2 Corinthians 1:12

Every year at this time in January, Calvary Chapel holds a missions conference in Marietta. We are truly blessed to have missionaries from all over the world come out. This week, Rob is here, and I wanted to ask Rob and Joni to come on up. Welcome them up!

Rob is now in England, specifically in Twickenham, London, where he is pastoring a church. It’s a really unique work that the Lord is doing there because God seems to bring new missionaries to Rob. He has a way of pouring into them, and then they end up going and starting other churches. Although all his helpers leave, this has actually been a good thing. The Lord has used him to raise up and equip individuals to plant churches throughout Europe, especially in England.

I wanted Rob to come and share with us this morning, so thank you for being here, Rob. Hi, my wife, Joni. We are here without kids this time because we left them up in the coma with Joni's folks. So, we’re kind of like Rob and Joni again, and we don’t know what to do.

What Josh was talking about—getting involved and starting small—is important because you never know where that’s going to lead. The key is saying, "Okay, Lord, here I am. No deals. What do you want to do?" I think if the Lord had shown me the picture of what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have done it because it’s so insane what the Lord has in mind. We only see this little bit, but He has the whole thing planned.

What I started doing was playing with a Christian rock band. The leader got the idea to go to Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Japan. When we went there, we realized there was nothing going on. Coming from Calvary Chapel, where everything is happening—where I met God and heard His voice—to see the way the rest of the world is going was just strange. What happened was we helped Nick start the church in Ziegen.

We were there for the very first Sunday service. He said, "Come back and help me if you want." I didn't think anything of it at the time, but a year later, I was back there. I worked with him for six and a half years, and I think it's the first Calvary Chapel in Western Europe. I didn't know that initially; I just went over there. The devil stomped on us like crazy, which is why we were in the forest yodeling to God. The devil likes to kill babies.

I was there for six and a half years, and one morning, I came in and realized my work was over. It was tied up with a bow knot, signed by God. It wasn't bloody or anything; it was just done. I didn't know what the next step would be, and then it turned out to be London, England. I worked with Brian Brodersen, and I was there with him while he was there. I've been in London for 11 years now, and it's gone from one Calvary in London to over 40 in England, Scotland, and Wales.

I believe that Jesus is coming back. Like Martin Luther said, "Jesus might come tomorrow, but we're going to plant a tree today." I would say to you that now's the time to suffer for Jesus. For those of you thinking about being ushers and not wanting to be here that early, now's the time to suffer for Jesus. When He comes back, the only regret you're going to have is that you didn't suffer more. You'll think, "What a dope I was. Why didn't I take the brakes off? Why didn't I just go for it?"

After being a missionary for 18 years, I can tell you that all the crises are real, but all the saves are real too. God does not specialize in fake saving. He doesn't work like that. You will get into plenty of scrapes, and there will be plenty of moments that go right over your head. I don't know what's going to happen to me now; I think I'm dead. But I've been doing this for 18 years, and guess what? I'm still alive. I get saved all the time, and that makes a testimony.

So I just want to say to you this morning: take the brakes off and go wherever the Lord says. Do whatever He says, and you won't regret it.

Amen. I have a newsletter. If anybody would like to learn more about what we're doing, and if you even want to be involved, that's cool. I'll be handing them out afterwards. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Miles.

Would you pray with me for the church in Twickenham and for Ralph? Lord, we do lift Rob and Joni into your hands. God, we thank you so much for the work that you have done in their hearts and in their lives to take them out on the field. I know it started as just a very simple work at a Calvary Chapel in the Northwest, but you began to grow that work and move them out. I know that you are using them to affect lives in a powerful way throughout the world.

