["Pomp and Circumstance"]
I know we've got several visitors both locally visiting for the first time and also several
visitors from Tempe so I appreciate everybody coming out and again helping us celebrate.
But as always we have our service times there in the upper left-hand side of your bulletin every
Sunday at 10 30 a.m. again at 5 30 p.m. this evening and then Thursdays at 7 we meet and
we're going through the book of Acts will be in chapter number 17 this week. We also have the
soul winning times the salvations and baptisms for both the month and year and then also a quick
welcome to FWBC Tucson just some notes for any visitors that might not be familiar with our
church of course we are a family integrated church meaning we keep all the families together we don't
separate the children from the parents here so they sit in the service however if you need some
privacy uh mothers ladies there's always the nursery back there and you can take advantage
of that and this morning it might kind of over it might overflow a little bit we're kind of at
capacity as far as that might go but feel free to just spill out into the foyer there if you need
it and then also the men's bathroom I guess this is definitely worth mentioning this morning okay
so the way it works here is the ladies restroom is inside the ladies and young children and then
the men there is a restroom located outside on either side of the building opposite us
so I know this is kind of confusing but it basically if you just walk out the front door
and go left or right and follow it up about halfway down you'll find a gated door that
you'll need a key to now the key is hanging just on the other side of that door uh that entryway
and if you need more help just grab one of the people that look like they know what they're
doing around here and we'll get you to the restroom okay we'll make it happen one way or
another however if you do make use of the restroom please be as quick as you can about it because of
the fact that we only have the one key and it looks like there might be a little bit of a line
piling up this morning so uh just that's just uh you know these are the practical matters that you
have to address you know otherwise it just turns into pandemonium uh also happy birthday to
everybody celebrating this month normally we have birthday donuts but I want I didn't want to fill
everybody up you know obviously I want you to come hungry so uh we don't have the donuts this
morning but there's plenty of great food and there'll be plenty of good desserts as well
so be sure to wish a happy birthday to the individuals there and those celebrating a
wedding anniversary this month and then of course the note join us after the morning service for a
potluck meal celebrating five years this uh this morning also on the back just a quick note there
is uh sign up for anyone who would like to volunteer to help clean the building that's back
there and you can always see me for more details about that that'll do it for announcements we'll
go ahead and just sing our next song before we get into the preaching this morning
is
a great singer
that's isaiah chapter 54 as always we'll give you the entire chapter
please follow on sunday is when he will reach to us from isaiah chapter 54
is
the first one the Bible reads single bearing that's not bearing break forth into singing
cry aloud thou is not your available child but more of the children of destiny when the children
of the married wife say of the lord enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth
the curtains of thy habitations and spare not cling to thy cords and strengthen thy stakes
that shall break forth on the right hand and on the left and I see shall inherit the gentiles
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited here not that shall not be ashamed and be
left without me that shall be that shall not be put ashamed that shall forget the shame of thy
youth shall not remember or approach thy widow anymore that may be my husband the lord of hosts
is his name and I redeem the holy one of Israel the god before her shall he be called for the
lord I've called thee as a woman forsaken and grieve the spirit and a wife of you when I was
with you saying thank god for a small moment if I forsaken you with great mercies will I gather
you in a little wrath within my face for a moment with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on
sayeth the lord that you need me for this as the waters of Noah is me for as I have sworn the waters
of Noah should know more go over the earth so I have I sworn that I would not be wronged no
review to the mountains shall depart from the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart
from me neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed sayeth the lord that mercy on me
oh thou afflicted causal tempest and not comfort behold I will lay thy stone with fair colors and
lay thy foundation with sapphires and I'll make thy windows and gates and thy gates and carvars
and all thy borders and pleasant stones and all thy children shall be taught of the lord and
grace shall be the peace of thy children and righteousness shall thou be established
thou shall be far from pressure and thou shall not fear and from terror for it shall not come
near them behold they shall surely gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together
against me shall fall through thy state behold that created the smith that bloweth the coals of fire
and that bringing forth an instrument of his work and have created the waster to destroy
no weapon that's worn against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in
judgment thou shalt forget this is the heritage of the servants of the lord and the righteousness
is of me sayeth the lord put out and pray for us the lord help me father just thank you for today
lord god thank you for your goodness and mercy thank you for this church it's a blessing with
lord bless the service give us a heart of understanding lord with your spirit thank you
for all you do and all the name of prayer amen amen so in isaiah chapter 54 of course this is
one of those uh you know quintessential passages that you end up turning to whenever you end up
preaching one of your anniversary services so i figured i'd just go ahead and get that out of the
way and try not to be too original this morning on our fifth anniversary of course that's a
not to to uh uh you know make light of the fact that we've made it five years in tucson obviously
that is a milestone a lot of ministries don't even make it that far but uh it's one milestone of many
we pray to come so i did want to preach this sermon because i think here in this passage we
see some great uh instruction when it comes to growing and to broadening and and expanding and
of course that is always the goal of ministry is to bring more people in not just for the sake of
filling out the place but uh also but mainly really just because of the fact that you want
more people to be saved and to hear and understand the word of god the more people that come in and
grow and understand the gospel and understand living the christian life the better equipped
they become at going out and preaching the gospel to others of course that's that is the goal that's
why we want to grow as a church and this is again a great passage here that i think gives us some
good strong points about what it's going to take to grow as a church and really what i'm going to
i'm kind of getting my head myself a little bit here but really to grow as a church you have to
grow as an individual you know a church obviously is composed of individuals families and and people
so really this could all be applied to us as an individual this morning we're going to look just
