God Gives Us His Power to Change

Brother, not long ago, I had a conversation with a member who lived far from here, not in the Chicago area or the Beloit area, not even in either Illinois or Wisconsin. This person lived on the other side of the country. But a friend, and as we had our conversation, he said something that I thought was quite intriguing, quite interesting. He said, you know, Randy, he said, I think in the minds of a lot of our people, the church has just become a very boring place to be.

He was serious. I don't think he was talking about his thinking, but I think he was talking about others he knew that perhaps they had not even mentioned to him that the church has just become a boring place. He began to talk about what it was like during the days of Mr. Armstrong, and many of us lived during those days. During the life of Mr. Armstrong, when he was, you know, when we were living, he was living, there was always an air of excitement taking place.

He was traveling the globe. My first year at Ambassador College was 1970. Mr. Armstrong was gone, I think, 300 days that year. I rarely saw him at Ambassador in Pasadena, because he was generally away someplace. But that was exciting, because he would come back, talk about his world travels, talk about the world leaders he had met. He had write those coworker letters, and you remember those. You look at the page of writing, and it was all caps here and underlined there, and italics over here, and bullet points, and all sorts of things.

We were also at that particular time in the early 70s, the number one religious program in America. Nobody had more airtime than the world tomorrow. Nobody. We were publishing, at one point, eight million plain truths every issue. Eight million. Every year, four million people would drop off the list, and we'd add another four million. We had three ambassador of college campuses. New people were coming into the church in significant numbers. A house for God was built in Pasadena.

I remember being there, watching Mr. Armstrong take that first shovel full of dirt out of the ground. Four years later, we had our very first concert there at Ambassador Auditorium, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go to that first concert. Mr. Armstrong had invited so many world leaders, dignitaries, and there were so many no-shows that students were able to come to the concert, and I really enjoyed that very much. Years later, a young woman by the name of Mary Snyder, at some point in the future to be Mary De Los Andros, sold tickets in that auditorium.

She eventually became the assistant ticket manager there at the auditorium. We were watching TV the other day. Mary pointed out one of the actors said, I know him. He was a regular there at the auditorium. We spoke on many occasions. And so it was interesting. There was obviously a feeling of excitement doing all that sort of thing. As Mary worked there, she also knew a couple of young men that were there. She was friends with them. They interacted one with another.

You may have heard of these young men. One of their names was Bill Bradford. And the other name was John May. There was also a young woman there that Mary knew. Her name was Joanna Faye. So interesting how life comes along at this point, and all these things happen, and people down the road get to know each other.

Under the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, Joanna Faye and Bill Bradford were in Jordan. That was exciting. I'm sure Mr. Faith felt that, or Mr. Bradford felt that was exciting, working alongside Joanna. I'm sure she felt the same way. Will Flaman served in Sri Lanka. A little bit of a different timetable for him. Bill and Joanna taught in schools, helping with the cognitively challenged children. Will taught in a school in Sri Lanka to help with the preparation of higher education for children from rural areas.

So again, all these things were very exciting times. Local churches were thriving. Individually, people were seeming to make a lot of changes in their lives. A lot of first-gen people coming into the church in those years, the golden years, the sixties and seventies. A fellow by the name of Delisandro came in during those years in the sixties. Now, we fast forward to the present time.

God, for his own reasons, has not given us another Herbert W. Armstrong. With all of his charisma and all that he brought, we don't have a Herbert W. Armstrong. We're not a $220 million a year work. We're closer to a $20 million a year work. Our numbers have been greatly reduced. God has allowed his work to be scaled down. We're doing more of a Gideon's work today. Now, none of this is meant as a criticism to United Church of God or our leadership, but these are some of the facts.

And as I had this conversation with one of my friends, he said, this is one of the reasons why people feel the church is so boring. Now, I don't feel that way. I have never felt that way. And perhaps you never have felt that way either. To me, being a Christian is always an exciting thing. Trying to overcome what I am is always an exciting thing. But I will ask the question, when we take a look at prophecy and we see what Christ says, what God says is coming down the road for his church.

We read about Laodicea. When we read what Christ says when he comes, what he finds, the faith on the earth. When you look at Matthew 24 and you see the love of many talking about the church waxing cold, then it's incumbent upon me as a pastor to ask some questions, even to a congregation like you that are so mature and well-seasoned, because maybe there are those who are not as excited as they could be. Maybe there are those who have more of a whole hum feeling about their walk with God.