God, I ask that you would pour out a blessing upon them as they're back here in the States for a while, that they would be refreshed and rejuvenated. But, Lord, also that they would be readied again for more service, for more work. We pray for the church in Twickenham and ask that you would continue to grow the work. God, may they grow in the knowledge and understanding of you and your Word, that they would be a church that is well-spoken of throughout the whole world, as I know they already are. I thank you for Rob and the work that you are doing in him and through him, Lord. I pray that you would bless him and his family. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

This day, January 4th, is kind of an important one for me. It's the 10-year anniversary of me starting on staff at this church. When I started on staff here 10 years ago, and even before that, when I was just helping with the youth ministry and doing computer things and wiring stuff, I had no idea what I was doing.

When we first built this facility in the offices next door, Richard had asked me if I would wire the phones and the network. I said I didn't know how to wire anything. He said, "Well, I'll introduce you to this guy. He'll show you kind of the basics of what to do." About 12 years later, it's still working. I don't know. It's God who makes it work, except this morning it wasn't working. I don't know what was wrong with it.

It's amazing to see how the Lord is able to take people who don't know anything, who don't have a clue. I'm so thankful that Richard shared that verse out of 2 Corinthians 3 this morning: we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. He is the one who makes us able ministers. There is absolutely no way that myself, the other pastors, and the other leaders of this church can do what we are doing in the kingdom of the Lord without His help, without His working in and through us.

It's Him who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. I know, as Josh was sharing the different opportunities this morning, maybe it's as simple as being an usher or a greeter, and you're saying, "There's no way I can do that. I'm not a people person." The Lord can work in and through you to do that, and He may be calling you to do that this morning.

Or you might say, "There's no possible way that I'm going to be doing youth ministry or children's ministry." Let me tell you, when Pastor Tony asked me if I would teach the junior high ministry, my first thought was a resounding no. I was going to stand strong upon that no. As I was about to say no, however, the words "I'll pray about it" came out of my mouth. It wasn't no. I expected to say no, and it just didn't happen. Apart from the Lord, there is no possible way that I could have done what He had called me to do at that point in time.

The Lord told me when I was a junior in high school that He had kind of readied me, and I had this thought that one day He might want me to teach His word. So I thought the best thing for me to do was to take a speech class, right? That's what you do. Well, I was horrible at speech. In fact, I believe that the Lord had me take that class to show me how absolutely horrible I was at it, to prove to me that I am not sufficient of myself. There is no way that I can do these things on my own.

I want to talk a little bit about that this morning. We're not going to be in the book of Acts this morning, but if you would open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians and stand. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one. Don't you want to be that usher that brings the Bibles to someone? So stand and open to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1:12 says, "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conduct or our conversation in this world and more abundantly toward you."

Let's pray. God, I ask that You would speak to us and that You would continue to transform our lives, because that's what You do. Lord, You have changed us from the inside out. Even if we just came to know You a couple of weeks ago or a few days ago, You've already begun that change, and it's drastic.

And people see it, especially those who think they know us, Lord. But I pray that in 2009, our lives would change more drastically than ever. Lord, that we would have this testimony that Paul had, that we are those who live in simplicity and godly sincerity by grace. So, Lord, speak to us now, I pray. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, amen. You can be seated.

I mentioned at the conclusion of last week's service that each new year, I seek the Lord and ask Him to give me a word. Sometimes that word comes in the form of a verse, sometimes it's an entire passage of Scripture, and other times it's just a single word. Several weeks ago, I began to ask the Lord, "What is it that You want to speak to me for 2009?" In the past, that would have been completely personal; it would only be for me. But a few years ago, God added to that equation a wife. Then it became seeking the Lord at the beginning of a new year for what He wanted to speak to me for myself and my wife.

This year, the Lord added a new son to the equation. Now it's, "Lord, what do You want to speak to me personally for myself, my wife, and my son?" But the Lord also added this church. Now it's, "Lord, what do You want to speak to me for myself, my wife, my son, and the church?" It almost seemed this year, as I began to really pray about this, even more important. Maybe it's not, but it still is, to me, important that God would give me His word. What do You want to speak to me for this year?

