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Sabbath, March 19, 2005 Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Isaiah 58:2, Psalm 72:15 Pastor Tom Hughes

“SPIRITUAL PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST”
Spending Time with Our Pilot!

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Do you long to be with God?

Do you long every day to be part of God’s family and to do the things that a Christian should do?

When you think of the Newark Church today and our church family, and the things that we are doing for Christ, and the way we are looking at Christ and all the things that Jesus wants us to do…

How do we know what’s important and what isn’t?

How do we know whether our priorities are in order?

How do we know, whether or not we’re following the Christian basics that we need to follow in order to be successful?

Those things are essential to success in the Christian’s walk with God. There are people in our audience today that are pilots. One of them is a friend of mine who not only was Karate instructor, but he was a pilot. But before he took off, he would go through a checklist of things that he had to make sure were right.

And I could get him up here and he could tell you far better what a pilot has to do than I could. But I’ve noticed in the cockpit of even commercial airlines, they have checklists that they have to go through to make sure everything is right and that you’re all ready to take off. And if they don’t go through their checklist, they don’t take off. Am I right? I mean, I don’t know, but I think that’s the way it works. If your checklist doesn’t check out, if you don’t go through it, you can’t take off.

And so Christians have a checklist for our flight to heaven with our beloved Pilot. Who is our Pilot: Jesus Christ. Now, please realize that any checklist will be incomplete and inadequate, and can only represent the most basic level of understanding and insight.

However, I think we can all agree that if we want to succeed as Christians, we will need a basic understanding of our relationship with Jesus and our daily lifestyle. With that in mind, let us discuss this morning, the Christian’s Pre-Flight Spiritual Checklist.

Self-development, being our first duty, requires that we spend time each day pursuing those interests that will help us to become what God wants us to become.

Who are we?

What are our priorities for our life?

Where are we going?

What is our purpose in life each and every day?

All these questions are very important; they’re very deep. We could spend weeks discussing any one of the points I am about to share with you. But before we get to our list, let’s go through the Bible verses that support the recommendations I’m going to share with you. And may they help you be successful in your relationship with God, and in the life you lead with him each, and every day.
Isaiah 58:2…“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.”

Now God was saying that these hypocrites, these Israelites act like they’re doing all these things, but they’re not.

Do we have people in the church today who act like they are going through the motions of being Christians and they act like they really care about a righteous life, and they act like they delight in God but they really don’t?

Do any of us ever act like we want to be good Seventh-Day Adventist Christians and then live like we don’t?

There was an old farmer who sold his mule. The farmer who bought the
mule brought him back and demanded his $200 bucks back because he said the mule wouldn’t listen. And the farmer says to him, “What do you want him to do?” And he said, “I want him to pull the wagon and he won’t pull it!” So he walked up to the mule and smacked him right across the face! (He had) picked up a “two by four” and just went Whack!

I think that farmer should have been arrested for cruelty to animals! But anyway, he said, “Pull!” and off went the mule. And the other farmer said, “Why’d you have to do that?” He says, “Well, first, you have to get his attention, then he’ll do it.”

Has God ever hit you upside the head with a “two by four” to get your attention? I’m not recommending that. I don’t think you should treat animals that way! But sometimes God has to get our attention first!

I believe, from Isaiah 58:2, even though these Israelites weren’t doing it, God tells us in that verse what He wants us to do.

“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.”

God wants us to seek Him daily, to delight to know His ways, and to delight in approaching Him every day.

Are we doing that? Now we’ve talked for a year about our relationship with Jesus. Isn’t it appropriate to not only talk about the relationship but to talk about once we have that relationship what we need to be doing in our life to give glory to God and to be living a life that He can be, maybe, just a little bit proud of.

Daniel, who was prime minister of the kingdom, was in the legislature, in the House of Representatives, and he saw a bill coming through. And the bill said that you couldn’t pray to anybody but the king. And Daniel tried to stop them, I’m sure, from passing that bill but he wasn’t successful. And as he watched that bill – it says in Daniel 6:10…

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”

And, of course, it says in Daniel 6:13, they went to the king and told him…

“Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.”