Maybe there are those in our room here who aren't as zealous as they would like to be. So where am I going with all of this? Where am I going with all of this? Here we have the Pentecost weekend, a double Sabbath weekend. A beautiful time for us to be thinking about where we are in our walk with God.

We've got today the weekly Sabbath, a time for spiritual refreshment, education, renewal, rededication. We've got Pentecost, a time where God gave some of His best blessings, His law, His Holy Spirit, to understand how to properly keep that law.

So I asked myself the question as I was listening to my friend talk, as he was talking about whoever he was talking about, being bored with the church.

I was asking myself where I am with my own personal change.

And that is where the sermon is coming from. And my point today is really quite simple. My point is this. God gives us His power to change. God gives us His power to change. Now, Brandon, all of us have a certain amount of stability and structure in our lives that's natural for human beings to create daily routines. But sometimes those daily routines can become a daily grind. And that would include sometimes, depending upon where we are with our mind and our heart and our walk with God, a feeling of complacency, where we lack excitement, there's a lack of spontaneity or purpose, we have kind of a listless existence. And that is not good for us as a Christian if we're in that boat, if we're feeling those things. If we are feeling those things, we need a renewed zeal for God's love. We need a revived submission to His Word, a deeper commitment as we grow in the various ways we need to be growing. We need a willingness to spread the gospel and do the work. I'm going to be quoting an article, or part of an article, that Mr. Armstrong discussed about this and things that you, those of us who knew Mr. Armstrong, and we were there personally when he spoke at either a feast site or we heard him on radio or whatever.

I'm going to be quoting one of our magazines from 1960. And as I read that, I think what you're going to find is what Mr. Armstrong was saying was very prophetic for the days in which we live today.

Just as Mr. Armstrong, I feel, was prophetic for all those times he talked about the two trees and all the people who always got so angry with Mr. Armstrong. He's talking about those two trees again.

Remember that? And yet, when you think about what he, what that message was all about, that too was prophetic. Because, well, 80 or 90 percent of the people we were fellowshiping with went for the wrong tree. They thought, well, these, well, you know, they weren't looking for the tree of life, that's for sure. They thought all these people in the world who are doing all these, all these missionaries who are doing all these good works and people are doing, giving all these sacrifices, surely those are God's people. And if they're God's people, then their doctrine must be right. And their doctrines right, our doctrine's wrong. The tree of good and evil. And he went over that and over that and over that and 90, what, 80 or 90 percent of our people went that direction.

Well, as I read this quote from 1960, I want you to think about our present-day Church of God culture and where we are. And as I was putting my thoughts together for this message, I thought, bless his heart, you know, 1960 Mr. Armstrong's still prophesying. Didn't mean it as a prophecy, I don't think, but it really turned out to be that way. Here we have Pentecost weekend, as I said a moment ago. All of God's annual festivals, his holy days, God wants, they're spiritual oasis, each and every one of them. And God wants us to take a look at each one and understand there's a lesson to be learned. With Passover, we reflect on the total sacrifice and dedication of Jesus Christ. And we ask ourselves about our total dedication. We ask about our sacrifice. We are introspective along those lines. With the days of unleavened bread, we want to think about the removal of sin from our lives and the bringing in of God's right, God's righteousness, not our own, God's righteousness into our lives. On Pentecost, we reflect upon the giving of God's law and the giving of God's Spirit to properly keep that law. Where are we with God's Holy Spirit?

If we feel that we're bored or we're not being challenged, if I feel that way, and I'm not trying to point a finger at you, I'm pointing a finger at me, first of all, if I come to feel that way, something's wrong with Randy Delisandro. Is my zeal flagging? Am I being worn down by Satan like that continual drip of water on a rock that eventually will wear it away? Take a look at the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the effect of what water can do.

You know, brethren, over the course of time, all of us have been stirred by reading God's Word. We've been stirred by various messages we hear on the Sabbath or a holy day. And so many times, we say, well, tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow, I'll do more Bible study. Tomorrow, I'll do more praying. Tomorrow, I'll call a fast day, a personal fast day. Tomorrow, I'm going to start working on a certain attitude problem, a way of thinking, a sin. Tomorrow, I'll be more caring. Tomorrow, I'll be a better spouse, a better parent. But tomorrow comes, and for too many times, it's just much of the same.

One last example, and I want to get into a whole bunch of scripture.

The story is told of a group of workers who are clearing the underbrush in a jungle.

They're hard at work. They're hacking away at the jungle with their machetes.

