Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: We are so into defensive praying. "God protect us and hope this hangnail goes away." You know what God is looking for? A little ambitious faith, please. Say, "God, I only have so many years left on this planet. What do you want me to do? What great thing do you want to use me to do in this world? What kingdoms do you want me to conquer? What promises do you want to fulfill in my life?"

Dave Drewy: When we gather for a funeral service, we are reminded that life is short and all of us must face death one day. But most of us would rather not dwell on our mortality. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez urges us to face the brevity of our lives because when we grasp how brief our time truly is, it can give us much-needed motivation to make our life count. Pastor Mike is teaching from Hebrews 11. It is encouragement to attempt great things for God in the time we have.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: They used to sing a song a long time ago when they gathered for worship that I suppose would go over today like a lead balloon. It just would not go over with our appetite for happy lyrics and feel-good churches. I am quite sure this song would be far too dark to be included in any worship service lineup these days. But it is a good song. As a matter of fact, it is an inspired song and it is found in the songbook of the Old Testament. It is Psalm number 39.

It would be good for you to look at this because perhaps we would learn that songs like this, that are maybe a little bit dark from our perspective, a little negative, really do a lot more for us than songs that just kind of pat us on the po-po and say, "Hey, you are doing all right." Here is a song that has kind of a wakeup call attached to it. Psalm 39:4 says, "Show me, O Lord, my life's end." Stop right there. That is a negative lyric, right? Just God, show me the day that I die. Let me think about that. "And the number of my days, let me know how fleeting my life is."

Does that sound pretty foreign to modern church? It really wasn't all that foreign to our grandparents. My grandparents and great-grandparents for sure went to a little country church out in the middle of nowhere. They had this practice in those days of building around the church, in the church courtyard, a graveyard, a cemetery. I am just thinking what the city of Aliso Viejo would say. What would you say on your way to pick up your doughnut? "We buried Aunt Ethel right there." It just doesn't seem like an appropriate thing these days.

Yet they did it. If you were going to worship 100 years ago, you were probably going to walk through a cemetery to get there. That is an appropriate biblical thing because if you are coming to worship, we really want to have a little reminder here that our lives are fleeting, just like Aunt Ethel's life over here. We are not going to be here forever. This is a time to get our minds focused and honed in on eternal things.

He goes on and says in verse five, "You have made my days a mere handbreadth." You know what that is, between the thumb and the forefinger. It's just a little marked-off little period here on the timeline. "The span of my years is as nothing before you." God, on the big eternal timeline here and life's history from Genesis to Revelation, I am just a tiny little handbreadth. As a matter of fact, each man's life is like a breath, like a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow.

Then there is that little word Selah. If you have studied the Psalms, you know that the word Selah is a word we don't really know. We are not sure what it means, but most Hebrew scholars would say that it is probably a word that gives the musicians a cue that this is for the musical interlude. So we have musical instruments playing now and we are not singing. But certainly, the commentators have all said that it is an appropriate place in the music to stop and kind of resonate on what's just been said.

So here as they are playing in the worship service, I am thinking about my life being nothing. It's just a vapor. It's here today, it's gone tomorrow. Then we start up singing again in verse six. "Man is a mere phantom. He goes to and fro. He bustles about, but only in vain. He heaps up wealth, not knowing who's going to get it." See, who's going to live in your house next that you worked so hard for? Somebody else. You are not going to live there forever. You are just a phantom. You are just here to and fro, going around and collecting your stuff, your 401ks, your Roth IRAs, your retirement plans, your bigger houses. You are going to collect it all and then you are not going to be here anymore.

Why such a dark theme? I know it's super dark for us as a youth-idolizing culture, but it's not meant to be. This isn't just to drive our nose in the fact that you are not going to live forever here on Earth. It is to sober us and make us think maybe just collecting wealth is not what this is all about. If it's all about just living and collecting my stuff and having a comfortable Orange County lifestyle, maybe it's like Solomon said when he took these same themes and expanded on them in his song, the book of Ecclesiastes. Maybe it's nothing but just chasing after the wind. What is it really for? It is not going to last. We are just living out our days.

A lot of people come to church hoping to hear a sermon like that. A sermon where we can just kind of get comfortable and maybe just kind of get that place of security, maybe financially set and just kind of live out the rest of your Orange County life and you will be fine. But the Bible says no, you ought to think. You don't have a lot of time left. Teach us, it says there, to number our days. That is the idea and it's repeated over there in Psalm 90. We need to number our days so we can present to God a heart of wisdom.

