The Source

The title of today's sermon is The Source. The Source is the title of today's sermon. It's interesting because the Hebrew word makor means a fountain, a spring of water, something from which life springs forth. So makor is a word that Hebrews would understand. We might think of it as, because if you think about the Holy Land, many places, even the deserts, all it takes is water to turn it into a vibrant field. Well, I give this title today from a James Michener book.

James Michener was a famous author. He wrote a book in 1965 called The Source. It's called The Source. If you have never read the book, you're missing something. It is a very, very interesting, fact-filled book because Michener actually used to go and spend four to five years in a place and research what he's about to write about. He would not only research it, he would live there. He would walk the grounds. He is so thorough.

He wrote books on Hawaii, which most of us would not mind spending four or five years in Hawaii, going over the ground. He spent many years going through the Caribbean as he wrote the book, Carib. He wrote one about Texas and also Alaska. He became a very famous and award-winning author. This was his first major book in 1965. Such a great book that it was on the New York Times bestseller list at number one in 1965 for ten months straight.

A record at that time. The source, the land in which he covered, was the Holy Land. He gave a history in a fictionalized tale of what it was like in the Holy Lands by using archaeology and walking the grounds and finding all the history.

So his history, if you read it, is very accurate. He had no agenda. He just wanted to tell the story. It was the story of the Holy Land, the Promised Land, the land around Jerusalem, Palestine, all that area. He did a similar job to what James Cameron did in the movie The Titanic.

In the Titanic movie, it tells the story of that fateful ship, the ship that went down. And it told you so much about the journey and the trail, the only thing it did was add characters. Put characters into the story. Jack and Rose were the two that the story was told in the movie The Titanic. Well, here, like Cameron, except in book form, Mitchner gave us a couple of characters that he tells a story, a story about a family.

And the interesting part of this is this family worshiped Astarte and Molech. They were pagans. They worshiped pagan gods. But he tells a story because this is what archaeologists have dug up. They have found the temples. They have found the stories. They have found this evidence of how people lived. Mitchner used over a thousand pages for his story.

The story I'm about to tell you, you can read the pages from about 63 to 93 in the source, the book. It's a story about a man named Erba Ahl. He was a man 36 years old. He worked hard, worked in a field, worked in olive grooves. He worked and was very prosperous. He had a wife. She was 23 years old. Her name was Timna. And Timna waited for her husband to get home. She took care of the house.

She took care of everything as he worked. But she also took care of their three-year-old son. A three-year-old son that was the apple of the father's eye and also so special and precious to Timna. But mission tells the story, and it's happened thousands upon thousands of times in the past, of what happened in paganism in the land because this took place about 22 to 2300 B.C. This took place at the time when Abraham was coming in to that land.

And it also tells you why God did not want his people to get tied in, to be taken in by the people there and worship the gods. Take on the religion. Because, mission tells the tale that Urba all, as it was every year during that time, at a city called Macaw, they would have a spring harvest festival.

It was a festival where all the people from the city would come to where the priests were at this huge temple. And every year to Molech, they would need to sacrifice so that the crops would grow, so that they could be blessed by their God, Molech.

And so here the family all got together and they traveled a little distance to the city, at which time the priest would nominate certain children. The children, three years and under, the male boys would have a red ribbon tied around their wrists. And towards the end of the festival then, those boys would be sacrificed, burnt, alive to Molech. To Molech, to gain his favor for the coming growing season.

And so this year, as they were there, Urba all, Timna, their three-year-old son, the priest came and tied a red ribbon around the three-year-old's wrists.

At which time then, at the call, they came over, the priest did, and they had this huge altar. On top of this altar was this bronze god that had a hand that laid out like this. And the children, to be sacrificed, was laid on those arms and it tilted back, and the children rolled into this consuming fire. Drums were beat at a very loud pace. Noise was deafening from the drums, which would help cover the screams of the young children.

Timna looked as her son was taken from her and laid up there and sacrificed. She shuddered. She put her head down. She started to sob and she was saying, no, no.

And her husband grabbed her, held her, and said, no, we don't want the priest to see you doing this. It is necessary for our crops to grow, for us to be able to have olives, for us to be able to have food. It must be because Molech must be petitioned for his blessing and a sacrifice must be made. And our son is one.

The sad part was a little later. As the first harvest came in, it was an abundant crop.