I remember ten years ago when I was asking the Lord. We were at winter camp right at this very time, ten years ago. I was asking the Lord, "What do You want to do now that I'm going to be starting at the church as an intern on staff there?" The key thing that the Lord told me to do was to shut up. That's what He told me to do. He told me to keep my mouth shut and just to watch and listen. He said, "Don't say a word, just watch and listen."

You know what? That was really hard for me to do. I bet you don't believe that, but it was hard for me just to keep my mouth shut and observe. I learned a lot as I was quiet and listened to how things were going on and as the Lord would speak to me. So that was the word ten years ago. As I was thinking about this and praying about it, I asked the Lord, "What is it that You want to do? What is it that You want to speak to me and to the church as we move into 2009?"

Because this is a year of a lot of change, we are having the change of administration in just a couple of weeks. I believe we are going to see a lot of changes in our nation. As we move through the holiday season and Christmas, I think we will continue to see a secularization in our nation. That is what we are witnessing; it is just a trend. I am no prophet to say that; I am just looking around and observing what is going on. I can tell you that we are moving into a society that is becoming even more secular, pulling away from and drifting away from God.

We are looking at a world that is in upheaval. There is another war in Israel right now, and the ground offensive into Gaza started last night at about 8:30 p.m. Israeli time. Right after the Sabbath, they went in, and they are on the ground fighting. Jerusalem is going to continue to become more and more of a cup of trembling. We are praying for our troops who are over in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking the Lord for a resolution to all of these issues.

The Scripture says that there will be wars and rumors of wars. Jesus tells us to see that we are not troubled. We will hear of these things, and that is the way the world is going to be. But church, be not troubled is what the Lord tells us because these are the beginnings of birth pains. It is going to get worse. I hope that does not scare you too much, but it should give us a proper reverence for what is happening. It should cause us to recognize that our hope comes from the fact that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. We are looking beyond the suffering to the salvation and sanctification that the Lord is bringing.

There are going to be difficult times. I have no doubt that the economy in America has not seen the worst of it yet. I know for some of you that is pretty fearful because you are very tied into it, and you have money invested in it. But that brings us back to the verse that Pastor Richard shared: our sufficiency is of Christ. He is the one we lean upon; He is the one we trust in. Proverbs 27:1 tells us that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. We do not even know if we will make it until June of 2009 or if we will make it until December of 2009. If the church's prayer is answered, "Lord, come quickly," then maybe we will not even make it until tomorrow. That is what I would hope for—the Lord to come and take us home to be with Him.

But we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Even so, I am so thankful for what Rob said when he mentioned what Martin Luther said: even if the Lord comes back tomorrow, we will plant the tree today. The Lord still has work for us to do, and there are great things He is calling us to. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to seek the Lord, that He would speak to you and direct you.

This is something that we do annually. We have this temporal marker in our year: January 1st. Every year, we come to a new year, and for some reason, that day in our minds clicks as an opportunity to make resolutions and to start with a clean slate. You could start with a clean slate on January 5th, tomorrow, or January 20th, or December 1st. You can start with a clean slate at any time. But for some reason, January 1st is that day where we look at it and say, "Well, okay, a new year and a time to start afresh."

I would encourage you to ask the Lord, "What do you want to do?" James tells us that it is the foolish who say, "Come, let us go to such and such a city, and we will buy and sell and trade. We will be there for a year and we will make a lot of money." He says this because you don't even know what is going to happen tomorrow. Therefore, we need to ask the Lord, "Lord, what do you will? What do you want?" This is what James tells us to do.

In your asking, there are three things I want you to recognize. First and foremost, God is always faithful. Moses tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 7, "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is the faithful God." Not just a faithful God, but the faithful God. He is the only faithful God.

There are many things that people look to as their god, and we've talked about this before. The gods in the Old Testament were merely things that people trusted in. Many people trust in different things in this world. Some trust in some form of medication or drugs. Others trust in their finances, their jobs, or whatever it may be. You can have many different things that you exalt as a god. You might not call it a god, but God calls it a god because it is something you trust in above and beyond Him. He is the only faithful God. All those other things fail.