The average American lives about 75 years. That is about 27,000 days. I am already pushing about 16,000, which, if you are good at math, you realize I am way past middle age. I know a lot of you like to think I am in middle age. That is probably just to make you feel better about where you are at on the timeline, but I am way past middle age. I have spent most of my... I am on the downhill slope right now. And that is if I live out to be the average American lifespan.

So what is the point? What am I supposed to do? I am supposed to stand back and think, God, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? What am I going to do? Just work real hard to buy that next house so that someone else can live in it? No, I really probably should be thinking about bigger things than that. I should really step back and maybe use passages like Hebrews chapter 11 as a catalyst in my life to say, "What am I doing with the rest of my life?"

I only have about 11,000 days left if I live to be the average lifespan. How about you? What have you got left? I don't know, only the Lord knows. That is a great way of saying I don't want to think about it. Maybe you should think about it. If you live the normal lifespan, how much time have you got left? 20 years? 15? Seven? 17? What have you got? Question: what are you going to do with that? Just keep kind of trying to put that nice little Orange County comfortable life together for yourself?

The Bible would say, why? That is kind of a waste. There is a lot more you should be thinking about doing with the rest of your life. Hebrews chapter 11, we have been talking about ambitious faith because one verse after the next, we get another lesson on looking 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 am willing to be used to do something great." It is all about us attempting something great for God. Why? Because that is what Hebrews 11 has been all about.

We get to verse number 32, and if you have that open, take a look at it. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32, and he is done expanding on the stories. He is 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 even have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets."

Then he starts talking about some of the things they did. Through faith, they conquered kingdoms. They administered justice and they gained what was promised. If you have your Greek New Testament out, you can tell that is a plural here. They have gained some promises because we are 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 won a lot of battles. The war wasn't won though until Christ came.

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, through their faith, God had to shut the mouths of lions. 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. Because of their faith and because of God's intervention and protection, they quenched the fury of the flames.

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. It's just amazing the way God stepped in and delivered these people. He did amazing things through these folks.

Now, I really resonate with verse number 32 in that little phrase that says, "I don't have time to tell about all this." As I was mapping out Hebrews 11, I started looking and I thought we could do a whole week on Gideon, we could do a whole week on Barak. Well, he doesn't, so I am not going to. We are trying to get through Hebrews, so we are just going to take it all at once. And we are going to say that as he rapid-fires through the list, he gets us thinking about more people who stepped out to do great things. It really leads us to stand back and say, what's the point here, Mr. writer of the book of Hebrews, which is ultimately God's spirit trying to say something to us?

What have we learned so far? Don't sit around and do nothing with your life. Step up with ambitious faith and emulate these examples. In this case, as he throws Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel out at us, we think, wow, yeah, they did do things like conquer kingdoms, administer justice and they gained all kinds of hills for the kingdom of God. What am I doing with my life? Trying to build my Roth IRAs? Come on, what's the point?

Well, I should maybe, number one on your outline, emulate this example and let's just decide with the rest of our lives, number one, we're going to do something great for God. Let's just be as ambitious as these people in Hebrews 11 and say it isn't just about earning a paycheck. I am going to try to in my sphere of life, in my little corner of the world, I am going to try to stand up and do something great for God.

Well, Mike, that would be great if I were like some really spiritual and gifted guy, but I am just really... I am barely hanging on to my job. I can't do anything great for God. Look at the list again. Do you remember Gideon? Did you go to Sunday school and hear that story about Gideon? What did he constantly need at the beginning of his whole calling to deliver these people, Israel, from the oppressive hand of Midian? It was just, "I don't know, I can't really do it. I need proof. Fleece, wet, dry ground."

What about the next guy, Barak? Do you know him? Do you know his story? This was a sad guy who just could not step up and do it, but God used him anyway. Samson, he wasn't really the kind of guy that you think, "What a great example of virtue and godliness." Jephthah, were you there that week for Sunday school as a kid? Do you remember his story? Not a good story. Read it on your own. It's just not a good story.

I mean, he did great things for God, but the guy wasn't perfect. He made some foolish decisions. He made some foolish deals with God. David, now we're talking about a man after God's own heart, but even his story is kind of stained with failure. You realize, don't you, that this list is filled with people who have feet of clay. They weren't the greatest that God could find on planet Earth. But they were people who stepped up every one of them in spite of their foibles and they said, "God, I will do something great for you. I will trust you and stand up and do something great."

