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Living Church of God - Audio Sermon Library
There Are No Shortcuts
01:06:59
Jonathan McNair | Recorded October 18, 2025
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Sam. Exodus, chapter 23. You would turn there, please. Exodus 23, Exodus 23, and verse 14 we read three times. You shall keep a feast to me in the year. Verse 15. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, verse 16. The first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you've gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field through three times in the year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God. But in First Kings, chapter 12. First Kings, chapter 12. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship. And before the one as far as Dan. I want to tell you a story before I begin. In 1846, our nation was a whirl of activity. The mood of the nation was for movement, for expansion. And that movement was west. In 1846, the Mormons set out on their trek to the Great Salt Lake. And it was in 1846 that the Mexican War began, and virtually all of Texas, Mexico and California were added to the United States. Early in the spring of 1846, an advertisement appeared in the Springfield, Illinois Gazette, and it said, this. Westward Ho. Who wants to go to California without costing them anything? As many as eight young men of good character who can drive an ox team will be accommodated. Come, boys. You can have as much land as you want without costing you anything. The notice was signed G. Donner. George Donner, leader of what was to become the most famous of all the hundreds of wagon trains to start to the Far West. Famous for the disaster and the hardship that they went through. Now, they weren't alone in hardship. Many of the thousands of people who trekked west in covered wagons went through hardship. In a period of a decade, the population of our country west of the Mississippi went from 20,000 to over half a million in the process. Many of the pioneers died in any number of ways. But tragedy struck the Donner party in the most gruesome way. And it didn't have to be. They were well supplied and they were a strong group. Two families were the core of the group as they left Springfield, Illinois. The Donners and the Reeds made a large group, 32 men, women and children, all including two hired servants and seven Teamsters driving the big wagons. The most extravagant luxury was the Reed's family wagon. It was a two story wagon with a built in iron stove spring, cushioned seats and bunks for sleeping. No one had ever seen anything like it. Moore joined them in Independence, Missouri, bringing the group's total to 87. A year later, when the journey was over 41 of them were dead, all because they thought they could take a shortcut. Unfortunately for them, on the road to California, there were no shortcuts. As we travel down the path of obedience to God, we can fall prey to the same attraction. The attraction of an easier way, a shortcut, a hack, you might say. But as we look back on this year's Holy Day cycle, it's worth considering one of the lessons that God teaches us through these days. The lesson is simple but easily forgotten. There are no shortcuts. And by the way, I think that would make a great title. So that's what I'm using for it today. So for the sermon I'd like to first identify a couple of points of reality. And if you want to get ahead of me a bit, you can start thinking about where we'll go next, how to apply this lesson to ourselves. But the first thing I want to establish is this reality check. Number one, we are suckers for the easy button and God knows it. Let's go Back to Exodus 13, Exodus chapter 13. We read in verse 17 a bit of a commentary, you might say, on the Israelites and God's understanding of human nature. Israelite nature we see here in verse 17. It came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and returned to Egypt. So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. So we see that God knew that difficulty and hardship would discourage them to the point they want to go back, turn around and go back. Now we saw that was the case even by the way he took them. But there's a little commentary you might say on human nature. And God knew that they would be discouraged by the harder way. Luke 19. Let's go to the New Testament. Luke 19, Luke chapter 19 and verse 11. We read about the parable as it's referred here. The Parable of the Minas. And I want to go down to the latter half of it where he talks about what he gave. He says, verse 15. So it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading because he'd given. We see in the first part of it how he'd given them different amounts of resources. And so then, verse 16, then came the first saying, master, your Mina has earned 10 Minas. And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you were faithful in very little, have authority over 10 cities. And the second one, verse 18, the second came saying, Master, your Mina has earned five Minas. And likewise he said to him, you also be over five cities. And then another came saying, master, here is your Mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief, for I feared you because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. And. And he said to him, so this is what the servant said. And the response was, out of your own mouth, I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank that at my coming I might have collected it with interest? I wonder what he said was. What the servant said was, I want a reward without the work. No, I didn't do the job, but why shouldn't I be rewarded? He was ignoring the law of the farm, which says you can't reap what you don't sow. You don't get a grade for an assignment that you don't do. You don't get pay for a day. You don't work the law of