Daily Dosages

Senior has a whole new meaning to me, OK? Some things are clearer to me than they’ve ever been, honestly. Take friendships. I think a lot about friends. And I value friends.

And they’re important. So I’m committed. I’m freshly committed to staying in touch with friends. And I actually am one of those that is from the texting generation. I don’t do it as fast as my kids.

Course. But I’m from the– I know how to get around texting. And so I was relieved, actually, that at 60, however, there’s some acronyms that are brand new. So for example, BFF– you know that one, right? Best friend fainted is something that works for 60-year-olds.

And then CBM– here’s one. CBM. Covered by Medicare. So I get to tell somebody that when I’m golfing with a friend and somebody blows out a hip– hey, that’s covered by Medicare. It’s all going to work out.

But you’ve got to follow this one. It’s GGPM or PGGPBC. Gotta go pacemaker battery low, OK? So it’s just going to happen someday for all of you. Happen for me today.

And then my favorite, of course, is LOL. Everybody know LOL? Lots of love or laugh out loud or left on lip, which is what you text your friend or somebody you care about and say, you know, you’re having lunch with them. And they left some food outside their mouth. And it’s on their lips.

So left on lip is LOL. So obviously, people say you don’t look 60. You’ve aged gracefully. And I appreciate that. That means a lot.

But then I got to thinking more about that, because I’ve heard that a few times. And I’ve concluded, how is that different than saying you’re slowly looking worse? So it’s a point of fact that the older I get, the earlier it gets late. I’m going to know that feeling, right? The older I get– I am praying– I don’t know if I can move this kind of mountain in my prayer life, but I’m praying that daylight savings time, the fall kind, the fall one, happens like frequently, not once a year.

But honestly, the older I get, the earlier late gets. And so I’ll get a phone call. Seriously, I start yawning sometimes at dinner. And I get a phone call at nine. And somebody will go, sorry, did I wake you?

Yes. Yes, you did. OK. I heard a lot of other great comments, but nothing better than what I hold in my hand. It’s a pillminder.

This is a fantastic gift to give somebody 60. Really helpful. Some of you are looking, why is that a big deal pastor? I’ve had one for a while now. I hear they come in bigger sizes.

See, look at your reality. Yeah, they do. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m going to get some suggestions later. But anyway, it’s true.

Getting older is part of life. And I hear and see in many of you that 60s cool. And we’re going on to bigger and better things ahead. Let me tell you what we just did, because if you’ve been here a long time and we share a friendship, you know that I believe in this book. And I believe in every word of this book, the Bible.

And in Proverbs, chapter 17, verse 22, it says, “A joyful heart is good medicine.” So what we just did is good. And you just got some pills this morning. So it’s really true. It’s good medicine.

And you’re laughing with me. And you are laughing with me, aren’t you? I’m just making sure of that. I’ve pondered this thought. And we were thinking about, wow, November 4, actually, is November 4 every year in my mind.

And definitely in my mother’s mind, she’s the one that remembers it the most. Her and my dad when they had their third and final child. And so as it’s been said and Doug, thank you. What a blessing to have your words talk about the significance way more than my birthday, 60. But to celebrate this church’s birthday, we are a church that has not wavered from the gospel of Jesus.

And we’re not not gonna. We will not. We will not. It doesn’t change. Amen?

That’s true. And we’re gonna present it in every time, in every culture, in every climate and circumstance. But we’re gonna present it in a grace-filled way, which is why many years ago we adopted the name Grace Point, because Grace is the point. There’s some tough, challenging words in this book. We don’t hide from them.

We don’t apologize for them. We present them and we do so clothed and dipped in grace. And that’s what Grace Point is all about. But I already said this before, but it bears repeating, and you’ll hear it in my heart, ’cause it’s truly what I feel. That I talk to a lot of pastors that do not have 25 years to talk about in one church.

Some do, and I know, Gil, you’re one of them. But always, without exception, the ones that are able to persevere and go through, it’s the fire and the flood. It’s joy and sorrow. It’s everything you can imagine. But you don’t go through it alone.

You go through it as a team. And I’m talking about Debbie, and 35-year mate of mine, and I couldn’t do this a day without her by my heart. And my side. So I just love you, Debbie. And I want everybody to know that that’s why I keep going when the going gets really challenging.

