231021 - Not all who wonder are lost - Berrill

Let's take our Bibles and turn to Jeremiah Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament chapter 29 verse 13 Jeremiah 29 verse 13 I'll be reading from the New King James Version And you will seek me and Find me When you search for me With all your heart And the Lord at his blessing as Doug back brings us the word this morning You just say good morning everybody There's some faces here, I don't recognize that's awesome. I'll introduce myself. My name is Doug barrel my wife Julie, and I live in Rochester, New Hampshire, just down the other side of the lake and And Julie couldn't be here today, but she sends her love So this is my I call it my other home church so I'm kind of like a part-time member of this church, but Yeah, I'm still on probation they haven't voted me in yet, so yeah Steve keeps blackballing me so yeah Well if you guys would just move the church Down by Rochester, and you all move down there, too, and that would be great Well, they'll still be there they'll still be there I'd like to open up with a word of prayer And I ask you to join me Dear Father in heaven gracious Lord father. I come before you today as a humble servant father I have nothing of myself to offer these beautiful people here today is only through you so father I'm inviting your Holy Spirit to be here to lead guide and to Convict us and father. I need your spirit to dwell within me as I speak your word Lord I thank you for this message, and I pray that this message will be relevant for somebody here today Maybe it's just me, but I pray that somebody here today. We'll say you know what I needed to hear that today Jesus name we pray Amen So I had An opportunity earlier this year beginning of summer to do something. I wanted to do Almost my entire life, so I basically checked something off my bucket list. I got to go on a very long Road trip on my motorcycle This year I rode for 15 days 5,500 miles 13 states several of the states a couple of times, Ohio three times. It's like all roads lead through, Ohio Two time zones Let me first answer the one question That I get all the time when I tell people about this road trip Okay, the answer is no my butt did not hurt spending all that time on my motorcycle, okay? But thank you for your concern Yeah, I actually have a pretty big motorcycle, it's a touring motorcycle. It's made for long road trips like that Now like everything else in my life it turns into a sermon Okay, and so the question is well Doug. How can you turn this road trip? Into a sermon that's a great question. I'm so glad you asked The Lord laid on my heart To compare my road trip With my walk with Christ, and I'll explain it here as we go on. Let's see if I can do this correctly How I did it Our scripture reading Jeremiah 29 13 you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart Now before my trip I made a lot of plans I Started planning back in January For this road trip. It was cold and wet and snowy my motorcycle was packed up in hibernation in my garage But my mind Was already going on this road trip planning out the miles and where I was going to go and the people I was going to see and To do that now that is complete opposite of my walk with Christ because honestly I never planned that I've shared my testimony with many of you You know I did not grow up in the church not only the seventh-day Adventist Church, but I didn't grow up in any church Okay, there were no Bibles in my home. There was no nobody prayed in my home The only time God's name was ever mentioned in my home was it was a curse word Used as a curse word, so I didn't grow up in the church and honestly becoming a Christian was never on my to-do list Okay, I just never thought if you could go back in time and go up to the old Doug and tell him That in the future He was going to become a Christian and not only that but he would be standing in front of a congregation of Christians preaching God's Holy Word honestly. I probably would have laughed at you. I Would have thought that was ridiculous that's never going to happen, but here I am The Holy Spirit is amazing isn't he he grabs us sometimes when we least expect it now I can't always explain why I was drawn to the Holy Spirit when I was but it's like I can't explain why as a young young guy about 10 12 13 I started riding at 15 why I was drawn to motorcycles at a very early age either So as I said, I didn't have plans to become a Christian But I believe that God had plans for me and becoming a Christian was part of that Jeremiah 1 5 before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations Zechariah 3 in Zechariah 3 the prophet is telling of a vision of Joshua the high priest and Through the vision we see that Satan wanted to strip him of his robe yet God wanted to strip him of his sin and in Zechariah 3 God says Through the prophet is this not a brand plucked from the fire I? I believe That God says that today about you and about me God's plan was to pluck me from the fire praise the Lord You know four times in the Bible The Apostle Paul tells us to greet each other with a holy kiss Okay, I'm not working there we go Romans twice and Corinthians Thessalonians Now that might seem a little odd to us today, we don't generally greet each other with a kiss I mean, but back in the day that was very common. That's how they greeted each other there are people