Rev. David Holwick ZF Series: It's Up To Me, #3
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 13, 2013
Romans 15:17-20
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I. How far do you want to go?
A. Bill Gates lived his dream.
1) He told his parents he wanted to drop out of Harvard and
start his own business.
a) They gave permission, and he founded Microsoft.
2) He has done all right.
Fifteen years ago, a professor at New York University
calculated that Bill Gates was worth more than the
poorest 40% of Americans.
That includes their home equity, bank accounts, pensions,
mutual funds and 401(k) plans, but not their cars.
Forty percent - that is 106 million people.
Fifteen years ago, Gates was worth $40 billion.
Since then, he has given away $28 billion.
So is he worth $12 billion now?
No, his net worth last month was $72 billion.
I am sure you could include those poor people's cars and
add another 10 percent of Americans.
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B. His one regret is being the world's richest man.
1) It brings a lot of unwanted attention.
2) But when he fell to #3 in 2008, I'll bet it bothered him.
II. Ambition is not always a dirty word.
A. Of course, it can be. James 3:16 says:
"For where you have envy and selfish ambition,
there you find disorder and every evil practice."
1) Ambition can be the ultimate in self-centeredness.
2) But it doesn't have to be selfish.
B. Good ambition gives you a focus in life to strive for.
1) It can be very modest. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Paul says:
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind
your own business and to work with your hands...."
2) Even big ambition can be a good thing.
a) That $28 billion that Bill Gates has invested in
charity has focused on world health problems.
b) They have already made a huge impact on diseases like
malaria, which kills over half a million people a year.
C. We have been placed on this earth for a purpose.
1) What do you think your purpose is?
2) What do you intend to accomplish before you die?
3) How are you doing so far?
III. It is good to have goals.
A. The Apostle Paul had a big one.
1) He had a special ministry to the Gentiles.
a) At the time, they were a sideshow. Jews were the focus.
b) Because of Paul's work, Gentiles became the core of the
church.
c) To make it happen, he had to communicate with dozens
of diverse cultures, most of which were ignorant of
the Bible.
2) He wanted to preach where no one else had.
a) It seems like he wanted to convert the entire Roman
Empire.
1> Being limited to one lifetime, he had to cut some
corners.
2> Paul was a hit-and-run kind of pastor.
A> He usually spent only a few months in a place.
B> Then he put others in charge and moved on to
fresh territory.
b) In verse 28, he says he wants to go over to Spain.
1> This was the edge of the Roman Empire.
2> He probably never made it there - but he wanted to.
B. Do you have any goals that are bigger than where you are?
1) Considerations from my own life.
a) I want to be a successful pastor.
1> If you take a purely numerical approach, I am not
getting there.
2> This week I was watching a TV show Celeste had on.
A> I think it was more background noise for her.
B> But it got my attention - it was about the
lifestyles of mega-pastors in California.
It would show a guy driving his Ferrari down the
street, and a little box would say
"Pastor Joe Smith, Faith Tabernacle, 4,000
members."
Not exactly my league.
I have friends that are there, though.
Am I a failure?
b) This is not a mega-church and never will be.
1> We really don't want it to be one.
2> You don't, and I sure don't.
c) But I want to do more than maintain the status quo.
1> I want members who have been here their whole lives
to still be growing in their faith.
2> I want to see new people coming here, and getting
saved - discovering a new relationship with Jesus.
3> I want us to do more than talk about the Bible
and religious stuff. I want our community to
be a better place because we are here.
2) How about you?
a) How do you measure up to the goals you had when you
were 20 years old?
b) Your life has changed -- what goals do you have today?
c) Perhaps more important, what goals should you have?
IV. Aim higher.
A. Your work.
1) Most of us will have a job for much of our lives.
a) Some people, like a hearse driver who told me he wanted
to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company someday,
aim for the big bucks.
b) I think it is better to aim for significance.
1> Earn a reputation of being diligent, honest,
hard-working.
2> Be dependable even if no one is watching you.
3> If you become the head-honcho, treat those who work
for you with respect and kindness.
2) Build something that is better.
a) If you are going to do something, do it the best you can.
b) Think of new ways to work, new things to create.
c) You reflect God's image in you when you do this.
3) Don't define yourself by your job.
a) You will never be a better person because you earn
twice as much.
b) You will be better when you contribute something that
blesses others.
B. Your family.
1) Having a family may seem like a very natural thing, but
your effort makes a big difference.
a) You can truly cherish your spouse, or just put up with
them.
b) Your kids can pretty much raise themselves if you would
rather not - but you will pay a price later on.
2) What kind of family do you want to have?
a) New Jersey is great at having fairy tale weddings.
1> I will be doing two this month.
b) Fulfilling family life is much more difficult to bring
about.
3) Be engaged in your kids' lives.
a) Teach them the values you want them to have, and model
those values in the way you yourself live.
b) You shouldn't take your family for granted - though
many do.
4) The testimony of Elliott Osowitt:
Elliott Osowitt was born into a Reform Jewish family.
His father was a strict man who attended synagogue faithfully
but didn't express a love for God.
Elliott had his Bar Mitzvah at age 13, was confirmed at 16,
and went into the Army at 17.