And my wife and the Mac 5, the three now adult children, are part of what I’m describing right now. So Treva, I love you, man. And it’s awesome having Trev back here today. So humor aside, I’m actually pretty healthy. I’m told by senior adults that give me a view of what it looks like going forward.

And most of you are really fun to talk to about that. But frequently, a theme comes up. And it’s some version of medicine. I hear that. Medicine, I’ve heard somebody say, medicine sort of becomes a definition or starts to define your life.

And it’s typically about the type of medicine and the quantity or the amount. In fact, this is last week, this is a real true story. Somebody came in, and they were telling me how relieved they were that their doctor had accidentally prescribed more. They doubled the dose of some kind of medicine, and it caused a very real scare for them, obviously, when that was not the intent, but it was a mistake. Now, mistakes can happen to anybody from prescribed medicine.

But we all know that what you’re prescribed and how much of it you’re prescribed matters, it’s important. I could tell you a long story, but I do remember a story years ago when my cousin, who’s deathly allergic to penicillin, they were wandering around in the forest, and they came upon a hornet’s nest, and the kids didn’t know it, they were little, but they started hitting it, beating it with sticks, which is not a smart idea. And knocked it out of the tree, it was hanging from

a limb, and it hit the ground, and it just exploded with angry hornets, and they owned this family. There were three kids and mom and dad, and they were stinging the daylights out of them, including Larry, my cousin, and they sort of triaged the moment, and everybody was, no one in full shock or whatever, but then they rushed to the hospital ’cause they are stung big time, and they get there, and I just remember, it was kind of fuzzy, I was younger, but I remember even

greater drama when they just about gave him penicillin, which would have done way worse than the hornets themselves, so. Medicine’s important, it’s funny.

This pill-minder is kind of interesting, and I thought, why would you need that? And then I realized that it takes the confusion out of medicine, right? So it’s all set for you, this one’s just a week, and this is not my color anyway. So, silver and black would work. But anyway, so it got me thinking about, and inspired for a few minutes, to talk to you about something today that I’m calling daily dose, or dosages, and I thought, what an interesting way to think about our relationship with God.

There’s certain things that we need, and we need them on a daily basis, and I just wanna briefly kind of point you to a couple of them, the first, in fact, mention, put my pill-minder someplace. Communion table would be tacky, wouldn’t it? Okay, so. So, I’m turning to Exodus. Would you turn to Exodus chapter 12 for just the first that I found in the Bible of, I would call it a daily dose.

Fits my theme, but it’s really a true or accurate picture in Exodus. It actually comes up in Exodus 16, up is Exodus 12. We’re not gonna read that whole section, but I can quickly capture it for you. By Exodus 16, something extraordinary has taken place. The Jewish people were free.

They were no longer slaves. For as long as any of them could remember, they were held against their will by the foreign oppressive government of Egypt, the Pharaoh, and the multiple Pharaohs, that came and controlled and dominated and pretty much sucked the oxygen out of the air for these dear people. Foreign, oppressed with zero rights, these Hebrew people living in a foreign country. So, they’ve been set free from all of that, and they’re a sizable group. They number some two to 2.5 million people by best estimates.

So, there’s a lot of them, and they’re making their way after leaving Exodus and leaving under the circumstances of the most retold and venerated miracle in the Bible, the parting of the sea and the Exodus. It was appropriate, understandably, the thing everybody talked about, keeps talking about it. It’s why Passover is still in the calendar of the Jewish people. So, along the way, they’re now free, right? And they’re heading pretty much east.

Their plan is actually to go east and north, but they come to the sea and they cross the sea, and Pharaohs guys are all dead, and they begin to grumble and gripe, and they fuss, and they fight. And this, by the way, wasn’t a memory generation’s earlier. It was just days before. This wasn’t long before. And they become this kind of ungrateful people.

And it seems like the memory of what they’ve just been delivered from in chapter 14 and is gone. 15 is this big song. It’s a beautiful song by Moses. 15. It’s a really cool thing.

So, there’s this beautiful sort of, let’s call it a church service. There’s this great worship of chapter 15, and then we come to chapter 16. In spite of their attitude, God is still traveling with these people. Look back at verse 29, and this is a sweet picture to me of contentment. It’s graphic, but of chapter 14.

