Ron Dunn Podcast - Campus Crusade Training - Seeking the Lord

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Service is our working out what God has worked in. Ron continues to teach a staff training for Campus Crusade in Jeremiah 10.

Now, this morning, I want to kind of strike the theme and lay the foundation for what I want to be sharing with you. You know, the Apostle Paul, when he was writing to the church at Colossae, in the first chapter and the last verse describing his ministry, said that he worked and he strived mightily, according to the power that worketh in me, according to the power of God that worked in me. And it seems to me that you have there a real definition of what service is. Service for the Lord is what we're all engaged in, but service for the Lord, according to the Apostle Paul, in that particular verse and other verses,

is my working out what he has worked in. Paul says, I labor, I strive according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Paul was simply in his service, in his ministry, working out what God had worked in. And the limit of Paul's ministry and service was measured by the limit of God's working within him. And so we need to understand that service is simply our working out what God has worked in. Now, the order there is important. First of all all God must

work it in before we can work it out and the problem with so many of us that are engaged in service for the Lord is we're constantly trying to work out before we've let God work in you've been out on the field all year you've been working out and working out and working out and I think that it's wise that we come as part and let God work in, not just once a year, but every day. And so this is the idea that we're going to be following in these morning sessions as service for the Lord and the Lord's ministry is simply our working out what God has worked in. And before God can work through us, He must first of all work in us. And before we have anything to work out, we must first of all allow God to work in.

And when our labor and our service becomes burdensome, and when we get weary in the work, and we lose the joy of the ministry, it's because we have been working out without allowing God to work in. When the ministry becomes a strain upon us and the joy of it is gone and the yoke is no longer well-fitting and the burden is no longer light, it means that we do not have the Lord's burden. We're not wearing the Lord's yoke. He says, my yoke is easy, well-fitting, and my burden is light. And so when we are rightly fitted to the Lord's burden and the Lord's yoke, and we've let God work Himself and His power in us, then there is an effortless expenditure of energy on our part as we minister, as God gives us opportunity. So that's the drift

that we're going to be following in these sessions together. So now I'd like to have you open your Bibles to the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah, and the 29th chapter. Jeremiah chapter 29. And I'm going to begin reading with verse 10 and read through the 14th verse. Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 10 through 14. And God, in this passage of Scripture through His prophet Jeremiah is beginning to throw some light on the captivity into which His people have been brought. He's beginning to make some rhyme and reason out of what has happened to them. You and I can pretty well take anything that happens if we can understand part of the reason for it. The things that we really break down under are those things that happen without any kind

of reason to them that we can understand. The Babylonian captivity was such a situation to the Israelites, and in this passage of Scripture, God is beginning to pour out a little bit of light to these people as to why these adverse circumstances have fallen upon them. So we'll begin with verse 10, read through verse 14. For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace

and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Now, I want you to look at the 11th verse. He says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. They thought they knew the thoughts the Lord was thinking towards them.

He said, The thoughts that I think toward you are not evil, but they're good. I can well imagine that these folks were languishing in that Babylonian captivity. They had been jerked up from their home. They had lost their possessions. Their future looked darker than it had ever looked before in their history. And they were God's people and called by God's name to fulfill God's purpose. Can you imagine some of the thoughts they must have had towards the Lord and some of the ideas they must have had

about the Lord's thoughts towards them? I wonder if you've ever had any thoughts like that. Well, now, Lord, I've given up everything to follow you, and look how you're treating me. I heard about an old Quaker who said one day he got real honest with God, and he said, Lord, I'm not surprised you don't have any more friends than you have. Because of the way you treat the few you've got. Have you ever felt that way? I can imagine these people of God over there in captivity saying, well, the Lord must really have some evil thoughts towards us.