As we have seen in 2008, God, just as He did when He came into Egypt, as described in Isaiah chapter 19, caused the gods of the nation of Egypt to shake. If you have anything else in your life that you are trusting in, God will cause it to shake in 2009. He is going to shake it up so that you do not trust in it any longer. Why? Because God wants His church to trust in Him alone. He will shake the things that you are trusting in.

So, the first thing we need to recognize is that God is faithful. Paul says the very same thing in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 9 states, "God is faithful, by whom you are called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." God is faithful. This is reiterated in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, where Paul again emphasizes God's faithfulness. He writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, saying, "Even if we are faithless, God remains faithful still because he cannot deny himself." Aren't you thankful for that? I certainly am. How many times has my faith been small? Has your faith been small?

Remember the man who met Jesus after He came down from the mountaintop with Peter, James, and John in Matthew chapter 17? His son was severely demon-possessed. Jesus told him, "All things are possible to him who believes." The man responded, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." Even though the man's faith was small, Jesus was still faithful in that situation. God is faithful, and we see this throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Secondly, not only is God faithful, but He also desires to have an intimate and relational communication with you. He wants you to speak to Him, and He desires to speak to you. How do I know this? First, consider how much Jesus went through so that you and I could have that kind of fellowship with Him. Think about what God did so that we could have communication with Him, unhindered fellowship, and the ability to enter into the throne room. Jesus is the one who tore down the middle wall of separation. He opened the veil for you and me to come in through the work He accomplished on the cross.

I just read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where it says that God is faithful in verse 9. Notice what the remainder of the verse states: "God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ." God has called you and me to enter into fellowship, relationship, and communion with Him. Communion involves communication, and it cannot be one-sided. We all know how awkward it is when you're in a room and someone is on an important phone call, and you can only hear one side of the conversation. It drives you nuts. We all understand the difficulty of being in a one-sided conversation.

You feel like you want an opportunity to say something. That's typically how people feel when they're talking with me; I talk too much. But communication has to be two ways. God desires to have this intimate relational communication with us. He desires that we would speak to Him. He's made the way open so that we could have that fellowship and be one with Him. In fact, Jesus even prayed for this. In John chapter 17, verse 20, Jesus prays, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." That's you and me. He says in verse 21 that Jesus prays that you and I would have this kind of intimate fellowship and relationship with God.

Throughout the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, we see that God desires to dwell in the midst of His people. This is no different now. The New Testament reveals that not only does God want to dwell with His people, but this is our hope: Christ in us, the hope of glory. This is not just for one small people group, the Jews in Israel, but for the entire world. In Colossians 1:27, Paul says, "To whom God would make known the riches of His glory, of this mystery among the Gentiles." This means non-Jews. Among the Gentiles, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

God desires to have fellowship with you and me, and He is always faithful. Furthermore, we see that God wants us to know and walk in His will. If I told you today that I desire to spend some time with you, that I want to fellowship with you, and that I would love for you to come by my house sometime, but then I walked away without telling you how to get there or where I live, you would question whether or not I really want to spend time with you. Wouldn't you? If I just said, "I would love to spend time with you. Come on over to my house sometime," and you asked, "Well, where do you live?" and I replied, "Hold on, I'll see you later," and walked away, you would think, "I don't really believe that he wants to spend time with me."

Now the Lord has told us that He wants to have this intimate fellowship and relationship with us. He desires for us to one day be in His house, in His kingdom, there in heaven. Do you not think that He wants you to know how to get there? Don't you think that He wants you to know His will?

I run into people all the time who tell me that they're searching for God's will. They're trying to figure it out, and I think that's wrong. They speak of it as though they're trying to find it, as if God hid it from them. They believe they have to do A, B, C, D, and E, and then, if they do that, God will show them. It's as if they think it's hidden under some rock somewhere.

