055. Ordinary People - Don't Let the Fire go Out!

PP    (blue slide)

Our message today is titled …

PP       ORDINARY  PEOPLE –
      Don’t let the Fire go out!

Firstly, I want to give credit to a man by the name of Troy Fitzgerald for some of the thoughts that I’m using in this message.

And above all, I give credit to our wonderful Father and Jesus for giving me their Spirit to guide my thinking as I prepared this message. ------

Friends, you’ve given me the privilege of speaking several times in your church and you know that every time I preach, I put out a challenge and a prayer that each one of us will go away, determined to love God more, be more obedient to His word, and so improve our relationship with Jesus and our wonderful Father.

Today’s message is the same strong message.  Please bow your heads as we pray.  (…. open heart, open mind, …) guided Lord by Your Spirit, not my spirit, or our spirit, but we want Your Spirit guiding us today Lord.  Thank you Father, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

-------  Paul wrote a letter to the Christian people in Rome.  
He wrote to the ordinary church people like you and me. So that’s the title of my message today …
ORDINARY  PEOPLE – Don’t let the Fire go out!

We’re reading from ….

PP   Romans 16:1-16  
v1   “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,
v2    that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you;  for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.
PP  
v3   Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
v4   who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
v5   Likewise greet the church that is in their house.  Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. (Achaia is what we would call Asia today. So Epaenetus was Paul’s first convert to Christianity in Asia).
PP
v6   Greet Mary, who laboured much for us.  
v7   Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and fellow prisoners, who are of note (that means outstanding) among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
(Paul calls them apostles.  Have you ever heard of these people as apostles?  Maybe ordinary people like you and I are apostles too.)
PP  
v8    Greet Amplias, (where did these names come from?) Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.  
v9   Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.
v10  Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. (He was tested and approved- you can count on this man.)  Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
(There’s a great list here for babies names isn’t there?  When I see names like this I want to have one more boy and I want to name him Aristobulus.)
PP
v11    Greet Herodion, my countryman.  Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.  
v12   Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have laboured in the Lord.  Greet the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord.  
v13   Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine (she, Paul said, has been a mother to me too).  This is a big list friends.  This is the Bible speaking here and these people are ordinary people just like you and me.
PP
v14   Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them.
v15   Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
v16   Greet one another with a holy kiss.  The churches of Christ greet you.
(When you met someone you’d kiss them on both cheeks as a greeting.  I’d rather give you a hug, but that’s what they did back then. ☺)

Do you ever hear sermons about these people?  Do you ever hear passages or songs about Nerius and Aristobulus and Phlegon?  No!  We don’t do we?  We’ve got lots of sermons and story books on Moses and Daniel.  You could probably go on line right now and buy action figures of Moses and Daniel.  Probably David, and Goliath too!  But I don’t know if there are any action figures for Epaenetus or Andronicus or Amplias.  Do you see any?

What’s going on here?  You can find all kinds of stuff about everybody else but who are these people?  These are people who Paul wrote to.  And I’ve got to tell you about the church that he’s writing to back then.

PP    Let’s say there were 6 million people
in the Roman Empire at that time maybe.  
10% of them are Jews.  
And then how many people were Christians?  
Probably less than 1% of the Jews!  
Not 1% of the total, but 1% of the Jews  -  Christians!  
Very few Christians when this letter by Paul to the
Romans was penned.

And in Rome at that time it was tough, really tough for Christians.  Why?  Because who was in Rome at the time?  Nero!  This was at the time when the Christians were all going to get hammered – and put to death!  We’re looking at a very small group of really dedicated people. --  
Christians –  not fans of Christ, but followers of Christ.
---  and willing to die for what they believed.

The average church was basically 80 or fewer people who met together, and where did they meet?  In big church buildings?  No!  If there were quite a group of them, they met with people who had the biggest house.

Throughout the New Testament we hear Paul writing to all the churches and the people who meet in the house.  And he names names because he’s been through there and he’s seen all these people, and there’s no story books about these people.  There are no video series about them.  Vege Tales or Janice’s Attic didn’t decide to do a whole series about Petrobus – or Julia – or Nerius – or Asynchritis.

PP    
Who are they?  
What are they doing there?  
And why in the world would their names be in the Bible?  
I think there’s a message right here for us
because as I look out over your faces --- I see people – just like them.

-----  You know, if the Bible was written today about an area from the Gold Coast, and through Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast – let’s just take that chunk.  If the Bible was written today, who’d be in it?  What kind of churches would be mentioned?  If there were letters written to people in the churches, who’d he be writing to?  What would the names look like?  Is it possible that maybe our names would be mentioned?  Because if you look at what’s going on in the church and what he’s affirming them for, what’s he actually doing?

