The Ignored Frontier-Romans 10:14-17

Pam likes to say, sometimes affectionately and other times not so affectionately, “Marry a Canady, see the world!” Which is pretty accurate, I think Paul and Marylou are on State # 5 since being married, Mark and Bonnie have lived in 3 States, and not to be outdone, Pam and I have lived in 7.

Honestly, Pam and I have lived in some places of spectacular beauty. From the Eastern shore of Maryland a short distance from the beautiful beaches of the Atlantic ocean, which has some of the most spectacular fall colors you’ll ever see, to the southern Oregon coast with mountain cliffs that descend to meet the Pacific ocean, to the upper peninsula of Michigan, which has unparalleled beauty all but one month of the year.

But of all the places we have lived, our favorite place was living in the Kansas City metro area. For 19 years we lived down on the far southern tip of the city, far enough south that I could hop on my bike and within 10 minutes be peddling with cornfields on both sides of the road. We both lived quite a few years in farming communities, so this was a plus. Being in a metro area, we had virtually everything we wanted close by! We honestly loved it there!

We were a part of a growing church with a vibrant ministry and for the first time in my adult life, I was serving alongside my father as one of the lay elders of the church we attended. I think that most of you have met my parents, so you have an idea how cool it would be to serve alongside a spiritual giant, albeit in a diminutive frame! Pam and I were also leading a college and career ministry at the church, which included our daughter, Brittany, who was in her first year of college.

One of the other things we loved about living in the Kansas City area was the large cycling community we were a part of in the metro area. 8 months a year we did weekly group rides with other cyclists with as many as 150 or more riders on our Monday night rides. Plus some larger organized fundraising rides each year with as many as a thousand riders. On top of that, God had opened the door for us to incorporate a lot of ministry as a part of those rides. Did I mention yet that we loved our life in Kansas City?

Change Slide

Heritage Park

In December of 2017, Pam and I were walking around Heritage Park, not far from where we live. Almost weekly, and sometimes several times a week, Pam would meet my sister Joy and they would kayak on the lake you see in the picture. While we were walking Pam said

“You know, I don’t know if I have ever been happier, I just love where we are in life!”

To which I, in all my incredible wisdom, responded,

“Well don’t get used to it, for the last several days I have had this since that something bad is going to happen.”

You know, guys, sometimes we can say some of the dumbest stuff, and sure, it may be true, but that doesn’t mean we should say it! This was one of those times!

My less than thrilled wife responded

“What do you mean, and to whom?”

Well it was too late to change course now! So I told her that for some reason I had a sense that something bad was going to happen to me.

Let’s just say, the rest of our walk was less than stellar!

I will say, I truly did have a sense that something bad was going to happen to me. At the time I had a really good job and was making a pretty good living, but I had been struggling at for a while.

Fast forward to February 2nd, 2018. Do you remember how I said I had been struggling at work? Well on that morning I was at my desk working, I noticed the conference room by my desk had the door closed. This was not uncommon as it was used for lots of meetings. Then, the door opened, my immediate supervisor walked out, asked me to step into the conference room, long story short, about 30 minutes later I was headed to my car with boxes and bags with all my personal things from work. Devastated, I loaded them in the car, did I mention this was a brand-new car purchased 3 days earlier? At any rate, I drove to a different part of the parking lot (the company covered more than an entire city block), parked, began to read through the paperwork and spend some time in prayer.

Quick question, didn’t Ryan Stevens recently have a concert around here? In 2018 Ryan Stevens climbed up the Christian charts with his song In The Eye of The Storm.

Change Slide

Eye

Well after about 45 minutes later sitting in the parking lot, I went to put my "brand new" car in gear, turned on the radio and immediately heard these exact lyrics;

"When they let me go and I just don't know

How I'm gonna make ends meet I did my best Now I'm scared to death That we might lose everything

And when a sickness takes my child away And there's nothing I can do My only hope is to trust You I trust You LORD

In the eye of the storm, You remain in control In the middle of the war, You guard my soul You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn Your love surrounds me, in the eye of the storm"

Now, I don’t know if you Ryan Stevens fans are aware of this or not, but he has 2 versions of this song, and this particular version almost never receives air time, probably 90% of the time or more, you hear his other version. Yet the second I started the car, not only is his rarely played version on, but at that exact second I hear the lyrics

"When they let me go and I just don't know

How I'm gonna make ends meet I did my best Now I'm scared to death That we might lose everything.

It was as if God, Himself, was speaking out loud to me saying, “Jim, I've got this! I am the Sovereign God, I have a plan for you, and My plan is perfect. Rest in Me, I remain in control, I am guarding your heart, I am your Anchor, and right now, in the middle of this storm, My love surrounds you!"

