Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Stop with the self-preservation theology. Let us spend and be expended for something in the kingdom of God, whether it's speaking, serving, it could be setting up a website, it could be starting a ministry, it could be getting involved and giving our whole heart to a ministry. It could be saying, "I'm going to go take that hill for Christ." Let's do it. What are you doing with the rest of your life? Let's do something great for God.

Dave Druey: When we're young, we act as if we'll live forever. It's not until we get a little older and a little wiser that we begin to realize that our time here is all too brief. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez asks the question, how do we make the most of our lives? We find the answer in Hebrews 11 and the inspiring example of an Old Testament hero. Pastor Mike picks up where he left off last time in the message called Attempting Great Things for God.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hebrews chapter 11, we've been talking about ambitious faith because one verse after the next, we get another lesson on look at another person who wasn't content just to live a comfortable life. They were willing with ambitious faith to step out and say, "God, I'm willing to be used to do something great."

And we get to verse number 32, and if you've got that open, take a look at it. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 32, and he's done expanding on the stories. I mean, he's done giving full verses to one person. We now, after Rahab was the last one to get a full verse to herself, verse 32, he says, "Well, what more shall I say? I mean, I don't even have time to get into..."

And here he starts. "I don't have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets." And then he starts talking about some of the things they did through faith, who through faith they conquered kingdoms, they administered justice, and they gained what was promised.

And if you have your Greek New Testament out, you can tell that's a plural here. They've gained some promises because we're going to learn later in the next passage next week that they didn't gain the promise with a definite article, the singular promise, but they gained a lot of—they won a lot of battles. The war wasn't won, though, until Christ came. That's next week's message. Sorry.

In the process, though, of gaining those little promises, the things where they conquered what God had set forth for them to do, they had to have some protection. Bottom of verse 33, God through their faith shut the mouths of lions. And sometimes their ambition to do something great for God put them at the doorpost, or at least some of them got thrown into the fiery furnace. And because of their faith and because of God's intervention and protection, they quenched the fury of the flames.

And all of these guys—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David—they all had to know that their lives were constantly in danger, but God delivered them from the edge of the sword. They escaped the edge of the sword. And then they were tired and worn out, and yet they kept on pressing on for God's kingdom. And their weakness was turned to strength. They became powerful in battle, and they routed foreign armies.

In one little period in Old Testament history, two gals in the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, even when all hope seemed to be lost, these women received their dead sons back to life. I mean, just amazing the way God stepped in and delivered these people. He was, when people stepped out, doing amazing things to keep them, protect them, guide them. He just put his hand of protection on them.

If you step out to do something great, you'll have enemies, and then what you're going to need to do on a whole new level—number two on your outline—is you're going to have to trust God for protection because you will be opposed. Let's talk about demons for a minute. Now, I know you liberals don't believe it. You non-Christians, you don't understand it. That's fine.

But Christians who believe the Bible, you do know there are these spiritual opponents of God that are sent out as henchmen from the head demon. His name is Satan, the opposer, the adversary. And they go out in the world to oppose God's work. If your work and Christian life is all about finding a nice comfy lounge chair to live out your remaining days with a Bible on your lap, demons don't give a rip about that. Have at it. Bye-bye. You're already saved. See ya.

But if you come out of your closet and say, "We want to take a few mountains for God," guess what happens immediately? The whole entire demonic realm that knows who you are is now opposed to you, and they are opposed to that plan. You want to make some enemies? All you gotta do is say, "I'm going to do something great for God with the rest of my life."

And that's what I'm asking you to do. And you're going to have to now pray on a whole new level. It won't be about hangnails anymore. It will be about much bigger things because you step up to do something great for God, and you will need his protection on a whole new level.

David was plucked out of obscurity to be the leader of Israel, right? I mean, he was this little shepherd boy, and he stepped up with the anointing oil of Samuel on his head. He said, "Okay," and he went up and did it. Did he ever get opposed? Every day. He wrote a song. Turn to Psalm 27. David is writing about the opposition he faced. So much of David's songs are about that, and you'll see why in Psalm 27, the reason he's singing so much about this.