Paul goes on…..  This person was helpful, this person stayed with me – they got arrested with me.  This person is like a mother to me, or like a brother to me – or these people just worked – how did they work? – hard!  

Do you know what’s going on?  Who are these people?  -  Well I’ll tell you who they are.  They are second generation Christians.  They’re much like us!  None of them saw the face of Jesus glowing on the Mount of Transfiguration.  They weren’t even there for the crucifixion.  They were just like us!  In fact, most of these people were never near, anywhere near, when amazing things happened at Pentecost!  

These are just people, who had somebody go down the street and tell the story of Jesus Christ to them.  And guess what they did?  They did what you and I did and are doing – they believed the story without even seeing Jesus.

-----  Peter says it in his letter.  He says in …

PP   1 Peter 1:8
“Although you haven’t seen Him, you love Him.”  

And friends, although you don’t see Him today, you’re still being filled with joy which words can’t express.

So I just want to share with you today something I see in this passage – it’s very simple. -----

PP    Paul said, ‘I love these people’.      (There’s more.)    
Look at these words -  
‘working hard’,   ‘taking care of each others needs’,  
these are just, first of all, ordinary people!  

They’ve got elbows, they’ve got hair on their heads (some of them), some of them have got bad backs and hips and knees, but when you put your hand over their heart you can feel something beating in their chest.  They’re ordinary people.

Put your hand over your chest.  It’s there – it’s beating.  Same thing for them as it is for you and me.  They are just ordinary people.   If we were to sit down across from them at our meal tonight, they’re going to have skin and hair, and they’ve got hearts, beating.

PP    
They are like us, ordinary people.  
They’ve got names and they’ve got habits,
and they’ve got stories about themselves –
just like you and me.
And they’re not just people – they’re ordinary people.  
They’re everyday people.  
You look at what they are described as doing and they’re
just doing the things that we can normally do, every day.

------  Many of us, have Bibles, that are falling apart.  And friends, it’s clear that …

PP      A Bible that is falling apart
     is generally owned by a person
            who is not falling apart.  

And sometimes our pants are worn out at the knees from praying.  Yes, we just need to be ordinary, everyday people, doing what Jesus calls us to do today.

Ordinary people, making sure that our church door is open so people can come in.  Or someone to stand at the door and watch the cars coming into the parking lot.  Could you do that?  Go over and give them a big smile and say, “Welcome to church!” -----

-----   Look at this in ….

PP    Acts 4:13
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were  (what?)  uneducated and untrained men, ….”  

I’ve been that!  I’ve been called uneducated and unschooled, and untrained – on a regular basis.   At school, the teachers said,
“Archer, you’ll never do good at anything.”
Even though I have been educated a bit, I certainly look uneducated and untrained.  I’m a sack of mistakes.  I think I make many more blunders than I make good things happen.

Look what people said about the followers of Jesus.  
“They were unschooled what? Ordinary men.” -  ordinary people.  And the onlookers were astonished because they took note that these men had been with Jesus. -------

How about this one!  Let’s look at a scholar – no, let’s look at the scholar.  You know, right, Paul.  Paul is a phenomenal academic.  He is a great professor, book writer, preacher, teacher, evangelist, par excellence!  He is on all kinds of TV shows, and yet now he comes to the table and he can’t move, or he can’t talk, or he can’t do whatever because he’s got some sort of weakness, some sort of physical affliction.  Paul has healed other people in the name of Jesus, but why won’t Jesus take the thorn out of his flesh?  -----Because God says this in …

PP1  2 Corinthians 12:9  
v9   “My grace is sufficient for you.  My strength is made perfect (in what?)  in weakness.”  

Oh friends, let’s be clear, God is glorified not in our greatness, not in the great things that we do.  He is glorified in us as normal, everyday, ordinary, people.  Right?  ----   And you and I have got scars and bumps and bruises and there are lots of things we can’t do, and even though we’ve been trained to do some things, we still make mistakes.  And that’s why Paul says in the very next verse  …

PP2    
v10    “For Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses and the insults and the hardships and the difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

And so this is how Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians ends.  Just look at it!    Paul says in …

PP1    Romans 16:20
“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”

Isn’t that some kind of oxymoron? – Peace and Crush!  ----  And then He says ….

PP2     “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  Amen.”

---  There’s this sense of violence in his speech.  

The same ministry that Jesus had when He was here on earth, He hands to you and me through the power of His Spirit.  

