Participants: Pr. Roger Duncan
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000362
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00:31 Welcome to "Faith Chapel." My name is
00:35 Evangelist Roger Duncan from the Island of 00:39 Trinidad and Tobago, South Caribbean 00:42 Conference. My subject today is 00:45 "Lost and Found." Let's pray. 00:50 Father, we thank you for the privilege of being 00:54 able to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:58 Bless your people, be with us, 01:00 may you step out of these pages 01:04 and be a living word for those that hear it, 01:08 Ignite the soul set them on fire, 01:12 save your people in Jesus name, Amen. 01:18 I just want to look at the book of John 01:24 the 12th chapter. I want to read the 24th verse, 01:31 it says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 01:36 Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 01:42 and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, 01:47 it bringeth forth much fruit. 01:51 It's a profound verse. Now I want to preface 01:54 this sermon by saying that Jesus taught with 02:00 parables and stories. So I am going to use 02:04 stories that you could relate from the 02:06 scripture in order to make my point 02:11 "Lost and Found". When Abraham was told by God 02:16 that he should go on to the Mount Moriah, 02:19 and sacrifice his son. Of course, 02:23 Abraham found that to be very strange 02:25 because in the Bible the text that he read 02:28 based on the law and a testimony 02:30 that was totally contrary, so as it 02:34 what God was telling Abraham to do something 02:38 that seems to contradict his word. 02:40 But you see Abraham had a relationship 02:44 that was so close to God that he 02:48 was not just familiar with the letter 02:51 of the words of the Bible but he was 02:54 familiar with the voice of God. 02:56 Now the voice of God suggest relationship 02:59 and intimacy. So sometimes the voice 03:03 of God will tell you something that seems to 03:06 contradict the letter of the word. 03:08 But because you are familiar in the 03:11 intimate way with the person you know 03:14 their voice that is why Jesus say, 03:16 my sheep know my voice, not so much the word 03:19 because you see the devil could quote 03:21 the word. He quote it for Jesus. 03:23 But voice suggested intimacy. 03:27 So even though Abraham was told to go up on 03:30 Mount Moriah, he still decided to go up 03:33 and sacrifice his son, and he said something 03:37 profound in the Bible to the guys 03:39 that he carried. He said, stay here 03:42 with the donkeys, I and the lad are going to 03:46 under to worship and we will return. 03:49 Now notice something, Abraham was saying 03:51 that he is going to worship, 03:53 there was no guitar, there was no sound, 03:56 there was singing but he was going to worship. 03:59 It suggests to me that worship is more 04:02 profound than just music. But worship 04:06 is a posture of the soul where you have totally 04:11 given up all for Jesus that is real worship 04:14 when you have surrounded your life to Him, 04:16 and in this case, Abraham was 04:19 surrendering. Now while Abraham was walking 04:22 to that spot. He was very silent but also God 04:27 was silent because often times when a teacher 04:31 gives a test, they talked before the test 04:34 and they give you all the advice 04:36 and everything but during the test, 04:39 there is a silence. Now many of the times 04:42 when you are going through a trial 04:43 and a temptation, often times it seems like 04:46 God is silent but God often incubate great 04:51 characters through the wilderness, 04:53 silent experience. So even though it 04:56 seems like God is not talking, 04:58 He is right there with you. Now Isaac 05:01 was carrying the wood and carrying the fire 05:05 and wondering where is the sacrifice, 05:07 where is the sacrifice. Now while they were 05:11 going up the mountain, the lad asked dad 05:14 where is the sacrifice? And he said, 05:16 God Himself, God will provide Himself 05:21 a sacrifice. In other word God Himself 05:24 will be the sacrifice. But Isaac being a 05:28 submissive child continued to walk up 05:31 the mountain. Now while Isaac was walking up 05:37 he is wandering where will the lamb come from, 05:39 where will it come from? At the same time, 05:42 Isaac is walking up, there is a ram 05:46 that is going up to other side of the 05:48 mountain. Now you see when you going 05:51 to a trial or temptation or a testing from God 05:55 you may think you are not being provided for 05:59 because between you and your provision 06:02 is a mountain that obscures your vision, 06:05 but I want to encourage you even though 06:07 your vision is obscured from God's provision, 06:12 you have to understand for every vision 06:15 God gives you. He also gives the provision 06:18 and every test you go through God provides 06:21 the strength. So annoying to them 06:23 while they were walking up the mountain 06:26 God has a ram that simultaneously coming up 06:30 the other side. Until eventually the Bible 06:33 tells us that there was a ram caught 06:36 in the thicket by its horns. Now the reason 06:40 why the Bible mentioned that it was caught 06:42 in the thicket by its horns because if that 06:45 ram was caught by its leg or its chest 06:48 or its body, the thicket would have probably 06:50 pierced it and it would not represent Jesus. 