the farm. But we want the hack. We want the quick fix. We want to get rich quick. We want to get healthy with no effort, no matter what we put into our mouth and what we do with our body. We want to be healthy just because we want to. We want to get healthy with no effort. We want to get a job with the least amount of effort, getting the highest amount of pay. Right? That's what typically in our world, this is what we want. Matthew, chapter seven. Matthew, chapter seven, Verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way. The easy way, the anything goes way, the just wander on in way that leads to destruction. There are many who go in by it, because narrow is the Gate. And difficult is the way which leads to life. In other words, there's nothing wrong with the difficult. In fact, the difficult is what brings us to success. And there are a few who find it. The right way is often not easy. It's only human to want a better way, another path, a shortcut, you know. The regular wagon route west to California was hard, but I want to go back to the Donner party. Lansford W. Hastings, a young lawyer from Mount Vernon, Ohio, had visions of empire. In 1842, he had wandered west to California. What he saw there amazed him. He dreamed of taking California from Mexico and establishing an independent republic with himself at its head. Hoping to send a tide of Americans flooding west to occupy the province. He published the Immigrant's Guide to Oregon and California. It painted California as a second Eden and advertised a new and faster route across the Great Basin. Unfortunately for those that believed him, it was a shortcut no one had ever seen, including him. On June 27, just one week behind schedule, the Donners and the Reeds reached Fort Laramie, an isolated trading post in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. And there James Reed found an old friend From Illinois, a 54 year old mountain man named James Kleiman, who had just come east from California using Hastings Cutoff. And some of this is from diaries and logs that some of these individuals kept. So Kleiman, he responded this as it was recorded. We camped with them and continued the conversation until a late hour. Reid, anxious to make up for lost time, asked Kleiman what he thought of Hastings new route. And here's what Hastings is recorded to have said. I told him about the great desert and the roughness of the Sierras and that a straight route might turn out to be impracticable. I told him, take the regular wagon track and never leave it. It's barely possible to get through if you follow it, and it may be impossible if you don't. And then there's a reference to a Mr. Schindler who wrote who. Who recorded this. Kleiman, who had just been south of the lake on horseback coming east with lands first. Hastings said, don't do it. From his diary. This is Schindler. Don't do it because you can't take wagons that way. Go the old route. Be safe, you'll perish. Reid is recorded to have responded, There's a nigher route and we might as well take it. But there's usually a reason for the longer way. Reality number two. Reality number two, there are always false guides anxious to lead us into oblivion. Second Peter, chapter two. Second Peter, chapter two. Peter writes, but these, like natural brute beasts, made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness. He says, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the day. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions, while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forgotten the right way and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he was rebuked for his iniquity. A dumb donkey, speaking with a man's voice, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. There are always those who have no conscience about leading people astray, who are caught up in their own ideas to the point where they feel no responsibility for pulling others their direction, convincing others of their ideas without regard to the ultimately to what they're doing to that individual's faith, that individual's, frankly, their doctrinal stability. Sometimes people like this, frankly, within the church will promote ideas that will actually cause others to lose faith and go out and leave the path while they still perpetuate themselves within the Church. I've seen it. I've seen it. They have no problem talking about ideas and promoting ideas and the impact on other people while they just sort of go along their way and other people suffer the consequences. You know, Hastings was an unreliable guide. I want to read verse 18 down through verse 22. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh through lewdness. The ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandments delivered to them. But it has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow having washed who were wallowing in the mire. On July 20, the wagon train reached the little sandy river. It was the parting of the waves. Most of the immigrants heeded James Clyman's warning and turned right. But 20 wagons, including the nine belonging to the Donners and the Reeds, turned left toward Fort Bridger and the entrance to Hastings cut off. One week later, the Donner party rolled into Fort Bridger, two log cabins and a corral run as a trading post post by the celebrated mountain man named Jim Bridger. Lansford Hastings wasn't there. The promoter had started west a week earlier at the head of another group of wagons, leaving instructions for any immigrants who wished to follow along behind. They spent four days resting their oxen and making repairs. July 31, 1846. From a diary entry warning the party, Hastings cut off is said to be a saving of 350 or 400 miles and a better route. The rest of the Californians went the long route, feeling afraid of Hastings cut off. It's estimated that 700 miles will take