Understanding the Times, we are living in

1. Lord this is our prayer, “We want to be new wine on earth. In the name of Jesus, Amen”. What a joy to be in the House of the Lord today. I always miss you when I don’t get to be here. I just have to say this to the Glyfada Family, I hear, everywhere I go, from people who have been here, ‘There is some a family feeling there’. I love that don’t you? Yeah, reach over and say ‘We’re family’.
2. I’m excited about sharing the Word of God today. At the beginning of service today we read an opening Scripture from Romans 8: 22, and it talks how all of creation groans, groaning for the Creator, all of the world. Sometimes we think that it is only we humans that want the Lord to come, but if we can see the earth, earthquakes and fire, and storms. There is a desire of all of creation for the creator to come again, Amen. And I’ve been thinking a lot about this, that sometimes we forget, that part of the growing in Him, is being patient to wait on Him, because it’s not just about you or I. The heart of the Lord, is that all may know, that everyone would hear, that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that all around the world, wherever you are, if you will believe He will come into our heart. And I think sometimes we can forget that – we just get caught up in our lives and our worries, our cares, our problems. But if we begin to stop and say, ‘Lord, I at this time, to trust You in patience, that You’re working to save billions.’ Think about that. 8 billion people, I would like to see them know Jesus, wouldn’t you?
3. I’m going to share a little bit, some thoughts about what our ministry in our local Church and then I will go right into the Word. I think this is for this local Church and I think it’s what EME ministry and what we focus on, understanding the times, to know what to do. 1 Chronicles 12:32, and this passage of Scripture, was written at the time when David was king, but the king Saul was still alive. And men began to come to him from many tribes and God was drawing, even though, David was not yet ruler of all Israel.
4. The Scripture says, ‘From the tribe of Issachar, men who understood the times, and knew what Israel should do, 200 chiefs with all of their relatives under their command,’ It’s an interesting little Scripture in the Old Testament, when logic would have said – Saul’s the king, stay under his command. But they understood the times, and knew what they should do. The passage we read at the beginning, says in Romans, when we don’t know what to do, the Spirit will pray, when we don’t know what to pray for. And today, I’ve been thinking several weeks that this local family, we really need to pray for one another, to understand the times in which we live, and pray in the Spirit and with the Spirit, to know what we should do.
5. I’ just going to show you what the local church does. We have ministries that work with women and children, to give them dignity, praise God. We put women and men to work in this church so that they have dignity. This local church for years, has worked with immigrant and migrant communities, and bless people that go and work there. There is a picture of Cecilia – on the looms these women are making weavings that are redeeming and a lost art. And Eva-Lena, Threads of Hope, a quality, this local church, I believe there is a spirit on this Church of understanding the times. Whether it’s tearooms where women have a place to drop in, whether it’s drop-in centers in Exarcheia, Billy. I believe there is an anointing on this church and EME Ministries, understanding the times which we live in, we cannot do shoddy work, God is showing us to do excellent work for the Lord, to do the most excellent work for the Lord.
6. We were just in Tunisia, they take food to people in the mountains, they distribute clothes and medicine, because you pray for us to enable us to do these things. I wanted to encourage you and show you some of these things, from local church and from mission ministry, to remind you that on Sunday, when we come together, we are called to encourage one another. This is a celebration morning every Sunday is a celebration. It should be a time when we encourage one another. When you leave here today, believe that through all the week, God wants to work through you, to do the most excellent work, Amen.
7. I just want to remind you that Eva-Lena and Cecilia probably know this, did you know that there are 46 million people in slave-like conditions today. And many of them that came out of prostitution, the estimation is that 80% of them will return to prostitution, because they cannot find work. And I believe the Lord is challenging this local church, any church, but I am preaching here today, for the Lord to use us, even in the middle of our problems, and we’ll watch God work things out for us if we begin to help others, Amen.

