining with it, using it as a means to entertain people versus using it as a means to teach people what really happened and what God has said.
It's easy to create a motivational speech that gives goosebumps rather than just teach what God wants to be taught.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:03
Are you with me?
And because we are trying to start a movement on our own, we really, we play to the hearts and the wants of people, and we then no longer preach the gospel as it was meant to be preached. Very innocently, things like this can happen. People can stand, and this did happen even at our event, people can stand and they can say to people who are in poverty beyond what you can understand regarding poverty, who are involved in an effort for the kingdom, Bible translation, who have friends who have died of hunger, who believe in Christ, then stand before them and preach and tell them that everything you need, God will take care of if you serve him, and then go on this long thing about God will always take care of you and give you what you want if you serve him faithfully. That's just not in the Scripture. I sat there frantic and concerned. I, though, however, wasn't about to say anything to the person who said that, because I understand where that comes from. I understand how we get there. But the reality is, that situation is an example of many situations in the world today where we take the Word of God and we cut the ears of people off, and it falls down into the dust realm, the fleshly places, and we can no longer hear what God is saying to the church. There are churches across, and this church has been one of them, and I have been guilty of doing this, using the sword of God, the Word of God, and we have cut the ears of people off where they can no longer hear what God is saying. They are fleshly sermons. They gratify the flesh of men, but they're not spiritual, they're not biblical. It was interesting, because then I broke bread with a few people from several different countries, and they, by the way, all of them spoke some English. And I think that's fascinating. Most of them spoke four languages. Kind of makes you feel dumb here in America. I mean, everywhere I went to Paris, I went to Dubai, I went to several different places, everywhere I went it seemed like everybody could speak multiple languages. Why am I so dumb, right? Because, and that feeds into this idea, most of the places around the world have to know other languages. They have to think outside their culture. They have to do that. And we, it's just all about us. We don't have to. That's why we have a hard time being a family of families, because it's all about us. I don't have to learn another language; our language is the language of the world, you know what I mean? And so it's just been a learning experience. And so then birthed out of that then come sermons of, if you serve God, you'll get whatever you want, because it's all about us, right? I mean, serving him is about... And so I was breaking bread with several people from several different countries, and I wish I could speak how they speak, because a lot of them speak French, they speak English, then they speak their heart language and probably another language or two. It's kind of crazy. But I'm talking about thick African accent. I'm not going to try to mimic it. But it was interesting, and he said, "You know, the issue that I have with that message this morning..." And I was like, oh dang. It wasn't mine, by the way. But people have had plenty of problems with my messages, and they would have been correct. I watch back some of my sermons from earlier days and I have problems with my message, and that's why they're no longer online. But he said, "The problem with the message today is that so-and-so thinks that our joy is in what we get and that our joy is in our life here on earth. But my joy is in heaven, and my joy is in the life that I have in Christ. And if I die of starvation, and I have many friends who have, while serving Christ, while believing Christ, taking their last breath because they had no food, and if I die serving the Lord and I don't have food, what better way is there to go? Because even if I lose my life here, I will not lose my life eternally." And I'm just like, we don't get it. We don't get it. We would rather figure out how to play to the wills of men and the wants of men and not find our joy in the one thing that is eternal. Are you with me today? And some of you are wrestling with that right now, but I just want to let you know, it is easy to put your hope in what you get.
It is easy to put your hope in what you get.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:59
And so somebody else was sitting with me, and he pushed back, this gentleman, and he said to the gentleman, "What about the Scripture, do not worry; see how God takes care of the lilies and the birds of the air, and how they don't toil and spin and trouble over those things; how much more will he take care of you?" And the African gentleman responded, "Where is the promise that you will not have trouble? And what if the way he takes care of you is by bringing you home to glory?" See, our hope is in here. Our hope is in what our hope is not. And it's a problem. And the reality is, we've used the gospel to butter things up rather than understanding that the sword of the Spirit pierces and cuts to the heart of the issue.
It's not a butter knife; it's a sharp one, and it has a specific work that it wants to accomplish.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:00
Now, with all of that, Amos 8:11. Know that we are guilty of cutting the ears off of people, and the church has a responsibility, and honestly you have a responsibility as the spiritual leaders of your home to understand that we can be the culprit of causing people to not hear
Point 2God sends a famine of hearing his Word
The Lord. All right, now here, when we go to Amos, let me lay some groundwork, because I want you to know what's going on. Amos is a prophet sent to the nation.
