Celebrate Promise of Jesus Christ

Last week, we learned that God promised Jesus to King David and the world. Today, we are celebrating the promise of Jesus Christ. The promise of Jesus Christ lives inside each and every one of us. We must discover the promise of Jesus Christ in our heart. God is there. Open your heart and find him.

I want to celebrate the promise of Jesus Christ by telling part of my personal story. I didn’t always realize or see that the promise of Jesus Christ was inside of me. I want to tell you my story. I can see the promise of Jesus Christ now looking back on my life. I wish I had seen the promise of Jesus Christ at each milestone.

Now, I see the promise and we are here to celebrate that Jesus Christ was promised to each one of us.
There were many people in my life as I was growing up who shared their love of Jesus Christ with me. I now see how God shaped my life. God had a plan all along. It was my choice whether I took God’s path or my own. I even see how adversity helped me. God was shaping and forming me. God was preparing me for when I would be ready for me to serve him.

God made provisions for me. I graduated with a Marketing degree from Virginia Tech in 1983. That’s the year that the unemployment rate was as high as it is now. I didn’t have the right education for the job at Mobil so I told them that I could learn and work really hard. I got a great job as a programmer analyst at Mobil Oil. I had a lot of jobs at Mobil Oil that groomed me for better jobs to come. Mobil Oil was a wonderful company with great people and challenging work to do.

I worked there for almost ten years when the people I admired the most at Mobil were getting laid off. My last boss at Mobil made my life miserable enough that I wanted to quit. I had no idea where I was going to work. I just knew that it was time for me to look for a new job. Now, I owe my old boss so much for making me want to continue on my life journey. I had the faith to leave Mobil Oil without a job so that I could find the job that God wanted for me.

There are times when we need to continue to grow and change, but we are comfortable doing what we’ve always done. It took months before I found a small company that no one knew called America Online. I was hired as a programmer analyst in the Marketing Information Systems department to support the marketing, billing, and customer care computer systems. I became the liaison for AOL’s relationship with Apple Computer.

I realize now that I was a firefighter at America Online. I had different titles, but I was a problem solver. I was given stock in the company every time that I put out a fire at AOL. I was trusted for my advice. I was trusted that I could take lemons and turn the problems into lemonade. I was learning that I could be thrown at any problem and be able to handle it.

I wasn’t the best programmer, but I had the skill to talk in a way that was understood by the most technical folks and also the business people. My communication skills enabled me to cross a great divide to get things done. I think God gave me that skill to be able to talk to vastly different people in a way that made me useful at AOL and later in Africa.

I had fun working on the international online service in a castle in Gütersloh, Germany. I also spent a lot of time in Cupertino, California working on the online service that Apple Computer wanted. I went into the building where the first Apple McIntosh personal computer was designed and built. I lived history as it was being written. I worked with the most amazing and dedicated people at AOL. My job was a dream. I loved it because we were building the internet without knowing how before we tried to overcome every new challenge.

In late 1998, I felt like I had done the things that I wanted to do at AOL. I had put out most of the fires that I could put out. I was restless. I called Dad and asked him if I could retire. Dad asked what I planned to do after I retired. I told him that I did not know. He told me that I had to keep working until I figured out what I’d do when “I grew up.” Luckily for me, AOL laid me off so I didn’t have to face Dad.

I retired at the age of thirty-eight in early 1999. I realized that I no longer needed to work for my family and I. I slowly realized over time that I was working for God instead. I didn’t know what my “God job” would be, but I knew that my life would never be the same. I would be the steward of the resources that God entrusted me to manage. My new employer was God.

Later in 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” I am blessed by God with my wife, Susan and our four children. I realized I had been given a special family and financial wealth. I knew that God would demand much from me. I began by praying to God what he asked in return.

Joshua was very adamant that we must choose the right path for ourselves and our family. I believe in what Joshua stated in Joshua 24:15 “but if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

I didn’t know how my family and I would serve the Lord, but my heart was in the right place. We went to church and did the usual church stuff. We were busy in the church, but we hadn’t found the promise of Jesus. We found a Sunday school class called Cornerstone that taught us a lot. We realized that we needed to take in depth Bible studies to continue on our journey.

First, I prayed to God to use me. While I waited for God’s answer, I welcomed mission teams to the Henry Fork Service Center. I took mission teams to help families recover from Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi. The door at Henry Fork Service Center was closing when my work in Africa was opening up.

I was slow to realize that my work was in Africa. The Lord revealed to me that I was to be a missionary. That was not an obvious answer for me. I didn’t plan to work in Africa. God just sent me there. Now, I can’t imagine my life without my work in Africa.

God used me to build classrooms, a kitchen, and a dorm for a school in Kumasi. We’ve built four churches. We’ve baptized people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We’ve preached God’s word. We fixed up a hospital and eye clinic. We’ve dug wells. We’ve reduced water borne illnesses like guinea worm and trachoma. We’ve fed the hungry. We’ve built an orphanage in Zambia. I didn’t do any of these things. God did these things using my hands, my mind, and my voice.

I’m always thinking about the next well to be dug and the next way to make a difference in Africa. God puts the needs of the people heavy on my heart. I never expected to be digging wells in Africa. Jesus Christ said “I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.” I realized somewhere along the way that it is possible to have the Bible come to life. I write the date in my Bible when I see God’s word come alive for me.

In September 2008, I met with our District Superintendent, Bruce Tuttle, to ask his advice how to better serve God. Bruce told me about New Hope United Methodist Church’s need for a pastor. It is obvious that God had a plan for me to serve you. I did not imagine being a pastor, but God keeps asking me to do things that are beyond my imagination. The amazing thing for me is that I can do whatever he asks with the help and promise of Jesus Christ.

