People need the Lord

Hey everyone, I hope Sunday finds you well. As I said yesterday on Facebook, right now, there's a real need for the Church to be the Church. It's never ever been about the building; the building is just where we meet to worship together, and God willing, we will be able to do that again, soon. In my effort to "be the church", I wanted to share this with you today Below you will find a message I gave in April of 2019 at the chapel service at the Rescue Mission. I thought it was fitting for the day and I hope it's a blessing to you.

Good evening, and on behalf of the staff of the Ogden Rescue Mission, I’d like to welcome you to tonight’s chapel service.  The chapel service is a chance to stop for a few minutes and worship the God who provides; God knows our needs, and one of the many ways he chooses to meet them is through the services provided by the Ogden Rescue Mission.

God knows and meets the physical needs of His children, but He also knows that we have a need for HIm, and that’s kind of the topic I’ll be speaking about  tonight. I’d like to take a minute first though, and introduce myself to those that don’t know me. My name is Dale, and I’m not a pastor or anything. There’s nothing special about me.  I’m just a guy who had this hole in my heart and this emptiness in my life that only God could fill, and when Jesus found me about nine years ago now, I discovered that empty feeling in my life was gone.  When you have something that good, knowing and walking with Jesus, following Him, and the joy that brings to your life, you can’t help but want to share that with others. Please keep this thought in mind, I’m going to come back to it in a few minutes, by the way.   I’m so blessed to have that opportunity tonight. Thank you for allowing me to share some thoughts with you.

You might have noticed I didn’t say that I found Jesus.  I said Jesus found me. I was the one that was lost and it was God the Son, the King of Kings, who was looking for me.  How do I know this? Because Jesus talked about it in the parable of the lost sheep that’s recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 15 verses 1-7:

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Jesus is the good shepherd and I was the one that was lost.  And I can tell you that after I realized He was trying to find me, when I started talking to Him in prayer about my life, that I started to see things change in my life.  I started to see things change in ME. Things that I didn’t do, things that God, after I accepted Christ as Savior, took away from me. And the things He left me to work through, well, those things taught me lessons, helped me grow as a Christian, and taught me a new way to think.

I talked a bit in the opening about how I had a God sized hole in my heart, but didn’t know that the only thing that could fill it was Jesus.  I tried for years to fill it with things. I thought I was entitled to the best stuff. I thought i could have it all. I wanted it all. And the more I got, the more I wanted.  Stuff was never enough stuff. It’s a common human trait, though. I found that out while reading the book of Ecclesasties, which was written by Solomon, son of David, king of Israel after his father, and the wisest human being that wasn’t Jesus who was ever born.

Solomon talks about a lot of the things we do to try and fill the void that exists in each of us. Here’s what he wrote about stuff:  

I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem[a]as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

    I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labor,

    and this was the reward for all my toil.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

    and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

    nothing was gained under the sun.

 My thing was stuff, and it had to be good stuff.  And I treated people like stuff. If you weren’t good enough, I threw you away.  I wasn’t happy with the people God gave me, I tossed them aside. If you hurt me, I’d hurt you back ten times worse.  There’s a trail left behind me of people who I didn’t value as I should. I used to be a fool.  

Solomon, on the other hand was wise.  In fact, he was the wisest man ever, (along with the richest man to ever live) and he talks about that wisdom being a curse sometimes, With all God laid at his feet, his conclusion was that all that stuff, the people he possessed, the pleasures he indulged in, and the works of his hands were meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

I get where Solomon is coming from, but it took losing just about everything to find all I ever really needed in the first place:  

Jesus.

My meaningless thing was collecting meaningless things, because I thought those things were what gave me value as a person.  I used to show others I valued them with stuff. Stuff, more stuff, more and more stuff; more and more debt, more and more to lose.  When I finally broke my life to the point where I was ready to be found, I’d lost almost all of the stuff.

There were a lot of consequences I had to live through, some will follow me for the rest of my life, from my bout with stuff, but one of the blessings of not being a stuff guy anymore is that I understand the role of stuff.  Stuff helps you get jobs done. Stuff helps with a ride to work for a friend. Stuff helps a friend who needs to spend a night. Stuff has a rightful place when it’s not too much, and what stuff you have is used to glorify God in service to others.

