Bumps In The Road

Introduction

Once again, it’s an honor to come here and have the opportunity to preach God’s word once again. I just want to clarify one thing, please. It’s always in my mind. It’s always in my heart that if I ever say anything that goes against the will of God, you will be my friend, you will be my Christian friend, my brother, my sister. If you let me know if I say anything against the word of God, it’s very imperative, important to me that you realize that. Because even we could sit down if we have a disagreement or something that is scriptural, that pertains to my salvation, you gotta let me know it. Okay? I tell everybody that I’m a very simple-minded person, and unfortunately, I’m gonna stay a simple-minded person because that’s just the way I am.

It’s just I’m just I just don’t try to go way deep into a lot of this stuff. I just want to live my life according to what God says and what God wants me to do. You know, getting up here preaching is always just a just a thing that I enjoy doing. I really enjoy doing it. I have since I became a Christian several years ago, and I really thank the elders for this opportunity. So I hope what you get out of this lesson will be beneficial to you. And again, I hope it helps you one way or another to become a Christian, or if you feel like it’s your heart’s heart against God that you know you ask for this prayers of the congregation.

I want you to think back just for a moment, just for one moment. It’s not gonna you’re not thinking you have to go very far back, but think of a time in your life that you said, Wow, did this really happen to me again? Why is this happening to me? Why did my car break down at this very moment when I have zero dollars in the bank? Why did my health go bad whenever I had this many bills because of another problem? Why did my brother tell me that he was having an affair with somebody else? Why did my sister tell me that she no longer loves her husband? But she no longer loves her kids that she’s going to walk away from it. You don’t have to think very far back.

I’m sure some of these things have happened to you just probably recently. You know what I call these things? If I can get this thing to work, these are bumps in the road. These are plain just simple bumps in the road. This guy here, Nishan Parwar, life is like a big highway, or it’s like a highway. No matter what they say, the construction is never finished. There’s always going to be bumps in the road and detours every now and then. And that’s so true. We’re going to have big many bumps in the road during our lifetime as Christians. Even if it’s a small one all the way to a big one. And I’m sure you guys can probably figure something out right now that’s probably a bump in the road to you.

1. Daniel in the Lion's Den

And how are you going to handle it? But one of the things that I just want to call your attention to is Daniel in the Lion’s Den and Daniel the sixth chapter. This is such an amazing story to me. I love reading Daniel, the first seven chapters. I’m not sure about the last, the last few chapters after that last study. You know, comparing that with Revelation, I’m sitting over there way above my head. I’m still, again, simple minded, and I just I just can’t contemplate with that. But the thing about Daniel is in Daniel the sixth chapter in the Lion’s Den, let’s get a little bit of a picture of this. We know that Darius is the king of the kingdom because of time. He’s over the Babylonian kingdom, and he’s sitting up there, and he’s got some governors, he’s got these sat traps.

And guess who one of the strong ones is? It’s Daniel. Daniel is just a great man. One of the things about him that just keeps coming into my mind with this reading is in verse 3, it says, then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king gave him thought to send him over the whole realm. And then in verse 4 it says, So the governors of satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful. Nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, We shall not find any charge against Daniel unless we find it against him concerning his God.

What a powerful statement right there for a bunch of men, these educated men sitting over there, and they’re saying, We can’t find anything wrong with this man. But we can find one thing. If we do something against his God, if we do that concerns the law of his God, then maybe we can do something with him. And so that’s what they do. They go to King Darius.

Nothing else besides you for 30 days. And Darius, of course, you know, hey, you know, this is pretty good because look what they say about him. All the governors of the kingdom and the administrators of satraps. I’m sorry, let’s go to verse 6. So these governors, satraps thrown before the king, said unto him, King Darius live forever. We call that the military, we call that brown nosy, just flat out smoothing. That’s all that is. That’s what these guys are doing. All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators of satraps, and counselors and violence that consulted together to establish a royal statute and make a firm decree that whoever petitions any God or man for 30 days except you, O king, shall be cast in the den of lions.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writings so it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which does not matter. So there they are, Luke trying to get this decree, and Darius signs it. And you know what? What does Daniel do? It’s a little bump in the road. That’s all it is. You’re not going to be able to go, you’re not going to be able to go pray to your God. We know that you pray to your God. But if you do that, you’re going to go into the den alliance. Now, how many of you guys want to go into a den alliance? Not me. I watched, I watched the animal plan. Those bad boys are bad. You know, I love watching things about Panthers.

