Gray Matter - "The Illusion of Immorality"

Immorality distorts our decision-making
We hear about the crazy ordeals in the news - Dad/Soccer coach in Flor. who everybody loved, was arrested for embezzling $10,000 from the league and concessions. Parents were shocked.
A mom in another part of the country who had been elected treasurer of their non-profit S.L., and get this, over the last few years she has embezzled over $100,000 from the league. -
Again the parents were shocked.
For all of us we seem to go thru these seasons of life where we’re just not dialed in, below the surface we’re struggling & we battle hurts, hang-ups, and habits - and sometimes things just get down right out of control.
and nobody wants to end up there.
Do you think soccer dad and mom woke up one morning and said, “well today I’m gonna rip off my kids S.L.”
No it probably started w/ a big bill to pay & they were short on cash & thought nobody will notice - we‘ll repay it”
Maybe a few months later there became a sense of entitlement,
like you know I put alot of hours into this S.L., they owe me.
Then 1 thing leads to another & suddenly you end up in a place you thought you’d never be. Betraying people you thought you’d never betray - doing things you thought you’d never do.
So in each of our lives there is this temptation of immorality, whatever it may be & we all struggle w/ it - it’s unavoidable -
and we may end up living our lives w/ the appearance that everything is just fine.

So today were going to talk about, how do we unplug from this illusion of immorality.
How do we unplug from the negative influences.
If you have your bible turn to Is. 6
We’re going to unplug and see the world for what it really is - see the truth about God and ourselves - unplugging from this illusion is for people who are fed up w/ low living - they don’t wanna live a half life - they wanna live full out the life God
intended for us to live - they wanna unplug from the illusion & they want to be free & we see here in Is. a picture of a guy who has unplugged from the illusion of immorality - to live free and it changed everything for him.

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
And he said, Go, and tell this people.” Isaiah 6:1-9

If we want to see God like Is. did we need to clear our perspective - when Is. cleared his perspective everything changed.
He saw God’s Holiness, he saw his helplessness, and he saw the hopelessness of the world -
He unplugged, and began a process - a process that breathed new life, and it freed him up and sent him on his mission.

There’s this process of personal renewal that set him free - look at this in vs. 5 he says, WOE (circle) then the angel flys up to Is. (7)and says, LO (cir), & (v9) God says, GO (cir)
Is say, WOE, the angel says LO, and God says, GO - mix

These are the 3 elements in our journey toward freedom, to unplug from the illusion - 1st step is cleansing, 2nd step is consecration - angel touches him and says you belong to God
3rd step is that of our mission, God says, GO I have a mission for you.

WOE - cleansing
Hou. we have a problem, I have a problem, I am a man of unclean lips - God created you on purpose, for a purpose and God wants to pour into you - every arena of life crammed full of this thing Jesus called abundant life and love.
When we look at the great men and women of the bible we say, I want that too! That God-filled life.
When we find someone who displays this God-filled life something we find out about that person is they have gone thru this personal cleansing - someone living that God-filled life has dealt w/ the issue of personal sin in their life.

“let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience” Hebrews 10:22

God uses all types of personalities, all sorts of people groups, ethnic groups, male and female, big vessels, small vessels, plain vessels, even broken vessels, which is good b/c I’m a cracked pot - but there’s one 1 type of vessel God wont use and that’s a dirty vessel - 2 Timothy 2:21
“Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work”
- which mug would you use? Dirty or clean?
God wont do any less
Here’s the problem in my life I’ve discovered - I have this amazing tendency to get myself dirty - anyone know what I’m talking about? I have this nat. ability to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing & I get myself dirty - I get myself stained - chip/ques

It’s a profound truth about ourselves and it’s key to unplugging from the illusion and it’s this: We’re ALL Stained.
In other words, everytime I gossip about somebody it’s a stain, everytime I shade the truth a little bit to protect myself or make myself look a little better it’s a stain, everytime hurtful words come out of my mouth to my wife or children it’s a stain -
everytime there’s a sexually inappropriate thought, another stain
Stain after stain after stain - what do I do to clean myself up, how do i get myself clean? Do I pull out the Tide pen and start scrubbin? You know most people think that’s how it works,
pull yourself up by the bootstraps, muster up some will-power & say, “I’m gonna be good - I’m gonna at least try to get the good things I do to outweigh the bad things I do. - Hopefully it will pan out in the end”
But I’ll tell you, I don’t think I could keep up w/ my sins.
I can’t out-do my stains. I keep saying the wrong things or doing the wrong things - I can’t keep up - I can’t do enough good works.
Here’s the good news, we don’t have to, it’s not about trying to outdo the stains or scrubbin away the stains - 1 John 1:8-9
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