He lives in the southern region and he goes to prophesy in the northern region. Along with Hosea, Isaiah and Micah, he prophesied during the eighth century BC.
Now, the Jews had split into two nations: the northern kingdom, which was Israel, and the southern kingdom, which was Judah. Now, Amos lived in Judah, and he went to prophesy to Israel. Okay. Now Israel, or the northern kingdom, had become very wealthy and actually had become very successful in battle. We've talked about that here at this church. So Amos was speaking to the northern kingdom, Israel, and they had become so successful and very wealthy, yet they were spiritually bankrupt. This nation, because of the wealth and because of the success, for some reason or another, this seems to follow wealth and success, they had turned their hearts to false idols. So now a nation that served God, followed God, pursued God, now was pursuing other gods. It was a problem. They were rich but spiritually bankrupt. And so because of it says that God told Amos to prophesy, not that he would, but that he would most certainly, not that he might, but that he would most certainly send a famine to the nation. So we see here there's a problem. Amos 8:11, here's what Amos prophesied that God told him: "Behold, the days are coming," not might come, not will come if you don't do this, but "the days are coming," declares the Lord God. Now, this was for the nation of Israel. This wasn't specifically to you, all right? So if you take this and you try to make this about you and America, you know, America, that's going to be a problem. Now, we might be able to see some similarities between what's happening in America versus what happened to the nation of Israel, that we are wealthy, we are successful, we have been successful, and we have turned our hearts to other gods. There are things that take precedence, that we prioritize over God.
There are things that take precedence, that we prioritize over the Word of God in our house. There are pastors that we value their word more than God's word, that the extent of our pursuing of God is listening to podcasts of pastors, but we never open God's Word. You have made an idol of that man. That is not God's Word. Are you with me today? And we prioritize that and we abandon the other. Am I saying it's bad to listen to pastors? No. Pastors are the way God uses to build the church. But if you only listen to pastors and you never open the Word, that is a problem, and you've made an idol. Is football bad? No, but we've made an idol of it. Is basketball bad? No, but people make an idol of it. Is your wife bad? Sometimes. But no, it's easy to make an idol of your wife. Is your husband bad? Sometimes. But we make an idol, and it's really bad if you make an idol of him, women. All the women are like, "Don't worry, I'll never make an idol of that." You'd be surprised, because you don't have to think somebody is perfect to make them an idol. Be very careful. And listen, you may not have some statue sitting outside your house that you're burning incense for and putting gifts out at certain times of the day, but I want you to know, we have just as many idols as different parts of the world that serve many gods. And just because you don't have a statue and burn incense to it and give a little fruit offering to and little gift offering to through the day doesn't mean you don't have as many gods as the rest of the world. And it's a problem. And so what we learn very often is that wealth and success becomes the breeding ground for the type of behavior where we no longer cherish God, but we cherish everything else. Because when you move from a place where you have need to abundance, you forget him. And so then we'll go on: "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." Notice there is not a lack of word present; there's a lack of hearing present. Today in our society, one of the similarities that I see here for us to consider is that now with the internet there is an abundance of word. You don't have to come to church on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to hear the word. You can hear the word every time, depending on who you're following on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. You can get word all the time, little sermon clips and little clips all the time. There's an abundance of word, but I'm afraid that oftentimes there are many people and much word out there that has been twisted and is not biblical, and it's a problem. You know that song, "Be careful, little ears, what you hear; be careful, little eyes, what you see"? I don't know the rest of it; I just know that part.
Just because it's stamped Christian doesn't mean it's true.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:19
You know how you drift from truth, and you know how the enemy is going to get you to drift from truth? Not by doing something extreme that looks demonic, because you'll be like, huh.
He gets you to drift by making it look good, look biblical, sound spiritual, sound true, but not be true.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:47
I mean, the devil himself actually uses Scripture but then just puts his flavor on it. I mean, when he comes to Adam, or to Eve in the garden, he doesn't tell her something totally crazy and off the wall. He actually quotes God and then throws a little bitty thing in there to make it not true. Be careful. Listen, be careful that you don't live in a society and believe that every single time somebody claims to be a pastor and says something from the pulpit, that it is not your responsibility to vet that and to make sure that what is being said is true. "Well, they quoted Scripture, so it must be true." So did the devil. Are you with me today? And some of that might be out of ignorance, and some of it might be because they're a wolf, and it's not your job to determine which. Your job is to determine what is true and what is not. That's what our job is. So it's a problem, it's a problem. And he says there's a group of people in the last days, I believe, as we get closer to the consummation of the age, that refuse to hear what God is saying. And this refusal, listen, is God.