Some of them did it reluctantly, some of them did it after some coaxing, but whatever, they stood up with all of their flaws and said, "God, I will do something great for you." As a matter of fact, you may feel like I don't have anything to offer, I am not super smart, I don't have a lot of gifts. Whatever you are thinking, here is the deal: you don't need all that. What you need is ambitious faith. You need to through faith say to God, "I am willing to step up and do whatever is needed. As a matter of fact, I am willing to build in my heart a desire to do something great for you."

Remember that great phrase we quoted all the time: "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." Remember that phrase from that famous missionary? You know his name, William Carey. William Carey goes down in church history as one of the great men, one of the great people who really turned the world upside down, specifically the country of India. Now, that phrase, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things from God," came from a man who at the end of his life wanted this put on his tombstone. Here is what it read: "A wretched, poor, and helpless worm." That is how he saw himself. Then the next line: "But on your kind arms, Lord, I fall."

The point is, God, I am trusting you. I am going to hang on to you. Here is a guy who by the way never went to college, dropped out of high school, said, "God, I still though with all my past and all my deficiencies, I just want to do something great for you." Did God use him to do something great? He transformed missiology, he transformed, he opened the door in India and it changed that country. Really, it just transformed it for centuries to come. That guy is a great man. Translated the Bible, this was the high school dropout, into five different languages. The guy was willing to be used by God because he held on to God's hand.

Look at the list. We don't have time, obviously, verse 32, to go through all these people, but let's at least look at the first one, Gideon. Let's go to Judges chapter 6 and just remind ourselves that it doesn't take the magna cum laude, it doesn't take the valedictorian to be used to do something great. God can pick people like Gideon. Judges chapter 6. Isn't this been a great chapter to survey? We've been in Genesis, Exodus, we've been in Leviticus, we've been in Deuteronomy. We've been in Joshua last week. Here we are in Judges chapter 6.

Gideon. Now, I know if you know a little bit about the book of Judges, they are constantly falling into trouble, the nation of Israel. They did evil in the eyes of the Lord and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. You kind of do this when you read that: "Oh, yeah, I have read that." You know how bad it was for them? This is how bad it was for Israel. They were oppressed by the Midianites and the power of Midian was so oppressive that the Israelites had to prepare shelters for themselves in the mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Talk about building bombshells. These guys were driven out of their villages, out of their cities and into the mountains to live.

That is how bad it was for them. Do you think there were prayers going up to God from the sinful Israelites who were now repentant and contrite saying, "God, deliver us from the hands of the Midianites"? This was a bad day for Israel. And so God responds as he does throughout the book of Judges and says, "Fine, if you learned your lesson, if you're repentant and contrite, I will send a deliverer. So let's see, who shall we pick?" Drop down to verse number 12. Angel of the Lord goes out and he appears to a guy named Gideon.

He says, "Yahweh is with you, mighty warrior." He is looking over his shoulder, "Who? Me?" I know that is what he says. As a matter of fact, drop down to verse 15. I know that is what he says because Gideon says, "How can I save Israel?" This is chapter 6, verse 15. "My clan is the weakest in Manasseh. I mean, we don't have three sharp spears between us." And not only that, "Have you seen my family? I am the weakest. Every brother I've got can bench press more than me. I am not the guy for you, God. I can't do it."

Verse 16, the Lord answers and says, "Oh, you're right. I didn't notice that. Forget it." Do you see that in verse number 16? Is that what it says? That is not what it says. Here is the words we see repeated throughout Hebrews 11 as we look at the stories represented in that text. "I will be with you." I am going to go with you. I know you're a poor, wretched, miserable worm. I get it. You are weak and you don't even have a bow and arrow. I understand that. But me and you, we can do something great. As a matter of fact, he says, "I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Just boom, you are going to do it.

You know what that takes to believe that about yourself? That God can do that through you? It takes ambitious faith. You are going to have to say to God, "Okay, God, I am not going to sit here and peddle these stupid excuses to you and say, 'God, I am going to save that for those preachers or those missionaries.' I can't do anything." You can do something for God. All you need to do is to say, "I am willing to trust God to be utilized with whatever you got left, 15 years, with the rest of your life," and say, "God, I want to do something great for the kingdom of God."

