Deuteronomy 2:3
Israel's wilderness experience served for them to do
several things.
Obviously, they wandered around in circles long
enough for an entire generation of disobedient people to die off.
But something else was taking place too.
Israel was being molded into a nation.
During those years of walking around in circles in
the land of mount Seir, God was developing a people who would become one of the
mightiest nations of human history.
It was a time when even the people of Canaan were
watching them, and came to the conviction that their God was the God of heaven
and had given them the Promised Land.
But there came a day when there wilderness wanderings
were over..
God spoke to them and told them
"Ye have compassed this mountain long enough.
Turn ye northward!"
I think that is an appropriate passage to consider
this week!
Please consider with me:
I.
THERE IS A DEFINITE TIME TO TRAIN!
The Jews were trained in several things while they
"compassed Mount Seir."
1. They were trained Doctrinally!
God had given to them in the wilderness at Mount
Sinai, the Mosiac law.
For those years in the wilderness, they got to
internalize and make that personal!
2. They were trained Militarily.
As illustrated
by their victory over the Amorites
And
3. They were trained Politically.
As God gave to them not only a religious system, but
a civil system as well.
God has given this place as a place to train future
Christian Servants
Doctrinally. Here is a place where the
doctrines and distinctives of independent, fundamental BAPTISTS are
internalized and personalized
Militarily. You not only learn what to
believe. YOU LEARN HOW TO GO OUT AND CONTEND FOR THE FAITH YOU HAVE RECEIVED!
Politically. You learn how to build
BAPTIST CHURCHES that propagate those doctrines!
School is one of the most
wonderful times in a person's life!
Friendships are made that will last you your
lifetime!
Convictions are developed that will influence
every aspect of the rest of your life!
The atmosphere at this school is one that you
will try to duplicate in the churches you pastor.
But for all of us, there comes a time when God says,
Ye have compassed this mountain long enough, turn you northward!
Thus, consider with me secondly;
II
THERE IS A DEFINITE TIME TO TAKE OFF!
The victories Israel experienced in the wilderness
were outstanding!
They were fed the manna from heaven.
They received water form a rock
Their clothes and shoes never even wore out the whole
time they were out there!
God led them through a visible form (Pillar of Cloud and
fire)
And they had perhaps the best pastor any congregation
could have asked for (Moses)!
But they couldn't stay there!
God's purpose for Israel was not to wander around in
the wilderness.
But to take the Promised Land for God!
God told them to turn northward, and they had no idea
what all lay ahead of them!
1. There were some trials ahead!
Israel hadn't even entered the Promised Land before
they encountered a major obstacle! they had to cross a flooded Jordan River!
The Promised land offered its own obstacles too!
The giants that had so intimidated their parents were
still there!
The fenced cities had to be defeated.
There were trials to be faced!
Israel did not win every battle they fought in the
Promised land.
And allow me to remind you, that THERE WILL BE SOME
TRIALS AHEAD FOR YOU TOO!
When I went to Astoria, I told my sending church that
if I knew what lay ahead, I might not go forward!
I found out very quickly how true that was!
I got to Astoria and the town had plenty of trials
and obstacles for me.
No one would rent a building to me.
The two families that had asked me to come and start
the church quit.
And I couldn't get anyone to come to our services!
At first, I thought God had cursed me and wouldn't
use me.
Then I decided God had cursed Astoria and could never
plant a church there!
I called my pastor on the phone and told him I wanted
to quit.
He told me that pastoring a church was like being
married. You might not like the one you got, but your stuck with it anyway!
Once I did quit!
I packed up everything we owned (it fit in the back
of my Volkswagon Rabbit) and headed out!
My wife and I thought we would go to another town
where we knew there were a couple of families looking for a preacher!
By the time I got about 300 miles out of town, I had
figured that I would probably run those folks off too and have to go through
that heartbreak again.
I would have to find a place to meet.
I would have to find a place to live
In Astoria I HAD ALREADY GONE THROUGH ALL THOSE
SO EVEN IF THERE WERE MORE HARDSHIPS TO FACE, AT LEAST WE WERE THROUGH THOSE!
I went back to Astoria and spent the next three years
just trying to get a few folks together!
There are trials to face when you leave this
mountain!
2. There were some victories ahead too!
God caused a city wall to turn to dust!
God made the sun and moon stand still!