Psalm 27, verse number one. "Yahweh is my light and my salvation. If he's that for me, as we saw in Psalm 3, then whom am I going to fear? Yahweh is my stronghold. He's the stronghold of my life. Of whom am I going to be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they'll stumble and fall.

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then, I will be confident." How are you going to do that? Here it comes, verse 4. It's about a mental focus. "One thing I ask of Yahweh, and that is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of Yahweh and seek him in his temple."

Now, stop. We read that and we picture David in his sandals and his robe, walking into the temple. If David wanted to live in the temple, live in the temple. This is not about him living. We can find a room for him somewhere. Sure, you can sleep here. It's not about that. Obviously, and you're not going to look on the beauty of the Lord, right? "Wow, you look really good today, God." He's not seeing God's form, right?

There's no form to see. This is poetic language to talk about David's mind. When you go to worship and your mind is fixed on God, when you're hearing the reading of the Torah, when you're singing these psalms to God, I just want my mind to be there. I want that. I want my mind to be there.

The day of trouble, he'll keep me safe in his dwelling, verse 5. He will hide me in a shelter of his tabernacle. He will set me high on a rock. Then my head will be exalted above my enemies who surround me. At his tabernacle, I'm going to sacrifice with shouts of joy. His mind goes back to that act and sense of worship. Look at the bottom of verse 6. "I will sing and make music to the Lord." Oh, that's key.

And when you are opposed, when Satan has opposed you and he's used people to oppose you and you're saying, "Fine, forget it, I don't want to do it," and you're hurt and they threaten to undo you, as Martin Luther said, then here's the thing. You know it. It comes down to focus, and sometimes music is the best way to do that. That's why the songbook of Israel is so filled with these songs of deliverance because they had to sing.

And I don't know about you, but in the worst and darkest days in my life, when people have opposed me and there's been that pain of that, nothing ministers more than music, than to be able to turn my heart and the song of my voice to God and to say, "God, I'm fixing my hope on you."

How do I feel and sense that protection? How do I stand up and say, "I'm not going to fear"? It comes through worship. It comes through focus on God. "I will sing and make music to the Lord," verse 7. "Hear my voice when I call, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me. My heart says of you, 'Seek his face.'" I love this. "Your face I will seek." I mean, he's having this conversation with himself.

God, I'm going to seek you. I need to seek you. How does he overcome all this? How does he really entrust himself to God for protection? It comes through a focus in worship. It comes in keeping his feet on the path, verse 11. "Lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. I just want to stay on the path. I want to keep doing the right thing. I want to worship you, and picture my mind and my thoughts and my heart as though I'm sitting in a worship service, singing in church." See, that's the picture for us.

Trust God for protection like David sitting in the lions' den. I bet he was singing part of that night. What do you think? Focused on saying, "God, keep their mouths closed. Shut their mouths. Don't let them eat me up. Don't let my journey in here—let us see—and for him, preparing the exiled Israelites to go back to the promised land in the middle of the Babylonian exile." I mean, he had work to do, and chapter 6 of Daniel is not the end of the story. God was going to use him to do a lot more.

Trust God for protection. You're going to need it. And when you get out of the lions' den, because he's going to deliver you in these little skirmishes that you have as the enemy puts everything against you, you're going to, in the heat of the battle, you're going to feel like quitting. I just guarantee it. You're going to get tired and you're going to grow weak.

That's a great thing about this text. One last set of phrases, verse 34 in Hebrews 11. These guys—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, all these guys—in weakness, and sometimes they felt weak, sometimes they were weak physically and otherwise, their weakness was turned to strength. That's a great phrase. Bottom of verse 34, they became powerful when they were weak. They became powerful in battle, and they actually finished the course. They routed the foreign armies.

They were sustained. They had an endurance. They not only had protection—number three on your outline—they were looking to God for their strength. They were looking to God for their endurance. They were saying, "God, I may be tired and, you know what, I've come a long way, but it's not happening now," and God keeps them moving ahead, makes them strong in the midst of their weakness.

