‘if we see what God sees, we’ll do what God says’
Today we're going to look at "Laying the Foundation" for the new year - what better way than to look at a summary of Nehemiah's life and look at eight characteristics of the man himself.
The first study we did as we started through this book, I said that the foundation of leadership is character nor charisma. You don't have to be a charismatic, bubbly, over energetic person to be a leader. What you do have to have is character. I want to pull out from the life of Nehemiah what I see as the eight characteristics of great leaders.
these are things we want to build into our lives in order to be effective.
1. COMPASSION
Nehemiah really cared about people. You don't get four verses into the book of Nehemiah and you're confronted with his compassion. Nehemiah 1:4 "When I heard these things [that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates had been burned by fire] I sat down and I wept and for some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the Lord."
Nehemiah had it made. He was cupbearer to the king of Persia. He was like the Prime Minister, a high ranking assistant. He had a very cushy job. He had everything he could ever want. Jerusalem is a million miles away as far as he's concerned. It's a foreign country; he's never seen it. He cares about the problems in Jerusalem and he gets concerned. He didn't have to be concerned. He was living on Easy Street. Why get upset? Everything was easy for him. But Nehemiah cared. He was a man of compassion and he saw that the people were having a tough time because their walls were torn down. Their city was in
destruction.
Isn't it true, when things are going good for you it's easy to forget that most of the people in the world are hurting? I become oblivious to the fact that most of the people in the world are in pain -- physical, emotional, relational. They're having difficult times. Particularly living in the ‘Burbs’.
Nehemiah was a man of compassion. Love is the foundation of Christ-centered life. Examples:
Nehemiah 5. Nehemiah's reaction to injustice. The poor had given four complains: food shortages, our homes are over mortgaged, interest rates are high and taxes are high, we have to sell our children into slavery just to pay our bills. Nehemiah heard about how these fat cats were ripping off the poor while they were rebuilding the wall. His reaction 5:6 "When I heard their outcry to these charges I was very angry."
Can anger ever be a loving reaction? You bet. Sometimes if you're not angry you're not loving. We need to be angry at sin. We need to be angry when people are hurt by other people. There is a righteous indignation there. Nehemiah got angry. That's evidence of his compassion for people.
Nehemiah was a man of compassion.
The law of leadership is that People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. As a leader the bottom line is love. Do you love people? Do you care about people? Leadership without love will just become manipulation.
2. CONTEMPLATION
Great leaders instinctively know that they need to balance the time that they spend with people, leading them, with time alone with God. They need a time of contemplation. The effectiveness of our leadership - to lead in life - is determined by our private life. The two go together. Nehemiah was a man of prayer.
Nine times in this very short book, Nehemiah prays. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of contemplation. Every decision he had to make, every crisis he had to face, every criticism he received he prayed about it. In chapter one is one of the great prayers of the Bible. I encourage you to study it. 1:5 "Then I said, `O God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those that love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.'" He prayed day and night.
Another example was Nehemiah 2 -- the midnight ride. Remember when he went to Jerusalem. It says he sat in his room for about three days and when no one was looking, he got on his horse, kind of like Paul Revere, and road around the city, checked it all out and saw that it had been defeated and destroyed. What was he doing all during that time? He was contemplating, praying, surveying, talking to the Lord. He was going over, in his mind, what was going on.
Great leaders know that they have to spend time alone because of the time they spend in public all the time. 5:6 "When I heard the outcry of the poor and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind [underline this] Then I accused the nobles and the officials." He said, I put my mind in gear before I started activating my mouth. I am a man of contemplation. He kept his cool. He waits for perspective: "God, what do You want me to say?"
Do you ever speak without thinking? One of the laws of leadership that we have to learn is that we get ourselves in trouble when we speak before we think. Great leaders contemplate. He said I pondered what I was going to say.
Nehemiah is a man of compassion; he cares about people.
He's a man of contemplation; he spends time in prayer and in thought.
3. CHEERFULNESS
He's a positive guy, upbeat, optimistic. He has a positive attitude. Do you like to follow a grouch? No. Would you rather follow somebody with a positive attitude? Nehemiah was evidently a very cheerful, positive person.
Nehemiah 2;1 "In the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxeres, when the wine was brought forth, I took the wine and gave it to the king I had not been sad in his presence before." Nehemiah has been serving this guy all of his life and this is the first time he went in with a frown, a down attitude. He had always been cheerful, upbeat. He didn't go in and lay his problems on the king.
Leaders are to be encouragers, not discourages. The job of leadership is to give people a lift not to let them down. This is why cheerfulness is an important characteristic. If you want to be a leader, then you're going to have to work on this. Some of you by nature are not naturally cheerful. Some people get up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord!" Others getup and say, "Good Lord! It's morning!" Some of you are just not naturally cheerful. But you can work on it. You can develop it. I would encourage you, if you want to be a leader, practice smiling. (Maxwell smile story)
How do you be a cheerful leader when you work with the kind of people you work with? How do you be a cheerful when you're tired and worn out?
Nehemiah 8 is the secret of Nehemiah's strength. He says it in a simple phrase. "This day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength." That's how Nehemiah was cheerful in spite of all the opposition he had. Joy is different from happiness. Happiness depends on happenings. Joy is internal. It is not based on circumstances. You can have joy in the midst of tragedy. You can have joy when you're absolutely fatigued. "The joy of the Lord is my strength."
Nehemiah is compassionate, he's contemplative, he's cheerful.
4. CONCENTRATION
Nehemiah always focused on his goal. He has the ability to maintain his focus in the middle of a project. He doesn't worry about other things and distractions. There are examples in chapters 2 and 3. In chapter 2, Nehemiah anticipates the problems he's going to have. He knows he'll need timber so he asks for timber. He know he'll need protection on his trip to Jerusalem, so he asks in advance for a royal passport. He'll need a place to live so he asked for it in advance. He had obviously thought it out in advance. He was concentrating on what he needed to have.
One of the key differences between leading and following is that leaders are always thinking of the future, further out ahead of everybody else. They're trying to see the problems in advance, anticipate them, and have a solution there by the time you get there. That's a mark of leadership.
Chapter 3, He organizes the work. He's very focused.
I think the best example of how Nehemiah concentrated is how he handled distractions from the opposition. Chapter 6:2 & 3 "Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, `Come let us meet together on the plain of Ono.' But they were scheming to harm me. So I sent messengers to them with this reply. `I am carrying on a great project and I cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?' Four times they sent me the same message and each time I gave them the same answer." He knows these guys are trying to distract him. He's trying to build a wall and the opposition says, Why don't you come down here and have a peace party? Four times they say, come down to Ono and we'll talk. He says, no, I'm not going to be distracted. I'm concentrating on what I need to do. This is a mark of leadership: the ability to focus on what needs to be done and not be distracted. He wouldn't allow anything to delay its completion.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. That is the principle of concentration. That's a mark of leadership. Paul said, "this one thing I do"... not "these forty things I dabble in." Light when it is focused has tremendous power; it becomes a laser. But light diffused has now power at all. The more focused your life is -- the more concentrated your life is ‑- the more effective it is. That's a characteristic of great leaders -- concentration, the ability to focus.