The Lord must have really dropped out on us. The Lord has abandoned us. Because look here what's going on. We've lost everything. And we're going to be stuck here for a long time, and all of the promises that God has made to us of giving us our land, God has just changed His mind, and God says, He said, I know the thoughts that I think towards you. You don't know what I'm thinking. He said, the thoughts that I have towards you are not evil. They're always good, and you know that encourages me. Even when those folks were in that Babylonian

captivity and it looked as though God had turned his back on them, God said, I want you to know that every thought that I have towards you is a thought of good. And it doesn't make any difference what situation may fall into your life. It doesn't matter how difficult it may seem. It may seem that God has moved a million miles away from you. It may appear that God has abandoned you and that God is punishing you. But I want you to know this morning that there's only one kind of thought that God has ever had towards you, and that's a thought of peace and a thought of good. And he said, I think only peace towards you that I may bring you to an expected end. He said, everything that's happened

to you, all of this difficulty, all of this circumstance, all of this suffering, I have brought it to pass in order that I might accomplish in you my purpose, that I might bring you to an expected end. Now, the most important thing that you and I can discover for our lives is what is God's purpose for us. What is the expected end that God is trying to work in our lives? Because, you see, we need to see everything that happens to us, both good and bad, as a ministry of God, as an instrument of God's purpose to accomplish in us His expected end. Now, what is it? If you had to write down

this morning on a piece of paper what you think it is that God wants from you more than anything else, it would be interesting to read your answers answers we might have as many answers as we have people here this morning what do you think is the ultimate that God wants from you today what do you think God is trying to get your attention for what is it do you believe that God wants from you more than anything else more than anything else, more than anything else. You see, viewpoint is most important. If you and I have the wrong viewpoint at this matter, then we will miss it in our entire ministry. Now he goes on to tell us what it is that God wants. What is this expected in? Look in verse 12 and 13. Then, now the impact of that word then is important. When? When you see

a then, you always ask when. When is the then? He says, then you shall call on me. When will you call on me? He says, after this captivity has performed its ministry. He said, I have brought you into this captivity so that you will see what is my expected end for you. Then shall you call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Now get this, verse 13. And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Now verse 13 is the verse I want us to settle on this morning. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Hebrews 11, 6 says, For without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and, now get this, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. What is faith? Faith is believing that God is real, and faith is believing that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. And if God is real to you, we'll seek Him diligently. It is my conviction, and I believe the testimony of the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments, that the primary thing, the ultimate thing that God wants from us this morning,

and listen carefully, is not our service. He wants our searching, that we would seek the Lord, that we would seek the Lord. You say, what do you mean seek the Lord? I've already found Him. I mean, why chase a bus after you're already on it? Have you ever tried to get into a room you're already in? I'm already a Christian. I'm already saved. I've already found the Lord. What do you mean, seek the Lord?

Why seek Him? I've already found the Lord. What do you mean, seek the Lord? Why seek Him? I've already found Him. Remember the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Philippi in chapter 3. He recounts his conversion experience. He said, I counted all things but loss, counted them but junk. I usually say counted them but dung, and somebody always thinks I say, count of them but done. He said, I counted all things but refuse, junk, garbage, wine. And he says, I continue, and I do count. Now he's talking about his present experience.

I do count all things but loss. I'm giving up everything. Day by day, I continually reckon and consider everything else in this world in my life junk for this one thing that I may, what? Know him. Now, if I'd been writing that, I'd say that I might serve him. Paul is coming to the end of his life. As a matter of fact, he's in a Roman prison while he writes this letter. He's not even certain as to whether or not he'll escape with his life. As a matter of fact, he's in a Roman prison while he writes this letter. He's not even certain as to whether or not he'll escape with his life. But as he writes and he comes to the end of his life,

you know, he's had about every experience a fellow could have. There's not been anybody that has been able to serve in the magnificent magnitude that the Apostle Paul has. And yet he comes at the end of his life. He says, I am continually giving up everything and counting everything but loss that I may what? That I may know him. Well, now, Paul, I thought you already knew him. I mean, you met him on the road to Damascus 30, 40, 50 years ago. You already know him. What do you mean you're counting everything but loss that you may know him? You see, the apostle Paul would say, well, you can know him, and then you can know him some more. You can know him, and you can know