We can be cleansed of our stains, no matter what we’ve done, no matter how big the stain or the type of stain or even how many stains - you can be clean!
How? Thru the cross of Christ (explain)
B4 God pours Himself into us, there’s this moment of personal confession of saying, God, I can’t do it, will you please forgive me, will you clean me up, will You wash me clean from inside out... and He washes you completely.
For us to unplug from this illusion of immorality, this is where it starts - it can happen today - instantly!
We just need to confess to be able to clean up those dirty vessels to remain pure & holy b4 God and then do what He wants us to do. Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you 
       and did not cover up my iniquity. 
       I said, "I will confess 
       my transgressions to the LORD "—
       and you forgave 
       the guilt of my sin.

LO - consecration
Roman 12:1 -  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Consecration is offering yourself as a living sacrifice, saying, “God here I am, take all of me, I surrender to you.”
For any of us to be used mightily of God - there comes this act of I’m gonna be full out surrendered to Jesus.
What kind of sacrifice does God want?
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

For us to be used by God we have to come to this realization that the greatest hinderance to God’s work in my life is not other things, or circumstances, or other people, but ourselves.
That’s the greatest obstacle.
To unplug from this illusion we need to understand - brokenness
The issue of brokenness appears over and over in scrip.
Brokenness is a symbol of surrender - Jesus/ 5000
took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread, then He gave it away.
That’s exactly what Jesus will do w/ anything we put in His hands - if you put your life in His hands, He’ll take you, clean you up, and bless you - but there’s this process of breaking as well b4 He can give you away.
Now what do we need to be broken of? Our pride, it’s all about my dreams, my plans, my way - God’s gotta break us of these so we can be set free.
Wild Stallion - to break it - you don’t hurt it, but harness it - harness it’s power - why? - to work together.
Jesus said, Father, not my will, but yours. - that’s what we need to say - Life is not about us guys - life is about God
We’re born w/ this addiction to self & we gotta be broken of it
or otherwise we’ll spend our entire lives staring at our navels
“Cause it’s all about me, my stuff, what I have going on, -
this is not a good way to live life - so God breaks us of that & we become the kind of person He can pour into.


GO! - mission
This is about accepting your mission from God.
Sociologists tell us that it only takes 2% of a population to influence a culture - if that 2% is radically committed to whatever they believe in & whoever they follow.
If you need some evidence of that, look at Germany and the 3rd Reich, look at China & communism.
Let me ask you today - will you be God’s 2% in this world?
Will you be radically committed to the mission He’s given you.
b/c you do have a mission from Jesus Christ

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”
John 17:18
You have a mission in this world, and you may have been delayed like Is. was delayed, but if you’re ready to confess, and you’re ready to surrender & and say, I’m all yours God - you can be on your mission, right here, right now - today.
God is not saying, “I’ll use you & you & you, and not you -
if you’re useable - God will use you - it’s not about ability, it’s about availability
And He pours into you and me & that’s how He works.
He touches you, and then He touches others thru you.
Isn’t that cool!

Gray Matter - "I See it, I Want it, I Gotta Have it"

How many of you have made one of those Dumb, WWIT dec. in life? how many w/ money?

For us to disentangle the whole money issue we need to get to the root - we’ve gotta look at the root issue of what causes us to make poor choices, stupid dec. - we could look at things like budgeting, or the details of how to go about investing - but if we don’t look at the root of what causes us to get in this
predicament time and time again then we’ll just go right back there
Sometimes roots are hard to extract, particularly in this area of our finances

Brief Insight: There is little difference in the financial
behavior of those INSIDE the church as opposed to those OUTSIDE of the church

Here’s why we can say that - b/c most church-going people struggle in this area just as much of those who do not make God a priority in life

The root is GREED

If I were to take an informal poll of those in the church I would venture to think they’d say Greed is wrong - however most people would also say, I’d like some more money
- let’s just see (hands)
How many of you wouldn’t mind having a little more money?
“I’m not greedy, I just want more money”

This is why this is good to talk about in this series, b/c we’ve all been there - we’ve made some bad choices/dec w/ our cold hard earned cash