So you and I are called to a continuation of Christ’s ministry – the salvation ministry for the world.  He says He’s going to crush Satan   under-your (that means) our-feet!  We are going to see Satan crushed.  

He’s talking about us, this church!   And I’m talking to us today.  What are we going to do this week?  We’re probably not going to be anything different than ordinary people – right?  And most of us are probably going to just be as ordinary as we are – but sometimes we have better days than others don’t we?

And so my prayer and my challenge to you, and my personal commitment this week, is that I want my footsteps of peace, to crush all that is broken and wrong in the world that I bump into.  What about you?  Do you want to do that with me this week?  Let’s take some steps out there to stand up to Satan so God can smash what’s wrong. -------

------   Some years ago, Delphine and I were doing a street ministry in Sydney, and we wore T-shirts with this saying on them …

PP   (pic of T shirt)
“I’m Satan’ personal nightmare”

We were there to defy Satan.

It can be as easy as an act of kindness or as big as a generous gift.  It could be an encouraging word or thought, it could even be giving a cup of cool water to an unlovely person who just doesn’t seem to deserve it.  

Here’s a little sign we have at home. …

PP     (photo)    
How it improves people when we begin to love them.

That’s how we put down the evil one - Satan.   That’s how we become Satan’s personal nightmare.  -----

That’s how we step into the ranks of those people who are just so simple, so ordinary, but so very important that Paul put their names in the Book.  

So let’s write another page for this Book.  Let’s add our names to this chapter in Romans. -----

-----   Remember the title of our message …

PP  ‘Ordinary People – Don’t let the Fire go out!’

These Christians were on fire for God.

And there’s no mention that their fire, their zeal, their commitment to God, their helpfulness, ever went out.

There is no mention of the fire going out for those Christians Paul was speaking about.

But, if our fire starts to go out, what happens next?  It doesn’t burn so hot does it?  Then the fire begins to cool down a bit.  Then it goes ---  lukewarm.

But in the last book of the Bible, the book of ….

PP    Revelation 3:15,16  (it says about a group of Sabbath-keepers who lost their fire and went lukewarm)
v15   “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I could wish you were cold or hot.
v16   So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

Maybe our love as brand new onfire Christians has gone a bit cool and ho-hum.  If we lose our first love, the Bible has a word for that.  The Bible says we go …

PP    LUKEWARM

Could we be lukewarm about some of the things we do as Christians?

Friends, many churchgoers think that one day, all of a sudden, if we’re lukewarm, we’ll be shaken up, and get on fire for God again.

NOT SO!   Almost always, that is a lie of Satan!

There is an old principle that applies to life, and to all Christians too.  And here is that eternal principle:

PP   As I am today,
       So I will be tomorrow,
       Only more so.

-----  Friends, if over a long period of time I have ignored the pleading of God’s Spirit on some issues and have become lukewarm about some of God’s things, it’s highly unlikely that I will change from lukewarm to hot at a later date.

PP   What could one of those issues be where I have become a bit lukewarm?
What about how I keep God’s wonderful Sabbath day?

Do I really keep it HOLY as requested in the ten commandments?

Friends, ….

PP    God’s Ten Commandments are not Ten Suggestions.
God says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  

In God’s wonderful ‘Law of Love’, the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment about the Sabbath begins in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8 where it says …

PP1   EXODUS 20:8
        “Remember the Sabbath day,
         TO KEEP IT HOLY.”

PP2    According to Google, today there are 563 different Sabbath-keeping denominations.  
Not 563 different churches, but 563 different church denominations, and the majority of the people within every one of these different denominations are lukewarm in how they keep God’s Sabbath day HOLY.

Friends, that is not Ray Archer’s idea.

Multiple millions of Sabbath keepers “Remember the Sabbath day”, according to the fourth commandment, but they have become lukewarm about the last part of that same verse, TO KEEP IT HOLY.

Now some of these Sabbath-keeping denominations actually realise it and own up to the fact that they are lukewarm.

I certainly haven’t researched all of the 563 different Sabbath-keeping denominations in the world to ask if they keep the Sabbath HOLY, but in every Sabbath-keeping denomination I have researched, the vast majority of the church members do not keep the Sabbath HOLY as the Bible teaches.  They all, we all, Remember the Sabbath day, but very few keep it holy, according to God’s Word in the Bible.

Many of the pastors and members of these churches say they are appalled at how the Sabbath keeping standards have dropped and the fire has largely gone out in the way that many things have become UNHOLY about the Sabbath.

PP    It’s also interesting that most of the people who complain about how the HOLINESS of God’s day is disappearing in the churches, are, in many of their own personal lives, also picking and choosing which parts they will and won’t practice, when it comes to keeping God’s day HOLY.  