There are other fellows that are sharpening machetes to give to the workers, so all the machetes are sharp all the time. There are people scheduling various crews to go out there so they can make their daily quota how far they can get into the jungle. And they're hacking, and they're hacking, and they're working, and they're sweating, and they're tired. And finally, one day, one of the leaders climbs up a tall tree, surveys the area, and shouts down to the rest of the men, wrong jungle. Zeal. Zeal, brethren, can be misguided. We don't want misguided zeal. We want the real deal.

Let's take a look at Romans chapter 10.

Romans chapter 10 verses 2 and 3. Well, let's start with verse 1. Romans chapter 10 verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear the witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They have misguided zeal. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to their righteousness of God. They're zealous. They want to change, but they're in the wrong jungle.

Let's go over to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1.

Brethren, without proper guidance from God, a misplaced zeal can actually work against what God is trying to accomplish. What is God trying to accomplish in your life? Where are you right now with God? In your discussions with God, in your talks with God, in your daily prayers with God?

Where are you? Where am I? Here we find an example in Mark chapter 1 starting in verse 40, where people are... where this individual actually thinks he's doing the right thing, but again misguided. Mark 1.40. Now leper came to him imploring him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him, and said, I am willing, be cleansed.

As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And he strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go your way. Show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them. So this man wanted his prayer answered, his prayer was answered. Jesus Christ asked a very simple thing for him to do, and in his zeal he didn't do it. Verse 45. Moreover, he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the matter so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places, and they came to him from every direction.

Now mankind never thwarts what God wants to do. Now Christ wanted to be in the city, but since he was not going to be in a city, he decided to go a different direction. But again, we see where somebody had a misplaced zeal here. You and I don't want to have misplaced zeal.

So going back to the comment my friend made on the West Coast, is the church boring to you? Is the church boring to you? Well, this Pentecost weekend I would like to give you a checklist for maximizing the power of God's Holy Spirit in your life. This is not an end-all type of a sermon. I'm sure I could probably give a number of these sermons of the same concept, but at least we're going to chip away at the subject. Item number one. In maximizing the power of God's Holy Spirit in our life, item number one, we need a burning desire for profound spiritual change. A burning desire for profound spiritual change.

It's a matter of focus. Where do we get that? We get that from God.

And God can help our minds. He can give us pointers, and He does that through the Scriptures.

Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 7.

2 Corinthians, chapter 7. Paul in 1 Corinthians had to write that church a very stern letter.

Very stern. He was even sorry he wrote the letter. It was very corrective, but in 2 Corinthians here, he comes back and he says, you know, I wrote you this letter, and I really regretted it in some ways, but it really helped. It really helped, he said. So let's take a look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 8. For even if I made you sore with my letter, talking about 1 Corinthians, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. He felt sorry, but he needed to do it. For I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance, to change, real change. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, but you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For then there's a godly way of change, there's an ungodly way of change, there's gold and there's fools gold, and we want the real thing.

Verse 10. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.

Not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. It's fools gold. It's fools gold.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. And here we have a discussion. If you're ever wondering if you're repentant, this verse tells you, gives you guidance. You know, we want to know how we can have this desire for profound spiritual change. Well, the scriptures lead us there. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear. And now notice, what vehement desire, what vehement, what profound desire. And that's backed up by the next thing, zeal. We have a profound desire to want to change. If we don't have that profound, that vehement desire, no change will be coming. If we don't have that profound, that vehement desire to use God's spirit with zeal, then we're just going to be wallowing in whatever we're wallowing in. We don't want to stay there. So as we look at that section of scripture, and if you are settling for second best, if I am settling for second best, if we're not having the profound spiritual change we need in our lives. And you know, brethren, the longer you go about things, you've been in a church a long time. Somebody like me who came into the church without any background, there are big chunks of things I needed to change. I needed to start keeping the Sabbath. Well, some of you were keeping the Sabbath from day one. I needed to learn about the Holy Days. I needed to learn about tithing. So there's big chunks of things I had to do. But now it's more of a fine tune dial.

And even in that fine tuning, that can be profound. Because in that fine tuning, we're drawing closer to our father, we're drawing closer to our elder brother, and we're making some real strides.

We're chipping away at the old man. Let's take a look at one of the beautiful attitudes, the beatitudes of Matthew chapter 5.

The beautiful attitudes, Matthew chapter 5. In verse 6, Matthew 5 verse 6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

So we can ask ourselves, you ask yourself, I'll ask myself, am I hungering and thirsting for righteousness? God's righteousness, not our own. Are we? That's a great desire.

What helps us to get to that place and make sure we're keeping our nose in the study of God's word?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, correct? What issues do we have in life?

God gives us His word to guide us. He gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us.

