Have you ever faced a crossroads, the kind where every direction promises adventure yet demands faith? We were blessed to have Warren Gasaway from the Arkansas Baptist State Convention share his personal crossroads story, one that not only tested his faith but also strengthened it immeasurably. Journey with us as Warren reflects on the transition of his children into adulthood, his deep ties to the Eldorado community, and how his family's commitment to Christ forms the backbone of their collective journey.
Warren's narrative unfurled into a broader discourse on the dynamism of faith, echoing the wisdom of Deuteronomy, encouraging us to step out of our comfort zones and into the divine path set before us. His tale of courage and obedience, mirrored by the Israelites' directive to "turn and take your journey," reminds us that we're not just growing our own faith; we're on a mission to manifest God's love to the world. And while safety often seems wrapped up in what's familiar, Warren's experiences assure us that the truest security is found in the center of God's will.
Ending on a powerful note, this episode draws parallels from the iconic roar of "The Lion King's" Mufasa to the strength and support we find in faith during our most challenging moments. For those who are newcomers to the faith or seasoned believers, there's an invitation to embark on a life-changing adventure, to trust in the promises of God, and to share the hope and life we have in Christ. Close your eyes, listen in, and let's celebrate the spiritual journey that awaits, complete with the promise of His return.
Have you ever faced a crossroads, the kind where every direction promises adventure yet demands faith? We were blessed to have Warren Gasaway from the Arkansas Baptist State Convention share his personal crossroads story, one that not only tested his faith but also strengthened it immeasurably. Journey with us as Warren reflects on the transition of his children into adulthood, his deep ties to the Eldorado community, and how his family's commitment to Christ forms the backbone of their collective journey.
Warren's narrative unfurled into a broader discourse on the dynamism of faith, echoing the wisdom of Deuteronomy, encouraging us to step out of our comfort zones and into the divine path set before us. His tale of courage and obedience, mirrored by the Israelites' directive to "turn and take your journey," reminds us that we're not just growing our own faith; we're on a mission to manifest God's love to the world. And while safety often seems wrapped up in what's familiar, Warren's experiences assure us that the truest security is found in the center of God's will.
Ending on a powerful note, this episode draws parallels from the iconic roar of "The Lion King's" Mufasa to the strength and support we find in faith during our most challenging moments. For those who are newcomers to the faith or seasoned believers, there's an invitation to embark on a life-changing adventure, to trust in the promises of God, and to share the hope and life we have in Christ. Close your eyes, listen in, and let's celebrate the spiritual journey that awaits, complete with the promise of His return.
Hi and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast. We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord. Now join me as we listen into this week's sermon.
Speaker 2:So halfway through worship I realized that there's something very important that I forgot to do. So let me introduce to you this morning our speaker, warren Gasaway. Warren serves as the team leader for evangelism and church health at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. He's married to Melissa. They have three young adult children. He has served in churches in Eldorado and in Waldron, has student family and associate pastor. It says thanks to WG, so you're welcome to WG. This is Warren Gasaway.
Speaker 1:It's pretty cool, thanks, thanks, mom, I told you to wait in the car. Yeah, it's really good when someone reads the bio that you wrote on yourself. That is, that's really good. I appreciate it. I love your staff, love their leadership, love being here.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not love Eldorado. Served here several years ago, been gone for 10 years now and excited to be back. I'm excited to continue what you guys have been doing the last three weeks by understanding correctly Colby preached, and then Brandon and then Landon, so I'm the last of the Young man series that were wait what? And so really excited to be with you this morning. We're on our journey to a promise. We're on a journey to a promise. We have entered into a new season in our life, in our journey, where our three children, who most of you, or some of you in this room, helped raise and coach and worked with, are leaving our house, and that is revival time for us all. Right, when your older sons get off of your car insurance, that is a game changer. Listen, we're loving it. We're loving it For those of you who have little ones that just ran out of the room. It's okay, it's gonna be okay. I promise One day it will be okay and they're all doing well.