him, and you can know him, and you can know him some more. You see, fellas, the Christian life is not starting with Jesus and then graduating to something better. It is starting with Jesus, staying with Jesus, and ending up with Jesus. And so Paul says the quest of the Christian life is not how can I serve him more, but how can I know him better, and my service grows out of my knowing Christ. You see, as God works it in through my seeking the Lord and coming into a deeper fellowship and a deeper communion and a closer walk with Him, and as I come to know Him, know Him better and better and better, then the overflow of my life is my ministry and my service. And the greatest thing that you and I can do this week is to discover that what God wants for me

above and before everything else is that I should seek the Lord, that there should be a constant appetite and hunger in my heart for the Lord, to know Him even better, and to know Him in a deeper and closer way. Now, I want to say three very simple things this morning about this matter of seeking the Lord. Number one, we are to seek the Lord exclusively. I am amazed at how little the Bible tells us to seek. You know, the Christian life is really very simple, and we have tried to make it complicated. But in its essence, the Christian life is really very simple. I don't find anywhere

in the Bible where the Bible ever encourages me to seek an experience or to seek a gift or to seek this thing or to seek that thing, but I constantly find the Bible telling me that I am to seek one thing and one thing alone, and that is I am to seek the Lord. I was with a pastor in Austin, Texas this past week. We were in a conference there. And, you know, today there is a great deal of extremism and excesses going on. And this fellow has his little hobby horse and this fellow has his little favorite topic. And everybody seems to be gathering around and huddling around their little gift and their little problem and their little truth. And it's causing so much misunderstanding and unrest and excess and extreme in the Christian church today. And as we discussed it, we realized

that if a fellow goes to seed on anything else, he's in trouble. But a fellow can always go to seed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'll always have a balance in his Christian life. If a man goes to seed on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, he'll drop off into extremism and excesses. If a man goes to seed on the second coming of the Lord, he'll drop off into excesses and extremism. If a fellow goes to seed on predestination or any other truth, any other doctrine, he'll drop off into excess and become an unbalanced Christian in his ministry. But it is always safe for a person to go to seed on Jesus Christ and center on Him and make Him the object of his attention and the object of his affection, and there'll always be a perfect balance in his life.

And the one thing that you and I are encouraged and commanded to seek in our daily life is to seek the Lord exclusively. Now this means, first of all, that we are to seek nothing else but the Lord. We are to seek nothing else but the Lord. My prayer for you and for myself this week is that you will discover that Jesus Christ is God's everything. That He is everything. As I said a moment ago, a great many Christians today seem to have the idea that you start off with Jesus

and then you graduate on to something better. I was in Denver a year or so ago in a conference, and one night after the service, we were sitting around visiting. There were about five of us at the table. The fellow here to my left called himself a charismatic. The fellow over here was a spirit-filled lifer. The fellow over here was a deeper lifer, and this fellow right across from me was an abundant lifer. I believe there was a higher lifer there too. I can't remember. We were having a lively discussion, and I quoted a verse of Scripture, and this charismatic

looked at me and he said, Are you a Calvinist? And I said, well, I believe. I began to laugh. I could tell he was a little bit offended at my laugh because he thought I was laughing. And he said, well, what's the matter? What did I say? What are you laughing at? I said, oh, I'm not laughing at you.

I said, you know, you're a charismatic. He's a spirit-filled lifer and he's a deeper lifer and he's abundant lifer and he's a higher lifer. And now you want to know if I'm a Calvinist I just got tickled when I remember the good old days when we used to just be Christians do you know the reason that we have to have so many different labels and tags today? It's an indictment against Christians. We ought to be able to say, hey, I'm a Christian. And all at once you know he's a deeper lifer and a spirit-filled lifer and a higher lifer and a deeper lifer and a wider lifer and an abundant lifer.

