 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 24th, 2014:
____________________________________________
‘A Way in the Wilderness’
Good
morning. And welcome to good news in the morning. My name is Brent Russett. I
am the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at
some of life’s challenges, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
This
program is brought to you by Good News Christian Ministries.
You
can find Good News in the morning on the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca.
There you can hear past episodes and find interesting articles.
This
morning I want to talk to you about A
Way in the Wilderness
I
have been doing a lot of reading in the Old Testament book of Isaiah lately.
This morning I am going to take you to Isaiah 35. But before we get there I
want to take you to the gospel of Mark. It is one of the first four books of
the New Testament that tells the story of Jesus’ life.
One of the things about the gospel of Mark
that you may not know is that the locations that are in the gospel of Mark
matter. They matter on a theological level. Where something is said, tells us
something about what is being said.
Mark 1:1–4
(NLT)
This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the
Son of God.* It began 2 just as the prophet Isaiah had written:
“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
and he will prepare your way.*
3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!’* ”
4 This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached
that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and
turned to God to be forgiven.
So
Mark starts off his book and says, I want to tell you the good news about
Jesus. But what is the setting of the start of the story. It is a wilderness.
The
book of Mark starts out by quoting Isaiah, 40 about how there is a voice crying
out in the wilderness. And we find John the Baptist, the one who is a
forerunner of Jesus introducing Jesus in the wilderness.
In
fact Jesus goes out into the wilderness to see John, He is baptized by John in
the Jordan river, and then he himself goes further into the wilderness where he
is tempted by Satan for 40 days.
Remember,
in Mark the setting of where something happens tells us something about what is
going on.
Jesus,
who we as Christians believe is God come to earth, choses to start his earthly
ministry, and meet humanity in the wilderness.
The
reason, the wilderness is a telling metaphor to illustrate what sin has done to our souls.
The
Bible says that the wages of sin is death. There is life in the wilderness, but
not a lot of it. It doesn’t tend to be a place where things flourish.
I
have been in the wilderness in Israel, and it is really barren. Vegetation is
sparse. Water is sparse. It is inhospitable. You get the feeling that humans
were not meant to live there.
Jesus
chose to meet us in the wilderness.
He
came and said, I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.
He said, I will forgive your sin. I will take the toxic from your heart that
stops things from growing. In fact, I will give you a new heart, a place where
life can really flourish.
But
there is a condition for him to do that. You need to turn over the drivers
wheel of your life to him. Jesus says, if you will come to me and give your
life to me, I will meet you in the wilderness of your heart, and I will make it
live.
If
you are listening and have never given Jesus the wheel of your life – I would
urge you to do that even today. Pray a prayer something like, Lord Jesus I give
my life to you, take over the drivers seat of my life. Forgive me of my sin,
take my sin away and give me your life. A prayer like that is a great way to
start your spiritual journey with Jesus.
MUSIC Brian Doerksen – Change me on the inside –
4:27
What
a great prayer- Change me on the inside. Sometimes change doesn’t come easy.
Sometimes the only place that God can teach us is in the wilderness.
In
scripture the metaphor of the wilderness is used in another way. It is used to
talk about dry times on the spiritual journey.
In
the second book of the Bible, named Exodus we find that the Hebrew people had
been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God by the power of his mighty hand brought
them out of Egypt, but he lead them into the wilderness. Now the journey from
Egypt to the promise land should only take 40 days. It took the people of
Israel about 3 years to complete the journey.
The
reason was, God needed time to teach is people about himself. It was in the
wilderness that they saw the provision of God. It was in the wilderness that
they received the law of God, the ten commandments. It was in the wilderness
that they witnessed the glory of God. It was in the wilderness that they
experienced the leading of God. It was in the wilderness that God taught his people about Himself and
his relationship with them.
Fast
forward into the era of the church.---- I don’t know any substantial Christian
who has not gone through a wilderness experience.
One
person put the wilderness experience this way.
“Scripture often depicts
the experience of God’s presence or blessing with the imagery of water — streams, oases
and rivers (Ps 1:3; 92:12-14; Jer 17:8). Conversely it describes times of
distress, doubt, and alienation from God with the imagery of a desert or wilderness. The wilderness is
where water is scarce… where a traveler walks alone in the heat and the cold
without shade or protection… and where wild animals live. In a spiritual
wilderness God feels far away, distant, absent, and unresponsive… faith feels
doubtful or uncertain… we feel alone, vulnerable, lost, and unprotected… there
is the fear of hopelessness and the unknown… and it’s the place where Satan
resides.
It can take the form of depression… a crisis of
faith… or one or more traumatic life events, of which the list is endless. It
is not a joyful time. It is a time when we feel alone, deserted, and dying of
spiritual thirst in the midst of a debilitating spiritual draught. All true
saints go through a wilderness experienced in their life; some more than
others.
The
experience can last for weeks, or months and sometimes years. But here is what
I know, if God leads you out into the wilderness, he is going to teach you. The
only reason he takes you there is that there is something that you can learn
there that you cannot learn anywhere else.
I know the wilderness experiences in my life
have forced a change of faith. The typical pat answers of Christendom don’t
work for me. God has taught me about himself and myself in the wilderness.
I
heard one guy speak, who said he loves it when Jesus leads him into the
wilderness, because he knows that he is moving into a new season in his life.
I am
not there yet, where I love the wilderness. Maybe that is why Isaiah 35 speaks
deeply into my life. Maybe, you can hear it for your life as well.