I love watching things about the lions, the cheetahs and all that. They are mean. They got jaws that are just telling you in half. So, of course, Daniel doesn’t want to go into the lion’s den. But the thing is, he doesn’t want to go against God either. So, what does he do? I love this. This is what Daniel does. Now, in Dan verse 10. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem. He knelt down and prayed. Knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since the early days. Let me tell you something, folks. That takes a lot of nerve, a lot of backbone, a lot of love toward God.

Just knowing that he was about to go against Darius’ decree. And that was all the thing that they wanted those governors of satraps wanting them to do. You’re going to go against your God, but you’re going against Garius, you’re going into the den of lions. Come on. He knew it. But yet he got went to his room and he prayed three times with the window open. Think about it just for a moment. I love what you said this morning, Tana. We’re human. We’re human. You can sit back there and you say, Oh, I’d do the same thing Daniel did. I’d do the same thing, would you to this day, if President Obama says, you guys can’t worship anymore in your buildings. You can’t open up this Bible anymore.

We’ve got a law. Congress is going to set a law against us opening up our Bibles. Folks, it’s happening around the world. It’s in different countries right now where Christians that are studying the Bible, they get thrown in jail for praying to a different God besides their God. What would we do now? Will we do this exact same thing that Daniel did? This is just a bump in the road for us right now. It’s a minor bump. This could be a mountain to us in a few years. We don’t know. But the thing is, we’ve got to be like Daniel and stand fast. Yes, we are sinners. But we’ve got to keep our hearts strong. And we know the rest of the story what he did.

He went on to the lion’s den. He kept the state. He went in there, and down at the very bottom in verse 18 says, Now the king went to his palace, spent the night fasted with no musicians. We’re brought before him. Also sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in the haste to the den of the lions. Verse 20, and when he came to the den, he cried out with the laminating voice to Daniel. The king spoke to Daniel, servant of the living God is your God, whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions. Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lions.

2. The Scattered Christians

Lions spouse so that they have so they have not hurt me because I found no, I found innocent before him. And also, O king, I have done no wrong before you. What a powerful and loving God. And what a powerful thought that Daniel kept his faith. And then he went up there and he prayed anyways. It was just a simple bump in the road. You almost took my lesson as part of my lesson this morning. Let’s talk a little bit about the scattered Christians in Acts 8, chapter, and verse 1 through 4. Let’s go previously to chapter 7. Yes, that’s what happened to, as these Christians were in this early establishment of the church. We see where Stephen was addressing the high priest. He talks, he goes back to the Old Testament and the old laws.

He talks about Abraham. He talks about the patriarchs in Egypt and how God delivered Israel by Moses and how Israel rebels against God. So what happens to Stephen? He got stoned. And I guarantee these Christians are sitting out there watching. They are watching what’s going on out there. They’re seeing Stephen stoned. Because of the fact that Stephen stood up for what he believed in. He had his faith in God. He loved Jesus, and he told them exactly what it was. And these Christians, they’re sitting around there. Now imagine yourself in this crowd. Imagine what’s going on. Imagine Stephen being have those stones thrown at him. And you’re sitting back going, what’s going on? Oh, they’re stoning Stephen. This man full of faith, the God that you believe in.

This Jesus in whom you believe in. He just preached Jesus to you. Or to them, to the high priest. He did what? And he’s getting stoned for this. Wow, what do I do now? What do I do? Do I just go run hide in my house and not deal with this anymore? This is a bump in the road. This is a pretty big bump on the road right here. In chapter 8 and verse 1, we see where Saul is introduced. Now Saul was consenting to his death at that time, a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamination over him.

As for Saul, he continued to make havoc of the church. Entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing to them to prison. Folks, you know what? If my home was busted into, they start dragging off my wife, they start dragging off my family, they start dragging off my friends. What am I going to do? Am I going to stop just preaching Christ or teaching Christ? I don’t know. But look what they did in verse 4. Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. That just still astounds me that I see that. But they are still preaching the word. Just something to think about. Because again, we don’t know what our country is going to be like in a few years. We just don’t know.

3. Simon the Sorcerer and the Bump in the Road

This is another time that we just get that bump on the road, bump in the road, and we just keep pressing on. We’ve got to have that big backbone and sit there and say, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to continue preaching. No matter what the government says, if this goes against God’s word, we’ve got to stick with God’s word. I’m just using this as an example. How about Simon the sorcerer and the bump in the road? Simon’s sorcery just a little bit further down in verse 9. But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city. Astonished the people of Samaria, claiming he was someone that was great. To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest.