There’s a verse about that in the Bible.  It’s in Matthew chapter 7, verses 3 to 5 where Jesus said …

PP  Matthew 7:3-5
v3   “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
v4   Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
v5   Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.“

-----  Many adult Sabbath-keepers have said to me, “It’s appalling how the young people treat God’s Sabbath day, kicking footballs around and so on.”

Well friends, guess who the young people learn from?  -  the adults!

Our non-Sabbath social talk before and after church on Sabbath does not line up with the Bible’s teaching.  And the young people see it and choose to do the same.

By the hypocritical talk and actions of adults, many of our young people see the hypocrisy in us and choose to do the same.

There’s an old saying …

PP   MONKEY SEE
      MONKEY DO!

Just like with the hypocritical Pharisees of 2,000 years ago, our young people see the poor example of we adults, and often walk away from church, and we sit there wondering why.

PP       ORDINARY  PEOPLE –
      Don’t let the Fire go out!

Friends, together, we need to pray to God to forgive us for not keeping His Sabbath day as holy as He asks us to in the Bible, and to also ask for His help every day, to keep His wonderful Sabbath-day holier than we have been doing, so that we …

PP1   Don’t let the fire go out.

PP2   If we do drop our standards and move away from what God’s Word says, and neglect God’s command in Exodus 20:8 that says ‘Remember the Sabbath day, TO KEEP IT HOLY’, then this brand new wonderful church here will become like the vast majority of the other 563 different so-called Sabbath-keeping churches around the world.

Some Sabbath-keeping denominations think that they will be persecuted for going to church on Sabbath, the seventh day.  I believe there won’t be too much persecution at all if we are remembering the Sabbath day but not keeping it as holy as the Bible asks us to.

Do you remember what Paul said in …

PP   2 Timothy 3:12  (He said)
“All who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Friends, if we are not living Godly on this point about keeping the Sabbath day HOLY, or on any other point for that matter, then it’s highly unlikely that we will be worthy to be persecuted.

With God’s help, when it comes to keeping the Sabbath HOLY, we need to give our will over to Him, and make this new church a wonderful example for God and for other Sabbath-keeping churches.

Friends, I am praying for this church, as I do for every Sabbath-keeper on the face of the planet, that we …

PP1    DON’T LET THE FIRE GO OUT!

Friends, Jesus and our wonderful heavenly Father both say in …

PP2    John 14:15,24
v15   “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
v24   “He who does not love Me does not keep My words;  and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

----  These ‘commandments’ that are mentioned in this statement by Jesus include the very words in the fourth commandment in …

PP3    Exodus 20:8  (that say)
         “Remember the Sabbath day,
          TO KEEP IT HOLY.”

PP4    Many people say that this is a salvation issue.

Friends, I’ve had the wonderful privilege of speaking a number of times in your previous church and now here in the new church.  God’s messages for His people from the Bible are often strong and urgent.    And today, I implore you, Don’t let the fire go out on the question of keeping God’s wonderful day HOLY.

I’m praying for you, as I also constantly pray for myself on this issue. ------

Friends, in conclusion, I’m going to tell you a story. ---- Every time I think about this story, it brings tears to my eyes, because I know what it represents for Sabbath-keepers today.

-----------  It happened in Tennessee, USA about 90 years ago.  It’s called The Tennessee Valley Project where in the mountains they wanted to take all the water that was coming from the mountains, into a huge dam.  The dam would supply water for farmers and hydro-electric power.  It would help lift that part of America out of the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

They were going to be displacing all of the old timers, the hillbillies in that part of Tennessee.  These were the mountain folk who had very little contact with society.  The hillbillies had guns and they were not backward in using them to protect themselves and their rights.  So the government went and built new cabins for them on the other side of the dam and they were free, no cost.  

When the construction company and government representatives came out, the people in one of the old shacks wouldn’t evacuate – they wouldn’t leave.  It was barely standing, that shack, but they refused to leave.  The authorities said “Well, we have the bulldozer!”  They said “We are not leaving !”  And there was this fight that almost came to a head right there with guns and bulldozers.  -----

-----   Finally someone had the sense to call in a social worker.  They got the social worker to come in and she went up to the family and said “You have a brand new home with water inside and electricity and it’s free.  It’s yours – here’s the title deed. -  Why won’t you move?”

The father of the home pointed to the shack, and said, “Do you see that home?  That home has been in our family for three generations.” She said “But this is a new one.”