5. CREATIVITY
The fifth characteristic of great leaders, as we look at Nehemiah's life is Creativity. Nehemiah was a very creative person. The way he approached his problems is fascinating to me. Creativity, people think, is something you're born with -- a predisposition. But Creativity is something that can be developed; it's a skill. It's simply a way of thinking.
This is something I am continually developing in every area of my life - in my marriage, developing creativity, you know what my wife appreciates that! Every yr. I take care of the plans for our anniv. - I take care of everything. Each yr. I ponder, think about another creative way to express to my wife how much our anniv. means to me. I have to work at it!
All of us this upcoming year are going to face new challenges and new challenges require new solutions; a lot of times the same old ways just don't work.
Examples of Nehemiah being a creative problem solver.
Chapter 4. The situation: Those who opposed the rebuilding of the wall from outside said, "We're going to come and attack you while you're trying to build the wall." v. 13 "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall's exposed places posting them by families with their swords and their spears and bows." He divided them by families and put them by their own house to build their portion of the wall closest to their own house. v. 14-18 "The Lord is great and awesome. Fight for your brother and wives and sons and daughters... From that day on half of the men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and shields and bows and armors." He has a creative work shift.
He's taking a creative response to the situation. They are all out working on the wall and the enemy says, We're going to come while you're working on the wall and not prepared for battle and kill you all. Nehemiah says: Step one, everybody works by their own house and with your own family. That motivates you to do your best job because if you're building the wall by your own house it will be stronger than if you're building the wall by somebody else's house. You're going to really reinforce the wall by your own house. That's the principle of ownership and delegation.
Also, working as a family unit they will support each other. It's also more efficient -- if you're right by your house you don't have to walk all the way across the city to eat lunch.
He was being creative. Half of the crowd built the wall while the other half stood guard with swords and spears. Then they'd shift. These are creative solutions to the difficult problem he faced. If life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade.
6. COURAGE
When you think of all that Nehemiah went through he was a very courageous person. Would you do what he did? Leave a well paying, safe, secure job at the peak of your career and ministry in your own country to go to a country you've never been to and build something you've never been trained to build? Nehemiah was not a contractor. As far as we know he'd never lifted a hammer or put a brick in place in his life. He was a cupbearer -- the wine taster for the king -- a butler. So here's this butler saying I'm going to go to a foreign country and supervise a construction project of building a wall around a city. He had no preparation for that. That took courage. He said, I'm going to do what God called me to do.
We have three examples of courage in Nehemiah. Nehemiah 2:2 "I'd never been sad in the king's presence before. So when the king asked me `Why do your face look so sad and you're not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid but [circle this] I said to the king `May the king live forever! Why should not my face look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins and the gates have been destroyed by fire.' The king says, `What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king, `If it pleases the king and your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city of Judah where my fathers are buried so I can rebuild it.'
In those days when a person came into the presence of the king to make a request, if the request was denied it meant automatic execution of the person. The king, rejecting your request, meant that the king was rejecting you. And if the king rejected you then you had no use in the kingdom and you were immediately executed. No wonder Nehemiah is scared to death. He's depressed over Jerusalem being destroyed and the king says "What's up? You've been happy all the time you've been serving me now you're sad." Nehemiah said, "I was afraid but I said..." Courage is when only you and God know you're afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. Nehemiah said, "I was afraid" and he knew he was taking his life into his hands and it was risky to ask the king's permission to leave his service and go to a foreign country to rebuild the wall of a nation that had been an enemy. He also asked for timber and bricks for the wall and the horses to carry him there and a house to live in.
Another example: 4:14 when the enemy came and said they were going to attack "I looked things over and stood up and said to the nobles and officials and the rest of them, `Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord is great and awesome. Fight [circle this] for your brothers, your sons, your daughters and wives." Nehemiah had never led an army in his life. He'd never fought in a battle. But he had courage to do what God had told him to do.
5:7-13 when he confronted the political corruption is another example.
What is courage? Courage is really another word for faith. Being willing to risk, being willing to step out on faith. That's what Nehemiah did. If you want to walk on water you've got to get out of the boat. You've got to take a risk. You've got to take a step out in faith.
To be people who live by FAITH!
"Ife we see what God sees, we'll do what God says"
7. CLEAR CONSCIOUS
Nehemiah was a man of integrity. He handled success very well. Most of us handle failure better than we handle success. Nehemiah knew how to handle success. He was a man of integrity.
One of my favorite passages is in chapter 5:14-19, "In the past the earlier governors, those preceding me, placed a heavy burden on the people, they took 40 shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine [heavy taxation of the people] and their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I didn't act like that. I devoted myself to the work of the wall..." Nehemiah had been made the governor of this area by Artaxerses, the king of Persia and the most powerful man at this time. That made Nehemiah the most powerful man in all of Judea. For 12 years Nehemiah could do anything he wanted to do. If he had wanted to he could have been like modern day dictators and amassed a personal fortune. Nehemiah says for 12 years I was the most powerful man in the country. I reported to nobody. I was accountable to nobody. In all of that time, when I could have ripped off my own people, I refused to accept a salary, to tax the people, I personally worked on the wall myself, supervising it. I refused to buy land for profit. I paid my servants to do public work and I personally fed 150 people everyday from my own welfare.
He's saying, For 12 years I was ruler, the leader of this country, there was nobody I was accountable to. Yet in that time, I didn't take any money and I didn't make any money. Do you know many politicians who can say that? This is a man of integrity. This is one of my favorite passages. He says I did not benefit myself from the leadership position I was in. I did not take advantage of the people who were under me. I was a man with a clear conscious.
When you become a success three things go with that: power, prestige, and privilege. The temptation is to abuse all three of those. Nehemiah didn't do it. The key is in v. 15, the last part, "But out of reverence for God I didn't act like that." The other guys did in the past, but Nehemiah didn't act like that. He was a leader with a clear conscious.
8. CONVICTION
Great leaders have strongly held beliefs. An opinion is something you'd argue about; a conviction is something you'd die for. Nehemiah was a man of conviction. He believed very strongly that God had called him to this job and nothing could stop him. Eight different times the opposition tried to keep the wall from being built:
They made fun of him. They laughed, "Those guys over there will never get the wall built." When you're a Christian, one of the first ways people will try to get you to deny your conviction is to make fun of you. If that doesn't work they'll try the second way...
Discouragement. The enemy came and tried to frustrate their plans. Discouragement usually comes at the half way point -- half way done with the project, half way up the mountain.
They tried to make them afraid. We're coming to attack you. We're going to kill you all. That didn't work. Nehemiah had half of the people stand guard.
Discord. They started spreading gossip all among the people. They gossiped about the wall, the leadership, everything. They tried to spread rumors to split up the work of God.
Division. They got a few people to form a little clique, a committee: "We think it ought to be done this way..." Another group: "We think it ought to be done that way..." They tried to cause division to split up the project God was working on. Internal conflict. Up to that time it had all been external.
