FBCWest 632 | Turn Around and See
Recorded On: 11/10/2024
Bulletin
Hymn # 149 “God of My Fathers”
SCRIPTURE READING – Ephesians 4:4 - 6
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
“Raise a Hallelujah”
“God So Loved”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Turn Around and See”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“How Great Is Your Love”
Benediction “Egypt”
Sermon Notes
Psalm 23:6a It is certain that goodness & lovingkindness by God will follow me always
Romans 8:28 God causes all things to work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose
Psalm 86:13 –15 God is merciful and abundant in lovingkindness
Psalm 23:6b I will dwell in God’s house forever
John 14:1 – 6 Jesus confirms this promise
Ephesians 3:14 –19 Paul prays that we might comprehend God’s great love toward us
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
As a general rule, it is wise to always look forward. And you will get people who will give you advice that we always need to be forward-thinking and forward-looking. However, there are times and exceptions, if you will, when it's a good idea to turn around and look to see what's been behind. The Scriptures will tell us a good example of why we should, on occasion, look to see what was behind.
And so in the last verse of this Psalm, he's going to take a look at his overall life and his future after this life. And so in verse 6, the first part of verse 6, it says, "Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life."
Surely I'm not going to mention it, but there's a favorite joke in an old movie that always cracks me up. But I won't bore you with it because most of you probably don't remember the movie, so it's okay. But surely means with certainty. It's not like I'm thinking about it or it might be true.
David in his Psalm says, "There is certainty in what I'm about to say, that goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life."
Well, I'm going to advance a little bit and then come back to goodness and loving kindness. It says, "It will follow me."
Now people will tell you that we should always look forward, and that's a good idea because you don't want to run into things. So for instance, people will say, "There's a reason that your windshield is very large because you want to make sure you're looking out the windshield to see what the oncoming traffic and how to avoid it and those types of things. So it's very large. And there's a reason why the rearview mirror is small.
But the rearview mirror is there for a reason.
It is there to allow you to see what comes from behind so that you can be, if you will, hopefully a safe driver. So how the person behind me is driving will impact how I do the things ahead of me. So for instance, if the car behind me is riding my bumper, I'm not going to necessarily want to ride the bumper of the car in front of me because if he or she slams on their brakes and I need to slam on my brakes, the person behind me won't probably act in time. And now I'm going to be in an accident besides possibly being hurt and ruining my car. Now I've got to deal with the insurance company and with the repairs, and I just don't want to do that. So I take a look at what's behind me to make sure how I do the future. And so there is safety, if you will, in looking from behind.
The psalmist, what David is saying is, "When I turn around and look at my life, goodness and loving kindness follow me.
Where I have been has been goodness and loving kindness."
So it is a good idea sometimes for us to turn around and look to see what God is doing because I know, for instance, I am very good at seeing what God has done. I'm not as good at seeing what God is going to do. There are times when, "God, I wonder what I'm supposed to do." And I gave you an example.
For many years in this church, I was a deacon and even became the chairman of deacons. And I felt like I was in the wrong office. And I resigned being the chairman of deacons. And I decided that where God had called me was to be a pastor. And so I went through all this stuff and was ordained.
But at the time, we really didn't necessarily need two pastors. So I always felt like an extra thumb. And so I kept looking at God, giving me an opportunity. So I would try to become a supply preacher or try to fill in when a pastor had left and the church needed someone until they called the pastor. And I kept trying to do all these things and nothing ever seemed to work. And I'm going, "God, I don't understand because I felt you called me to be a pastor." And yet, looking ahead, nothing seems to materialize until one Wednesday night, well, actually it was Wednesday afternoon before a business meeting on Wednesday night, I was then tagged to be your pastor.
So you all need to pray for me and you all need to pray for yourselves because that's what's been happening. But God was saying, in essence, not yet, not yet, not yet, but there will be a time. But I didn't see that. Looking back now, I could see that God was saying it's not, it'll come in time. And so there are times when we're uncertain what God is doing. We're not certain what's happening. But if we turn around and look and see that goodness and loving kindness has been following us, then we can trust Him that goodness and loving kindness will be ahead of us. And again, I want you to understand that it is following us, which meant that where we were, it was.