The father said, “Look inside.”  And they looked inside.  He said, “Do you see that fire in there?  My great grandfather started that fire and he never had matches.  Never could afford any of that stuff!  And my grandfather kept that fire going, and then when he died, my father kept the fire going.  And when my father died I’ve been keeping that fire going.  And that fire in there is the same fire that started almost 100 years ago and it’s never gone out - same fire!  We’re not movin’ anywhere and grandpa’s fire’s not goin’ out.” -----

-----  Well the social worker thought, “What if there’s a way to take the fire and bring it to the new place, would that be alright?”
The whole family went and huddled in the corner with their shotguns pointing in the air like flags.  Then after a little while the group opened up and the father of the family came forward and said, “That will be alright but we’re stayin’ with the fire.”

They brought this giant metal container called an apple kettle and they got the fire and they put it into the apple kettle and loaded that onto the back of a tractor. They walked with the tractor and someone got onto the tractor to be with the fire and they all moved together to the new house, (Friends, it’s like this new house, this new church), because they were unwilling to let the fire go out and let the story end. -------

------   Here’s our story folks.  It started way back in the garden of Eden – not 100 years ago, but about 6,000 years ago.  We found a ‘Social Worker’ there – a Saviour, who didn’t curse us, but clothed us, covered us, redeemed us, walked with us through history, sent His Son to become one of us to live and to teach to us the ministry that He was on earth for.  It flowed out into the lives of ordinary people like us.  People who hadn’t even seen the one who lit the first fire.

The people bought the idea –they believed it!  And they said, “I’m takin’ this ‘Sabbath HOLY’ fire all the way – we’re not lettin’ it go out.” These ordinary people went to their graves but the story got told.  And the people believed it.  And that group of ordinary folk who worked hard for Jesus back there in Romans 16 grew from a small group of not many thousands 50 years after Jesus left and went back to heaven.  It has grown, and continues to grow even today throughout the world.  ----

----   Friends, some of you have watched this DVD of mine called …

PP  pic of DVD
‘Remember the Sabbath day, TO KEEP IT HOLY –
The Forgotten part of the Fourth Commandment’

Sabbath-keeping pastors have said to me, Ray, this is very important information to get out to people, so those pastors have so far ordered and distributed well over 3,000 of the DVD’s.

You’re welcome to take some of these DVD’s to watch and share if you would like.

Also, pastors and lay people have encouraged me to present the material on Social Media, so someone started a personal ‘Ray Archer’ page for me and then a group called ‘Sabbath Holy’ on Facebook.

The number of friends on facebook grew steadily for the first couple of months and then all of a sudden jumped from 1,000 friends, to five and a half thousand friends and members in just thirty days.  I’m finding it pretty difficult to keep up with it all because Delphine and I are already time-poor, plus the fact that I’m not young anymore, and I’m computer illiterate and don’t even type.

I had no idea that so many Sabbath-keepers would be seriously interested in the KEEP IT HOLY part of the fourth commandment because the chit chat before and after church services is often so secular that it has nothing to do with keeping God’s day HOLY.

I also have a website which is aptly called
rememberthesabbathdaytokeepitholy.com.au

-----    Here in church today we have normal, everyday, ordinary people.  Let’s do this work He’s given us to do.  What do you say?!

Let’s give up our lukewarmness about how we often keep God’s Sabbath day unholy, and with God’s help, with His strength, learn to keep it HOLY in the way the Bible teaches.

------   Friends, Don’t let the Fire go out!

-----  Let’s stand and pray. ------

-----  Father, this is the best we have.  It’s our best song, it’s our biggest heart, it’s our cleanest hands, it’s our strongest back that we offer You – so we pray that as we have moved into this new church building, that You will continue to work in our weakness and strengthen us.  

Lord, we pray that You will do damage to all that is dark and broken  -- and shine Your light on keeping Your day HOLY.
With You Lord, we want to become Satan’s personal nightmare! ---

And we’re not going to take any credit for it.  Lord we will lift our eyes to You and give You credit and praise for all the good things that happen in our community here.  And not just in the community here Lord.  But I pray that this small group of people, hillbillies that we are, will light a fire that will continue to spread, --- to all Sabbath-keepers, to all Sunday keepers, and to all no-day keepers.

Give us the strength Lord, in this church, to keep Your day HOLY in our own lives, so that this church, full of ordinary people, will become a shining light, a model church, to show the whole world that ordinary people can keep Your wonderful Sabbath – HOLY!
We ask all this and thank You in the name of our wonderful Jesus.  Amen.

PP    
Friends, if you’ve been blessed and challenged by this message
then please take time now to send it on to your friends.
To God be the Glory!