Good morning, welcome to Blue Lake, and thank you for coming.
Today’s message is titled “Encouragement” and is based on Isaiah 43: 1-7
Growing up in Holland, I used to drive a bicycle to school, which was only a couple miles from our house. One day I got into an accident, when a Citroen DS (a French sedan) came from the left and side swiped me. This car was nicknamed “Clothing Iron’ because of the smooth design of the hood of the car.
That proved to be a blessing, because I didn’t go underneath the car, but essentially it scooped me up as I went flying over the top, and landed behind the car. No bones were broken, but a dislocated tendon on the lower leg above the ankle, required a cast. Not a fun experience for a kid that was always on the move.
But words of “Encouragement” from my mother gave comfort and inspiration through it all.
A decade later, after turning 18, I was eligible to start driving courses, which in those days (late 70’s) took a minimum 20 lessons (5 months) before attempting a first exam.Of which, I passed the written test, but I failed the driving test.
I was so distraught about this. Never before had I failed a test, and felt like a failure.
But it was my dad who had kind words of “Encouragement”, explaining that in Holland only 20% of people pass the driver’s test the first time. These words of “Encouragement” gave me the confidence to embrace continued driving courses and a few months later I passed the second time.
In Chuck Swindoll’s book on Illustrations and quotes, he writes about a 9 year old boy, who had been marginally successful playing the piano. His mother decided to take him to a concert to listen to the great pianist Paderewski.
Once she got into the concert hall they found their seat close to the stage, but the mother spotted some of her friends and started talking to them.
The boy was sitting there all by himself, staring at this giant black Steinway piano at the stage. The keyboard lid was lifted. He was mesmerized by that grand piano.
He couldn’t resist and snuck out of his seat, slipped down the aisle and stepped up the stage, sat down on the leather bench and started “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.
The people in the audience were getting annoyed, who is this kid? Where are his parents?
The mother abruptly stopped socializing with her friends. She was embarrassed beyond words.
Meanwhile the great Paderewski, who was in the back, fixing his tie, heard what was going on. So without the boy seeing him, he walked on the stage and came up from behind him, reached over the little boy and improvised a beautiful harmonized melody to go with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.
Then he gave words of “Encouragement” for the boy to keep playing: don’t quit, don’t stop. After about 10 minutes they concluded, and the audience broke out in a thundering applause.
Speaking of “Encouragement”, a few weeks ago we watched the movie “Flags of our Fathers”, based on the book written by James Bradley. It tells the stories of James’ father and the five other Marines who raised the flag over Iwo Jima.
In a 36-day battle during 2d world war on this small volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, 22,000 Japanese and 7,000 Americans were killed.
The iconic picture taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal of the planting of the American flag pressed all the patriotic buttons.
It became a symbol of “Encouragement” to the folks at home.
The three surviving marines pictured, traveled the Country selling billions of dollars’ worth of war bonds, to help reduce staggering national debt caused by the war.
I remember meeting James Bradley, after he gave a speech at the National Press club in 2009, while I was in Washington DC lobbying for the flower industry.
He told our group what had led him to write this book. James knew he had a bestseller in “Flags of Our Fathers”, but it appeared, that he was the only one who felt that way. Over a period of 25 months he submitted his manuscript to 27 publishers and was turned down by all of them.
The book struck something with the American People that the publishers did not see. But what struck me, listening to James Bradley was his resilience throughout it all,
His determination was so poignant, that I actually bought his book right there on the spot, and he signed it. His story was full of “Encouragement” and inspiration.
How often do we hear a no, and we start doubting ourselves, we hear it twice, and we think we might be wrong, but imagine hearing this 27 times! Most people would have succumbed to thinking: not a good idea and give up.
But James Bradley had faith in his book and himself throughout his search for a publisher. Eventually after 27 no’s, he found Bantam Books to publish it.
His resilience was rewarded with the book spending 46 weeks on NYT bestseller list and a movie produced by Stephen Spielberg and Clint Eastwood.
After having experienced my own period of darkness in 2008/9, listening to James Bradley’s story gave me inspiration and “Encouragement”.
What does the bible say about “Encouragement”? According to Strong’s Concordance, encourage and encouraged are mentioned 9 times, but the word “Encouragement” is not found verbatim.
But “Encouragement” is the underlying premise of the second part of the book of Isaiah and this is what brings us to today’s reading in Isaiah 43:1-7
43But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
4Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.
5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west, I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Please bow our heads. Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will, discover your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
David Linley is an English furniture maker, and former chairman “Christies Auction House UK”, but he is also the nephew of Queen Elizabeth of England which makes him a member of the Royal Family…… So it was with Isaiah….
According to rabbinic literature, Isaiah was the nephew of Amaziah. the King of Judah, making Isaiah a member of the Royal family.
Isaiah was a prophet; his is the first book in portion of the bible called the prophetic books.
The book of Isaiah is the essence of the bible, this bible that I have in my hands here contains 66 books; the book of Isaiah contains 66 chapters.
This bible contains 39 Old Testament books, a culmination of history and warnings of judgment, so does Isaiah’s first 39 chapters
In the 27 New Testament books God provides salvation and hope through Jesus Christ.