And we all know the story about how Daniel became the object of a lion’s drooling, because of his faithfulness to God. He was threatened with death, and it says three times a day Daniel knelt and prayed. Daniel waited to see if the king would sign the bill and once he saw that the bill became law, he went to his room in front of his open window – he probably even waved at the very guys who had passed the bill; because he knew they are out there just waiting for him to kneel down. “Hello, fellas! How ya doin’? I see you got your bill passed. Okay, fine, I’m gonna pray now!”

Did Daniel change the way he behaved? No! He knelt down and he prayed.

How many times did Daniel pray? Three times a day. Daniel was a good example. And He spent time with God.

Proverbs 8:30…
“Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.”

Sometimes we think that God is an angry God who doesn’t want to fellowship with us. But I believe Jesus, in the (story of the) Prodigal Son, made it clear that God looks at us as His delight. And even though we’re sinners, as we come to God, He runs out to meet us and wraps His arms around us. He is a God of love and compassion. He cares for us. He knows we’re sinners. He knows we don’t always live up to everything we know. Even the best Christians, like Daniel, ever claimed that they were flawless or faultless. They always confessed the sinfulness of their nature and their need for the righteousness of Christ.

In Revelation 15:4, it says, “…only You are holy.” We all know that we derive our holiness from Christ, from His righteousness. And Daniel was a very, very spiritual man but he, as well, knew that he needed Christ. And when he knelt down, God delighted in Daniel, and when you pray, God delights in you as well! God wants you to rejoice always before Him even in heartache, even in sorrow, even if your heart is broken because of the trials and the difficulties you have to go through. God wants you to have that relationship with Him where you have that sense of joy and protection, and watch care – even going through the most difficult of circumstances. And we can have that in our God if we will but approach Him, and delight in Him, and interact with Him, and commune with Him.

Psalm 61:8…
“So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.”

How often should we do what God asks us to do? “…daily…” Daily we are His delight. Daily we are to rejoice before Him. Daily we are to perform our prayers and our vows.

Psalm 68:19…
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.”

God daily gives us the benefits of His salvation. He daily gives us our bread, and feeds us, and helps us through the day. When you got up this morning, your heart was beating; you were able to come here to church. Did you know there are thousands of people who did not wake up this morning? They passed away in the night and they didn’t get what you got today: the precious gift of life (!) with a beating heart and the opportunity to love and serve others! Life is precious. God gives us benefits every day. Just the beating of your heart, the ability to get up and walk, and come here to this church service is a blessing that God has loaded upon you.

We need to be thankful for these blessings.

Psalm 72:15…
“And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.”

Every day we need to praise God!

In Exodus 29:38, 39 it says, “day by day continually…” you were to offer one lamb in the morning, and the other lamb in the evening.

“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening.”

At 9:00 a.m. every day, the Israelites sacrificed a year-old lamb. At 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, the Israelites sacrificed a year-old lamb. Jesus was crucified at 9:00 a.m. and He died at 3:00 p.m. – the exact times of the morning and evening sacrifice. Now whether God did it that way because He prophesied the crucifixion and He set everything up, and He knew He (Jesus) would be crucified at 9:00 a.m. and die at 3:00 p.m., so He made the tabernacle service that way to reflect that, or whether Jesus’ death reflected the tabernacle service and it was part of His plan…whatever…it’s amazing to me that (at) exactly nine o’clock (9:00 a.m.) Christ was crucified and He died at exactly three o’clock (3:00 p.m.) – the time of the early and the late sacrifice.

And there it is in Ezekiel 46:13…
“Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.”

The daily service according to John Wesley was “…one offering thus becoming a continual offering.”

(WEN) “This daily service, a lamb offered upon the altar every morning, and every evening, typified the continual intercession which Christ ever lives to make in the virtue of his satisfaction for the continual sanctification of his church: though he offered himself once for all, yet that one offering thus becomes a continual offering. And this teaches us to offer up to God the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise every day, morning and evening, in humble acknowledgment of our dependence upon him, and our obligations to him.”

Now in the New Testament in the book of Acts it has a lot to say about this. In Acts 3:1 it says: “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” From three- to four o’clock, they had the hour of prayer. They had a time of prayer; an entire hour dedicated to prayer. Do we have an hour to dedicate to God? We call it “prayer meeting,” we call it “Bible study,” we call it “mid-week Bible study.” But it’s an hour where we get together, we dedicate ourselves to God, we read the Bible together, we pray, we spend time – much like they did in Jesus’ day.