here at the verse first two verses if you look there it says sing oh baron thou didst not break
excuse me thou didst not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud thou that didst not travail
with child for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife
saith the lord so of course this is a passage where god is you know talking about the fact
that eventually he's going to bring back israel into their promised land they're going to be
judged they're going to go into captivity but they're going to come back eventually it's going
to making this promise that although you're going to be as that barren woman there is going to be a
time when you have uh you're going to have many children you're going to have more children
than of the desolate than of the children of the married wife saying i will prosper you again
he's not leaving them hopeless but he is pointing out the fact that there is going to be a time of
desolation and notice he gives in this promise he says in verse two enlarge the place of thy tent
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation spare not lengthen thy cords and
strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed
shall inherit the gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited saying i'm going to bring
you back in we're going to reinhabit these desolate cities and you're going to be like
somebody who has to enlarge that tent i love the analogy he uses there of a tent or a tabernacle
is what they would have called it back then this large you know structure consisting of you know
the canvas the whatever were they used for the walls and then the ropes this the the the the
the cords as they as it were were coming down and then being of course attached attached to
the stakes and what's interesting about this is kind of goes back to what i was just saying in
a moment ago is that he's speaking to a nation he's speaking to the whole people he's saying
this is something that's being addressed to the the nation of israel but notice
the verbiage here he's speaking in the first person he's saying enlarge the place of thy
tent and stretch force and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation spare not
lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes so he's not just talking of course he's applying it
to the nation but he's speaking as uh to individuals really because he's talking about stakes and
tents and tabernacles and all these things and that goes to my the point i was making a moment
ago that we need to if we want to grow as a church and to to prosper as a people of god we
have to make sure that we are doing certain things in our lives as individuals okay and i want to
preach this morning a sermon entitled strengthen thy stakes strengthen thy stakes and of course
you see several points there that can be made this morning and we'll look at a couple of them
in verse two it says stretch forth thy the curtains of thy inhabitants habitations spare
not lengthen thy courts and strengthen thy stakes and i always love it when the bible just gives
you your points when it just lays it all out there especially when they're illiterated like
this right you have the stretching the sparing and the strengthening so those are the points
that we'll be making this morning the first one being of course to stretch forth right he says
there to stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations and really the way we can apply this
morning is that if we want to grow as a church then we as individuals are going to have to reach
beyond our current station we should never get to a place in our christian life where we feel that
we have arrived or we have there's nothing more we can learn there's nothing more we can do there's
no more sacrifices we can make there's always needs to be this idea of stretching forth in the
christian life of reaching beyond where we are of expanding our borders as individuals because again
you know we're celebrating here this morning five years and we're celebrating the fact that as a
church here in tucson we have grown you know we started out up there on first avenue over there
by you know i really don't remember the addresses i just remember was near smoky mo's right which
is the best barbecue in town right right across the parking lot from smoke mo's of course we were
in that little complex there very small those of you uh who were there know what i'm talking about
was very tight and then of course we moved into this facility right across the way here in this
other building and then you know a little over a year ago we moved into this facility and we
obviously have grown numerically and there's it's been great over the years to see people who've
been with us for a long time we've grown spiritually in their walk but again we don't
want to get to the place where we think that we've arrived as a church and we certainly don't want to
think we've gotten to a place where we've arrived as individuals in the christian life there always
has to be the stretching forth he's saying if you're going to come back into the land and prosper
here's what you have to do the lord says i will bring you back i'm going to make you
very fruitful you're going to be more fruitful than the married wife but there's some things
that you have to do on your part in order to encompass that and able to facilitate that in
order to make that growth possible and the first thing he's saying is to stretch forth to reach
beyond your current situation your current station wherever you are in the christian life
and the christian life is of course a growth it's a process it's a process of maturity
but it's one that never ends it's one that keeps going on if you look there he says stretch forth
thine habitations and i'll point out that out again that he's saying it's thine habitations
it's thy stakes it's plural people play a part in a growing church you know the people of israel
have given this promise of god yes but there was a part that they had to play there was something
they had to do as individuals and just as he says here that is their habitations it is thine
habitations you know we have a part to play in a growing church we can't just sit back and expect
the church to grow in and of itself there's things that we have to do if you would go to
first timothy chapter number three first timothy chapter number three really just trying to drive
that first point in this morning really bring that home because that's something that people really
need to get a hold of is that a church is consist consists of individuals and every the more uh
people understand that and the more people take on responsibilities and the more people are willing
to stretch themselves beyond where they currently are in their christian life the more a church will
grow as a whole but if we have an overwhelming majority of people in a church who think that
we've arrived somehow simply because you know we've gotten to this building or we've you know
reached a certain average number of attendance on sunday mornings or the offering plate is this or
whatever they have some kind of metric where they think they've arrived and they stop trying they
stop putting forth any effort and they don't want to stretch any further than they've come well
that's a recipe for disaster the saying is if you're not growing you're dying and that's that's
true for an organization that's true for a church that's true for an individual now i'm not talking
about growing physically okay some of us are in no danger of dying right self-included okay i
include myself in that but i'm talking spiritually you know we want to make sure we're always growing
spiritually never getting this place where we feel that we've arrived if you look there in
