Here are some valuable examples and teachings from the Bible and from the lives of others about how God wants to partner with us to do His will on earth. This message is online in audio form at http://www.john10-10.org/john10-2015/Sermon_Audios/Entries/2015/9/20_Entry_1.html

1. 9-20-15 sermon
1
What have we learned from the Bible in
the last week.
First, want to thank everyone who participated in last weeks marathon
of services. As I warned you before hand, our speaker is not the most
gifted speaker that you have ever heard but if you got to know him. he is
one of the most godly and seasoned ministers that I have met a long
time.
His age of 75 plus his recent recovery from a near fatal brain
aneurysm gives him special challenges at this point in his life.
If you asked him, he would be quick to admit that he is not the same
man he was 10 years ago or maybe even five years ago but his heart for
the Lord, His passion for ministry and his dogged commitment to
serving the body of Christ worldwide has not diminished.
I hope we all learn from his example.
Many Christians have multiple excuses for not sharing Jesus with
others very often. Many Christians seem easily discouraged from being
witnesses for Jesus if they believe they have some sort of emotional,
physical or spiritual handicap.
I have talked to countless Christians who say that they cannot share
Jesus or the Bible with others because they are not strong enough, Not
bold enough, Not smart enough, or not educated enough.

2. 9-20-15 sermon
2
I hope that we are all encouraged by the example of Bobby Martz
last weekend. Despite his obvious physical handicaps due to age and
illness, Bobby prayed and fasted for weeks for those meetings, he
preached four times that weekend and traveled four hours here to be
with us.
I hope I am as fervent for the Lord as Bobby is when I am 75
years old. The doctors said that he would not survive the brain
aneurysm or if he did he would be “a vegetable”. I think Bobby is much
more fruitful even in his current condition then many Christians are
under the best of circumstances.
Why? It all has to do with our decisions: Bobby has made a
decision not to let his weaknesses stop him from helping others in any
way he can!
Bobby has made a decision to trust God for the strength and grace to
help others grow in the Lord. He knows he is limited but God is not
limited by his weaknesses.
It’s a set of decisions we all have to make if we want to maximize
our lives for God.
Will we choose to believe that God can use us even if we seem to be
too young or too old? Will we choose to believe that no matter what
mistakes we have made in the past, God wants to use us and will use
us if we just make ourselves available and trust him for the outcomes
of whatever we do?

3. 9-20-15 sermon
3
You know, I take great comfort at a Christian and As a pastor in
knowing that God PREFERS to use the weak and foolish things of the
world for his purposes.
I am delighted to know that God will get more honor and credit for
whatever I do because of my weaknesses. I am grateful to remember
that whatever good I do in my life it has more to do with Gods plans
and grace then with my efforts and abilities. I hope that you feel the
same about your life.
If you feel weak, if you feel inadequate, if you feel that you are not
worthy to serve the Lord in any significant way, then you are exactly the
kind of person God wants to use. Your weakness attracts the presence
and the power of God. He loves to use humble people to do great
things so they and others will know they did not do it by their own
strength.
He's looking for cracked pots that allow the light of God’s Presence
to shine out of those cracks in the pot—to paraphrase that well-known
scripture.
What did we learn from the Scriptures this past week?
As most of you know, I've asked the church to read the entire Bible in
one year using the reading plan that was handed out a few weeks ago.
Each month you will receive the reading plan for that month. Next
Sunday, you will receive the reading plan for October.

4. 9-20-15 sermon
4
I am personally enjoying this spiritual discipline very much. I
hope that you are too. I feel stronger, more confident in my faith, more
committed to God’s plans for my life and more assured that no matter
what happens to me, to my family, to this church or to this world, that
God is in loving control and that He will take care of those who belong
to Him.
Let’s remember, we never know when life is going to become so
difficult that we cannot do routine normal things like read the Bible for
30 minutes everyday.
The nourishment we are giving our souls now through this spiritual
exercise could will make a significant difference in the days and weeks
to come.
I encourage all of us to take advantage of this opportunity which I
think is being directed by the Holy Spirit to nourish, to strengthen, to
correct, to guide and to prepare us for promotion to greater levels of
responsibility and authority in the Kingdom of God!
So this week we have read from Luke 12 to 15 and from Genesis 21
to 27 and from Psalm 14 to Psalm 20. Here are some of my thoughts on
these passages that I hope will encourage you and strengthen you for the
days ahead;
1. Reading the Bible in large chunks like this always remind me to
take the long view––the view from the shores of heaven. When
we do not read the Bible much, it is easier to be very distracted by
the details of the moment.

