Ninjas at Night
I think everyone could relate to the final speaker of our revival week at Pine Valley United Methodist Church! It was wonderful and began with our own Chancel Choir providing the music. Our speaker was Rev. Jabe Largen who said he was from the DC area. We learned that stands for Duplin County! Pastor Largen shared his story of how he became a pastor at his church. He has an amazing story of his past and how far God has brought him and the cool ways God has used him! He believes that there are two extraordinary opportunities to preach the gospel. One is at funerals because that should be where the best sermons are heard where people are feeling pain and loss. He said the other opportunity is at revivals. Unfortunately, he feels many revivals now feel like funerals. He said the good news is there is resurrection! But after watching the previous nights online and worshiping with us for those first 15 minutes, he knew PVUMC was NOT one of those churches!
“Life has been hard” is how Pastor Largen began. He reminded us that Jesus told us life would be hard. John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” BUT, we were promised that life can be abundant and full of joy! John 10:10, “...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 14:11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Unfortunately, a potent spiritual poison plagues the 21st century. It affects us as individuals and as a society. They are fear, busyness and worry and they are all closely related. Fear tells us that we will never be enough or have enough. Fear is poisonous and destroys us. Busyness is our “golden calf”. It will eat us alive. We will never accomplish anything or know an abundant life when we live a life of busyness! Worry was described as if fear and busy had a baby. Worry makes the way for misery which is opposite of abundant life. He said, “This is WAY MORE DANGEROUS than the Coronavirus!”
I think everyone can relate on some level to the sermon on worry. Pastor Largen told about how we go to bed wanting to be still and have peace. We are ok until that first thought slips in. He said it is kind of like a ninja because it demands minutes of your attention. Then the ninja invites all of his buddies who also demand your attention. I used to do that and the next thing I knew those minutes turned into hours and I had snowballed the whole situation. And most of those situations never came to pass! In fact, most of them do not!
Worry is the work of the devil. Worry creates problems. It is a consuming fire that will eat you up! That is why Jesus addressed this in Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Medical officials even tell us that worry will take hours away from our life. So how are we to not worry? Verse 33 say, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Why is worry a sin? Because any worry about the future is a distraction from what we need to deal with today. Worry about tomorrow’s problems robs us of the gift of today. Worry is a thief! It robs us of now, of this very moment that never happened before and will never happen again! And this really got my attention. Tomorrow is not a “thing” because it has not happened yet. It is silly to spend so much time preparing for our future. Pastor Largen talked about how we start when our baby is born wanting them to get into all of the right things. Then to the right clubs, teams and schools. Then the right colleges and the right job. Then the best retirement. And he concluded with, “all of this until we get to Hospice wondering if we have enough life insurance. We are just living to die.” God does not want that! He wants us to experience life abundantly. When He made this world He said it was all good and He enjoyed it on the seventh day. He wants us to enjoy it! Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
Our best combat is a good memory of God. Think of all the times God has come through for us. You said, “There’s no way.” And there was a way! Remember when you thought you were broken beyond repair. He mended you! Remember the prayers of desperation. Think of all these times God delivered you! God can do anything! We cannot forget what He has done and he will do it again! There are things we need to plan for. We can plan for tomorrow but if its causing us to abuse the gift of today we need to reprioritize our life. If we seek God first all the other things will fall into place! Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
Pastor Largen reminded us that seeking God first will make our problems seem smaller. It is not a minimization of our pains and hurts but an affirmation that God can heal us! We had a very powerful healing service where we were invited to do as Jesus told the paralytic, that He healed, “Take up your mat and walk.” Go enjoy life!
Videos of all four nights are available at https://pvumc.net/sermons