first timothy chapter number three look at verse 14 he says these things write unto thee the i'll
point point that out of course he's writing to timothy an individual hoping to come into these
shortly but if i tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of god which is the church of the living god and the pillar and ground of the truth and again i'm
pointing out that he's writing to an individual and the temptation might just be to say well you
know he's writing to timothy you know it's it's all on the leadership and obviously leadership
plays a huge role in church growth but a part of the role of leadership is to also remind
others in the church that it's also on them that they have a part to play
obviously back in isaiah hopefully you bookmarked i should have had you bookmarked
and 50 isaiah 54 the lord you know is the the leader so to speak he's the one that's going to
you know organize and and bring the people back in but he's also telling them hey you as the people
have a part to play and the first part we're looking at is that he have you have to be willing
to stretch forth you need to be able to willing to expand beyond where you are currently and of
course again here's writing to timothy but he's saying he's writing to him as an individual okay
and timothy is told to be an example to the flock the reason why timothy does the things
that he does the way the reason why he's being instructed to do the things that he's supposed
to do is to be an example to others and he's saying hey you need to behave thyself in the
house of god which is the church of the living god this is something he's writing to individual
go to second uh corinthians chapter five second corinthians chapter number five
so yes it's written to a leaner but the thing is we all have a ministry to play
within church we all have a role to fulfill
paul said in romans 12 let us wait on our ministering he that teacheth on teaching look
at second corinthians chapter number five verse 18 all things are of god we understand that jesus
said i will build my church but that does not mean that we as a church just sit back
and just wait for god to do everything we don't just sit back and wait for a leader to do
everything we have to be willing if we want to grow even beyond our you know where we've come
so far in five years we have to be willing as individuals to stretch ourselves and to go beyond
where we have already been he says in verse 18 and all things are of god who hath reconciled us
right and this is paul writing the corinthians he's including everybody he's including the church
with himself who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus christ and hath given me the ministry
of reconciliation well god's reconciled us but he's only given me the ministry is that what he said
no he said he's reconciled us unto himself by jesus christ and he's given unto us this ministry
paul's including the people there he's saying you corinthians you play a role in this ministry if
we're going to stretch forth if we're going to expand if we're going to enlarge our borders
we have to understand that the ministry does not fall upon one individual it falls upon the entire
body of people go over to second corinthians chapter number four he said in closing to the
colossians in chapter four and say to archipus take heed to thy ministry which thou hast received
in the lord and fulfill it you say who was archippus well he was a man in the church
perhaps he was a leader and but you know what he like the rest of us
has been given a ministry and he told him hey you've received this ministry make sure that
you fulfill it and if we're going to fulfill the ministry that we have here as individuals as a
church we have to be willing to expand we have to be willing to be stretched forth he told timothy
to make full proof of thy ministry look at second corinthians chapter 4 verse 1 therefore seeing we
have this ministry as we have received mercy we faint not of course a very uh famous portion of
scripture here but he's saying again look we have received this ministry not i've received this
ministry it's not just on me it's on all of us we have received this ministry and notice what he
says we faint not if we're going to grow as a ministry you know if we're going to stretch
ourselves like we ought to you know it's going to demand something of us to the point where you know
we might even think we're going to faint what do we say why would he say we faint not if there
wasn't a possibility of fainting there wasn't a possibility of you know uh of being exhausted or
stretched beyond measure right look at verse 2 but we have renounced the innocence of the hidden
things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness or handling the word of god deceitfully by by
manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of god
go over to philippians chapter number three look at a few things there philippians chapter number
three so again this morning i'm just making the point here that god has given us steps in isaiah
chapter 54 and how to you know broaden our borders how to grow as a ministry he's showing he was
telling them hey you're going to grow as a people israel but here's what you have to do as individual
with your habitations with your uh ropes with your stakes right not just one tent he's talking
about multiple habitations okay philippians chapter number three verse 13 brethren i count
on myself to apprehend it but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth under those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of god in christ jesus so again it's this idea of reaching forth of being willing
to stretch forth to be stretched to lengthen out those chords to stretch them to go beyond
where you are right now and he's saying he's reaching forth and i love that he's pointing out
it's to those things which are before i press it's this idea of having to put effort into it it's not
something that just happens you have to press against it you have to push i press toward i go
forward toward the mark for the high high calling of god in christ jesus
so it's a pressing forward it's it's it's a moving forward to those things which are
beyond you now let me just say this before i i go any further than a certain one i'm not talking
about is stretching yourself thin in the ministry not you know i'm talking about stretching yourself
beyond your current borders yes but not to the point where you're going to fail i don't want
to be misunderstood this morning because there are ministries out there like that believe me
believe me there's ministries that will they will run you into the ground and say it's not enough
there's ministries you know and really a lot of ministries that will just have you really busy
doing a lot of things that aren't really amounting to much so i'm not saying that i'm not saying that
we're just trying to be busy for busyness sake and i'm not saying everybody needs to be on the same
place as everybody else but what you need to do this morning is say where you are and where you
could be you know some people are more mature in the lord some people are newer to the faith
and some people are more mature some people are farther along in their faith but none of us has
arrived and all i'm saying is is that this morning you as an individual need to look where you are
and say and ask yourself how can i stretch myself just a little bit further this next year how can i
stretch myself just a little bit further so five years from now maybe it's the anniversary service
is even a little bigger what do i need to do as an individual stretch just a little bit more
to press just a little bit harder toward that mark to reach forth just a little bit further