God destroyed the enemy with hailstones
God made it so Gideon and just 300 men could defeat
an army as grasshopper in number!
and on and on!
God blesses with such wonderful victories still
today!
God has given to us now, 200,000 dollars worth of
buildings DEBT FREE!
We were praying to have our properties "debt
free by 93"
I had prayed repeatedly for it, I had considered some
plans to try to accomplish it
But I had never really made a big deal about it to
the church!
Then one day I made a phone call. I was going to see
about refinancing our properties and was asking a secretary about it when she
asked me to hold a minute. Just a few seconds later a man came on the phone.
He said, "Rev. McKenzie I have good news for
you! Someone else has already contacted us and paid your mortgage!"
We needed some extra property and I was praying about
getting one of the next door houses. When one day a man I had never met before
entered my office.
He told me that his father was one of our next door
neighbors, a sailor, as wicked as could be. His father had died the week
before. He said, "Dad hated this church and would roll over in his
grave if he knew you had it, so I wanted to give you the first crack at it!
He sold it to the church for a song!
Oh, the victories!
But the best victories are those souls that get
saved, and the lives that get changed!
We led a 20 year old girl
to the Lord a while ago.
Just two or three days after that, I received a phone
call in the middle of the night.
A
man had thrown her through a store front window in a fit of anger and she was
in being sown up!
I
got the the hospital and went in the emergency room with them still sowing on
her. She said Pastor, will you pray for the man who did this too me?"
I
told her I would and asked her what exactly she would like me to pray for. She
said, THAT HE WOULD GET SAVED!
So
right there in front of the doctors and all we began to pray for his soul.
Then, when she got out of the hospital, SHE WENT TO
THE JAIL AND LED HIM TO CHRIST!
There are victories ahead!
so
There is a definite time to train
There is a definite time to take off;
And
III.
THERE IS A DEFINITE DIRECTION TO TRAVEL!
God said,
"Ye have compassed
this mountain long enough, turn you NORTHWARD!"
Would you forgive me this morning if I use the term
Northward symbolically?
Turn you northward
1. IN DEPENDANCE UPON GOD!
I do not know that I can prove that God lives to the
North.
But let me just use the term to refer to looking up
to God!
As you depart this place and head to that place God
has given you...
As you travel towards those trials, and those
victories..
Travel in dependance upon God!
Don't trust your education!
Don't trust your personal confidence!
Don't trust your college experiences! To get
you through your life and ministry.
David said in Ps 20:7
Some
trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we
will remember the name of the LORD our God. (KJV)
Turn you Northward
2. DOING THE RIGHT THINGS!
One of the most difficult trials faced in the
ministry is the temptation to give in to the subtle doctrinal differences
between Baptists and the interdenominationalists.
More and more, Baptists are being set apart as an
object of hatred.
While the world has turned against "The
Christian Right",
"The Christian Right" has turned against
Baptists!
Don't give in! Do right! Do right, do right!
Do
right when you are tempted to give in doctrinally!
Do
right when you are tempted to give in ethically!
Do
right when you are tempted to give financially!
Do
right when you are tempted to give in morally!
Do right do right! Do right!
And finally and I'll be through
3. TURN NORTHWARD TOWARDS OREGON!
Pardon me for taking a few minutes to talk about my
state!
I am, by birth, a Washingtonian.
I moved to Oregon after I met and married my wife.
But God has given me such a heart and burden for the
state!
Oregon has the highest rate of unchurched people in
the country!
An Oregon preacher's job is to chisel a church out of
the granite of unchurched people!
There is only three churches on the entire Oregon
Coast.
One of those is a baby church we planted out of
Astoria just a short while ago and is still looking for a preacher!
There are towns of 5,000 to 10,000 all over the state
with nothing close to an independent Baptist church!
AND THEY CAN BE BUILT!
If there is any one who shouldn't have been able to
start and pastor a growing Baptist Church, I would have been it!
Dr. Dennis Brown used to call me "awkward".
I am scared to death of people!
If I am called upon to give a testimony I
hyperventilate and almost pass out!
And I have very little patience for people who
disagree with me!
I tend to tell them where to go and look for folks
who are easier to get along with!
But God has blessed!
And I am convinced, he will bless others who will
come to Oregon and plant churches too!
Ye have compassed this mountain long enough, turn you
Northward.
