Participants: Michael Kontes
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000412
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00:30 Hello, friends my name is Michael Kontes,
00:32 and I wanna welcome you to Faith Chapel. 00:34 Today we're gonna talk about being duty bound, 00:38 but first let us pray. 00:41 Father, we come to thee now. 00:42 And we thank thee for the opportunity 00:43 of being able to break open the bread of life. 00:46 Help us to look at this story and to realize 00:49 that nothing is more important than for us 00:51 to do your will, in Jesus name, Amen. 01:00 In the operating room of a large hospital, 01:03 a young nurse was completing her first full day 01:07 of responsibilities. You've removed eleven sponges 01:12 doctor, she said to the surgeon. 01:16 We use 12, I removed them all declared the doctor, 01:21 we'll close the incision now. 01:24 No, no, no, the nurse objected, we use 12 sponges 01:34 I'll take full responsibility, nurse. 01:38 The surgeon, said Grimly, you can't do 01:44 that blaze the nurse, that's wrong, 01:46 that's not right, that's unethical, 01:48 that is wrong sir. The surgeon smiled 01:55 and lifted up his foot and showed the nurse 01:59 the 12th sponge, and said you will do, 02:07 you will do. There are times 02:10 when God calls us to fulfill our duty to him, 02:16 though the whole world around us is 02:19 calling for us to do otherwise. 02:23 Today, I'd like for us to open up our Bibles 02:25 and go to the Book of Exodus. 02:27 And look at a story that reveals an individual, 02:31 one of God's heroes, one of his champions, 02:34 someone who would not let any relationship 02:38 specifically, especially in this story 02:42 interfere with doing the will of God. 02:45 Exodus chapter 32, let us turn to the 02:49 Book of Exodus, "And it came to pass, 02:52 as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, 02:55 that he saw the calf, and the dancing: 02:58 and Moses' anger waxed hot, 03:00 and he cast the tables out of his hands 03:03 and break them beneath the mount." 03:08 Now, friends there's many things we can talk 03:11 about in this passage, we can talk about dancing, 03:14 and breaking things, but specifically I want to share 03:20 with you today, Moses' duty to God 03:24 came first even before his relationship 03:28 to his brother. You see, 03:32 Moses had put Aaron incharge while he 03:34 was up in the mount. And while up at the mount, 03:37 the people got restless, they came 03:40 to Aaron, they did not know what 03:43 happened to this leader Moses, 03:45 and Aaron believing that Moses, 03:51 Moses' government and the way Moses treated 03:56 the people might have been a little bit too harsh, 03:58 he decided to institute a new type of leadership, 04:02 one that would give into the people, 04:03 in turn he asked for their jewelry 04:06 and lo and behold, they're dancing around the 04:09 graven image. "A Christian must be willing 04:14 to stand alone, if called so by God. 04:18 Now, I wanna read to you a quote from a 04:21 19 century Christian writer, some of you have heard it, 04:24 but there is one line I especially want us 04:26 to focus on it and that is, I will highlight it for us. 04:31 That, the quote comes from Signs of the Times. 04:34 It reads, "The greatest want of this age 04:37 is the want of men. Men who are not 04:41 bought or sold. Men who are true 04:45 and honest in their inmost souls. 04:49 Men who will not fear to called sin 04:52 by its right name. Now, I'm gonna highlight 04:55 the next line here that we don't find 'cause there is, 04:58 these, this, this quote floats around in 05:00 many different forms, but I found this one 05:02 and this blew me away the next sentence. 05:04 It says, Men who will not fear to call sin by 05:09 its right name and condemn it, in themselves 05:13 and others. And then it goes on, men whose 05:18 conscience is as true to duty as neither to the 05:22 pole, men who will stand for the right 05:24 though the heavens fall." You see, 05:27 what made Moses distinct and what made 05:31 him a Bible champion is that Moses was 05:34 not only able to condemn sin in himself, 05:38 but he was able to condemn sin around 05:41 the people that he also loved. 