Distractions. The enemy tried to get the leadership into a peace conference. We may not get them stopped but at least we'll get them slowed down.
Danger. The last attempt was assassination attempts. "We're going to send a hit squad and knock this guy off."
In all of these ways the opposition tried to use to stop the project, Nehemiah kept on doing the will of God. He would not give up. He was persistent. He endured. He was diligent, determined. Why? Because he had conviction. He had the conviction "God called me to do this. God told me to do this and I'm going to do this regardless of what comes against us. Nehemiah was a man of conviction and nothing could get him to quit.
All of us are going to face opposition this year, similar even to what Nehemiah faced -
God is urging us to move forward - don't quit!
He is in it with us!
‘if we see what God sees, we’ll do what God says’
What did Nehemiah base his conviction on? Four things:
1. He had a compelling purpose. In chapter 6 he said, "God has called me to do this great project and I'm not going to come down and talk with you."
2. He had a clear perspective. He had asked God for wisdom.
3. He had a continual prayer. He could see the overview, what God was doing.
4. He had a courageous persistence. He kept on keeping on. I think a good theme verse for Nehemiah would be Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
These eight characteristics we see in Nehemiah's life, I want us to take a little time for self evaluation. Four questions:
1. Which of these character qualities are strongest in your life? Compassion, contemplation, cheerfulness, concentration, creative, courageous, clear conscious, conviction.
2. Which of these character qualities is weakest?
3. Which of these character qualities would you like to develop the most? It's hard to work on something if you haven't clearly identified it.
4. What could you do this week to practice demonstrating this quality? Is there a project you could think of this week, or a situation that you might best demonstrate the quality you want to work on. Force yourself to make an application.
I'm praying that this year will be the year of character development at FOCUS*, that we'll be more like Jesus Christ in character. There are other things out there that are going to pass away, but character is the long haul. Character is what you're going to have in eternity.
Prayer:
Father, this has been an exciting study as we've looked at the life of Nehemiah. He's taught us a lot about leadership, lessons we can apply as leaders in our church, in our home, at work. We're all called to be leaders at different times. May we understand that leadership foundation is character not charisma, not education, not talent but character. Would You this year work on the qualities in our lives? I pray for each person as they've written down the one that they're weakest or the one that they want to work on the most, that You would give them opportunities to develop this, to be more the person You want them to be. Help us all to be leaders for Jesus' sake. We pray this in His name. Amen.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
The Nativity Story - "Letting GOD into your box"
“ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."... When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
Matthew 2:1-2;9-12
The Christmas story as we know it has been tidied up a bit, cleaned up because the true story is shocking and surreal. It’s about a King born in an over-crowded stable with all this manure and smells and intensified when we understand that it’s God doing all this. God’s born as the little baby, if that isn’t surprising enough then the condition in which He’s born in - is absolutely shocking. It's a cultural trend to make it nice, to sweeten it up - the Magi have become a part of the whole tidying up - let's take a closer look - MAGI in the original Greek is Magos which means magician or sorcerer. The Magi were astrologers! They looked to the sky and made predictions. The shocking part about the Magi is that God doesn't like astrology - all through the Bible He warns us not to practice astrology, get involved in an occult, or the spirit world you’re playing with fire there.
"`Do not practice divination or sorcery.” Leviticus 19:26
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD,..Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Even though God despises astrology, here we find in this story, and this the shocking part, the Magi are the ones God calls across the desert, these astrologers, professional spell casters using an astrological sign to do it!
Even more shocking the Magi probably used for some of their info. a prophecy given in Numbers 24:17 speaking of a 'star rising out of Jacob' - that prophecy itself was given by a pagan soothsayer by the name of Balaam. So...
here we have pagan astrologers, using a pagan prophecy,
following a pagan symbol going across the desert to find the new born King.
All the while the religious leaders are sitting right on top of the King and they don't even know it!
It turns upside down our thoughts of Christmas, and that's the point!
Our God is a shocking God - because of His unlimited, insurmountable-love for all mankind - God gets out of His box
Have you heard the saying, “Did you get in their box?”
explain
God in this story gives us another example of how He gets in the box w/ us - He comes to our level, operates on our mindset
God gets out of His box and dives into ours!
In the case of the Magi, God gets in their box with them
He gets down to their level, He speaks their language, God will go to any level, any depths to find someone who is hungry and searching for truth and draw them forward -
So... as much as God doesn’t like astrology, He uses astrology to pull these Magi across the desert to find the Christ child b/c this is the language these folks speak.
The Magi are looking to the heavens for the truth so God says, "You're looking for a star, I'll give you a star to show you the Christ!" - He gets in the box w/us
Some may mistake this for God condoning astrology,
absolutely not!
If you’re looking at this story thru the eyes of love you’ll see
It's a case of God _loving_ the astrologers more than He hates their astrology
He gets in the box w/ us, He talks our lang. He gets down to our level - b/c He loves us so much
Now here’s something I want you to see... it costs God something to do this - it’s not like this is a painless thing God can do, it cost Him something to do this. And until we understand the cost, we’ll never appreciate the love behind it.
Let me use this illustration: Cathleen and I invited to Richmond club for CD release party
here’s the point I wanna make - I’m a sinner just like you are - I’m on a journey to become Christlike - I don’t know exactly where I am in this process, but I know that my sin sensitivity buzzers are still somewhat jaded - i don’t feel the full impact or see the full ugliness of it and destructiveness of sin - yet in that environment of the club I was just knotted up and grieved and sickened - then later, maybe next day, a thought came to me,
“If you, the sinner that you are, felt like that - what do you think God feels about the sin of the world.
God is pure holy - God would exper. the most minor sin as grievously as we would exper. the most heinous sin.
How does God feel about this - it costs God something to get into our box, b/c our box is full of sin.
We need to realize that we are all sinners yet God is willing to get into your box
As much as God is revolted by sin, there's one emotion
that is greater - that is __His love for sinners__
B/c of that He is willing to put up w/ the grime, the slime, the
putrid revulsion He has toward sin and He gets into our box.
This is what the Christmas story is all about His willingness to be born in the stable, His willingness to use astrology is an
example of this - the greatest example of this is the cross of
calvary - the physical pain as horrifying as that was I believe was inconsequential to the pain He felt of taking on the sin of the world. No wonder he cries, “Father why have you forsaken me?” What Cathleen and I exper. at the club was nothing, absolutely nothing to what God experiences...
So.. He dives into our mess! He dives into our box - He speaks our language, because there's something God loves more than He hates our sin and that is US!
A prudish God would never do this, an uptight religious ditty would never think of such thing, but the true God revealed in Jesus Christ out of outlandish passion, and unwavering love
dives head 1st in the worst the world has to offer
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Why? so that we might become the righteousness of God through Him.
We can’t even begin to imagine what that might cost but He was willing to do it, this is what the Christmas story is all about that on the cross of calvary he absorbs it all He absorbs it all, the HORROR that He must have been going through at that time,
but He was willing why?