I think most of our money problems and poor dec. come down to - What holds us captive? it is our selfish wants and desires and that boils down to greed, materialism

which brings us to the challenge of Jesus
The Challenge: I am RESPONSIBLE before God for the
way I live in regards to the money I have

You see God, the Creator of the Universe has this competing rival - and it is anything we put above Him - which always boils down our wants and desires and the root is Greed

From the Lips of Jesus
• How money has a power over us
Matthew 6:19-24

But here is Jesus talking about how we need to make wise dec. concerning our money and then He sticks in v.22,23
and then right back to making wise money chioces/dec.
We probably ought to ask, “What in the world is that ‘eye thing’ doing right in the smack middle of making wise money dec. ?

“Jesus said, ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your
eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how
great is that darkness!’” Matthew 6:22-23

one level it’s very simple - if eyes work and light is on you can see all around - where chairs are and so forth...
If you eye isn’t working, even w/ a whole lot of light all around the room, then in a real sense you’re still in the dark.
right now you’re thinking, “Thank you Bible Scholar”

So to get some better perspective let’s look over to Luke where He also mentions the eye lamp thing then He goes on - look at
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist
in the abundance of his possessions.’” Luke 12:15

What’s He talking about? Greed materialism - same stuff over in Matthew 6
Definition of Greed:
Inordinate DESIRE and/or DEPENDENCE on money and/or material things!

What’s that mean, ‘inordinate’ anyway
let’s unpack that, but write this down first

Jesus’ MAIN Point: Greed/Materialism has the peculiar
ability to BLIND me, to distort the way I SEE things in this world

Greed has the ability to blind you/me and the ability to distort everything, every choice, every dec. that we make

1st: Greed/Materialism has the power to blind me
to GREED & MATERIALISM!

If we were sitting there during the sermon on the mount - Matt. 6 and heard Jesus talking about making wise money dec. then the eye, lamp, light thing, then back to money we’d probably be thinking, “I don’t get it, what are you talking about, why did you put that in there?”
What I think is interesting is that Jesus is trying to get us to think
about this. But were saying, just tell us what to do
But Jesus wants us to really look at this
You see the thing here for us is this is the one issue in our world we see diff. than every other issue - that’s why Jesus says, It’s a problem of the eye -
Jesus never had to say to anybody, watch out you might be committing adultery - they know they are - they don’t say, gee whiz you’re not my wife - that doesn’t happen right?
but Jesus had to shout, watch out!

why b/c greed hides, it blinds us like nothing else
people may confess all kinds of things, lust, internet, bad behaviors, anger... but you never hear confessions of greed - why?
we don’t think that’s an issue - “Me - Greed?”
“I don’t make that much money” - we think of rich people right?

Here’s the thing, we all know somebody, friends, family, that are much more extravagant and excessive in their use of money than we are - isn’t that true - and thats all it takes - just to know somebody thats way out there in their use of money - so we say,
Me greedy, no way and Jesus says, watch out!
b/c most our dumb money dec. had to do w/ our selfish wants and desires, greed or materialism


2nd: Greed and materialism keeps me from
ASKING HARD QUESTIONS about my lifestyle

we don’t like to think about that - there’s always somebody we know who makes 3, 5, 10 times the amount of money we do - so we just don’t think we’re greedy
and we don’t think we need to ask the hard ?’s
like

Do I really NEED to SPEND this much money on this?

do I really NEED to spend that much money on those jeans?
do I really NEED to?
we don’t ask those tough ?’s and sometimes, alot of times that’s where the cc debt comes in

Are there ways I could save money in order to give more away?
Are there ways that I could be more generous?
As much as we don’t like to talk about it or hear about the money issues like this - Jesus talked about it all the time.
It’s in the Bible more than anything else - I wonder why?
B/c God knew how much we were going to fight against and struggle in this area

• Why money exercises power over us
“Jesus said, ‘For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.’” Matthew 6:21

The Point: The place where your heart really RESTS is revealed by money!