Said this man is great, is the great power of God. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. When they believed Philip, he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women. And were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now, when the apostles were at Jerusalem and heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he had fallen upon none of them, they had not been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. But when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also that anyone whom I lay hands on receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Your money perished with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in the matter in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. This is another thing about Simon the sorcerer in this chapter. We see that the people were astonished by his magic, that he gave heed to this man, because this man is the great power of God.

We also see that he heard the word and was baptized, and whenever he was baptized, you know what? When we come out of the water, just like Tony has said a thousand times, just like I’ve said a lot of other preachers, you feel great. You come out of that water, you’re cleansed. You’re cleansed of your sins. You’re ready to go, you’re ready to go preach the word. But yet when Simon saw this, he was amazed what Philip was doing. He was amazed at Philip’s power and wanted the same thing for the wrong reason. He saw that the people still liked him, that he liked it before, but when they saw what was going on, that this Jesus had this much, these apostles had this much power, he wanted that power also.

I actually had a comic up here, and I didn’t put it up here. I found it on the internet. It was a picture, three-picture thing with Simon, and people are just standing back, and he’s doing all the sorcery, and they’re just amazed. And then they see the apostles out there and doing their magical, not their magical, but their miracles and their wonders, and everybody runs to them, and there’s Simon all by himself. He’s going, Huh? Well, I don’t have all these people follow me anymore. They’re following them. I want what they have. His heart was wrong, brethren. It was a bump in the road. It was just a bump in the road. Peter rebuked him and instructed him to repent for his wickedness. And that’s a good thing that the great avenue that we have.

4. The Apostle Paul

That through the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior, we can go to him in prayer. And that’s all we have to do is pray for our forgiveness for our wickedness. It was a bump in the road. You know, this happens to us a lot of times. Does our heart get kind of greedy sometimes also? Does it go get wrong whenever the fact is, you know, I’ve got this choice here, this choice here, this one goes against God, this one’s probably with God. That’s something to think about. Simon’s sorcery bump in the road. And this is, of course, one of the most the best ones we can always think of as the apostle Paul. When the apostle Paul was converted into the Christian into a Christian, he was so strong, so powerful.

And look at all the bumps in the roads that he would travel through. I mean, there are so many things that he could have just said, you know what? I don’t like this. I’m just going to walk away. Because five times he received 40 stripes minus one. If you receive 40 stripes, would you keep your faith? This isn’t a bump in the road again. This is a mountain. He’s literally getting physically beaten. Have you ever just been so physically beaten, so physically worn out that you just wanted to give up? I have it. And he didn’t. I hope it never happens. I hope it never happens. Three times beaten with rods. Just think about those rods that they beat him with for preaching Christ. Think about that bump on the road, what he did.

How about once he was stoned? How many times did it take to get stoned? We see Stephen Stoned one time, and he died for it. It wasn’t Paul’s time yet, but yet he was stoned. He was still beaten. It just continues on. Three times he was shipwrecked. We complain about our car getting broke down. Oh no, my transmission went out. That’s gonna be a thousand bucks. He shipwrecked three times. I can’t imagine that. Just sitting there comprehending all the stuff in 2 Corinthians 11, chapter 23 through 27. It’s just amazing, it still amazes me that he continued on. Weariness and awful sleeplessness. I look at this one right now and I just kind of laugh. And the reason why I laughed is because Robert knows when he called me up and asked me to preach, I told him, I said, Robert, no problem.

I can do it. Not a problem at all. I started looking at my calendar, I said, oh no. We have our military ball the night before. And many of you know that I teach Air Force GRTC. We have our bank, our award ceremony and our ball afterwards, so I have to stay there and I have to watch these kids, and I have to pack everything up, and we don’t get in until one o’clock, one o’clock in the morning. Wham wow. So what if I got up got in at one o’clock? Yes, I’m tired. But you know what’s worth it? Is preaching God’s word. And it happened last year, too. That’s what the amazing thing was. He came at the exact same time. He said, Do you want to preach?

Sure, no problem. I got Sunday morning? Absolutely. Looked at my calendar. Oh no, milk chair o’clock. So I knew what I was getting myself into, but the thing is, brother, it’s tiring, but listen to the Apostle Paul. And he continued preaching the word also. So often weariness, so often in sleeplessness. Just a minor bump in the road. How about hunger and thirst of many times? Just imagine that. We get three square meals a day. Some people eat five. Some people eat more than that. And yet we sit there and we wonder about our next drink of water. We can just go to the water faucet, walk out here anytime and go get a drink of water at our new brand new water faucet. Our cooler. We can go home.