05:43 This is very difficult in the day and age 05:46 that we're living in today because if you go 05:48 forth to a family member, a brother or sister 05:54 in the church and we begin to share things 06:00 that need to be called out, automatically 06:04 we look like we're judging, and we're condemning, 06:08 and we are the, we work for the accused 06:10 of the brethren, but literally the Bible shows 06:12 us many instances where people have been 06:15 able to walk up and call sin by its right name. 06:19 Nathan walking up to David and saying, 06:22 you're the man, here we notice that Moses 06:28 was able to come down and go forth 06:31 to the children of Israel and be able to stand 06:35 forth and call sin by its right name. 06:37 Now, notice a Christian should never 06:40 put any relationship in front of his 06:46 or her relationship to God or in front 06:49 of their duty to God. Matthew chapter 10, 06:52 in the gospel of Matthew chapter 10 verse 37, 06:56 we read, "He that loveth father or mother 07:00 more than Me is not worthy of Me; 07:02 and he that loveth son or daughter more than 07:05 Me is not worthy of Me." Friends we can add on 07:13 this point not just mother and son, father, daughter, 07:17 but we could add brother and sister to this point. 07:20 There should be no earthly relationship that, 07:24 that becomes first in our lives, than the relationship 07:28 with our heavenly Father. Now, a point I would like 07:31 to bring out at this time is, notice in 07:33 this story nowhere, where? Nowhere in this story, 07:38 does it say that Moses had to have a prayer 07:42 before he did his action here on Sinai. 07:49 Basically what I'm saying is when Moses 07:51 came down from Sinai? He didn't have to get on his 07:54 hands and knees and say, Oh! Lord what do you 07:56 want me to do? I don't know how to deal with this 07:57 and so on. Sometimes, sometimes friends 08:01 we need to do what is the right thing to do. 08:05 Meaning simple things are simply done, 08:08 the reason why Moses was able to do 08:10 what he did is because, he didn't have prayer 08:12 just every so often he was consistently in prayer 08:16 and knew what God wanted him to do. 08:18 Now, also let me clarify and illustrate, 08:24 if my son is playing out in the street in front 08:29 of my house. And I see a semi truck 08:32 driving down the street. 08:34 Please forgive me friends, but I'm not 08:36 gonna get on my hands and knees and pray and ask 08:38 God, if God wants me to go grab my son or not. 08:42 I don't think any of you would do that either. 08:46 There are some things that are absolutely blatant 08:49 in the word of God. For example, in the 08:51 first chapter of Isaiah, the Israelites 08:54 are bringing sacrifices, they're celebrating festivals 08:57 and God says to them, I detest your festivals, 09:00 what happened to the homeless and the orphans? 09:02 What are you doing to them? 09:05 Kind of like I should say good point now is, 09:08 the Good Samaritan. 09:11 Here someone was wounded on, an Israelite 09:15 on the side of the road, did anyone really need 09:19 to have prayer to go help that brother? 09:21 Or the Good Samaritan in that story who 09:23 represents Jesus came straight over to help. 09:25 Simple things are simple to do. 09:28 We must be duty bound to God. 09:31 Now, I would like to go further on in the story 09:34 now and see certain things that Moses said 09:36 to his brother Aaron, and how Aaron replied. 09:44 "And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people 09:49 unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin 09:53 upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger 09:57 of my Lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, 10:01 that they are set on mischief. 10:05 For they said unto me make us Gods, 10:08 which shall go before us for as for this Moses, 10:11 the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, 10:15 we wot not, what has become of him. 10:20 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, 10:24 let them break it off. So, they will, 10:27 so they gave it me, then I cast it into the fire, 10:31 poof there came out this calf." 10:36 Friends, this is so cheesy. 10:39 In fact, let me say that this is Pizza Hut cheesy. 10:43 This isn't a small cheese pizza, this isn't a medium 10:46 cheese pizza, this isn't a large cheese pizza 10:49 that Aaron said. This is a party size, extra large, 10:53 cheese pizza with cheese in the crust. 10:56 What kind of excuse is that Aaron said, 10:58 poof all of a sudden this calf just came out? 11:01 Like Aaron's hands did not fashion it, like Aaron 11:05 did not spend time fashioning this calf into 11:09 the God of the Egyptian Gods. 11:11 Friends, I want to share something with you. 11:15 Sometimes, yes, it is difficult to stand up alone, 11:20 but ultimately for a Christian. 11:22 The Christian is never alone, anytime a Christian 11:25 takes a stand for God. God is there with him, 11:29 with her, giving them the strength to stand. 11:32 I would like to share an experience with you. 11:35 When I first became a Christian in 1996, 11:39 after I was baptized, maybe after, right be, a little 11:42 bit before I was baptized. 11:43 And one of my supervisors, I worked at UPS, 11:46 and one my supervisors, where he was at UPS 11:48 now for 8 or 9 years and I was one of the 11:51 top guys on my shift with seniority. 