Now, again, in Hebrews 3:13 it says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “…I die daily.”

“I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”

And Wesley said of Paul; Paul was saying, according to Wesley: (WEN) “ I am daily in the very jaws of death. Beside that I live, as it were, in a daily martyrdom.”

So the Bible tells us to die daily. Paul, who said that, was being threatened with physical, literal death every day and he says we need to exhort, encourage, contact, call, interact with each other on a daily basis. And yet we, with our cushy jobs, and our cushy homes, and our cushy cars; who are not threatened with martyrdom daily, are so isolated we rarely ever even have contact with each other!

Now who do you think engineers it so that the saints do not exhort one another daily? Have you ever made a charcoal fire; roasted a marshmallow on it? You know you put the briquettes in the little thing and you squirt them with the lighter fluid and light them, and then they start burning and you push ‘em all together (right?) and they burn; really bright.

Then, after they’ve burned for awhile, they’re glowing embers, and then you spread ‘em out a little. But you keep them all touching each other, and then you can cook your food.

Then, when you want to put them out, what do you do with them? You spread them out. Right? Because if you leave them together they’re going burn brighter, and they’re gonna burn longer. But if you want to get them to go out quick, you spread them out. Right?

That’s what the devil does with you.

When you’re:
coming to prayer meeting,
attending Sabbath School,
going to church,
calling your fellow brothers and sisters on the phone,
praying for each other,
going over to each other’s houses,
having Bible study meetings at each other’s houses,
exhorting one another daily,
you’re burning bright; your candle is strong, you have a lot of bright light.

But what the devil does is he wants to get you all separated and isolated so (that) you’re over here, and you’re over here, and you’re over there – and he wants to spread you out and keep you isolated. And when he’s got you all alone; by yourself, that’s when he can make sure your light goes out – quickly.

Acts 17:11…
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures…” once a week to see whether those things were so?

“…and searched the scriptures…” How often? (“daily.”)

“… daily, whether those things were so.”

Not once a week? I though you were Seventh-day Adventists. Oh, are you seven-day-a-week Adventists? Well, if you search the scriptures daily, you are. If you only read them when you come to church on Saturday, you’re not. If you’re never reading your Bible, you’re not very noble. Because the Bible says that those who study their Bible every day are more noble than those who don’t. Hello! If you’re watching television and you don’t have time to read your Bible, you’re doing wrong, people.

“Oh, Pastor, you just quit preachin’ and started medlin’ in my life! I’m tryin’ to watch The Young And The Restless, and you’re telling me to read the word of God.”

Well you’d better watch every show because you’ll never know whether it was Paul or George’s baby! The Young And The Lustful is not as important as spending time in the word of God, and contacting and staying in touch with your brothers and sisters in Christ!

If you have not read your Bible and spent time with God what, on earth are you doing watching TV or doing anything else? You don’t have time for television if you haven’t taken time for the Word.

Now I’m not bad-mouthing TV. There are a lot of really neat things on TV. I’m the kind of person I can find education and you can watch The Discovery Channel and learn about choppers J. You can watch The Discovery Channel and learn about butterflies, and fish, and bugs, and everything under the sun. And I’m the kind of person I’m curious and I love TV! I can sit there and watch TV 24hours a day, switchin’ that channel, boy, I’m like Captain Kirk on the Starship Enterprise! I’ve got my remote control, and I can change the channels…and I’ve got news for you, sometimes you’ll go through 57 channels like the song says, and “there’s nothin’ on.”

If you think you’re gonna find fulfillment watchin’ the “idiot box,” there’s a reason why they call it that; sittin’ in front of the “boob tube,” there’s a reason why they call it that, you are not going to have a very good excuse when God says to you, “Why didn’t you read My word?”
“Why didn’t you spend time with Me?
“Why didn’t you minister for Me?
“Why didn’t you do what I wanted you to do?” And you say, “I was too busy, God. I just didn’t have time.” And He pulls out the list of all the things you watched and He says, “Well, I guess Everybody Loves Raymond was more important than “Everybody loves Jesus!”

