1. "What Would Mohammed Drive?"
   This was the caption for a recent political cartoon showing a man in Middle Eastern garb driving a Ryder truck. In the back of the truck was a big fat nuclear weapon.
2. As you might imagine, the cartoon touched off a firestorm of controversy. Its author Doug Marlette received more than 4,500 e-mails, all saying more or less the same thing: Blasphemy. Ignorant. Bigoted. Disrespectful to our Prophet Mohammed. Hateful. The writers all demanded an apology. Quite a few threatened him with mutilation and death.
3. But Marlette claims he was not criticizing Islam or its founder Mohammed, but arguing instead that Islam had been hijacked by Islamic extremists.
4. In any event, the cartoon itself was an allusion to the question recently raised by self-proclaimed eco-Christians namely, "What Would Jesus Drive?"
5. Should Christians get behind the wheel of a gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle?
6. Surely, some argue, Jesus would never have driven an SUV because car pollution causes illness and death, and it has a particularly devastating effect on the elderly, the poor, the sick and the young.
7. Gas-guzzlers also contribute to global warming, which can cause drought, flood, hunger, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy, disease, loneliness, divorce, freckles, the heartbreak of psoriasis, ADHD, earthquakes, agoraphobia, cancer, stoke, heart disease, seasonal affective disorder, CFS, RMS and PMS.
8. Choosing a car is an important moral choice, these Christian activists say. "Of all the choices we make as consumers," claims the Evangelical Environmental Network, "the cars we drive have the biggest impact on all of God’s creation."
9. So what would Jesus drive?
10. A Hummer H2 Adventure Series SUV.
11. This smaller, commercial version of the military humvee is built for high-mobility, off-road use, enabling its occupants to go just about anywhere, including over rocks and fallen logs, and straight through streams and creeks. With a 6-liter V-8 engine, a curb weight or 6,00 lbs, and a trailer copacity of over three tons.
12. It can traverse a side slope of 40 dgrees and a slope of 60 degrees. It can travel in nearly 2 feet of water.
13. you’ve got the kind of power you need to haul trailers, haul people, haul cargo.
14. Seriously. It is clear that the road was rather rough for Jesus and his disciples.
15. When he taught in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus was rudely rejected by his neighbors — they take offense, and Jesus can work no miracles there, except to cure a few sick people (Mark 6: 5-6). The unbelief is totally astounding (v. 6).
16. Would Jesus be helped by a Hummer H2? Maybe. After all, soul winning is not for cowards
17. And life is not for cowards.
18. One of the many lessons we learn from the life of Jesus is that the blessed and joyful life is not a life free of obstacles.
19. Consider the lives of the apostles.

1. Jesus calls the twelve disciples and sends them out two by two, with authority over the unclean spirits.
1. It’s a scary road trip, because they’ll be crossing tough terrain and will experience some in-your-face rudeness.
2. But they accept the assignment and go out into the world telling people to repent. They cast out demons and cure many who are sick.

(Mark 6:7-13 NKJV) And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. {8} He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff; no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts; {9} but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. {10} Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. {11} "And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" {12} So they went out and preached that people should repent. {13} And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

3. Their work took them over rocks and logs, streams and creeks. They might have appreciated the Hummer’s 6-liter V-8 engine.

1. Brown says, "If you’re a missionary like some of my friends, [with a Hummer H2 you can] bring loads of food and medical supplies to people in poor countries."
2. If we are going to experience life to its fullness there a number of things we must understand and do.

1. We must first understand that all of us face obstacles in this world.
1. Cancel the pity party
2. The difference is how we deal with those obstacles.
3. James said they would come.

(James 1:2-3 NNAS) Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, {3} knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4. We want a life free of problems. It would be a life free of maturity.
5. Illustration: A lady was in the hospital giving birth to her first baby. As the pain and contractions increased, she grabbed the nurse, pulled her close to her and screamed, "Is the hard part over?"
   The nurse smiled and said, "Honey, this is the easy part. The hard part is in the next 18 years."
   Consider Jesus, the apostles, his disciples.
2. Second, make up your mind that you will not give up
1. (James 1:4 NNAS) And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

You must scale the mountains if you would view the plain. Chinese Proverb

Press on! Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low, and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must, but don't you quit!

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar,

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit –

It's when things go wrong that you must not quit!

3. Ask God for wisdom

(James 1:5-8 NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. {6} But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. {7} For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; {8} he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

1. How can you hope to fix the problem if you will not seek help.
4. Turn to the right friends for help.

(1 Corinthians 15:33 NNAS) Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

5. Listen to them

(Proverbs 18:24 NKJV) A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

(Proverbs 17:17 NKJV) A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

(Proverbs 11:14 NKJV) Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

(Proverbs 15:22 NKJV) Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

(Proverbs 24:6 NKJV) For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

1. The woman who spent hours in my office but rejected all my counsel.
6. Work a it

(John 4:34 NKJV) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Sources:

• Title and introduction from www.homileticsonline.com
• Statistics and graphics from www.hummer.com
• Brown, Warren. "It’s rugged, and they’re cross." The Washington Post. December 8, 2002, N1.Marlette, Doug.
• "How do you say ‘freedom of speech’ in Arabic?" Jewish World Review,. January 6, 2003, Jewishworldreview.com.
• "What Would Jesus Drive?" an ad sponsored by The Evangelical Environmental Network in Christianity Today, January 2003.
• www. Whatwouldjesusdrive.org for more info, including "The Pledge

• Tom Brown, "Dare to be a disciple," Tom Brown Ministries Web site, Tbm.org/daretobe.htm. Retrieved February 6, 2003.