today There are cultures today that they do greet each other with a kiss, but what's a holy kiss? Well, I did a little bit of research on it and I couldn't find too many answers other than it had to be something different than a common kiss and certainly different than a romantic kiss Okay But it was something that Paul tells us to do so the question is do bikers greet each other with a kiss not usually But There is a common greeting among bikers. It's actually international. It's internationally known It's referred to as the bikers wave Okay. Now in order to do a proper bikers wave When another motorcycle is approaching you from the other direction you your left hand drops down with your two fingers out That's called the bikers wave the two fingers indicate two wheels on the ground You want them to keep two wheels on the ground? Now some people believe that it depends on what kind of motorcycle you ride Whether or not people will give you a bike or let me just tell you not all bikers do this Okay, it doesn't matter what you ride It's just some bikers do it some don't when I give a bikers wave. I'm actually praying for that person I'm praying for that person's safety Okay And I think that's really important Another important part of my trip was my GPS Okay, my global positioning System GPS. That's what GPS stands for. There are the way it works is there are satellites orbiting this planet and They will triangulate your position no matter where you are Okay, and from there they can map out routes for you Okay, I have a couple of GPS apps on my phone and it's good Especially when you're traveling like I was traveling to keep a close eye on my GPS So I have it mounted on my handlebars and actually charges my cell phone. Well, it's mounted But as Christians in our Christian walk, we should be checking our other GPS okay, that one is our God Positioning system. That's your spiritual GPS. So instead of satellites triangulating your position We need to check our position daily even moment by moment with the Father Son and Holy Spirit We need to triangulate our position with them. So how do we do that? Great question. I'm so glad you asked The first is to keep the lines of communication open through prayer Okay, a non praying Christian is actually an oxymoron Okay, it what's an oxymoron two words that kind of seem like they go together, but they mean the opposite You know, I grew up in Maine and we always say things were wicked good How can something be wicked and good right or it's pretty ugly or it's an open secret, right? These are oxymorons. One of the most famous ones is military intelligence Prayer is our direct line to all aspects of the Godhead But communication has to go both ways We can't do all the talking Sometimes you have to listen Okay, imagine if you were in a relationship with somebody and they never stopped talking And you couldn't get a word in edgewise Maybe God feels that way sometimes when we don't listen for him Now in addition to prayer we have God's Holy Word the Bible Anyone who ever claims that God has never spoken to them Introduce them to the Bible This is God's love letter to each one of us But we need to not only read our Bibles, but we actually need to study our Bibles on a daily basis Okay 2nd Timothy 2 5 study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not Be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth Psalm 119 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path We need to know daily or as I said moment by moment our Position with God Remember God will never leave us, but sometimes we wander away from him Now one thing on my GPS app, which I really like is it has a button that says home So no matter where I'm at I can push that button and it will map me out a route to get home The Bible does the same thing it's mapping a route out for us to go home with Jesus Now one of the features I love on the MapQuest app Is it has a filter? To avoid highways and tolls okay, I Prefer in and on my road trip. I stuck mostly with secondary roads back roads Okay, I've really have no interest in the highway. I Did go on the highway when I went through some big cities like Chicago Detroit But other than that, I stuck mostly to secondary roads. I Remember going through Kentucky and it was gorgeous it was all woods and the road was following this river and I'm just having this awesome time me and God and I'm thinking to myself This is the kind of stuff you miss if you're just riding the highway You don't see this when you're flying down the highway 80 miles an hour right Now some people might call these back roads the roads less traveled Most Christians were told to stay on the road less traveled. Otherwise known as the narrow path Matthew 7 13 and 14 enter ye at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to Destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life and few there be that find it Friends the world wants us to travel down the wide road with them But Jesus is very clear That he wants us on the narrow path You know, I spoke about this in Sabbath school a little bit in December of 1844 Ellen White had her very first vision She was at a Bible study at a home in South Portland, Maine and God gave her her first vision She saw the advent people on their journey to the holy city, New Jerusalem She said in the beginning they had all of their possessions They had wagons and horses