06:53 So the Bible did not give us that detail 06:56 just for so, it was caught by the horns, 06:58 so it will not be bruised because 07:00 it represents Jesus. But this is a point 07:03 I want to make. The point I want to make 07:05 at this stage is that this ram that was caught 07:09 probably and theologians have exposed 07:13 this view. Probably this ram was a ram 07:17 that was lost by some farmer, 07:20 some Bedouin farmer somewhere. 07:22 Now he's lost provided for Abraham. 07:27 He lost something but because of that lost 07:31 we preaches today, preach profound sermons 07:35 about God's provision and we say that 07:37 he is Jehovah Jireh, He is a God that 07:40 provides and so even though when it looks 07:43 like you loose something, believe me 07:45 that God is able to use what you have lost 07:49 for His glory. Sometimes we don't see 07:53 the purpose of our loss but once we exist 07:57 in the providence of God and we have 07:59 sovereignty over us, we could be assure 08:02 whatever we lost, it could be money, 08:04 it could be house, it could be people, 08:06 what I have discovered, even though 08:08 you are a boss and you have a staff 08:10 or what have a stage you are in, 08:11 when people leave, you don't worry. 08:13 God is able to give you double for your trouble 08:17 and He is able to use the lost things 08:20 to bring glory. That is one instant, 08:23 you could remember this story when Peter 08:27 got beside himself and started to boast 08:31 about Jesus, and he said, that is must 08:33 I will pay to drag him out of the temple tax. 08:37 And he came to Jesus and Jesus told Peter, 08:39 He said go into the lake and catch your fish, 08:42 your fish hook out and then you will 08:45 get the first fish you catch, 08:46 open the mouth and there will be the coin, 08:48 pay the tax, for thee and myself. 08:52 Now we see that side of the story 08:55 but let me give another side in order to make 08:57 my point. It is possible that some boy, 09:01 somebody was fishing on that very lake one day, 09:03 and their coin fell out and was lost, 09:06 and you know if you are a boy 09:08 and you are fishing and you lose your money, 09:10 lose your mother's money, you could get a 09:12 whooping for that. But that coin was lost by 09:16 somebody but the thing is God allow a situation 09:20 and a circumstance to come up that, 09:23 that fish took that coin in his mouth 09:25 and then Jesus eventually use 09:27 His relationship with his father 09:30 and told Peter, listen go by the lake showing 09:32 His divine authority and power that 09:35 God is still able to provide under 09:38 any circumstance. I want to suggest to us 09:40 that we must not worry because 09:42 even though we lose things God is still able 09:45 to provide, in fact, let me make this 09:47 announcement that the bank of heaven 09:51 is not bankrupted and God still has the recipe 09:56 for Manna. God still has the recipe for Manna. 10:03 Your God is still Jehovah Jireh. 10:07 He is a provider even though it seems like 10:11 you are loosing or you've lost something, 10:14 and even though you have not benefit 10:17 from the lost directly, you better believe 10:19 that your God is so in-charge, so sovereign, 10:23 showing His auspicious glory in control of 10:26 everything, He will make sure that blessings 10:28 comes out of losses. Hence the reason 10:31 why the Bible says that He will give you 10:33 beautiful ashes. Ashes when things are burnt 10:37 that is a chemical change. It is not 10:40 reverse but in the Bible chemical changes, 10:43 changes that people think never reverse, 10:45 your God says that He is able to give you back, 10:48 beautiful ashes, that is profound. 10:52 In the scriptures in Old Testament, 10:54 there was a story where Kish the father of 10:57 Saul, he lost some donkeys, some property 11:01 and so he asked his son Saul to go 11:04 and look for them. So the donkeys were lost 11:06 and he went to look for them. 11:08 But God in his providence wanted to 11:11 anoint somebody as king. So God spoke to 11:15 Samuel and told Samuel that you will meet a man 11:17 by such and such a place and that is a man 11:20 to anoint. So God is using a situation 11:23 where Kish has lost some stuff in order to 11:28 anoint a man of God. So even though 11:30 you've lost property, you've lost your car, 11:33 you've lost your house, you've lost a spouse, 11:36 you've lost a child, you've lost 11:38 and it seems like it so cruel it is so bad. 11:41 I am telling you I am submitting based on the 11:43 word of God that God is able to use 11:46 this situation to bring power to His name 11:50 and glory to Himself. So don't cry over 11:54 split milk, just keep on walking in God, 11:57 just keep on continual and you will discover 11:59 the reason for your loss. I mean this is not 12:04 really a lost in itself but you'll know 12:06 the boy with the five loaves and two fish. 12:09 You know that boy came at all at lunch one day, 12:12 and as a result of given it away, 12:15 as a result of handing it to somebody else, 12:18 we could say in a sense he lost it 12:20 but once He give it away it returned to him 12:24 many full times. It seems like the farmer 12:28 for example only has what he gives away. 12:31 It is what you move away from yourself 12:33 is the irony and paradox of scripture. 