Aron Ralston, 27, was pinned for five days in a canyon in Canyonlands National Park in eastern Utah. He cut off his own arm to free himself after he became trapped under a fallen 1,000-pound boulder. After severing his arm, Ralston found a way to set up his climbing ropes and hooks, and rappel to the canyon's floor.
Bethany Hamilton, A 13-year-old surf champion who lost her arm in a shark attack has climbed back onto her board just 10 weeks after the terrible incident.
Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry
How do we stay the course, to not give up, how do we maintain thru times that are really tough, how do we learn to endure when all hell has broken out against us, how do we overcome?
That's what were going to look at today through an overwhelming task put in front of Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a dream, a dream of rebuilding the walls around his home, Jerusalem. The walls and the city were destroyed by the Babylonians years before – and now Nehemiah had a dream, a vision of rebuilding the city – His major task ahead of him was to 1st rebuild the walls that surround the city.
Guess what, it was no picnic, it was no walk in the park – he faced insurmountable odds but he stayed the course, he persevered and overcame.
Nehemiah had to travel 1000 miles to go back to his ancestral home to begin this process. And when he got there he found a people who were discouraged, depressed, and defeated. (Have you ever been surounded in a seeminly hopeless situation for so long that you felt discouraged, depressed, or defeated?)
He began the task anyway of rebuilding the walls.
You too may have just started the overwhelming task, an amazing dream, a vision that God has placed in your heart. Or more like Nehemiah rebuilding something in your life that the world and the enemy have completely destroyed. Maybe a marriage, a business, a relationship of some value, maybe a dream that began and crumbled a whole lot faster than you ever thought. Whatever the case may be God wants to tell us all, He is right by our side and simply do not give up! He wants you to Persevere, to keep on keeping on... b/c God is going to give you the power to overcome.
What is it in your life that the enemy has completely destroyed and you have to rebuild?
When you dream a BIG dream, when you take on an overwhelming task of rebuilding, be ready b/c you will face all kinds of harassment, a # of different obstacles – WHY? B/c the enemy as well as others do not want to see you living out the dream God has placed in you.
Nehemiah and his group started off pretty good, but like so many of us, his group began to hit a lull about midway thru. Nehemiah had to give some inspiring instructions on how to deal, how to persevere and overcome.
We see 3 problems Nehemiah and his group faced and were gonna talk about those 3 problems and 2 solutions for each problem.
How do we stay the course, how do we maintain? God's Word encourages us to persevere and overcome.
The 1st problem is when we face ridicule/criticism
If you dare to dream BIG – if you want to rebuild, you have to have some tough skin don't you? Why? B/c you will receive some ridicule.
"Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews" vs.1
Right from the beginning Sanballat begins chiming in, he mocked from one end of the spectrum to the other. Look at how many times he slams them in vs.2 - He questioned their ability “What are those feeble Jews doing?” He questioned their character “Will they restore their wall?” He ridiculed their religion, “Will they offer sacrifices?” He challenged their commitment to finish what they started, “Will they finish in a day?” He questioned the feasibility of the project, “Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?" all this ridicule in 1 vs.
Have you ever had that happen to you, Bam like out of nowhere someone just tears into a tirade of making fun of you or your interests?
If that wasn't enough in vs.3 Sanballat has a little sidekick who slams their confidence to be able to do the job, “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!" have you ever noticed critics run w/ critics. (you are who you hang out with)
Whether you like Leno or Letterman or Conan, regardless – When Jay Leno took over the job as the host of the Tonight Show he faced all kinds of criticism, who said he would never be able to do this job, you wont even come close to Johnny Carson. You would think that all this criticism would have rattled Leno a bit, but it appeared he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. In fact he kept a stack of criticisms on his desk at all times for inspiration. One critic said, Too many soft answers – another one read, He's being too nice. These unkind words didn't seem to bother Leno at all, you know why, b/c these words were written in 1962 and were about Johnny Carson.
He persevered in spite of the criticism.
SOLUTIONS:
WE WILL PRAY
The critics never seem to factor in God – they think you are an idiot, a moron for trying to build that dream or vision, they say YOU can never do it – Aahhh quite true, but I've got God on my side.
Nehemiah wasted zero time, when this opposition came against him he took it straight to the One who gives peace. vs.4-5
“Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”
When we pray God helps us to process all those feelings (import. To pray, talk to God, He responds - series: “Can You here me now?”)
When we take it God, He helps us to be able to sort thru it. Prayer doesn't always change the situation, but prayer will change us doesn't it, and even in that God is answering.
We need to pray
The 2nd solution to criticism WE WILL PERSIST
Whenever your dream or vision or rebuilding project is mocked, we begin to 2nd guess ourselves. We think, “Well maybe I cant do this, maybe I dont have what it takes, maybe this isnt the right task for me.” We begin to 2nd guess the call of God, “Maybe God didn't really want me to do this, maybe I'm just wasting my time.” and we begin to 2nd guess ourselves – the temptation is to quit – but not with Nehemiah. Notice what he said, v.6
“So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.”
