Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna by Steven Conway

Steven Conway

Mission Part 1

Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and the smell of fresh manna.

Today you'll be listening to Stephen Conway, pastor of the Troy Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Let us bow our heads together for a word of prayer.

Loving Father, we are grateful for the privilege to be alive and to be here in this place because your presence is here.

We ask, Lord, that you would open our hearts and our minds.

And I understand it's already been asked before, but I ask again only because of our soul's deep need.

We pray, Father, that as we spend time in your Word, that you would truly speak to us.

We thank you in advance for hearing and answering our request in Jesus name.

We have been talking together about mission.

And in our conversation on mission, we are using a very unique individual, a man by the name of Abram, whose name would later be changed to Abraham.

And we have been looking over this man's life to see what lessons we can learn about mission.

Now, how many of you are excited about mission?

How many of you believe that we should all be involved, engaged in mission?

1 of my favorite writers says something like this, every person that is born into the kingdom of God is born as a missionary.

Every person that is born into the kingdom of God takes their first breath, as it were, spiritually speaking, as a missionary.

I want to suggest to you today, as I've suggested before, that we have much to learn about being missionaries.

Open your Bibles with me to Genesis, the 12th chapter.

We're going to look at 2 particular portions of scripture today.

See about our dear brother Abram and his missionary endeavors.

And the Bible says, now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.

And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai, his wife, indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

Therefore, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife and they will kill me but they will let you live.

Please say you are my sister that it may be well with me for your sake and that I may live because of you never mind what happens to you." That's not what he said, but that is what we can infer.

So it was when Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.

The princess of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house.

He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

I just want to interject here for a second, just in case you're not able to follow along with the story.

Abram and Sarai lie about her identity and the relationship that they share as husband and wife.

Oh, I need you to say that with me today.

He gets paid big time, cattle and servants.

Not once does he wake up in the morning and say, this is not right, that is my wife, I've got to go get her.

Ladies, wouldn't you want a husband like that?

God has to intervene, my daughter and I were talking about this this week, God has to intervene in order to save their marriage.

But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house, verse 17, with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife, and Pharaoh called Abram and said, "'What is this you have done to me?

"'Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

That's not what the Bible says but that's just my translation.

So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Genesis chapter 20 now, beginning with verse 1.

Some people say experience is a good teacher.

Apparently this brother wasn't listening.

Genesis chapter 20 verse 1, and Abraham, his name has been changed now, and Abraham journeyed from there to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar.

Now Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister.

And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

But God came to a Bimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Indeed, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.

Abraham for the second time gets paid And at no point in this narrative does he decide this is my wife.

There's no telling what he will do to her.

Again, verse 3, God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, indeed, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.

But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, "'Lord, will you slay a righteous'?" What type of nation, beloved?

"'Will you slay a righteous nation also?' didn't he say to me, she is my sister?

In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands, I have done this.

God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart.

For I also withheld you from sinning against me.

Now, therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet.

How many of you want somebody praying for you who's just deceived you?

Come on, lay hands on me and just ask the Lord because it's the prayers of a righteous.

God said, give him his wife back, if you don't, you'll die.

So Abimelech rose up early in the morning, called his servants, told them all these things in their hearing.

The men were afraid, and Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "'What have you done to us?

How did I offend you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom this great sin?

You have done things to me that ought not to be done.'" What did you have in view that you have done this thing?

Verse 10, Abraham said, and he gives us insight into why he's carrying on in his mission endeavors the way he is.

An Unexpected Turn

Today, you'll be listening to Stephen Conway, pastor of the Troy Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Let's bow our heads together 1 more time as we get into our message for today.

Loving Father, we are thankful for the great privilege that is ours to be in your presence.

We ask that you would feed us and speak to our hearts, challenge us, and ultimately lift us up to where you would have us to walk.

We thank you in advance for hearing and answering This humble request, for we ask it in the name of Jesus.

The title of our message today is, An unexpected turn.

I want to start by reading something to you that you may find interesting, but I want you to stay with me because we are going to go somewhere with this and you will, by the grace of God, you'll have a clearer understanding.