We can pull out a Gatorade bottle. We can pull out our fancy water bottles. And we don’t thirst. We have all the conveniences that we need. The Apostle Paul didn’t. And even in 2 Corinthians 11th chapter, this is what he says, and this is just amazing. Besides the other thing that comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. He always had deep concerns for him. We can read it throughout his letters. We could see his concern for every one of the churches for the people there. Even in 1 and 2 Timothy Titus, we can see his concern for him.

5. It's What You Do About It

In 1991, I just got home from Korea. Spent a year out there. My faith was in shambles. It was just terrible. I got called out to go to a conference. And at that time I was an emergency medical technician at EMT. And I couldn’t wait to go to this conference because it was in Long Beach, California, because I was at Edwards Air Force Base, home of the nasty desert. Isn’t that right, David? The wonderful desert. Very dry, very hot. So I couldn’t wait to go down to Long Beach. I’d been home about four months. And I like loved one of those conferences. And whenever I was headed toward that conference, started looking at the itinerary, and I said, hmm, pretty good itinerary. Get to look at some good new stuff, new equipment, get to see some good lectures.

But there was one lecture on there. I said, I’m gonna go see this one. I can’t even remember the name of it. That’s how much involved I was with this lecture. I sat there, and I and the when I walked into the lecture, it was fairly early in the morning. The place was packed. I was like, wow, this must be pretty good. I told my buddy that was with me. I said, Man, what’s going on here? This is the this is one that’s most packed. And he said, I don’t know, I’ve never seen this one before. So we just sat there and it got pitch dark. And all of a sudden, the spotlight went on the stage. This man pulled out on the stage right there.

His name is John William John Mitchell. And I still remember this guy in 1991, because he made a huge impact on my life. This man wheels out the chair, and upon the screen, this is what I see. I see his face like that. I said, Wow, this man was burned badly. And he’s in a wheelchair. And he proceeds to tell the story. And I’m going to tell you just a little bit about the story that I have that he has with him. This man comes out on the stage, and he’s a very well-spoken man, very well educated. He said that he was pretty excited one day because he had just gotten his private pilot’s license. And he was riding his Honda motorcycle down the road, and he was going a little bit faster than he probably should have, and he ran into a laundry truck.

When he ran into the laundry truck, Honda had one of these gas caps that actually broke off, in which he won a lawsuit on that. All the gasoline that was in that tank went all over him. It ignited and it burned him. Over 70% of his body. 70%, folks, is a lot of is a lot of burn. That’s a lot of burn. People usually don’t survive in that. I’ve seen a lot of burn victims since I worked in the emergency room. Nothing like this one. Nothing like this one. So he says, Yeah, I was burned. I was in a lot of pain. They gave me morphine all the time. I yelled and screamed, especially when I had to go to the bathroom, and I didn’t know I was going to the bathroom, and it just got all over me, and it just I just made pains worse.

But yet I pressed on, kept on going. He said, But with all the surgeries I’ve had, I didn’t realize I was in that bad shape until I went to the store one day, went to a out the eight, and this little kid looked at look, mommy, look at the monster, the monster over there. And he realized that he was very deformed in the in and looks. But yet he kept pressing on with life. Four years later, he actually was on his solo flight, on a solo flight, and one of his assessments. He wasn’t paralyzed at the time. He was able to walk. He was on a flight, had a couple friends with him, and his plane went down because he forgot to check the wings for ice.

The plane went down and he landed flat. And he told, and then all of a sudden he starts smelling gas. You’ve been burned 70% of the body. You smell gas, you want to get out. So he’s over there yelling to the two to three passengers he has in the back of the plate. Get out now, get out, get out. And he tries to move his legs, he can’t move his legs. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. And the sad thing about this now is that he’s burned over 70% of his body scarred, and he’s paralyzed. But you know what he says? This is what inspires me the most about this man. He says, it’s not what happens to you in life that counts, it’s what you do about it.