than where i'm at you see sometimes people hear a sermon like this and they think that
you i'm asking people to just go all out just to go all in right now just push it all forward
you know take the brakes off and just run this thing into the ground that's not what i'm saying
all i'm asking is that the people in this church ask themselves what can i do to stretch forth
a little bit more i mean isn't it i'm not much of a stretcher okay but isn't that part of stretching
you know you don't just immediately try to touch your toes if you can't touch your toes it's a
recipe for disaster right especially when you have some anatomical structures that are you know maybe
prohibiting that a little bit more than other people right but you build up towards that right
you build up to that long stretch to that that deep stretch you don't just jump into the deep end
you make those little movements right those little adjustments you say in brother corbin it sounds
like you more know about stretching than you're letting on right but that's all that's the
analogy i'm using because that's what i want people to do this morning is not feel like they
have to just reach all the way to the end for that price you just need to stretch forth a little bit
more they need just to reach a little bit further beyond where they're at right now not stretch
beyond your what you're capable of but certainly beyond your current borders see people limit
themselves don't they and so i can't let out any more rope for this tent i can't let out any more
slack for this for this tabernacle i'm already stretched pretty thin but if we're honest you
know what we probably could stretch ourselves just a little bit more and then we would become
even stronger more flexible and then we'd be able to stretch even just a little bit further
so that's my first point if you're back there keep something in philippians
if you're still in isaiah i'll just read to you but it says again enlarge the place of thy tent
in verse two and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations spare not lengthen
thy cords the first point was to stretch forth the curtains second point is to spare not and
again i preface this point already by saying i'm not asking people to go beyond uh you know
to just just take the brakes off and just run themselves in the ground i'm not saying that
but he does say here to spare not to not spare to lengthen thy courts don't be too conservative
don't say you know this might have made more sense back then right when they weren't just churning
out rope you know in taiwan while we sleep where they you know all the rope and the the cords that
they had were probably very precious things that were very valuable to them that you know
took time to to make and he's saying don't spare with that cord trust me i'm going to grow you
you know there's going to be more people here you're going to grow as a nation i'm going to
bring you back into this land and that city which once was desolate is going to be filled again
it might look desolate it might look barren but you know what there's going to be more children
here there's going to be more people here than even uh the married wife right he's saying to
trust him and i believe that's what god is asking us to do as a church too to just trust god that
yes he will build the church like we have to trust god for that we don't want to fall into a bunch of
you know just pulling out a bunch of gimmicks and and just doing a bunch of sappy things and just
trying to you know go to some of the lengths that some people go to in order to just for the sake of
you know uh increasing in attendance where would that lead you know that lead to uh the the
contemporary music that lead to you know me take you know getting out of the suit and getting into
a graphic tee and and some holy jeans and a little plastic pulpit up here and a little flesh colored
mic and maybe i'd start spiking my hair start talking like this and every message is just that
soft nice message and we can just have you know 20 minute sermons and 45 minutes of praise and
we'll stop praise for have a little handshake and hug fest in the middle of it and
you know we'll get a we'll get a latte bar back there for everybody and roll in the you know
mcdonald's or starbucks or whatever but that's what people do you know that's where that leads
what i'm saying this morning when i'm telling us to spare not is to is to not hold back
and not to think that there isn't more that we could do as a church as individuals
and obviously you know we do trust god we're trusting him to increase us and i'm not saying
that we shouldn't do anything you know obviously we can as a church and as individuals you know
we can do more soul winning we can follow up on current converts we can encourage people to get
baptized we can encourage visitors when they come out we can follow up with people there are things
that we can do and should do i believe to help the church grow but honestly you know you say
well i don't know about that but you know he's telling us does not spare he's saying hey don't
spare don't hold back and in our lives if we want to grow as christians and thinking beyond just
growing numerically as a church if we as individuals because that's how it's going to
happen to grow as a church individuals are going to grow spiritually if you're really going to grow
spiritually as a christian if you're really going to get beyond where you're at right now you're
going to have to just say nothing's off limits to god so you know what lord nothing is off limits to
you whatever you want it's yours if you're still in philippians look at verse eight chapter three
verse eight yay doubtless i count all things but loss for the excellency of knowledge of christ
jesus my lord did he say i count most things some things i count 99 of every of these things but
there's just this one area where i'm just god can't have that it's off you know that's off
limits to him no paul said i count all things and look the thing is i don't think god's going to ask
everything of us but you know i i believe he will ask us to maybe stretch a little bit further than
we are he might ask us to you know spare just a little bit less on his behalf
paul said i count all things but loss for whom verse it goes on it says for whom i have suffered
the loss of all things and to count them but dung that i may win christ
and if you know what dung is you know what dung is right right that's what fills the diaper
okay that's strong language oh i can't believe you'd say that well that's the bible paul said
i count these things dung you know why some people don't they're not willing to uh to to
spare not is because they're holding on to dung essentially and i mean paul's speaking
figuratively obviously right it's not like he was in manure sales before he got saved
you know so you know what i count this dung as dung well duh
he's saying all the things that i achieved all the worldly accomplishments all the success
i've had in the world it's dung i counted all dung what he's saying is that i'm not sparing
i'm not going to spare i'm going to let out the ropes as far as god wants i'm going to expand
as far as god wants me to nothing's off limits
you know and obviously this is really easy to say about sin
and as i preached i think it was thursday night you know i made the point that really
god's will is more concerned about the things that we're not doing than the things we should
be doing people get so worked up about what god wants them to do they really ought to be focusing
on what god doesn't want them to do more than anything you know some some of us we need to just
learn to to look at our sin and say this is dung and let it go and get the sin out of our lives