I think small. I think that God will only use me in Ghana. God sends me to Zambia just to show me that he can use me in more than one country in Africa. I think my skills are limited and God surprises me. The key fact is that I am willing to go wherever God sends me. It is the promise of Jesus Christ that moves me to serve. God promised us his son, Jesus Christ. If we just open our hearts to Jesus we can do so much more than we can ever imagine.

God expands my work whenever I think that I can only do what I’m doing. God gets upset with me because I’ve limited what he can do through me. At that moment, God tells me that I haven’t seen anything yet. He’s right. The next journey God sends me on is so awesome that my jaw drops to the floor. I never thought we could pray and God could use us to answer that prayer.

Okay. Yes, I was able to retire at a fairly young age. My family and I had a choice to make. Would we serve the material gods of this world or would we serve God? It is the same question posed by Joshua. We choose to serve God. I’ve tried to live under the radar of gossip and just be just a guy raising a family, but I have a story to tell.

In 1 Chronicles 4:10, it tells about a man named Jabez. “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.”

God’s favor and protection has also been with me. I’ve known spiritual attack while being in Africa and here at home. I am here today because God has kept me safe while I was doing my work. We just have to call for help in the name of Jesus Christ. I’ve learned so much about God by just calling on him. Try it!

“This is what the Lord says in Jeremiah 33:2-3, “He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it--the Lord is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.' I learned I had ulcerative colitis when I was 25 years old. It was hard to work in Africa with such a bad disease. I asked God to take away ulcerative colitis so I would be able to work in Ghana. God took the incurable disease away so I could work. Now, when I have a checkup with my doctor we talk about how great God is instead talking about an incurable disease.

Jeremiah 33:14-15 brings up the promise of Jesus Christ. These verses say "'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.’”

Did you realize that we are the fulfillment of Jesus Christ? We are living the gracious promise that Jeremiah described when we invite Jesus into our lives. We need to remember that Jesus Christ was born, crucified, died, and rose on the third day. We also need to remember that Jesus Christ is alive today and he will come again to this world. We are created in the image of God so it is reasonable to realize that are the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to serve us so we should also serve.

Carolyn Rakes asked me recently what I do during the day. My day is packed. I try to spend time each day praying and writing part of our Sunday sermon. My goal is to be able someday to get the sermon done before Saturday. Writing the sermon and printing the bulletin takes a lot more than the theoretical ten hours a week for a part-time pastor. My goal is to visit every member of our church. I’ll get the job done one of these days.

I’ve enjoyed working on the addition when I’ve had time. There’s joy in being knee deep in mud together. I believe the men of our church are stronger and closer because we get dirty together. I don’t have a lot of building expertise, but I like mud! The amazing thing is God uses me to build churches and schools even though that is one of my weaknesses.

I belong to a lot of boards. I’ve been on the General Board of Global Ministries for the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church for about five years. I’ve been on the Board of Trustees at Ferrum College for one year. I’m the Scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop. I just stepped down from the Franklin County Parks and Recreation Department Board. I’m also on the W.W. Naff, Jr. /Rocky Mount Rotary Club Foundation which awards a scholarship to a Franklin County High School graduate going to Ferrum College.

I’m also President of the Rocky Mount Rotary Club. I’m also Treasurer of the high school Band Boosters.
These organizations promote missions, educate college students, provide college scholarships, build parks for families and children, help children play in the band, and build boys into men. I never imagined that I would be doing any of these things.

I’m trying to make a difference at home and around the world. I’m emailing, texting, and calling folks in Africa almost every day. We are planning where to dig the next well. I also spoke on Wednesday to the Hollins Rotary Club about the need for clean water in Ghana. I went from speaking about clean water to working on the new steps for our church addition.

The latest clean water grant for Ghana has a budget of over $88,000. The money is raised from Rotarians in Grapevine, Texas to Watertown, New York to Aarau, Switzerland. We have Rotarians in many states and countries around the world working together to raise the money. I’m just the glue that gets it all done. I’m the guy who tells the story. I’m the guy who gets dirty in Africa if work is needed. I’m the guy who goes where God sends me.

All of these projects keep me really busy. I’m also very active as a Dad and father. It is hard to keep up with four wonderful children. Jessica went on Wednesday to package Christmas gifts sent to children overseas in shoe boxes. Missy is planning to go Haiti on a mission trip in January. All of the kids are very active with their faith. They have a stronger faith now than what I did at their age. Missy spent her summer vacation hosting mission teams for Summer Project Youth at Fieldstone UMC.

I do not have all of the answers yet how God is going to use me. Every day is a surprise. My day is full. I keep asking God if I’m doing the right things. I try to stop doing the things that don’t bring me closer to God. I try to open my heart to the promise of Jesus Christ in my life. I also know that I haven’t seen anything yet.

We are wealthy in the promise of Jesus Christ. All that we have and all that we are belong to God. We are just the stewards of God’s blessings. God has blessed us and enlarged our territory. We are not thinking big enough about the people that we can help and the lives that we can touch. Go out into the world and pray the prayer of Joshua for your family to serve the Lord. Go out into world and pray the prayer of Jabez that God will enlarge our territory so we can serve God in ways that we can only imagine right now.

God gave us his only son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the promise for this Christmas season. I’ve unwrapped the gift and promise of Jesus Christ. Open your gift from God and let God do things that you can only imagine today. We will celebrate the promise of Jesus Christ together!