B/c the love, the joy that was set b4 Him was greater than the Horror He experienced
There’s one thing that is greater than God’s revulsion for sin and that is His love for you so He wants in on your mess, He wants in on your mess. No matter what the mess may be, you gotta know this, you can’t out mess God
No matter of our past, no matter how low we've gone, there's no depth that you can sink to that He won't go - He wants in on your mess!
Let Him in on your mess, let Him be born into the dirty stable
Let Him in on the mess of your family
Let Him in on the mess of your confusion
Let Him in on the mess of your depression
Let Him in on the mess of your despair
Let Him in on the mess of your addiction
Let Him in on the mess of your fear
Let Him in on the mess of your doubt
Let Him in on the mess of your screwed-upness
Let Him be born there
Let Him into your box!
Then you begin to see the Holy Spirit working in your life and He begins cleaning up little by little
it’s the 1st step letting God in
Let God into YOUR box – once we do that our first impulse
is to _worship__
We see His love and the value He places on us and we want to ascribe worth back to God.
The 1st thing these Magi do when they see the King is they
ascribe worth to Him. The make sacrifices which expresses the worth this new born King has to them.
I’m not even sure they knew exactly what they were doing
Theology wise anyway. But there’s something inside that says,
“This child is very important” so they ascribe worth back to Him by making the sacrifices of the treasures they had.
Remember these Magi worked for the Royal Court of Persia, that’s how they got all their money and treasure performing these pagan practices - the King would want some help on a decision or direction to go w/ something so he calls in these Magi and says, “what are the stars saying, what’s in the wind?”
So their treasure comes from pagan practices - so do you think God was thinking, “OH NO you can’t give those pagans gifts to a holy God” Absolutely NOT!
B/c God looks at the heart of the person, He sees the hunger there. He is not condoning the way they got the money, but the fact is right here, right now they have a heart to worship and it’s the heart that turns what may be otherwise sinful into something
holy - that’s the grace of God
Listen when you offer something up to God, how you got where you are isn’t the issue, it’s where you are right now, what otherwise may be tainted, dirty, and ungodly becomes something preciously holy in the eyes of God
It’s the heart that makes something worthwhile
I can’t even count how many times people have told me they have nothing to give to God, that their past is a mess and they should try to clean it up or get their act together before they move towards God - and I tell them you already are.
It’s the heart that matters - that’s what God is looking for - don’t worry about the mess, just let Him in - let Him in on your mess and offer worth back to God - that’s all He’s looking for
1st impulse offer worth back to God
Our second impulse is to become Christlike to others.
to enter into the box of others - it's the law of love, we are called to live a life of love. The apostle Paul told us to put on LOVE
above all else. (see file 'known by love' April 3rd, 2005)
But what often prevents this from happening is we can’t suspend our ethical judgement, we have opinions about a lot things.
So we see a person in need and we say, “Oh I wonder what he did to deserve that? It’s their own fault for being poor, it’s their own fault for being homeless. This is the land of equal opport.
right... so if somebody doesn’t have a middle income class it must be their own doing and if they just worked hard like i worked then they would have... and how convenient this thinking is b/c now we don’t ever have to be inconvenienced w/ compassion - we set ourselves at bay w/ this sense of moral superiority.
Just one of the amazing things about min. of Christ -
Jesus Christ dealt with the low-life dregs of society. (the prostitutes, tax-collectors, lepers) He never once asked them how they got into such a position.
Ohh Mary Magdalene how did you get all those demons in you?
He never goes there - His disciples go there and He rebukes them - who sinned that this man was born blind? this tendency in us wants to blame somebody so we can feel a little more righteous and be excused from being inconvenienced.
Jesus answered them, “neither this man or his parents, but let God be glorified.”
He’s teaching us how to bring Glory to God that is to love one another - that’s how.
Jesus says, However he got blind, what matters now is that we bring healing to him - however she got possessed, what matters now is that we bring deliverance to her - however he got sick, what matters now is that we pray for healing
You need comfort, we’ll bring Kingdom comfort
You need peace, we’ll bring Kingdom peace
You need healing, we’ll bring Kingdom healing
You need fellowship, we’ll bring Kingdom fellowship
He just gave, He just LOVED them!
God wants us to move out of the comfort and connivence of our box and get into the box of others to display LOVE!
Most of the time that’s not real easy, but that is how we share God’s love w/ others - we invest in those who do not Him.
Which means you will have to get into someone’s box that a little more grimier than yours, it’s dirtier than yours.
We think we’ve cleaned up so good, but in reality our box would be just as filthy if not filthier if God wasn’t in it w/ us - so how much more then for those who don’t know - how much more should we get into their box and share the love of Christ.
God gets _into our box_ and moves us to get _into the box of others_
book: not religion but love - story: bresben Aus. med. doc. John Hughes workin clinic for poor.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31
Digging Deeper:
1.What examples can you find in the Bible of God,
“Getting out of His box” and “Into our box”?
2.In what ways do you worship God?
3.Do you ever find it difficult to 'get out of your box'
to reach others?
4.Read Luke 6:27-36. Who are your enemies? Do you think that means literal enemies, or others outside of our box?
Resource:
Christianity Outside the Box
By: Crea A. Copeland
Matthew 2:1-2;9-12
The Christmas story as we know it has been tidied up a bit, cleaned up because the true story is shocking and surreal. It’s about a King born in an over-crowded stable with all this manure and smells and intensified when we understand that it’s God doing all this. God’s born as the little baby, if that isn’t surprising enough then the condition in which He’s born in - is absolutely shocking. It's a cultural trend to make it nice, to sweeten it up - the Magi have become a part of the whole tidying up - let's take a closer look - MAGI in the original Greek is Magos which means magician or sorcerer. The Magi were astrologers! They looked to the sky and made predictions. The shocking part about the Magi is that God doesn't like astrology - all through the Bible He warns us not to practice astrology, get involved in an occult, or the spirit world you’re playing with fire there.
"`Do not practice divination or sorcery.” Leviticus 19:26
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD,..Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Even though God despises astrology, here we find in this story, and this the shocking part, the Magi are the ones God calls across the desert, these astrologers, professional spell casters using an astrological sign to do it!
Even more shocking the Magi probably used for some of their info. a prophecy given in Numbers 24:17 speaking of a 'star rising out of Jacob' - that prophecy itself was given by a pagan soothsayer by the name of Balaam. So...
here we have pagan astrologers, using a pagan prophecy,
following a pagan symbol going across the desert to find the new born King.
All the while the religious leaders are sitting right on top of the King and they don't even know it!
It turns upside down our thoughts of Christmas, and that's the point!
Our God is a shocking God - because of His unlimited, insurmountable-love for all mankind - God gets out of His box
Have you heard the saying, “Did you get in their box?”
explain
God in this story gives us another example of how He gets in the box w/ us - He comes to our level, operates on our mindset
God gets out of His box and dives into ours!
In the case of the Magi, God gets in their box with them
He gets down to their level, He speaks their language, God will go to any level, any depths to find someone who is hungry and searching for truth and draw them forward -
So... as much as God doesn’t like astrology, He uses astrology to pull these Magi across the desert to find the Christ child b/c this is the language these folks speak.
