25-0608a Transcript

Preacher: Jim Lokenbauer

(1:39) Good morning, everybody. As my wife and I were listening to Kevin’s words, (1:46) he quoted a principle out of the Bible, you reap what you sow. And I nudged her and said, (1:55) that’s the Holy Spirit working because he was speaking on the very things I’ll be touching on.

(2:01) And we didn’t get together and say, say these words. So always give credit to God (2:09) where due, especially when there’s a harmony in his word. (2:14) Well, this morning I’m presenting you a lesson called Fatherly Advice or Fatherly Instruction.

(2:21) And my intention was to craft a sermon for our youth, but none of them are here. (2:31) But thank goodness God puts everything online, both audio version and a readable version. (2:40) But this is advice that we all can use in our life.

And I crafted it so that it (2:46) wouldn’t be a long lesson overwhelming them with information. So the benefit this morning is a (2:54) shorter sermon than my normal blathering on and on. Okay.

So isn’t it wonderful that we have a (3:06) Father in heaven who is rooting for us to succeed in life by holding on to our faith all the way to (3:15) the very end. Peter tells the whole church in his first letter, humble yourselves, therefore, (3:23) under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your worries on him (3:32) because he cares for you. So as a caring, loving, and holy father, he wants his children to be like (3:43) him because we are all made in his image.

Our father gave us his instruction manual, the Bible, (3:52) that will help us to be like him in character. Also, Peter tells us that God, using his divine (4:01) power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness to be like him. (4:09) And he gives us, through his word, knowledge of him.

And as we study the word and gain more (4:22) knowledge, he blesses us with greater faith. And with greater faith, he also blesses us with more (4:31) grace. It’s this continual loop.

The more we know, the more he blesses us with deeper faith (4:38) and more grace. Why more grace? Because the more we know, the more we’re going to be tested, (4:47) not just by God, but by the evil one. And God wants to see how we’re going to respond (4:54) to see if we pass those tests.

So God promises us that when we read, study, and practice his word, (5:08) he’ll restore us to the divine nature that was intended for all mankind prior to the fall of man (5:17) in the garden. Divine nature is what will save us from our corrupt nature. (5:27) We get our knowledge of him through reading, studying, and putting his word into practice.

(5:33) In it, we find his revealed will for us, and we receive his guidance, instructions, (5:40) and all that we need to know in order to be pleasing to him. And so today I want us to (5:47) examine several scriptures that are instructional for us in making good decisions and will help us (5:56) in our understanding of God’s will through his word. John noticed a similarity this morning, (6:04) or I should say a dissimilarity, so I’m glad you were paying attention, that the scripture readings (6:11) this morning, one from Genesis, one from Revelation, and that was with intention, (6:18) believe it or not, to show you that all through the scripture, even though these particular (6:24) scriptures are totally unrelated, there is something common between them, and that’s (6:30) a logic statement, an if-then statement.

So we’re going to be looking at those if-then statements. (6:40) Those are conditional statements, and a conditional statement is a statement that has conditions (6:49) which must be met. The phrase if-then, as Scott would know being a programmer, is a logic term, (6:57) and it deals with cause and effect.

It is a concept that everyone needs to learn in life, (7:05) and hopefully you were taught this by your parents at an early age so that you could make good (7:10) decisions as you grow up. It is a thought process about understanding consequences for actions. (7:22) Cause and effect is the relationship between events where one event, the cause, (7:30) leads to another event, the effect.

This concept helps us to learn and understand (7:37) how actions are connected. We learn that actions lead to consequences, (7:44) whether good or bad. They can be observed in various situations, and not only in our everyday (7:51) lives, but also in science and even in literature that we read, such as the Bible.

The concept of (7:59) cause and effect can be seen in the classic Bible principle, you reap what you sow. (8:08) The things you do are like planted seeds, and those seeds produce a crop, and Paul uses this (8:16) idea throughout his teachings, and those seeds produce a crop which is the result of your actions. (8:25) This can be seen in Hosea 10-12.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to its kind. (8:36) A positive action resulting in positive results. And conversely, Job says in Job 4-8, (8:45) according to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

(8:54) This expresses that negative actions yield negative results. So these consequences…​ (9:09) Could you please mute your phones for those who are listening? So this expresses that negative (9:19) actions yield negative results, and these quotes are an example of the cause and effect relationship. (9:27) Your action, whether you’re sowing good or bad seeds, produce a reaction (9:33) of accordingly a good or bad harvest.

A cause is an action, and the effect is the resulting reaction. (9:47) Cause and effect means that things happen because something prompted them to happen. (9:55) The cause is why something happens, and effect is what happens.

And you can tell I’m being repetitive (10:03) because young minds need to hear things over and over in different ways to get it. In the Bible, (10:13) God has given us hundreds upon hundreds of examples of these for our learning, (10:21) and so we use God’s book to learn from, and he wants us to do that. Paul says in Romans 15-4, (10:30) for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.

And later in the Corinthian (10:37) letter, Paul says in chapter 10, verse 11, these things happened to them as examples and were (10:46) written down as warnings for us. God wants us to learn cause and effect, to learn good behavior, (10:58) to view examples through his word of what happened to people when they both had positive (11:05) and negative cause and effects. So let’s look at our first scripture reading from this morning.