He does it. He sends the famine. Notice, it isn't "I'm not listening to you." God sends the famine as a punishment, as a punishment. Who sends it? God does: "Behold, the days are coming where I will send a famine," not a lack of word, but a lack of hearing the word.
That means there's abundant word but no hearing, because God has shut the ears of the people. Now, when we read Romans, we know that God has a point to harden the Jews, that he might get the Gentiles in, and then after the Gentiles have fully come in, then he will soften the hearts of the Jews and they will come in. Are you with me? That's the plan. So it is in the hardening and it is in the famine that he gets the Gentiles in. It's part of God's purpose. Why does God harden Pharaoh's heart? It's a part of his purpose to get the people he's chosen out and in to the promised land. Are you with me? And so I'm trying to lay groundwork here, because there's some disturbing language in Exodus where we see God hardening and doing things, and we go, why? Or, that's not fair, that's not fair that God would do that. And so we create a theology that says, oh, we cause it. That's not what it says. It says it's God's plan; it's his plan. Why? Listen, nothing was going to stop the famine from coming. It was a part of his plan from the beginning to get the Gentiles in. You need to understand that, because of that, he gets the Gentiles in. Now, one thing I don't want you to do, and I'm going to say this and then I'm going to move on, I'm not going to stay here too long: that doesn't take away human responsibility. The reality is, we have all sinned and we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and we are all deserving of eternal damnation. That's the facts. And we are all deserving of God's wrath. We're all deserving of that. So because of that, you really don't want God to be fair, because fair is eternal death and damnation. That's fair. Are you with me? "Well, that's not fair."
You don't want him to be fair; you just want him to be God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:28
You don't want him to be fair; you want him to be
Point 3Truth is absolute; you must come to it
Sovereign. That's what you want. I want to say this, and this is important, and so here's my point: truth is absolute. In the church, most everybody in the church, most everybody, not everybody, but most everybody would agree with that statement until you get into the minutia of it, and then we will realize that we all, in some place or another, many of us in some place or another, have fallen into the cultural t-shirts that say, "Well, my truth is this, and I believe this, and my truth."
There is no my truth, your truth; there is only the truth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:15
All right? You can call it what you want, your whatever; it ain't truth.
Because if it's truth, it's absolute, and because truth is absolute, it will never come to you; you must always come to it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:28
"Why are you saying that, Shawn? That doesn't make sense, that truth won't come to me. Because what about that Scripture, beautiful are the feet who bring the good news? Didn't it come to me?" The good news came to you, but truth stays planted. Truth is planted.
Truth isn't wielded; it's planted.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:53
You must always come to it. Whatever is absolute is unyielding. It's planted, and it's unchanging, and it's unmovable, and because it's unyielding and because it's unchanging, it's uncompromising. You must meet it where it chooses to be met, not where you want to find it. Many of us don't want truth. What we want when we read the Bible is not truth. That's why very few of us find it. Narrow is the gate, yes. Many of us don't want truth when we read the Bible. Many of us don't want truth when we hear a sermon. What we want, and what we listen for, and what we hope for, is confirmation for what we believe is truth.
But confirmation is not always truth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:03
Amen? How many of you have got confirmation for something and you've been confirmed in a lie that you've believed? How many of you have a belief or an idea, you got in an argument with somebody, and then you went to the Scripture to try to back up your idea? You know what you did? You didn't look for truth; you looked for confirmation. Come on now, I'm preaching. And every single one of us have been guilty of getting into an argument based not on proper study of the Word, based on something you've believed because somebody told you in a sermon a long time ago, and then you've adopted that belief, not through actual study to get there your own self, but you've been told that so many times, now you've just adopted that and you believe that. You went to lunch, you got into a theological debate with somebody, they disagreed with you, that blew your mind, and then you went and tried to study to find something to confirm what you believe, so you could go back to the next lunch and bring Scripture that confirmed what you believe. And many of us study the word this way. We look for confirmation; we don't want truth.