So in our lives, goodness and loving kindness was there. But it doesn't stay in the rear view mirror. It continues to follow us so that we can be assured that goodness and loving kindness follows us.
Now I want you to think about, and then I'm going to give you a charge.
David was a man after God's own heart.
He had a son named Solomon who Solomon became king after David.
And Solomon, as the scripture says, was the wisest man who ever lived, except this wisest man who ever lived acted foolishly.
Because he married many foreign wives.
Now this applies for men and women, but if you're married to one person, that's good enough. You don't need more. Because it's not like if you have two, it's twice as many problems. No, it's geometrically, it just goes crazy. So why would one more than one spouse? I don't know.
But Solomon, in his "wisdom," decided that he wanted a bunch of wives. But not only did he want a bunch, he had foreign wives. And the problem with the foreign wives was that they followed foreign gods and they turned Solomon's heart against God and to the foreign gods. And God came to Solomon on two separate occasions and said, "Solomon, knock it off. Get rid of the foreign wives." And Solomon, like every foolish male, says, "But I love them."
That's going, "I don't care if you love them, get rid of them, but I love them." So God then said to Solomon, "I'm taking the kingdom from you.
But because of your father David, I will wait to exercise this judgment, for you die."
And then when Solomon died, the kingdom became Israel and Judah.
Solomon was treated with goodness and loving kindness, not because he deserved it, but because God recognized David.
So for something as a thought experiment, since in reality none of us deserve the goodness and loving kindness that God gives us, was there somebody in our past?
It was like David, that God says, "Yeah, you're an idiot, but I'm not going to hold you to account because of somebody in your past.
And my charge is this, maybe we should be that type of person who says when our children or grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren mess up, they go, "Because of you, I will delay the consequence."
That we should be such that God says their goodness and loving kindness will follow them because of your commitment to God. Now notice, and again I'm going to continue on, then I'm going to jump back. And it says, "Loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life." It doesn't say some of the days.
It doesn't say the best days or the days like I feel like it. Every single day that we follow God, He will have following us, goodness and loving kindness.
So, if that's a promise of God, we can be secure in it. That goodness and loving kindness does in fact follow us.
And we should be aware of it so that when we look out the windshield, when we glance at the rear-view mirror, we see God's graciousness at work in us.
Now, I'm going to go back to goodness.
How is God's goodness? Well, Romans chapter 8, and there is a reason that Romans is one of my favorite books.
And one of my favorite chapters and one of my favorite books is chapter 8.
And I can almost tell you, if you have a question about the Bible, you can probably find it in Romans chapter 8.
And if you can't, you can dig some more. There's a lot of doctrine and understanding of what God is doing. It's found in a single chapter, Romans chapter 8, and it says this in verse 28.
And we know, again, notice, and we know, we don't suspect it, we don't hope it, we don't think it. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.
So when we experience certain things in our life, and at that time we're going, "Well, wait a minute. This doesn't seem, this doesn't feel like it is good." So God, how can it be goodness when God then says, "I'm going to take that thing that is bad, that thing that is difficult, that thing that seems to defeat you, and I'm going to cause it to work for your good."
Now, if that doesn't give you great hope in living each day, I guess there's nothing to give you hope for reason for living for each day. Because God is saying, "Even if there is a mess in your life, I'm going to take that mess and I'm going to work it for your good."
He's not going to say that that thing is good, that was bad. He's saying, "I want to turn that bad thing and make it to work for good for you."
But there is something that you have to also understand.
A lot of people stop that burst there, and especially non-Christians, it's funny how non-Christians will quote certain scriptures, but to leave certain things off. And so you'll hear, "Well, everything happens for a reason."
Okay?
What's the reason? Who caused it? Well, here God says, "I'm going to work for good everything if you do two things. If you love God,
if you love God, He's going to work in your life.
And if you love God and you are called according to His purpose."
Now, God is gracious, but this second part, we can really see how it may not work out. Because all the books that you hear, and all the churches, and all whatever, and we have colleges now, whatever, we talk about a purpose-driven life.
Notice it didn't say, "We are called according to your purpose."
It doesn't say that. And yet everybody wants it well on my purpose. It says that if you love God and you are called according to His purpose, my purpose-driven life is to follow God and be working on His purpose.