that's a great place to start how am i going to stretch myself a little bit further how am i
going to grow as a christian how am i going to expand beyond my border how am i going to in what
way should i spare not how about looking at the dung of sin and seeing it for what it is and saying
you know what this really is dung let me get out of my life it stinks it's making a mess
you know we were out soul winning and we saw the diaper bank this building you know and i made the
joke about it i said is that where you deposit your precious diapers obviously that's not what
it was it's a place where people can go get diapers that were in need of diapers right
but i mean isn't that kind of spiritually what some people do with their sin
they have this stinking diaper full of dung and it's precious to them they go into their little
diaper bank and say could you put this up somewhere and keep it safe you got a safety
deposit box for my dung field diaper keep this safe you know you need to you need to stop
sparing that you just get that out get you know that's a great place to start get the sin out of
your life that pretty much goes without saying you know there's a lot of other things that come into
our lives as christians that hold us back that aren't necessarily sinful in and of themselves
do we count them as dung do we see them as dung i mean why was paul able to count accomplish
everything that he accomplished it sounds to me like he had to start by looking at everything in
his life and saying it's all dung compared to the glory of god to the excellency of the high calling
of god and christ jesus for the prize that is set before me for the race that is set before me to
win that to run that race to finish my course i have to count everything else as dung saying
everything else compared to that is dung and i'm not saying that you need to just forsake
everything this morning but you know you should be willing to there should be no area of our life
where god can't put his finger on and say i want that and i want it to change you know if we did
that you know what we find ourselves doing stretching we find ourselves expanding and this
is the mentality that we have to bring into the christian life if we want to grow as christians
if we want a body to grow as a church it really is you know a a a a i don't want to say an all
or nothing kind of attitude because typically when we have an all or nothing attitude it typically
ends up being nothing right when we get we we whenever we approach you know this you know all
these examples are kind of mind you know like like a diet people go on a diet i don't know
what that's like but people go on these diets all the time i'm kidding right starting tomorrow
but people take a you know i know this is a sensitive topic people don't want to talk
about diet right but people sometimes carry that attitude into a diet well it's all or nothing
right and they're doing good they're doing good and then they they mess up one day it's just like
well what's the point you know just right back off the wagon right and and really god's not
asking us for an all or nothing attitude i don't believe that i mean that is the attitude we should
have count it all done but how god really works is that he stretches us slowly you know he slowly
brings us around if you would uh well just stay where you are for now i won't have you turn you
i'll just read to you actually you know what go to deuteronomy chapter number seven deuteronomy seven
you know god is going to stretch us slowly i mean that's what he's done in this ministry over the
last five years god has slowly stretched this ministry slowly expanded it the people that have
been in this church you know and people that have been you know in tempe and other places you know
if you've served god for any length of time you could probably look back on your own life and
see that how god has slowly stretched you to where you are today to the point where if you
had told the person you know however many years ago this is where you'd be you'd say no way
i would never walk down the street in public with a bible in my hand
i'd never walk up to someone's door and knock on it and ask them about their eternal soul
right it's kind of a heavy question isn't it where you going when you die
right walk up knock i've come for your soul
that's not how we do it okay it's not a good example
you know hi sheev i've come to bind you and take you to my master
let's get out of hand right but some of us if we would we would see uh if we could uh you know
several years ago look from that point look to where we are today would say that's who is that
guy who is that person but how did you get here did you just stretch all at once did god just
you know rip you apart and just let it here you are did god just say you got to give up all this
right now did you just stop everything no you know there's probably i got this sent out and
i got that sent out and then i started getting this godly discipline in i started doing this
it was a slow building it was a letting out of those those ropes it was a it was a slow stretching
out it was a process god stretches us out slowly i like the example in deuteronomy chapter seven
look at verse 22 of course just referring to the fact that he's bringing them into the promised
land he's saying here's how i'm going to do it am i bringing that into this promised land regarding
these inhabitants that are already there the caninites he says in verse 22 and the lord shall
thy god will put out those nations boy for thee by little and little he didn't say i'm not going to
drive out the caninites all at once he said you're going to get jericho and then you're going to get
ai and then you're going to get the next city and the next one you're going to defeat these kings
and then five kings and eventually it'll all be yours but you're not just going to have a blitzkrieg
where you just go in there and take over the whole thing at once he said i'm going to drive
them out little by little he said thou mayest not consume that at once why lest the beast of
the field increase upon me so he was doing that for their sake he's saying i don't want you to be
overtaken by the beasts that are left behind of course this is very practical what he's talking
about here right he's saying i don't want to leave i don't want to just drive out all the inhabitants
and then let all the man-eaters take over because instead of fighting the caninite you're going to
be fighting a bear or a lion or whatever okay you know and that's how it is in our lives you know god
grows us by little by little we we defeat one enemy and then the next but you know what there's
always that next enemy there's always that next sin there's always that next thing that has to
be overcome if you would go back to uh isaiah chapter number 54 isaiah chapter number 54
it's not gonna be a long sermon this morning but i did want to preach this passage it's the one
i believe the lord laid on my heart this morning and i see these points about how we're going to
grow how we're going to expand it was very uh true for the people back then they were given
a promise that they would return to the promised land and that god uh would bless them again that
they would become fruitful again that they would inhabit those desolate places he would keep up his
end of the bargain but there was also something that they had to do they had to stretch forth the
curtains of their habitations they had to spare not and lengthen their cords and last of all they
had to strengthen their stakes and that's the title of this morning's sermon i don't know if
i already said that but it's strengthen thy stakes and i love the analogy of the tent here the way he