I deal with this primarily at the Bible college because I teach at the Bible college in Marietta. I always interact with students who are in their fourth semester and are about ready to graduate. I ask them, "What do you believe the Lord is calling you to do?" They often respond, "I don't know. I'm just waiting on God's will." When I ask, "What is He showing you?" they say, "I don't know. I'm just waiting on God's will." It's almost as if they're waiting for God to come to their door in the hillside dorms and say, "Come on now, this is what we're going to do."

Listen, we need to recognize that God primarily reveals His will to us through His Word. As I abide in His Word, I am wise to His will. Let me say that again: as I abide in His Word, I am wise to His will. Not only that, as I walk in His will, He reveals more still. As I fulfill what He's told me to do, as I listen and obey, doing the things that He has instructed in His Word, then He will reveal more.

You've probably heard that great old hymn. It goes, "When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey." Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy with Jesus but to trust and obey.

So God is faithful. If you ask Him today, "God, show me, what is it that You want me to be doing? Speak to me," He will speak to you because He is faithful. He desires to have that intimate communication with you and with me.

It's not just something that God does with Moses on the mountaintop or with the pastors of the church. God desires to have intimate communication with you and with me. He wants us to know His will and to walk in His will. He doesn't hide it from us. Much of His will is revealed in His Word. I'm talking about the general will of God, where we read things like in 1 Thessalonians, which says, "This is the will of God." If God says, "This is my will," we should probably respond, "Oh wow, yeah, this must be what He wants me to do."

As we do those things and walk in His will, He begins to reveal more. He opens doors before us, and as we walk through these doors, it's a day-by-day, step-by-step process. God is daily speaking to us, directing us, leading us, and showing us what it is that He wants us to do.

This verse in 2 Corinthians 1:12 is something the Lord has been speaking to me about as I look at the coming year. I've been asking the Lord, "What do You want to do in 2009? How do You want to move in my life and in this church?" The word that kept coming to me was not a verse, but a specific word that overlapped in my mind like a record player, going over and over again. The word was "focus."

Focus is a concentrated effort or attention on a particular thing. As I thought about this word, different verses started to come to mind. In Matthew 6:33, we read, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Also, in Colossians chapter 3, we read, "Seek those things which are above. Set your mind and your affection on those things that are above, not on the things of the earth." This is fixing your focus in the proper way.

However, I realized that it's very hard to focus when everything is cluttered. My office is a perfect illustration of this. Richard is laughing; he knows. Richard loves to have everything perfectly laid out. When he comes into my office, it drives him crazy. We'll be sitting there, and he'll straighten things on my desk. I know where everything is.

But it's very difficult to focus when there's all this other stuff going on, isn't it? The second word that seemed to be going over and over again in my mind is "simplify." Simplify. Simplify and focus. I believe those are the words that the Lord is speaking to me for myself personally and for our church as we move into 2009. Simplify and focus.

There are several different things that I want us to do in 2009 to help us simplify and focus. Some of that involves things for the ministry as a whole, and we'll be sharing some of that with you in the coming weeks. However, it also involves things for us individually. Let me ask you a question that some of you may not want to answer: How many of you have a lot of junk? You go into your garage, and you can't even park there, which was its intended purpose. You just have a lot of stuff. We have garages, closets, and storage facilities filled with all this sort of clutter. I have talked with a lot of people over the years, and they'll say, "I just wish I had a way to get rid of all this stuff."

Okay, I want to help you. This spring, I am wanting us to do something we're just going to call "spring cleaning." We're going to get a big dumpster here at the church and put it in the parking lot. If you've got junk, bring it down here and throw it in the dumpster. Why? Well, in Genesis chapter 35, God spoke to Jacob and said to him, "Jacob, arise and go to Bethel." Bethel is the house of God, the place of worship. He wanted Jacob to focus on something. He said, "I want you to go to Bethel and focus."