and they were taking all their possessions with them on this road But the road started getting narrow and a little more narrow and it got to a point where they had to unhook the wagons and leave the wagons and their possessions behind and then it kept getting a little more narrow and a little more narrow and then they had to leave the horses behind and travel only on foot and Then the road kept getting more narrow and more narrow and it got so narrow at one point they took their shoes off to me to help stay on this road because it was so narrow and as they went further these cords were coming down and It got to a point where the only way they could proceed was hanging on these cords The cords were told represent our faith In the end on our way to New Jerusalem, the only thing we can hang on to is our faith and Leaving everything behind Now sometimes in our Christian walk We'll face challenges Different challenges and obstacles will get thrown in our path So how are you going to deal with them? I love this quote. I've used it before I'll probably use it again You can be powerful or you can be pitiful, but you can't be both So you have to decide Which way you want to go? Learn to rely on Jesus for our strength Matthew 19 26 With men this is impossible But with God all things are possible and Philippians 413 I can do all things through Christ Which strengthens me Now I rode on some very challenging Roads on my trip. I did it on purpose. Those were destination spots that picture is I'm on this road called the tail of the dragon It goes from North Carolina into Tennessee. It's only 11 miles long has 318 curves And it's a it's a destination spot for bikers and that was part of my trip So I rode on That one. I also did one in Virginia Called the back of the dragon. That one is a little bit longer. It's 40 miles up and down two mountains for over 400 curves a lot of fun Now sometimes in our Christian walk we fall Maybe I'm the only one here who can relate to that. I don't know But the issue isn't if you fall But rather when you fall and the real question is how are you going to get back up? You know, I've heard it said From your pastor Cliff Gleason in a sermon that the sign of a mature Christian Is not that he or she will never fall or mess up But the sign of a mature Christian is how fast he or she goes back to the throne of grace when He or she messes up Proverbs 24 16 For A just man follows seven time and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief and psalm 3724 though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hands So, how can I compare that to my road trip great question, I'm so glad you asked Twice on my road trip I laid my bike down You're not supposed to lay your bike I've actually laid this bike down four times in two years Okay the first time I was in the showroom at the Harley dealership and I could have sworn the kickstand was down and my bike weighs 800 pounds when that thing starts going down you're not stopping it and I was so embarrassed I remember telling the salesman. I'm so embarrassed. I've never laid a bike down in my life He said Doug, don't worry. There's three types of riders Okay, those who have laid a bike down those who will lay a bike down and those who lie about laying a bike down so I Laid my bike down twice on my trip the first time it was the first Sabbath on my trip I was in Ohio at the Adventist motorcycle ministry rally. We were on a Sabbath afternoon trip We were at some park in Ohio and we were going we were leaving and the road went downhill And it was a sharp 45 degree angle and I took it too short too tight and the bike laid down Some of the guys thankfully stopped and helped me pick it back up The second time I had just spent the night at a friend's house in Telco Plains, Tennessee And their driveway was all loose gravel not a friend of motorcycles and their street was all loose gravel So I did I'm all packed up I'm leaving give them hugs all that and I go down the end of the driveway and I should have been in the center of The driveway but yet I was over to the right and I stopped make sure that no cars are coming when I put my foot Down there was nothing there, but a ditch Bike went over my friends come running down the driveway. You okay? Okay. Yeah, my ego's a little bruised right now But other than that the bikes not hurt. So that's good. So Yes, and they helped me to pick it up so I think there's another lesson there as well Sometimes it's good to have people that we trust Help us to get back up People whom you love and whom you trust, you know, my first pastor when I came into church He loved me enough to be really honest with me about something And he did that out of love So when we come across a brother or sister Who needs help? Let's pray Not only pray for them, but before you offer help pray. What is your motivation? Is it because you love this person and you want to help him or her or is it something for your own ego? And you just want to Lord it over them later Now on my trip I Had several occasions to spend Nights at different friends houses. In fact out of 14 nights on the road seven of those Were at friends houses. They took in a weary traveler I got to see some old friends from the Air Force. I hadn't seen in 36 years and All these people that took me in All share something in common. They all share the gift of hospitality First Peter 4 9 and 10 Says