Speaker 1:Tyler is a math teacher in Moralton School District and is married to an accountant. They love numbers at their house. And then Ethan is a coach and a social studies teacher in the Nettleton School District of Jonesboro. And then Elise don't tell her, I paused. Elise is a junior nursing major at UCA and I wanna thank you guys for being a big, big part of their life and their faith. I'm happy to report that they all love Jesus and all love the church and serve the church, and so I'm really really grateful for God's grace in our lives, despite us. And it's just part of the journey, and that's what I wanna talk about today, because all of us in here are on a journey of faith to some degree. God is asking you in various ways all across this room I can't apply it all because it's so varied around the room, but God is asking you to exhibit faith in a multitude of ways, and so I wanna talk about that just a little bit this morning in Deuteronomy 1. Would you turn to Deuteronomy, chapter one, with me? Deuteronomy, for those of you who are new to the church, new to the faith, maybe even here this morning exploring the faith. I'm so grateful that you're here. It's an honor that you're here.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy is a book in the Old Testament. It's on the left-hand side of your Bible. If you go to the very, very beginning and just go through a couple of books, you'll see about four books. You'll see Deuteronomy. If you go to Joshua, you've gone too far and it was also really good to see Big Al on the stage. If you're playing that, les Paul Gibson, we need to call you Slash or something like that. We gotta come up with some other nickname. Really good to see a lot of folks here.
Speaker 1:Larry Walters a name you probably haven't heard of, but a man who could have lived in El Dorado, a man who is like some of the guys that are in this room, because Larry Walters decided it was time to go on a journey. He decided it was time to make new discoveries. A 33-year-old truck driver who was bored. So he decided one day in 1982, so this dates a little bit that he would blow up a bunch of helium balloons and attach it to his Sears and Roebuck lawn chair. Do you remember those lawn chairs that had the little strips of fabric? That was Larry, and he thought maybe I could just take a little trip up in the air, maybe go somewhere See how this goes. So he filled up his balloons on July, the 2nd 1982. 42 helium filled weather balloons and took along a pellet gun, deciding when he had gotten up far enough, drifted away a little ways. He would just shoot the balloons out and just drift slowly back to the earth.
Speaker 1:I'm giving somebody in here an idea right now. Amen, this is good. I see looks on faces. I wonder if I could do that. So he does. He flings himself, he cuts the straps that were holding his lawn chair down and he flings into the air At first, climbing a thousand, a couple thousand feet. All of a sudden Larry reaches 16,000 feet in altitude before he even knows what's going on. The funniest thing is to hear the reports from the TWA pilots flying nearby. Hey, there's some guy up here floating around in a lawn chair. This is nuts. Finally he comes to decides he will shoot out the balloons. He lands 45 minutes later, eight miles away in San Jose, california.
Speaker 1:The retired truck driver decided he was going to retire from truck driving and he ends up in a Timex ad. He ends up on the Late Show with David Letterman in an interview, somebody asked him Larry, what in the world, man, what caused you to do something like this? This is his quote. I just couldn't sit there any longer.
Speaker 1:Some of us walk in the room today and we have a spiritual restlessness. Some of us are walking through some things in life where we're thinking man, what is God asking me to do? In this season, your church is in a season where now you're in a search. You've been there before, you know what this feels like, but you're wondering kind of what's around the corner? What kind of journey is this going to be? Where is this going to lead us? And I think we can receive some promises, some encouragement from God's Word when we look at Deuteronomy, chapter one, beginning in verse one. These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan and the wilderness. So let me tell you just a little bit of what's going on here. Moses is about to let his people go into the land of promise, but before he sends them he's not going in. You know the story he can't go Before he sends them in. He is actually reflecting back in Deuteronomy, and so he begins to look back and help them to remember everything that God had done in the process to bring them to this place of promise.
Speaker 1:Verse two it's 11 days journey from Horeb, by the way, another name for Mount Sinai by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Bardin. In the 40th year, on the first day of the 11th month, moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that Lord had given him in commandment to them after he had defeated Sion. The king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and the king of Beishan, who lived in Astoroth and Idra, beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moses undertook to explain this law, saying the Lord, our God, said to us in Horeb now you may want to underline this you have stayed long enough at this mountain. You have stayed long enough at this mountain. If you're keeping notes with me this morning, you might just write down that's enough. It kind of sounds like mom, all of a sudden. Right, that's enough. That's what God says to his people. They're camped at this holy, holy place, mount Sinai, the place where they had experienced God over and over.