And if my purpose and His purpose are on the same track, wonderful. But if my purpose is not in His purpose, I'm on the wrong road. I need to get on to His purpose. But I have this promise that if I'm working according to His purpose, and I love Him, He's going to take...
Well, she used a bad word. I'm going to use the rubbish and extra meat that happens in our lives, and I'm going to turn it into roses and perfume and work it for your good.
So that when I turn around and I see that terrible thing that happened, I go, "Oh, it wasn't so terrible because now I trust God better."
Or, "I'm a better father, or a better person, or a better husband, or a better spouse, or whatever." But this terrible thing had a positive impact on my life, that I did not allow it to destroy me, that God gave me greater strength for it.
So that we are called according to His purpose. So we have that great promise.
And then another Psalm, Psalm 86, verse 13 says this, "For your loving kindness towards me is great, and you have delivered my soul from the depths of shield.
O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, and a band of violent men have sought my life, and they have not set you before them.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth." So the loving kindness that follows me is not one that God is stingy about. He is rich and abundant in His loving kindness towards me.
I used to rip in, and I guess now I wish I hadn't. There used to be a phrase that talked about committing random acts of kindness. And my statement used to be, "They shouldn't be random. They should be systematic. We should be systematically kind."
But it seems lately you don't even see random acts of kindness anymore.
People seem to be angry and whatever, and just rude. There's very little kindness.
But God says, "I am abundant in my loving kindness." And there is a sense, if you will, that while I would prefer you to be kind to me than rude or unkind to me,
I would rather your kindness be loving kindness. Now what do I mean by that? Well, the best way I can use it as an example is my mother was an excellent woman. She was an excellent mother. And if I had any woman to choose as to be my mother in my life, I would have chosen my mother because she was an exceptional woman. We were not... She had like a Navy pension from my dad and Social Security women. We were not even technically middle class. But I would have never known that because I had really nice stuff and I never wanted for things. I didn't know that people were richer than me because my mom sacrificed to make sure that I had a good life. And thinking back a month, we would go to...cross the country to go to Virginia for three months at a time, with four credit cards, and yet she had the money to buy the gas and to obey the hotel room. Although we never had hotels with...or actually motels with swimming poles. But you know, we didn't... I never went...oh gee, we're poor. She treated me that way. But when it came to her grandchildren,
she treated them with loving kindness.
We would be over her house and the kids would want to stay and...well, we don't have pajamas. But she'd go...and this may be in August. And she'd go and say, "Well, I got these for Christmas." And she'd bring them out and she could stay. They could stay. And we'd do different things. And they just enjoyed being with Grandma. I used to tell them, "If Grandma ever had to spank you..." And I know that's terrible now. But again, I still believe in spoil the rod, spoil the chop. But so I told them, "If Grandma ever had to spank you, you're going to get a second spanking." Because if Grandma ever had to spank you, you had to be really bad.
Because she treated my children with loving kindness. She wasn't just kind. And you could just see in her face when she looked at her. As a matter of fact, when my son was going through whatever and he was a little angry and whatever, it wasn't his fault. It was that girl he was dating. It was her fault. No, because she lovingly loved them. And that's kind of how God is. God isn't just kind to us.
He's lovingly kind to us.
You know, I'm not kind because I'm supposed to be. It's kind because I love you.
And God loves us. And so, His loving kindness and His goodness follows us every single day of our life.
Not because we love, deserve it, but because He loves us.
The second part of the verse deals with afterwards.
David says, "During my lifetime, I am certain because I have observed it." That God's goodness and loving kindness follows me every single day. But then he goes, "When this life is over, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Now, I want you to see this word. "I will dwell." I am not a guest.
This is where I live. I will dwell. I will live in the house of the Lord.
Now, various one of you have come from different backgrounds and different economic situations. Some of you may have come where, no matter whether you had a house or not, that maybe you didn't have enough bedrooms. So you had to share a bedroom with one of your siblings. Or maybe not only did you have to share a bedroom with one of your siblings, you had to share a bed.
And you could hardly wait to either get out of your own house or your sibling get out of the house so you can be your room.
So you can go there and find peace and quiet, play the music as loud as you want, or read, or whatever you wanted to do.
