Dave Borgaila Deaf Missions Council Bluffs, Iowa Series: Spiritual Blueprint Sermon: 1 of 4 Date: August 5, 2007 GROUNDBREAKING Hello. Thank you for watching. Let s go ahead and begin with prayer. Please join me in praying. Heavenly Father, we thank You because You made each one of us. Thank you for giving us opportunities in life to do and see things we enjoy. I pray we understand Your Word that You have given to us. Help us understand your Word and teach us today. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen. I remember one time when I was a freshman in high school. I was walking through the high school and I became lost. Even looking at my paper, I could not figure out where my classroom was. Two older boys who appeared to be seniors were nearby. I asked them where the room was according to my paper. The boys kept talking and walked away. I decided to follow them, and kept following them down the stairs and through what appeared to be a tunnel. I continued following them, even though I wondered if the classroom was really in that area. I felt funny, but continued walking and following them. Both boys kept walking and looking back at me. And I kept following them. Finally, we came back up and ended up outside on a parking lot. I felt stupid for following them. I realized they were not leading me to my classroom. That s when I ran back inside, through the tunnel, and found my classroom. But today, the Apostle Paul had some interesting words in Romans 13:11-14. Before we watch these verses, I want to explain that Paul is talking about love. Love is important. There are many laws for us to follow. As long as you follow love, you will be fine. One young boy, about 12 or 13 years of age, discovered that he had cancer. Naturally, he was discouraged. He was sad to have cancer and wondered what he should do. He missed school in order to have treatments. As his treatments progressed, he lost hair on his head and became bald. His birthday was soon approaching. His mother made plans so her son could have a birthday party with his friends at school. The boy finished his treatments and was ready to go back home. On the day before the birthday party, the mother asked her son if he was excited. The boy responded that he was not ready to see his friends at school again. He felt this way because he was bald. He did not feel comfortable. He would try his best even though he was not really looking forward to going to school again. 1
The boy went to the birthday party at school. As he arrived, he was shocked to see all of his classmates had shaved their heads bald! All 50 kids had shaved their heads! The boy was inspired to see his classmates were bald like him. That s love. It means doing something nice for others. That was Paul s word to us to love others. Love is why people do marvelous things. Why do people climb mountains? Because they love to climb mountains. Why does a man leave his parents and marry a woman? Because of love he has for the woman. Why does a baby seem cute to its mother, but not necessarily to other people who see the baby in its mother s arms? Because of love. Love is powerful. Let s go ahead and watch Romans 13:11-14: And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. As you just saw, the first thing Paul talks about is following love. Then, Paul had several points about love. One thing Paul emphasized was wake up! He said wake up for the time of salvation is near. It is now time to believe. Christians need to wake up. When I was in college, I worked on roofs on homes near the beach. Everyday I would get up early to drive one hour to arrive for work. Looking back, I wonder how I drove and made it to work. I don t remember much about driving, which lights I went through and which stores I passed. Really, I was sleepy when I drove to work. Christians are like that sometimes. We know what Paul has said and what God has said. We know we should follow love, but we often become complacent and take it easy. We become sleepy and don t realize what is happening. Even though we know it is our responsibility to serve and help other people, we remain sleepy and let things pass by. Paul is warning us to wake up. He encourages us to wake up and love others. Don t be like my brother. One time we were at a friend s parents home in North Carolina. My friend s parents were sleeping in their own bedroom. My younger brother and I were sleeping in the living room. During the middle of the night, my younger brother got up and was sleepwalking. He walked into my friend s parents bedroom! There was a nightstand next to the bed. My brother crawled under the nightstand. My friend s mother woke up and saw a 16-year-old boy in her bedroom, under the nightstand. She woke up her husband and asked him what to do. He got my friend, and they tried to gently wake up my brother. My brother was barely awake, and as he got up, his face hit a bar on the nightstand. He finally got out. The next morning, I woke up my brother. I asked him if he remembered what happened 2
during the night. He had no clue, no idea what happened. He had a fat lip, and didn t know why he had it! Christians are like that. We are sleepy and go through life without truly following God. We take it easy. We declare ourselves as Christians even though we are sleepy and experience hard knocks in life. Really, we need to, as Paul says in Romans, stop and wake up for the time is near. Night is finished the day is near. The time is near for Jesus to come again. When Jesus returns, we need to be ready. We need to be watchful for Jesus to come again. Sometimes, I like to go camping outside in the wintertime. Many people wonder if I really go camping in the wintertime. Yes, you can. I really enjoy myself because there are no people around me and it is quiet. The snow is beautiful. And, yes, it is cold, especially during the night. I get deep in my sleeping bag, wear my gloves, hat, and ear muffs. I do anything I can to keep warm and look forward to the break of day. Why? Because when the sun comes up, I can feel its warmth coming into my tent. That s what it should be like for Christians as we wait and watch for Jesus return. Jesus will come again. We need to be ready. So, the first thing we need to do is wake up. The second thing we need to do is clean up ourselves. Clean up means getting rid of the many wrong things we have done. I really like the verses in Romans because there is another verse in Hebrews 12:1 that encourages us to race, run, and get rid of sins. It doesn t say which sins to get rid of specifically. However, in Romans, it specifically tells us which sins to get rid of sex, wrong things, and drunkenness. There are five or six different sins listed which also includes parties, fighting, and jealousy. These are the specific sins we need to get rid of in our lives. I have a son named Jordan. When he was about 11 or 12 years old, he was a young boy going through puberty. I encouraged him to take showers more often. He would take a quick shower. His showers were so quick that I know it was impossible for him to be clean. He would shower, but I knew he wasn t clean. He needed to clean behind his ears, armpits, and scrub his whole body and feet. His feet always stunk. So, I had to tell him specifically what to do. The verses in Romans tell us specifically what sins we need to get rid of. And these verses tell us to get rid of all of our sins now! I have a baby boy, too. Once in a while, we know that babies will fill their diapers. Right? So, as soon my son poops in his diaper, I must change his diaper because it stinks. I quickly take off his diaper, wipe him off, and fold up the dirty diaper. Then, what do I do? Do I leave the dirty diaper in the house? No, of course, I throw away the dirty, stinky diaper right away. I have other children in my house and they serve as my runners. I will give them the dirty diaper. They quickly run out of the house and throw it away. I always tell my kids to get rid of the diaper right away and they do it. I m relieved that the smell is gone. 3