You’re not very noble if all you’re doing is vegetating while your Bible is unopened. Ralph told me to “Keep your Bible open! And to read it!” If you haven’t spent time here, you’ve got no business doing that other stuff!

I guess I’m wrong. Am I wrong? Have I gone to “medlin’?” Are you sure? It feels like it to me! J

Luke 9:23. Jesus said, “If you want to come after me, take up your cross every day; deny yourself.”

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

I’m preaching today, we need to deny ourselves the worldly pleasures the devil wants to feed us to keep us occupied and hypnotized, and keep us away from the very things God wants for us to have in our life! We’re like little kids lying on our backs with a mobile, and we’re just fascinated by it all. The devil wants you to have so many things taking up your life, and have you be so busy that you never have time for doing the things God wants you to do. You’re so busy you never reflect on what God really wants to do in your life.

In Acts 2:46, 47, we find there the early church and an example of how to live your life…
“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”
47“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

It says they continued daily with one accord. They weren’t fussin’ and fightin’ over theology.
They weren’t arguing about the color of the carpeting.
They weren’t arguing about this, that, or the other thing. They were all of one accord.

And I want you to be patient, people. I know there are some things that our church needs to learn. There are some things our youth need to learn. We need to learn things like when to say “Amen” and talk, and when to not talk. And we are going to do that. The elders of the church are going to teach the people when to talk - when not to talk. We’re going to teach them about all sorts of things. We can’t do it all in a week, and we have to all be of one accord and be patient, and be willing to educate people and teach people – gently, not harshly. Lovingly guide them, accepting them and loving them while we’re doing it. Even when they goof up or do it wrong we still love them anyway.

There are people in our midst who are obnoxious! (And) One of ‘em’s preachin’ right now! But we have to love each other. We have to accept each other. We have to be willing to work together! I know sometimes, we’re a “pain.” Sometimes you’re a pain to me; sometimes I’m a pain to you – so what? Jesus could die for us; can’t we love each other? Can’t we be of one accord and break bread together? It says they “…did eat their meat… bread from house to house… meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”

They accepted each other even though they were different. Some of us are very different and we have very different ways of looking at things. I don’t care whether you’re conservative, a liberal; whether you’re ornery, whether you’re easy to get a long with; whether you’re a pain in my neck, or whether you massage my neck – I love ya anyway. I love the ornery ones just as much as I love the nice ones. You know why? They’re there to teach us something. If you can only love the lovable, you have a pathetic faith. God sends the unlovable and the difficult to challenge your love (!) and see if you’re able to love even those who are difficult to love.

Our church is challenged in many ways. One of them is (in) verse 47 (Acts 2:47)…

47“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

It says to praise God, have favor with all the people, “…and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

It’s not the pastor winning souls. “Shepherds don’t have sheep, sheep have sheep!” You’re the ones that are supposed to be giving the Bible studies.

You’re the ones that are supposed to…

* know your neighbors

* be inviting them over to your house

* be fellowshipping with them and with your fellow brothers and sisters in the church.

If you’re all like a bunch of little isolated satellites and you’re
never having dinner together,
never inviting each other over to your houses…
You have people in your midst who are thinking about committing suicide because they’re so lonely – in the church of God?

Are we so; has the devil so succeeded in separating and isolating us that we feel so alone that we don’t have any friends in the church? There’s no one we can call? There’s nobody we can fellowship with? This ought not to be in the House of God (!). Our people ought to be fellowshipping. We ought to be calling each other up! We’ve just got the pictorial directory; we oughta be wearin’ that thing out (!) contacting each other, encouraging each other. None of us should ever say, “I didn’t go to that church for month and nobody even noticed.”

“Oh, well that’s the pastor and the elder’s job.”

Not!

It says right here, “And they…” meaning you all, “…continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.
47“Praising God, and having favour with all the people (around them). And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

These people knew their neighbors; their neighbors said they were favorable in their opinion of them.

Acts 16:5…
“And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.”



Acts 5:42…
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

It’s not just talking about the ministers; it’s talking about the lay people. Every day in the temple and in the houses they did not cease to teach and preach Jesus Christ!

Now that we have laid the biblical foundation, and we see that it’s our job to teach and preach Jesus every day, let’s look at those pre-flight checklists in your bulletin. Let’s see if we can get ready for Jesus to come.