I’m going to talk today a little bit about the plow. It may seem like a strange topic, but I’m hoping that this will catch your attention and capture your thoughts for the Lord. 1 Thess 5:1-3,

“The Day of the Lord

5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

8. I’ll stop a little after verse 1a, and remind you that we are talking about the times that we are living in today, from the beginning of the lesson. We are already beginning to see people wanting peace, people wanting safety, because the whole world is in such turmoil, and a wrong answer will be presented to the world. But the Lord is wanting to use us, to be the answer from the Prince of Peace, from the Lord of lords, from the King of kings, Amen, that He will bring peace and safety, that will never end. I don’t want temporary peace and safety; I want the Kingdom of Heaven to reign and to live in that and we need to show others that.
9. We live in a time of defining decisions, destiny defining decisions. Many of the decisions we are going to make from this point on, will define our destinies. In Luke 9: 62. In this particular chapter, you’ll read that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, He’s not going to let anything turn Him to the right or to the left, He’s on His way to His death on the cross. He has made the decision, I’ll do the will of God, for my life. Jesus refused to look back, even when facing the cross. I’m sure that if I was facing the cross, I’d be looking back at my former life, and wish I could go back there. But Jesus fixed His eyes on the Father, to do what pleased the Father, even knowing He would be facing the cross.
10. I think very few of us today can appreciate the illustration of Jesus using the plow. We were just in Tunisia, Henneke would know this and Cecilia, in many places they still use the ancient plow. And it is just one or two poles attached to some mules, and it has a blade on it that would dig in the ground. The mule or donkey did most of the work, but the farmer would have to hold on to the handles, and as he held on it would direct the path of the blade. Now if you’ve seen the land, even here in Greece, do you know how rocky the land is, and how difficult it is to plow that, with and a mule? The only way you could make a straight line, because it would hit those rocks and it would bump and jerk, and Jesus is using the illustration of a plow, to represent a life dedicated to Him. The only way to make a straight line, is to stay focused on the work, and keep your eyes forward every second. No looking back.
11. I want to look really quickly, at 3 examples in the Word of God, from this chapter, Luke 9: 57-61, of inadequate commitment to the Lord. Three examples this morning, that I want to share with you that they didn’t make a complete commitment to the Lord. They met Him, but they did not completely commit to Him. The Lord knows the heart of each one of us. The 1^st one said, ‘Let me follow You, I’ll follow You wherever You go’. And the reply of Jesus was, ‘I don’t have any place to lay My head’. He understood the 1^st one was just giving lip-service to Jesus. ‘I’ll follow You, but I want things of this life. I want a house; I want to stay here and build things.’
12. The 2^nd one, was giving a delayed commitment. He says to the Lord, ‘I will follow You but first…’. He’s giving an excuse. I think this man had no intention of following Jesus. At least not with total commitment. ‘Lord there are some things I want to hang on to.’ I always think that this verse is kind of funny to begin with. I think I’ve repeated thus before, because it’s such a funny verse to me. If his dad is dead, then he’s dead. Why is he not there with his dad, to get him buried? It doesn’t make sense to me. His dad is probably not dead, and he’s saying, when he dies, I’ll bury him, and then I’ll come. He did not want that time at home with family and things he’s familiar with, he didn’t want it to be closed. For this guy other things came first. And the Lord is looking and asking us today, ‘Do you understand, if you would follow Me, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, with your all, I have to be first.’ He is a jealous God. He wants all of us and when He has all of us, we live in the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. I don’t have a house down here, but I’m telling you I’m one of the richest people in the world. I’m so rich. If you know Him and you’re following Him, how rich you are.
13. And the 3^rd guy, same thing, ‘I’ll follow You but…’ But, But, But… do you ever say that to the Lord, ‘Oh Lord, I really want to serve you, I know you want me to do something, but…’ Jesus is setting down a principle, that every farmer would understand, and every Christian must understand, you cannot plow a straight line looking backwards. There cannot be ‘But, but, but…’ in our lives. Jesus says, ‘Come follow Me’, and this is the first step of the Christian life. To say goodbye to the things of the world, and fix your eyes on Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus, even if no one joins me, even if my family disown me, I have decided to follow Jesus. And it will repeat verse 62, we’ve already read it, we’ll read it again, Jesus said, ‘No one having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.’
14. Jesus chose the picture of a man with his hand on the plow. I think it’s well chosen. Because really, in the Kingdom of God, plow-work is probably the hardest work in the Kingdom of God. Sowing seed is easy, you know, have you ever seen a farmer, he just throws the seeds, and see where it lands, great, and I love it. Some people that’s what they’re called to do. But all of us in our lives, where we live, in our neighborhoods, with our families, when we’re travelling, to realize there is hard ground in front of us, and we fix our eyes on Jesus, and we plow the ground, we represent Him, no buts. Oh Jesus, I’m just kind of a bit shy, I cannot act like a Christian right now, everybody else is having a party, I need to join them. NO! Have a better party, Amen. Plow the ground. Ask the Lord, ‘Lord how can I plow this ground, because I’m following You into this party.