11:52 And during this time, my supervisor came over to me. 11:56 Now, I wanna share with you, I'm, I'm 11:58 from Greek descent, which means wherever I 12:00 go I share things. Before I was a Christian 12:03 I shared about the Dallas Cowboys 12:05 and bass fishing. Now, that I'm a Christian, 12:07 I share about Jesus and bass fishing. 12:10 Somethings don't change, but I share with you, 12:12 when I work there UPS, supervisor came over 12:14 to me one day said, Mike we want you 12:17 to stop talking about Jesus during the shift. 12:19 This, we don't want you to do this, 12:22 you're talking about spiritual things and 12:24 because you're talking about spiritual things 12:26 we can't have that on the shift. 12:28 Now, friends pardon me, but once again 12:31 I didn't going to prayer at this time. 12:34 God wants me to talk about God. 12:36 And I told my supervisor, I go brother, 12:38 if Jack can talk about the 49ers and Steve Young 12:42 or if Simon can talk about the St. Louis Cardinals, 12:47 I can talk about Jesus and that's how that's, 12:50 that's how it's gonna be? 12:52 My supervisor looked at me, kind of 12:55 squinted and said, okay, that's fine. 12:57 No talking for anyone, a moratorium. 13:01 That lasted the big 2½ hours. 13:05 Afterwards he came and pulled aside and said, 13:08 Mike, okay do me a favor. 13:10 And if you're gonna talk about Jesus, 13:11 talk about Jesus so your, your hands 13:14 are not always in it, talking with your hands. 13:16 Now remember I'm Greek, 13:17 and sometimes my hands go up. 13:19 And I said, I can deal with that statement. 13:22 Friends, even at the workplace, 13:25 there are times when God calls us to 13:27 exclaim his praise and when he calls us 13:30 to show his glory to others. 13:33 In words, as well as deeds. 13:35 Now, I wanna share with you, it's very difficult 13:37 because for some people this is difficult 13:40 for the mere fact that they don't know 13:44 when they should do this. 13:46 At this point you have to led by the Holy Spirit 13:48 and know when it's the right time, 13:50 and when it's not the right time. 13:51 When is the Holy Spirit leading you, and then 13:53 when it's your flesh leading you. 13:54 Because, yes, I can say, there were times 13:56 when I wanted to stand up for God and I did 13:58 stand for God. And when I stood up, 14:00 it was because of, you could call it my own 14:02 self righteousness so to speak. 14:05 I wanted to proclaim God when once again 14:08 when I'm the only, I'm the only Christian 14:10 in my family, Adventist Christian. 14:11 And when I first became the Adventist Christian 14:14 I would go to my family and all my goodness, 14:16 I would tell them so many things, 14:18 I fed them so much you know, 14:21 most people they sit down to dinner, they just have 14:22 a couple things for dinner, I fed them 14:24 30 course meals, spiritual meals. 14:27 Not knowing when to stop. 14:29 There are times when God also tells us to sit down, 14:34 be quite and be still and listen to his voice, Amen. 14:37 We have to be able to discern when he's calling us 14:41 to speak for him, and when he's calling us 14:44 to listen to him. Now, notice in the story, 14:49 Moses said, what did you do to this, 14:54 to these people that you made them sin? 14:57 Notice how serious Moses took his duty. 15:01 Moses took his duty to appoint 15:05 where he would not allow the relationship 15:09 with his brother to interfere with what God 15:14 wanted from his people. 15:16 Now, some of us with our family and friends 15:19 we give in, when they come around to us 15:22 and they, they share things with us. 15:25 And we kind of give in and we break 15:27 and then we compromise our own beliefs. 15:29 And in turn when we compromise our own beliefs. 15:34 We in turn walk away sad and feeling guilty 15:38 that when we should have stood for God. 15:40 I remember, once again my own personal experience. 15:46 When I was first a Christian and I was 15:51 studying all the truths that the Bible had to say, 15:53 I was wanting to take my children to church, 15:56 and my wife was going to a 16:00 different church at the time. 16:01 We were both going to a different church, 16:03 but then as I started gravitating over 16:05 to the advent message. My wife didn't 16:09 like that too much in the beginning. 16:11 And I remember we had a discussion one 16:13 Saturday morning. And I told that I'm gonna take 16:17 the kids to church and she looked at me 16:19 and she said, you're not gonna take the kids 16:20 to church. And I said, I'm gonna take the kids 16:22 to church. She was, no you're not gonna take 16:24 the kids to church. I said, I'm going 16:26 to take my kids to church, I have never 16:27 stopped you from taking the kids to 16:29 your church, which was my church at one time. 16:32 And I'm not gonna have you tell me that 16:34 I can't take my kids to the church that I'm 16:37 going to now. I wanna share something with you. 16:40 Because I took that stand, my wife 16:44 started studying out the things that I was 16:47 studying and seven months later, 16:49 she realized that the things 16:52 that I was studying was Biblically grounded 16:54 and founded. That they were true 16:56 and because I took my stand and was so firm, 17:01 she realized that she herself had to make 17:06 decisions that God wanted her to make. 17:10 Now, sometimes there is also horror stories. 