Just saying I'm a Christian, Jesus is my Lord and Savior ought to be enough. And the very fact that we must label people and have these tags and have these little pigeonholes and fit into a little group and fit into a little issue is an indictment against us. It means that we have missed something. And I tell you what I think it is we've missed. I believe we've missed Jesus. You see, we somehow have the idea that the goal of the Christian life is service. And I want to tell you this morning, the goal of the Christian life is not service. We have the idea that service will make a fellow spiritual. If a man will just get active and get busy and serve, he'll be spiritual.

Had a man come up to me in my church some time ago and he said, Pastor, he said, I'm really not what I ought to be as a Christian. He said, could you give me a Sunday school class to teach? I thought to myself, well, brother, we really slipped at the qualification of being a Sunday school class as being a carnal Christian. But you know what he was saying? Now, if you want to apply that any way you can, but I... But you know what he was saying? He was saying, listen, if you'll just give me something to do, I'll be all right. The way for me to become spiritual is for me to get busy and do something. But I want to tell you something.

Service will not make anybody spiritual. Let me take the time just to prove that have you ever been a member of a church where there was a lot of trouble I mean a church split and division and strife let me ask you who was it that perpetrated that was involved in it who were the ringleaders was it those Easter lilies that only bloomed once a year? Came to church? You know who it was? I'll tell you who it was. It was your Sunday school teachers, your elders, your deacons.

It was the people who were active and busy and involved in the life of the church. Now I want to tell you something, friend. If service makes a man spiritual, you explain that to me. Have another little proof. I don't know how it is in your church. I'll tell you how it is in my church.

Every year around this time, we have a nominating committee that begins to meet, and they begin to select the new workers for the coming year, Sunday school teachers, etc., etc. Now, let's suppose that dear sister so-and-so has been teacher of the TEL class. That's Timothy, Eunice, and Lois.

In the Baptist church, that's a famous Sunday school class. Every Baptist church has a TEL class. Now, let's say that sister so-and-so has been teacher of the TEL class for lo these 30 years. I mean, friend, she's firmly entrenched. And so the nominating committee, as they pray, feel the impression of the Holy Spirit to replace Sister So-and-so. And so they go to her. They say, Sister So-and-so, we feel led of the Holy Spirit to tell you that you have done a magnificent job.

And God has laid on our hearts to place you in another situation, in another class. And we're going to bring in Mrs. So-and-so, and she's going to teach. She'll not be able to do any better job than you've done, but we want you to know that T.E.L. will not be neglected, and she will be able to do the job. The Lord will continue to be served, but only through her in this class. Are you listening?

Now, if Sister So-and-so feels either self-pity or resentment. She has been serving herself rather than the Lord Jesus. Her service has simply been an ego trip. Because, you see, if all I care about is that the Lord be served, I don't care who serves Him. I'm not to be more concerned about who does it than I am that it's done.

As long as the Lord is going to be served and the work is going to be done, why should it matter to me who does it? But when it does matter who does it, and it matters that I'm not doing it and I'm left out, and I feel resentment and self-pity, it means, friends, that my service has not made me spiritual. Service won't make a man spiritual. The goal of the Christian life is not service. The goal of the Christian life is not service.

The goal of the Christian life is Jesus. And our service is the overflow of our fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, I get excited when I realize that the Bible over and over again makes it clear that Jesus Christ is God's everything. He says in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 10 that one of these days God is going to sum up, gather up everything in Jesus Christ. Did you know that one day they're not going to be things, they're just going to be Jesus? He's going to gather up everything in Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 3 verse 10 says that Christ is all and in all. Christ is all.

Now in the Greek that means Christ is all. Christ is all. He's everything. In Colossians chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, he says, For all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily, and you are complete in him. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus bodily. And I like the way Williams translates it. And you are filled with it too through union with him. And Jesus is everything.