Oftentimes confirmation reinforces the lie you've been believing all along, and therefore we've been shaped by lies.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:24
There's a catchphrase in marketing, I mentioned it three months ago, I'm going to mention it again, and it says this: "The codfish lays 10,000 eggs, while the homely hen lays one, but the codfish never cackles to let us know what she has done." In other words, the codfish is far more productive than the chicken, but she'll never get praised, and what she has done will never be noticed and heard about, because she doesn't sound off about everything that she does. But the chicken lays one egg, you know what I mean, everybody knows. Trust me. I mean, what a chicken. But I woke up every morning at 4:45 to a rooster crowing outside my hotel. Everybody knows it's about to be morning time. I'm afraid lies are like that. Thousands upon thousands of truths rest in a book on your dresser, while we believe lies because they're the loudest. They're the loudest. And the Bible says that. It's a problem. It's a problem. I'm afraid that lies are so loud and prevalent today that we heed a lie and we can no longer distinguish the truth, and it's a problem. The church has been guilty of avoiding subjects like Exodus 7, like the difficult things that are in chapter 7. Some of you are curious about what it is we're going to talk about next week, like the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. We avoid that like the plague. We avoid it. We avoid things like Romans 9–11 like the plague. That's why over 50% of commentary writers don't write on the subject. They just skip those chapters altogether, so when they have a commentary set, 9, 10, 11 is just gone. We avoid it; we don't want to talk about it. You know why? See, I'll be honest: Satan has no problem talking about it, twisting it and turning it into a lie that the whole church believes. If the church will stay quiet on the truth, the devil will find somebody in the church who will be a wolf, who will be loud about it, and we will believe a lie. Are you with me today? So when we get to things, and we went through Romans, and it was, we lost two-thirds of our church because of 9, 10, 11. Can we just talk facts here? Can we talk facts? And when we decided, listen, when we decided to preach one verse at a time, to go through the Scripture, we lost 150 people. When our worship team went from six to two, we lost more people. You know why? Because oftentimes when people gather, not us of course, no one here, oftentimes when people gather, they gather to be entertained. They don't gather for truth. Is that too real for us today? Because I mean, it's not like you don't notice what's happened here. I mean, our church used to have 980 people on Easter, and we don't anymore, in case you didn't know. I'm the same person, Ebony's the same person, J.R.'s the same person, we're the same people. But I did get to a place where I realized that I had used entertainment as a source to rally people around a cause that in that moment I thought was Christ, and later realized it was not. The source was not Christ. We simply said his name at convenient times, but we rallied people around self. And when we stopped that, the people we had got, because we created an atmosphere to worship themselves, when we stopped that, they left by the droves. There are moments where we have discussion in the staff, just inside conversations, and we say things like, there are certain things that we believe we can implement back in the church, because it doesn't have to just, you know, we don't have to just... I mean, can we, I want, let's have fun. But the reality is, we do what we do in this fellowship, and we are at the place we're at, because I am making sure that I can trust myself by implementing things into our fellowship, and make sure that we're not manipulating the hearts of men to get them in. The reality is, it's interesting, because Jesus would draw the masses, 15,000 people, then he would preach truth: "You have no part with me unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood." And then they would all leave, and only the Twelve would remain. Because everybody shows up for a good potluck with miracles and healing, but as soon as they stop being worshiped, they go. Are you with me today? It's a problem, it's a
Point 4Beware the entertainment syndrome in the church
Problem. It's a problem in our fellowship; it's a problem in the world. It's what I call entertainment syndrome. And the reality is, then in the church we have earmarked that as successful ministry. I heard there was somebody the other day that was talking about, "I went to this church, went to this church, went to that church, did this, went to this church, checked it out, went to that church, and just not much is happening, and it's just not going anywhere." I wonder if what earmarks whether a church is going places or not is because you didn't feel it. I mean, honestly, I get it.
I don't think feelings are bad; I just don't think they can be God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:38
Entertainment syndrome. This is interesting. This was a Scripture written about Jesus and John the Baptist. I love John the Baptist. He was the weird guy who ate locusts and honey and looked weird. There's hope for us, yes, Jeff. I mean, he probably wasn't bald, but us bald people look weird. We wear it with pride. I was just making fun of everybody waking up on the plane with bed head. I was like, look at me, my hair is perfect. You know, anyway. Here's what it says of Jesus and John. I would say that when I look back in the Bible and I read about them, they're awesome. They're the earmark of what it is to be somebody who leads the church movement, right? But listen to what the people say about them. Honestly, they don't talk about Jesus and John the way they do about Steven Furtick. I'm not hating on Steven furtick; I just think it's interesting. There are certain popular people in the world today that have such a following. We can name many of them; that's just one that's most common today, right? We can name many of them. I'm not anti-Steven Furtick; that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying there is a popular following in the world. We need to match that up with the people, you know what I mean? This is what they said about him in Matthew, about these two leaders, in Matthew 11:15–19. Check this out: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Who gives the ears?