Change Slide

And when a sickness takes my child away And there's nothing I can do My only hope is to trust You I trust You LORD

The second part of the verse was very key for me. You see Pam and I lost a child, and God literally took the loss of our child and gave us 2 children. So, His speaking to me continued. “How did I do when you lost Daniel? Did I do ok? If I can take the tragic loss of a child and turn it into something marvelous, do you think I could do the same for you today?”

With a sense of relief, I headed home. Can I be honest with you for a moment? That sense of relief ended when I pulled into the driveway! "What am I going to tell Pam? She's going to be devastated!" I opened the door, and there she stood, big smile on her face, happy to see me early, thinking maybe I had a dentist appointment or something. I said, "My being here early is not a good thing." Then I broke down. After a quick trip to the restroom, I went back to where she was sitting, and the 1st words out of her mouth were; "Jim. God is calling you back into the ministry!"

It turns out back on November 28, 2017, God had been speaking to Pam’s heart that He was calling us back into the full-time ministry. At almost the exact time, one of my best friends asked me if I would ever want to go back into the ministry. My response was, "In a heartbeat, but the idea would have to come from Pam, without me prompting her. It has to be just out of the blue." I figured there was little chance of that happening! And here was that “out of the blue confirmation” I had been hoping for, but I wanted proof, so she took me up to see her Quiet Time Journal and found the entry.

So we set our sites on the full time ministry.

To be completely honest with you, Village Missions was not our 1st thought when it came to ministry. Initially our thought was that we could join the ministry staff of one of the larger churches in the area. In fact, a church about 2 miles from our home had 2 positions that would have been a good fit for me. This would enable us to keep the home we raised our children in, our friends, our ministry in the local cycling community, my parents lived 12 minutes from us, my sister and her family were 5 minutes from us, all the while obeying God’s clear call on our lives. As I mentioned earlier, we were content in life, but you know, I am not at all convinced that God is overly concerned with our contentment in life. There really isn’t a lot of faith involved in contentment and it’s hard to be effective in ministry without faith. Still, we continued to pursue opportunities in that large church.

One day, while we were driving down the road. Pam went to the app for the church we were looking at, and she began to scroll through their staff page, she scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, they had 25 people on staff! Which brings me to this morning’s passage.

Change Slide

Romans 10:14–17 ESV

How then will they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of Whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” …. 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

After scrolling through their list of staff, Pam’s response was “They’ve already got 25 people on staff!” Now please understand, this was a major metropolitan area, and the ministry needs are significant, but honestly, for every position available in large metro churches, they probably have 10 - 20 applicants.

Paul can correct me if I am wrong on this, but one of our favorite professors in Bible College used to discourage any of his students from rural pastoral positions. He felt they were a waste of time. Well Paul was in chapel one day, when Ray Cheney, who was a good friend of our families and a district representative with Village Missions, was speaking. Knowing what our professor had said, Ray asked all those in attendance at chapel, to raise their hand if they were raised in a rural community. The vast majority there raised their hand. I would say that is a pretty good indication that being a pastor in a rural community is anything but a waste of time!

It soon became clear that God was calling us to Village Missions.

Leading up to the verses in this morning’s passage, the Apostle Paul, in chapter 9 and the first 13 verses of chapter 10, made clear to his readers that there is a difference between those who rely on obedience to the law for salvation and those who trusted in Jesus the Messiah for salvation. The vast majority of the Jews rejected the long awaited Messiah, despite the fact that He had fulfilled prophecy after prophecy. Instead, they sought redemption through obedience to the law, which was an impossibility. This broke Paul’s heart, because he wanted so bad for his own people to embrace Jesus for Who He was, the long awaited Messiah. His heart was so broken that he wrote in Romans 9:1-3

Change Slide

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Did you pick that up? Paul wanted his own people to come to Christ so badly, that He would have given up eternity in heaven if that would have made a difference. More than just giving up eternity in heaven, Paul states “For I could wish that I myself were accursed”. The word accursed means “devoted to destruction in eternal hell”. Now that is love!

In the verses we are looking at this morning, Paul asks 4 rhetorical questions of his readers. The purpose behind rhetorical questions is “Rhetorical questions, unlike regular questions, aren't meant to be answered, but rather to make a point, emphasize a message, or engage the audience in thought and reflection, rather than seeking a direct response.” Let’s spend a little time now looking at these rhetorical questions, but let’s start with question # 4 in 15. We will start with the last question because there is a progression in Paul’s questions, but Paul asks the questions in reverse order. Think of it this way.

Change Slide

maze

I remember doing mazes as a child. Now for me, and my guess is for a lot of you it may be the same way, but for me, I found it easiest to solve a maze by beginning, not at the start of the maze, but at the end and working my way back to the beginning. Here in Romans 10:13-16, as Paul introduces these 4 rhetorical questions, Paul begins at the end and works his way to the beginning. We will do the opposite.