So what happens is we make unwise dec. b/c of where our heart really is. We think about ourselves.
in dealing with self, we use our heart, w/ others our head
we need to reverse that.

but what happens when we don’t reverse that is we make dec. based on our personal emotions and wants - here’s some

Money is a way…
...of gaining SIGNIFICANCE
we base our significance on our income, where we live, where we eat, dress - in reality people aren’t watching you that closely, they don’t really care, we care, that’s why we make those dec.
our sig. comes only in God

...of providing SECURITY
 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6
once again - security only found in Christ Jesus

• How we can break its power over us?
“Jesus said, ‘But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things all these things
will be given to you as well.’” Matthew 6:33

The Point: REVERSE the order of my normal
choices and decision I make regarding money

re-prioritize

here’s how:

First: GIVE TO GOD
Second: PAY MYSELF
Third: PAY MY TAXES
Fourth: GET OUT OF CONSUMER DEBT
Fifth: LIVE OFF THE REST!

Gray Matter - "I've Got Style"

Remember
• We are the SUM TOTAL of the decisions that we make
I firmly believe God wants us to make great, wise dec. in life
in all the choices that lay b4 us, God wants us to choose wisely
• Our decisions determine our DESTINY
that is sooo true - we’ve said this from the beg. - all of us have made some dumb, WWIT dec. in life and have suffered the conseq for them

Here’s what we’re gonna do today, we’re gonna look at who we are as people, how God has wired us up - b/c this has a major impact on how we make these dec. and choices in front of us everyday - who are you as a dec. maker?
as we begin to discover our design, the unique way God created each of us, I think we’ll see how heavily that influences the kind of choices and dec. we make
And we’ll see that our personalities impact our dec.
So let’s hone in on you - think only of yourselves - don’t nudge your spouse and say, aahh man, that is so you!
I want you to think and look at yourself today

Discover our Design in Decision Making

You’ve got style - what we need to understand is they no right or wrongs per-say - all of them have strengths and weaknesses which we need to know about OK - get paired w/ the opposite quite often, spouse, teammate, bro, sister - we need to know that others are diff. but today focus on yourself

Decision Making Styles:
• THE OVER-THINKER, OVER ANALYSIZER

do you make dec. like that - you find yourself playing over the sit/scenrio or dec. over and over over almost paralyzing yourself from making a dec. “I’m not sure, I don’t know what to do... so I’ll think about it some more
(I’ve gotta make the right career choice, this looks good, great benefits, it’s a good fit for me, but i don’t know, what if something better comes along? TAKE the job already!)
this person just thinks a bit too much and they turn stuff over, over, over like a rotisserie grill

who in the bible might be like this?
Biblical Character: MOSES - Exodus 3-4

over analyzer reluctant leader - constantly questioning himself - God tells him to go to pharaoh, moses says, oh God you got the wrong guy, I stststuder, I cant speak, how about my brother Aaron he’s the man, he’s like the game show talk host what about him? what if they don’t accept me? what if I mess up? what if I don’t do exactly what you want done?
w/ the over ana, over thinker - God doesn’t want you to live like that - He wants you to step out, but this person gets stuck often times

• THE UNDER-THINKER, IMPULSIVE Thinker
“I’d rather make a bad dec. than no dec. at all”
and they can make some wrong dec.”But I don’t care, I’m gonna make a dec. b/c I’m that kinda guy or gal”

Who’s impulsive in the bible?
Biblical Character: PETER - luke 22; matthew 14, 26

“Oh Jesus, I’ll never deny you, always be a follower - Jesus says, you’re gonna forget about me pretty quick, in fact this very night” in the garden they came to arrest Christ, what did Peter do - so funny he tried to fight the best trained fighting troops -
here’s this impulsive fisherman taking on the Navy Seals of the day and age - Peter was an impulsive guy
Remember: Under-thinkers/Impulsive thinkers make RASH decisions

next week - how many of you have made a an unwise, rash dec. w/ money? never let an impulsive, under-thinker control the checkbook - you just don’t
(checkout lanes knick knacks - impulsive - wal-mart displays)
marketing gurus know that

THE NON-CONFRONTATIONALIST, the NONBOAT ROCKING types

don’t wanna rock the boat, don’t wanna step on anybody’s toes
I’m just gonna shrink back into my shell, I’ll just keep quiet, even though... I wont say anything, even though I should
b/c I don’t wanna rock the boat - I don’t like conflict or I want everybody to like me

someone in scrip is guy by the name of Eli (OT Eli)
Biblical Character: ELI - 1 Samuel 2

He was a temple priest, he was totally clueless or chose to be clueless about his kids behavior - he has 2 sons, Hophni and Phinehas - idea for your next child - these kids were on the steroids of evil - out of control - they were having sex w/ the girls who worked in the temple - abusing the sacrificial system - Eli knew about alot of this stuff, yet did nothing about it - didn’t want to hurt them, step on their toes... probably didn’t want to look bad himself, so he ignored it - head in the sand
b/c he didn’t confront them his life was a tragedy - never lived up to what could have and should have been