And so they came, at that time, back to the temple, and now the temple of the Star Day. As she then, as they recognized from their pagan religion, Molech was happy, and now she must gratify and satisfy. Molech. By having sexual relations with many men there. And certain temple prostitutes were brought forward, and one especially young lady, beautiful in form. She was brought forth during that festival. They took off her clothes and showed the beauty. She did a dance, a sensuous dance. And all the men in the audience were mesmerized by the sight of this beautiful woman, worked up to a frenzy with the music. And at that time, the priest came forward and said, we have seen such blessing from Molech. We wanted to continue to which time he chose one man to go in and spend a week with the temple prostitutes. And especially one week with this beautiful virgin young lady. And as the men all kind of looked, the priest called out Urba's name. And when Timna looked over, he almost had a giddy look on his face. He was, wow! The death of his son seemed to be distant. And now he was going to spend a week with the prostitute.

And he left. As she was holding his hand, he just pulled away and went up there. And the priests joined their hands and they walked back to the temple where relations would take place. The reason I bring this forward is not the story as much as what Mishnah wrote about it. Because then he writes about Timna now leaving and walking home to this home that they had. She walks now back from the city into the country to her home without her only son.

And with her husband going to temple prostitutes for a week.

And Mishnah writes these incredible words as she thought to herself about Urba all her husband. And she said, if he'd had different gods, he would have been a different man. If he'd had different gods, he'd have been a different man. Such an insightful sentence as she was now alone and living with the consequences. We, brethren, are who we are because of our God. Your God defines your Christianity. How you obey God, how you read this book, defines who you are. As a Christian, we do not keep lint. Not in here! Our God does not say, keep lint. We do not keep a festival to Easter, a pagan goddess, another name for a starter. Because it's not in there. Our God gives us all the instructions anyone needs to follow Him in the pages of this Bible.

We don't keep Christmas.

As a matter of fact, we don't keep Valentine's Day because of the paganism that's tied to it. We don't have ashes on our foreheads. It's not in here. It's not in this book.

Brings me to the question, is God your source? Is God your source? Is He the source of your strength? Is He the source of your salvation? You said at your baptism, yes, He is.

And we will reconfirm that on Passover night. That God is our God. We will worship no other. We will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

So, is the Word of God your source? Is the Word of God your source? Do you read it?

Every day? Every day? Is it like the water or fountain that comes from the desert that furnishes life to everything? Is that us? Is that what we do?

Do we believe in Matthew 4? 4? As Christ said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word. Every word.

You said it at your baptism. You said it at baptism, that this would be your source. Fountain.

You say it every year at Passover with the keeping of the symbols. Because those symbols didn't come from anywhere except from God Himself, as we will look at Friday night. Hopefully, you will look during this week. You will see how precious and special that is. For too many today, their source is what? Cell phone. Their source is a cell phone. All they need to know, they can get right here. Am I correct? You see it all the time. Everybody's got one. I even go to Haiti, where they're very poor, and many have them. They may not have anything to eat, but they've got their cell phone. Until they go so many days, and then they have to sell it and try to earn it back. Different than our life.

Source is a cell phone, but then again, the source, for most people, is Google. Right? Google. Anything I want to know, I can type in. It's like a God, isn't it? To most people, they have, Google can give us, what we want to know. And if you don't have Google, well, you have Google, but you can have Alexa, can't you? And she will tell you anything and everything. She'll give you, as Google will, Google will give you the answer you're looking for. Am I correct? You just have to Google enough.

You may have to put the phrase somewhere. You may have to go to different sites, but you will find the answer that you want.

This is our Google. This is our source. This is what we need you. For others, they could not live without a computer. There are people today who cannot live without a computer.

They can definitely live without a Bible, but they can't live without a computer. They need it. They've got to get on it. There's addictions to it. They have help groups, self-help groups, to help you, so you're not on this 16 hours a day. People at work have lost their jobs because they stayed on it, they worked, and then they came home, and they couldn't get off the computer. And they stayed up, most of the night, because of addictions, whether it's to a computer or whether it's to what's most of the time on the computer, the porn, the celebrity sites, the interaction, the games we just had in Miami, a man, a basketball player, who was paid, I think, $9 million, and he lost his job because he got hurt and he was on the computer. He wasn't playing, and so he actually started playing these games and said something so foul on there to another player. And what happened? They let him go.

$9 million because you couldn't have discipline with this. Marriages broken up because of porn. Families destroyed. Where is their gun? What is the source? Some people love TV. They're just addicted to TV. I need to see TV. I need to have it. I need to turn it on. I have to when I get on them. I have to watch it. Really? Is their source?

And some people's source of everything they need to know comes from a city in America.

Washington, D.C. There's some people's source. They're going to tell you what to do, how to do it, why you do it, and then tell you how much you're going to pay you to follow along.