Now, that's the perfect picture that I paint for you, right? Somebody just working away, working away. "God, I'm working away. I just want to work for you. God, I need strength." But a lot of times, our weakness doesn't come out of just we're on the treadmill of serving God. It often comes because we're on the bench rusting out, or we tripped and fell right on our face.

Or maybe like—let's look at our list—Samson, we have piddled away our opportunity to be used by God. Did Samson do that? Do you remember that flannelgraph story? Not real good, the whole Delilah thing, remember that? I mean, this guy at the end of his life, talk about weakness, that weakness was not, "I'm worn out serving you, Lord. I'm tired of serving you, conquering kingdoms."

The guy should have been conquering kingdoms, and he piddled his life away, chasing women and all this other stuff that he did. And he sat there at the end of his life, and God just threw him in the trash can and said, "Forget it." Is that what he said? Do you know the story? One last passage in the book of Judges. Judges 16, just by way of example.

And I know this is an example of physical strength, but for us, it's a great template of spiritual strength and endurance. But here is Samson. Samson was made weak because of his failure, and maybe I just need to say that for your sake, perhaps for my own, that the times that we fail and maybe our weakness is based on our own failure, we need to look at Samson's life and say even in his weakness at the end of his life, we saw him reach out to God, and God turned his weakness into strength again.

So I don't know, and maybe this sermon—I know it's painful because I've already done it twice and people I know on the patio and afterwards, there's a pain for some that they've wasted a lot of their lives. There are the gray hairs here going, "Well, you know what, I just feel bad that I just not—I've just been sitting on the bench rusting out." Okay, don't mourn that, right? Tell God you're sorry, and let's do the great thing for God. Let's don't spend any time on that. Let's just repent of it and move forward.

Because even if our weakness is based on our inactivity, our lack of zeal, or lack of passion—I mean, there was someone here this morning hadn't been to church for two years, okay? They confessed that. "I haven't been to church for two years." Great, you know what I'm going to say? Be here next week. Let's get involved. Let's do something great for God. Tell God you're sorry about that. Let's get back on the beam.

Well, Samson was in that situation because of his own sin. Judges 16, drop all the way down to verse number 25. And you remember the story, don't you? They gouged out his eyeballs, the Philistines, after all of his fooling around. And out came the secret of his strength, and so now he's weak and he's in shackles. And they've thrown a few back, by the time we get to verse 25, and the Philistines are all thrilled. They got the strongman tied up.

Now look, he doesn't have any eyes, bloody eye sockets, looks terrible. "Hey, bring out Samson. He can maybe juggle for us a little bit. There's the old warrior of Israel, bring him out here." They're in high spirits. Bring out Samson to entertain us. So they called Samson out of his prison, and he performed for them. I'd like to see that. What was that all about? I don't know, but it was humiliating for him, and all the Philistines throwing them back, saying, "Hey, we're the winners."

Now remember the Philistines, just to get a little perspective here. You do understand that God's just not like getting joy out of wiping entire nations off the planet, okay? That's not like magnifying glass on the ants. That's not God. God was looking at the Philistines, much like the Canaanites who came earlier, who were willing to throw their children into the fire as an act of worship to their pagan gods.

God's saying, "I've had enough of that. Precious children thrown into fires." God's not—he's done with that. And so he tried to raise up Samson to make a difference and do something for God. You know what, though? He had failed. He was now utterly weak because of his own failure because he'd piddled away his opportunities to do something great for God.

And so here he is, out there entertaining the Philistines. They stood him among the pillars, and Samson goes, "Oh, wow." Remember, he's blind, he's got his eyes gouged out. He said to the servant who held his hand, "Hey, put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple," two central pillars in the temple here, so that I can lean against them. Verse 27, now the temple was crowded with men and women.

Rulers of the Philistines were there. They were on the roof. There were about 3,000 men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more." And God said, "No, I'm not going to do that." Is that what God said? "You've sinned away your opportunity. Where you been, man? You wasted your life."