Notice the prayer, but also notice the perspiration. They prayed and the worked w/ all their heart.
Are you out of job? Pray about it but also put a few applications in along the way – ask God for direction and go get after it.
By the way it's not hard for God to hit a moving target – in fact it's probably easier for Him to steer a person on the move than one that's immobile. Many of you know how much I believe in 'doing our part' – God is faithful He wants to direct your life and He will – if you partner w/ Him. We need to be persistent.
2nd problem is when we face threats
No matter how hard he tried Nehemiah wasn't able to fix everything.
Sometimes in your life when you begin a dream or start a rebuild – how many of you have found out it gets worse before it gets better.
Have you ever noticed in the beginning of a dream or in a rebuilding project the problems seem to intensify. It happens that way. v.7-8
“But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.”
Sanballat and Tobiah strengthened the opposition by adding the Arabs and the Ammonites. Sanballat now gathers more forces and since the physchological warfare didn't work on Nehemiah and the group he's now threatening military action against them.
Listen while you're dreaming or rebuilding and the enemy will try one thing and when that doesn't work he intensifies. He comes after you with another threat. He just wants you to give up. That's what he was trying to do here w/ Nehemiah – to give up on building the walls.
But notice when the battle intensified, Nehemiah's prayers intensified.
Before Nehemiah was praying by himself, now look at v. 9
“But we prayed to our God”
SOLUTIONS:
WE WILL PRAY TOGETHER
At first Nehemiah took on the opposition himself, but once it became a corporate threat, it was time for corporate prayer.
Circle the word 'we' – now we're gonna pray.
In your marriage, if opposition arises, pray together – in your family, if opposition arises, pray together as a family unit – if opposition arises against the church, we come together to pray.
(We have already had a couple of designated 'nights of prayer' where we, this church, has come together and spent a few hours in prayer)
There's power in prayer, that power multiplies when the # of people multiply in prayer together.
WE WILL PROTECT
the rest of v. 9 says, “...and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” If you start building, you will soon start battling.
The enemy wants to discourage you, to scare you off, to quit, give up – and before long you'll be battling.
Here's a tough ?, What are some of the walls you've allowed to be torn down? Maybe the walls around you're marriage, such as allowing questionable thoughts or actions to enter in – Maybe the walls around the integrity of your Christianity, such as putting yourself in compromising positions, allowing thoughts and practices that would wound the heart of God and make you appear just as one who would not consider themselves a Christ-follower, saying, if he can do that, how's that different than my life. The integrity of your witness, your stance for God is weakened – PUT BACK those walls of protection, b/c the dream, the rebuild will never happen as long as those walls of protection are not up.
3rd problem is WHEN WE FACE DESPAIR
THREE THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN DESPAIR HITS:
Stamina is failing - “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out” vs. 10a
circle giving out – they have worked and worked and worked, now their strength has given out – they had been constantly day and night working all this wall – now their facing the threat of a military attack and their energy is gone.
Have you noticed half way thru a project you hit a wall – face some major discouragement – it seems harder to build the 2nd half than the 1st. B/c discouragement hits
Vision is blurring - “...and there is so much rubble…” vs.10b
Some many times we take our eyes off the dream, the vision and begin to focus on all the rubble that is laying around us.
We begin to see the daunting task ahead of us, the real mess that needs to be straightened out, and it appears to be endless. We take our eyes of the cause, the purpose we began with b/c of the rubble around
Hope is dwindling - “...that we cannot rebuild the wall." vs. 10c
They began to lose sight and said we can never do it.
When you lose vision, you begin to lose hope, and then you begin to lose confidence.
Have you ever been in the middle of something and had a great desire to run away? I have – why? B/c were overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by how big of a project, how much needs to be done and the tension is too great.
SOLUTIONS:
WE MUST REMIND
When we face a situation that creates fear in our hearts, what we have to do is to remind ourselves of where God has brought us from.
That's exactly what Nehemiah and his group did – v.14
“After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome” vs. 14a
circle remember the lord.
When you're in the middle of it, take a step back and remember.
Remember the # of obstacles you overcame to get where you are. Take a step back a see just how far you've really come. WOW!
Then remember that God has so much more – don't stop, move forward. When you stop to remember, you find the energy to keep going. That's what happened to Nehemiah – they had overcome so much junk – WOW! GOD is Awesome!
WE WILL REVISE
Sometimes when we're in the middle of the dream, or rebuild and we are feeling the lonely emotion of despair, sometimes we need to revise a little bit. You know what's hard about that, we have to put our pride aside, what and how we think and thought it should be done like, and say, OK God, what is it we need to revise?
What is it in the process of this rebuilding do we need to revise?
Where do You want us to rethink this?
