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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Homer Trecartin

Crying Stones

Father God, thank you for your blessings today.

Thank you for the Sabbath, and thank you that we can spend a little time together, and we just pray that your Spirit will be here filling each of us, in Jesus' name, amen.

We're looking a little bit this weekend at 2 Corinthians 5, verses 19-21.

And this morning I focused a little bit on verse 19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

And we talked about how that's everyone, every people group, every person.

But now I wanna look at verse 19, at verse 20, but I wanna start with verse 19.

Again, from the New Living Translation, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them.

And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God or be reconciled to God.

Do you remember who it was in the Bible that said something about crying stones or talking stones?

At the entrance to Jerusalem, the triumphal entry coming in.

I'm gonna read from the New King James Version.

Then they brought him to Jesus, and they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.

And as he went, many spread their clothes on the road.

Then, as he was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, teacher, rebuke your disciples, for what they were saying.

But he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

In the Middle East, a lot of things are made out of stone.

I get back over here and I see a lot of things made out of wood in many places and it almost seems strange to me because they make everything with stone over there.

Why didn't he just have stones preach the message from then on?

You know, it isn't dangerous for stones to do the work, is it?

Stones don't get dipped in boiling oil like John.

Stones don't get crucified upside down like Peter.

Why didn't Jesus just use stones instead of people?

We don't, Stones don't have to get visas to go into places.

Stones don't have any of the restrictions and problems that we would have.

And it seems pretty impressive to me to think of stones preaching the message.

I mean, can you imagine the news coverage, the angles of the cameras?

Back when they were having problems in Cairo, Jim and Joyce, I can remember the whole world thought that all of Cairo was in an uproar, but those cameras were focused on an area about the size of a football field.

And 1 time, during 1 of the really bad parts of it, Jim sent me an email that he had been walking a couple of blocks away, And yes, there was some tension, but it wasn't all that bad.

You know, why, if stones were preaching, can you imagine all those camera angles and all the news coverage of massive groups of people standing around listening to stones talking?

Should we be praying for stones to preach the message?

For workers, for laborers, for people to go into the harvest.

If stones could do it, why would he have us pray for people?

And I think the reason is, we all know it intellectually, but in our hearts we don't always think about it.

The reason is most people will never fully accept the gospel from a stone or even from a dream or an angel visit.

Most people require seeing someone living in their community where they can watch through their blinds what they're doing and how they respond to the everyday activities of life, and then their heart can be touched with the message.

You remember when Jesus went to, and he had just had the storm on the sea and he healed the 1 demoniac or the 2 demoniacs, depending on which 1 you're reading.

When Jesus left, what did they want to do?

But instead, Jesus said, no, you stay there, and Jesus left.

Why did he leave them there while he left?

It was because they would be more effective than he would have been if he had stayed.

People could watch them and understand them and how they were different from what they had been before.

And Jesus knew that those 2 men would make a greater impact than he would make.

In John chapter 20 and verse 21, Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.

He says, as the Father has sent me, in the same way that the Father has sent me.

So in the same way, I am sending you." And how was that?

He didn't just pop in for a brief visit and leave again.

The Bible says in John 1, 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

I like the way the New Living Translation puts it, so the word became human and made his home among us.

He came and lived and watched people and let people watch him for 30 years before he started preaching?

Could he have come as an adult and started preaching?

I mean, it wouldn't have been impossible, would it?

God could have arranged things that Jesus came as an adult.

Why did he come and live for 30 years before he started preaching?

Why didn't he just fly in give his message for a short time and then fly out again the way we often want to do.

The reason is because it wouldn't have been very effective, would it?

Does God understand us and our feelings and how we, did he understand us before Jesus came?

In other words, did God need to come in order to understand us?

No, he came so that we would know that he understood us, right?

It didn't make a difference for him, it made a difference for us.

We needed to see him here, to know that he really had lived and understood the things that we're going through.

You know, I once had a new missionary professor tell me that he didn't need to spend time going out into the field and visiting the pastors and seeing how they were living and working, that he already knew what the pastors needed.

So in his classes, he would teach what he thought they needed.

He didn't feel he needed to go out and see what they needed.

Now, I'm not sure that he really did understand, But even if he did, let's assume for a minute that he did understand what was needed out in the field, I can tell you the pastors and workers in that field did not think he understood.

He could share an idea in a class or seminar or committee and they would just write it off as that foreigner's weird ideas.

They would smile and be polite to his face and go on doing exactly as they'd been doing before because they didn't think he understood.

But there was another foreigner about the same time who came in and began to visit in their homes and travel with them and eat with them and sleep in their homes.

And I can tell you they believed that he understood them.

He could share the exact same thing as the other foreigner, and they would believe him because they thought he understood them.

You know, they had seen him dwell among them, and we need dedicated Seventh-day Adventists that will go into every community to dwell among the people, not just to fly in for a two-week series and fly out again.

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Crying Stones

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