This checklist is only meant to be a beginning – a primer – to “prime the pump,” a point of departure, maybe a moment of awakening on your spiritual journey. This message this morning is meant to inspire you to reflect on these things, and try to implement them in your life. To be a life-changing moment, where you evaluate who you are and how you’re living your life. Please put this list in your Bible and refer to it often until you’ve mastered some of the concepts there. Not in some legalistic way, using it to check off a “to do list,” and earn a reward, but rather, as a way of helping you to evaluate your life today, and plan for a better future.

It is my hope that you will draw inspiration from the Bible texts we’ve studied, and that when you look at this list it will inspire you to do some of these things.

P Opening Morning Prayer
P Praise and Thanksgiving
P Scripture Reading
P Meditation/Communion
P Consecration, Prayer
P Minister Unselfishly to Others
P Family Worship
P Practicing God’s Presence
P Practice Faithfulness
P Sharing Your Faith
P Meeting Attendance
P Reflection/Communion
P Good Night Prayer

P Opening Morning Prayer – When God gives you a heartbeat and your eyes open, thank Him! And don’t do what so many Christians do and be one of these “vending machine” Christians; The “Santa Claus Christian.” Here’s a Santa Claus Christian’s prayer: “Uh, Dear God, uh, please gimme, gimme, gimme…Uh, I need this, I need that, I need …gimme, gimme... thank You very much. Good-bye.”

The vending machine Christian takes his little prayer-quarter, sticks it in God’s slot, pulls his little lever and wants to get whatever he wants from God. “Okay, God, I need help with this.” Or “Okay, God, I need financial, or spiritual, or healing, or whatever. Here’s my little prayer quarter. I’m gonna pull the lever; now, give me what I want, God.”

Have you ever had a kid who called you up only when they wanted something? Oh, look at the parents nodding their heads! I must have hit a little nerve there! Every time: “Mom, can I borrow a hundred bucks? They’re gonna turn off my gas, can you give me some money for groceries?” Sometimes thirty-, forty years, of that! Never once, in thirty years, “Hi, Dad, how ya doin’?”

Side Two

Now, some of you know what I’m talking about! J And yet that’s the way we treat God oftentimes! How often do we start our prayer in the morning with our list of things we want?

That’s why I put Number Two…

Praise and Thanksgiving – Before you ask God for anything, say, “God, how are You doing today?” “God, praise You for this, this and this…Thank You, God for all your many blessings!”

Scripture Reading - Then you read the scriptures. Now you can read the Bible in the morning; you can read it at night, read it any time you want. For me, I like to read it all day long. But at certain points in the morning, I always have to at least have some scripture.

I’d recommend that you at least read a verse or two every morning. And if you want to do your study at night, that’s fine, but the Bible says to put on the armor of God and take the sword (the Word) and live your day that way. And to me, it’s like getting all dressed up in your armor and then lying down on your bed and then falling asleep – at the end of the day. To me it’s a little wiser to get up in the morning, put your armor on, and then go out for the day.

Meditation/Communion - And as you read your Bible, this is the one Christians always leave out: Meditation. And by “Communion,” I don’t mean Holy Communion. By “Communion,” I mean communing with your friend, God. You know how a married couple that’s been together forty years and they’re really close? All they have to do is hold hands and look at each other and will know what the other person is thinking; and, just being together is enough? They’re communing with each other and they can look at each other; they don’t even have to speak. They have that sense of knowing who the other person is. That’s a beautiful thing. And we can all have that with God! We can commune with God!

Now, Meditation: Once you read the scripture, don’t just run through it and then leave. Stop, underline, circle words, and think about how it applies to your life. Meditate on it for a few moments. That’s the one everybody leaves out, and that’s the one that will really pay a lot of benefits to you.

Consecration, Prayer – And then have a Consecration Prayer. “Okay, God, I’m getting ready to go forth into the world. I consecrate myself to You today. Use me today.” If Seventh-Day Adventist Christians will just do the first five every day, it will change your life – forever!

Minister Unselfishly to Others – Learn to say, “How may I help you? How can I help?” How can I help? – four little words. J Seek to serve, not to be served. You see a problem, even if it’s not your job, help. If you help people, you’ll reach them.