Very seldom will you run across a successful business person, or a star athlete, or an inventor who at some point didn't have to revise and rethink their plans or goal.
“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that day on..." vs. 15-16a
Nehemiah had to make some changes, but held true to the dream, to the task at hand. In your outline -
VISIONS ARE REFINED – they don't change
PLANS ARE REVISED - they rarely stay the same.
That's good to know. Be stubborn about the vision. Be flexible w/ you're plan. Strategies and timelines are always up for grabs, and besides, in the process of revising your plans, God may chose to refine your vision. To bring some more clarity.
I am excited about where we are today in the dream that God has placed in us, but He has so much more – with God anything is possible – He is faithful, we must do our part, we team w/ Him, but it is only thru God that dreams become reality, even beyond what we had ever imagined.
Max Lucado is a great author, He is the first author to win the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year three times—1999 for Just Like Jesus, 1997 for In the Grip of Grace and 1995 for When God Whispers Your Name – Word publishers considers a book to be successful when a 1st time author sells over 50,000 copies and established sells over 100,000 – every max book has sold over 300,000 copies and counting.
He started as a missionary in Brazil and his 1st book he wrote was called, On the Anvil. A wonderful book about how our thoughts are being shaped into the image of God. It was rejected 15 times before it ever got published. 15 times, aren't you glad that Max didn't call it quits, that he didn't give up after that 15th rejection. “Ahh forget about it, I guess it wasn't meant to be.” Thank God he persevered, b/c we have all benefitted from his incredible creations.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Living Beyond Myself - Dare to Dream BIG
Nothing starts happening until somebody starts dreaming. Every accomplishment started off first as an idea in somebody’s mind.
It started off as a dream. It started off as a vision, a goal.
So I want to challenge you to dream great dreams for God.
The Bible says, "God is able to do far more than anything we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." Ephesians 3:20
That’s an amazing verse. In it God tells us, "Think up the biggest thing you think I can do in your life, in your ministry, in your church, and I can top that; I can beat it.”
God's Word inspires us to – Dare to dream BIG
ABRAM'S DREAM
"After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. " But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:1-6
God spoke to Abram in a vision. Abram asks, “God what are you going to give me?” Basically saying, “I'm going to die, just my wife and I with no children, what is this?”
Check this out – God doesn't rebuke him. He didn't rebuke him for his negative attitude and seemingly selfish manner.
2 observations to note here:
Don't be afraid to ask of God – to tell Him how and what you are really feeling. (James 4:2 – have not, ask not – david psalms)
God wants to expand your dream. (rem. Eph. 3:20)
Let's take a closer look at this 2nd observation by honing in on v.5
“He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
God moved Abram from a baby dream to a nation dream.
Abram is in his tent telling God how he really feels, He say, “All I want is a baby – can you just give Sarai and I a baby. We are childless, and our servant is the heir, can I just get a baby?”
God says, “Whoa, let me expand that dream a bit there Abram.” We see in v.5 God takes Abram from this little baby dream to this HUGE nation dream.
HOW DO I EXPAND MY DREAM?
Look out -
from where you are. “He took him outside...”
God had to take Abram outside of his tent, his comfort zone. Abram's thinking, “it's good in here my tent, it's nice and cozy – can I just get a baby?”
God says, “Come on out”.
You see you may be confined to a place (a specific place) or you may be confined to particular circumstances, you may be confined mentally, emotionally attached – we're in our comfort zone,
it's good in here, nice and cozy.
Abram's tent was false security.
What tent do you need to get your head out of? To be able 'Look Out'
( Cathleen and I looking out of our tent in Cali. And moving to Tex.)
When you look out, once you look out, you open up to God's dream.
And its so much bigger, brighter, better.
He moves us from a baby dream to a nation dream.
Look up -
to heaven, to God. “Look up at the heavens...” (infant)
God had to change Abram's direction. All Abram could think was I can't pull this off – I'm old, my wife is old, we have no children.
When we look down, when we look to ourselves were helpless. We have to look up. Our help comes from the Lord – Psalm 121:2
"My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
It's Christ in us right, Colossians 1:27 - "...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
It's about being connected to Christ. Hey it's good to believe,(to believe in yourself, self-confidence can be a good thing, “I can do it” it's the little engine that could) but we need to connect to Christ, that's where the power source is. We connect to Christ for the power to pull it off.
So we look up
To look up represents confidence in God. It eases the pressure.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
That builds confidence in us.
B/c what happens, outside of that confidence, we think, “I know God can do it, I know He can pull it off, I have no doubt He can, but not through me – I'm just a little peon, not through me”
You know what, God chose you, He chose us!
He wants to work in and through us more than we realize.
( I remember thinking, why Texas, what can I possibly do in the saturated Bible Belt? God reminded me that He chose me, He had everything under control)
Look beyond -
anything you've ever seen – imagine beyond your limitations.