Change Slide

Question # 4- “how are they to preach unless they are sent? ”

By the way, this is where you all come into play. True North Church is a significant part of our sending team. For that we are incredibly grateful. You know for 19 years I worked in financial serves, particularly in the investment community. I had as many as 69 representatives that I worked as a manager over, and one of my biggest jobs was to review every application and every transaction made by these representatives to make sure they were acting in the best interest in their clients. To make sure they were making good investments with the money intrusted to them. When you work in this type of environment, before long you become adept at spotting good investments. But in the investment world, there is no such thing as a crystal ball that see’s into the future, guaranteeing that every investment is going to bring about a good return. There was a lot of educated guessing going on.

That is not the case when you are investing in eternity. Every investment into eternity is a good investment. Now this doesn’t mean that every time we share Christ that people will respond favorably. Most of the time they won’t, but our job, yours and mine, our job is to be obedient to what God has called us to do. Our job is to obediently plant seeds.

Back in the early 90’s, when Pam and I were in the youth ministry in Scottsbluff NE. I taught a series on The Names Of God. Since that time Pam and I have had a deep love for the Names of God. Well one of our favorite Names for God is the Name

Change Slide

Adonai-The Lord & Master.

You can easily spot the Name Adonai in the old testament. As you are reading through the Old Testament, any time you see Lord written with a capital “L” followed by lower case “ord”, it is the word Adonai. Whereas anytime you see LORD spelled with all caps, even if the upper case “ORD” is in most cases slightly smaller that the upper case “L”, then the Name there for LORD is Yahweh or Jehovah.

What makes “Adonai” particularly significant to us is because of all it entails. First of all, when God is our Lord, then it is our duty to obediently serve Him. But as our Master, He has obligated Himself to provide us with everything we need to serve Him. Our sole job is to obey Him. But there is even more to the Name Adonai. Yes we are to obediently serve Him, and yes, He is to give us everything we need to accomplish any task He has entrusted to us. But it is the last part of the truth behind this Name that Pam and I have grown to love so much. He, and He alone is responsible for the results. Our job is to obey, His job is to bring about the results. Then, even though He, and He alone brings about the results, as we lovingly obey Him, He rewards us with eternal blessings.

What does that mean for you as a supporting church? It means that as you support us, both with your finances as well as your prayers, and as we lovingly and obediently serve the Lord, He gives you blessings that will never end.

While there is no way to guarantee a good return in the financial investment community. When you are investing in eternity, God Himself guarantees the return.

Rico Tice a pastor and evangelist from London England says,“We preach the gospel, God opens blind eyes”

So, from question #4 “how are they to preach unless they are sent? We move to;

Change Slide

Question # 3 “how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

While part of my job is to preach on Sunday mornings, both Pam and I preach through both words and actions throughout the week. Which, by the way, each of you should be doing as well. In fact, for all of us, it is our efforts throughout the week, as we love a reach out to the people God brings us into contact with, that open the door for people to even consider accepting invites to attend church on Sunday mornings. The Village Missions Moto is

Change Slide

Vm

In its earliest days, the moto was actually “Love the people, preach the Word”. You see, our founder, Reverend Duff realized that it is a result of our loving the people, that they are more apt to accept the preaching of the Word.

Interestingly, over the years Pam and I have seen more people start and then continue to attend church on Sundays, not because of our personal invites, but more because we have invested in their lives the other 6 days of the week. This is not to say you shouldn’t invite people to church, you absolutely should, but they are far more apt to say yes, if you have lovingly invested in their lives throughout the week.

From question 3 we move to;

Change Slide

Question # 2 “how are they to believe in Him of Whom they have never heard?”

Again, this is something all of us are responsible to be doing. Statistically, the average person hears the gospel between 7-15 times before they respond. In many ways the same holds true for inviting people to come to church with us, most of the time it is our repeated invites that bring them to the point where they say yes. And going back to the Village Missions Moto, they are not likely to respond to the message unless we have demonstrated a deep love for them.

By the way, this is very much at the heart of why Village Missions exists. In many instances a church that has as their pastor a Village Missionary, is the only church in the entire county, if not surrounding counties as well, that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sheridan Lake Bible Church is the only church within 30 miles in any direction whose sole reason for existing is the preach the gospel that the people might hear the good news of God’s love for them, which was displayed by the sacrifice Jesus made for them on the cross. The ministry God has called Pam and me to do in Sheridan Lake is vitally important, because “how are they to believe in Him of Whom they have never heard?”

And that brings us to;

Change Slide

Question # 1 “How then will they call on Him in Whom they have not believed?”