The Magi are looking to the heavens for the truth so God says, "You're looking for a star, I'll give you a star to show you the Christ!" - He gets in the box w/us
Some may mistake this for God condoning astrology,
absolutely not!
If you’re looking at this story thru the eyes of love you’ll see
It's a case of God _loving_ the astrologers more than He hates their astrology
He gets in the box w/ us, He talks our lang. He gets down to our level - b/c He loves us so much
Now here’s something I want you to see... it costs God something to do this - it’s not like this is a painless thing God can do, it cost Him something to do this. And until we understand the cost, we’ll never appreciate the love behind it.
Let me use this illustration: Cathleen and I invited to Richmond club for CD release party
here’s the point I wanna make - I’m a sinner just like you are - I’m on a journey to become Christlike - I don’t know exactly where I am in this process, but I know that my sin sensitivity buzzers are still somewhat jaded - i don’t feel the full impact or see the full ugliness of it and destructiveness of sin - yet in that environment of the club I was just knotted up and grieved and sickened - then later, maybe next day, a thought came to me,
“If you, the sinner that you are, felt like that - what do you think God feels about the sin of the world.
God is pure holy - God would exper. the most minor sin as grievously as we would exper. the most heinous sin.
How does God feel about this - it costs God something to get into our box, b/c our box is full of sin.
We need to realize that we are all sinners yet God is willing to get into your box
As much as God is revolted by sin, there's one emotion
that is greater - that is __His love for sinners__
B/c of that He is willing to put up w/ the grime, the slime, the
putrid revulsion He has toward sin and He gets into our box.
This is what the Christmas story is all about His willingness to be born in the stable, His willingness to use astrology is an
example of this - the greatest example of this is the cross of
calvary - the physical pain as horrifying as that was I believe was inconsequential to the pain He felt of taking on the sin of the world. No wonder he cries, “Father why have you forsaken me?” What Cathleen and I exper. at the club was nothing, absolutely nothing to what God experiences...
So.. He dives into our mess! He dives into our box - He speaks our language, because there's something God loves more than He hates our sin and that is US!
A prudish God would never do this, an uptight religious ditty would never think of such thing, but the true God revealed in Jesus Christ out of outlandish passion, and unwavering love
dives head 1st in the worst the world has to offer
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Why? so that we might become the righteousness of God through Him.
We can’t even begin to imagine what that might cost but He was willing to do it, this is what the Christmas story is all about that on the cross of calvary he absorbs it all He absorbs it all, the HORROR that He must have been going through at that time,
but He was willing why?
B/c the love, the joy that was set b4 Him was greater than the Horror He experienced
There’s one thing that is greater than God’s revulsion for sin and that is His love for you so He wants in on your mess, He wants in on your mess. No matter what the mess may be, you gotta know this, you can’t out mess God
No matter of our past, no matter how low we've gone, there's no depth that you can sink to that He won't go - He wants in on your mess!
Let Him in on your mess, let Him be born into the dirty stable
Let Him in on the mess of your family
Let Him in on the mess of your confusion
Let Him in on the mess of your depression
Let Him in on the mess of your despair
Let Him in on the mess of your addiction
Let Him in on the mess of your fear
Let Him in on the mess of your doubt
Let Him in on the mess of your screwed-upness
Let Him be born there
Let Him into your box!
Then you begin to see the Holy Spirit working in your life and He begins cleaning up little by little
it’s the 1st step letting God in
Let God into YOUR box – once we do that our first impulse
is to _worship__
We see His love and the value He places on us and we want to ascribe worth back to God.
The 1st thing these Magi do when they see the King is they
ascribe worth to Him. The make sacrifices which expresses the worth this new born King has to them.
I’m not even sure they knew exactly what they were doing
Theology wise anyway. But there’s something inside that says,
“This child is very important” so they ascribe worth back to Him by making the sacrifices of the treasures they had.
Remember these Magi worked for the Royal Court of Persia, that’s how they got all their money and treasure performing these pagan practices - the King would want some help on a decision or direction to go w/ something so he calls in these Magi and says, “what are the stars saying, what’s in the wind?”
So their treasure comes from pagan practices - so do you think God was thinking, “OH NO you can’t give those pagans gifts to a holy God” Absolutely NOT!
B/c God looks at the heart of the person, He sees the hunger there. He is not condoning the way they got the money, but the fact is right here, right now they have a heart to worship and it’s the heart that turns what may be otherwise sinful into something
holy - that’s the grace of God
Listen when you offer something up to God, how you got where you are isn’t the issue, it’s where you are right now, what otherwise may be tainted, dirty, and ungodly becomes something preciously holy in the eyes of God
It’s the heart that makes something worthwhile
I can’t even count how many times people have told me they have nothing to give to God, that their past is a mess and they should try to clean it up or get their act together before they move towards God - and I tell them you already are.
It’s the heart that matters - that’s what God is looking for - don’t worry about the mess, just let Him in - let Him in on your mess and offer worth back to God - that’s all He’s looking for
1st impulse offer worth back to God
Our second impulse is to become Christlike to others.
to enter into the box of others - it's the law of love, we are called to live a life of love. The apostle Paul told us to put on LOVE
above all else. (see file 'known by love' April 3rd, 2005)
But what often prevents this from happening is we can’t suspend our ethical judgement, we have opinions about a lot things.
So we see a person in need and we say, “Oh I wonder what he did to deserve that? It’s their own fault for being poor, it’s their own fault for being homeless. This is the land of equal opport.
right... so if somebody doesn’t have a middle income class it must be their own doing and if they just worked hard like i worked then they would have... and how convenient this thinking is b/c now we don’t ever have to be inconvenienced w/ compassion - we set ourselves at bay w/ this sense of moral superiority.
Just one of the amazing things about min. of Christ -
Jesus Christ dealt with the low-life dregs of society. (the prostitutes, tax-collectors, lepers) He never once asked them how they got into such a position.
Ohh Mary Magdalene how did you get all those demons in you?
He never goes there - His disciples go there and He rebukes them - who sinned that this man was born blind? this tendency in us wants to blame somebody so we can feel a little more righteous and be excused from being inconvenienced.
Jesus answered them, “neither this man or his parents, but let God be glorified.”
He’s teaching us how to bring Glory to God that is to love one another - that’s how.
Jesus says, However he got blind, what matters now is that we bring healing to him - however she got possessed, what matters now is that we bring deliverance to her - however he got sick, what matters now is that we pray for healing
You need comfort, we’ll bring Kingdom comfort
You need peace, we’ll bring Kingdom peace
You need healing, we’ll bring Kingdom healing
You need fellowship, we’ll bring Kingdom fellowship
He just gave, He just LOVED them!
God wants us to move out of the comfort and connivence of our box and get into the box of others to display LOVE!
Most of the time that’s not real easy, but that is how we share God’s love w/ others - we invest in those who do not Him.
Which means you will have to get into someone’s box that a little more grimier than yours, it’s dirtier than yours.