“...count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Have you ever seen the vast array of the stars in the heavens out away from the lights? Away from the city lights of Houston, out in the woods, out in the plains, or the desert? - You cant count those – you're just awe-struck by how many and how beautiful – Abram wasn't in Houston, he was in the desert.
God wants to remove every mental limitation – He has so much more than a baby dream, He has a nation dream. (Abram is out counting stars, 1,2,3... 144, 822; 144,823; #?1# aaRGGhhh, 1,2,3...)
At that point Abram got it! He began to see God's dream (expanded version) – “God's gonna give me a nation dream.” (look beyond – remove mental limitations, the world can bog you down, criticism, despair,
I know, next week we deal with that)
You may have already come a long way. I thank God I've come this far.
But God says, “I brought you this far to give you more.”
Wherever you are, whatever tent you're in – God's gotta bigger tent.
We just need to be obedient to Him.
I've moved out of my tent and into a bigger tent, (Cali to Texas) but He's bothered that's it's a bit too small – I'm moving to a bigger tent.
(sat. night service 2002 – Heb. 6:14-15: "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU." And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.” Moved to Tex. A friend told me to study Abram. Life. - about a year ago someone in their study time handed me a couple of scriptures – same scrip.)
Our thinking can be sooo limited. We must look beyond – God is soo big and soo huge – anything is possible.
What is your dream?
So we need to ask ourselves this question,
"What would I attempt for God if I knew I couldn’t fail?”
Let that expand your horizons. Let it expand your dreams. Let it expand your vision into God’s unlimited vision for your mission, your ministry,
in your life, in what He has uniquely created you to do.
Dare to dream BIG!
The Bible says, "God is able to do far more than anything we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." Ephesians 3:20
It started off as a dream. It started off as a vision, a goal.
So I want to challenge you to dream great dreams for God.
The Bible says, "God is able to do far more than anything we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." Ephesians 3:20
That’s an amazing verse. In it God tells us, "Think up the biggest thing you think I can do in your life, in your ministry, in your church, and I can top that; I can beat it.”
God's Word inspires us to – Dare to dream BIG
ABRAM'S DREAM
"After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. " But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:1-6
God spoke to Abram in a vision. Abram asks, “God what are you going to give me?” Basically saying, “I'm going to die, just my wife and I with no children, what is this?”
Check this out – God doesn't rebuke him. He didn't rebuke him for his negative attitude and seemingly selfish manner.
2 observations to note here:
Don't be afraid to ask of God – to tell Him how and what you are really feeling. (James 4:2 – have not, ask not – david psalms)
God wants to expand your dream. (rem. Eph. 3:20)
Let's take a closer look at this 2nd observation by honing in on v.5
“He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
God moved Abram from a baby dream to a nation dream.
Abram is in his tent telling God how he really feels, He say, “All I want is a baby – can you just give Sarai and I a baby. We are childless, and our servant is the heir, can I just get a baby?”
God says, “Whoa, let me expand that dream a bit there Abram.” We see in v.5 God takes Abram from this little baby dream to this HUGE nation dream.
HOW DO I EXPAND MY DREAM?
Look out -
from where you are. “He took him outside...”
God had to take Abram outside of his tent, his comfort zone. Abram's thinking, “it's good in here my tent, it's nice and cozy – can I just get a baby?”
God says, “Come on out”.
You see you may be confined to a place (a specific place) or you may be confined to particular circumstances, you may be confined mentally, emotionally attached – we're in our comfort zone,
it's good in here, nice and cozy.
Abram's tent was false security.
What tent do you need to get your head out of? To be able 'Look Out'
( Cathleen and I looking out of our tent in Cali. And moving to Tex.)
When you look out, once you look out, you open up to God's dream.
And its so much bigger, brighter, better.
He moves us from a baby dream to a nation dream.
Look up -
to heaven, to God. “Look up at the heavens...” (infant)
God had to change Abram's direction. All Abram could think was I can't pull this off – I'm old, my wife is old, we have no children.
When we look down, when we look to ourselves were helpless. We have to look up. Our help comes from the Lord – Psalm 121:2
"My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
It's Christ in us right, Colossians 1:27 - "...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
It's about being connected to Christ. Hey it's good to believe,(to believe in yourself, self-confidence can be a good thing, “I can do it” it's the little engine that could) but we need to connect to Christ, that's where the power source is. We connect to Christ for the power to pull it off.
So we look up
To look up represents confidence in God. It eases the pressure.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
That builds confidence in us.
B/c what happens, outside of that confidence, we think, “I know God can do it, I know He can pull it off, I have no doubt He can, but not through me – I'm just a little peon, not through me”
You know what, God chose you, He chose us!
He wants to work in and through us more than we realize.
( I remember thinking, why Texas, what can I possibly do in the saturated Bible Belt? God reminded me that He chose me, He had everything under control)
Look beyond -
anything you've ever seen – imagine beyond your limitations.