12:36 So I've learnt not to cry, not to faint 12:39 when you lose things and you lose people 12:42 and thing comes out of your life. 12:43 If you are a boss, if you are managing 12:45 a place or whatever, don't worry about 12:47 when people leave you. The Bible says, 12:49 As I was with Joshua, Moses, 12:51 so shall I be with you. God has a way of 12:55 providing for you just providing in time 12:58 of need. So even when you look at other 13:02 situations for example; I am a trained 13:04 radiographer. I use to do x-rays and CT scans 13:09 and know let for my livelihood, 13:11 and do you know that a lot of people 13:13 who are my predecessors even though x-rays 13:16 are a wonderful discovery. It is 13:19 beautiful; it allows us to see inside the body, 13:22 to see inside the head, to see what is wrong 13:25 with people so we could provide diagnosis 13:27 so that they could be healed. 13:28 While we are providing a service that is healing 13:32 people, sometimes the radiation is giving 13:35 leukemia and several diseases and problems 13:39 to the person who is doing it. 13:40 So while I am losing my life, while I am given 13:44 away my life I am blessing a lot of 13:47 people. It seems like, there was a law 13:49 that is taking place that while I am giving, 13:52 while I am spending my life, 13:54 while I am even being hurt, 13:56 blessings are coming out of it. 13:58 It is true and people work in the lab 14:01 to provide medical diagnostic, 14:04 laboratory diagnostics to make sure that 14:07 your blood is alright, your blood cells and to 14:09 measure these things so that 14:10 the doctor could solve your problem. 14:12 Do you know that our studies have shown that 14:14 a lot of them suffer from breathing in some 14:17 chemistry into the lab; they suffer from that 14:20 right, that septum that separates the right 14:23 nostril from the left, sometimes it's away. 14:25 So while they are given away their life 14:28 they have been a blessing to millions 14:31 and thousands of people. 14:32 So that seems to be yes you lose but 14:35 things have been found and its irony of the word, 14:38 but you'll discover that this is a profound law 14:40 that even God uses. People who live in 14:44 cold countries for example; do you know 14:47 that when they provide coals for heating, 14:51 millions and millions of families 14:53 all over the world, houses are warmed up 14:58 because thousands of people are working 15:01 in coal mines in order for them to feel warm 15:04 but do you know people who work in coal mines 15:08 die prematurely from coal miners lungs. 15:12 They are given away their life, they are spending 15:15 their life for us to feel warm in the winter time. 15:20 They are giving, they are losing but we are gaining. 15:24 But more people are gaining from their loss, 15:28 and so their life, their lives are cut short as a 15:32 result of their sacrifice. Even people, who 15:38 blow glass in order for us to get light 15:42 to illuminate our room, illuminate our shops; 15:45 illuminate our place for us to be able to walk, 15:48 for us to be able drive. Those people who blow 15:50 the glass and work with glass and all these 15:53 things they also suffer lives are cut short 15:57 as a result of their profession, 15:59 while they are giving their lives, a lot of 16:02 people are bein blessed, lost and found. 16:05 What about the people that work with gold, 16:07 gold and silver and precious metal? 16:10 They also die prematurely because of breathing 16:13 in some of that thing into their lungs. 16:16 So you see that life hasn't giving 16:19 and receiving, sowing and reaping. 16:22 I am losing something yes, but then it is 16:25 being found somewhere else and where it is 16:27 found it is blessing. So when you search 16:29 you realize that this is a phenomenon. 16:33 In fact, when I go to Africa and these 16:36 countries sometimes I look for cheap materials 16:40 to buy but one day I realized that a lot of 16:45 people that worked with certain leash material 16:47 and certain material, they have to work that 16:50 cloth and work that material in a dark 16:54 place where the lights are dimmed 16:56 for very little money. So they are paid little 17:01 and they have to work in the dark in order 17:04 for me to come now and I ask for the cheapest 17:06 price to get this material but you know 17:07 what they suffer from? 17:08 Often times they go blind prematurely. 