Sermon: Go Forward

Sermon: Go Forward

We Are Not Being Prepared to Fight Windmills
#1648-am
Mark Schindler
Given 22-Apr-22; 58 minutes 2022-04-22

listen:

description: (hide) The Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, the second of the annual sabbaths, contains a firm admonition from Almighty God to look forward to what is ahead, guided by previous promises. Hebrews 11 contains accounts of a massive cloud of witnesses, sustained by living faith which focused their desire and motivation far beyond temporary circumstances (Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and Our Lord and Savior Christ, enduring an agonizing death paying the penalty for all of our sins). The first novel in history, Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605), later turned into a musical in 1965 Man of La Mancha and a film in 1972, with the memorable principal song, "The Impossible Dream," glorified the ideal of a knight errant, determined to right all wrongs. One can draw spiritual parallels to those called of God, also sustained by a seemingly impossible dream. Like Don Quixote, God’s people weave dreams to keep them from despair, but unlike the hapless knight errant, God has provided His people with the tools to live the life of Christ. On the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, God commanded the children of Israel to move forward and not be distracted. Only Moses had the full measure of faith to move forward, not flinching in the roiling vengeance of the multitude, leading the timid, terrified Israelites out of bondage. Are we ready to sacrifice as was Moses, realizing that our precious calling is more than an imaginary quest? As the pre-incarnate Christ supplied manna to our forebears on the Sinai, He also gives the Bread of Life (John 6:35- 48) to those called out of the bondage of sin, offered the special privilege of becoming part of the harvest of first fruits, training to be selfless intercessors as had Moses and Jesus Christ. The impossible dream of the errant knight becomes possible by following Christ (Matthew 19:26).