We think we’ve cleaned up so good, but in reality our box would be just as filthy if not filthier if God wasn’t in it w/ us - so how much more then for those who don’t know - how much more should we get into their box and share the love of Christ.
God gets _into our box_ and moves us to get _into the box of others_
book: not religion but love - story: bresben Aus. med. doc. John Hughes workin clinic for poor.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31
Digging Deeper:
1.What examples can you find in the Bible of God,
“Getting out of His box” and “Into our box”?
2.In what ways do you worship God?
3.Do you ever find it difficult to 'get out of your box'
to reach others?
4.Read Luke 6:27-36. Who are your enemies? Do you think that means literal enemies, or others outside of our box?
Resource:
Christianity Outside the Box
By: Crea A. Copeland
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Nativity Story - "When you Follow a Star and Find a Stable"
On Christmas morning how hard is it to get the kids out of bed?
How about a week later after 2 weeks on vaca. trying to get them out of bed for school? It’s all about expectations.
Our expectations control our conduct. Our lives are filled with great expectations. What happens when our expectations and reality collide? Frustration and Disappointment.
When we have these high expect., when we have planned out the way we want something to happen, the path we want to lay out and all of a sudden reality crashes the party - we become frustrated, disappointed.
here’s some examples: pics
Matthew 2:1-12
What happens when you follow a Star and find a Stable?
These wise men have been following this star for hundreds of miles... thru rough and rugged terrain, cold nights, and danger, expecting to find something grand and glorious and they end up in a barn in the backyard of Bethlehem - they expect to find a Palace and Prince in priceless robes with precious jewels, but instead find a teen-age mother holding a baby in the aroma of barnyard animals. Not exactly what you expected.
Can you imagine their disappointment? We know they were expecting a mansion or palace b/c they stopped at King Herod’s place to find out about this child that was to be born.
Isn’t it true that all of us have followed a star that looked so promising, only to find at the end you were in a stable.
-H.S. yearbook senior yr. - how many people were expected to be rising stars only to disappoint others and themselves
-How many College students grad. w/ honors, ready to go out and get that great job only to find the job they wanted wasn’t waiting for them.
-How about the young couple committing their lives to each other at the alter - everyone thought their relationship was so promising, everything going for them... yet in a few years their marriage can be found on Divorce court w/ J. Wapner./Judy
What do you do when you follow a Star and find a Stable?
From the actions and attitudes of the Wise men in the Christmas story we see 3 truths that wise men thr/out history have lived by whenever they followed a star and didn’t get what they were expected
1. Wise men look for God when they find a stable.
Wise men of all ages, when handed a difficult situation, didn’t panic but 1st looked to God. They’d say... “God is somewhere in this stable; I’ll keep searching and hold steady until I find Him.
Rom. 8:28
“We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.”
“We know” - confidently looking for God to work it out
“In all things” - that’s both palace exper. and stable exper.
“God works for the good” - He has your best interest, regardless
Remember the wise man Joseph? He had a couple of stable experiences and found God right in the middle of them...
...sold into slavery
...lied to by his brothers
...forced off to a foreign country
...Innocently sentenced to prison
...his character slandered
...separated from his loving father for years
but in the end, after God had exalted him to be an influential man in Egypt, he told his brothers...
“You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in
order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.” Gen, 50:20
Joseph found God in the stable.
Job was another wise man who was sitting on an ash heap, after
...losing his fortune
...losing his entire family - except his cheerful wife
...persecuted by his so-called friends
...lost his reputation
“Then Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." But Job replied, "You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.” Job 2:8-10
Job followed a star and found a stable, but in that stable found God
We could find example after example of men and women in scripture who followed a star and found a stable... David, Moses, Ruth, just about every O.T. prophet, Apostle Paul, Peter,
and on....
One of the ways we can tell if we are growing and maturing as Christ-followers is the ability to see God in the barnyards of life (when things aren’t going as you planned) as well as the good times.
2. Wise men offer to God their very best.
v.11 - “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”
Our tendency is to hold back, isn’t it? When the difficult times come it’s easy to withhold our best. Save it for something better.
When things don’t live up to our expectations - whenever we feel it could be better or there could be more or this situation or scenario just doesn’t live up to all the hype that we thought was promised, our tendency is to hold back, to not give our best.
When a marriage isn’t what it should be instead of giving it our best shot, some may begin to hold back, withdraw
The kids are really making life difficult w/ their behavior,
instead of continuing on and giving our best, some may throw up their hands and say, “I’ve done all I can, why try any more.”
The stable experiences of life will test our resolve to do things w/ excellence.
Did the wise men hold back the treasures and gifts they brought? They could have looked at each other and said, “We brought these expensive, valuable gifts for a King, not a commoner’s baby... we expected a palace, not a barn. This isn’t what we expected maybe we shouldn’t give all the treasure...
"Hey Mo just give ‘em the Myrrh and let’s get out of here."
Could there have been the mindset of, “This is certainly not what we thought, we won’t get much recognition in this barn as we would in the palace.”
Ahhh.. but the wise men gave their best!
The difference between the average and the great are 3 little words, “and then some...”
Great people forgive others... and then some
help others....ats - love others...ats - give to the poor...ats -
encourage others...ats
They always go the extra mile
3. Wise men change their direction after experiencing a stable
v.12 - “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
The ? is not will you experience a stable, the ? is when will you experience it & how are you going to respond?
What will happen in you b/c of it, & how will it change your life?
All of us follow stars and find stables... but the difference between winners and whiners is what you do as a result of the stable experience. It can make you bitter or better - which one?
What stable experience have you recently encountered while following a star?
...divorce
...broken friendship
...a rebellious child
...a ruined career
...financial mess
...physical or emotional problems
...a lost loved one
God wants you to know He’s in it with you.
The question for us is, how are we going to respond?
example of Cathleen’s broken friendship
One of the main reasons why Christ became one of us.... being born in Bethlehem and dying on a cross 33yrs. later was to give us the power to overcome every stable experience.
So what do you do when you follow a star and find a stable
You look for the Prince of Peace in the stable
You give God your best while in the stable
You allow the stable experience to change the direction of your life
Jesus is our Prince of Peace and He can take care of all the
disturbances of your life.
for audio go to: www.myspace.com/focusmessages
How about a week later after 2 weeks on vaca. trying to get them out of bed for school? It’s all about expectations.
Our expectations control our conduct. Our lives are filled with great expectations. What happens when our expectations and reality collide? Frustration and Disappointment.
When we have these high expect., when we have planned out the way we want something to happen, the path we want to lay out and all of a sudden reality crashes the party - we become frustrated, disappointed.
here’s some examples: pics
Matthew 2:1-12
What happens when you follow a Star and find a Stable?
These wise men have been following this star for hundreds of miles... thru rough and rugged terrain, cold nights, and danger, expecting to find something grand and glorious and they end up in a barn in the backyard of Bethlehem - they expect to find a Palace and Prince in priceless robes with precious jewels, but instead find a teen-age mother holding a baby in the aroma of barnyard animals. Not exactly what you expected.