Speaker 1:Moses himself had seen God and experienced him over and over. All of a sudden, god says to them yeah, you've been here long enough, it's time to take a new journey a new path, moses, as he's taken them back 40 years, a generation. He's reminding them of what God said as they had gathered around that comfortable place, that place where they had experienced and seen God, and all of a sudden, god breaks in and says you've marched around this place long enough. I've got a better plan for you, and it could be this morning that for some of us, god is speaking something similar. Maybe in our habits, in our routines, you're just at a numb place spiritually and it could be that God is speaking into your life this morning and saying that's enough, it's time to shake things up a little bit. I need you to exhibit faith, I need you to take a step, I need you to do something new. Because I'm doing something new and it's possible that God was speaking to your life this morning and say listen, I know it's comfortable, I know it's cozy, I know what you've been doing for all of these years has led you to me, but now I am taking you, I am positioning you, I am changing you in a way where you're going to see me do something new. That's enough Time to go For us in the church.
Speaker 1:That's a hard thing for us to hear, because we really do like the routine. Let's just be honest, we love for everything to kind of be similar and situated as it has always been, and when we walk into church, when we gather with our people, we want some of the same. Now, listen, there's nothing wrong with some of the fundamentals, the things that we gather around the scripture absolutely. That never changes. The gospel never changes. Who Jesus is never changes. I'm not talking about any of that. I am talking about habits and ruts and routines. Sometimes God just intervenes. You've seen that, especially over the last three or four years. Routines have just been shattered and there's no longer a regular rhythm or pace to anything.
Speaker 1:Could it be that God is using that to stir us up, especially the American church, and say let's do something a little bit different? Could it be that in your church, as you were going through a change in leadership, that God is using this time to stir you up and to sense a change that is coming? Because I'm going to tell you, god always uses change to change people. He never waste change, he always uses it. If you're going through any kind of personal change in your life, I promise you it's from the Lord, god above, and its purpose is to change you and to grow your faith. It's His promise to us. So how do we figure out what God is doing? How do we figure out when God is saying that's enough?
Speaker 1:I go back to a man by the name of Henry Blackaby that I kind of count as a spiritual hero. He says you know, god works and speaks in these four or five ways through prayer, through Scripture, through circumstances, through people, god's people who are keyed into who Jesus is. When those things begin to align and speak in a particular way, that's how God speaks to us. I think of concentric circles, if you will. Those circles that sort of come together and they're in the center. They form their own little oval. I think of those circumstances in prayer and peace that comes from God and people that begin to speak the same thing, and opportunities. And when you see all of those things come together concentrically, forming something there in the center, that's where God's will is. That's where God's will is. So we can't use the excuse I never hear from God Come on now If we're praying and if he's using His word and speaking and there are people, godly people, who are saying some of the same things, and then there's these opportunities that come along when all of that aligns. God's doing something and he may be saying that's enough, that's enough Time to do something different.
Speaker 1:So the Israelites had a choice either look forward and enjoy God's blessing in the days ahead, or live in the past and forfeit the journey. So look what's happening in verse seven Verse seven, good phrase to underline turn and take your journey. Turn and take your journey. Go to the hill country of the Amorites, to the neighbors in the Arabah, to the hill country in the lowlands and in the Nigueb and the sea coast, the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates. See, I have set this land before you. Go in, take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. You've been hearing about this forever. Let's go. Let's go, get it, take it. I'm going to give it to you and to your offspring after you. Number two if you're writing notes, turn and take your journey. You begin to say I'm a real simple man, I'm just taking the points from Scripture. Turn and take your journey. That's exactly what he told him.
Speaker 1:The change is so difficult for us personally and in community. But the Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11, one without faith it is impossible to please God. You ever thought about that? You know what pleases the Lord, god you exhibiting faith. Out of all the things that God could have mentioned in Scripture that pleases him, there are several things that do Reading his word, coming to him in prayer, all of those things. He specifically defines faith in Hebrews chapter 11, and he attaches your exhibition of faith to his pleasure. Wow, wow. What kind of faith is God asking from us today? God just doesn't bring people out of something without a point. He has a point to this journey. He has a point to this mission. There's something that he's wanting to do. He is about to put on display for the entire world his character and his nature through these people.