The verses preach to us that God is telling us to clean up ourselves. Clean up your sins and get rid of them right now. We do not want to be like some kids I saw in North Carolina one time. Now, the reason I talk about North Carolina quite a bit is my wife and her family are from there. Anyway, in North Carolina, I was with my wife s grandfather. We drove to a farm. I could see a huge conveyor carrying potatoes. Many kids worked on this farm sorting the potatoes. I will never forget watching one boy working and sorting potatoes during the dry and hot time of summer, with sweat sticking to his face and dripping all over his body. His face was black, covered with mud. The boy grabbed a sponge and wiped his face. His face would become white again, though the rest of his body was dirty. Is that what we want? Just one part clean while the rest of our body is dirty? No. God wants us to clean everything in our lives, including specific areas. Get rid of all of your sins right now so that you will be clean. This is God s plan. The third thing is to clothe yourselves with the armor of light. It is very important to clothe yourselves. That s the third point to clothe yourselves with Jesus. That is pretty cool. You must be clothed with Jesus in order to get into heaven. God will accept us if we are clothed with Jesus. It is important to know that Romans 13:11-14 teaches us to follow love by: 1. Waking up 2. Cleaning up 3. Clothing yourself with Jesus How may you clothe yourself with Jesus? There was one doctor who had helped a husband and wife who both had cancer. They owed the doctor $50,000 but they couldn t pay it. Because they had cancer, they could not work and earn money. Even though they couldn t pay, the doctor still welcomed them and treated them. He did not reject them even though he knew the couple couldn t pay him. Why did the doctor continue to help them? Because of love. He loved to help people. Clothing yourself with Jesus means showing love to all people. It means waking up to see who else needs help. It means cleaning up yourself, getting rid of sins, and clothing yourself with Jesus. I know some of you may be thinking, It is fine to follow love by waking up, cleaning up, and clothing yourself with Jesus. But, wait a minute my life is awful, I have sinned, am dirty, and haven t changed. Does God still accept me? God cannot accept me. Let me tell you God can accept you. God loves you so much that He will accept you. When I was in kindergarten, I was walking home after school with my friend. My friend left. Then, I noticed an area of sand, and near the sand was some water. Thinking it would be cool, I decided to roll in the water, get myself all wet, and jump into the sand. I envisioned myself becoming a sand monster, knocking on the door at my home, and scaring my mother! I knew my mother would be scared seeing me as the sand monster. I walked home, knocked on the door, and my mother opened the door. Immediately she said, David! Even though I 4
was covered in sand, my mother knew me. The sand did not scare my mother. She knew who I was. It is the same with God. God can still identify you even if you have dirt and sand all over you. God looks at you and knows who you are no matter what. God still loves you. It is important that we clothe ourselves with Jesus in order to enter heaven. I would like to close with a story. There was a farmer who took care of sheep. One mother sheep gave birth to a baby sheep. Right after birth, the baby sheep died. There was another mother sheep. While that mother sheep gave birth to a baby sheep, she died. The baby sheep lived. In both situations, opposite things happened one baby sheep died and one mother sheep died. The farmer thought to himself, How awful it is that the baby sheep now has no mother but needs milk to grow. The farmer decided to get the baby sheep that was alive and brought it to the mother sheep that had just lost her own baby sheep. The mother sheep rejected the baby sheep even though the baby tried to get milk from her. The mother sheep completely prevented the baby sheep from getting milk from her. She refused to support the life of the baby sheep. The farmer wondered what to do with the baby sheep. He wondered how to get the mother sheep to accept the baby sheep. The farmer came up with an idea. He decided to get the dead baby sheep and the live baby sheep. He cut open the dead baby sheep, and as the blood flowed, he poured it on the baby sheep that was alive. The mother sheep smelled the blood on the baby sheep that was alive and accepted this baby as her own. She went ahead and fed the baby sheep. That is the same with us. We cannot enter heaven without Jesus blood that forgives our sins. We must be clothed with Jesus. Then, God will see us as perfect and will accept us. So, it is important to continue following love. Remember to wake up for the time is near, clean up and be ready, and clothe yourself with Jesus. Let s pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. It is alive. It inspires us to serve and follow you. I pray for those who are not motivated to serve You. They may feel weak. Some of them maybe do not know You. I pray that You will impact them with Your Word. We know love is important. May we follow Jesus and accept Him so we may go to heaven. I pray for those who are weak to wake up and see that the time is near for Jesus return. Help us to be ready and clean up the specific sins that burden us. Help us to get rid of those sins. Help us to avoid those sins. Pray that we may accept Jesus. Clothe us with Jesus so that our mistakes are covered and our Father will accept us. You always recognize us. You know who we are no matter our mistakes. Your Son can cover all of our mistakes. You love us so much. Thank You. In Jesus Name. Amen. 5
2007 Deaf Missions This printed manuscript is the English translation of a sermon presented in American Sign Language. The sermon may be viewed at www.linkasl.com. LINK is a ministry of Deaf Missions.. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permissions of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society. Deaf Missions, 21199 Greenview Road, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503 www.deafmissions.com 6