Used to be the people. It was people's house. They ruled. Now, it's their house, and they rule us. Not what the founding fathers had in mind. But it is a source for people, which begs the question today. Is God your source? Is God your source? Only you can answer that question. It's a good time to look at it this time of the year because we should be examining, looking at our lives as we are going to come next Friday night and rededicate ourselves to our source, our God. Is God your source for joy and happiness? Is God your source for joy and happiness? Psalm 144 verse 15. What does this say? Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144 verse 15. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. So, if you are not happy, if you have no joy in your life, then the only answer to it is God's not your source. Think of it. Because He says you'll be happy if God is the Lord. If you do not have peace in your life, why not? Is God the source of your peace? Is He? John 14 verse 27. John 14 verse 27. Christ's last time on earth, last day in physical form, as this is that last night that hopefully you will all read about. But John 14 verse 27. I leave with you my peace. He left us with peace. Do you have that peace? In John 16 verse 33. John 16 and verse 33 says, In me you have peace. Peace. Peace. Do you have peace? If you do not have peace in your life, God's not your source. God is not your source.

You can answer that. But you.

There are serious questions to ask with serious results. Is God your source or the source at home? Is there a strange question? Is God the source at your home? Is he there? Does he choose to dwell?

John 14. John 14 and verse 23. I want you to read this. I want you to put. Make this personal to you. Because it says, we, who's we, he will win, the Father and Christ, we. Christ is saying this last time, reminding us, telling us on that last night, what? We will come to, what? You. You want to put you in there? We will come to you and make our home with you. Wow. Isn't that an incredible promise? They want to come and make their home with you, with his followers. But what if he's not at home with you? God's not your source. It's that simple. Do you want to go to a home where nobody wants you there? You want to go to a home that knows who you are, or they just lightly take... Oh yeah, that's a guy that might come over. Yeah, let's see. I haven't talked to that woman in, I don't know how long. No big deal. God wants to be with you at your home. He desires to be your source. Do we desire him to be that source? That source that springs forth and that we feed off of. This is a very, very sad statement. This is a scary, scary statement. In missioners book, they knew the importance of the source. The source of Erbilal and Timnah's life of having misery was because of their source. Brethren, if we do not and cannot live an abundant life, as Christ promised, he's not our source. And it's time that we can wake up and make sure that he is our source.

Is there enough love in this world? No. Is there love in your life? Is Agape part of you? Is there love towards your family, the way it should be? An abundance of love for our families? An abundance of love towards our neighbor? And the only way that we can follow what Christ said of that thing that may be so difficult for all of us is it takes Agape to love our enemies. And Jesus said, Love your enemies. Which is telling us if we can't, God is not our source, isn't it? Hmm. Plain church? Or maybe not plain church. Just needing a booster shot. Some shots are big these days. Maybe we need a shot of God more than we need the vaccine.

Could one exist? The other one was there. But our love, it's so important. That's what Christ talked about that last night. He said, By this shall all men know that you are what? My disciples, if you have loved one for another, and then he prays to God that we would have the love that they have towards each other in our lives.

You know why he can do it? Because God was his source. Remember why Christ said, I can do nothing but by the Father who is in me. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Even hanging on a piece of wood. I can sermon that.

No agape.

God. Sadly, not your source. 2 Corinthians, again, turn to 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 11. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 11.

New King James Version.

See what it says. It's amazing because Paul had an issue in 1 Corinthians that he had to address. And he wrote the whole letter saying, you got this problem, you got this problem, you got this one, you got this one, fix this one, fix this one, fix this one. And when he writes the second letter, they had fixed a lot of those problems.

They had gotten back to God being their source. And so, it's a very encouraging letter, the 2 Corinthians letter, the church of Corinth. And he says in verse 11, be complete. Be complete.

Are you complete? Be complete. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. And what happens if you do? You can live in peace. Do you know how many people out there today are looking for peace? They have no peace. They don't know the Prince of Peace. And they don't know the source.

Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with each and every one of us. Amazing? No, simple. It's simple. And it starts with God being our source.

He has to be, doesn't he?

Tim Nunn. He married Erba All in the book.

And she came from another country, and she didn't understand this culture.

But she accepted Erba All's gods. And it took her through a life of misery and pain and death.

Does God promise you that? No. He promises life. Not only abundant life now, but He promises eternal life.

Forever happiness. Forever joy. Forever love. If God is our source. I'd like to turn to some last scriptures today. He will. Like you'd turn with me. I will ask you in the book of Luke. Luke 24.

Verse 13. The title in my Bible says, The Road to Emmaus. The Road to Emmaus. This is after Christ had been crucified. Risen. And it says that His followers are disciples. They weren't part of the 12. Two men are walking down this road. They're going to Emmaus. This is after all this stuff had just happened. With the resurrection and the crucifixion and the day that turned into night. And the people coming out of the graves and all this stuff that happened.