I mean, he's the means to the end, and he's the end. He's the door, and he's what you find on the other side of the door he's the light of the world and he's what you see when that light shines he's the fountain and he's also the water that comes out of the fountain he said to John on the Isle of Patmos he said I am the beginning in the end I am the Alpha and the Omega he was saying I'm the a and the Z brother he's the whole alphabet in that amazing I have William Sh I'm the A and the Z. Brother, he's the whole alphabet. Isn't that amazing? I have William Shire's book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, nearly 1,500 pages. I just bought a set of Encyclopedia Britannica.

I don't know how many volumes are in it. All I can remember is how many monies are in it. But, you know, I tell you, I made a discovery the other day. I've checked it out I think I'm going to read through the whole encyclopedia and discover and see if this is really true but I believe I have a hint I believe that they wrote that entire encyclopedia

with 26 letters now isn't that amazing when you sit down to write a letter, did you know you don't have to go outside the alphabet to communicate anything you want to say? Boy, that's something, isn't it? Now, I can imagine my little girl, nine-year-old girl, has a book, you know, See Dick Run,

and I can imagine that they wrote that with 26 letters, but to come to the Encyclopedia Britannica or come to the rise and fall of the Third Reich or to come to the Encyclopedia Britannica or come to the rise and fall of the Third Reich or to come to any letter, any book you want to write and say, I wrote this with simply 26 letters. I tell you, fellas, that's amazing to me. You don't need to go outside the alphabet to write anything. And I tell you something, you never need to go outside of Jesus for anything that you need. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He's all that you need. And so to seek the Lord means that we seek for nothing else. We find in Jesus Christ our all

in all. And what I want us to zero in on this week is that our service, our ministry is simply the overflow of our fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Service is simply Jesus, the life of Jesus flowing out of me and touching the lives of other people. All right, seeking the Lord exclusively means that we seek for nothing else, but it also means that we settle for nothing less, that we settle for nothing less. Everywhere I go, I hear people talk about the revival that is sweeping America. And you know, there's a great deal of excitement. There's a great deal of excitement going on today.

I believe that you have found it so in the past year or two that people in many places are more responsive than ever been before. That it's easier to talk about Jesus and to talk about the things of Christ than it ever has been before. And people who a year ago had absolutely no responsive cord to the things of God are suddenly becoming responsive. But I want to tell you something. I don't believe that we're really seeing the revival we think we are. I've seen, and I'm sure you have, a great many fellows and girls, they start off with a fire of enthusiasm,

and somewhere along the line they dwindle down. And I'll tell you, the problem in any ministry, whether it's Campus Crusader, MacArthur Boulevard, Baptist Church, is how to get those folks to continue to go on with the Lord. You see, Jesus said in John chapter 14, He said, You shall go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit shall what? Remain. Remain. Remain.

Be permanent. And that's the big problem we all face. It's not just winning somebody to Jesus, but it's making them disciples so that the fruit will remain. I'll tell you what I think is happening in our world today. In evangelical circles, I believe it's this, that we are settling for something less than the Lord Jesus Christ. We were on our way to Jesus, and we met something else along the way that caught our attention, and we settled for that.

Let me close with this illustration from the Old Testament. You remember Elisha and his servant Gehazi? Remember the Shunammite woman that befriended them and Elisha said, we need to do something for that dear lady. What can we do? She said, not a thing. I dwell with my own people.

Isn't that sweet? She said, I have everything I want. Brother, wouldn't you like to meet a woman like that the day that was contented? And you know what it was that made her contentment? It wasn't Cadillac,

refrigerator, and color TV. I live with my own people. Oh, that's beautiful. But Gehazi said said she has no son. She has no child. Elisha said, well, we can handle that. We'll take care of that. And so he asked the Lord to give her a son.