No, we see in the next few verses, God answers him exactly how he asked. He says in verse 29, Samson reached toward the two central pillars on the temple, bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, "Fine, I know I'm done, I'm captured, I'm surrounded by thousands of people. I get it, God, but in this act, this last act, please let me take these Philistines down."

That's what God raised him up to do, and he didn't do it. But now in his last chapter, he says, "God, let me do it." He pushed them with all of his might and God's power, by the way. And down came the temple on the rulers and all the people, and thus—now this is an interesting statement—he killed many more when he died than when he lived. Why did God raise him up? To kill the Philistines.

And he piddled a lot of that away. But in the end, he said, "God, in your grace, forgive me. God, in your grace, please get me back on the beam here. And for my eyeballs and for the reason that you raised me up, let me take them down now." And God said, "Fine, I will strengthen you." God loves—I love this verse from Isaiah 40—he loves to give strength to the weary.

And you may be saying, "Well, that's only if you're weary in doing good." No, no, no. No matter what your weakness is caused by, repentance, a willingness to say, "God, I want to do something great for you. Not about me, it's about you." God loves to just give you strength.

The New Testament equivalent of that, obviously, is not to push down pillars. It's not to bench press a lot. This is about a kind of spiritual strength to do something great. One last passage, okay? And this one I mean it this time, the last passage. Ephesians chapter 3. I love the confluence in this text of doing something great for God and our reliance on God, looking to God for strength.

We're going to need that. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became powerful in battle to do what God had called them to do. Well, what is God calling us to do? Not push down pillars, but you need strength, spiritual strength. He says this in verse 16, Ephesians 3:16, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in the inner being."

We're not talking about muscles. We're talking about your heart and your resolve to be strong to do the great thing that God has called you to do. And I love that, "out of his glorious riches," out of that may he strengthen you with power, okay? This is not a double-A battery. This is out of his amazing strength. This power, he wants you to be empowered to do his will.

I love this text, verse 17, "so that he may dwell in your hearts through faith. Pray that being rooted and established in love, you may have power—may have power—together with all the saints, to first of all grasp how wide, how long, how high, how deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be"—here's a great phrase—"filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Now, if you live there, being strengthened by the power of God, you can't help but do great things for God. I love that phrase, "the measure of the fullness of God." To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He can conquer a lot. According to his power that is at work in us, our reliance on his power. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, including the 21st, forever and ever. Amen.

Time for us to stand up and do something great for God. How are you going to spend the rest of your life? Let's do something great for God. When you do, you're going to have a whole new host of enemies because Satan and the world don't care if you just want to sit tight in the corner and not cause any trouble.

But if you want to take a few hills for God, if you say, "God, expend my life," maybe like William Carey, I just say, "God, I'm not much, I'm a worthless worm, but you know what, God, please, I will attempt great things and I'll expect great things for you." And that's going to be your new battle cry. Then trust God for protection, look to God for strength.

And when the time we come to your funeral and we say, "Oh, we sure miss him or her," we're going to say, "You know what, though, they did amazing things for God in their lives." God can do that right where you live. He may not change your job. He might. He may call you to a new place. But you know what? You can do it, and God can do great things through you.

I am sick and tired, okay? I am sick and tired, and I hope you are too, of the self-preservation theology that is peddled from countless pulpits in countless churches across our country. And it's all about giving sermons where we just kind of hug each other and say, "Oh, I just hope you get protected and you just live a nice life. And you need to slow down and chill out and relax.

And I hope God give you peace. And it'd be really nice if God just gave you a nice retirement, too. And it'd be good if you get that vacation house, too. That would be relaxing, and you need to de-stress a little bit and chill out." Am I making the point? You hear that preaching? Stop it. Not only is it unbiblical, which is bad, it is completely absurd in a generation that has made an art form out of—we're stressed out about text messaging, "I'm so stressed."

What are you talking about? Our great-grandparents are laughing at us from heaven, right? You guys are working hard, you must be really stressed down there. Yeah, you don't even get up to change channels anymore. I mean, think about it. We have a society that is focused on relaxation, recreation, leisure, and we're all, "Oh, preacher, tell us how to relax more. We need to relax a little bit more. Decompress."

