Undisturbed

Bible Reading: Acts 26:24-32

Key Verse: Verse 28 – “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

Key Words: Almost thou persuadest me

I can remember it like it was yesterday: having my mother crying out with every ounce of energy she could muster, “M-i-c-h-a-e-l, get back here right now.”  It seems as though Mom didn’t appreciate the fact that I had made our bathtub the new home to a dozen or so tadpoles.  To say the least, she was upset, and rightly so.  She explained to me in language that could be clearly understood that tadpoles were not to be a part of the Rouse family, and that I was to “never pull that little stunt again.”  She was disturbed!!

But you know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed.  In Acts 16 after Paul and Silas had prayed and sang and had an old-fashioned prayer meeting in that Philippian jail, the earth began to shake and the prison cells all shook open.  Darkness prevailed in that dungeon called a prison and the guard on duty that night was disturbed.  You see, he thought for sure all the prisoners had fled; and as a result, he would be tortured and then executed so he decided to take his own life until Paul interceded.  God disturbed this man and as a result, he and his family were born again.

King Hezekiah was told that he was going to die in II Kings, chapter 20.  This disturbed the great king.  He was so disturbed that he prayed.  Evidently he prayed hard enough and righteously enough to get God’s attention and God gave him fifteen more years of life.  Being disturbed caused the great king to humble himself and pray.

Now none of us like to be disturbed; but the truth is that we’ll never be motivated to action until God uses something or someone to disturb us.

The other night the phone rang—actually, it was early morning about 1:00 or so.  Now, when the phone rings at that hour a hundred things begin to run through my mind…are my parents all right?  What about the kids and grandkids?  What about church family?  Has something happened to one of the buildings?  Yes, I admit it.  I was disturbed.  When Linda answered and I heard her say, “You’ve got the wrong number,” I breathed a sigh of relief; and then at 1:00 in the morning, I began to thank God for my parents, daughters, grandkids, my church family, and for God’s safety and blessings—all because God used an early morning phone call to disturb me. 

 You know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed!!  The problem is when we are like Agrippa…undisturbed.

                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Remember, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed about the right thing.

Uncompromising

Bible Reading: Exodus 8:25-32

Key Verse: Verse 25- “And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

Key Words: Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land

Pharaoh, rather than letting the people of Israel go, kept attempting to get Israel to compromise.  In our text for today, Pharaoh makes a revealing statement, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”  Pharaoh didn’t care if they sacrificed to God so long as they stayed in Egypt.  I’ve found Satan to be the same way.  He doesn’t care if we sacrifice to God; just don’t leave the “worldly lifestyle behind.  Don’t go all the way for God.  Stick around the world, enjoying the world.”  What a compromise proposal Pharaoh had!  In essence, he was saying, “You can have the best of both worlds.  You can sacrifice to your God and still live a worldly life.”  How revealing!  But when you decide you’re not going to compromise, hard times may come for awhile.  But joy will come in the morning.  But when you do decide to compromise, it can and will consume you…literally.

 A hunter had his gun aimed at a large bear and was ready to pull the trigger.  Just then the bear spoke in a soft, soothing voice, saying, "Isn't it better to talk than to shoot?  Why don't we negotiate the matter?  What is it that you want?"  The hunter lowered his rifle and answered, "I would like a fur coat."  "That's good," said the bear. "I think that's something we can talk about.  All I want is a full stomach; maybe we can reach a compromise."  So they sat down to talk it over.  A little while later the bear walked away alone.  The negotiation had been successful - the bear had a full stomach and the hunter had a fur coat!

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Remember what Dante said, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

Unforgiving

Bible Reading: Mark 11:20-33

Key Verse: Verse 26 – “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” 

Key Words: if ye do not forgive

 Have you ever experienced not being forgiven by someone?  While it hurts and is hard to go through, the one I pity is the one unwilling to forgive.

Leo Tolstoy thought he was getting his marriage off on the right foot when he asked his teenage fiancé to read his diaries, which spelled out in lurid detail all of his sexual dalliances.  He wanted to keep no secrets from Sonya, to begin marriage with a clean slate, forgiven.  Instead, Tolstoy’s confession sowed the seeds for a marriage that would be held together by vines of hatred, not love.  “When he kisses me I’m always thinking, ‘I’m not the first woman he has loved,’” wrote Sonya Tolstoy in her own diary.  Some of his adolescent flings she could forgive, but not his affair with Axinya, a peasant woman who continued to work on the Tolstoy estate.  “One of these days I shall kill myself with jealousy,” Sonya wrote after seeing the three-year-old son of the peasant woman, the spitting image of her husband.  “If I could kill him [Tolstoy] and create a new person exactly the same as he is now, I would do so happily.”  Another diary entry dates from January 14, 1909. “He relishes that peasant wench with her strong female body and her sunburnt legs, she allures him just as powerfully now as she did all those years ago…” Sonya wrote those words when Axinya was a shriveled crone of eighty.  For half a century jealousy and unforgiveness had blinded her, in the process destroying all love for her husband.

