Sunday, September 18, 2016 – New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA – Dr. Daniel Folden

Participating in the Life of Jesus Christ Now!
Part 5 - Personal stories that point to Jesus as present and involved in our lives.

1 John 1-5 (4:7-21)

4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has (is having now) for us. 1 John 4:16a(NIV84)

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As my exclamation point to my sermons from 1 John, I would like to share with you this morning five and a half stories of how God has illustrated His love for me in the midst of my daily events. From the beginning of my study of 1 John, I set out to discover more of and personally experience this joyous fellowship that John was experiencing himself and into which he was also inviting me, and you. In other words, my personal quest in my study of 1 John was totake John up on his invitation that he made in 1 John 1:3–4(NIV84)3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our (and your) joy complete. I want to be living in that fellowship with the Father and the Son and with my fellow believers in Christ. I want to be sharing in the mutual joy that marks the participants in this fellowship.

Surely there are many different ways that God shows His love for us throughout our daily lives. The stories I share this morning only scratch the surface of how God is continually expressing His love to me. And I share these stories primarily because I had so little to do with making them turn out the way they did. In a very true sense, I was a passive participant simply standing back to watch what I believe by faith God was orchestrating before my very eyes.

I want to preface my stories with this caution.We must be very careful not to be building our theological foundation on our personal stories. Our personal stories are whipped cream on top of Biblical truths we find in God’s Word. But, when our stories illustrate Biblical truth, they deserve to be noted and shared for the encouragement they can bring to our brothers and sisters in Christ. They may also serve to turn our conversations with unbelievers to the person and work of Christ.

I believe that asignificant part of our testimony to our unbelieving friends can bethe telling of the real stories of God at work in our personal life. And in the midst of sacrificially loving them by praying for them, telling them our stories, and expending time, energy and resources, it is vital that we are also communicating the truth of the Gospel message.1 John 4:10(NIV84)4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Myobjective in this sermon is to increase our alertness to God’s activity in our personal lives and record the stories that result from His activity so that these stories can be incorporated into our natural conversations with believers and unbelievers alike. We know how God ultimately showed His love for us: 1 John 4:9(NIV84)4:9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.And as verse 10 adds: He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins … because He loved us. This is God’s ultimate display of love for us, for you and for me. But what I want us to look for as a result of this sermon is how He is illustrating that love in the midst of our daily events.The stories I share are intended to encourage you to look for the ways God shows you His love.

1 John 4:13-17(NIV84)4:13 We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 4:15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in lovelives in God, and God in him. 4:17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.

Three times in verses 13-17 of 1 John 4, John affirms three evidences that we live in God and God lives in us. In verse 13, the evidence is that God has given us of His Spirit. In verse 15, the evidence is that we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. In verse 16, the evidence is that we live in love. The result of all this evidence is found in verse 17, we have confidence on the Day of Judgment. We are not fearful of the potentially most fearsome day because we live in God and God lives in us.

But there is another important result from all the evidences that we live in God and God lives in us. It’s stated in the first half of verse 16. 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

Bear with me for a moment of Greek grammar. I believe this will help make my point. In verse 16, the verb “has” is in the presenttense, giving us the time reference as now. It’s also in the activevoice, telling us that God is the subject and is doing the acting.It also is in the indicativemood, meaning this phrase is stating a fact. So what this little verb tells us is the fact that God is having love for us now. No matter where we are, no matter what time of the day it is, no matter what we are doing, God is having love for us right then. So, what difference does that make to you? How does this fact change the way you viewwhat you are doing, where you are going, and who you are with?

My first four stories draw attention to the coinciding of events or circumstances that point to the real possibility that God was the Orchestrator of their coinciding. Then, as a result of that, we have a story worth talking about with our friends, be they believers in Christ or not. The fifth and a half story is primarily an illustration of Biblical truth.

So, who orchestrates things like this?