The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground. With a wall of water on the right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead. That’s the graphic part. Crushed by the receding waves, and when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians.

Look at this. People feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in his leader, Moses. It’s a great picture right there. It’s a beautiful scene. And then if you cut clear across, this is 72 hours later.

The first thing they ran into is water that wasn’t potable. And they’re in a very, we would say, God forsaken land. It wasn’t true because God was with him, but it felt that way. It was like, who would ever live here? I’m tempted to mention Woodburn or something, but it’s some dreadful place that you just go, this is no place to live.

And the water was horrible. Debbie and I traveled with our family to Texas one time in a town there. We went into a Walmart or something. They’re on every corner. And we walk in and they have the biggest water section I’ve ever been in.

And tell you had tap water in that town. And you realize, holy cow, they’ve got a lock on it. It was dreadful water. And it wrecked lattes and important things like coffee, my big mug. So here’s the deal.

They’re really upset. And see if you don’t pick up on the tone and their tune that had changed from celebration at the end of chapter 14 to, are you kidding me? And they’re not at all happy, verse 22. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what are we to drink? Notice it affected Moses too.

He cried out to the Lord. And the Lord showed him a piece of wood and he threw it in. And he threw it into the water and the water suddenly became sparkling. Delicious, plentiful. Hi, that’d be great to end the story there, but less than one month’s time later, they’re trekking now across the desert toward Mount Sinai.

So that’s literally on the Sinai Peninsula due south of where they were at this point where the water’s a problem. And the new challenge now is no food. Earlier, though they now had tucked away this miracle, it was fresh, it was less than a month old. We got water. Yes, we do.

We got lots of it for brew. Anyway, you get the idea? We’ve got lots of water they’re saying. And they were unable to transfer that to the new challenge. They didn’t have food and they flip out again.

Verse two, chapter 16. Let’s pick up there in the desert. The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the Lord’s hand back in Egypt. Can you imagine such a statement?

There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we could eat. But you brought us out here into the desert to starve us to death. What strange logic. But that’s where they found themselves. And if you’re Moses, you’re feeling it huge.

It says the whole assembly. That’s everyone, y’all. Debbie and I went to the football game yesterday in Eugene. And the Ducks beat UCLA Bruins. They spanked them.

Yeah, they did. They did. And Jesus was clapping on that one. But here’s the deal. There was a bad call or two.

There was a targeting call, which is a very, it’s the worst, like offense you could do in football. And it’s got a graphic image when the referee announces targeting. A duck targeted a UCLA player and they are ejected from the game. And I think they’re ejected from the next game. They’re penalized.

It’s a terrible, terrible penalty. And they kept showing the replay. And the fans, it would be an understatement to say we didn’t agree with the call. And they blew a fuse. 58,000 of them went postal.

We were given these little yellow wand sticks that show light. And they began to cover the field. I mean, people are flipped out. And I thought to myself, remember the commercial Southwest Airlines? Wanna get away.

If you’re that ref, that’s what you’re feeling right there. These people do not like you. Or anything about you. They hate to look at your shirt too, right? That’s how Moses felt in this moment.

Only multiply that number exponentially. You get the idea. Terribly lonely moment for Moses. And then what happens next is just astounding. God’s response to these, used to say belly aching people.

Look at it verse three, verse four. Let’s pick up at verse four. The Lord said to Moses, “Stand back, I’m gonna smoke ’em.” I would expect that. You’re the God taking care of these people and all they can do is kick dirt clods and shake a fist at you.

But watch what we’re reading about, verse four. The Lord said to Moses, “I’m gonna rain down bread from heaven “you.” These people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them, see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they’re to prepare what they bring in.

And that is to be twice as much as they normally gather on any other day. Can you hear the calm? God didn’t go, what? He takes care of them and he causes manna to fall daily. And twice on Friday morning when they went out to gather, ’cause Friday is Shabbat, it’s unsaid.

So they went out to gather, not once day supply, but because you’re supposed to do no work and gathering would be work, two day supply. And guess what? There was two day supply. It’s a remarkable scene. I wanna stop and just say, who provides that kind of daily portion?