17:12 They go blind quickly as a result of us 17:16 wearing all nice clothes and moving around 17:19 and people adoring us and people are dying, 17:23 giving away their lives. So in this particular 17:26 text from which my assignment comes 17:29 the Bible says, in verse 24, chapter 12, 17:32 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of 17:38 wheat falls into the ground and die, 17:42 it abideth alone: but if it die, 17:45 it bringeth forth much fruit. 17:47 Jesus understands the principles, 17:50 the principle of giving, 17:51 the principle of letting it go. 17:54 Jesus says, except a corn of wheat goes into 17:58 the ground and dies, it abideth alone. 18:02 If you like the farmer, have your corn grains 18:06 and you eat all your corn grains, 18:09 you may have a meal for today. 18:12 But the farmer who gives away his grains 18:15 or throws it in the ground or sows it, 18:20 he gets a harvest. He has the principle, 18:22 you really have what you give away, 18:26 you really have what you've seen lost. 18:30 So for Christians and the economy of heaven 18:33 when we pay our tax, when we give our offering, 18:36 when we bless somebody, when we say a kind word 18:39 even though we have given something, 18:41 really we are sowing it 18:43 and it will return in our harvest. 18:45 So that is why it is so important to be like 18:48 Jesus and just be a giver, giver, giver 18:52 that is why you keep given you give your time, 18:54 you give you life and when you sow your time, 18:57 you sow your life, you give your all, your education 19:00 into the kingdom of God, God will bless you. 19:03 I have observed people they grown up, 19:07 was poor, God bless them, give them a good degree, 19:11 then they get a masters degree, you get a PhD 19:15 and suddenly you get to proud for God. 19:18 You can't serve in the kingdom ever more. 19:20 You are too bright to serve, you are too 19:22 brilliant but what they don't realize that is 19:25 when you give of your resources and 19:28 you give of what God has blessed you with. 19:30 He multiplies them except a corn of wheat 19:33 goes into the ground and dies. 19:36 Now when your grain goes into the ground 19:40 it is in darkness, it is obscured, 19:44 it seems like nothing is happening. 19:47 God often incubate greatness in darkness. 19:53 Moses was a palace somebody, God brought 19:57 him to a wilderness nobody in order to make 20:00 him a blessing to millions, here is the point. 20:03 God moving moved him from being a palace 20:06 somebody to a wilderness nobody 20:10 where he could learn to be great. 20:11 God moved David and put him on the back 20:14 side of a desert to train him to be a powerful king. 20:19 So often times God will incubate you in 20:21 the ground, so when you find that you are in 20:23 obscurity, you are serving without notoriety, 20:27 nobody notice you, nobody pays you any mind, 20:31 nobody is complimenting you that is okay 20:34 because God sometimes will cover you in 20:37 darkness in order to incubate you. 20:42 And this is a principle of scripture 20:44 you'll find it all over. You will be just obscure 20:47 and in fact, let me tell you what the Bible says, 20:49 the Bible says, and the evening and the morning 20:52 were the first day, and the evening and the morning 20:56 were the second day, and the evening and the 20:58 morning it seems like God begins in darkness. 21:01 He begins in the evening but the Bible says, 21:05 weeping mean joy through the night but joy 21:08 comes in the morning so even though you 21:10 are maybe in experiencing darkness, 21:13 lost, obscurity, don't worry God is not finished 21:17 with you because God ends an eternal day light. 21:21 So whatever situation you maybe in, 21:24 sacrificial situation, losing things, 21:27 don't worry about it. God is in-charge 21:30 and He is able to brew reward from it. 21:34 And so the text says, Verily, verily, 21:37 certainly, certain, truly, truly, I say unto you, 21:41 except a corn of wheat falls into the ground, 21:45 it abideth alone: but if it goes into the ground 21:48 then it bringeth forth much fruit. 21:50 Now listen to me Jesus wants to bring you 21:53 from no fruit to fruit to more fruit to much 21:57 fruit but during those periods of transition 22:01 you will go through losses. 22:03 Sometimes the prune the one which is Jesus, 22:07 He comes and He cuts things from you, 22:08 He cuts branches, He cuts off a job, 22:11 He cuts off somebody that was working with you 22:15 different things in order to prune you, 22:18 take your cutting, take your pruning because 22:21 you will discover it is your pruning and 22:23 your cutting and your trials. 22:26 It is the say of the shepherd that mix you 22:29 make better wool. It is when God lays 22:32 His hand on you and it look like you are 22:34 losing something you are really gaining. 