Mounting up on Wings 1983

Jesus died on the cross and rose again in order that we should have planted within us a light from heaven itself, so strong that no matter what kind of circumstances come sweeping in over us we're able to rise above them and stay on top. He poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the body in order that we should have such strength that we never find ourselves in a place where we complain I'm the victim of circumstances. I can't help it.

Too much. Can't handle it. I'm a burnout now.

And yet, if we're honest, we all admit that this kind of thing happens to us again and again. We get so close. And many times we just feel, I can't, it's just too much.

And we run out of gas. Reading from Mark chapter 14, verse 26. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But, after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Now there was a word of hope that they could have grabbed onto and by the strength of that word, they could have continued right on through.

But it seems as if nobody heard it. Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.

But he said vehemently, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And we all know what happened. That night it came to pass exactly as Jesus said.

Peter ran out of gas. And the circumstances of that awful night swept over him and rolled over him and flattened him like a bulldozer. And we know what Peter went through from our own experience.

How many times we start out with great enthusiasm. We're going to live for God. We're going to serve the kingdom.

We're going to go all the way with Jesus. And then, after a while of having done it, and almost always without warning, we run out of gas. And the circumstances in which we find ourselves engulf us like a ten foot wave.

Jesus sends us out to make disciples of all nations. We're going to go out there and turn the world upside down. But what happens so often is that the world turns us upside down.

Why is it that we can make it for a while, six months, five or ten years maybe, and then it seems like we just get drained of our strength and now circumstances that we could handle before become overwhelming for us. Somebody hurts my feelings. Or I just have too many problems coming at me at one time.

Or I'm torn between trying to serve God and man. And now I faint right in the middle of the road. And a hundred thousand people just walk right over top of me.

What do we have to do to prevent that from happening? Peter learned a lesson that night. He learned how weak he was in his own strength. He learned that if he was ever going to be able to rise up over the circumstances and stand against the evils he had to deal with, it would have to be by the power, by a strength, that was more than his own good intentions.

After the resurrection and after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we see Peter rising up out of the dust of his past failures and able now to stand against things which before absolutely flattened him. We see the same Peter now standing before rulers in Israel who have the power to have him killed and still speaking the bold truth. Thrown into jail and he keeps speaking the truth.

And tradition has it that Peter was a martyr for his Lord. He was crucified and the story goes he refused to be crucified right side up like Jesus but upside down instead. Joyfully dies for his Lord.

Never again runs out of gas because now Peter has learned how to ride up over the circumstances and stay on top of them instead of being smashed by them. The new Peter would have approached the circumstances of the night of Jesus' betrayal in quite a different way. We can't really put that all together because it didn't happen and it's impossible.

But looking at it again, when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. First of all, Peter would have really sung. There would have been a worship in him that was not before, the new Peter.

And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up I will go before you to Galilee. The old Peter was forever defending himself.

But see now the new Peter grabs a hold of everything Jesus says and takes this word of hope and lives by it and rises up with it. Then they go out, remember, to the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus says stay here and stay awake and pray. The old Peter falls asleep.

The new Peter stays awake. See the old Peter was drawing his strength from his own soulish energies. The new Peter draws his strength from God himself.

So how do we mount up on wings and rise up over the circumstances instead of being flattened by them? This familiar passage that most of us know by heart is worth looking at again from Isaiah 40 verse 28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might He increases strength.

Even you shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as the eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted.

The youth faint and the young men fall because they are drawing their strength from themselves. See but now it's possible to have a strength that mounts us up on those wings and we get up over the top of the circumstances and we don't run out of gas ever. We have a courage and a strength which comes straight from God which enables us to stand.

All we have to do is wait on the Lord. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. So what does it mean to wait on the Lord? Three very simple things.

Very easy to remember because God taught them at the beginning of the prayer he taught us. Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. First of all to wait on the Lord is to hallow God's name, to worship him.

Thy kingdom come. Secondly is to seek God's kingdom above everything else. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It's thirdly to do God's will on mercy. Hallowed be thy name. Reading from Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. After this I looked and behold a great multitude which no man could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne with the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God saying Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.

Amen. What we're looking at here is the goal of our journey the destination toward which we're moving all the time as we're following the Lord. We're here now and what do we see as we look at the multitude but worship? We see uninhibited praise of God.

Uninhibited. Here they are and they've got these palm branches and they're not just dragging on the ground you know they're waving them and they're crying with a loud voice Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and they praise God and their lives are caught up in that. We also see unselfconscious praise.

You know they're not saying I hope they're watching me to see how you should really praise God nor are they saying I hope nobody sees me I look kind of funny. Nobody cares what they look like. They're so absorbed in the one who sits upon the throne and so taken up with the Lamb and His beauty and His glory that they think of nothing but what they're worshiping.

They're free from themselves unselfconscious. We're also seeing as we watch that multitude which no man can number uncritical praise. I don't know if that's the right use of the word but you know what I mean.

You know they're not looking around and saying what's the matter with that dummy he has his palm branch upside down. Here's that lady she has her eyes shut and he's on his what does he think he is an angel he's down there on his face he's supposed to be standing up like I am. Nobody's watching anybody else or critical of anybody else.