What kind of God does that? It’s the God who reaches out to people like me and you in grace and sees us in our sin. And instead of kicking us to the curb, says I can do something to make that better. In fact, I sent my son for that purpose. That’s why communion comes up every month and we spend time thinking about what he did.

To people that were like these people, not deserving of that. In fact, if you were to take time to go to Titus chapter three, you would find a description of people that are really, well, they’re us. And Titus three says that we’d messed everything up, my paraphrase here. And he says in verse three, Titus three, verse three, at one time you were messed up, you were foolish, you were disobedient, you were deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. Somebody you know?

Go to a duck game, you’ll see plenty of it on display, okay? I’m serious, I love the ducks, but you go to your neighborhood. Go to your bedroom and look in the mirror, okay? So look at this, let me just read. They lived in malice and envy, they were hated and hated one another.

At that point you think God’s gonna rain down something. But the next verse says, but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. He saved us. And He did so not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us generously, upon deadly.

That’s an incredible God. That’s the God I get excited about. That’s the one I like to read about and preach about and teach about. And that’s the God that provides this manna. Talk about a physical need met on a daily basis.

It’s what’s behind the words that Jesus said when asked how to pray. He said pray that and in this way our Father who art in heaven. You remember verse 11 right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer we refer to it? Give us this day. Would you in your mind at least circle those two words?

Give us this day our daily bread. Because you’re praying it to the same God we’re reading about here who delights in delivering daily bread. Daily bread. Augur is probably not a name, it’s not a machine. It’s not a name in the Bible that you’re familiar with.

Nothing’s known about him except he’s the pre-script on Proverbs 30. These are wise words from Augur. He’s a bro. He said some really great things. Listen to these words from Augur.

These are a prayer. He actually prays this prayer. I’m guessing this is editorial Steve not explaining the actual truth. I think he prayed this daily. Proverbs 30 verses eight and nine read this way.

Give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, and he thinks it through. Otherwise, I might have too much. And disown you. It could result in a train wreck in my spiritual walk with you Jesus because you give me too much.

My eyes get off you or potentially so. For the record I know a lot of very wealthy people where that’s not true. They’re still dialed into Jesus and he has full access to their pockets and purses. That’s the guy I want to be always. Still quoting from Augur.

He says If I have too much, I could be that guy that disowns you and say the Lord, who’s he? He’s not done. He played it out the other way. Or if I don’t have just enough, I might be the one that says God, why? Why have you shorted me?

I have needs, don’t you know? And he recognizes that risk in his own soul. This could go bad. Lesson I need. I’m not just going to go well.

It’s just what God has for me. It may be bad. And I might end up, he says dishonoring the name of my God. Proverbs 30 verses eight and nine. Really a prayer that I think could stand to be prayed by a lot of us on a daily basis.

I just wrote down a question that I want to ask you that’s been on my mind this week. What’s our hang up with daily doses? You probably have your answer. But looking at the Hebrew people, which I really relate to a lot, I think we’re supposed to. Could it be a trust problem?

Because I want my pantry full. I’m not going to lie to you. I want it full. I want the fridge full. And that’s way more than daily.

It just is. And we hear God say I’m going to provide for you daily yet. How many of us say really? Are you sure? You’re looking at one that struggles with that.

I even go so far sometimes to say, well, what is it? God says. God says, I’ll give you what you need. I really will. And you need to turn the page here.

And it’s in the third chapter of lamentation. So would you kind of cruise from Exodus and you go clear over to Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and then you go past Isaiah and then you come to Jeremiah and finally his sort of final words that are written by him, but they’re under the label lamentation. So lamentation chapter three. This next one and it’s much shorter. It sustained me over the years.

I want to think of this as mercy, medicine for my daily need. Can you write that down? So what you’re going to read here is really a remarkable statement. Now fast forward from that end of those 40 years. Fast forward eight centuries.

You find yourself in roughly the timeframe of the lamentation. So Jeremiah is the prophet of Judah at this time. And Jerusalem had fallen. The capital of Judah, the south, the north was long gone. But Jerusalem had fallen and he’s the prophet, one of several at that time.

He’s very outspoken about the experience because God put him into the middle of it and he is along with the city in rubble, the temple was destroyed and he has understandably crestfallen. If you were to see him he said not a word. You’d say, what’s up, bro? I mean, Jeremiah, what happened? Well, you wouldn’t need help because you’d be standing in the rubble yourself, but you’d see the effect it had on this dear man of God.