Let's use that spirit that we see so prominently discussed on tomorrow's day of Pentecost.

Psalm 51.

Psalm 51. We want profound spiritual change. And brethren, that only comes when we realize where we are in contrast with where God wants us to be. When we come to realize that we truly need to hunger even more and thirst even more for what God has and to jettison what the world has.

Psalm 51. You know the Psalm. You know who wrote this Psalm, David. You know the circumstances behind this. Psalm 51 verse 7. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me near the joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blout out all my iniquities. So here's somebody who really wants forgiveness. But notice, keep on reading here. Create me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. There is a renewal that is needed.

Are we bored with the church? Is it because we have a need of a renewal of a steadfast spirit?

Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Notice what he was concerned about. He knows that if he wants to really change and be the man after God's own heart, he has to have that spirit and have it generously. Then I'll teach Restorative Me to Joy of your Salvation and uphold Me with your generous spirit.

2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians chapter 3. We don't do these things on our own.

God doesn't have self-made Christians. We are God-made people. We've got a part. We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, but we work that out with God's Spirit, with God's help.

2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. If we want profound spiritual change, we need to embrace our need for God to heal us in the deepest levels of who we are.

The deepest levels of who we are. And only you know what those deepest levels in your life is.

Maybe even your mate doesn't know. You know. And if you really don't know, or I don't know, then we need to go to God and say, as we saw in the Psalms, reveal to me my secret faults, my secret sins. Help me to truly see myself. If I'm going to be like you, Father, or you, Jesus Christ, I really need to see myself. To employ the Holy Spirit, I need to know what I'm working against. I know what I've got. I've got God's Holy Spirit. I've got the law of God. I've got my brothers and sisters in the faith. I've got all sorts of support. But what am I going to do with all that support? Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah chapter 57.

This kind of cuts to the heart of this particular point, to have a burning desire for profound spiritual change. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15. Isaiah 57. Is the phrase revival only a Protestant phrase? If we feel the church is boring, if our walk with God is boring, perhaps we need to be revived. Isaiah says this under the inspiration of God, to be revived, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Brethren, God gives us His power to change, His power, in our checklist for maximizing the power of God's Holy Spirit in our lives. Item number one, a burning desire for profound spiritual change. Item number two. Item number two is a dramatic change in our thinking. I'm sure you pondered this. I pondered this on so many occasions.

That battle line, the front line of battle, is always in our mind.

What I think of the times I have fallen short, where was my big fault? Where did I trip up to begin with? I tripped up in my mind. I wasn't guarding my mind. I wasn't diligent in watching things I should be watching in terms of watching my mind and my heart. What was I reflecting on? Why did I have that bad attitude? Why did I allow these things to progress to the point where I'm really unhappy with myself? I'm unhappy with my walk of God right now, because I could have done better with God's help, but I was trying to do it on my own. Trying to guts things out, and it just doesn't work. It just doesn't work.

But, brethren, spiritual complacency doesn't happen overnight.

Spiritual complacency doesn't happen overnight.

It's insidious. It's the result of a slow deterioration of our prayer, of our Bible study, of allowing our thoughts to be filled with things other than what they should be filled with.

A preoccupation, perhaps, of some of the things of the world.

There's so many scriptures we can read to talk about that.

There's one particular section of scripture I do want to read, and that's over here in 1 Peter, chapter 1.

1 Peter, chapter 1.

I'll get to it one of these years.

1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 13.

Therefore, good of the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance. But as He who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. So much in that section of scripture. Let's kind of take that apart, bit by bit. Verse 13. Therefore, good of the loins of your mind.

Basically, what Peter is saying here is, prepare your minds for spiritual action. Prepare your minds for spiritual action. Obedience to God is a conscience act of the will. Roll up those sleeves spiritually. Get ready for a hard spiritual endeavor.

What we're doing here is not easy. Being a Christian is not an easy thing. Fighting against Satan, Satan's world, and our human nature, that's not an easy thing.

Christians need to be tough-minded when it comes to God's holiness. Tough-minded. Therefore, good of the loins of your mind. It says then, Be sober. Be sober. That phrase there, the word there, or phrase, means to be free from every form of mental and spiritual drunkenness. Every form of mental and spiritual drunkenness.

Every form of mental and spiritual drunkenness or excess.

We need to be watching ourselves.

And rest your hope fully upon the grace that has been brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Rest upon the grace.

Romans chapter 5 verse 1 and 2, one of my favorite sections of scripture.

In this grace in which we stand. In this grace in which we stand.