he's uh using this as a description of their uh them growing as a nation and i'm using this
morning as how we're going to grow as a church and more specifically as individuals it's like
that tent right and so far we've talked about uh you know the the curtains and we've talked
about the cords but last of all he mentions the stakes and what's interesting about the stakes is
that without the stakes you don't have the rest you can get all the cords you want and you can
have nice big beautiful curtains you can have a great walled tent you can put up all that canvas
but if you don't stake that thing down you know you're going to wake up under the stars or worse
you know first good gust of wind that comes through it's just it's gone who's ever been
in a tent that rolled over on them anybody has anybody ever seen that happen to someone
okay well this happens i know because i've seen it maybe you don't believe me right
but i remember being camping and my my younger sister when we were just kids and she was uh they
stayed the night in a tent uh with her friend and they were just little kids and we woke up
that morning to ah you know screaming that's my best little girl scream okay just trying to hit
that higher octave and we ran out and their tent was slowly rolling over in the wind
because they're just light you know there's these little people right and they had all that canvas
around them for that wind to hit all that surface area for it to push so why did that happen was it
the tent was it its fault was it the was it the wind's fault was it my sister's and her friend's
fault should they have you know uh eaten more that night or something should they got in there with
some you know rocks in their pockets or something no it was the guy who set up the tent didn't put
the stakes in that's what the stakes are there for and i get it those things are annoying right
you go camping you get those cheap plastic ones if you don't know what you're doing you know the
seasoned guys know you throw those out and you buy the steel ones you get the get the good ones
right but if you don't know what you're doing you're trying to drive that thing and it's all
bending over and snapping and you're hitting roots and rocks and you might be tempted to just say who
needs it well you know you might end up like my little sister just rolling down this across some
meadow somewhere waking everybody up shrieking in the morning that's what bothered me the most i was
trying to get a good night's sleep but you see how important stakes are it's interesting in isaiah
54 that god mentions it last because if there's one thing you don't want to forget in this process
it's the stakes the cords are important the curtains are important you know that's what's
going to cover everybody up and protect them that's what's going to you know make that nice
a spittable dwelling for everybody come in and get out of the elements but it won't last without
stakes now you know i don't know if you've ever been around a big like a circus tent or anything
like that but in my old church in michigan there's a guy that came through a few times and he had a
tent ministry that's not where he preached the gospel to tents you know he's always done a big
five in the sporting section you know and preach into these tents he got coleman saved okay
he had a tent ministry because he'd come he'd set up this big tent and he'd bring in all these hay
bales and things like that and just had a good old country meeting whatever they want to call it i
don't know it's kind of a gimmick to be honest but i remember setting up that tent with him
and you know we would we helped out and you know what one of the main things he got afterwards about
was the stakes and those weren't the little plastics and these were like i think they were
rebar and he had welded things on it and he had to take a sledgehammer and he had to drive that
thing in it had to be at a certain angle and if you didn't do it right you had to redo it and
it was a lot of work but you know when people showed up you know what they what they commented
on what they marked on they didn't walk over at the end of that stroke that rope and go what a
great steak you know that's something you say at at longhorn right they walk over was that rebar
what is that eighth inch quarter inch five eighths what'd you have to use to drive that
12 pound 15 pound how many strokes you know and it's not what people were interested in
they liked the blue and white you know canvas they liked everything that was underneath the tent
they liked everything that was above ground everything that they could see
all the visual appealing stuff they were impressed by how big that tent was and it was big
that's what caught their eye but you know what what was the most important part of that tent it
was the stakes of course the cords are important but what they're attached to the stake you can
hang all the ropes off the side that you want they have to be attached to the stake i think you get
the point that's why we need to if we're going to grow if we're going to stretch if we're going to
not spare in our lives we have to make sure that we strengthen our stakes most of all
say i want to do more i want to i want to uh give more i want to sacrifice more i want to stretch
myself more i want to spare less in my christian life great strengthen your stake make sure you
drive the stake down and look the stake and you say what's the state get to the point i'll tell
you here in a minute but it's something i've we've preached about constantly as preachers
it's things that we bring up over and over and over and over again because it's the most
important thing it's the basics it's the it's the it's the disciplines of the christian life
that's what you need to deepen in the christian life if you want to grow and expand as an
individual if you want this church to grow and expand as a body the people that are in this
church or whatever church you're a part of need to learn to deepen their stakes to deepen the
disciplines of the christian life you know and we might even be sitting here saying well i've
already done a lot of that i've already you know i've been in church for a long time i've been
reading my bible great don't stop keep driving that stake in i mean what are these these
disciplines how do you strengthen the stake reading your bible reading your bible
and i mean how many sermons have i preached on reading your bible how many times have i mentioned
it why do you always bring that up because that is a stake in the christian life that is something
that is going to plant you firmly in the christian life i'll wrap it up but if you would go to
luke chapter six luke chapter six the bible says if the foundations be destroyed what can the
righteous do you pull the stakes out of that tent it's a goner it's just a matter of time
you destroy the foundation you uh unloose the the moorings of whatever you know it's going to drift
away you pull up the anchor don't expect the ship to stay in one spot it's going to be tossed with
all those different waves
you know i like the also the the illustration i was going to have you turn it but i'll just
read to you for sake of time for in ezra when cyrus is decaying decreeing that the house of
god be built again in jerusalem and he gave this decree and he said let the house be builded
and amen let god's house be built let it grow let it expand he said the place where they offer
sacrifices you know that sounds like not sparing that's what church is a place where we don't come
to church and say what can i get out of it church is a place we come and say what can i do for the
church what can i do for on god's behalf what sacrifices can i make he said the place where
they offer sacrifices uh the height thereof three score cubits he's saying he's giving out