In the hands of an experienced physician, a scalpel is a marvelous tool.

It can remove a deadly tumor or repair a diseased heart.

The success of such procedures, of course, depend upon the skill of the surgeon, because that same scalpel in the inexperienced or careless hands can fatally nick a healthy artery, sever an unseen nerve or even perform an operation on the left knee when the right 1 is the problem.

A cooperating criminal used as a witness against other criminals is much like a scalpel.

Jimmy the Weasel, Fratiano, can be used to bring down the West Coast Mafia.

Sammy the Bull, Gravano, to unseat mob boss John Gotti.

And Michael Fortier to deliver a crushing testimonial blow to Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing case.

In point of fact, 1 of the most useful, important, and indeed indispensable weapons in civilization's constant struggle against criminals, outlaws, and terrorists is information that comes from their associates.

But as in the case of a scalpel, the careless, unskilled, or unprepared use of cooperating criminals as a witness or witnesses has the capacity to backfire so severely that an otherwise solid case becomes irreparably damaged.

By definition, informer witnesses are not only outlaws but turncoats.

They are double-crossers, and a prosecutor not attuned to these unpleasant truths treads without cleats on slippery ice.

In a moment a prosecutor can effectively go from prosecutor to the object of an investigation with chilling consequences.

Moreover, an informer, apparently fully on board, can commit perjury, obstruct justice, manufacture false evidence, and recruit other witnesses to corroborate their false stories.

As the Supreme Court said in Castigar versus the United States in 1972.

Our immunity statutes reflect the importance of testimony and the fact that many offenses are of such a character that the only persons capable of giving useful testimony are those implicated in the crime.

I just read to you an excerpt, skipping over some, from an article from the ACLU.

It was a lecture that was given on the use of criminals as witnesses and how it presents a special problem.

Many offenses are of such a character that the only persons capable of giving useful testimony are those implicated in the crime.

Because it's disturbing to live in a justice system that says we will grant immunity to the individuals who helped to plan and even execute the crimes just so we can catch their accomplices.

But I would submit to you that this probably touches home closer than many of us would have ever imagined.

Open your Bibles with me to the eighth chapter of John's Gospel John chapter 8 I'll begin reading verse 1 John chapter 8 verse 1 Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

And when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, " we're in verse 4, "'Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou this they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not so when they continued asking him he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground and they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went out 1 by 1 beginning at the elder even under the last and Jesus was left alone And the woman standing in the midst, when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?

And jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more Jesus is in the jerusalem temple Jesus is teaching and Jesus is preaching and perhaps he's healing as well when an ordinary day in the temple and let me just make this clear whenever Jesus shows up it's never an ordinary day but the general or the normative proceedings took an unexpected turn when a group of church leaders brought in a woman who was taken in the very act of adultery.

I had just come from Regions Bank down in Dayton, Tennessee.

I was working at a self-supporting institution, a boarding academy, and I had made a deposit.

See, when you work in these places, you don't make a lot of money.

So I had made a deposit into my savings account.

And my savings account was almost at $2, 000.

I wish I could explain to you how long it took me to save this amount of money.

But on the way back up the mountain, see where I work was on the mountain, and I'm driving on my way back up the mountain.

And as I'm driving, I am imagining, I'm imagining where this $2, 000 is going to land my new bride and I The $2, 000 is for our honeymoon So you can imagine I'm thinking tropical.

No, no, no, maybe not tropical Maybe the mountains and all of these things are running through my mind now in the mountains in Tennessee The roadways are curvy But I've driven these roadways in the dead of night, early in the morning, over and over again, I know them almost like the back of my hand, but because of the depth of my daydreaming, a turn that is routine and ordinary that I've taken over and over again, It comes with a rush and it's unexpected and my 1987 Honda Accord it drifts across the center line Now praise be to the Almighty That on the other side Was a co-worker of mine Camelia she was driving in the little red Hyundai and as I awakened out of my daydream about my honeymoon I yanked the car back just so that the fender and the doors of our cars touched each other.

Pulled over to the side of the road and there went my $2, 000.