He never went back to the synagogue, except a time or two
because his Gentile wife was curious about the customs.
His wife was a Christian from Ashe County, North Carolina.
For almost 30 years of married life, Elliott successfully kept
his wife from going to church.
He kept his children away from God.
The one thing he was good at was fulfilling his own lusts and
desires for worldly things and worldly pleasures.
To the world, Elliott was a great guy.
He was a Physician's Assistant for a local surgeon and was
well-liked by the patients and hospital staff.
They thought Elliott was so nice.
They didn't really know him.
Elliott was a harsh father and an uncaring husband.
When his wife, Polly, was diagnosed with breast cancer and
had major surgery followed by chemotherapy, Elliott was not
there for her.
Not only was he gone most of the time, he was in the arms of
other women.
On Christmas Eve in 1996 it all came to a head and Polly threw
him out of the house.
She told him he was no good for her or the family and that she
was a lot better off and happier without him around.
Elliott packed his belongings in his pickup and went to a
local motel.
It was a typical Christmas Eve - cold, snowing, and very dark.
The streets were empty.
Elliott took a pistol with me into the motel room.
As far as he was concerned, his life was over.
He sat on the edge of the bed and noticed an open book on the
television.
Elliott knew it was a Bible - most motels put them in the side
table drawer but this owner was a Christian and he put them
on the TV.
Elliott didn't want anything to do with it.
He swiped it off the TV and it fell on the floor, still open.
He tried to kick it under the bed, but it hit one of those
wooden frames underneath and skidded towards the bathroom.
Elliott reached down to pick it up to put in a drawer.
As he lifted it, Elliott felt the strongest "voice" in his
head say, "Read it now".
He felt unusual warmth in his hands and looked down into
the book and read his verse:
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the
world gives it to you; let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
Elliott had planned to end his life, thinking that it wasn't
worth much.
But he kept seeing these two words "peace and love" on the
page and started to think that maybe the answers were here.
He called Polly and told her that he was out of control and
he asked her if she thought her pastor would see him.
She said she didn't know.
Every year for ten years that pastor had visited their house,
and each time Elliott had met him at the door with an
upheld hand.
He was a Jew and he didn't need or want a Christian pastor
in his house.
Until now.
So Elliott called him and asked him if he could make an
appointment to see him sometime after Christmas.
The pastor said, "No" - he would see me first thing in the
morning, Christmas morning.
So on Christmas morning Elliott drove to the pastor's home
and confessed with tears as to what he had done.
The pastor told him that the ONLY way to make it through the
addiction of sin and have a peaceful life is to invite
Jesus the Savior into his life.
Elliott's first thought was that this is absurd.
But this warmth came over him again and he realized for the
first time in his adult life, that he wasn't in control.
He realized he had failed in everything.
His shirt was soaked with tears.
On his way back to the motel he passed by the house of some
good friends.
They had always been what Elliott thought were "real
Christians."
They were the ones who stayed with Polly while she suffered
through the chemotherapy.
They were the last people in the world Elliott wanted to see
because he was so ashamed.
But the Holy Spirit was in control that night and Elliott
found myself driving into the driveway of Herb and Barb Rash.
They sat there amazed because they had just been praying for
him.
They didn't even know about his family situation - Barb showed
Elliott her prayer journal, which revealed she had been
praying for his salvation for ten years.
At this point Elliott had to leave.
For the next three days, he stayed in the motel room and read
the Gospel of John over and over.
He even prayed, which was awkward, as he had never prayed like
this before.
On Sunday morning, Elliott called Polly and asked her if he
could go to church with her.
She wasn't really thrilled by this because she didn't trust him.
He sat with her in the fourth pew on the right and the pastor
gave a powerful sermon.
Elliott was sobbing when he finished.
He went forward at the invitation, and when the pastor asked if
he was ready to accept Jesus into his life, he said, "yes."
The pastor asked if he was doing it just for his wife.
Elliott said no, I am doing this for me, because if I don't,
I am going to die.
As he knelt there weeping, he felts hands all over his head
and back.
Almost every person in that church had come down to lay hands
on him.
His wife Polly was one of them.
After six weeks, she allowed him to come home to try to restore
their shattered marriage.
It happened.
He actually went to a Bible college and today is the pastor of
a small Baptist church in North Carolina.
It is one mile from the motel where Elliott encountered an
open Bible.
He isn't rich, and his church isn't the biggest one around.
But his wife loves him, both his daughters have become saved,
and he has even led three of his grandkids to the Lord.
Elliott Osowitt has a recovering, reconciled, restored, and
most of all, a resurrected family.
You can't do much better than that.
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C. Your faith.
1) Are you a Christian? If you are, are you growing in your
faith?
2) Does your faith give you strength and hope in a messed-up
world?
3) How many will go to heaven because of you?
4) Keep pressing on to Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold
of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining
toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God
has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#64258 “The Redistribution of Spiritual Wealth,” staff writer,
Illustration Exchange, www.IllustrationExchange.com,
October 10, 2013. Other details added from Wikipedia.org.
#64260 “A Gideon Bible Delivered Him From Despair,” Pastor Elliott Osowitt,
<http://www.faithfellowshipnc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=62>,
October 17, 2011.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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