use hospitality one to another without grudging as every man hath received the gift So even minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God Now Another amazing thing on my trip was I met a lot of people On my trip was I met a lot of people that I hadn't met, you know, we were talking about comfort zones I was way out of my comfort zone on this trip I met a bunch of people at the Adventist motorcycle ministry rally in Ohio And I got to see different things But I got to see all these people and a lot of my met for the first time I got to sleep on the couch of this one guy in Newark, Ohio for two nights I couldn't have a room because all his rooms were filled with other people who were traveling and he was taking us in My second Sabbath, I ended up in a small town in Western, Ohio I'm going to try to pronounce it right so Dan doesn't correct me Pacquiao I knew I couldn't get it right What he said And I went to church there now, I'm a stranger walking in their door Perhaps you folks can relate to that right now, but I was welcomed in as a brother I was welcomed in as a family member. That's biblical. The Bible is Very clear supports the idea of one family in Christ and it doesn't matter who you are. Okay, it doesn't matter What color your skin is it doesn't matter if you're male or female It doesn't matter if you're young or maybe not so young anymore It doesn't matter if you're wealthy or you're poor We are all one family in Christ and as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church You literally could travel anywhere in this country and literally around the world and find brothers and sisters just find the local Seventh-day Adventist Church and you will find brothers and sisters and There's some scriptures supporting this Romans 12 5 So We be in many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another Galatians 3 28 there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free There is neither male nor female for you're all one in Christ Jesus So remember that you are part of a family Now On my on my trip, obviously I was traveling down roads. I had never been before seeing places I had never been I Was on roads where again back roads country roads I didn't know what to expect going around the next corner or over the hill Okay, I think there's something very exciting about that when you're someplace you've never been before you have no idea what you're going to run Into when you go around the corner or over the next hill. I think that's exciting Okay, I think it's awesome Our Christian walk is the same way Especially if you're like me and you didn't grow up in the church, especially a Seventh-day Adventist Church Starting a new walk with Christ is very exciting. Everything is new to you You experience things that you've never even imagined you'd ever experienced before Matthew 11 28 to 30 Says come unto me all you that labor and a heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls For my yoke is easy and my burden is light John 10 27 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me I I Just lost my place. Oh Here I am So as I said, I was on roads that I'd never been before that's a that picture is one of the Wisconsin roads I was on It was awesome Much better than the highway But sometimes you hit detours, right? We hit detours in life. We hit detours on the road Usually there's signs up road closed detour and it with an arrow pointing you in this direction of that direction, right? Now if you're not familiar with the area You're most likely going to follow the detour signs, right? And you're going to trust in the signs because what else you're going to do, right? so This actually happened to me in Wisconsin Except there were no detour signs I'm driving down a road like I just showed you and all sudden the sign saying road closed Okay. Now I'm in rural, Wisconsin. My cell phone coverage is not existent. I Have a choice go right or go left. Okay, I'll go right. I don't know. There's no detour signs I'll go this way go a couple miles down this road country road just like that all of a sudden big sign road closed Okay. All right. I'll go left this time Go left go a couple miles down the road and all sudden road this actually happened to me like four times I was beginning to feel like a mouse in a maze trying to get a piece of cheese, man. I was like, man Finally I think it was after the fourth time. I don't think I did a fifth but maybe the fourth I Was getting very frustrated and I pulled over and prayed now you can correct me and say Doug You should have prayed in the beginning. You're absolutely right. I should have but I didn't Sometimes in our Christian walk, we hit a detour Maybe we backslid When this happens, we need to rely on our faith Okay, as I said earlier and that one waits vision. Our faith is the only thing we're going to have to hold on to Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble Isaiah 40 31 Isaiah 40 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. I Did make it through that maze in Wisconsin, obviously, I'm not still there so But it was frustrating I was like Okay, and it was nothing. It wasn't like there was a 7-eleven on the corner and this was all farmland, man There was nothing out there It's beautiful Now one of the amazing parts and I kind of hinted about it a little bit Amazing part of my trip was all the friends. I got to see These are some