It is because of this that I believe we need to investigate This unexpected turn that takes place in the temple in Jerusalem lest we misjudge it and in the process misjudge Jesus Now we've heard this story many of us and we know that Jesus ultimately he kneels down to the dust when the woman is brought and We've been instructed that 1 of the things that Jesus does when he's kneeling down to the dust is he writes what?

He writes the sins of the individuals now as I'm following along in this narrative in my mind I'm ecstatic because a woman who has been caught in the act of sin and has been unceremoniously brought into church and accused in front of everyone the Bible says they put her in the midst This didn't take place in 1 of the Sabbath school rooms or in a room off to the side.

They brought her out in front of everyone.

And there's something in the heart of every 1 of us that celebrates Jesus writing the sins of the accusers in the sand.

If we've ever been accused of anything, guilty or not, we understand that it is not a happy feeling when our guilt is exposed.

And so there was something in us that says, you get them Jesus, Way to put them in their place How dare you treat this woman like this though she was a sinner she did not deserve this type of treatment I would suggest to you by going a step further that all of us can sympathize All of us can sympathize with the stone throwers or the would-be stone throwers.

I don't know about you but I've been tasked before with having very difficult conversations with people that I have relationships with.

My closest relationship, of course, humanly speaking, is with my wife.

And after spending over 20 years together, I know that I cannot just bring very important things to my wife So here's what I do and maybe some of you do this as well.

I pray Lord give me the wisdom and give me the tongue of the learned And Maybe that's not enough.

Maybe I'll say okay I need to fast as well because I want to have the conversation at just the right time I'm praying I'm fasting I'm planning because ultimately my desire is to speak the truth and love are you with me And so finally the time arrives spirit-led I would have you know The time arrives and the conversation is broached and with careful language I craft these challenges that have appeared in her life that god has brought to my attention so that I can help her to grow in grace.

And as I'm sharing, beloved, without prayer, without hesitation, without fasting, without planning, my wife has on occasion Quickly pointed out the very same things that I am sharing with her as they exist in my experience Have you ever been there no, no, no, you never been there you don't know what I'm talking about She didn't even pray Lord She didn't fast like I did she didn't Plan and I don't even know if she spoke it in love but most of all Here's what's troubling How in my prayer and in my fasting And in my planning listen to me friends could I miss the existence of?

What was so obvious in my wife in my own life?

You see you and I can sympathize with those who were there looking at this woman I don't know what all of their motives were We're given insight as to some of those motors, but not all of them But you and I can sympathize with them because in our attempts to share truth with others Listen to me friends.

The Spirit of God has used those relationships and those opportunities to reveal truth about us.

In Fact, let's take it a step further some of us are here today and we are praying for our children and it's a good thing We ought to be praying for our children.

Some of us, others of us are here today and we're praying for our spouses and we ought to pray for our spouses.

But we didn't necessarily come because we recognize our need.

We're here because somebody else needs Jesus.

I'm here because I want to approach the throne on behalf of.

And all the while you and I are missing our souls need of a savior The Bible says that each of these individuals were convicted in their conscience convicted where beloved The Greek word translated conscience means literally, listen to this friends, a co-perception.

In classical Greek, it referred to a capacity to relate to oneself, especially when 1 looks back at one's own past.

This looking back did not stop short with ascertaining facts, but led to evaluations and judgments on one's past.

In a Christian concept, let me break that down so that you can hopefully grasp it a little bit better.

In a Christian sense, it would be as if the Holy Spirit shows you and I a picture of ourselves Anyone seen a picture of yourself?

I'm talking about a picture of yourself that you didn't know existed Right.

Maybe you're at a family members home or maybe an old friend comes by and they pull up a picture and you've never seen it before.

And you look at it and you're like, well when was this taken?

Abraham and Mission Part 2

I want to suggest to you today as I've suggested before that we have much to learn about being missionaries.

So a Bimalek rose up early in the morning, called his servants, told them all these things in their hearing.

Series

Fresh Manna by Steven Conway

Abraham and Mission Part 2

Transcript

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