The last 27 chapters in Isaiah are full of hope and “Encouragement”, in anticipation of Jesus.
Isaiah’s name means Yahweh’s Salvation, a fitting name for someone who was chosen by the Lord to articulate both fearsome judgement but also future glory and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Isaiah prophesized and wrote this book during the reigns of 4 Kings of Israel: Uzziah, Jotham. Ahaz and Hezekiah.
According to Isiah 6:1; he started writing around 740BC in the year King Uzziah dead, 20 years before the fall of Northern Kingdom.
He witnessed a spiritual decline and warned that the same would happen to the tiny nation of Judah and its capital Jerusalem.
Isaiah is famous for prophesying the coming of the Messiah. His predictions turned out to be so accurate, that many refer to this book as the 5th gospel.
Second part of Isaiah is filled with “Encouragement” andrings with inviting poetry of hope, paving a path of confidence and anticipation.
The words of the second part of Isaiah are overwhelmingly positive and comforting, and are quoted 85 times in the New Testament.
In verse 2 Isaiah writes: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
Going through deep waters particularly cold water can be very unnerving. Let me illustrate this with an example:
Has anyone heard of Spartan races?? Last month one of the ladies in our office did the “Castaic Lake Endurance Race”. This race was held north of LA in the same mountains of the I-5 grapevine crossing.
The course consists of 15-20 obstacles like tire flipping, monkey bars, 12ft walls to climb, javelin throw, rope climb and sandbag carries. The course is about 4 miles long, but it also includes a water crossing.
At one point, she had to go through the water of Lake Castaic so deep that the water came to her shoulders, the water was cold and she is afraid of water.
She witnessed someone cramping up in the cold water ahead of her, so she got freaked out and almost turned around, but she paused, composed herself and mustered up the “Encouragement” that guided her through this challenging course and she eventually succeeded.
Our opening hymn this morning: ”How firm a Foundation” depicts this well:
When through the deep waters I call you to go,
The Rivers of grief shall not overflow,
for I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
and sanctify you in your deepest distress.
In verse 3 Isaiah wrote: For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom.
Decades later, when Sennacherib the King of the Assyrians’ was just about ready to fall upon Jerusalem, he was providentially diverted, and turned his arms against the Egyptians.
In 676 B.C, the Assyrians invaded Egypt. 5 years later, they , captured and destroyed Memphis the Capital of Egypt.
In verse 5: Do not fear for I am with you, I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth
The Diaspora after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and the later the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and finally the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, scattered the Israelites across the Middle East and Europa.
For the next 1800 years most Jews were living in all parts of the World except in Israel itself. This verse in Isaiah 43:5 was a precursor of the Jewish word “Aliyah”.
“Aliyah” literary means going up and it connotes the aspiration for the Jewish people to return to their homeland.
The large-scale immigration of Jews back to the home land began in 1882.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, millions of Jews have moved back to their homeland.
But it get interesting in verse 6 when Isaiah foretold6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” …….
What does he mean with the “North”? The largest country north of Israel is Russia, which at one point had a huge population of Jews.
The call to Give them up…came from the international community in 1970, after a group of mostly Russian Jews, organized a plot to buy all the seats on a domestic flight from Leningrad under the guise of a trip to a wedding.
The plan was to fly to Sweden and eventually move to Israel. One of the participants was a former military pilot, who had experience flying the airplane.
On the morning of June 15 1970, the group arrived at an Airport near Leningrad, only to be arrested by the KGB.
They were charged for high treason, punishable by death under Russian law. 2 received the death penalty the other participants 4 to 15 years in prison.
After international protests the Supreme Court in Moscow modified the sentences.
Strong international condemnation caused the Russian authorities to significantly increase the emigration quotas. In the decade prior, only 4,000 people had (legally) emigrated from the USSR; in the 10 years after the trial, 246,000 Jews received visas to leave Russia and were allowed to move to Israel.
In 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev decided to lift all restrictions on emigration.
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, more than a million former Russian Jews, (FSU) have moved back to their homeland…..
See this vase of beautiful flowers. Ranunculus has been around for a long time, but out of common species of Ranunculus came these new Hybrids that are called Butterfly Ranunculus, with hundreds of blossoms in a single vase.
It is like that in the writings of Isaiah 11:1: A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
After 1500 years of Jewish forefathers, out of the stump of Jesse came the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Friends, the words written by Isaiah 2600 years ago proved to be very accurate in many respects.
They were also comforting to the people of Israel at the time.
They provided “Encouragement” and hope in a troubled world.
In the dark, troubled and broken world of today, these words provide us with even more “Encouragement” because from that stump of Jesse came the blossom of the redeeming powers of the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The gift of salvation through Jesus Christ,
A gift that is available to each and every one of us sitting here today or listening on line.
Jesus said in John 14:6: I am the way, the truth and the life no one, comes to the Father, but through me.
And here is the Good News: the ultimate “Encouragement” comes from accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior and he will nourish our soul and lead us on the path to eternal life
We can receive Jesus in our heart right here right now.
Accept him as Lord and Savior, repent of your sins.
With, “Encouragement”, Faith, and Trust in Jesus we look forward, to the ultimate price, The Kingdom of Heaven.
Thank you,
God Bless you,
Amen
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