(11:13) The context, as Joe stated, was that Abraham and Lot both had many possessions, and they had large (11:22) herds, so large that even the shepherds ended up fighting amongst each other for the choice land. (11:31) And so Abraham, seeing this, he took the high road in the interest of peace and gracefully gave his (11:40) younger nephew Lot the choice of lands. Abraham said in Genesis 13-9, isn’t the whole land before you? (11:52) Please separate yourself from me.

Get out of here. No, in nicer words though. Please separate yourself (12:00) from me.

If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right hand, (12:06) then I will go to the left. This is like the perfect, simple, great example of if-then concept. (12:16) If you go to the left, then I go to the right.

If you go to the right, then I go to the left. (12:23) Whatever Lot chose to do, the cause, the effect was that Abraham would do the opposite. (12:31) Here’s another great example, and the context is that King David is at the end of his life, on his (12:39) deathbed in fact, and he confers upon his son Solomon the kingship to be king over Israel.

(12:50) And Solomon is still young, perhaps in his teens, so his experience is like nothing when it comes to (12:59) leading a nation or knowing the functionality of government. Now, there’s a lot we can learn (13:11) from this story, but we’re going to focus just on our subject matter. We read in 1 Kings 3-14, (13:21) in Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream.

God said, ask for what I should give you. (13:29) Solomon said, you have shown to your servant David, my father, great loving kindness, (13:37) because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart (13:43) with you. You have kept him for this great loving kindness that you have given him a son to sit on (13:50) his throne as it is today.

Now, Yahweh, my God, you have made your servant king instead of David, (13:58) my father. I am just a little child, and he’s more so reflecting upon his lack of knowledge, (14:09) how to lead, not that he’s a young little infant. I don’t know how to go out or to come in.

(14:18) Your servant is among your people, which you have chosen, a great people that can’t be numbered or (14:24) counted for multitude. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people, (14:31) that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? (14:37) This request pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God said to him, (14:44) because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, (14:49) nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, (14:55) but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice.

Behold, I have done according (15:03) to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been (15:09) none like you before you, and after you, none will arise like you. I have also given you that (15:17) which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like (15:24) you for all your days.

If you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as your (15:32) father David, then I will lengthen your days." First, my first observation about this story (15:45) is that it’s obvious Solomon was from a family that truly believes in the God of Israel. (15:54) He speaks the language of the faithful. You can tell when you’re with somebody who believes in (16:00) God by how they speak, where God is the focal point on all they do.

His mother Bathsheba and (16:12) his father King David for sure instilled in him their belief in Yahweh. To instill the word of (16:23) God in a child is to steadily and consistently incorporate God and his teachings in all that (16:32) they do in family life. They were obedient to the command God gave in Deuteronomy 6 through 9, (16:41) which all parents should keep in mind.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all (16:49) your soul and with all your might. Keep these commandments that I give you today upon your (17:00) hearts. Impress them on your children, talking about them as you walk along the road and as you (17:09) lie down and as you get up.

Write them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (17:18) Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. So God wants parents to surround (17:26) their children with the word of God.

And it’s the parent’s responsibility to teach them about (17:38) God. And we can see that’s what David and Bathsheba did with Solomon. He spoke the language (17:46) of believers.

Solomon called God, my God. You don’t say that if you don’t believe in God. We (17:56) see that in scripture, where people are talking about God and they say, your God, because it (18:04) wasn’t their God yet.

Solomon takes ownership of the God that is speaking to him in his dreams, (18:16) and he asks, what can I do for you? And Solomon asks a totally amazing request for a ewe. (18:27) You know, kids today would say, oh, I want the latest iPhone. Hey, get me that hot Mustang.

(18:32) That would be cool. How about a cool house where I can have all my friends over? (18:37) Now, he asked for knowledge and wisdom for the purpose of governing the people. And that, (18:47) to say a silly phrase, flipped God’s wig.

Wow. He was impressed. And so he granted Solomon the (18:57) desire of his heart for wisdom.

And as we know, Solomon became the wisest man that ever walked, (19:05) because God blessed him with it. A truly amazing incident. But those blessings that God poured (19:18) onto Solomon were conditional, weren’t they? If you walk in the way that your father David did, (19:27) following all my commands and statutes, then I will bless you.

(19:40) So, this evening, I’m going to present part two of this lesson. We will look at some more (19:48) teachings from King David and King Solomon, and they are lessons that they themselves most likely (19:55) taught their children. When we study God’s Word, we are actually studying and trying to understand (20:03) what our Father in Heaven’s instructions are for us as children.

These instructions will not just (20:11) help young people on how to be better children of God, but at any age of believer, young and old, (20:18) who may be struggling to stay on the narrow path to Heaven. (20:23) So I will leave you with this last if-then statement to ponder as I offer you the (20:31) invitation to come forward if you have any needs of prayer or any assistance from the saints. (20:38) We’ll be glad to help you with that.

And as John said in Revelation 3.20, (20:46) and that John read for us, (20:49) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, (20:56) then I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me. If you want Jesus in your life, (21:04) you must open the door to your heart and invite him in.

So come as we stand and sing the invitation song.