God. And then he goes on, verse 16: "But to what shall I compare this generation?" That was then; I think it's similar today. He's talking about that generation, but I think it's similar today. "It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates." Now, children used to sit in the marketplace and pretend like they were doing weddings and pretend like they were doing funerals and singing dirges. All right, so that was a common thing that kids did, and so you just need to know that. "We played the flute for you," Jesus and John, "and you did not dance for us; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn with us. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said of him, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said of him, 'Look at him! He is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" Popular, right? I mean, they would have had tons of followers on Twitter. It sounds like our generation. We don't want to hear what the Lord is saying. Why would you want to hear from somebody who you believe has a demon? Yet he was truth. Isn't it funny that we demonize truth, but we "truth" the demonic? It's a problem. And many of us don't want to hear what the Lord is saying. We want to be entertained. We want people to dance for us when we say dance. They disliked John because John did not dance to the music they were playing. The reality is, this is why, in all thy ways get an understanding. And we should have less people declaring a thing until they've been declared to.
You cannot speak until you've been spoken to, and you cannot father until you've been fathered.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:47
You cannot minister, and should not minister, until you've been ministered to. You should not lead until you can be led. We have a generation that wants to declare but has not been declared to, who want to speak but they refuse to be spoken to. They want to father, but they will not be fathered. They want to minister, but are impossible to minister to. They want to lead, but refuse to follow anyone. There are those who want a platform to declare who have yet to hear the word of Christ for themselves. They have heard a version that is a lie. They believe in a Christ that is not Christ, so then in turn they continue to declare the lie that they've believed. Sound familiar? And this is a problem, because if God sends a famine of hearing, and faith cometh by hearing, we got a problem. I mean, he sent it to Israel. I pray to God daily he doesn't send it to this nation, because if God sends a famine to this nation, and faith cometh by hearing, and we can no longer hear, then we will not have faith in him. Romans 10:14–17 says, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!' But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?'" So listen to me: "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word," not your word, not a twisted word, not a version of the word, "the word of Christ." Not the word of the pastor, the word of what? Who? Christ. It's not just good enough to hear God's Word. There are people who can quote Scripture all the day long. Talk to an atheist. An atheist most likely will put you to shame regarding the Word. I constantly hear people come to me and say, "I'm scared to share my faith in Christ with an atheist, because every time I sit down to talk to an atheist, I realize they know more of the Scripture than I do."
It's not the quantity of Scripture; it's being able to hear the Scripture that you've heard, to actually hear it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:46
Are you with me? And so an atheist can quote more quantity than you but still has not heard the meaning behind the meaning. You know why Jesus told parables? So that they would understand it better? Wrong. He did it to hide it, so that some wouldn't hear, but only those he wanted to hear would hear. He tells us that in Scripture. "I just want my pastor to tell more stories." It won't help you. If you're not supposed to hear, no amount of stories will help you understand truth, because God veils truth behind stories so that people who aren't supposed to hear don't hear. And if he don't want you to hear, you ain't hearing. It's a problem, it's a problem. There are tons of scriptures that people have heard and taken out of context, because you can quote Scripture all the day long.