5. 9-20-15 sermon
5
⁃ Its easy to think politicians will fix our problems.
⁃ It’s easy to think that our circumstances are the most important
thing inner lives.
⁃ It’s easy to forget the hidden, mysterious but all -powerful way
God works to bless and protect His people.
⁃ For most people, Life is full of challenges, full of
questions we cannot answer, full of disappointments
and full of things that could easily take our eyes off of
God.
⁃
⁃ In Genesis, God promised Abraham and Sarah a son
who would begin their family lineage.
⁃ But Sarah was barren.
⁃ It took many years before Isaac was born.
⁃ They made the mistake of trying to have a son to one of Sarah's
maidens name Hagar. But that did not work well.
⁃ Years later, when Abraham was 100 years old, God gave them
Isaac as his first son born of Sarah—the son God would bless
to build a nation from.
⁃ Then , God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son he loved.
But God protected Isaac at the last minute.
So, Abraham and Sarah could early have become discouraged
or nervous by the way God fulfilled His promise to give them a son and
a heritage. 10 years of waiting perhaps. Why is God so slow to do
what He said?
Pastor Yonggi Cho was probably asking himself that question

6. 9-20-15 sermon
6
around 1980 when the doctors told him that he was about to die
from tuberculosis. They told him if he did not quit preaching to his
church in Korea that he would die from that disease. They told him he
was too weak to continue on his pastor. Pastor Cho prayed and asked the
Lord what was the Lord’s perspective on his sickness.
To his delight, the Lord said that he would He would heal Cho— but
that it would take 10 years. You can imagine the mixed emotions that
response from the Lord evoked in very sick pastor. Cho’s church of 2000
depended upon him for spiritual leadership each week. He knew that he
had to do most of the preaching and discipling of the church or the
church would suffer. No one else could fill his shoes in the pulpit then.
So what did he do?
Cho did what no other Korean pastor had ever done until then. He
called his deacon men together and asked them to lead small groups so
that they can do most of the discipling of the people so that Cho would
just have to preach one sermon on Sundays. The men were very
sympathetic but they told their pastor that they could not lead the small
groups since they all were very busy holding down jobs and providing
for their families.
What Cho did next was even more astounding. What he did next was
probably shocking and a little scandalous to the Korean church leaders
around him. Cho gathered his women members together and asked the
women if they would lead the small groups of church members and
disciple the congregation in those weekly small groups.
The women initially said they could not do it because they believed that
the Bible did not give them any spiritual authority to do that and that
women in Korea had so little value evening the church that no one

7. 9-20-15 sermon
7
would pay attention to them. Cho told them then he would give them a
special hat to wear to signify if they were under his leadership and
authority. He also said that they would just be teaching from the sermon
notes that he prepared each week so that their teaching was really his
teaching. Based on that arrangement, the women agreed to lead to small
groups.
For the next 10 years, Cho was not sure he would be able to finish his
sermons each Sunday. His sapped him of most of his energy.
Sometimes he would have to be held up by two deacons in the pulpit
in order to finish the message.
But in 10 years —just as the Lord said— he was healed. Much more
importantly, is church membership exploded from 2000 people to about
100,000 people. The small groups and fervent prayer were the key to
church growth.
These were small groups led by women—something unheard of in
Korea up until that time. Cho would never have done allowed women to
do that if he have not been sick. The Lord used Cho’s weakness to
develop a church growth strategy that no one in Korea would have ever
considered. Today Cho’s church is the largest church in the world with
about 750,000 members.
I know this story is true because I heard it from Cho himself around
1982 at a conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was before he was
famous and he spoke to me one-on-one for about 10 minutes and told me
this story. It's a story I will never forget. I hope you never forget it either.
Cho could have easily become bitter. Cho could have easily given up.

8. 9-20-15 sermon
8
Cho could have complained that God was taking too long to heal him
and that God was not fair when so many other people got healed quickly
— even in his own church.
But Cho, like Abraham and Sarah, trusted God to keep his word. Cho
took the long view of his circumstances—the view from heaven. Cho
trusted the Scriptures that declare that in our weakness God’s power is
perfected (2 Cor. 12:9). Cho was even willing to risk his reputation and
allow women to do what women had never done in a Korean church.
⁃ So, as I read about the multiple challenges Abraham, Sarah,
Jacob and Rebekah had in Genesis this week, I am
encouraged to give God time to prove himself true to His
word and not judge eHis mysterious ways to bless me and
others.
⁃ I prayed for my mother’s salvation for over 40 years but
she did not fully accept the Lord until she was on her
deathbed and I prayed with her over the phone from
another state. I'm wanted my mom to know the Lord
much sooner than that. I wanted to be with her face to
face when she accepted Jesus.
⁃ I could have believed that after she went into the
hospital and into a coma that God was not
going to save her. But He did. After I led her in
the sinners prayer, all the machines she was
hooked up to begin to indicate that she was
responding to what I was saying to her.
⁃ Whenever God answers our prayers, He is
never late––not from the perspective of