Speaker 1:Do you realize that as they marched around that mountain there was sort of this closed community? Not many folks yet knew of the Lord, god Almighty. Not many folks yet knew of the great story. Not many people knew of the redemption that was coming. But when he told them to go and take their journey, he was launching the first missionary unit of people into the world. Did you hear all of the lands that were described. Go to those people, go into those pagan lands, go as a mission unit of who I am, because you're about to put me on display. You've seen me, you know who I am. It's been declared. You've received the commandments, you know. Now it's time. And that's what God does in our lives. When he calls us to take a step of faith, it's for his great name and his renown. He is asking us to exhibit faith so that he can be put on display. He's inviting us to an amazing, amazing journey.
Speaker 1:God used this verse in particular for us when we were moving from El Dorado, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, because it took a lot. It took a lot for us to uproot a junior in high school and everything that was going on in this community that we loved and friends that we had made. But he said you've got to go, I've got something for you. And as we thought through that, I'll be honest we really struggled with God's will, what we're supposed to do. Some of you are struggling with God's will even this morning, and you're saying I don't know that I can do that. I don't know that I can go across the street and talk to my neighbor about Jesus. I don't know that I can give more than what I'm giving right now. I don't know that I can invest more in the church. I don't know that I could serve in that capacity.
Speaker 1:There's these faith struggles that enter into our lives and you're thinking, man, I want to stay at comfort level, I want to stay in my routines and ruts. God is shaking me up and saying what about this, what about serving in this capacity? And you're thinking, man, I don't know if that's safe for me. Let me break in for just a minute and tell you the safest place that you can be is the center of God's will. The safest place you can be, turn and take your journey. They were to turn and take their journey because they were going to take the mission to the world. They were like a rubber band. You know, a rubber band's purpose is not just to sit there all kind of flingy like A rubber band's purpose is to be stretched.
Speaker 1:Our faith's purpose is more than just us feeling good about who God is and who we are in Christ. Our faith's purpose is to be strict. It's at the very core of the word faith. Believe in what God has for me, believe in what God wants to do. We can't stay in our comfort zones. Sometimes that means saying bye to some relationships that hold us back. I just stepped on somebody right there, somebody in the room. Sometimes it means saying we're not going to do those routines anymore. Sometimes it means I'm going to take on this responsibility, I'm going to engage the church this way. I can't apply these things to you because they're so individual across the room, but I'm just saying God's telling someone in here it's time to turn.
Speaker 1:But watch, number three, Watch number three here. Verse eight, verse eight. Some of us are a little bit uneasy right now. Oh, what is God saying? Watch eight here. I have set this land before you Go in. Take possession of the land that the Lord swore to the fathers Abraham, isaac, jacob to give to you and your offspring. Do you hear the confidence from God Almighty in this Scripture? This is a done deal. I have given you the land. It's going to happen. I am God. I cause these things. So right down, number three a promise awaits you.
Speaker 1:When you exhibit faith, when you turn and take God at His word and engage Him in whatever steps he's wanting you to take, he always fulfills His promises. Have you ever thought of all the promises in God's word, hundreds, hundreds, and the span of time where humanity has been in relationship with God thousands of years and God has never, ever, ever once failed His promises, not one time. And so when he speaks into our lives and says I have something for you, you can count on it, you can take it to the bank, this is happening. A promise awaits you. This promise had been given hundreds of years earlier. This is not news to them. They have been waiting on this a long time. They just needed to receive it.
Speaker 1:That same kind of promise we've heard through Scriptures, all through the Old Testament, of a Messiah who would be coming, and people waited and waited and waited, and then, finally, jesus broke in at the right time, in the right place, onto the scene, and we have the great gospel that's been given to us, a promise fulfilled. You and I, 2,000, 2,000 years later, are gathered in this place on a cold Sunday morning with some ice on the ground. We've made our way here because we believe that he's coming back. But there's a promise that is awaiting us and if he doesn't come, while we're breathing, when we take that last breath, we're going to go see Him in the future promise land, the heavenly promise land that all of this points to in the first place. I have set the land before you.