17:13 And so I wanted to share with you once 17:15 more that it must be, you must know when 17:18 God is calling you to put your foot down 17:20 and not put your foot down. 17:23 There are many stories in the Bible of people 17:25 being able to stand alone. 17:27 In the Book of Samuel, we see that here 17:30 the Philistines had surrounded the camp. 17:33 Here the Philistines were mocking Israel 17:37 and no one; no one was willing to take 17:40 a stand. So, what God had to do, is God had to bring 17:44 forth a young lad by the name of David, 17:48 who would not worry about how tall Goliath. 17:51 was? Or how strong Goliath. was? 17:55 Or would he even be successful. 17:59 All David worried about, is that Goliath 18:03 was basically talking down to Israel, 18:09 basically blaspheming the God of heaven 18:11 and David wanted to stand up for God. 18:15 In fact David's brothers couldn't even stand 18:18 that he was there. And he basically hadn't 18:21 even put his brothers in check and when his brothers 18:22 didn't want him to stand up against Goliath. 18:25 David stood still up to Goliath, why? 18:30 Because at this point in David's history, 18:33 David was duty bound, David was willing 18:37 to do God's will, he was duty bound. 18:40 Are you duty bound? Are you duty bound in home? 18:46 Are you duty bound at church? 18:49 Are you duty bound at work? I believe 18:56 that God is calling us to be duty bound. 19:01 Not to necessarily run people over, 19:04 we're to love people more than we love ourselves, 19:07 but God is calling us through Christian divine 19:14 infused love, to be able to show people 19:18 what it means to serve God. Even under very tough 19:20 circumstances. Once again while I was working at 19:25 United Parcel Service, I was baptized 19:28 and I was changing shifts. 19:30 And as I was changing shifts I went from a 19:33 twilight shift to a pre-load shift, 19:35 which means I'll be working in the mornings now. 19:37 And this was supposed to take place after 19:40 my baptism, after baptism I went up to 19:42 Black Hills, a school of evangelism for a month 19:45 to be trained and how to do evangelism and 19:47 by the time I was coming back from Black Hills, 19:49 I was supposed to be on the pre-load shifts. 19:52 Well, when I came back lo and behold 19:54 paperwork fell through and as the paperwork fell through. 19:58 My supervisor called me and said, Mike we need you 20:01 on this Friday, we need you to be able to, 20:03 you know, we haven't your shift yet. 20:06 So, you need to come in to work. And I told my 20:08 supervisor I said, you know, John I'll be more than 20:11 happy to coming to work, but you know, 20:14 right before sun down happens I just want to 20:16 let you know, that I'm done working for the day. 20:19 The situation has taken place, I was promised, 20:21 I was promised that I would be switched that 20:23 I would not have this problem, I have shared with 20:25 everyone here in this organization. 20:27 I've had with the hub manager, I have shared 20:30 with him my convictions about keeping the Sabbath 20:32 and I need to take my stand on this, and I 20:34 cannot vary from this. He says, well let me see 20:38 what I can do, are you sure that that's really 20:40 what you want to say, and what you really you know, 20:42 how you feel? And I said, yeah that is how what, 20:45 how I feel and you can share that with anyone 20:48 who needs to know that? I'm willing to come in, 20:49 I'm willing to work, but I'm not willing to break 20:52 my principles in this area. 20:53 I'm committed to God and I'm committed to God 20:56 first before I'm committed to United Parcel Service. 21:01 He came back to me and he said you know, 21:02 Mike, we can facilitate that for you, 21:06 we'd like for you to come in, in five minutes before 21:09 sun down takes place we're more than happy to 21:11 let you go because the, the, the paperwork 21:14 has fallen through, it was not your fault, it was 21:16 our fault. And in fact friends I wanna share with you, 21:19 you guys, you will laugh as I share this with you, 21:21 you'll see how good God is? As I share 21:26 this with the supervisor, and he came back to me. 21:28 I went and talk to the manager about my religious 21:32 convictions for 45 minutes. I was able to share 21:37 my convictions, and he was blown away. 21:40 You see, because I took a stand. 