I don’t have stuff like I used to.  I only tend to buy stuff I need unless I find something cool at the thrift store, like my popcorn popper.  And that change didn’t come from me. I didn’t change me, God did, through the Holy Spirit.  

My stuff thing was pretty much along what Solomon talks about in these verses.  I denied myself no good thing, and then in the end, I realized that most of the things were just that:  no good things

I think there are a couple of things we do as people; one is that we tend we try to fill that God sized hole in our hearts with anything but God. The other is that we try to rationalize what we do with God.  Ever said to God, “If you help me out of this, and you fill in the blank for the this, I’ll never do it again?”, and then do it again? And yet, no matter what we try and in the midst of all that stuff, all the tangible things we get wrapped up about, all the pleasures we indulge in to dull the pain, to forget the past, to escape from the present, we see Jesus still out looking for HIs sheep.  

And Jesus looks for His sheep where they are, in chapels, in jails and prisons, in hospitals, in refugee camps, in the backwoods, the wrong side of the tracks, and all the places you might not think a Holy God would go to find them.  Including this place.

If you’re here tonight, it’s partly because God has a word for you.  He loves you! He wants you to know that! I want you to feel that. You’re experiencing His love for you first hand.  He provides this place to remind you that He’s here to meet you where you are. He uses this place to meet your needs; to keep you out of the cold, to feed your body, to feed your spirit, and to try to help you see that the only thing that’s going to fill that God-sized hole in your heart is His Son.

He’s the only thing that can.

I could tell you a million things about what being a follower of Christ is like, but I think I’d like to just leave that to Jesus Himself.  Remember I told you that when you have something this good, you can’t help but want to share that with other people, so they can know that, too?  Well, Here’s what Jesus says in Luke 15, verses 8-

he Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus is using this story to further talk about how He searches us out and the joy in heaven when one becomes a disciple; when one quits trying to do it on his or her own, and when we finally turn to God to fill what only God can in our hearts and lives.  That joy I talked about in my opening remarks, I think is a lot like the woman calling her friends and neighbors. I don’t want to take that scripture out of context, but I think it’s a good illustration of how that love Christ shares with us pours out of us.  We can’t help but share that good News, much like the woman who found the lost coin.

Think of what Jesus says:  When just one is saved, there is rejoicing over that in heaven.  That sounds pretty cool.  

So what about you?  You ever wonder why whatever you’re trying to fill that hole with  that no matter what, that thing is it’s never enough? Whatever it is that relieves the need, it only lasts a short time, and it never seems to last?  It’s because you’re trying to make something fit in your life in the place that only God can. Only Jesus can meet that need. The only way to have a relationship with God, to have the hole filled is to believe on Jesus.  

I know this because I tried filling that hole with a lot of different stuff, and it never was enough, and it just kept taking me deeper and deeper into the wrong things.  I can tell you from experience that I don’t have a hole in my heart. I don’t have a lot of what I want, and there are consequences , as I mentioned, for my past sins, but I don’t face the world alone.  I have hope for a good future, I have the love of a Father in Heaven that I never knew from a father in real life. And I have faith that what lies ahead is far, far better than what’s behind.

The cool thing here is that you don’t have to take my word for it.  You can read it for yourself in the Bible. God’s word is true. He’s faithful to keep the promises he makes to His own.  And by His design, that yearning we have in our hearts, can only be me by one thing. His Son.

Do you know Jesus?  Or do you know about Jesus?  Are you a lost sheep tonight?  Maybe it’s time to stop wandering and start listening for His voice?  He’s here. He’s waiting, and He’s looking for you. It’s my prayer that tonight is the night you’ll allow Him to find you.

Father, thank you for this word to share.  Thank you for the examples you give, the guidance you provide, and the love you offer to each of us.  Thank you for Jesus! And thank you Jesus for never giving up on us, for pursuing us, no matter where we are.  And most importantly, thank you Jesus for being willing to sacrifice everything for us! We know we don’t deserve your love yet you offer it to us anyway.  And we thank you for being that all-sufficient Savior we so desperately need. We give you glory God, for this place, and we honor your provision for our needs.  We ask a blessing for the people that provided tonight’s meal, for the hands that prepared it, and those who will clean up after the meal. We humbly pray these things in Jesus’ precious name!

Amen

p.s. I thought this song would go well with the message. Hope you enjoy it!