Speaker 1:What happens in this moment is a decision and it's a value judgment, and it often happens with us. When we make decisions of faith, god often brings us to a point where we have to make a call, and it often relates to what we value most. It's why Jesus said over and over and over again treasure the things of the kingdom, put your life in eternity, treasure the things that are of eternal value. He talked about it over and over again because he knows that when we are brought to this place, we have to make a value call. Is this promise that God's calling me to? Is it worth it?
Speaker 1:Some of you are sitting here today and you're lost. You don't know Jesus, you've never given your life to Him. You're living off of a preacher's faith. You come to church and you hear about it for 30 minutes, and that's your kind of spiritual experience. Some of you are living off of your parents' faith or your grandparents' faith or a faith legacy that has been handed down to you. You come to 1st Bab-de-sel-der-et-do because that's what you're supposed to do on Sunday and God is trying to intervene and call you out of that meaninglessness, that numbness, that spiritual numbness to this resurrection life that floods your heart and soul. But you have to make a value call. Some of us are sitting here today and we've been Christians and followers of Jesus for a while. We're trying to figure out well, what's God taking? Where is he taking me next in these steps of faith? Am I supposed to teach? Am I supposed to serve on some sort of team in the church? Am I supposed to give more? Give more. What am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1:All of those promises that we see in Scripture and you're at a value judgment, and, if you'll look, almost every promise in Scripture is attached to some sort of response from you and me. Have you ever thought about it? The cleanliness of sin is attached to a response from you and me. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive you and cleanse you from all sin. Make you new Promise, clean the response you're supposed to confess Giving to the church. If you'll give, I promise that your storehouses will be flowing over, but that's attached to a response from you, an action from you, an action of faith. Give. Do you see how this works.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes we come to this value judgment. Am I going to? Number one believe the promise. And number two am I going to value it more than my routines and my norms and my comforts? God calls us into these kinds of faith moments. I could go on and on. You want wisdom, the promise of wisdom on how to deal with life. What's the faith action Ask? This one's pretty easy ask and it will be given. So here they are, a promise awaiting them.
Speaker 1:And that leads me to number four, which is I'm going to skip ahead to verse 30, verse 30 of chapter one. The Lord your God, who goes before you, will oh man, right, yeah, underline this one he himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt, before your eyes and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you. Maybe you want to underline that one as well. Fight for you, carried you as a man carries his son. All the way that you went until you came to this place. The command, over and over and over again, was to take possession. It occurs 18 times in chapters one and two. They were encouraged to strive for this promise and God knew it was going to be a little bit of a battle for them. It was going to require effort, even sometimes, to engage in battle. For us today, spiritual battle. So right now, number four you will need to remember who is on your side. You will need to remember who is on your side as you strive for these promises, as you long for God, as you desire His working. You need to remember who is on your side to enter into the promises of God. We have to trust a God who defeats the forces of evil, who defeats the sin in our lives, who defeats the things that holds us back. We need to remember who goes before us and who carries us to that eternal goal. It's the Lord, god Almighty. He carries us as a son. Hear the care, the compassion in that. Treating you as a son and carrying you, not even holding your hand, carrying you. Love that kid that just ran down the aisle that yelled out Mama, love that. Sometimes that's us when we're looking for the promises of God oh Father, where are you? And he's like I'm carrying you, I'm, I've gone before. You Reminds me of that great, great spiritual picture, the movie the Lion King.
Speaker 1:In the Lion King, you guys know the story. It's an old cartoon from Disney or whatever, and you know what happens there. There's a great King, a respected King, mufasa Ooh, say it again, mufasa. There's Mufasa and he has a son, a young son, simba. And there's a portion of the movie where Simba young, young Simba he often does stuff in rebellion against his father. He's trying to impress a girl. This is what always gets guys into problem. This is this is what kills us every time. He's trying to impress the girl and so, if you remember in the movie it's early on he takes off into this valley that he is not supposed to go to. You guys know where I'm talking about, know the portion of the movie. Some of you just nod and say, yes, so he is in this valley. What's the girl's name? Nala, no, thank you. All right, most responsive had this morning Nala. All right, nala's with him. He's impressing her, he's doing his strutting around and everything.