of my friends from the Air Force. I hadn't seen these people in 36 years Okay, that's a long time. We had a mini reunion in North Carolina It was an amazing night together a lot of laughter a lot of people said I remember when and then they tell a story We'd all laugh and the cool thing about it was it was like we we hadn't seen each other in 36 years But we picked it up like we had never been gone from each other. I love these people very dearly. I really do I told him I don't have another 36 years to wait. So we're going to get together again soon. I Also got to meet up with some other friends many of you might remember Kurt and Karen Amos Kurt used to be the Pathfinder Director for the conference I got to have I stayed night at their house got to have dinner with their daughter Erica and their son Zach I spent a night with Bob Cundiff Bob and Tanique Cundiff. He was our conference president He lives in Ohio now. Everybody lives in Ohio. Damn. Why is that? Good place to be Also got to meet up with a friend of mine Eric Flickinger from it is written down in Tennessee Got a nice tour of the years written facility And of course, as I said, I met new friends when we had the motorcycle rally in Portsmouth in August Some of my new friends from Ohio actually rode out to that this couple Robin and Charles They actually rode their trike all the way from Ohio to come and support our Rally, so but can this happen in your Christian walk? Yeah, I can it actually happened to me where I ran into an old friend again didn't grow up in church Okay, and there was this woman That I knew back when I was 15 matter of fact when we were 15 We used to date a little bit when our separate ways neither one of us grew up in a church And now I'm at camp meeting and I see her and she sees me and we're both like, what are you doing here? No, what are you doing? So, yeah, it can even happen in our Christian walk Now we need to remember no matter where we are home or abroad or wherever Remember who we are in Christ Friends you are sons and daughters of the king We need to be apart from this world. We are called to be a peculiar people We're to live in this world, but not have this world live in us We're to be a light in a very dark world But remember light shines brightest in the darkest We're currently living in a world Where good is being called evil and evil is being called good There are people who find it offensive if any of us Chose to pray in public or they find it offensive if we speak of Jesus in public Yet everything else in this world seems to go right everything else is good Wickedness of all kinds has become the norm of this world friends This world has nothing to offer us nothing at all. Many people say oh this world is spinning out of control I respectfully disagree. I think as long as God is on the throne. He's in control of everything He just has to let this great controversy play out, but it's not out of control This world is not our home. We are just traveling through Now on my trip every day. I wore my Adventist motorcycle ministry vest Okay Tells you right if you know as a Christian you see my vest that vest is a witness to people That I'm a Christian. Okay. Also the plate on my motorcycle says I pray I actually get a lot of comments and that's so funny I'll be a red light and the car will pull up next to me and roll down. I pray too. I'm like, hey, man That's awesome. But that's a witness Now with all that advertisement I got to remember who I am right because sometimes you're on the road and people cut you off and you get the temptation to give them the old one-finger salute and it's like I Better not that's not what Jesus would do in that situation. So but remember remember always who you are Okay, you are sons and daughters of the king Now in closing I have two appeals The first is to surrender your life to Jesus Dog, why is it every time you come here? You always that's always your first appeal because that is the most important one You know Ellen White said Try my which book it was in Anyways, you can look it up that we should treat every message like it's somebody's last message. They're ever going to hear So that's why I do these appeals many of you I know many of you have known for years some of you are just meeting My appeal is to surrender to Christ. Oh Dog, I've already done that great do it again Do it every day Paul said I died daily My second appeal is get out and travel get off the couch Get off the couch and just do it put down the electronics spend some time with your Creator whether it's traveling or or just Traveling around your city or town or whatever And if you happen to ride motorcycles Stay safe. Keep the shiny side up Happy Sabbath Amen we pray with me Dear Heavenly Father gracious Lord. We are redeemed and we thank you for that father is only through you We thank you for our salvation We thank you for your love your mercy your long suffering with each and every one of us father We thank you that you're with us each step of the way that you never leave us and I pray father that none of us Will ever leave you that we will hang on even if it's just hanging on by a thread Lord We're going to hang on to you. So father, please be with us. I thank you for this opportunity again Please bless all these beautiful people as they travel and continue to bless them throughout the Sabbath day Lord in Jesus name. We pray Amen