“...count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Have you ever seen the vast array of the stars in the heavens out away from the lights? Away from the city lights of Houston, out in the woods, out in the plains, or the desert? - You cant count those – you're just awe-struck by how many and how beautiful – Abram wasn't in Houston, he was in the desert.
God wants to remove every mental limitation – He has so much more than a baby dream, He has a nation dream. (Abram is out counting stars, 1,2,3... 144, 822; 144,823; #?1# aaRGGhhh, 1,2,3...)
At that point Abram got it! He began to see God's dream (expanded version) – “God's gonna give me a nation dream.” (look beyond – remove mental limitations, the world can bog you down, criticism, despair,
I know, next week we deal with that)
You may have already come a long way. I thank God I've come this far.
But God says, “I brought you this far to give you more.”
Wherever you are, whatever tent you're in – God's gotta bigger tent.
We just need to be obedient to Him.
I've moved out of my tent and into a bigger tent, (Cali to Texas) but He's bothered that's it's a bit too small – I'm moving to a bigger tent.
(sat. night service 2002 – Heb. 6:14-15: "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU." And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.” Moved to Tex. A friend told me to study Abram. Life. - about a year ago someone in their study time handed me a couple of scriptures – same scrip.)
Our thinking can be sooo limited. We must look beyond – God is soo big and soo huge – anything is possible.
What is your dream?
So we need to ask ourselves this question,
"What would I attempt for God if I knew I couldn’t fail?”
Let that expand your horizons. Let it expand your dreams. Let it expand your vision into God’s unlimited vision for your mission, your ministry,
in your life, in what He has uniquely created you to do.
Dare to dream BIG!
The Bible says, "God is able to do far more than anything we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." Ephesians 3:20
Sunday, July 17, 2005
The State of the Church Address
"Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you." Matthew 28:19-20
WHEN THE CHURCH STARTED...
1st service August 29th, 2004 - (Phase 1 - house church with core group)
WHERE WE ARE TODAY...
- at the 'YMCA' - thank you Lord - we had been turned down by 12 other places prior to 'Y' - our 1st service in the 'Y' - March 13th, 2005
(Phase 2 - now meeting on location, in community beginning to slowly grow beyond core group)
- pioneering often a slow go, people slowly jumping onboard - please pray that we can impact the community and that leaders will join in with us.
- people needed to move to Phase 3 - final phase.
Phase 3 occurs once the church grows to approx. 40-50 people. Our current attendance is approx. 20. At phase 3 we are officially recognized by the Foursquare - at that time we will officially charter, create our own EIN#
and recieve Foursquare funding.
People needed to move to Phase 3 also will enhance the ministry of FOCUS*
a nursery, enhance children's ministry, ect... not just for our church but for our community. We need to tell our friends and family.
- financially
Our income today through tithes and offerings basically pays the rent for the 'Y'. Sometimes it's enough, sometimes it's not. We need to pray and ask God to bless financially - to be able to make necessary purchases for the church, to be able to put money into savings, to have the finances available to advertise. We need to pray, and honor God as an act of worship with our tithes and offerings.
"Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops." Proverbs 3:9
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this" Malachi 3:10
WHERE ARE WE GOING...
We have a big vision!
A vision of seeing the unchurched and overchurched reconciled to God.
"Helping those who are tired of religion,
discover a relationship"
A church that 'gets it' when it comes to the emerging culture.
We have to create an atmosphere, an enviornment for the Holy Spirit to work.
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22
A Life Development Church
We will grow together in our Sunday gatherings, small groups, and 'Selah'
(a night of worship and prayer) - We will raise up committed christians into leaders for the kingdom of God. We will not only grow together in our walk with Christ, but in our walk together in life. In our marriages, parenting, single life, on the job life, ect...
"And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." 2 Corinthians 3:18b
A Sending Church
We are focused on your mission - we are not looking for individuals to fill the holes and gaps at FOCUS* - A Foursquare Church:
We want to help you discover what it is that God uniquely designed you to do, and we want to create opportunities for you to excel in that!
"Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body" Romans 12:5
We place a high value on our children
We believe that children are not just the church of
tomorrow, but of today!
A Spiritual Hospital - A Church of Restoration
"To help bring healing to hurting humanity"
People get hurt by other people. It goes deep, it scars.
People also get by the church. Then they blame it God and decide to have nothing to do with Him or the church.
We are to build relationships with them and show them the love of Christ.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4
I could continue on and on...
I am passionate about the cause of the King and the Kingdom.
We are a church that is passionate about the cause of the King and the kingdom.
Some say, "That's a big vision for such a small church"
Sure it is, we serve a really BIG GOD!!!!
I believe if your vision is a size that you can handle then it's way too small!
We could say, "But there's no way I can pull this off, the dream is too big, I can't do it" That's true, but God can!