Family Worship - Do you think that’s important? How few of us are actually doing it! If you think it’s important, shouldn’t we move it up to the front of the list and make a priority in our house? “Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, pastor, whatever you say.” Well, fine! Let’s just play “Church,” and let’s not get real. Let’s all just come here, and I’ll stand up here and preach to you. You tell me what I want to hear, and I’ll tell you what you want to hear, and go home, and we won’t change a thing. Not! The only reason I’m up here is to try to change my life and yours for the better.

Family worship: Is it important? Are you going to do it?

Practicing God’s Presence – You know what that means? (It is) Pretending Jesus is standing next to you. I heard of a guy who used to, when he went into the 7/11 (store), he’d go around to the other side of the car, open the door, let Jesus out, walk to the 7/11, open the door to the 7/11, and let Jesus in.

One time, he hopped back in the car; took off without Jesus – left Him at the 7/11(!). He was so embarrassed, he turned around, drove two miles back, went in, opened the door; opened the door, closed the door. The clerk looked at him like he was out of his mind, but he was practicing the presence of Jesus!

You’re sitting at your computer; you put another chair there. You say, “Thank you, Jesus, for being with me.” Now let’s see what websites you go to! It’s hardest to sin when you practice the presence of Jesus.

Practice Faithfulness – What do I mean by “Faithfulness?” Being willing to:
share your faith
attend meetings
die daily
take up your cross even when you’re tired – even when you don’t feel like it, even when you’ve had a rough week, even when you’ve had a rough day. “Well, I know they’re having prayer meeting tonight, but gee, I’m just so tired. I’ve been working so hard.”

“I know I should come for Sabbath School, but I think I’ll just skip it and go to church today.”

(John F.) Kennedy used to say, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Are you faithful? Are you teaching your children to be faithful? Or are you teaching your children that church, and Sabbath School, and prayer meeting aren’t really very important. “You can go if you feel like it. If you don’t feel like it, you don’t have to.”

P Sharing Your Faith

Meeting Attendance – Meeting attendance is important. Board Meeting attendance is important. If you’re an officer in this church and you’ve taken a position, the very least you can do is show up at the meetings that you are responsible to show up at – unless you’re sick, or you have to work. But if you’re constantly missing them and I don’t see a cast on your arm, or a new baby, something’s wrong.

Now, can we agree that meeting attendance and sharing your faith with others, and being faithful, and practicing God’s presence - can we all agree that these are important things that should be a priority in our life? Then why aren’t we living that way? (“Amen.”)

Reflection/Communion - And then at the end of the day can you sit down on your bed and reflect over the day and thank God for all that He has done?

Good Night Prayer - And then pray a
prayer and say, “Good night, God. Thank you for being with me today.”

That’s your Spiritual Pre-Flight Checklist.
Can you try a little harder to be more faithful in making these things a priority in your life?

If we can’t even do the basics of Christianity, how are we ever going to change the world and accomplish our mission here in this church? Or should I just be satisfied with lukewarm mediocrity in my own life and in the life of my church members?

I realize this is a challenging sermon. But it’s not challenging just for you; it’s challenging to me as well. We all need to come up to higher ground. Laodocea needs to wake up (!). We’ve got things to do. We’ve got places to go. We’ve to people to save through Christ. We are not their Savior, but God needs us to share our faith and to do the things He’s asked us to do.

How many of you will try a little harder to be more faithful in these areas? Can I see your hands?

Father, please help us to “get real” with You - to stop just playing “Church.” Change our lives this morning and help us to rededicate ourselves to doing the basics of Christianity that are so important; that we have forgotten or let slide. Wake us up, God! Don’t let us just go down that worldly road. Don’t let that worldly river just suck us in and pull us along! Give us the strength and power to swim against the current and to do the things that are pleasing in Your sight; always in a relationship with You and doing that because we love You and want to please you. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

May you find your “quiet place” with Jesus this week, and may your life never be the same.

Special Music: Pastor Tom Hughes – Original composition

Closing Hymn: No. 503 “A Quiet Place” (Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal, Review and Herald Publishing Association, ©1985)

All Scriptural References: King James Version

Ellen G. White References: www.whiteestate.org

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

This sermon is also available on cassette tape.

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