This, this is the goal of what we do, the goal of why it is so important for all of us to do our best to declare the truth of what Jesus did on the cross, that they may hear and as a result believe. They hear through those that are sent, who then are faithful to preach, both throughout the week in Bible studies and small groups as well as from the pulpit on Sunday mornings, and through the messages we declare through the life when live in front of others each and every day. They hear through those who faithfully declare the truth of the gospel to listening ears, and then, as the Spirit of God moves, they are moved to the point of belief in Him, largely as a result of the love of Christ that flows through us, which brings them to the point where they then call on Him in Whom they now believe.

Change Slide

Now, let me share with you a little about Sheridan Lake, and Sheridan Lake Bible Church. While there are quite a few farms and farmers in Hall county, I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of people in Grand Island and Hall County work in fields other than farming. Whereas every direction from Sheridan Lake, CO, north, south, east and west. Most are involved in farming. But in our area there is virtually no irrigation. It is all dry land farming. What that means is that while the average yield of corn in Hall county last year was 188 bushels per acre, most farmers in our area don’t even plant corn, we don’t get enough moisture. When they do, they are ecstatic if they get 70 bushels per acre, but most are averaging 15-30. Since the yield is so low, they plant what many call “poor mans corn”, which is milo or grain sorghum, and requires a lot less rain. Last year, the high end yield for milo was 34 bushels, most averaged around 20 bushels per acre or less. But our people keep plugging away. They are hard working, salt of the earth people, very similar to what Pam and I experienced in our many years living in NE. Our second biggest employer is the local school. Plaineview School is a pre-k through 12th grade school with a total of about 30 students. Last year we had one senior graduate, this year we are skyrocketing to 3! Plaineview School is a very significant part of our community. Because of that, Pam and I have worked really hard to being involved in everything we can at the school. This has, in turn opened up a lot of doors for us in the community.

So now you know a little about our rural community. Honestly, we love it there, in some ways it has been a hand in glove sort of fit for us.

However, as is becoming the case increasingly in tiny rural communities throughout the United States and Canada, alcohol and drug abuse is far more prevalent than we would like, as well as all the things that accompany drug and alcohol abuse, which includes violence & domestic violence in every thinkable way. There is a lot of spiritual darkness around us, which brings me to something the founder of Village Missions, Rev. Walter Duff used to speak about with a very powerful and accurate statement, He used to say; “The light of Jesus Christ shines the brightest, where it is dark!”

Change Slide

Sheridan Lake Bible Church just celebrated its 75th Anniversary last September. From a physical standpoint, our church building is made up of 2 churches that were from several miles away and were several miles from each other. They literally picked up the 2 churches and butted them up against each other. The main white building you see in this picture was the Presbyterian church, and if you look on the backside of the white building behind the large pine tree, you can just make out the roof of what was the Methodist church. The newer brick portion was an edition that was added on in 2004.

Change Slide

One of the fun things we did during the 75th Anniversary celebration was, I interviewed some of the folks that have been a part of the church for the longest. 2 of which are actually charter members from the very beginning. Charlotte, one of those charter member is 91 years old, and she plays the piano every Sunday morning, and honestly, she’s quite good. Joanne, who is also in this picture, but not a charter member, is 80 and she plays the organ every Sunday.

c

There is one other ministry we have as a church. We happen to be on the TransAmerica bike route. Which means that we have bicyclists from all over the world riding through our area from May through September. Well a number of years ago, the church started opening the doors for cyclists to spend the night at the church. By opening the doors, I mean the doors of the church are never locked, that is one of the benefits of living in a town of 55 people! Honestly, almost no one locks there doors, and if I was in a pinch and needed a pick-up, most likely I just need to open the door of almost any pick-up in town and will find the keys in the ignition. Now before you plan your next trip to Sheridan Lake for a new truck, you’ll spend more in gas than a lot of the trucks are worth! At any rate, we have a steady flow of cyclist during the summer and fall months. Just last week Pam went grocery shopping to stock one of the refrigerators and cub-bards with food for the cyclist. Since Pam and I are both avid cyclist ourselves, we have an automatic in with these folks. Just last year I hit my 60,000 mile on bike. Because we speak the same language, so to speak, doors of conversation are opened wide for us. So far our gracious God has opened up the door for me to spend time in prayer with every single cyclist I have met, and I have also been able to share the gospel with several.

Pam and I want you to know that we are truly blessed to be a part of Sheridan Lake Bible Church, and we want to thank you for the role you play in the ministry God has called us to. The church is growing, people are growing in their relationship to Christ, and people are coming to Christ, and your monthly support and prayers are vital to the work God is doing.

Pam has a little sign in our kitchen that I think fits well with the ministries of Sheridan Lake Bible Church and True North Church. Only God Knows How Many Apples are in an Apple Seed. You folks here, and Pam and I in Sheridan Lake, are planting seeds, and only God knows how many lives will be transformed for all eternity by what is taking place.

Let’s close our time this morning in prayer.