But you kind of felt restricted.
We're going to see that this is not necessarily the case when it comes. But he goes, "I'm not a tenant. I'm not a guest. I don't have to worry about that old little sign on the relative's kitchen that says, "Guests and fish melt after three days. God has invited me to his house to dwell forever."
Not for a few days, not for a few years, but forever.
Now Jesus will follow up on this, and he says this, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me."
"In my Father's house are many dwelling places," the King James says, "many mansions."
"If it were not so, I would have told you." So Jesus is saying, when David is talking about dwelling in the house of the Lord, or when Jesus talks about dwelling in the house of the Lord, it is not a parable.
It's a reality. One day, we will dwell in God's house.
So Jesus says, "I know it to be true." So don't be troubled.
"If it were not so, I would have told you." So we can be confident in the fact that we will be dwelling in God's house forever. Then he goes, "This, for I go to prepare a place for you."
You don't have to share a bed, you don't have to share a room. You get your own place. I'm going to prepare a place for you.
Maybe that's why it's taken him 2,000 years to get it done, because he's there making preparation for us.
If he's making preparation for us, our God doesn't do anything partially.
It is going to make magnificent, it's going to be awesome, it is going to be beyond our imagination now.
And as the real estate agents tell you, the three most important things about property is location, location, location.
And our location that we're going to be dwelling in the Lord's house is heaven.
But far more than that, it's not, it's heaven. It's the Lord's house.
To be in his presence, to be where he is, to understand that, that he is preparing a place for you. And then he says this, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."
Notice again, the one that loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us. The one who died for us, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are going to be there, and we are going to dwell with them. That we may be where they are. We're not going to heaven, and we're going to be in some location. We're going to be there with God.
And we're sad, and we're depressed, and we don't know what's going to happen. When these are the things that God tells us that his plans for us, that goodness and loving-kindness will follow us all the days of our lives, and then we're going to dwell in his house with him forever.
Oh. What problems you've got that can't be overcome by that.
So that we may be there also, and you know the way where I'm going.
And Thomas makes a statement that probably the others probably were thinking as well. That's why I say when we have Bible study, people are always afraid to ask questions or whatever, because they're afraid they're going to be dumb. Well, probably most of the other people had the same question, so it's okay. So Thomas goes, "Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you're going. How do we go the way?"
We ask questions. We don't have a clue, Jesus. We don't know where you're going. So if we don't know where you're going, we don't know how to get there.
So if I tell you, "In three days I'm going to be someplace, follow me," and you go, "How do I follow you if I don't know where you're going?" So Thomas is, if you will, asking a reasonable question if he doesn't know where Jesus is going. And then Jesus says this, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way."
"And the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me."
He makes it very clear where he's going and how to get there.
You do it by following Jesus as the way. Not a way, the way. Not a truth, the truth. Not a life, the life. He is all of those things. And we cannot get to dwelling in the house of the Lord forever if we don't get there by Jesus.
Paul is going to give a prayer. We find in Ephesians. And he says this, "For this reason I bow my knee before the Father, in whom every family in heaven and on earth derives a stain,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit and the inner man. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."
That's his prayer. That we might really comprehend how much God loves us.
I love you and I'm trying to love you more. But I don't want you living with me.
God loves me and wants me to live with Him. Forever.
What an awesome God that we have that loves us.
Who we are, as we are, and has made this invitation.
So Paul makes this prayer that we might understand and might know the strength and the power and be strengthened in that inner person.
And I think it's a great prayer and I think it's something that we should apply to ourselves.
But as I said shortly before, I hope and I pray that Psalm 23 is not just a comforting psalm to you.
It's not just a favorite psalm to you, but that it is your testimony that the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For you are with me. Your wad and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You will not my head with oil. My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. May this be my testimony. May it be your testimony that what God does as our shepherd and as our host. And that though He slay me, still will I praise Him and worship Him because He is the kind of God that He is and that He can sense to love me as a sheep who gets lost and brings me back.
And leads me in these ways and provides for me in these ways and protects me in these ways.
And wants me to be with Him forever and ever in the house that He is preparing for me.
What a God that we have come to worship. What a God who loves us. What a God who is God.
May it be our testimony and