Matter of fact, many of you have worn t-shirts with Scripture, believing the wrong meaning, although you can quote it. Let me give you some, for example. There is a saying, "God won't give you more than you can handle." My experience don't line up with that statement. I'll beg to differ. I don't know why I go Southern when I'm trying to be serious, you know, but I'll beg to differ. I would think, yeah, he does give me more than I can handle. And so then, if you're a good scholar, you go to the Scripture and you try to find that thing in there. You know what I mean? I like going back to my roots, you know. I'll find, you know, where that's birthed from: 1 Corinthians 10:13. Let's look at the Scripture where this phrase "God won't give you more than you can handle" comes from, the actual Scripture. This is the Scripture it comes from. You know, nothing like a CliffsNotes version of a Scripture put on a t-shirt. Here it is, verse 13, 1 Corinthians 10:13, he's got it right there: "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle," or "your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." Yeah, that's wrong. That's not even quoting Scripture properly. Well, let me give you scriptures where people quote it properly but misunderstand it. Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I love this one during basketball season. I love this one during football season. I love this one during the press conferences after. When someone says this, it's like nails on a chalkboard for me. Not the Scripture itself, but what people are believing about that Scripture, what it actually means. Paul, the author of Philippians, is sitting in prison, chained to a guard, expecting that each day will be his last breath, and he says this statement to encourage the church in Philippi, that all things, including this thing, and possibly me taking my last breath in prison, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and we can do so with joy in our heart. So be encouraged, because this thing, he strengthens me to endure, and if he strengthens me to endure it, he can strengthen you to endure persecution as well. That's not the same thing as winning a basketball game because I believe in Jesus. That's just dumb. Because what about all the Christians who don't win the basketball game because they believe in Jesus?
What about all the Christians who do die in prison, are tortured to death, and they believe in Jesus? Can they not do all things through Christ who strengthens them? But we wear the t-shirt, because we know the Scripture, but we don't hear it. Are you with me? Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Good, because I've always wanted a Lamborghini. I mean, just pull that bad boy right up in my driveway. I want a Lamborghini, please. That's not what it's saying. He gives you the desires. He gives you the desires; he causes you to desire what he wants you to desire. He gives you the desires, he gives you the desires which reside in your heart. He gives the desires. It's not about the stuff; it's about the desires. He shifts and changes your heart. He gives you a new heart that has new desires. He gives you the desires. You used to desire to sin; now you don't desire to sin. You used to like to get angry; now you feel bad when you get angry. Your desires have changed. You would never go to church, and it would bore you out of your brains to go to church and hear God's Word; now you want and long to hear God's Word. Are you with me? Your desires have changed. You used to long to be a slave to addiction; now you're repulsed by that addiction. You have new desires. He gave you new desires. He gave you a new heart. That's what that means. I actually had somebody four years ago argue with me and say that he told his kid that if his kid prayed for a PlayStation 3, is it 3? Was the newer one 5? I'm so behind. If he prayed for a PlayStation 5, and he quoted this Scripture, that God would give him the desires of his heart, and he said, "And he got it." And I asked, "Who bought it?" And he said, "I bought it." I said, "So did God give him the desires of his heart, or did his daddy do it?" Are you with me? It's just nonsense. But the reality is, we do this all the day long. We take the Word of God and we cut the ears off, and we wonder why people can't hear what God is saying to the church. We put our spin on it. My question is, what do we do as we continue to navigate through Exodus? How do we position ourselves to not take Scripture, read chapter 7, and use it as a means to cut our ears off, to manipulate it, so that we actually hear truth? We actually hear truth, and our goal is to discover truth, not confirmation for what we already believe. What do we do? How do we do
Point 5First the blade, then the ear: make disciples
That? I'll say this and I'll close.
Our calling in the church, our calling is not to go and make converts. Our calling is to go and make disciples, and you cannot make a disciple if you've not been discipled.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 52:04
Now, track with me, I'm going somewhere with this. I really, this is very important, so just check in with me here. Our calling is not to go make converts. If we think that's our calling, this is why we have used conferences to manipulate people to get them in. We have designed conferences and we've designed church services to get a response, because we think the mission is to make converts. That's the goal. It's the gospel's purpose. And the gospel says that the way is narrow and few enter. I'm not saying big altar calls are bad. I'm saying big altar calls are bad if you manipulated people's emotions. The reality is, I started taking a poll of the 20, 30, 40 people that would stand at Easter services to make a profession of Christ, and going back two, three years later and asking them what happened that day when you stood to make a profession of Christ. We should have done it that day, but three years later I asked them; they didn't even know what happened. They didn't know who Christ was. How is that possible? Because we thought our job was to make converts, and we wanted to do it at any cost. And so we did altar calls and we set up an emotional experience, and people responded because they felt a goosebump and thought something was happening, and they just responded, but they didn't even know what they were responding to. That's possible. Can you believe that's possible? Can you believe that's possible? That's crazy, right? Guess what, your pastor knows how to do that. That's crazy, right? It's a problem, though. And there's a big difference between that and making a disciple.