1. When a carefully planned vacation itinerary getsenlivened by surprise connections.

Proverbs 16:9(NIV84)9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

In early May of this year (2016) as I was putting together our itinerary to drive from Seattle to Minneapolis to see my mom, working with the wish of my wife to make the trip in a little more leisurely manner, I scheduled us to take four days to travel to Minneapolis. That put us enroute to be driving on I-94 through Bismarck, ND around noon on Wednesday, May 25th. So, I put it in our itinerary to stop for lunch in Bismarck.

Since we were also planning on taking I-80, the southern route,on our way home, spending nights in Nebraska and Colorado, I sent our preliminary itinerary to Joyce’s good friend, Karen, in Central City, Nebraska, so she would have an idea of what we would be doing for our entire trip. Immediately, Karen responded by saying, “You know that my brother is a pastor in Bismarck and he would love to have lunch with you when you drive through.” So, that possibility stayed on the back burner until we were out on the road. In fact, it was Tuesday afternoon the 24th, the day before arriving in Bismarck, when we received a call from Karen while nearing Glendive, MT where we were planning on spending the night. She was calling to say that Franklin Graham was holding his Prayer Rally in Bismarck on Wednesday at noon. Did we know that? Well, no, we didn’t. It came as quite a surprise to us. So, we made the call to Bob Thune, Karen’s brother, and arranged to meet him at the Capitol building at noon with Franklin Graham and then take Bob out for lunch afterwards.

Because we were traveling east to Bismarck from Glendive that Wednesday morning, we had front row seats for following the heavy rain and dark clouds nearly all the way to Bismarck. About two hours away from Bismarck we noted a break in the sky to the south. That break followed us right into Bismarck and the rain pretty much stopped when we arrived in Bismarck around 11:30 AM. It was pretty cool to watch that. Though we did experience a light sprinkling about half way through the Prayer Rally, it was never a threat to those who had gathered to pray.

For Joyce and me, it was an amazing coming together of coincidental events that carried with it a sense of God’s blessing on our trip.Before we left Kent, we were already planning on attending the Franklin Graham Prayer Rally in Olympia when we returned. Here we had the opportunity placed smack dab in our itinerary to join with thousands of Christians in North Dakota to pray for our nation. We received this as a special gift from God. Further, our visit with Pastor Bob Thune, whom I had not personally met before, was additionally encouraging. This special treat arranged by God served as a reminded that as we make our plans and offer them to our Lord as the Master Scheduler, ultimately it’s the Lord who controls our schedule.

James said it this way, James 4:13–15(NIV84)13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

So, who orchestrates things like this?

2. How was it that I had the privilege of hearing my 99 year old mother quote 5 chapters from the Psalms Sunday afternoon just after she awoke from her afternoon nap?

On our trip to visit my mom in Minneapolis during the last week of May 2016, which was kind of a late Mother’s Day trip, Joyce and I had the privilege of spending several hours each day with my mom. On Sunday, May 29th, we enjoyed attending morning chapel with mom at the ColonialAcresCareCenter where she lives. After her noon meal, she rested on her bed and shortly after 2:00 PM, I walked into her room and attempted to awaken her. As she was coming out of her sleep, she began telling me that she had to make some food for her friends from Newfolden who had come to town to visit. (Newfolden is an 8 hour drive north of Minneapolis and is her childhood home.) I soon detected that she was still dreaming. So, I told her that she didn’t need to make any food for her friends. But she insisted that she had to since they had come a long way and were staying overnight.

I felt badly that I was telling her that she was only dreaming. But, I was happy to report to her that it must have been a very good dream to be hosting so many of her friends from her childhood town. She asked me, “Was I really dreaming?” And I said, “Yes, mom. You were dreaming. But that’s good. I’m glad you could enjoy a dream that brought back so many good memories of your past.”

Then, without any explanation, no provocation on my part, mom started to quote Psalm 19, almost in her sleep. She was still lying on her bed. She hadn’t opened her eyes much at all at this point, but here she was quoting Psalm 19. I knew this was a special moment and quickly started to video record her. I also grabbed her Bible and soon found the passage she was quoting. I noted that she had placed a red check at the top of several chapters in the Psalms, knowing that these were the ones she had memorized over the years.