And that statement has stuck with me for over 20 years, since 1991. It has always stuck with me. Because of the fact we’re going to have those bumps in the road. We’re going to have those family problems where we may have a loved one that has fallen away from the faith. That’s a huge bump in the road. We may have a loved one that’s right now sitting over there that’s that’s not faithful or that won’t become a Christian, but yet you’ve done everything you could to try to help them. You may have a family member that says, a husband or a wife, or a mom or dad, who says, you know what? I can’t believe that you go to a church like that. Where there’s no musical instruments.

Why don’t you come back with us? We go to see Joel Olstein out there, and we have a grand old time. He can’t be wrong because there’s thousands of people out there. Yes, we’re going to have that bump on the road. We’re going to have those health problems. We’re going to have the bad knees, we’re going to have the bad back. Martha, Robert, I mean, just all these replacements. Dave. He’s like, I don’t have a health problem. But we have. We all have them. It’s just a matter of how we handle those health problems. We get them fixed. We’re going to have work-related problems where your pair is going to sit over there and they’re going to say, they’re going to sit over there and say, come on, let’s go have that.

Let’s go have that beer. Let’s go out and go to that strip club. Let’s have a good time. And we’re going to have that peer pressure. Or they’re going to, there’s always constant foul language in there. There’s just all that pressure of you trying to get, you trying to keep your faith. Stay away from it, but yet you stay strong. We’re going to have those bumps in the road. We’re going to have those heart problems also where that sin comes in. Where we fall down at those times, but yet we pick ourselves back up. We’re going to have those trials and temptations many times in our life, those bumps in the road. Satan is just like a roaring lion, but yet he walks among us in the midst.

Conclusion

He’s going to find your weakest spot that he can when it comes to your sin, your health problems with your sin, your heart problems, I’m sorry. He’s going to find it. It may be anything like lust. It may be pride. It may be the lust of the eyes. I don’t know what it is. But it could be something. Because he wants you, he wants me, he wants us all. But you know what? It’s not what happens to you in life that counts. It’s what you do about it. It’s what are you going to do about it? Are you going to be like Daniel and pray? Are you going to be like the Apostle Paul and just keep pressing on? Are you going to be like those scattered Christians who went out and continue preaching the word?

How are you going to be? Are you going to let these bumps in the road run you over? Or are you going to keep your faith and stay strong? Well, brother, that’s the lesson there. I do have one other thing I just want to bring up. Go ahead and pull your song books out. We’re going to sing the song of invitation in just a moment.

I asked him to lead sing 564, follow me. And the reason why is because of the words. They’re so powerful. It’s not necessarily the very beginning, but it’s the very last part of each stanza. I traveled down a lonely road and no one seemed to care. The burden on my weary back, he bowed to despair. I all complained to Jesus how folks were treating me, and then I heard him say so tenderly, My feet were also weary upon the Calvary cross. The cross became so heavy I fell beneath the load. Be faithful, weary pilgrims. The morning I can sing, just lift your cross and follow close to me. When we see that first verse right there with how folks are treating me, it could be among our own brethren.

It could be outside of here. But don’t let that bump stop. We love each other, we keep pressing on. Verse 2 I’ve worked so hard for Jesus, I often boast and say, I sacrifice a lot of things to walk the narrow way. I gave up fame and fortune. I’m worth a lot to thee. And then I heard them gently say to me, I left the throne of glory and counted it but lost. My hands were nailed in anger upon the cruel cross. But now I’m gonna make the journey with your safe hand safe in mind. So lift your cross and follow close to me. Have we given up fame and fortune? He’s not asking us to give of it all up. But whenever we prioritize fame and fortune over Him, is our heart right with it with God?

Just something to think about. Oh Jesus, if I die upon a foreign field someday, would be no more than love demands, no less I could I repay. No greater love have mortal man than for a friend to die. These are the words he gently spoke to me. If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand. But if by death to living, they can, but if by death to living they can thy glory see, I’ll take my cross and follow close to thee. What a powerful song. Folks, we’re gonna have many bumps of the road. Let’s remember Jesus and what he’s done for us. What a powerful song and powerful thought that we can have.

And we press on with our faith. If there’s one in this audience today who’s not a child of God, and you want to be, the water’s ready. I’m ready, I’ll get wet. We’ll dunk you under the water, get you baptized, you’re gonna come out a just a clean, spotless soul at the time. But the thing is, you’ve got to keep pressing on. And don’t let those weary bumps get in your way. And if you are one that’s that as it is a Christian, and your heart has kind of dwindled away, you felt some type of reproach upon the church, you’ve got to get right with God. Get right with God. The invitation is yours, you choose to do so as we stand to sing the songs to children.