And they're walking to Emmaus, which is seven miles from Jerusalem. When's the last time anyone here walked seven miles to go somewhere?

Chris did. Braked, locked keys in the car.

I bet you haven't done it since, have you? These two men were walking seven miles to Emmaus. And average. You know how long it takes to walk? Chris could probably tell us seven miles. About three hours. If you're not walking, you walk really fast. You might be able to do it for a career if you're not as fast. About three hours. Imagine, as these men were walking, they had three hours to talk. And they meet up with a man they didn't know. And he asked them some very probing questions.

And they said, what's wrong with you? Where have you been? Everybody knows what happened in Jerusalem. And they started talking about Jesus. And looking down at the verses here, they come into verse 27. After they're talking to him, and he's like, wow, you didn't know all this. And then Christ being hidden from them says in verse 27, he says, At the beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all the Scriptures, the things in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. Imagine that. How would you like to be walking for three hours with our Lord and Savior, Him teaching and telling you and expounding everything about himself?

Would it not be amazing? Would it not be amazing?

What would you give to have Christ come and dwell with you and walk with you and share the Scriptures and read the Scriptures to you?

I would love for that three-hour walk. You wouldn't mind it either, Chris, to get your car, I'm sure.

What does he promise us? What did he give us the Holy Spirit for? So that he can talk to us. When we pray, we talk to the Father. When we read His word, He talks to us. Christ talks to us through the Spirit. We have this opportunity. But I'd like you to do something. This week, I'd like you to read verses 13 through, all the way to the end of the chapter. In Luke, verse 13, all the way to the end of the chapter, 24. I want you to read that incredible story and put yourself in their places. What would you say to Christ? What would you ask Him?

How would it affect you? Would it change your lives?

So Christ is telling them about Himself on this journey. He's telling about how the prophets had all predicted He was coming. That even Moses predicted the Messiah was coming.

Go down to verse 28. He said, then they drew near the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us. There was something about Him they wanted to spend more time with.

Is there something about Christ and His writings and things about God that we want to spend more time with?

Do we need the source?

Do we need to have more of the source? Is there something that we can do? Think about these two men.

In verse 29, they said, but they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent, and He went in to stay with them.

Last time you thank God for being home with you? Maybe it's time? When was the last time maybe you forgot to thank Him for being the source of life, everlasting?

These are real things we can do that will make a difference. We're not Herba all. We're not Tim now. We have the real source.

Let's go down. Verse 30, And it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. No big thing, huh?

Except they'd seen it before. Verse 31, Then their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight. He's eating a bone. He's gone. They're like, And they knew who He was. Do you know when the source is active in your life? We should be able to feel it. And spiritually, we should be able to see it, shouldn't we?

The source.

We must want it. We have to want it. This is the way of life, we said. We promised. We vowed to God that this is our life.

And we will follow you. Verse 20, verse 32, And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while we talked? While He talked with us on the road, and while He did what? Look at the Word. Why He opened. Opened the Scriptures to us. Do we want the Scriptures open?

I got a yes.

I do. I do. Winston does. I hope all of you do. He will do this. He did it for them. He will do it for us. He will open our minds. They were in amazement.

They realized, oh, I wish I could have those three hours back.

Let us not live with regrets, brethren. And then, what's the point? They rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. They got up and went seven more miles. Why? They had to go tell the disciples. They went there. We saw Him. He talked. We spent time. And if that happened to us, I doubt we'd ever be able to shut up about it. And if God is our source, brethren, every single day, it will be very hard for us to shut up about God and what He's done for us.

That's what the empowerment of the spring holy days are about. They're there to give us this check to say, yes, on on track, on back on track. I may have gotten off.

So that God can be our source.

Imagine three hours with God. During the next two weeks, because we got two weeks until the spring festival is over, for the next two weeks, can we double our Bible study?

Because my book is showing that if we do, we will double the scepors. Do you need to double the source? Maybe not. I do. I do. I am going to double the source because I need it. As I looked at myself, my issues, my problems, and my thoughts and everything, that's why this sermon was close to me, very close to me. Because I have to make sure that God is my source.

Commissioner was right in his book because a different God will make you different people than those who do not worship the source. Your gods will shape you. They will mold you.

If God is our source, eternal life, according to this book, is our destiny. Not some temporary life, but eternal life when everything that comes with it. Isn't it amazing? And he said, at the end of the book, and they, talking about you, will inherit all things. You've got a family that's not only willing to die for you, they're willing to, after that, give you everything.

If you will make them a source. Well, then the source gives us his holy days.

You know why? He created them, and he made them for us to learn so that we can be more, brethren, like the source.