us to Captain Sutter's Fort, which we hope to make in seven weeks from this day. On July 31, the nine families and 16 single men of the Donner party left Fort Bridger and entered Hastings cut off. For a week they made good time, 10, sometimes 12 miles a day, working their way deeper into the rugged mountains, following the tracks of of Hastings wagons. Then, on August 6, at the bottom of Echo Canyon, the party came to a halt. Stuck in the top of some sage near the trail was a note. It was from Lansford Hastings. It stated that the road ahead was virtually impassable and advised them to wait until he could show them a better way. It took James Reed five days to find Hastings. When he did, the promoter refused to come back to lead the company himself, pointing out what he thought might be a more manageable route from a high peak. Instead, the next day, with James Reed as their pilot, the party turned off the track into the tangled wilderness when they committed themselves to cross the Wasatch. When they decided to enter the Great Basin to tackle Immigration Canyon as we know it and Echo Canyon as we know it today, they were eating up days that were vital to them, and they had no way of knowing it. They crawled along, making scarcely two miles a day, fighting their way through a chaos of canyons choked with willows, cottonwoods and aspen. Time and again, the hostile terrain brought them to a standstill, while the men cursed and toiled and hacked a road through the dense undergrowth. It took six days alone to chop their way eight miles up Big Mountain. Here's a diary entry from one of the party. Finally we reached the end of the canyon where it looked as though our wagons would have to be abandoned. It seemed impossible for the oxen to pull them up the steep hill and the bluffs beyond. But we double teamed and the work was at last accomplished. Worn with travel and greatly discouraged, we reached the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It had taken an entire month instead of a week. On August 22, the 87 members of the Donner party spilled out of the mountains and exhausted and shaken, summer was unraveling fast and there were still 600 miles to go. Tuesday, August 25th Luke Halloran died from one of their entries Luke Halloran died of consumption. This evening we made him a coffin and buried him at the forks of the road in a beautiful place. He wasn't the last, you know Alexis de Tocqueville. You may have heard of him as the French diplomat who wrote the book Democracy in america, published in 1835, which was based on his observations as he traveled through the young United States again. He was a French diplomat famous for his work. He wrote this. He said, it's odd to watch with what feverish ardor Americans pursue prosperity, ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen the shortest route to get it. That's what he wrote in 1835. Guides will be happy to show the shortcut way. Matthew chapter four. The ultimate example of this. Matthew chapter four. We know what Christ endured, But Satan the devil had a shortcut. Matthew chapter 4 we see verse 1. Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. When the tempter came to him. He said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In other words, here's your Just do a miracle, wave a magic wand and you can eat these stones, turn them into bread. Just do that and you won't be hungry anymore. The devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it's written. And he shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You won't have to Deal with the result of the consequence of throwing yourself down from the top of the temple. You notice that this is not something that he did within his ministry. He didn't go around throwing himself off cliffs or what have you. But Satan was into the quick, the quick moves. And Jesus said to him, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. And the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I'll give you. You don't have to go through what the future holds for you, the horrible death that you're going to endure. You don't have to do any of that. Just bow down to me and I'll give it all to you. I've got a shortcut. Just do what I say. That's all there is to it. Jesus said to him, away with you. Verse 10, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. This is the way. This is what's supposed to happen. Not a shortcut. Satan was a false guide, as in this case, as he was from the beginning. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Paul warned the elders at Ephesus about false guides. And the reality of false guides and their power, their influence, and the reality that there are false guides who will lead people astray. This is not made up. This is not possibly. This is the reality of history from the very beginning. And Paul warned them about it, just as Christ did as we read in Matthew 24, Acts chapter 20. And he said as he addressed these elders from Ephesus who were sad to see him departing because they knew that they would likely never see him. And he gave this warning to them. He said, Therefore, verse 28. Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Not easy, but hard. Not through a shortcut. But we see here verse 29. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things which why to draw away the disciples after them. And people will be people. Will what they say will appeal to people. False, false guides have been part of the history of the church. Have been part of really, as I said, going back all the way to the Garden of Eden, part of the human story. So how does this shortcut way then present itself to us? Could probably come up with Other standard keys as we I've given you a couple of realities about this issue of shortcuts and could probably spend some time studying some more. But I'd like to move to the application for us because it is real for us today. So how does this shortcut way present itself to us? I'm going to give you four or five here. Jeremiah, chapter six. Jeremiah, chapter six. And this is. I'm not going to take a lot of time with this. Just bring your attention to it. And I'm going to call it A desire for the Shiny and new. A desire for the shiny and new. And what does God say about how we should approach our walk, our dedication to Him? Thus says the Lord, we're able to listen in the conversation that God is have and you might say the exhortation that he's giving. As if you look at the previous verses, he's commenting on Israel and their proclivities. But here he says verse 16. This is the antidote. He says, thus says the Lord, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it. Traditions can be good when they're traditions that reflect the mind of God and God's ways don't change from day to day. We understand that God doesn't change, and one day it's not okay to murder and the next day it is. It's ridiculous. We understand thoroughly this the reality that God doesn't. As even we heard in the telecast, God doesn't change from time to time. You know, in some of the ancient cultures, even in Canaan, sometimes gods came and went within different areas depending upon the popularity of a particular God at that time. And we see this in other cultures. And in Mesopotamia, we see this in India, where, for example, among the Hindu gods that were selected to be the God of a particular city or town or locale, sometimes they would change over year, over the years when one seemed to be a bit more popular. But God doesn't change and his laws don't change. But he says, walk in it the good way, the old paths, and there you will find rest for your souls, stability. But they said, we will not walk in it. And then I also set watchmen over you saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said we won't listen. And he goes on and he explains what the consequences would be because thoughts and ways produce results. Know, O congregation, what is among them. Let's just back up to verse 18. Therefore hear you nations and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth, behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, the fruit of their thoughts. Thoughts produce fruit. Actions produce consequences. Decisions produce consequences. Inaction produce consequences. It's the law of the farm. It's the law of God. It's the law of spiritual gravity. I just made that up. But it's the law of consequences for what we do and what we don't do, and that includes the thoughts of our minds. Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded my words nor my law, but rejected it. So we have, in terms of how shortcuts present themselves to us. One is a desire for the shiny and new. That would appear to be a hack, you know, shortcut. We'll go to a second one, and this one's a little bit longer. And I called it a thing to do. Let me explain what I mean. If we go to Matthew chapter four, back to Matthew chapter four, and I'll just go back here where we were to illustrate it, at least to begin to illustrate it. So you notice Matthew, chapter four, and we see Satan's technique. Now, we were talking about Satan as a guide that would lead astray. But here we see, See this Matthew, chapter four and verse eight again, that we're rereading this. He said, verse eight again. The devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Now here, here's where we're going with this one. So sometimes the ways that shortcuts present themselves to us are simply a thing to do. If you can just do this thing, you don't have to do all kinds of other stuff, all right? You can just do this thing. And in this case, this is. This is what Satan was saying. He said, look, fall down and worship me, and I'll give you all these kingdoms. You know, we see it represented in other situations in which Christ found himself. Matthew, chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19, for example. Here it's enunciated even more specifically and clearly, literally in the words that are said here. Matthew, chapter 19 and verse 16. Now, behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And so he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. So he actually enunciated a way of life. Isn't that what the commandments would describe? A way of loving God and loving your neighbor. But this young man, this was not enough. He said, well, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery or steal or bear false witness, you, honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself. And then verse 20, we read the young man said to him, all these things I've kept from my youth. What do I still lack? What is it? What do I need to have eternal life? And Jesus said to him, if you want to. In fact, verse 20, I wanted to emphasize this, this fact, that of Haley. He even mentions what good thing or things I have kept from my youth. He's about the things. And then Jesus said to him, verse 21, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. Because the impact of that, of selling what he had, giving to the poor and following Christ is. Is something that was a life. It was living a life that was very different from the life that he was living. It meant following in Christ's footsteps. It means giving up the lifestyle that he had. So I think this qualifies as, again, he was looking for a thing to do, and that's what his mind had been focused on. He wanted a prescription for success. And sometimes this appeal to a hack is more innocuous than something like we started with. Because for us, we can be looking for a thing to do as opposed to a way to live. Now, Christ was looking for a way to be as opposed to simply a thing to do. And the hardest thing for us to do is to change the way we are. I mean, we can do the thing of keeping the