This is His idea, the church is His idea, and if He has placed a dream and vision in you then it's His idea, and guess what He WILL do it!
What God originates, He orchestrates.
"Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones."
Luke 16:10
WHEN THE CHURCH STARTED...
1st service August 29th, 2004 - (Phase 1 - house church with core group)
WHERE WE ARE TODAY...
- at the 'YMCA' - thank you Lord - we had been turned down by 12 other places prior to 'Y' - our 1st service in the 'Y' - March 13th, 2005
(Phase 2 - now meeting on location, in community beginning to slowly grow beyond core group)
- pioneering often a slow go, people slowly jumping onboard - please pray that we can impact the community and that leaders will join in with us.
- people needed to move to Phase 3 - final phase.
Phase 3 occurs once the church grows to approx. 40-50 people. Our current attendance is approx. 20. At phase 3 we are officially recognized by the Foursquare - at that time we will officially charter, create our own EIN#
and recieve Foursquare funding.
People needed to move to Phase 3 also will enhance the ministry of FOCUS*
a nursery, enhance children's ministry, ect... not just for our church but for our community. We need to tell our friends and family.
- financially
Our income today through tithes and offerings basically pays the rent for the 'Y'. Sometimes it's enough, sometimes it's not. We need to pray and ask God to bless financially - to be able to make necessary purchases for the church, to be able to put money into savings, to have the finances available to advertise. We need to pray, and honor God as an act of worship with our tithes and offerings.
"Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops." Proverbs 3:9
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this" Malachi 3:10
WHERE ARE WE GOING...
We have a big vision!
A vision of seeing the unchurched and overchurched reconciled to God.
"Helping those who are tired of religion,
discover a relationship"
A church that 'gets it' when it comes to the emerging culture.
We have to create an atmosphere, an enviornment for the Holy Spirit to work.
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22
A Life Development Church
We will grow together in our Sunday gatherings, small groups, and 'Selah'
(a night of worship and prayer) - We will raise up committed christians into leaders for the kingdom of God. We will not only grow together in our walk with Christ, but in our walk together in life. In our marriages, parenting, single life, on the job life, ect...
"And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." 2 Corinthians 3:18b
A Sending Church
We are focused on your mission - we are not looking for individuals to fill the holes and gaps at FOCUS* - A Foursquare Church:
We want to help you discover what it is that God uniquely designed you to do, and we want to create opportunities for you to excel in that!
"Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body" Romans 12:5
We place a high value on our children
We believe that children are not just the church of
tomorrow, but of today!
A Spiritual Hospital - A Church of Restoration
"To help bring healing to hurting humanity"
People get hurt by other people. It goes deep, it scars.
People also get by the church. Then they blame it God and decide to have nothing to do with Him or the church.
We are to build relationships with them and show them the love of Christ.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4
I could continue on and on...
I am passionate about the cause of the King and the Kingdom.
We are a church that is passionate about the cause of the King and the kingdom.
Some say, "That's a big vision for such a small church"
Sure it is, we serve a really BIG GOD!!!!
I believe if your vision is a size that you can handle then it's way too small!
We could say, "But there's no way I can pull this off, the dream is too big, I can't do it" That's true, but God can!
This is His idea, the church is His idea, and if He has placed a dream and vision in you then it's His idea, and guess what He WILL do it!
What God originates, He orchestrates.
"Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones."
Luke 16:10
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Star Wars - The Heart of Anakin
If you wanted to pinpoint what the entire Star Wars Saga was all about – you could say it was the rise and fall and eventual restoration of Anakin Sywalker. We see in Ep. 1 Anakin as a little boy with amazing upside & potential.
In Ep. 2 as he grows and matures we see him developing into a master Jedi.
In Ep.3 Anakin has honed his skills still w/ great upside and potential – but he is lured, he is tempted by the power of the darkside and he takes the bait and falls into the hands of the Evil Emperor, now becoming Darth Vader.
In Ep 4 & 5 we see him as the dominating villain, Darth Vader.
Then in Ep. 6 his son Luke Skywalker senses some good in Vader as we see the restoration of Anakin Skywalker when he destroys evil.
Hey life is full of failure, it's something that is common to all of us.
Failure runs through the veins of human beings on earth - we all have choices
& we can make the right and sometimes wrong choice, and we fail – let's take a poll – has anyone in here ever failed at anything in your life? If you didn't raise your hand look at the person next to you b/c they need your help.
but the really great news is that God takes failures & restores them.
And God can do that in your life no matter what has happened.
As we wrap up this series SW saga, I don't want to talk about the normal everyday failures and how to deal w/ that (we've kind of done that over the last 2 weeks).
I want to dig a little deeper than that, I want to turn the rocks over in your life as it were. I want you to think to that old familiar failure, you know the one I'm talking about it. That one that the last time you did it you said, “God, if you'll only forgive me this one last time, I'll never do it again.” Then we do it again, and again, and again....