Isaiah 35
(NLT)
Hope for Restoration
1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring
crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains
of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem* singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
I
want to say to those of you, whose life has become a dearth of joy, and speak
to those of you who feel like it has been a long time since you have seen the glory of the Lord, - your God
will come.
I
want to encourage those of you who are tired and wonder how much further you
can go – your God will come.
I
want you to hear the words of scripture, those of you who have hearts full of
fear.
Be strong and do not fear, for your God is coming
to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.
I
know that some of you are feeling parched - Spiritually parched. I want you to
know that it is God’s way to meet us in the wilderness and bring water.
Now to get imagery of a highway through the wilderness
you need to understand that Jerusalem was where the temple was. The temple was
where God was. You went to the temple to meet with God.
But to those on the backside of the wilderness, it felt
impossible to get to God. There were bandits who would beat you up and rob from
you. There were lions and other beast who could attack you. There were dangers
on every side. How could one get to God.
Some of you are in the middle of the wilderness. You
understand
1 Peter 5:8
(NLT)
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around
like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
You have felt him nipping at your heels and tearing at
your heart. Some of you are licking your wounds. You are wondering, how to I
get to God.
There are some of you who have people around you that are
constantly sowing doubts and stealing faith. They seduce you towards what is
not good.
Hear the word of the
Lord.
Isaiah 35:8–10
(NLT)
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem* singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
The Lord is coming
So what do you do if you find yourself in the wilderness.
One of the best things that you can do
is recognize it for what it is. You probably didn’t ask for it, and you
probably don’t want to be where you are, but it is helpful to recognize where
you are.
There are some people who think that Christians should be
happy all the time. But that is not the case. Own what is. Don’t deny where you
are or what you are feeling. And don’t try to distract yourself from it.
We have television and Netflix and You Tube and novels
and a whole lot of other distractions that can be wonderful, but they can also
take us into worlds where we don’t live. Which is alright in small doses, but many
immerse themselves in those other worlds, to distract themselves from where are.
They miss what God wants to do.
So the first step is recognize where you are, and where
ever you are be all there.
The second step is
to remember that God has a purpose for the wilderness. Remember I told you
about the people of God who came out of Egypt.
It was in the wilderness that they saw the provision of
God. It was in the wilderness that they received the law of God. It was in the
wilderness that they witnessed the glory of God. It was in the wilderness that
they experienced the leading of God. It was in the wilderness that God taught his people about Himself and
his relationship with them.
But in the middle of the wilderness, they complained
because while God provided food for them, it felt bland. They complained that
while God was leading them, they sometimes didn’t have what they need until the
last minute. They sometimes even felt abandoned by God and they turned to false
gods. They turned to idols.
That did not help them get out of the wilderness. In fact
doing those thing made their stay much more miserable. And then when God lead
them to the edge of the wilderness and said, I’m willing to take you out, but
you are going to have to trust me to do some major things – and they wouldn’t
trust him, so they were in the wilderness a lot longer than they needed to be.
You see, it is not your job to transform the desert. That
is God’s job. Your job is to let God do
what he wants to do in you. Your job is to let go of the idols around you.
Your job is go where God wants you to go. It is his job to transform the
desert.
One of the keys to
surviving the desert is to not focus on the desert. Whenever you focus on
what you don’t have the desert grows harsher and God grows smaller. Whenever
you focus on your fears and on your doubts and your worries and on your
dryness, the desert grows bigger.
But whenever you focus on God then you will find the
power of the desert weaken.
I remember a time when I was in the wilderness It felt
like God had abandon me. I had no sense of him. I would read the bible and
nothing would pop. I would pray, but it felt like I was talking to myself or
the ceiling.
So it is easy to say, focus on God, but when it feels
like God is absent how do you do that?
Well a wise person told me, “Never doubt in the darkness
what you learned in the light.” So the Psalms became my friend, because they
would express my heart to God. The Hymn book became my friend, because so many
of those hymns express the truth about God. And while my emotions were in a
desert place I chose to make declarations of faith about who God was.
It was in the wilderness that God taught me about grace.
It is not about my performance, but it is about his favour. It was in the
desert that God taught me about faith – I can trust him with my stuff. I don’t
know what God wants to teach you in the wilderness.
But I am comforted by the fact that Jesus’ ministry was
announced in the wilderness. John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world in
the wilderness. Jesus went out into the wilderness and wrestled with Satan
----and so he has been there before us.
So what I want you to know is that Jesus wants to meet you in the
desert. So today if you in the wilderness, acknowledge it. Recognize that it
not your job to transform the desert but let God transform you.
And take heart from Isaiah 35
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Let
me pray for you,
Lord, I thank
you for the people who you know, and they’re walking through a wilderness, and Lord,
the road is rough and it’s hard, and it’s tough going, and their souls feel parched
and they’re thirsty. I’m praying Lord that you would meet them, right where they’re
at. Lord, I pray that you would allow faith even to rise right now, that their God
will come. I’m praying, Lord, that you would do some amazing things in their life.
And so, Lord, I ask that you would bless them, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank
you for your words of encouragement, and for keeping us in your prayers. Keeping this program on the air continues to
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May you know Jesus Christ personally and
profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside
deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with His
constant and abiding and accompanying love.
MUSIC
– Petra – The Road to Zion 4:01
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 24th, 2014:
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 24th, 2014:
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