And the Lord did. The boy grew up. One day he was out in the field with his father. Evidently had a son stroke. The boy died. The mother carried him into the little prophet's room. They'd built a prophet's room so when Elisha was in the city, he could just come by and relax. That was his room. Now, I want you to notice something. She took him to the prophet's room, laid him on the prophet's

bed, and shut the door. Didn't even tell her husband the boy was dead. She said, husband, by your leave, can I be gone for a while? Didn't tell him where she was going. She said, everything will be all right. Boy, she had faith. She didn't tell her husband because she knew that boy was going to be brought back to life. She had faith. Put him in the prophet's room on the prophet's bed, shut the door, and went to find Elisha. Gehazi sees her coming. Elisha says, go and ask her if it's well with her and if it's well with the father and if it's well with the boy. Ask her if everything's all right. Boy, I tell you this, lady, you talk about faith.

Gehazi met her and said, is it well with thee? Yes. Is it well with thy father? Yes. Is it well with thy son? What would you have said? No, it's not well with him. He's laying back there dead.

No. You know what she said? She said it as well with a boy and that's confidence in god she came to elisha and elisha recognized that something was wrong finally got the story from her that the boy had died now get this she came to get elisha the boy was in Elisha's room, on Elisha's bed, waiting for Elisha. She went after Elisha. She was seeking Elisha. Elisha says, Gehazi, come here. Take my staff, go back with a woman, and raise that boy. You and I probably would have said, that sounds all right. Let's go. But you know what she did? The Bible says she fell at Elisha's feet and wrapped her arms around his feet.

And she said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I will not go without you. Now, fellas, she went seeking Elisha. And she wasn't going to settle for anything less than Elisha. And so they went. They came back. And Elisha was she wasn't going to settle for anything less than Elisha. And so they went. They came back and Elisha was still on plan A. When they got back to the house Elisha gave the staff to Gehazi and he said alright Gehazi now you go on up to the room and raise that boy. He went up there he returned in a little while and Gehazi said the boy is still

dead. Now, fellas, here's what's beautiful. That woman knew Gehazi couldn't do it before Elisha knew it. If she had settled for Gehazi, that boy would never have been brought back to life. Elisha went in and brought the boy back to life. Now, you know what we've been doing? We've started out with the Lord. I mean, you had to begin with the Lord and have a beginning.

Our hearts were filled and flaming with the joy of the Lord. Man, we just wanted the Lord. That's all. We were seeking the Lord. But in our seeking of the Lord, along the way, we met Gehazi, and we settled for Gehazi. I mean, after all, he was the Lord's right-hand man. He was close to Elisha. He had Elisha's

traits and characteristics, and more than that, he had Elisha's staff. And some of us, along the way, we've met service. And I'll tell you something, many of us are substituting service for the Lord. You know, I've discovered that I can surrender to service without being surrendered to the Lord. I know some people that along the way they met a gift and they settled for the gift and never did get to the Lord. And now they're hovering and huddling around a little gift.

Along the way somebody met an experience. And they said, man, this is a great experience. And ever since then they've been huddling around a little experience. And they've settled for an experience and they never did get to the Lord. You know, this happens to me. I'll come to my time along with the Lord where I want to get along with God and open the book and let Him speak to me and let Him move upon my soul. And what'll happen is I'll be reading some scriptures to let God speak to me. All of a sudden, I'll get a great sermon idea. I'll say, man, that's good. And I'll get up and I'll go down and I'll start right as fast as I can making notes. You know what happens? I forget all about my seeking

the Lord that morning. I never get back to it. I'm so caught up with that sermon. Now, it's good to get sermons and that's the best place to get them, but I want to tell you something. As you're seeking the Lord, if you meet a sermon along the way, don't stop at the sermon and settle for that and say, hey, I found the Lord. No. You just keep on going. And you constantly seek the Lord. Seek the Lord.

Constantly seek the Lord. Don't settle for anything less. Don't settle for anything less than Jesus. His fullness in your life and the fullness of fellowship with Him day by day.