measurements he's saying it's got to be high make build that thing tall and the breadth thereof
three score cubits he's saying build it wide build that big structure but before he said all
that he said let the foundations be strongly laid because he knew without a strong foundation it
doesn't matter how high you build it it doesn't matter how wide you make it without a strong
foundation over time it will crumble and fall and we've probably all seen video that hopefully never
seen in a person where you know a builder got cheap or the inspector didn't know what he was
doing and they you know they didn't take the core sample or whatever and they just went ahead and
built the house and it looks real nice until you get that big crack right down the side of the wall
until the whole back half of the house just kind of falls off and you know crumbles into a bunch
of sticks why why did that happen it looks so it looks like such a strong building it looks so nice
had great carpet and nice paint the doors the trim it was ornate you know had all these bathrooms
every all the fixtures were brass it was beautiful yeah but you know it was it wasn't built on a very
good foundation you know they they skimped when they were pouring the concrete they said we don't
need any rebar we don't need to compact the sand underneath all that we don't have to dig down
frost line what's that out here you probably would wonder what a frost line is right the point is is
that they didn't care much about the foundation you know cyrus had enough sense hey let the
foundation be strongly laid lay it strongly then we'll worry about the heights and the width and
everything else it's the foundations of the christian life that are going to allow you
to stretch yourself that are going to compel you to be willing to not spare to start seeing things
for what they really are you know when you read your bible you'll start to identify things in your
life and go you know that's actually dung you know i thought this was so precious and so important
and so valuable but now i'm reading my bible and i'm getting a heavenly perspective i'm starting
to see things in light of attorney and i'm kind of looking at some things in my life i'm going
you know that's that's dung you know all these vain ambitions maybe it's sin whatever it is you
read your bible you'll start to see things in your life and just say you know what they're not that
important after all and you'll actually start to loosen your grip you'll start to let things go
i mean who wants to hang on to dung after all
so bolster your bible reading that's how you lay the foundation you deepen these disciplines this
is how you strengthen your stakes you make sure the foundation is strong look at luke chapter 6
we all know at verse 47 whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings of course this is jesus talking
you know that's the bible friend what are jesus's sayings well it's this book
obviously he was actually saying things back then but you know today these are his sayings
and not just the red letters and in the gospels and acts and revelation you know i've said it
before i'll say it again you know my bible is the words of jesus in black because these are all the
words of god he is the word of god all of this is god's sayings he said whosoever heareth my sayings
whosoever heareth my sayings and doeth them it's one thing to hear the promise israel that god is
going to bring you back into the land it's another thing to do your part it's one thing to hear that
god is going to build his church you know but it's also another thing to find out that you also have
a role to play in that whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and do with them i will show
you unto whom he is like he is like a man which build and house see i wasn't that far off with
my analogy earlier and dig deep he didn't dig shallow he wasn't obsessed with the the siding
he wasn't obsessed with the slate roof he wasn't sitting there and right out of the gate just
thinking about all the you know nice things that everybody's going to see above ground he's saying
let me build this house right let me dig deep you know i this is something i i kind of relate to
because i was in earthwork for a long time i several years i dug a lot you know helped dig
a lot of basements and you know held back to a lot of basements and one that was kind of the
joke on the crew is like all our work got buried you know all the all the carpenters and everybody
else could walk by and say i did that house i built that house and this is my handiwork here
and i've home these cabinets and they could you know people would admire their work ours we just
just buried it what'd you have to do with that house you can't see it it's gone it's there but
it's out of sight right but how important is it and that's you know this guy had the right
perspective he's building that house he's saying i'm going to dig deep i'm going to get down to
that bedrock i'm going to get down to that hard layer and i'm going to make sure that this thing
is is strongly laid he said he dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock you know jesus is that
rock you know he would build his church upon that rock but you know what we have to dig down to that
rock we got to get down there and we're the ones that have to lay the foundation and we can't just
lay our foundation on the grass in the christian life it won't last it's exposed the elements
we have to put forth the effort to dig down to drive these stakes deep in our lives to dig down
and just do the the you know the the nuts and bolts of the christian life is really where it's at
how do we make it to five years by people figuring out oh you're supposed to be in church
you know if people if nobody in this room you know all of our members were just like well you know
church isn't that important we wouldn't have made it this far and is church attendance like some
far out you know hard to understand complex doctrine no it's a real basic isn't it but
you know what a lot of people struggle with it but the only reason we're here today is because
some people figured that out they said you know rather than just you know uh of being overly
concerned with just end times prophecy and you know all the uh hard sermons and this and that
and the other thing and all just the radical preaching from the new ifbs you know some people
figured out hey for me to grow and expand as a christian for me to to stretch myself and to
start to see things uh the right way i'm just gonna have to get myself in church
you know i woke up this morning and i was like man it's been five years and then i thought i
mean i've only been here in temp or in arizona for 10 years and when i got here you know i pastor
anderson had already been preaching for seven and i'm sorry to feel like five years man that's it's
an accomplishment but we still got a long way to go there's still a lot of life to live and i think
live and i think man how did i how did i get to where i'm at today and i thought all the way back
to when i first got saved and i thought all the way back to that first time i said you know what
i'm going to church and i left my mom's house and i and i walked a few miles on foot because i wanted
to i had a car i just felt like walking that sunday morning and walking into a little baptist church
i was meeting a uaw hall they had just finished sweeping out all the cigarette butts and mopping
up all the beer and throwing out the cans from the union guys the night before and set up all
their little plastic chairs and walking in and sitting down and hearing a baptist preacher get
up and just tear it up and i said that's where i want to be you know that was almost 20 years ago