Sabbath. We can do the thing of not eating a ham sandwich. We can do a thing of not murdering our neighbor. But to be a person that lives a life dedicated to God is a different story. Acts chapter 8. Our thoughts, our habits, our way is much more difficult than simply a thing and a thing and a thing. Acts chapter 8. Here's another example. Acts chapter 8. And we see how Simon the sorcerer was focused on a thing to do for his objective, which was to have the ability to have the power of the Holy Spirit. We see Acts chapter 8. We see how in Samaria, this man called Simon was very famous and they had heeded him. We see verse 11 because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. And then Philip comes, and I'm not going to read all the verses here. I want to focus on what we find beginning in verse 14, when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God. They sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet it had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then verse 17, we get to the point here. When they, then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy spirit. And verse 18, when, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Simon the sorcerer saw the thing to do. He wanted something happen, a magic wand, in a sense, be waved over him so he could get this power. That's what he wanted. And that's the appeal for all of us. We need to recognize in some of these examples we all have a. We all have a desire for a hack, you know, for, for a shortcut. In one way or another. In one way or another. This is what gambling is all about. For example, this is what the lottery attraction is. If I buy this lottery ticket, all my problems will be solved. You can't help. As you look at that lottery ticket and it says in the sign above it, the winner at this gas station won $75,000. You think, well, $75,000, so that's a lot of money. What could I do with that? And he said, no, no, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to do that. But it does get the, the mind rolling when we think about winning lots of money in one fell swoop. The same weakness comes out in other ways. If we're not married, we can easily fall prey to the thought, if only I were married, my life would be complete. And of course we can have the inverse. If only I were not married to this person who's a real dope, you know, maybe my life would be better. So it can go both ways. A lady, you know, after the ladies, after they're married. And at some point, I know it happens to all old ladies who are married, they wake up and this guy they married is next to them, facing them with his bad breath and everything, his hair messed up and they go, who is. What did I do? What have I done right? But we can have in our minds something that would make our life easier if we didn't have to have such patience for this person who we're married to, who keeps making mistakes again and again and again, then our life would be so much easier. We can think that if only my boss or my co workers wouldn't do this boy, my life would be so much happier and so much easier. And so we can fall prey to the shortcut mentality, not recognizing that our journey is under the guidance of God. Romans chapter 8, just a few pages over, really. This is what Romans 8 is. Speaking to. God is not about creating an easy path in our life. In fact, the path that we're on, he's guiding for our benefit. So we learn difficult, challenging lessons and sometimes things fall into our lap and we can be thankful and thank God for what a beautiful opportunity, what a beautiful day we had, and the sun is shining. Instead of having, as I heard in New Bern, had these typhoon nor', Easter, whatever weather, you know, in Spokane Valley, it was beautiful every day. It was gorgeous, perfect temperature. It was right about, oh, it got down to think 65 some days and 70 degrees others. And you know what? In Arroyo Grande also, it was beautiful, very pleasant California weather. But I heard in New Bern there was a nor' Easter and it was miserable and lots of rain, but everybody was still happy. But it may have been just a little bit more difficult to be happy with the rain coming down. Romans chapter 8, we read here likewise, verse 26. The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered now. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Intercession, helping. This is about a life journey of challenge. It he says, and we know that all things work together for good. That means even bad things, even things that we would consider to be difficult. He says to those who are the called according to his purpose. Verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He says, verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is he who condemns. It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. No, the extent to which our journey is under the guidance of God is a bit breathtaking when we think about how much he cares and is concerned and is working with us and for us in ways that we may not even realize. He says, who shall separate us then from the love of Christ, he is going to help us through it all. He's not going to make us go away. Our objective is taking on the mind of God a way of thinking, a way of approaching everything we do and say and think, think. Here's a third way that presents that shortcuts present themselves to us. First Kings 18. I want to go back to 1 Kings, where we were a little while ago. I'm sorry, 1 Kings 12. I meant 1 Kings 12. Now, we read this before in the beginning, but I want to just analyze it a little bit further. First Kings, chapter 12. We're reading about Jeroboam and his plan, his tactic to manipulate the people. And we read in verse 28. Then, therefore, the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and he said to the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. So the third