 What a shame! 

                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Forgive those who refuse to forgive you.

Pastor’s Note:  Just a piece of pastoral advice: public sins, public confession; private sins, private confession.  Leo should have confessed to God and lived a pure and clean life from that point.

Unrealistic

Bible Reading: Philippians 3:10-21

Key Verse: Verse 12 – “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

Key Words: Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect

We often make life difficult for ourselves by setting unrealistic goals.  Others make life difficult for us because of their unrealistic expectations of us.

Our life and work within the Christian community will go much better if we acknowledge our own shortcomings and do not make unreasonable demands on others. Adoniram Judson wrote, “In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use the greatest caution. One wrong-headed, conscientiously obstinate fellow would ruin us.” Then he described the sort of person he preferred: “Humble, quiet, persevering men; men of sound, sterling talents (though, perhaps, not brilliant), of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language; men of an amiable temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all and the servants of all; men who live near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ’s sake, without being proud of it, these are the men.” Then Judson added, “But oh, how unlike this description is the writer of it!” 

Some one unknown to me once said, “We make unrealistic demands of our pastors, their wives, and other Christian leaders, and we judge them unfairly.  But the work of Christ will get done more quickly and efficiently if we recognize the value of others and admit that we too have shortcomings. Then, as we do our best, we can admit that like everyone else we are not perfect yet! “

But you have to admit, those with unrealistic ideas and thoughts can make life hard for us all.

  

                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Have goals for yourself but make them realistic.  Be realistic in your expectations of others.

Unfufilled

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 4 – “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.”

Key Words: When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it

 

Living an unfulfilled life can not only be depressing, it can be hard.  All one has to do is look at Cain, Esau, Demas…all these lives were unfulfilled.  If our life is to be a full life, a satisfied life, we must fulfill our promises to God and man.

Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Salvery: 

I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labour where and for whom he pleased. 

Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. 

In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise.

Nor can you or I…I am convinced that as many hardships and unhappiness come from unfulfilled promises.  Let your “yea” be yea, and your “nay” be nay.

  

                                                                                       Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Live a fulfilled life by fulfilling your promises to God (and man).

Uncertainty

Bible Reading: Isaiah 45:1-19 

Key Verse: Verse 18 – “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”

Key Words: thus saith the LORD

We live in a day of uncertainties.  The economy is volatile.  As a result, many jobs are insecure.  Our safety with terrorism being what it is causes some uncertainty.  Many churches are making changes, and not for the better.  Violence in our schools has caused some to cry out for more controls.  Life is filled with uncertainties.

In a world of uncertainty many of us are going through some hard times.  But isn’t it reassuring to know that God and His Word are certain?  We can count on God’s “thus saith the Lord.”

In his book Light for Anxious Souls, George Cutting told about a farmer who lacked the assurance of salvation.  He foolishly prayed that as an evidence of his acceptance, the Lord would cause 10 sheep of his flock -- and only 10 -- to gather in a certain shed out in the pasture. 

Later that day, when the farmer anxiously approached the shed, he was relieved to find exactly 10 sheep. That gave him a temporary sense of peace.  Doubt returned with the shocking thought that it may have been just a coincidence.  So he asked the Lord that 10 different sheep might gather in an opposite corner of the pasture.  And they did! 

When the farmer was asked, “Did this give you assurance?” he said, “No, nothing gave me certainty until I got the sure Word of God for it.” 

Cutting concluded, “He was all in a fog of uncertainty until he planted his foot firmly on the ‘Thus saith the Lord.’“ 

And so it is with us all.  Our only certainty of life is in “thus saith the Lord.”  Now, you can count on that!!

  

                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Put your trust in God’s Word, not in society’s promises.

Unloved

Bible Reading:  Psalm 142

Key Verse: Verse 4– “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”

Key Words: no man cared for my soul

There is no pain worse than the pain of being unloved.  It’s one of the most difficult things one could ever experience.  This is what David was feeling as he sat in the cave (which cave is not known).

There are many today who feel as David felt then…that no one loves them, no one cares for them.

Bits & Pieces records the story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him.  He searched for months to no avail.  Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper.  The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday.  All is forgiven.  I love you.  Your Father.”  On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. 

Today, maybe you know of someone who feels unloved.  You can be the one who shows this one who feels unloved that you care, that you love them; but most of all, you can show them God’s love and tell them God cares.

If today you feel unloved, remember “For God so loved the world” and that includes you…you are loved!!  My plea to you is to believe this and accept God’s love for you!

  

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ If you know someone who feels unloved, show them God’s love.