Jacob, being the priest of his household, went to his entire household in verse 2 of Genesis 35 and said to them, "Put away all the strange gods from among you." What is he doing? He's simplifying. He recognized they could not focus on Bethel and the house of worship and serve God unless they simplified and got rid of all this junk. He continued, "Put away all the strange gods from among you and be clean. Change your garments, and let us arise and go to Bethel." Notice that God spoke to him, saying, "Go to Bethel." Now he speaks to his family and says, "Let us arise and go to Bethel." But first, they have to get rid of all this junk.

In verse 3, Jacob said, "I will make an altar unto the Lord God, who answered me in the day of my distress." Verse 4 of Genesis 35 states, "And they gave unto Jacob all their strange gods which were in their hand and all their earrings." Those were their signs of false god worship, which were in their ears.

Jacob buried them under an oak tree in Shechem. You might have a lot of junk, but this year we want to give you an opportunity to bury it and get rid of it. At the same time, Kelly wants to do a rummage sale for missions to raise money for our work in China and Africa this summer. If you have good junk, you can bring it here, and we'll sell it.

One of the things I want to see us do this year is to simplify. Some of you are in a very difficult financial position and want to focus and move forward, but the debt weighing over you is challenging. In 2009, I want to offer an opportunity, and several leaders within our church will be able to help with this. We want to assist you in getting on a budget to simplify so you can focus on what God is calling us to do.

We've had to do this as a leadership team as well. We've looked at our budget going into 2009, and we'll talk more about this in the coming weeks. We have had to simplify so that we can focus. God has blessed us in an awesome way, and this is a very giving church. I praise the Lord for how generous this church is. I know that when we share the different needs, we don't even need to worry about them because they are always taken care of.

I know of several churches that, going into 2009, missed their budget by 40%. We missed our budget in 2008 too, but thankfully not by that much. Richard showed me this morning that we missed it by just 1%. God is faithful; He meets our needs. However, because we missed our budget, we decided as a leadership team that we need to simplify and focus. We need to change the way we've been doing things and say, "Lord, we need to focus."

That is what I am looking forward to us doing in 2009, and I am excited about what God has for us. When the group of people in Genesis 35 was unhindered by all the things they had gathered along the way, the Lord did miraculous and mighty things. We are going through the book of Acts this year, and God is already beginning to speak to many of you through His word. I believe that God is going to raise up more missionaries from this fellowship that we can send to Rob, and he can send them somewhere else. But first, we need to lay aside.

All those weights and things that so easily ensnare us can hinder our ability to run the race with endurance. The Lord is coming quickly; I believe that wholeheartedly. But until He comes, may we be those who are running with endurance, looking for and hoping for the coming of the Lord. Amen?

Next week, we're going to share with you several different ministry leaders who will come up and share from the men's ministry, the women's ministry, youth ministry, and so forth. They will discuss some of the things that God is doing and what we are looking for God to do in the new year. We have a lot of things planned for this year, including exciting opportunities in missions, Vacation Bible School, a harvest celebration at the end of the year, and Easter will be here before we know it. God has a lot of great things for us as a church to do, and I've been telling you for quite some time that there remains much land to be possessed. That was the word that God spoke to Joshua at the end of his life as he looked at the nation of Israel coming into the Promised Land. They had just taken a portion of it, and God said, "There remains much land to be possessed," indicating that there is a lot of work to do.

For us to accomplish this, I believe that this is a year to simplify and focus. It is my prayer that we would have this testimony: that in simplicity and godly sincerity, by grace, we have our conduct in this world. Amen?

Let's stand and pray. Father, I do thank You for the fact that You are faithful and that You speak to us when we ask You to. Lord, You said, "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Lord, we don't have a clue what we're doing at Calvary Chapel, Escondido, but You do. We are thankful that we can trust in You, lean upon You, and that You are faithful to guide and direct us.

Lord, I pray that You would continue to be the head pastor of our church, the great shepherd of the sheep, and that we would submit to Your rule, Your reign, and Your direction. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.