There's a big difference between that. And the reality is, when we think that it's to make converts, we do everything we can to manipulate people to get in, but they're not actually even getting in. Here's how they get in, Mark 4:28. I'll say this as we close: "The earth produces by itself, first the blade." The seed goes in the ground. Some goes in good ground, some goes in rocky, some goes in thorny. The seed goes in the ground, and then when it takes root in the good soil, a blade pops up. That's what it's talking about. "The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." This is talking about corn, or many things actually. So first the blade, then the husk thing, then the corn, the grain in the ear, the fruit in the ear. We've talked in America about the great harvest that's been happening in the Billy Graham crusades. Don't hate me, I love Billy Graham. Just track with me here. And we put so much value in great revivals. They're important. Altar calls are important. I mean, we're not necessarily told how to do it biblically; we don't see that. But whatever, they're okay. I'm not hating on it. Altar calls, and people being saved, and responses, we put so much value in that, and we call it the harvest. Track with me now, because we don't even get this Scripture right, because we don't hear, because we're looking for confirmation for what we like. We like revivals. It makes us feel good when people stand up and respond and the altar is full. That makes us feel like something good is happening in our midst, and we want to feel good. That's a problem. It is a massive problem, because this Scripture says, and I want you to hear this, that the harvest doesn't come when the blade comes up. That's a convert. What dumb farmer do you see, when the blade comes up in the field, goes out and says it's harvest time? That's dumb. That would be a dumb farmer. But in America: blade, harvest time! Harvest them, harvest them for Jesus! No: first the blade, then the ear. There's more growing that needs to be done, which means there's more care, which means there's more watering, which means there's more tending, which means there's more weeding. Oh, but that takes time. Oh no, that takes... No, I'm changing that Scripture to confirm what I want. Let's just have a revival. Don't ask me to commit time to getting to know somebody. Don't you dare ask me to spend time to go to small group. Don't you dare ask me to start investing in people, and don't you dare ask me to have the type of relationship where I know somebody long enough to get mad at them and then stay and forgive them. Don't you dare ask me to do that. That's too much tending. I don't want to be tending to nobody. I don't want to be enduring with anybody. I don't want to be laboring for anybody but myself. Don't ask me, don't ask me to host. People come to my house, they're going to get it dirty. Don't you ask me to do that. Don't you ask me to serve the church. Don't you ask me to do that. I just want to come to church and see a blade pop up, and then I want to harvest away, and I want to celebrate. First the blade, and then the ear, and then the full grain in the what? The full grain in the ear. Those that have an ear to hear, let him hear what he's saying to the church, what the Spirit is saying to the church. How do we hear? When we're the blade? Wrong. Come on now, come on now, I worked hard on this. I know it's not so exciting, but just track with me here. How do you hear? When you get an ear? No. Because it's first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
See, the fruit comes, the fruit comes at full maturity.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 59:14
"Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." It doesn't say go make converts. He's concerned about people hearing and fruit manifesting, and fruit comes in the ear of an individual when they have matured in the faith, that we would grow up into the full measure and the headship of Christ. Notice, the headship of Christ; that's maturity. And the reason we have a generation that doesn't hear is because we have a generation before them who stopped discipling. Come on now, just track with me here. Track with me here. It is amazing to me, and I'm closing with this, just my third closing, listen: we have people today that are so concerned about the younger generation, but they've checked out from discipling the younger generation. And they would rather come talk to the pastor about what are we going to do for the young generation, but they don't do anything for the young generation but come to church for one hour on Sunday and just complain to the pastor about stuff that's not being done for the young generation. It's a problem. It's a problem. What are you going to do? You have a heart for them? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? You going to spend some time, or are you too busy? You going to invest in the younger generation? You're too busy? Are you with me? "Well, we're losing the young generation." Yep, we are. But it's the generation before's fault, because we stopped discipling the younger generation. "Well, why can't they hear truth?" Because they're still the blade, and you haven't been tending them, and they're not in fertile soil, because you would rather spend time doing your job and having fun than investing in them. And so you look down your nose at them, talk about this generation, and the Y's and the Z's and the X's, and do all of that.
You're the problem. We're the problem.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:01:38
Are you with me? And so if you want them to hear, we have to disciple. The nation of Israel stopped discipling, and they turned their hearts to other gods. Sound familiar? Does it sound familiar?
God, wake us up. God, give us ears to hear today, that we would do what is necessary, that we might be able to hear you again.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:02:05
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