9. 9-20-15 sermon
9
heaven. We can always trust God to do what
He said He would do no matter what the
circumstances look like.
2. One more point:
⁃ The New Testament says that angels are used by God to serve the
children of God. Jesus said that children have angels that see
the face of God every day. So, the Bible is very clear that
God uses angels to help us.
⁃ But why?
⁃ Why does God use angels when He could do it much better
by Himself?
⁃ Why does God use a creature called an angel when he
is the Almighty God who can do all things?
⁃ Why does God use angels to help Christians if God
Almighty lives inside of our bodies in the Holy
Spirit?
⁃ I ask God about this recently and this is what I think
He told me:
⁃ He said that it's all about partnership. I think
I heard Him say that love always wants to
share. He said, “ Of course I could do
everything by Myself but My desire to love
My creatures is so intense that I could not
be satisfied unless I involved them in
doing what I do.
⁃ He could not be satisfied unless He shared his
power and authority to help others with
those who belong to him. He says that “love

10. 9-20-15 sermon
10
loves to share and He is love.”
I was astounded by the answer at first and then it made sense to me why
Jesus did not finish what he began on earth but instead entrusted the
completion of the Great Commission to 12 ordinary men.
And it made much more sense to me why God would promise to give
Christians a share in the inheritance of Jesus. It made more sense to
me why in first Corinthian 6:3 the Bible says that we will judge the
world and judge angels.
It made more sense to me why the Bible says we will rule and reign
with Jesus in eternity 2 Tim:2:12; Revelation 20:4).
It's all because God is love and love longs to share whatever it has
with those it loves. Just as a father let his little son help him fix the
toaster or lawnmower. The father could fix them faster without the son’s
assistance, but he chooses to partner with the fumbling but beloved
son. It’s all about sharing what you have with those you love.
And so while I was driving to New York City on Monday to pick up
Michelle and move her back home, I had some precious quiet moments
with the Lord as Beth tried to sleep in the passenger seat of Dad’s
pickup. It was then that I had one of the clearest conversations I've
had with the Lord in a long time. It only lasted for a few minutes but
what I sensed from the Lord was deeply satisfying to me and to Beth
when told her later about it.
So here is how part of the conversation went: I asked the Lord
something about what He was doing right now and the thought came to
me that God uses angels to bless his children.

11. 9-20-15 sermon
11
So I asked him— maybe for the first time in my life— if He was using
an angel to help us in someway now. I felt a very clear impression that
there was an angel on the hood of dad’s truck with his arms
outstretched forward and a sword in his hand.
That image seemed almost too good to be true so I asked the Lord if that
was really what was happening. I asked Him why the angel wasn't on the
roof of the car instead of being on the hood.
The sense that I got was that the angel was clearing the path for us from
any demonic interference that might try to come against us as we were
speeding our way north. Demons know who are followers of Jesus and
sometimes they will try to afflict our cars or our own persons so that we
are hindered or discouraged in some way. It made sense to me.
Now what I just said about the angel on the hood of the truck may not
be true but it is what I think the Lord said to me as I tried to talk to Him
about how he was taking care of us at that moment.
I personally think it was true. It is not something I would've made up
on purpose out of my imagination. I have no felt need to believe in
angelic helpers around me. I am so content just to know that God is my
Heavenly Father and I am his son forever.
Even if no angel is ever assigned to help me, I am totally content with
the love I already get from my relationship with God. So, I do not need
to believe in angelic helpers but I am willing to accept that truth since it
fits scripture.

12. 9-20-15 sermon
12
A couple of days later, I read the passage in Genesis 24 about the angel
helping the servant of Abraham to find a wife for Isaac. I realized
again that God uses angels to assist his servants, probably including me
— and that most of the time I am totally unaware how God is loving
me to the service of angelic beings.
If that is true for me it's also true for you. Invisible, powerful, wise
angels are being sent by our Heavenly Father to serve us, to protect us,
to bless us.
God does not want us to focus on angels. God just wants us to know
He loves us even in very practical ways like finding the right wife and
navigating eight hours of highway to bring a daughter home safely—and
He will sometimes even send angel to make sure we get what we need.
Partnership with God
God also wants us to know just as He uses angels to partner with Him,
God also longs to partner with us —very own children:
1. To bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
2. He longs to partner with us in our prayers so that we agree with
his prayers for the salvation of many.
3. He longs to partner with us in doing the good works that he has
prepared for us to do while we are here on earth.
4. He longs to partner with us to prepare us to rule and reign with
his Son, the King of Heaven and we as the Bride of the King.
Conclusion

13. 9-20-15 sermon
13
There are many other things that I could talk about as a result of reading
this week scriptures. I am sure that you could come up with an even
different list of things that God a showing you as you read the Scriptures
each day.
We are so blessed to have the Bible to read.
We are so blessed that we can read! Most of the poor Christian women
in India I met years ago could not even read.
We are so bless to be able to read the biblical description of reality
from God's perspective so that we can live our lives in harmony with
God here on here on earth..and forever in heaven!
We are so blessed. If you get nothing else from the Bible—know that!
Pray: Trust in the Lord, His ways not our ways. Ben 50:20, Romans
8:28, our weakness and His power, thank Him for partnership in
Kingdom on earth and in heaven. For grace to keep seeing our lives fro
the perspective of heaven—the long view—the right view—the view
that leads to life abundant now and life eternal later.