Stop it. See? Stop it. It's absurd and it's unbiblical. Here's what the Scripture says, 1 Corinthians 15:58, "We need to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord." Fully, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Give yourself fully to it. Give yourself fully to it. Here's the words of Christ, because if you want to save your life, preserve it—this is not just soteriological, this is practical—if you want to get into preservation theology, you will lose your life.

And we're not talking soteriologically, that's true, too. You want to preserve your life and reject Christ, you'll go to hell. That's true. But if you want to preserve your life now as a Christian and you're all into these self-preservation sermons and "Oh, I just want to be—I just want to keep my nice little life and be comfortable," then here's the thing. You're going to lose your life.

You will piddle away the rest of your life. You'll get to heaven and it'll be wood, hay, and stubble, and it'll be gone. Or as Jesus said, you can lose your life for my sake. And then you know what? At your funeral, we're going to say, "Man, he found his life. She found her life. Man, she made a difference for Christ. He really made an impact on the kingdom."

"Well, I'm not greatly gifted." We went over that. Neither was Gideon or Jephthah. But you know what? God used them greatly because they had ambitious faith. Stop with the self-preservation theology. Let us spend and be expended for something in the kingdom of God, whether it's speaking, serving, it could be setting up a website, it could be starting a ministry, it could be getting involved and giving our whole heart to a ministry.

It could be saying, "I'm going to go take that hill for Christ." Let's do it. And you're not going to sit back and say when we meet up in heaven, "You know, I wish I wouldn't have taken that sermon so seriously. I really spent way too much time serving the Lord down there on Earth." You think you're going to say that to me? No.

You're going to say, "Man, I wish I would have listened to that sermon. I wish I would have done it more. I wish I would have thrown more of my heart into that. You know, you told us about going into our closet and shutting the door and not coming out until we have something great to do for—I never really even did that." You're going to look back and say, "Man, wood, hay, and straw, it's a waste." What are you doing with your life? What are you doing with the rest of your life? Let's do something great for God.

Dave Druey: Pastor Mike Fabarez is talking about attempting great things for God today on Focal Point. It's one portion of a larger study in the book of Hebrews called Ambitious Faith. Now, you can revisit these messages anytime at focalpointradio.org or through the free Focal Point app.

Here at the start of a new month, Pastor Mike has selected a book that we're very excited to put in your hands. It's called *Sinners in the Hands of a Good God* by David Klotzfelter. The title raises an eyebrow, and that's exactly the point. We talk a lot about God's grace and love, and rightly so, but Klotzfelter makes the case that a full, honest reading of Scripture demands we hold two things together: the consuming holiness of God and his fierce, pursuing goodness.

This book refuses to let you settle for a half picture of who God is, and that kind of clarity is exactly what fuels an ambitious faith. Request your copy of *Sinners in the Hands of a Good God* when you make a generous donation to Focal Point today. Call 888-320-5885, or give online at focalpointradio.org, or mail your gift to Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

Here's the thing about this ministry: it stays on the air because real people make a real decision to support it. If Focal Point has been a source of solid, faithful Bible teaching in your life, now is the time to act on that. Become a Focal Point partner and commit to giving monthly. Your consistent support is what funds the broadcast, extends the reach, and puts this teaching in front of people hearing it for the very first time. Sign up today at focalpointradio.org or by calling 888-320-5885.

And if today's your first time tuning in, we'd love to welcome you with something free: a booklet called *Storing Up Treasures* by Pastor Mike Fabarez. It's yours just for reaching out at focalpointradio.org. Well, I'm Dave Druey. Tomorrow, Pastor Mike Fabarez takes a hard, honest look at what it actually costs to pursue greatness in God's kingdom and why it's worth every bit of it. Don't miss Tuesday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. You know, it's an honor to be with you every day, helping you explore the depths of Scripture. But I want to be clear: no amount of Bible knowledge is ever going to save you. Be sure where you stand with God. Get in touch with us. We'd love to pray with you and for you. Visit us today at focalpointradio.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Dave Druey: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.