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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

A Call To Every Member

Well, my sermon title today is A Call to Everyone.

The Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes had sailed from Mexico with 11 ships, 13 horses, 110 sailors, and 553 soldiers.

2 previous expeditions had failed to even establish a settlement in the New World.

Yet, Cortes conquered much of the South America continent.

Well you may remember the story but after landing he issued an order that turned his mission into an all-or-nothing ordeal.

That was a bit of a game-changer, don't you think?

We're going to make this work or we're going to die trying.

And as the men watched the ships burn, I imagined what they were thinking at that moment.

You know, I reflect on that story, and I can't help but think of a portion of scripture.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Kings chapter 19.

And you may recall in 1 Kings, just a few chapters back, we have the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

And the drama that follows, But then the Lord appears to Elijah and he gives him some tasks.

2 to be kings and 1 is Elisha, says you shall anoint as a prophet in your place.

But then we skip down to verse 19 and it says, so he departed from there when first Kings 19 19 so he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him and he was with the 12th.

Now if you have 12 oxen you're doing a whole lot better than the 1 that has 1.

Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.

His mantle was a symbol of the fact that he was a prophet of God.

We see reference of that of Samuel and others and he takes off this mantle and he places it it says on Elisha Verse 20 and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said please let me kiss my father and my mother and then I will come follow you.

Let me explain to them what you're asking of me and where I'm going.

And he said to him, go back again for what I have done to you.

So Elisha turned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh using the oxen's equipment and gave it to the people and they ate.

Then he arose and followed Elijah and became his servant." So Elisha takes all that he has, everything that is part of his business as a farmer, everything that he knows, everything that is comfortable for him, his old way of life, and he burns them.

I'm not gonna leave plan B open, I'm just gonna go fully and commit fully to what God is calling me to do.

He made a bold and decisive decision and if you know much about Elisha he asked for a double portion of Elijah's anointing and if you study it out there's twice as many miracles from Elisha as Elijah.

Why do you suppose he was given a double portion?

I wonder if it's as simple as because he simply asked.

But it was a defining moment to burn what he had, burn the ships, if you will.

It reminds me of a tax collector who pledged to pay 4 times what he had cheated.

It Reminds me of the former prostitute who anointed Jesus with an extravagant alabaster jar.

Or the fishermen that were to leave their nets and follow Jesus.

It's not a matter of testing the waters, seeing if this will work, seeing if this will pan out.

If not, I'll simply return to what I have.

Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20, the great commission, we know it well.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even into the end of the age." Go and make disciples and baptize and teach and preach and minister.

My question for us this morning is, in this great commission, have we as a church burned the ships?

Or have we hedged our bets, only given part to the master, while we retain our comforts and what we like?

Turn with me now and if you have your Bibles open still to Matthew Chapter 21.

We're going through Christ's object lessons in our prayer meeting time.

And this was our story this last 2 weeks, actually.

Matthew chapter 21, beginning verse 33, is the parable of the wicked vinedressers.

Matthew chapter 21 beginning verse 33 and here we have a parable, really a parable of the church.

So Jesus says, here another parable, there was a certain land owner, that's God, who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it and built a tower.

He's done everything possible to give it every spiritual advantage for bearing fruit.

And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country.

He gave the possession of his church to the priests, to the elders, to the overseers.

And now in vintage time, verse 34, drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruit.

Lives changed, people transformed, right?

And the vinedressers took his servants and beat 1, killed 1, and stoned another.

You ever heard of those churches that can't keep a pastor more than 3 months?

Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

Then, verse 37, then last of all he sent his son.

But when the vinedressers saw the son, never mind the fact that they're beholding him now as they're listening to this parable.

When the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir, come let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do with those vine dressers?

They said to him he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their season.

And then skipping down to verse 43, therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you, Jewish people, Jewish race, and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder." Here you have a group of people given every spiritual advantage and they were to share God's light to the world.

They were to produce fruit, fruits of holiness and unselfishness, of love and of goodness.

God desired that their life be a life of praise, that the people would turn to God.

Not by hearing denunciation of their idols, but by beholding something better.

That's what it says in Christ's Advocacy Lessons.

Not by saying you're wrong and I'm right, but by beholding something better.

People were to see, oh, those Seventh-day Adventists, they're so kind, they're so friendly, they're so nice, they're so merciful.

I just, anytime I'm in their presence, I just, something feels different.

They have something better than I have, and I want it.

That was the idea, to be drawn to something better.

How many of us witnessed with scowls on our faces?

If you go to our church, it's incredible.

Has He given something that you can praise Him for?

Christ's object lesson also uses a two-word, well it's a phrase, but 2 words that God would be glorified through tangible service.

You can touch it, you can feel it, maybe you can taste it.

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A Call To Every Member

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