• THE PLEASURE-SEEKER, FUN FILLED FANATIC

I’m sure we don’t have any pleasure seeking types here right
“When I make a dec. I just want it to be... fun”
“If it’s fun, I’m in - I’ll choose it, if it’s not, I’m not going there”

they may say i just wanna have fun, and hey God wants me to have fun

Remember: It’s not so much that God wants us
to be happy…He wants us to be OBEDIENT

and in that obedience comes joy - that’s why we 1st ask bible?
when facing dec. and choices we may not always feel like going in that direction (talked about basis of dumb, WWIT - if it feels right) you may not really want to go there, but if that’s God’s direction and we honor Him in those dec. the feelings will follow.

Biblical Character: SAMSON - Judges 14

He was like the biblical body builder - mr. atlas/m. univof his day
God kept telling him don’t mess around w/ the Philistines - they are what would be called, ungodly, so don’t associate w/ them it will only get you in trouble
So Samson chose the opposite - I’ll do what I want to do, b/c those Phil. can’t hang w/me anyway - he says, I’m gonna do what’s pleasurable - have you ever done that?
then somewhere down the road you’re wishing you wouldn’t have - so Samson tells his parents, his parents (maybe trying to find a loophole - how close can i get w/out getting burned)
“I’ve seen a Phil. woman, now go get her for me”
keep reading it says, She looks good to me - in other words, she’s a HOTTIE
b/c he went down that road of dec. making his life was a tragedy
what happened with him is he wasted yr. after yr. of great things he could have done for God but he chose to pleasure seek
instead, until he cycled back around to God - but so much wasted time - this is what we’re trying to avoid - we want to make a commitment to making great, wise dec.

• THE DOGMATIC decision maker, I’m RIGHT everyone else is WRONG Type

how many of you are married to that type?
they say i just know I’m right, i have made up my mind and it ain’t gonna change - this dogmatic I’m right dec. maker sees every dec. as an obstacle to overcome - so they’ll just knock down wall, after wall, after wall - you know what ends up happening - they can hurt people, anybody that gets in their way
They dont mind any collateral damage, people they may have stepped on on their way to a dec.

Biblical Character: PAUL - Acts 7-8
B4 he gave his life to Christ he was killing christians and he felt it was his way or the highway and he abused people. Then one day he met Jesus and he was tenderized on the inside by the work of the Spirit - God totally changed his life
Which tells me God can change anyone

• THE PROCRASTINATOR, SOMEDAY Decider

You know I’m not sure if I’m a procrastinator, I’ll get back to you on that one
Procras wait til the last minute right - put things off b/c of fear,
sometimes b/c of laziness - tomorrow I’ll get to that or next week
Acts 24
Biblical Character: FELIX
invited Paul to talk about Jesus, felix says vs. 25 go away for now - procrastinator, the bible says felix was convicted but sent Paul off anyway - when it’s more convenient I’ll call for you again - you know what saddens me, is that there are a huge # of people who are putting off, procras. about the greatest dec. of all time of their entire life just putting it off
maybe when I get my act together, you know sure I’ll do it, just not right now

You may be looking over this stuff today thinking well I kinda fit into this personality or that one and I see some of my weaknesses here - so how can I change those, what can I do?

We need to look at ourselves, our personalities, our natural
tendencies and the 1st step is to ask
Question: What does the BIBLE have to say?
it’s the God filter

The 2nd step for us in all the gray areas is ask what is the wise

If I’m impulsive, under-thinker then I can look at myself & ask,
In light of my PAST EXPERIENCES,
what is the WISE thing for me to do?
In light of my PRESENT CONDITIONS and circumstances,
what is the WISE thing for me to do?
In light of my FUTURE HOPES & DREAMS,
what is the WISE thing for me to do?

not what you feeel like doing, our natural tendencies may take us down the wrong road, so it’s good to know what those natural
tendencies are for us to make wise dec.



Key Concepts:
• Over-thinkers need to TRUST
• Under-thinkers need to WAIT
• Non-confrontationalists need to STAND
• Pleasure seekers need to OBEY
• Dogmatic decision makers need to FORGIVE
• Procrastinators need to DECIDE