22:36 In this particular chapter Jesus is about to die, 22:40 Jesus is about to give up His life, and in this 22:42 whole passage Jesus says that this is my best hour. 22:47 Now listen this is my best hour. 22:49 How come this could be Jesus' best hour, 22:53 in fact, Jesus healed the sick, He raised the dead, 22:58 He turned water into wine, 23:00 He unstopped the blinded eyes, 23:03 Jesus did all these things yet 23:05 He didn't say that this was His finest hour. 23:08 When He was about to die however, He says, 23:12 this is my best hour, He has the point. 23:15 Heaven defined success different to earth. 23:19 Earth definition of success is when probably 23:22 He changed the water into wine or you do some 23:24 great work and man will applaud you. 23:27 People will clap at you and show their 23:29 approbation but Jesus is definition of 23:32 success is when He was about to die, 23:36 when He was about to give up his life that is 23:39 the definition and I am saying to us that 23:42 we need to understand that we must take our 23:44 queue from heaven not earth. 23:46 And so when heaven looks down it maybe 23:49 looking at a successful man but when earth looks 23:53 it maybe saying that man is not successful. 23:55 Who do you want to please? If you please 23:58 heaven, be sure that your life will 24:00 multiply several full times. 24:03 And so even John the Baptist, John the Baptist 24:05 was considered that the greatest man that ever 24:08 lived but he ate honey, he dressed, 24:11 he didn't dress like everybody else, 24:13 he didn't matriculate from universities of his day, 24:16 yet he was called great because heaven 24:18 looks a greatness, the great sacrifice. 24:21 When you could give up your all for Jesus 24:24 and give Him all, He is able to multiply your life. 24:27 So in this particular case, the Bible says, 24:29 except a corn of wheat goes into the 24:32 ground and dies, it abideth alone. 24:36 But if it dies it bringeth forth much fruit. 24:41 So you know what, what Jesus did is that 24:45 He sowed his life, He gave his life, He went to 24:49 Calvary and He died, He died so that we can 24:53 have life, and when He went down into earth, 24:56 He was obscured for three days, but do you 24:59 know the story, on the third day an angel 25:01 came and said "Son Thy Father Calleth thee," 25:04 and Jesus raised up but hear this because 25:08 He is the living would and the Bible says 25:11 that the word of God can not return void, 25:14 it could never return void. 25:16 So when Jesus was raised up the Bible let's 25:20 us know when the living word came up, 25:22 a lot of people were resurrected with Him 25:25 because the word of God says that the word 25:28 can not return to heaven void and so when 25:31 Jesus who was sown in obscurity who was 25:34 sown into earth, who was like that corn, 25:37 who went at the bottom of the ground, 25:39 Jesus in other words went to hell in order 25:42 so that we could have life. So except this 25:45 corn of wheat goes into the ground which 25:48 represent Jesus and die it abideth alone. 25:51 But when Jesus die, when He came up from 25:54 the earth, many people came up with Him 25:57 but not only that since the death of Jesus 26:00 people like me and people 26:01 like you have found the hope, 26:03 have found salvation because of His sacrifice. 26:07 Jesus sacrifice all today so that we could 26:10 have life and have it more abundantly that 26:13 is so beautiful and so today millions all 26:17 over the world are enjoying this Gospel 26:19 and this message of the kingdom of God 26:22 because one man sowed a corn, 26:24 a corn which was Jesus. The law of harvest 26:28 states that you reap what you sow, 26:31 so Jesus sowed His life and thus will give 26:34 us His life back, so you will enjoy the life 26:37 of God himself. When we get to heaven the 26:40 life that we will have is the life of God. 26:43 We will be indeed exalted because of 26:46 Jesus sacrifice that is a place to see a man. 26:50 It's a powerful thing to know that He give 26:53 his life so that I could have life. 26:55 I found God that Jesus sowed His life for me 26:59 so that I could today could stand before 27:02 this vast audience and preach His gospel 27:05 because Jesus sowed His life for you, 27:07 He is expecting you to sow your life. 27:10 So even though you give your life into 27:12 ministry, give your life into 27:14 the kingdom, it may seem like you 27:16 are losing something but he say, he that 27:18 save his life, will lose it but he that loses his 27:21 life will save his. If you could give your 27:24 life, give your heart, give your energies, 27:28 give your money, give your means, give your 27:31 time, give, give, give whatever you give 27:35 into the kingdom of God, one day you will 27:37 realize even though you sowed one corn, 27:41 you don't get back one corn, you get 27:43 back millions of corn, you get back a harvest 27:46 because it's a law of harvest. 27:48 God is wonderful; He is in the growing business. 27:51 May God bless you and keep 27:53 you in Jesus name, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17