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Waverly, IA
Whenever I see a movie, I would come home with a punchline from the movie. One line I still remember, but I have already forgotton who said. It must have been Anthony Quinn. He was a villain who became the hunted at the climax. He was confused as to where his enemy was because everywhere he turns gunfire blocks his way. He would say,
"Come out where I can see you."
"You can run but you can’t hide"
"Are you trying to scare me? I’m scared already."
The avenger’s punchline would be like,
"Go ahead, make my day"
"You’re not so tough now, are you?"
So, reading this passage today I see things like in a movie. Herod, bragging about his power as the King, speaks the punchline, "Tell that rebel that if he steps in this town I’ll cut his head off like John the Baptist."
And then Jesus would also respond with his punchline. "Tell that fox, I will keep moving on."
LET US PRAY.
The Christian mission works around the world has seen many set backs. But the church is where the Holy Spirit is. The church movement is like wind or water that is going forward over the obstacles, right around the rocks or under them. The church keeps moving on to the goal of making disciples of all nations.
Jesus is a leader who wants to keep moving on, even if there is a threat, even if everything is not perfect.
An old proverb was spoken in the days of the horsemen... saying, "For want of a nail a shoe is lost, for want of a shoe a horse is lost, then a battle is lost, then a kingdom is lost."
Today, they sell nails at Menards by the hundreds.
But that proverb is still true.
One time I wanted to hang 1 picture frame and I needed just one cheap hook. I couldn’t find single package of 1 hook even at Walmart. It’s always ten hooks in a package, but I don’t need the 9 hooks. So I said, "Forget the hook. We’ll just put the frame on top of the piano."
It’s a big big world to conquer so we must keep moving on. Jesus wants to see a gather of all ethnics, all language, all colors, all choices, all political or social orientation, young and old, rich and poor, men and women and whatever gender preference.
Philippians 10 says "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that jesus is Lord." And this is what God wants to see. But there’s a lot of hindrance for this happening. Who are these hindrances to the tide of the Church?
Are you with the tide of the church who wants to keep moving on? or are you a hindrance?
Jesus told one person, come, follow me. And the person said, "Yes, Lord. But let me bury my father." He didn’t Jesus that his father was still alive but Jesus knew.
If his father was already dead, Jesus would have given due respect and sent the man to the funeral. But this man’s father was still alive and doesn’t have interest in following Jesus. And this believer had to wait until his father was dead before could follow Jesus?
So Jesus tells a movie-like punchline, " 22. Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.''
The devil tried to block Jesus by tempting Jesus in the Wilderness. But Jesus overcame the temptations with Biblical punchlines and kept moving on.
Herod threatened Jesus, but Jesus kept moving on.
The devil tried to kill Jesus but Jesus rose from the dead and kept moving on to establish the Kingdom of God through the church.
In this world there are so many stories of hurdles and blockages, set backs, heartaches, historical gripes, arch enemies, rivalries... But we know that God keeps moving on, creating marvelous love stories among the new generations whether Japanese or Americans, British and Germans, African and Europeans...
The movement of the Holy wind is like making a full circle around the globe as we see in the weather forecast. The jetstream of wind is moving sometimes northward, sometimes southward, then eastward and then westward.
One time I asked the confirmants where Christianity originated and they said, "America." This seems to be the common answer from children because the painted face of Jesus on so many portrait doesn’t like someone from the Middle East.
Yes, the Holy Wind keeps moving. But we ought to be reminded that it all started in Jerusalem, in Asia, then to Europe and then to America. And watchout, the Africans and the Asians are becoming a formidable force in evangelism. Because the Holy Wind keeps moving and will leave behind those who are stalling.
What is the biggest that has stalled your ministry so far? Was it like the death of a precious child?
King David built a glorious Kingdom for Israel. He had many good children and one of them was with Bathsheba. Their first born son became ill and David fasted and prayed.
2 Samuel 12:
16. David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
17. So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
18. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "Indeed, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!''
19. When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?'' And they said, "He is dead.''
20. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.
21. Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.''
22. So he said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, `Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?'
23. "But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?..."
Usually, a man that encounters a setback like this becomes paranoid. A father that loses a son becomes immobilized.
But when David submitted to the Spirit of the Lord, David was able to keep moving on.
I don’t know how many Christians were persecuted and arrested and imprisoned by Paul.
Paul was totally wrong in persecuting the Christians.
And then, it turns out that Jesus used him mightily.
The many setbacks in the life of Paul was set aside.
Paul was beaten up and himself imprisoned. But it did not hold him down. It did not even delay his evangelistic works. He kept writing even when he was in prison.
Paul kept preaching. He was on a ship and there was a violent storm that destroyed the ship and they were marooned to an island. Paul could have blamed it on God. But no, Paul kept teaching and preaching all over asia and europe.
Emperor Nero killed Paul and Peter but the church that Jesus Christ founded keeps moving on.
There was a writer who compared the church to a stream of water. The writer was walking down a shallow river. He followed the stream flowing through the stones. The water makes noise of water trickles. Until he lost track of the stream. The water seemed to have stopped because there is a lot of stones that blocked the stream. There was no more trickle sounds. But as the writer walked over the lot of stones he discovered the streams flowing again somewhere, and this time in a larger volume.
The stream had the capability to flow proudly and noisily over the stones, and when the stones blocks the way, the stream goes around the stones or the stream quiets down and goes under the tones. The stream keeps moving on. It keeps moving on until it finds itself in the greater congregation, It is the destination that brings a great calm. A calm that he likened to heaven.
I have many kinds of church setbacks. I have seen many visions that remained unfulfilled. I have felt many times that temptation to stop, file an early retirement. And buy a fishing pole.
But I treasure the stories of a multitude of great men, John Wesley, Dwight L. Moody, John Wycliffe, John Huss, George Whitefield, Martin Luther. I love the story of the first Christians in the Philippines and the first Methodist in my hometown, my Great Grandfather. Grandma was the Choir director in my grandfather’s church. My aunts in my mother side they were the choir in the United Church of Christ.
I could go on and on, naming the multitude of church leaders that are ahead, and all of them cheering out for you and for me. Keep on moving. Come on, you’re close. Keep on moving. Keep on moving. Make disciples of Jesus out of your children, out of your family, out of your classes, out of your prayer groups, out of your church, out of your neighborhood.
Jesus said, "Tell that fox, I will keep moving on."
Jesus tells everyone that tries to stall him, "I will keep moving on."
Are you moving on?
Are you moving on, Ad Council?
Are you moving on, Choir?
Are you moving on, Young People?
What are you up to really? Are you stalled by a setback? Let Jesus grab your hand.
But are you the one that is stalling? Let Jesus save you. Let Jesus move you.
Jesus has given us the direction when he said, "I am the way and the truth and the life..."
In that direction lies the stones laid down by the devil. But you can flow over them... swirl around them, or quietly go under them. You will keep on moving closer with the other streams from other nations, colors, races, languages. We are so close to become a huge body of water... there will be calm... a universal dicipleship of all nations ... it would be heaven.
I see it in the horizon. Let’s go. With the cross of Jesus, let’s keep moving on.
Amen.
Fax: 319-352-1776 Email: vetter@humcwaverly.org Site Support: stummek@humcwaverly.org