All of us have those, some of us have a list of those. Maybe it's sexual,
dealing w/ lust, maybe it's drinking, possibly drugs, maybe it's greed,
maybe it's a form of controlling others, or manipulating others. I don't know what your brand of failure is. I do know it's a struggle & listen it's of great concern.
Last week we discussed how to avoid temptation, by building an offense that's your best defense. The bottom line is we are all human, we mess up,
so today I'd like to show you God's restoration process, to understand that no matter how often you fall, remembering to do your best not to, not matter how bad it is, no matter how deep we've gotten,
nothing you can do is outside of God's grace and willingness to forgive, NOTHING!
If you look throughout the Bible, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul, you'll see many individuals who messed up. But you'll also notice that God is in the restoration business. Humans who fail, and own up to it, He restores them to a right relationship w/ Him.
How do we find faith after failing? Is God willing to forgive, no matter how extreme? And if He is willing to do that, how does He do it & what's my part in the process. That's what were going to look at today – How do I come back to God after I've blown it – even a # of times?
The Heart of King David
King David was an amazing man. He was a shepherd before he became King. He had a sensitive heart, a heart to protect those weaker than him. He wrote a # of the Psalms that we read in the book of Psalms. He's said to be a man after God's own heart. David was the royal proto-type, the precursor to the coming 'Messiah' – the King of all humanity Jesus Christ – it was from the line of David that Christ came. David was a man of God to model after. So is a man after God's own heart free from failure? NO
He messed up a few times in his life – pretty big I might add.
Open to 2 Samuel 11 - tell story
David's sin:
"...and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her."
v.3-4
"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died."
v.14-17
God doesn't turn His face in our failure – He turns His face when we don't deal with our failure.
David's self-reproach:
What's the diff. then of David's failures and of others – David sought God's forgiveness in true repentance, he owned up to his mistakes, He came to God contrite & broken –
David wrote Ps. 51 after his failures we read in 2 Samuel 11 -
"Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night... But you desire honesty from the heart... Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow... Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me... Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness... The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51
When David failed God he was truly sorry for what he had done. He was repentant, that's what God was looking for. Folks God is looking for men and women, not that we are perfect, but that we admit it when we blow it and are truly repentant.
God's Restoration Process
God's part...
When we fail were going to look at what God does, and what role we play.
The 1st thing we need to see is that 1. God's forgiveness isn't dependent on your sin. Or we could say the degree of your sin. He doesn't say Joe your sin is much nastier than Eric's – or well your not an axe murderer, you just cheated on your taxes - He doesn't compare sin – He doesn't grade on a curve(we do that). Sin is sin in God's eyes – and yes there are different degrees of consequences but sin is sin.
(white lie/black lie) Don't think you could ever commit a sin that is outside of God's willingness to forgive – He will forgive.
2. God's forgiveness is conditional.
I know some of you right now are freakin' out. What are you talikin' about Joe - I thought God's love was unconditional, that His grace and forgiveness was unconditional?
Look at 1 John 1:9 – it tells us God's forgiveness is conditional.
"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."
We have to confess, then He is faithful & just to forgive and cleanse every wrong. God cannot forgive a sin that we do not confess – and He will not force our hand. C.S. Lewis once said:
'Forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a person who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.'
You see it has nothing to so w/ the severity of our sin, but a broken, repentant heart that confess'
Our part...
The 1st part is we need to 1. Acknowledge our sin!
You cannot confess something that you do not believe to be sin.
"You've already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it's time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don't understand why you don't join in with the old gang anymore. But you don't have to give an account to them. They're the ones who will be called on the carpet--and before God himself."
1 Peter 4:3-5
This has to do w/ humility – recognizing that there's a higher authority. Were truly repentant.
2. Own our sin!
You can't blame somebody else – the blame game – I woke up on the wrong side of bed – I was born on the wrong side of the tracks - Lousy parents – I wasn't potty trained at the right age – I have bad hygiene -
The only reason we sin or mess up is b/c we chose to – James 1:13-14
"Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust."
That means we have choices, we can chose to sin or not to sin. If we don't own our sin & try to blame something or someone else that's not a contrite heart and were stuck.
3. Confess our sin.
The word confess in the Greek is 'homologeo' and means 'to agree with another'. Confession is agreeing w/ God and His standards that what I did was wrong. 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."
"I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin." Psalm 38:18
and then James 5:16 says,
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
If there is sin in your life, if you have an area of weakness that you can't talk about – it's out of control. We must confess to God, sometimes others in order to be forgiven and healed.
4. Believe in faith that you have been forgiven.
People say, you know I just don't feel forgiven.” That doesn't matter – it's not about you, it's about God and His character, and His willingness to forgive. If you ask, then acknowledge and own it – once you confess it then God is faithful to forgive – it doesn't matter how you feel, it's a done deal.
That's where our faith comes in.
We have a choice, we have a part to play in the restoration process.