way that shortcuts appear to us or present themselves to us is convenience. So a shortcut, it looks more convenient to go this route. And that's what he used. That's the tactic that he used to manipulate the people. It's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Here are you your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt, understand that Bethel was about, if I understand correctly, 10 or 11 miles north of Jerusalem. And. And so it was on the main road for pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. So he said, just stop 10 miles early. Now, you might think that's not a problem. That's like from, you know, from here to Matthews, but on foot, you know, and with your family, a shorter journey can be very appealing. And he said, just stop here and worship here. In fact, if you look at the. The calves that he mentions that he created, and he mentions Dan in the north, if you read the end of the Book of Judges, you realize that there were some idols placed in Dan that actually established a heritage of calf worship all the way back to the late Judges time. So there's a legacy of worship up there anyway. And so we said, just go there, come to Bethel, and it's a whole lot more convenient. God's way is always. I shouldn't say that God's way can be inconvenient in this world, and it's always been that way. Do you think God's way was inconvenient for Abel? Was it inconvenient for Noah? Was it inconvenient for Abraham and Isaac and Moses and. Well, you get the point, don't you? I Don't have to just keep listing names. But God's way can be inconvenient. And keeping God's way, living by God's way can be inconvenient for us, can't it can be inconvenient in terms of a lot of different ways we can think about our life that we live and the inconveniences that are posed by living God's way. It can be inconvenient, for example, at the feast to actually make the effort to meet people that you don't already know. Instead, just sit by those who you know, your friends, family, those who you were looking forward to see at the feast. It can be inconvenient to actually meet other people. It can be inconvenient to go to activities because it'd be easier to sit home and eat cheese and sausage with our friends, family. But, but, but instead we have to go somewhere where we're with people. We don't know them all. It's a little bit awkward sometimes, you know, they make us do funny things like, you know, carry an egg on a spoon across a, you know, some sort of silly Olympics. If it's a family, whatever, family day, whatever it might be. It's inconvenient sometimes to actually extend ourselves to our brethren. And that's not just the feast, frankly. It's here, you know, it's inconvenient maybe to go to the picnic because we have to actually get in the car. We got to drive down to the Cane Creek park and wow, you know, that's inconvenient. And we got a sit by people we may not know or like, oh, I shouldn't say that. People we may not necessarily know very well, or maybe we haven't met them yet. Here's a better one. It can be inconvenient to be here at services and actually to get out of our comfort zone and meet other people that we don't talk with every week. The fact that we get into ruts and we get into. Well, because it's more convenient to sit in the same place, to do the same things, to talk with the same people, to go to the same activities, to live our life in the same way. So we are habituated to a way of living that makes it more difficult perhaps to make changes that will help us to actually move down the road in a godly way of thinking. Because we become habituated in a way of life. And that's what happens, my friends, with some of our children, they are habituated in coming to church. They are habituated in living a certain way with us as a family. But we have to work with them so that it becomes a conviction for them to the best of our ability. And it's not just something that they're habituated in, but that something that they learn to love and to cherish a way of life so that they can be pillars in the congregation and in the church. I'm not saying there's not free moral agency. What I'm talking about is how we, our children, we can be unable, unwilling to go outside our comfort zone. Okay, enough. Enough on that. Second Thessalonians, chapter two. Out of weariness. We can have, I'll say, a hack, a shortcut appeal to us because we're weary, we're tired, we're worn out, we don't have the energy, and so out of weariness. Second Thessalonians, chapter three, verse six. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we were not disorderly among you, nor do we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but we work with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. So he's saying, look, this is a path. We've worked hard. We've put our every being into the work and into serving you. And so we've put all of our energy into it. So that's the context. That's the backdrop for what he says next. He says, for even when we were with you, we command you this. If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. So he's advocating again the. The importance of continued energy. And he says, now, those who are such, we command and exhort. I'm sorry, I skipped a verse here. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies. Now, those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person do not keep company with them. They may be ashamed. In other words, people and leaders. And maybe our own mind can play on weariness. Weary can be weary in doing well in our own life. Certainly we can be weary in doing well within a congregation, and it can happen sometimes. And I would challenge. I would challenge you as the same rule applies for myself. How we should ask ourselves the question, how are we contributing to the congregation as well as to the work, as well as to our own life? There are lots of ways we can contribute, whether it's ushering a security or sound or information table or children's activities, or choir and special music, or the picnic and activities. Being in contact with the sick or elderly during the course of the week and even on the Sabbath, making sure that we are mindful of those who maybe cannot move around as easily. My point is, and it's not just on the Sabbath day, but it's also during the week. But I really think, brethren, we should be able to note at least one. One thing, just one, that we're doing for the benefit of the congregation. I don't think that's too much to ask, and it may take some creativity. Maybe it means simply praying for those who are mentioned on the prayer in the list. That certainly in the announcements. I should say that that certainly counts. But there, you know, we can. The shortcut is to participate in what's convenient, what is habit, and what is our rut. That's a shortcut. Thinking that we are actually going to have the reward that we want without actually putting any effort beyond what's comfortable. Now let me go to Hebrews chapter 12, because there's one last one that I want to mention, and that is bitterness. Hebrews chapter 12. We're warned here in Hebrews chapter 12 not to let bitterness derail us. So we read of this example of Esau. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down on the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. So he mentions this issue of bitterness. And In Romans, chapter 12, verses 17 through 21, we read this section that says, don't repay evil for evil. Live peaceably, don't avenge ourselves, but rather give place to wrath. Vengeance is God's, not ours. Now that all has. That has everything to do with, I'll say bitterness, because bitterness and vengeance are twins. An overactive sense of justice and what should be done, and the justice that should be done, that is a twin to bitterness. Instead of Allowing God to take care of whatever it might be and forgive and move forward, Forgive and move forward, repent, ask God's forgiveness and move forward. And if we don't, what happens is we somehow we still want the prize without having to do the hard work of forgiveness which is required of us. Brethren, how do we think that we can not forgive and still be in God's kingdom? How does that work? Literally, one step in the process of the holy days cycle that we've come through. Passover is all about repentance, forgiveness, isn't it? And do we think that we can somehow take a shortcut around that and hold bitterness, hold actually not forgive in our hearts? We think we can bypass that somehow. As if we could bypass the Passover, you know, and go right to the feast of Tabernacles. Wouldn't that be great? It's not required of us. We're the exception to the rule. There are no shortcuts. There are no shortcuts. Yes, we're required to forgive just like everybody else. We can't bypass this step. Genesis, chapter 18. We read of what's said to Abraham. I'm going to read it for you. God told him, or God spoke this. God inspired this to be recorded. He said, for I have known him, I.e. abraham, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord. There is a way. Abraham understood. There's no shortcut thing to do, but a way day in and day out, through good times and bad. It is not one act of obedience. It is not one act of honoring God. There is no shortcut. And the thought that he was successful in learning and keeping in passing that way down to us without shortcuts, how inspiring that is that we are here today and we can consider this and we can learn this because of his faithfulness. We read, if we. You want to note it down. Philippians, Chapter three. Let us walk by the same rule, continuing that which has been handed down from age to age. Matthew, chapter 19, Matthew, chapter 19. We're told in verse, as we follow where we were before. Here in Matthew 19, verse 23, Christ speaks on the challenge and the difficulty to walk this path. And then he says, here in verse 28, assuredly I say, verse 28, assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 Thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And he says, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. In other words, life is going to be difficult. Life is going to be challenges. The roads, the road that you and I may have to take may include some difficult hurdles. And some of those may seem like dark tunnels. You know what they say about tunnels. It's nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, unless it's moving toward you and saying woo, woo. And it's not so nice. But God's way is the right way. And in the end, God's longer way, yes, even with its challenges and obstacles, is the better way. In Leviticus, chapter 23, as we've rehearsed over the last days and really over the last holy day cycle, we see a map that God lays out for his working with mankind as well as with us. And our endeavor is to travel the way of a lifetime. Yes, a long journey, a daily journey, but a lifetime journey, growing closer to God through each of these waypoints. The Passover and all the lessons that teaches us, the days of unleavened bread and the lessons that accompany those days. Pentecost, which teaches us about ourselves and about God's plan for us and humanity. The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the last great day for all. 50 to 100 billion people who have ever lived are included in God's long term, long range plan. All are important and necessary steps for each of us, for the church, for the whole world, not just today, but from all history. And along that track, there are no shortcuts. The whole path is important, and it is the only path. On November 20, 1846, an Irish immigrant named Patrick Breen began to keep a diary. He was part of the Donner Party. Here's what he wrote on