So, when she finished Psalm 19, I flipped back a page to find another red check at Psalm 16 and gave her the opening words and she carried right on through the entire Psalm, nearly word perfect. Within 18 minutes time, she quoted Psalm 19, Psalm 16, Psalm 32, Psalm 33 and only struggled a bit while making it through Psalm 34; Five entire chapters from the Psalms in 18 minutes, all from memory while still partially asleep.

I had the privilege to experience this event. What a gift my mom gave her youngest son on Sunday afternoon, May 29, 2016. What she did represented hundreds of hours of disciplined work to hide God’s Word in her heart. It not only expressed her love for our Lord, it expressed her deep desire to make the Good News of Jesus Christ known to her extended family and friends.

In many ways my mom has been an evangelist since she gave her life to Christback in her late teen years. Over the years she prepared herself to share her testimony with her family and friends and to bring them God’s word, especially by reciting passages from memory, praying that the Holy Spirit would turn the hearts of her wandering grandchildren and friends to look to the Lord for His gift of mercy and grace.

So, how was it that I was so privileged to receive this unexpected blessing and had the wits about me to record this moment to be able to share it with others?

Mom is not trying to impress us with her memory. She’s simply trying to get our attention so we will meet the God she so deeply and dearly loves and with whom she is looking forward to spending an eternity real soon. She wants us to listen to God’s word so we will hear Him speak to us and that we will welcome His message to us and surrender to Him.

Her prayer is found in Psalm 19:14(The Living Bible)14 May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to You, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.

Video of Ivie quoting Psalm 19 and 32 (1:15 & 1:40 = 3:00).

So, who orchestrates things like this?

3. What to make of two young men spending a night in jail together?

On Thursday, July 21, 2016, on the afternoon that Matt Todd called me to invite me to be the speaker at the men’s retreat for South Hill Christian Church of Puyallup, I had just come from the Kent Municipal Jail where a young man from our church had spent the night as an inmate. I had attended his arraignment hearing with his wife and waited to greet him upon his release.

The night before, just after hearing that my friend would be spending the night in jail, I logged onto the Kent Municipal Jail’s website to find out the details regarding his visit to jail and when he would be standing before the judge the next day. I looked for his name on the inmate list, scrolling down the list just in case I might know someone else who would be spending the night there. And to my great surprise, I spotted the name of a very good friend of my youngest son, who just happened to be home for four days from Bellingham. He was also a good friend of our family whom we had known for over 20 years.

So, late on Wednesday night, I went downstairs to share my discovery with my son, Stephen, where my wife was already visiting with him. When I asked if he planned to see this friend of ours while he was home, he said, “yes,” but he heard from his parents that he wouldn’t be available until after midnight Wednesday, the time at which the jail releases those who have completed their sentence. Stephen said his mom had told him that he would have to find out fromhis friendwhy wouldn’t be available until after midnight since she didn’t want to be the one telling Stephen he was in jail.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon; I’m with my friend’s wife waiting for him to come out of the jail. As he walks out the door, he’s got this big smile on his face, happy to be out. The first thing I asked him was, “Did you meetso and so last night?” stating the name of my son’s friend. And my friend smiled even bigger and said, “Yes, we roomed together.” Then he told me about how they had encouraged each other with Scriptures they both knew. Then my friend said to us, “I knew there was a reason why I had to spend the night in jail last night.” He believed this was a God-orchestrated meeting to personally be encouraged and to be an encouragement to someone needing it. It also was so these two friends of our family could meet and find an unexpected encouragement in an unlikely place.

What I discovered after speaking to both of them after they both were released from jail that same day was that in spite of having shared a number of clues with each other that our family was their common link, it never came to their mutual awareness that the Foldens were their common friends.

So it is my thought that God sovereignly prevented them from discovering that we were their mutual friends so thattheir only link of commonality while sitting in jail together was that they both claimed Christ as their Lord and would find their new friendship only in the Lord and in His word.