A Significant Person

made with Proclaim

Edward Hatch

Palermo Christian Church

Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago • Presented 6 years ago • 39:35

Matthew 2:13

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A significant person

Egypt is not only a significant place because of what happened there; Egypt is also important because of the significant people associated with her land.

Joseph, Moses and Jesus

When we look at the Bible, three people stand out. These three people are Joseph, Moses, and Jesus.

Joseph is the son of Jacob, also called Israel. He was sold by his brothers into slavery. The slave traders sold him to an Egyptian. He ended up in prison and through God’s amazing work became the head of the famine relief program. When Jacob and his family were without food, they came to Egypt and were reunited with Joseph. They moved to Egypt and found peace and security under his watchful eye.

Moses is about 400 years later. The Jewish people have lost favor. Moses was one of the few male children to escape a forced ethnic cleansing of the next generation of Jewish people. He miraculously grows up in Pharaoh’s house, runs from Egypt because he murdered a man, and then returns with God’s help to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, out of slavery, and brings them to the edge of the Promised Land.

Jesus is born in the Promised Land. He is about to meet the same fate that the Jewish children in Moses’ day faced.

Our text says,

Matthew 2:13 ESV

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

So what makes Egypt significant? It is significant not only for the historical connections that Israel had with that country. Egypt was often a country of refuge. Egypt is also significant because of the people we associate with that place.

Some places are significant because of the place itself. You remember a trip to Niagara Falls or a visit to the White Mountains. When someone mentions that place, its important to you because you have been to that place.

If I were to say, “Washington, DC” many of you would immediately think of the president or the houses of Congress. If I were to say, “Westminster Castle”, many of you would think of the Queen of England. If I were to say “Dixmont, Maine” many of you would say, “Ricky Craven.”

Either a place can make the people significant or the people can make the place significant. If you tell me you have been to the Bahamas, you gain significance because of the envy I feel when the temperature is cold. We would not say that about Dixmont. I don’t want to offend anyone, but few people knew Dixmont was even on the map until they read a bio sketch about Ricky Craven.

Egypt was a power in it’s own right. But for the nation of Israel and for us, Joseph, Moses and Jesus make Egypt significant spiritually.

So some places are significant because of the people associated with that place. If you mention Hingham, Massachusetts, I would say, “That’s where my wife is from.” Hingham has a lot to offer, but its not the place, it’s the person that makes it significant to me.

Spiritually, my “Egypts” are important because of the people who influenced me.

A man whose first name was Darryl held a bible study for young adults in Texas. When I would get away from my training, the church we both attended sponsored his group. His style of teaching and the discussions of the Green Letters, a book that some of you know by Miles Stanford, greatly influenced my spiritual development.

Last week I spoke to you about Jesse Miller, the founder of the Overseas Christian Serviceman’s Centers, now known as Cadence International, invited me and many other service men and women to his home for a meal, singing, fellowship and Bible teaching. One of his favorite teaching topics was the tabernacle of Israel and how it foreshadowed Christ.

Many of you would point to Fred Williams or Dave Kibbe as huge influences in your life. When you think of the Palermo Christian Church, their names might come to mind. Dale Flint had a huge impact on the lives of many in this church.

We even hear of people from previous generations that are still mentioned. I have people in town that will tell me about the influence of Lester Nelson or Harold Nutter. I visited this past week with 94-year-old Phil Mather. He had a Bible study at this church a few years ago and his influence is still felt.

Many of you have places in your life that are important, not because of the place itself, but because of the people who have touched your life for Jesus.

I came to realize a number of years ago that God usually uses a team of people to convey his message. I hear people almost every Sunday come to me and say, “Ed, you just taught on a truth that I will be teaching in Sunday school today,” or, “What you said I heard on the radio just this past week, or, “God showed me this same truth from the Bible or book I was reading…”

If you have only one significant person who has touched you spiritually, then you are missing out. Even the Corinthian church, which was spiritually mature, could point to Peter, Apollos and the apostle Paul as influential people in their spiritual lives.

During my military career, I met one person who was a born again Christian and knew the Bible real well. But this person would not fellowship with us, did not attend church and spent his time listening to one person, Robert Thieme, a Texas based preacher. R.B. Thieme had a lot of good things to say, but when we listen to only one person, we become part of a cult following. The whole purpose of the church is to help one another follow Jesus, not any one individual. We should not only listen to whoever is preaching on Sunday morning, but connect with people like Gerald Stillman and Warren Spaulding, Sr. who are teaching Sunday school. We benefit best when we connect with the whole body of Christ.

God didn’t appoint one apostle; he chose twelve. Each one added to the fullness of the teachings of Christ. Read Matthew Mark Luke and John! Each one of these writers is writing about the life of Christ. Put then all together and one sees a fuller picture. It’s like listening to four different people who watch a Patriots game. They all add what they see from their perspective.

When I share about the people who have touched my life, many of you would agree with the words of the song which say, “No one every cared for me like Jesus.”

As we recount the people and places that are important for us spiritually, Jesus was in every place. He used the placed and the people to convey his message of love, grace, rebuke, instruction and challenge.

People have clay feet. Those we admire the most are often the ones who also disappoint us the most. Only Jesus will never let us down.

We should not be afraid to endorse preachers, teachers and spiritual people. We should not hesitate to recommend good churches. But when we do so, we realize that it is not the teachers, preachers and spiritual people that give life to a church. It’s Jesus.

I have people tell me, “I should go to church.” I don’t disagree with them, but I often ask myself, “Why should they go to church?” For some, going to church is a good thing in and of itself. As I read my Bible, meeting Jesus and having God speak to us is better than walking in a building. We should walk into the building to meet people who will point us to Jesus.

When I first saw that Egypt was more than an enemy of Israel, a place of slavery, a place that people needed to be delivered from; when I saw that Egypt was a place of refuge and safety, Egypt became important to me because Egypt protected my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is what makes Egypt significant to us. He is what makes any place significant. If he is there, God is there. If we are there, we are in the presence of God.

Applications:

Here are some take-aways from this message.

First, be thankful for the significant Christian people you have known.

Second, hang around people who can help you grow as a Christian.

Third, keep your eye on the goal.

Jesus said,

John 17:3 ESV

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Hanging around many of you has helped me to know God and Jesus better. Knowing God and Jesus is eternal life. I have met Christians who helped me take my eyes of Jesus. I want to be around those who help me to look up, not look down.