And in lamentations here, he describes and he describes in first person what it felt like to watch all this happen because he had been the one warning for 40 years, turn around people, pay attention to God, humble yourself, yourself before him, on and on it went. And he was, if you ever been teared out, you cried yourself out, you just, yeah, some of you, you raised your hand, I know you’ve lost loved ones. You cry and tell there’s no more tears that come. That’s not new to you and that’s not only for you. Look at verse 11 of lamentation two.

He says, my eyes fail from weeping. My heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed because children in infants faint in the streets of the city. It’s right out in plain view. Turn over to chapter three now and he summarizes in sort of first person what it felt to be here at this time. Look at verse 17.

First chapter three verse 17. He’s living it. He’s feeling it. Within me. Those two Psalms say that four times.

Why are you in despair, oh, my soul? Well, have you ever talked to yourself like that? Sure, you have. And why have you become disturbed within me? And his resolute conclusion each time is hope in God.

Hope in God for I shall yet praise him. The day will come when I will smile again. I could preach another sermon right now, but that’s really true. Weeping last for the night. But joy comes in the morning and that’s a beautiful picture.

So this is a sorrow he’s describing that seemed to know no bounds. Can barely breathe. But wait, he has a change. He sees something and he remembers verse 21. I will call yet this I will call to mind and I will therefore have hope because of the Lord’s great love.

We are not consumed for his compassion’s never fail. They are new every morning, every day. A daily dose. Great is your faithfulness. I said to myself, the Lord is my portion.

Therefore I will wait on him. The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly. What did he see? Nothing left to smile about it all around him, but he dared to hope.

I’m saying something to you right now. If you’re one of those people on the edge and you’re teetering with, maybe flirting with giving up. You’re tired of trying. And he was. He was worn out.

But three things grabbed his attention. He remembered God’s great love. That’s why he says so. Verse 22. He called that to mind, his first thing on his list.

I remembered your great love. And I’m not consumed. And notice, secondly, his compassion’s. He remembered God’s compassion. The word we use more sort of frequently is mercy’s.

God’s mercy. I remember that as well. And it’s delivered like his great love daily. It’s replenished daily. And he remembers something that holds you when very little else does.

He remembers his faithfulness. Look at verse 23 again. The Lord is my portion. I will wait on him back up verse 23. These things are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness. His mercy is my daily medicine. Life sometimes comes at us hard. And when it does, we’re at a loss in those moments. How we’ll get through it.

And in some cases, we’ve forgotten. We’re adrift. We don’t have anything to hold on to tightly. I think I’m looking out this morning and seeing some people that are their grips getting starting to slip. And I want to say to you in the authority of what we’ve just read, and then we’re going to share communion.

God has a daily dose of provision for you. And he said he’ll provide enough. He will be the Jehovah Jairah. The one that provides. The God that provides.

He wants you to know, he wants me to know that. And I’ve seen that again and again. There are some who fear that their failings are beyond the reach of God’s mercy. The stuff we just read about in Lamentations 3. We know that’s not true because of two sweeping statements in the Bible.

First, all of us have sinned. Secondly, God offers in his mercy, salvation to every single one of the sinners they call out to him. Amen. Let’s bow our heads this morning. And servers are going to join me here in the front.

And just as they do, I want to have you go back to where we started talking about manna. And of course, manna was delivered daily and we know that. The entire 40 years, every single day, there was food, there was provision, there was bread. But in contrast, Jesus said this of himself. I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness. And yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not a single one will die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. This morning, as you think about God’s daily dose of provision and of mercy. And as you think about your daily need for that bread, go a step further this morning and take the heart that you’re about to hold in your hand a piece of bread. A cracker and it’s representing this bread of life.

If you’ve never turned to Jesus, now is the time to turn to him and say, I know I get hungry the next day after I’ve been fed. I want to be satisfied. I need you, Jesus. I take you. As you utter those words to him, he invites you to take the bread and the cup.

The cup represents what was spilt on the cross by him. And he says, hold it in your hand long enough for everybody to be served and it will give you time to think deeply about him. And then we’ll share in communion and a final song and we’ll be on our way. All right. Let’s join in communion at this time.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,097 words.