but you know and i'm not trying to brag and say well look at me look where i've come but you know
you say where did it all start that's where it started by me just figuring out i need to be in
church i just need to go to church and you know and figuring that out real quick it's like i'm
going to be in every church service and i'm not and i was in that church three times a week from
there on out that's pretty basic isn't it you know what that really is as unattractive and dull
as topic as church attendance is you know what it really is it's it's digging a deep foundation
you know digging is not uh exactly the most attractive job
you know hey sign me up for digging
let me go out there and get you know blisters on my hands and
break my back and be sore at the end of the day it's not exactly the most uh you know attractive
job you know you say you want a phd you don't mean post-hole digger you know you guys some of
you never heard that joke i can't believe it some of the old ones still work you know what that that
that digging is necessary isn't it you gotta have the guy who's willing to dig you gotta be willing
to dig in the christian life you gotta be willing to do just the the the nitty-gritty work that no
one's gonna recognize of going to church no one's gonna come slap you on the back and say good job
coming to church because it's so basic good job driving that steak but you know what if we don't
do those things people will notice you got you had the job of being the guy that had to drive
all the stakes for some tent and you didn't do it you know no one's gonna slap you on the back and
say attaboy for having done it but don't do it and watch what happens it's the same way in our
christian lives we can just blow that off you can say i have bible reading it's not that important
prayers not that important soul winning not that important church attendance not important
and give it time and watch what happens in your life watch what happens as jesus said here in our
in where we're at verse 48 he is like a man which built an house and dig deep and laid the foundation
on a rock why and when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could
not shake it for it was founded upon a rock he didn't say oh you build upon the rock and then
storms never come he's saying you build upon the rock you do the digging that's necessary
you lay the foundation because the storms are coming you know and the guy verse 49 but he that
heareth and doeth not is like a man without a foundation he built in house upon the earth and
against the stream did vehemently beat and immediately it fell it didn't withstand for a second
you know what these guys have in common the stream came the storm came resistance came
into both of their lives one guy was prepared one wasn't and that's that's how it is in our
christian lives you know that's just life we're all going to go through life the advantage that
we have as god's people is that there's a rock that we can build our life upon called the word
of god upon jesus christ and if we would just do the daily digging in this book
if we would just bolster our bible reading if we would just prop up our prayer life
if we would just shore up our soul winning you know we would build in the the disciplines of
the christian life we would deepen those things we would drive those stakes deeper and we would
be able to withstand the storms as individuals you know and that's how churches stand the test
of time as well that's how they stand through the storms that come against a church as a
corporate body it's because it's filled with people that have done these things
they have already read that you're going to be hated of all men for my name's sake
they've already read yay all that live godly christ jesus shall suffer persecution it comes
as no shock to them why because they've read it they've read it in the bible and they know it's
true and they're prepared for it you know it's we need to strengthen our stakes in our lives
of course we want to do all these other things we want to stretch the curtains and we want to
lengthen the cords we want to be able to hold more in our lives we want to be able to do more
we want to be able to as a church bring more people in and accomplish more and grow the
spiritual family but we in order to do that we have to strengthen the stakes that's the most
important part it's the most important part but you know it's also the unseen support of that
structure isn't it you know it's kind of it's kind of ironic the part that just you know most
people don't even notice the part that probably goes the most you know uh unaccredited that we
don't get a lot of attaboys for are the most important things you know we shouldn't be doing
these things for for the sake of others do these things for yourself do your bible reading for
yourself pray for yourself go slow winning you know obviously to get people saved but you know
do it for yourself too obey the command to go strengthen these things in our lives strengthen
your stakes this morning that's how we're going to grow that's how we're going to expand as a
church that's how we're going to grow and expand as individuals by strengthening our stakes let's
go and have a word of prayer dear lord again thank you for this church thank you for five
great years lord of service here in tucson lord i pray that it would be one of many to come lord
that you would continue to establish this church to add to it to build it lord to grow it as you
see fit and lord i pray help us all to do our part as individuals lord to as leaders and as
followers lord to to make sure that we're just doing the basics in our lives lord that we're
doing the things that we ought to be doing as god's people and lord that we would just give you
something to bless lord in our lives and as a church we ask these things in christ's name amen
all right we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we dismiss uh also real quick
so the way this will work for um let's just talk about the the uh
choreography here i guess what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna have to set up the tables
in here so we got these tables on the side so we only need a few men but uh you can get some help
but basically this is the hard part when it's over when the song's done
you said all of you can just get up and get out of here
so basically everyone that's been here needs to just for a few moments kind of go hang out in the
back and then go stretch your legs outside or something like that and then we'll rearrange
these chairs and tables and also bring anything with you too don't need bags and vitals and books
of time i know it's kind of an inconvenience but it's just what we're working with here so if you
bring all your stuff with you and just for a few moments go back there and then we'll just set up
a couple rows so if we can just get some men also when we're done just kind of come forward up here
and we'll kind of work all that out but that'll do it for that we'll go ahead and sing one more
song before we get into the power
amen uh let's open up our windows to start over 119 till the storm passes
thank you
is
holy
is
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In the land where the dead least never come for a night,
How we'll be in your way to soar at so high.
Till the storm that lasts till the wind,
Till the thunder that sets the floor,
Till the clouds fall forever,
From the sky,
O'er the past that we spend,
In the hollow of my hand,
Keep me safe,
Till the storm that lasts till the wind.
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Till the storm that lasts till the wind.
Till the thunder that lasts till the wind.
Till the storm that lasts till the wind.