Can you imagine their disappointment? We know they were expecting a mansion or palace b/c they stopped at King Herod’s place to find out about this child that was to be born.
Isn’t it true that all of us have followed a star that looked so promising, only to find at the end you were in a stable.
-H.S. yearbook senior yr. - how many people were expected to be rising stars only to disappoint others and themselves
-How many College students grad. w/ honors, ready to go out and get that great job only to find the job they wanted wasn’t waiting for them.
-How about the young couple committing their lives to each other at the alter - everyone thought their relationship was so promising, everything going for them... yet in a few years their marriage can be found on Divorce court w/ J. Wapner./Judy
What do you do when you follow a Star and find a Stable?
From the actions and attitudes of the Wise men in the Christmas story we see 3 truths that wise men thr/out history have lived by whenever they followed a star and didn’t get what they were expected
1. Wise men look for God when they find a stable.
Wise men of all ages, when handed a difficult situation, didn’t panic but 1st looked to God. They’d say... “God is somewhere in this stable; I’ll keep searching and hold steady until I find Him.
Rom. 8:28
“We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.”
“We know” - confidently looking for God to work it out
“In all things” - that’s both palace exper. and stable exper.
“God works for the good” - He has your best interest, regardless
Remember the wise man Joseph? He had a couple of stable experiences and found God right in the middle of them...
...sold into slavery
...lied to by his brothers
...forced off to a foreign country
...Innocently sentenced to prison
...his character slandered
...separated from his loving father for years
but in the end, after God had exalted him to be an influential man in Egypt, he told his brothers...
“You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in
order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.” Gen, 50:20
Joseph found God in the stable.
Job was another wise man who was sitting on an ash heap, after
...losing his fortune
...losing his entire family - except his cheerful wife
...persecuted by his so-called friends
...lost his reputation
“Then Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." But Job replied, "You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.” Job 2:8-10
Job followed a star and found a stable, but in that stable found God
We could find example after example of men and women in scripture who followed a star and found a stable... David, Moses, Ruth, just about every O.T. prophet, Apostle Paul, Peter,
and on....
One of the ways we can tell if we are growing and maturing as Christ-followers is the ability to see God in the barnyards of life (when things aren’t going as you planned) as well as the good times.
2. Wise men offer to God their very best.
v.11 - “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”
Our tendency is to hold back, isn’t it? When the difficult times come it’s easy to withhold our best. Save it for something better.
When things don’t live up to our expectations - whenever we feel it could be better or there could be more or this situation or scenario just doesn’t live up to all the hype that we thought was promised, our tendency is to hold back, to not give our best.
When a marriage isn’t what it should be instead of giving it our best shot, some may begin to hold back, withdraw
The kids are really making life difficult w/ their behavior,
instead of continuing on and giving our best, some may throw up their hands and say, “I’ve done all I can, why try any more.”
The stable experiences of life will test our resolve to do things w/ excellence.
Did the wise men hold back the treasures and gifts they brought? They could have looked at each other and said, “We brought these expensive, valuable gifts for a King, not a commoner’s baby... we expected a palace, not a barn. This isn’t what we expected maybe we shouldn’t give all the treasure...
"Hey Mo just give ‘em the Myrrh and let’s get out of here."
Could there have been the mindset of, “This is certainly not what we thought, we won’t get much recognition in this barn as we would in the palace.”
Ahhh.. but the wise men gave their best!
The difference between the average and the great are 3 little words, “and then some...”
Great people forgive others... and then some
help others....ats - love others...ats - give to the poor...ats -
encourage others...ats
They always go the extra mile
3. Wise men change their direction after experiencing a stable
v.12 - “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
The ? is not will you experience a stable, the ? is when will you experience it & how are you going to respond?
What will happen in you b/c of it, & how will it change your life?
All of us follow stars and find stables... but the difference between winners and whiners is what you do as a result of the stable experience. It can make you bitter or better - which one?
What stable experience have you recently encountered while following a star?
...divorce
...broken friendship
...a rebellious child
...a ruined career
...financial mess
...physical or emotional problems
...a lost loved one
God wants you to know He’s in it with you.
The question for us is, how are we going to respond?
example of Cathleen’s broken friendship
One of the main reasons why Christ became one of us.... being born in Bethlehem and dying on a cross 33yrs. later was to give us the power to overcome every stable experience.
So what do you do when you follow a star and find a stable
You look for the Prince of Peace in the stable
You give God your best while in the stable
You allow the stable experience to change the direction of your life
Jesus is our Prince of Peace and He can take care of all the
disturbances of your life.
for audio go to: www.myspace.com/focusmessages
Sunday, December 10, 2006
The Nativity Story - "From Ordinary to Extraordinary"
What’s the difference between ordinary and extraordinary? Ordinary is just the norm, regular, customary. But extraordinary is going beyond the norm - beyond the customary. I even saw it defined a ‘exceptional to a very marked extent’. I like that definition. Not just exceptional, but exceptional to a very marked extent. I think most people crave the idea of living an extraordinary life. Most of us want to do or be a part of something exceptional. Sadly, even though most of us crave the extraordinary, I think few of us would actually claim that are lives are in fact extraordinary. But I think we all can. After all what defines extraordinary? What do you think of when you think living an extraordinary life?
Do you think of extraordinary riches? Extraordinary looks? Extraordinary intelligence? What about extraordinary skills athletically or musically?
These are all examples of things that we typically perceive as extraordinary but what would be biblical examples of living an extraordinary life? Let’s look at a few:
1. Noah - built a boat in the middle of a desert
2. Moses - heard the voice of God in a blazing bush
3. Abraham - fathered a child at the age of 100 with a wife who had been completely barren her whole life
4. Joseph - lived a life of royalty after being sold into slavery
5. Esther - saved an entire nation from destruction by exposing an evil man
6. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood with God in a furnace that was so hot it killed the men that led them to it and they didn’t even get singed
7. The wise men - followed a star in the sky and found a savior
8. The shepherds - witnessed an angelic choir in the sky
9. Mary - gave birth to a baby after never having physical relations with a man
These are truly examples of extraordinary living. You may say to yourself, ‘Yeah but none of that will ever happen to me.’ I disagree. These people didn’t lead themselves to extraordinary circumstances. God did the leading. But you know what they did? They responded in the circumstance in a way that made the circumstance extraordinary. What would’ve happened had these individuals responded differently to their circumstances?
What if Noah had let his fear of rejection and ridicule stop him from doing what he knew he was suppose to do? If we are to believe the Bible, which we are, it would have been the end of mankind.
What is Esther had remained silent? Most, if not all, of the Jewish people would have been annihilated.
What if Moses had not listened to the voice in the bush? The Israelites wouldn’t have been freed from slavery, the parting of the red sea would have never happened, Moses would’ve never gone to Mt. Sanai to receive the 10 commandments. The history of mankind and the history of our faith would be dramatically altered.