Everybody is so absorbed in the worship of the living God that anybody else can do it any way they are led to do it and it's worship and it's free. We need to see that to wait upon the Lord first of all we're looking down to look at us and we're worshiping God and we're thanking him for who he is not just for the goodies thank him for those of course thank you Lord God for the prayers you answer thank you Lord God for the scrapes you got me out of but then thank you God for who you are just thank you for you and worship him and then we need to come together like this and worship you know and truly let go of ourselves and praise him uninhibited praise unbiased praise uncritical praise and when they sang a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives everything we do from the beginning to the end of the time we're together is worship you know it's worship when we're singing hymns it's worship when we're in the liturgy it's also worship when we're in prayer it's worship all the way through God help us to just let go of ourselves and see enter that multitude which no man can number and begin to worship the Lamb and the Father who sits on the throne with wings like eagles we run and are not weary we walk and are not faint we serve and we never burn out to wait upon the Lord is to seek his kingdom our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come to sell all that we have to buy the field containing the treasure and the treasure is Jesus himself it's a matter of putting away from my life the things which distract me so that I can truly see the Lamb if anyone thirsts you know you're starting to burn out let him come to me and drink he who believes in me out of his heart through his mouth and his hands shall flow rivers of living water living water water that gives life and enables us to mount upon wings I am the living bread which came down from heaven if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever that doesn't just mean live endlessly but live with a heart and a life that is absolutely saturated with the dimension with the spirit with the atmosphere of heaven itself come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest that doesn't mean we just lie down and take a nap it means that we're renewed some of us have the idea in the back of our minds that you seek Jesus at the beginning then you find him you give your life to him then you go on to other things but it's never that way Paul after following Jesus for years and years is still saying that I may know him in the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his suffering being made like him in his death it's always for Paul first of all the pursuit of Jesus then all the things of the kingdom there's no way you're going to do the will of God or accomplish the miracles of the kingdom if you aren't seeing Jesus so we need to ask ourselves am I really engaged in the pursuit of the face of the lamb of God who is the kingdom he is the king and he is the life of God in this world and when I see him with my heart with my mind and I bow up on wings like the eagle and I get up over top of the circumstances and I am not smashed and overwhelmed by them to wait on the Lord is to do his will our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of God who does the will of my father who is in heaven blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy the will of God is mercy when I do his will I am in his kingdom and I mount up on wings like the eagle and it's a matter of coming down to specifics like I have to pray mercy I have to think mercy I have to do mercy somebody has wronged us terribly done something extremely unfair to us how some way to get back or some way we are just consumed with this and the spirit of the Lord convicts us and says pray mercy on that person just pray mercy Lord, I don't know how if I can do it but help me, I'll do it and as we pray mercy upon this person who has wronged us so terribly blessings from heaven descend upon that person and life comes up in us and we mount up on wings pray mercy we have to think mercy we are going down the elevator in this hospital from the ninth floor to the main floor and some real strange characters on this elevator we are the only normal one on the elevator a couple of doctors who think they are God and we got a couple of nurses who are giggling about Friday night's party and here is this man who is probably in his 80's and his face is 10 miles long and we are looking at all this who are you? do you know what these people have gone through? do you know what those two doctors were up for the last three nights? and those aides give themselves again and again and you don't know what that man that man's wife is up there on the ninth floor in a coma and as we begin to think mercy toward these people on the elevator and who doesn't jump to conclusions about people on elevators as we think mercy we are released the door opens on the main floor and we are like the eagles but we also have to do mercy as we walk out into the lobby here is this 80 year old man who was on the elevator and he is in a panic he lost his wallet and he almost begins to cry another opportunity comes and you walk up to him and you say can I help you? is there anything wrong? I lost my wallet and so you go back up to the ninth floor with him you enter the room and on the table is his wallet everything is there except the money and so you reach into your own pocket book or wallet and give him your last 20 if you have to and the man begins to weep and he is blessed and we mount up on wings as eagles have you not known? have you not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth he does not faint or grow weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted everybody who relies on himself goes down but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up on wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint to wait upon the Lord is to worship him God help us to lay aside our reserve our self consciousness and enter into that great multitude which no man can number and begin to praise the Lord the way he would have us praise him to wait upon the Lord is to seek his kingdom which comes down for us to seeking the face of Jesus who is the life of God in this world the living bread the living water the true inner Sabbath we mount up on wings to wait upon the Lord is to do God's will which is mercy as we see it revealed in Jesus own life and in his teachings and as we do that will of mercy as we pray mercy upon those who have wronged us and think mercy upon everybody who is in sight and as we do mercy to those who come across our path we mount up on wings as eagles we run and are not weary we serve God and never, never, never never burn out let's take some silence now total silence and wait upon God and let him speak to our hearts I'll break it with prayer and then we'll pray as we're left Lord God we come to you we desire to come to you like children today we want to be taught by you the things we need to do and change in order to enter into the authentic uninterrupted continuous life of the kingdom help us Lord God to do whatever needs to be done even at this moment if it's needful for us to use the altar rail or to get on our knees or whatever we have to do Lord God or just to hold still to make a decision in our heart before you help us to do what we need to do in order to wipe away the things that blind our eyes and that block our vision of your glory we ask you Father in Jesus name