Friday, November 20, 1846. Came to this place on the 31st of last month that it snowed and it snowed. We went out to the pass, the snow so deep we were unable to find the road. Then turned back to the shanty on the lake. We now have killed most of our cattle, having to stay here until next spring. It snowed during the space of eight days with little intermission. Now to a bit of the story. The 81 members of the Donner Party, 25 men, 15 women, 41 children, including six nursing infants, were at this point in November huddled miserably in two makeshift winter camps. The Breeze and their seven children took over an Abandoned shack not far from Truckee Lake. Peggy Breen did what she could to calm the younger children. Louis Keseberg built a rough lean to for his family against one side of the Breen shack. Nearby, the Eddys crowded into a hastily constructed log cabin with the Murphys, the Fosters and the Pikes. A second drafty cabin housed the family of Franklin Graves at one end and Margaret Reed and her four children at the other. Six miles away on Alger Creek, the two Donner families huddled in tents where the storm had caught them. This is from one of the Donner family. We had not the first thing to eat. We seldom thought of bread, for we had not any since. I remember. During breaks in the storm they scanned the summit hoping to see a relief party inching its way down. But no one came. Two more attempts to get over the pass ended in failure. The immigrants floundered in 20 foot drifts, thin and pale with hunger. Three year old Eliza Donner whiled away the short winter days. She writes later in her diary. Here's from the Patrick Breen diary again. Sunday, November 29th. Still snowing now about three feet deep. Killed my last oxen today. Monday the 30th, snowing fast, about four or five feet. Looks as likely to continue as when it commenced. No living things without wings can get about. So we're seeing ultimately we read from the one account that it got up to 20ft. But in November they began end of November 1st part of December, they began to mix what little meat remained with anything they could chew and swallow. Boiled hides, charred bones, twigs, barks, leaves. On December 15, one of the reed's hired men, Bayless Williams, died of malnutrition. The next four months, if you read the story, is a story of tragic desperation as the Donner party endured the worst winter ever recorded in the sierra Nevada mountains. Nine blizzards with gale force winds dumping 22, ultimately 22ft of snow. And it's a story of lost hope as some of the men and women tried to go for help and most of them died in the process. Those who made it over the mountains staggered like skeletons into the foothills of the mountains. There were four rescue attempts over the course of the next month, all the way to the end of April to save those who were marooned in their snowy tomb high in the mountains. With, by the way, the rescuers also facing life threatening conditions. What I will not described to you is what the rescuers found and what the survivors endured. Except to say that many of them resorted to cannibalism. In their desperation. Of the 87 men, women and children in the Donner Party, 46 survived, 41 died, 5 women, 14 children, 22 men who had. And counting Lewis and Salvador, 2 Indians who had risked their lives to save the immigrants. Two thirds of the women and children made it through. Two thirds of the men perished. Of all the families, the Donners suffered the worst. All four adults and four of the children died. All of the wreaths survived. So did all the breams. Today, all that remains of the Donner party is a plaque on the back of a monument near Truckee, California, northeastern California. And it reads this. Near this spot stood the Breen cabin of the party of immigrants who started for California from Springfield, Illinois, in April 1846. Under the leadership of Captain George Donner. Delays occurred, and when the party reached this locality on October 29, the Truckee Pass immigrant road was concealed by snow. The height of the shaft of the monument indicates the depth of the Snow, which was 22ft. This is a plaque on the back of the monument. And it goes up from there. After futile efforts to cross the summit, the party was compelled to encamp for the winter. The Graves cabin was situated about 3/4 of a mile to the eastward. The Murphy cabin about 200 yards southwest of the monument. And the Donner tents were at the head of Alder Creek. 90 people were in the party and 42 perished. It says 90 as opposed to 89 in the account I gave you before. But the plaque reads, 90 people were in the party and 42 perished. Most of them from starvation and exposure. The truth is this shortcuts are enticing. Sometimes it would be nice to have an easy button. But there is no shortcut. There is no hack thing to do. The whole objective is not just to get there. It's not just to do the task, to get the job done, but to become one with God. And our journey is preparing us to rule with God and to be like God forever. In order to do that, we have to become like God. To think, think like God, to act like God. John, chapter 14. John 14:1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Christ spoke to his disciples. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know and the way you know. Thomas said to him, lord, we do not know where youe are going and and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, verse 6 I am the way, the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. I am the way. I reveal the Way. I've explained the way. I desire for you to be on that path and be on the way. Our goal on this journey of life is to become one with God through the way that he is designed for us, never falling to the lure of a shorter path. Because with God and with his plan for us and for all mankind, there is no shortcut. Sam.