Well, okay, but I wouldn't know where to start. Okay, let me help you with that. First Peter chapter 4. Let's go to First Peter chapter 4. If you don't know where to start, here is where you start. You need what I like to call the back page of your prayer book. There should be, I hope you have some kind of way to record your prayer requests. Well, I have a back page. I call it the back page because it's where the ridiculous requests go in my prayer book. If I got a prayer request in my journal, whatever, I say to the back page if it's one of those whoppers.

This is something I am just thinking, "Well, God, this is kind of crazy, but I'd like to pray for it anyway." I've got a few of those on the back page. That is what I am talking about. You all should have a few back-page prayer requests. Those are the big things where you say, "God, I just want to see this happen and if you want to use me to do it, okay, but I just want to see this happen." I've got a few doozies on mine. I am too embarrassed to share them all with you, but I am telling you, you got to have those. Do you have a few of those? Say, "God, here is the big incredible thing. I just want to see that great thing accomplished for you. If you want to use me to do it, great. I am here. God, let's see something great happen."

I got a flyer in the mail that I am sure was sent out to every church in Southern California and it was some Christian camp in Riverside County that was kind of going under. So here is this big camp and they have the mess hall and they have the dorms and all that. And oh, we are trying to sell it because we are folding. Well, you know, I see it and I look at the price tag and it's got all those zeros on it. I am looking at my wallet. Throw it away, right? I couldn't do it. That is a back-page prayer request right there. Wouldn't that be great? I mean, what a great thing to have a camp where they are... ah. So a back-page prayer request goes up.

Those are the big things. We just talked about this a few weeks back, but we're so into defensive praying. "God protect us and hope this hangnail goes away and hope I have a good lunch today." You know what God's looking for? A little ambitious faith, please. I mean, let's go take a university for Christ, all right? I think we need a place that teaches the word of God. That is what I think we need. And so I am thinking, God, I just, if we could just have a church filled with people who have that back-page prayer request list praying for great things. Let's just do that with the rest of our lives.

I don't know where to start. Great. First Peter chapter 4, are you there? How do I start my list? Well, I am glad you asked. Verse 7, first of all, let's start where our message started. "The end of all things is near." That is not a very happy thought. But you know what? It's a good thought because you know what that does? It motivates me to maybe spend the rest of my life on something worthwhile. So the end of all things is near. Either Christ is coming back or I am going to die, but I am not going to be around forever here on Earth. So be clear-minded, self-controlled so that you can pray. Now, if you're taking notes, you copious note-takers, jot down letter A. You're going to build your back-page prayer list. Start with this: it starts with prayer. Don't sit around and contemplate your navel or read a Christian biography. Those things are great, maybe not the navel one, but it's good to read Christian biographies. But what you need to do is lock yourself in a closet and say, "God, I only have so many years left on this planet. What do you want me to do? What great thing do you want to use me to do in this world? What kingdoms do you want me to conquer? What promises do you want to fulfill in my life?" Lock yourself in a closet and pray. That is how you start. Pray.

Dave Drewy: You're listening to Pastor Mike Fabarez on Focal Point and the start of a message titled "Attempting Great Things for God." We're in a series from Mike Fabarez called Ambitious Faith and every lesson is available anytime by going online to focalpointradio.org. Or download the free Focal Point app and subscribe to the podcast.

This month, Pastor Mike picked out a book we'd like to send you called "Songs of the Son" by Daniel Stevens. It runs right alongside what you've been hearing in this series. The premise is straightforward. The Psalms aren't simply poetry about the range of human emotion. They're songs about Jesus. Some address him directly, others pull back the curtain on the conversation between the Father and the Son. Stevens works through the specific Psalms that Hebrews itself cites, taking each one on its own terms first, then reading it through the lens Hebrews supplies. What comes into focus is a Christ who was present in those pages all along.

If this series has sharpened your eye for seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, "Songs of the Son" gives you more ground to cover. Request your copy of "Songs of the Son" when you support Focal Point with a gift today. You can easily give over the phone by calling us at 888-320-5885 or donate online at focalpointradio.org. You can also send your donation by mail. Just write to us at Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

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Well, I'm Dave Drewy and that's all our time for today. Tomorrow, Pastor Mike Fabarez continues our message titled "Attempting Great Things for God." Join us Thursday here on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it will never return void. So I wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line, let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.