Now, this strenuous mental preparation, we see the fruits of it in verses 14 and 15. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, no, we're moving past that. But we're moving toward verse 15 and 16. But as he who has called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because, as written, be holy for I am holy. And this was said in the Old Testament to people who didn't have generally the use of God's Holy Spirit. And yet we do. We have the use of God's Holy Spirit.

So, in our checklist, our Pentecost checklist for maximizing the power of God's Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to make sure we've got a dramatic change in thinking. A dramatic change in thinking.

You know, but sometimes just understanding one concept and letting that come home fully to understand goes so far in our life. It goes so far. And to me, and you've read articles, I'm sure you've heard sermons about, the battle for your mind. The battle for your mind.

I'd like to give you an action list at this point.

Homework, if you will.

We want to use the power of God in our lives to affect tremendous change.

I'm going to give you seven things here, and I'm not going to spend much time going through these.

Number one, strive to incorporate the values of God's kingdom in every aspect of your life.

Study along these lines Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7.

With each of these action points, I'm going to give you a section of Scripture.

Number one, strive to incorporate the values of God's kingdom in every aspect of your life.

Number two, seek a clean heart and humility before God.

Study Psalm 51 there. We read a portion of that today.

Number three, seek to bear the fruits of God's Spirit through renewed daily prayer and study.

Romans 6, 7, and 8.

Number four, seek to build unity, the unity of God's Spirit in your family and among the brethren.

Unity of God's Spirit in your family and among your brethren.

Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 12 and 13.

Number five, be grounded in the basic core doctrines of the Bible.

Be grounded in the basic core doctrines of the Bible. Matthew 22, verses 34 through 40.

Exodus 20, Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2.

Number six in our study and our action list, seek balance in all areas of life.

Seek balance in all areas of life. Luke 2, verse 52.

And number seven, face problems realistically and maintain a positive attitude.

Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8.

One final scripture today, brethren. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 6.

You know, one of the things I enjoyed about my being in Beloit the last number of weeks is I caught them up with our study of Isaiah. I was almost six months behind. I'd lost so much time with that congregation. But in Isaiah chapter 6, we see the calling of Isaiah. Tremendous chapter.

Isaiah chapter 6.

Verse 7. Well, let's start in verse 6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the tongs of the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity has taken away, your sin has purged. So here symbolically, his lips are touched, and why the symbolism here? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So here we see his heart symbolically is being cleansed to do the work of God.

Verse 8. Also, I heard a voice of the Lord saying, Who shall I send? And who shall go for us? Then he said, Here I am, send me. Here I am, send me.

Brother, that's true for us, isn't it? Here I am. Here you are. Send us.

Send us. We said we wanted to be a part of this work. We said we wanted to not just only have salvation for us, but to spread this tremendous news all around the world. Now, here is where I'm going to read something from Mr. Armstrong.

Article entitled, The More Growth in the Church of God, Good News, March 1960.

Now, as I read this, I want you to think about our day to day. And I quote, I've always noticed that those whose hearts and their pocketbooks as well, are really in the work of God, are the ones who remain spiritual, close to God, and who are growing spiritually. And without exception, every single member of God's church who has ever lost interest in the work of God, this work of carrying on the gospel to the world, begins to fall backward spiritually. Soon, such people go off into false doctrines. Their understanding is closed. They begin to believe errors in lives. They become more and more bitter, unhappy.

They either go back into the world, or they will go into some false offshoot movement, which bears no fruit, and fails totally carry out the commission of Christ, the work of God.

Herbert W. Armstrong. To me, as I take a look at our church culture, and the stay at homes, and all that. Again, as you've heard me say in the past, I've never against somebody staying at home where the church is 500 miles away. But if there is a church of God that is preaching the truth, and doing a work of God, and I'm going over and above organizations here, we need to be a part of such a work. Now, I was there in Indianapolis to help found United Church of God back in 1995, but do I think United Church of God is the only thing going? Of course not.

I've got brothers and sisters and other fellowships. I love them. You've got brothers and sisters and other fellowships, and you love them. Some of the fellowships are easier to love than others. I mean, I'm not totally insane, but you understand the meaning, and I think you understand Mr. Armstrong's meaning as well. I think we understand Mr. Armstrong's meaning as well. Brother, at the beginning of the sermon, I discussed with you this concept of being bored with the church. I have never been bored with the church. There's... God's got too much to do with me for me to feel bored. There's just a whole lot... You know, when you've got a lot of work to do, you don't feel... I don't feel bored, but I've got a lot of work to do. And for Randy de Alessandro, there are those little orange barrels all around my life. Work in progress. How about you?