What made these people so different? Was it their upbringing? No. Moses was a spoiled little rich boy, Esther was an orphan raised by her uncle. Was it their education? No. The shepherds weren’t highly educated. They certainly weren’t the philosophers of their day. What set these people up to live out extraordinary experiences comes down to just one word..................faith. Their faith is the reason you’ve even heard of them. Their faith impacted Biblical history. Their faith impacted the world as we know it. Just their faith.
Heb. 11:1 tells us that....
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Let’s examine the experience of Mary.
Mary had to live by faith, ........or walk away. By no other means could she comprehend what was happening to her. By no other means could she stand strong in the face of so much condemnation.
Video ‘I have broken no vow’
http://www.nativityresources.com/video.html?sid=456E1F007FE0E17F
Explain culture, vow, consequences
Video ‘Honor’
http://www.nativityresources.com/video.html?sid=456E1F007FE0E17F
Only by faith could Mary withstand the pressure she was under without denial, or running away. There had to have been opportunity after opportunity to deny, lie or run from what was happening in order to escape ridicule or even death but Mary didn’t succumb to any of these things. Her faith was enough. She trusted that the God who brought her into this circumstance would walk through it with her. Her faith changed the world. Get that. Don’t let those words just roll around your mind and dissolve into nothingness. Hear them. Let me say it again. Her faith changed the world. You literally wouldn’t be here - in this building - today if it didn’t. Because the only reason we are here today is to live out our churches key scripture (Heb. 12:2) to FOCUS on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.
I am here today by faith
expand
What is God calling you to? Our lives are marked by ‘faith moments’. The moments where your are challenged to stand up for what you believe in. The moments when you want one thing but you know that you know God wants something else. The moments when doing what’s right is the really hard thing to do. The moments when you choose to see others, not as the world sees them, but instead the way God sees them. The moments where God says stay - and you stay, or he says go - and you go. Or when you say ‘but Lord, I don’t want to love them’ and he says, ‘Love them anyway.’
Sunday school teacher -
Quit work - bad on paper
Video - Indiana Jones taking step of faith in, "The Last Crusade"
The book of our lives are filled with ‘faith stories’. How does your book read? Let Jesus be for you today exactly what his word says ‘ the author and perfecter of your faith.’ Your job isn’t to worry about circumstances in your life - that is the ordinary response, everybody can do that! Your job is to respond in an extraordinary way - with faith. Every Biblical example we looked at today resulted in extraordinary life change for the individuals in the examples and for the coming generations because they responded with faith.
What is going on in your life in regards to work, school, family, relationships, finances, ministry? All God wants from you is faith. Faith that He really is here. Faith that He really does know what’s going on. Faith that He really does have a purpose and a plan for you and for every circumstance.
Pray.
Heb. 11:6 tells us ‘without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
Do you think of extraordinary riches? Extraordinary looks? Extraordinary intelligence? What about extraordinary skills athletically or musically?
These are all examples of things that we typically perceive as extraordinary but what would be biblical examples of living an extraordinary life? Let’s look at a few:
1. Noah - built a boat in the middle of a desert
2. Moses - heard the voice of God in a blazing bush
3. Abraham - fathered a child at the age of 100 with a wife who had been completely barren her whole life
4. Joseph - lived a life of royalty after being sold into slavery
5. Esther - saved an entire nation from destruction by exposing an evil man
6. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood with God in a furnace that was so hot it killed the men that led them to it and they didn’t even get singed
7. The wise men - followed a star in the sky and found a savior
8. The shepherds - witnessed an angelic choir in the sky
9. Mary - gave birth to a baby after never having physical relations with a man
These are truly examples of extraordinary living. You may say to yourself, ‘Yeah but none of that will ever happen to me.’ I disagree. These people didn’t lead themselves to extraordinary circumstances. God did the leading. But you know what they did? They responded in the circumstance in a way that made the circumstance extraordinary. What would’ve happened had these individuals responded differently to their circumstances?
What if Noah had let his fear of rejection and ridicule stop him from doing what he knew he was suppose to do? If we are to believe the Bible, which we are, it would have been the end of mankind.
What is Esther had remained silent? Most, if not all, of the Jewish people would have been annihilated.
What if Moses had not listened to the voice in the bush? The Israelites wouldn’t have been freed from slavery, the parting of the red sea would have never happened, Moses would’ve never gone to Mt. Sanai to receive the 10 commandments. The history of mankind and the history of our faith would be dramatically altered.
What made these people so different? Was it their upbringing? No. Moses was a spoiled little rich boy, Esther was an orphan raised by her uncle. Was it their education? No. The shepherds weren’t highly educated. They certainly weren’t the philosophers of their day. What set these people up to live out extraordinary experiences comes down to just one word..................faith. Their faith is the reason you’ve even heard of them. Their faith impacted Biblical history. Their faith impacted the world as we know it. Just their faith.
Heb. 11:1 tells us that....
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Let’s examine the experience of Mary.
Mary had to live by faith, ........or walk away. By no other means could she comprehend what was happening to her. By no other means could she stand strong in the face of so much condemnation.
Video ‘I have broken no vow’
http://www.nativityresources.com/video.html?sid=456E1F007FE0E17F
Explain culture, vow, consequences
Video ‘Honor’
http://www.nativityresources.com/video.html?sid=456E1F007FE0E17F
Only by faith could Mary withstand the pressure she was under without denial, or running away. There had to have been opportunity after opportunity to deny, lie or run from what was happening in order to escape ridicule or even death but Mary didn’t succumb to any of these things. Her faith was enough. She trusted that the God who brought her into this circumstance would walk through it with her. Her faith changed the world. Get that. Don’t let those words just roll around your mind and dissolve into nothingness. Hear them. Let me say it again. Her faith changed the world. You literally wouldn’t be here - in this building - today if it didn’t. Because the only reason we are here today is to live out our churches key scripture (Heb. 12:2) to FOCUS on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.
I am here today by faith
expand
What is God calling you to? Our lives are marked by ‘faith moments’. The moments where your are challenged to stand up for what you believe in. The moments when you want one thing but you know that you know God wants something else. The moments when doing what’s right is the really hard thing to do. The moments when you choose to see others, not as the world sees them, but instead the way God sees them. The moments where God says stay - and you stay, or he says go - and you go. Or when you say ‘but Lord, I don’t want to love them’ and he says, ‘Love them anyway.’
Sunday school teacher -
Quit work - bad on paper
Video - Indiana Jones taking step of faith in, "The Last Crusade"
The book of our lives are filled with ‘faith stories’. How does your book read? Let Jesus be for you today exactly what his word says ‘ the author and perfecter of your faith.’ Your job isn’t to worry about circumstances in your life - that is the ordinary response, everybody can do that! Your job is to respond in an extraordinary way - with faith. Every Biblical example we looked at today resulted in extraordinary life change for the individuals in the examples and for the coming generations because they responded with faith.
What is going on in your life in regards to work, school, family, relationships, finances, ministry? All God wants from you is faith. Faith that He really is here. Faith that He really does know what’s going on. Faith that He really does have a purpose and a plan for you and for every circumstance.
Pray.
Heb. 11:6 tells us ‘without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
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