15. When a farmer plows the ground, they’re disturbing it. It’s breaking up the hard ground. The things that are underneath that are hidden, it begins to expose them to the light and air. Some of us have traditions in our hearts, some of us have customs in our lives, that we have brought into our Christian lives, that God is wanting us to plow and get rid of. It is of the darkness and not of the light. Some of us, especially in the Church world today, want Church to be like it used to be. Let’s just sing old songs, let’s sing only hymns, let’s come in and have a prayer and a song, and a prayer and go home. I’m comfortable with that, let’s do it like that. But the Lord is saying, ‘I want to plow the ground of religion’. I want to use you to disturb the order of life. There’s nothing wrong with tradition, but when it becomes hard, when you cannot hear the Spirit of the Lord, to say to you, ‘I want to change it, I want to enlarge it, I want to make it richer, I want you to know how beautiful life with Me is’. It’s not stagnant, it is alive, it is living.
16. Make me your vessel. I need to be new wine. The old wine vessels, they got hard, and they became brittle. And any time, you think you’ve God all figured out, anytime you think we have to always do it this way, you’re becoming a hard vessel. The Lord has allowed us to be alive right now, because, daily He wants to pour the oil of His love onto this wineskin, and He wants to pour new wine in me. That, whenever I begin to plow, wherever I’ at, and some of them will be hard.
17. Listen, we need to reach out to people who are in homosexuality. We need to reach out to parents who are letting their children have sex-change operations. We need to reach out to couples who are giving up on their marriages. We need to reach out to the depressed and the discouraged who live next door. But the only way, is every day, if we look straight ahead, with hands on the plow, saying to the Lord, make me your vessel. Lord, as you use me to plow the ground, pour out the wine of your love.
18. It’s not going to be easy. Did you know that all the disciples were murdered but one (John) and they tried to kill him. Christians have suffered much violence through the centuries. When we were in Tunisia, we know women who are beaten, we know women who have lost their families, have no way to feed themselves, because they decided to follow Jesus. They are looking straight ahead, they’re plowing the ground, and are asking Jesus, ‘Make this real for me every day. Not religion, make me like You Jesus.’
19. 2 Timothy 3:12, I wanted to read a few Scriptures really quickly. I believe it is time for you Glyfada, that we become uncomfortable with satisfied lives. This is not a very lovely sermon, but at the end of the day, only what you do for Jesus Christ, is going to count at the end. When you stand before Him, He’s not going to ask you how many houses you own, He’s not going to ask you if you relaxed and had 8 hours of sleep a night, were you able to have a nice bank account. Instead, He will look at you and say, ‘I saw you when you witnessed to your family, I saw you when you loved those who no one else would love, I saw you when you stood for My righteousness when everybody else wanted to compromise, I saw your love for Me. Enter into My joy. We’ll live together forever.’
20. John 16:33, Romans 8:17, 2 Timothy 2:12, Luke 9:62. The only disciples faced to field the tradition they had to battle against. It was hard. Yet to that field, Jesus called common people like you and me. And just like them, He is calling us today, with our smile, with our words, with our touch, Amen, with our offering to help others. To break open the hard surface and let the light shine in. Because the early disciples did that, do you know what happened? Not long after Jesus was resurrected, 3000 people were saved and filled with the Spirit in one day. The Lord can do that here in Greece, the Lord can do that in Glyfada, Amen.
21. People are full of tradition and full of Philosophy, and you know we here in Greece we are philosophers. We know! Our field id pretty similar, and you know what, the Christians were killed by the thousands, Pastor Brian and I stood in Carthage, where a woman went in and lions ate her. She was able to give her little baby, some say she carried the baby with her, some say she was able to give it to someone else, but she would give up her life to take care of that baby, she said ‘I will not deny Jesus.’ There’s not graceful way to plow, you’re just not going to look lovely when you’re plowing.
22. People need the message of Jesus Christ now! Sometimes it will be easy to share, sometimes people will be offended. But we are called to plow. I want to remind you, if you have witnessed about Jesus, and your friends reject you, whom they really rejected is Jesus. People don’t want the order of their lives disturbed. But we’re here, to follow Jesus. Each one of us have to answer that. I believe the call today is, to answer His call, ‘Will you be Me?’ Yes, you are Jesus, you are the only Jesus these people will ever see. Jesus lives in you. The Spirit of Jesus lives in you. You are sent by Him to reveal Jesus, to reveal the love of God, to reveal the victory of Him, to a broke and hurting and lost world. Would you stand with me.