Speaker 1:But then the hyenas show up, the great big villains, the enemies of the King. They hate the King. And now here's their young son, here's his young son floating around. So they start backing him into a corner, he and Nala. There's no way out. They're going to attack, they're going to kill.
Speaker 1:And so Simba, in his bravado and his thinking, he has great strength. He's standing between the hyenas and Nala, and as he's standing there, he knows it's the last moment. So he's deciding I'm going to try and do something here to scare, I'm going to exhibit my strength. I'm a lion, right, I'm the son of the King. And he just he rears back. And you remember this. He rears back and this little meow comes out and the hyenas begin to laugh as hyenas do. And you laugh with the hyenas because it's so funny. And now they're tasting blood. Oh, he ain't the King, he's not strong enough. So they move in even closer. Simba, realizing that they're about to go for the jugular, tries one more time, but this time from off screen. You don't even see the figure. Yet when Simba yell, when he leans back to yell out and roar, this time you don't hear a meow, you hear the guttural, loud voice of a lion. Mufasa has come to the rescue, and when the hyenas hear the father, it's game changer Everything changes. Mufasa comes on to the scene, he whips up some hyena tail and he saves the day.
Speaker 1:The scripture here says I will fight for you, the father of creation, the Holy One that we have been singing about this morning. I will fight. I will carry you as a man carries his son. We need to remember who is on our side. I don't care about how bad the culture is, it's been bad for 2000 years y'all. We need to remember who's on our side. Whatever you're facing today, what challenges are right in front of you, thank God's called you here this morning to remind you who is on your side. Whatever it is that you can't seem to get past and break through, I want to remind you of a God who went to a cross and took all of that sin and shame and brokenness upon himself. He is on your side, he fights for you, he carries you. That God is calling us to this tremendous mission of going in journeys of faith to share his character and his nature all in this community and across the world. Question this morning is are we going to join him, even if it means getting us out of our comfort zones? Are we going to join him? Let's pray together.
Speaker 1:There's some of you in this place today. You feel like Larry Walters sitting in a lawn chair. Man, I'm so tired of the same old, same old. You relate when he said I just couldn't sit there anymore. I want you to do something for me, believer, I want you to ask God, even in these moments. God, do you have some sort of faith adventure for me? Maybe I've stayed at the mountain long enough. Maybe it's time for me to turn and take my journey. Now I believe, or would you remember who is on your side?
Speaker 1:But for those of us in the room who have no idea what faith really is and we've never trusted Jesus and what he has won for us on the cross of Calvary, I want to take you all the way to a verse that's found in the very, very last chapter of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 19. I want you to hear me real close. If you haven't placed your faith in trusting Jesus, some of Moses' last words I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I've set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live Loving the Lord, your God, obeying His voice, holding fast to Him, for he is your life and your length of days. If you don't know Jesus, today you have an awesome opportunity. God's calling you to a faith journey. Would you come and choose life this morning? Brian's going to be down here at the front ready to receive. I'll be nearby if you'd like to talk with me. We're going to sing a song of what we call response invitation in just a moment, and when we do, you're welcome to come. You're welcome to choose the faith journey that God has for us today.
Speaker 1:Believer, be thinking of how God is enacting your faith and what he's calling you to as we sing through these songs. Lord, thank you so much for this morning. What a great day to be encouraged by your Word. What a great day to go forward from this place knowing that a promise awaits us and that you carry us, that you fight for us, even this morning. Thank you, lord, that we serve the risen King. Thank you, Lord, that we live in a resurrection life that holds great, great joy and peace and hope for us. We gather this place, god, because we know that coming King will break open this reality one day, this existence, and we will be found to be renewed and recreated in Jesus. And it's in this hope that we gather, it's in this hope that we pray, it's in this hope that we leave. We pray it all in the precious name, amen. Let's all stand, let's sing this song together as we close out our services.