21:42 God was able to take that situation 21:47 and allow others to say, what's going on in 21:50 this guy's life? I want to talk to him 21:52 and see what's taking place. 21:53 There are many people I can share with you, 21:56 there are many people at your work, 21:58 at your church, maybe even in your home, 22:03 maybe you have a spouse that's not a believer 22:07 or children that are not believers. 22:12 And they're observing and watching and 22:15 evaluating and analyzing, is mom, is dad, 22:20 and are they true to their religious convictions. 22:23 And sometimes our children and ours spouses, 22:25 our family and friends will push us 22:27 and not just to see will we hold steadfast 22:33 to the principles that we exclaim from our lips. 22:36 Or will we falter and crumble understand. 22:40 Anytime that we take a stand for God. 22:44 Once again, the principle God says in 22:47 First Samuel 2:30, "I will honor them that honor me." 22:50 God will honor us. David took a stand against 22:55 Goliath and God honored him. 23:01 Moses took stand with his brother, 23:03 God honored him. 23:07 Aaron did not have the same disposition as Moses. 23:10 Aaron was more giving, we know that from 23:13 other stories in the Bible because his two sons, 23:15 he allowed his two sons to get away 23:17 with terrible tragedies there in the sanctuary. 23:21 So, this was a common thread with Aaron, 23:25 but I believe that God was giving Aaron 23:28 the opportunity to watch his brother 23:31 and to admire his brother and to say 23:34 that's a part of my brother's personality 23:36 that I want to be able to incorporate through the 23:38 grace of Christ. All of us are make differently, 23:41 all of us have are made up with different fibers, 23:44 so of speak, a different DNA, but you know, 23:48 when I come across someone who makes me 23:51 stand back and take a look and see that 23:57 they are honoring God in a special way. 23:59 I pray to God and I say God, 24:02 I would like to see this characteristics 24:07 that Larry has or that Ben has or that 24:12 Sandy has. I'd like to see you cultivate that 24:16 characteristic in my life. Now, when that 24:18 takes place, friends. God's gonna put 24:21 you in situations that are gonna absolutely against 24:24 what your natural inclination is to do. 24:26 So, if you want to be bold for God, 24:29 and you're praying God, help me to be more, 24:30 help me to be, I wanna be more bolder for you. 24:33 I want to be able to stand for you. 24:36 God's gonna put you in situations, he is gonna 24:38 put you in your spiritual Sinai's. 24:40 So, that you can take a stand. 24:42 And sometimes that will be a stand to your husband, 24:46 to your wife, to your children to your church pastor, 24:50 elder, whoever? And if we continue to 24:57 pray that prayer, God will continue to bring 24:59 that test around till we have completely leaned 25:04 on his strength and we are able to stand up 25:08 boldly for God, amen. 25:10 Now, as we're closing I would like to share 25:15 with you a quote from one of my favorite authors, 25:19 on Aaron and on Moses on this situation. 25:23 Aaron had thought that Moses had been too 25:25 unyielding to the wishes of the people. 25:28 He thought that if Moses had been less firm, 25:32 less decided at times, and that if he had 25:36 compromise with the people and gratified their wishes, 25:42 he would have had less trouble, 25:46 and there would have been more peace 25:48 and more harmony in the camp of Israel. 25:54 Do you see friends that we can never ever, 25:58 ever compromise being firm 26:03 and unyielding for God? God calls us to stand, 26:08 stand straight, firm strong, and confidently for him. 26:18 Not weak, not wavering like a reed, 26:22 and not giving in to what the people around 26:25 us might think. We are living in what I 26:31 believe the Bible calls the final days, 26:33 the last days. I believe that we are in 26:36 the toenails of the image of Daniel chapter 2, 26:40 and because we are living in these times 26:43 there are people thirsting, hungry, 26:49 starving to look at someone who will take a stand 26:56 for God. Because many times, 26:59 when they see someone taking a stand, 27:01 they are able to feel inspired and encouraged 27:05 and strengthened to take their stand for God. 27:09 So, what happens is we as a church collectively, 27:13 corporately need to take our stand on God's principles. 27:18 As individuals we need to take our stand on 27:21 God's principles, and not waver, not shake, 27:25 but stand steadfast and ultimately we will 27:32 draw more people to the foot of Calvary. 27:35 We will draw more people to the base 27:38 of the Cross where Jesus will be able 27:42 to say to each and every son and daughter 27:45 of God. This is my beloved son, and this is my 27:51 beloved daughter whom they trust in me, 27:53 and have allowed me to use them 27:55 as a light in a dark world. |
Revised 2014-12-17