God is faithful – He will do His part – the ? Is, how will we respond?
In Ep. 2 as he grows and matures we see him developing into a master Jedi.
In Ep.3 Anakin has honed his skills still w/ great upside and potential – but he is lured, he is tempted by the power of the darkside and he takes the bait and falls into the hands of the Evil Emperor, now becoming Darth Vader.
In Ep 4 & 5 we see him as the dominating villain, Darth Vader.
Then in Ep. 6 his son Luke Skywalker senses some good in Vader as we see the restoration of Anakin Skywalker when he destroys evil.
Hey life is full of failure, it's something that is common to all of us.
Failure runs through the veins of human beings on earth - we all have choices
& we can make the right and sometimes wrong choice, and we fail – let's take a poll – has anyone in here ever failed at anything in your life? If you didn't raise your hand look at the person next to you b/c they need your help.
but the really great news is that God takes failures & restores them.
And God can do that in your life no matter what has happened.
As we wrap up this series SW saga, I don't want to talk about the normal everyday failures and how to deal w/ that (we've kind of done that over the last 2 weeks).
I want to dig a little deeper than that, I want to turn the rocks over in your life as it were. I want you to think to that old familiar failure, you know the one I'm talking about it. That one that the last time you did it you said, “God, if you'll only forgive me this one last time, I'll never do it again.” Then we do it again, and again, and again....
All of us have those, some of us have a list of those. Maybe it's sexual,
dealing w/ lust, maybe it's drinking, possibly drugs, maybe it's greed,
maybe it's a form of controlling others, or manipulating others. I don't know what your brand of failure is. I do know it's a struggle & listen it's of great concern.
Last week we discussed how to avoid temptation, by building an offense that's your best defense. The bottom line is we are all human, we mess up,
so today I'd like to show you God's restoration process, to understand that no matter how often you fall, remembering to do your best not to, not matter how bad it is, no matter how deep we've gotten,
nothing you can do is outside of God's grace and willingness to forgive, NOTHING!
If you look throughout the Bible, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul, you'll see many individuals who messed up. But you'll also notice that God is in the restoration business. Humans who fail, and own up to it, He restores them to a right relationship w/ Him.
How do we find faith after failing? Is God willing to forgive, no matter how extreme? And if He is willing to do that, how does He do it & what's my part in the process. That's what were going to look at today – How do I come back to God after I've blown it – even a # of times?
The Heart of King David
King David was an amazing man. He was a shepherd before he became King. He had a sensitive heart, a heart to protect those weaker than him. He wrote a # of the Psalms that we read in the book of Psalms. He's said to be a man after God's own heart. David was the royal proto-type, the precursor to the coming 'Messiah' – the King of all humanity Jesus Christ – it was from the line of David that Christ came. David was a man of God to model after. So is a man after God's own heart free from failure? NO
He messed up a few times in his life – pretty big I might add.
Open to 2 Samuel 11 - tell story
David's sin:
"...and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her."
v.3-4
"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died."
v.14-17
God doesn't turn His face in our failure – He turns His face when we don't deal with our failure.
David's self-reproach:
What's the diff. then of David's failures and of others – David sought God's forgiveness in true repentance, he owned up to his mistakes, He came to God contrite & broken –
David wrote Ps. 51 after his failures we read in 2 Samuel 11 -
"Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night... But you desire honesty from the heart... Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow... Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me... Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness... The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51
When David failed God he was truly sorry for what he had done. He was repentant, that's what God was looking for. Folks God is looking for men and women, not that we are perfect, but that we admit it when we blow it and are truly repentant.
God's Restoration Process
God's part...
When we fail were going to look at what God does, and what role we play.
The 1st thing we need to see is that 1. God's forgiveness isn't dependent on your sin. Or we could say the degree of your sin. He doesn't say Joe your sin is much nastier than Eric's – or well your not an axe murderer, you just cheated on your taxes - He doesn't compare sin – He doesn't grade on a curve(we do that). Sin is sin in God's eyes – and yes there are different degrees of consequences but sin is sin.
(white lie/black lie) Don't think you could ever commit a sin that is outside of God's willingness to forgive – He will forgive.
2. God's forgiveness is conditional.
I know some of you right now are freakin' out. What are you talikin' about Joe - I thought God's love was unconditional, that His grace and forgiveness was unconditional?
Look at 1 John 1:9 – it tells us God's forgiveness is conditional.
"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."
We have to confess, then He is faithful & just to forgive and cleanse every wrong. God cannot forgive a sin that we do not confess – and He will not force our hand. C.S. Lewis once said:
'Forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a person who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.'
You see it has nothing to so w/ the severity of our sin, but a broken, repentant heart that confess'
Our part...
The 1st part is we need to 1. Acknowledge our sin!
You cannot confess something that you do not believe to be sin.
"You've already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it's time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don't understand why you don't join in with the old gang anymore. But you don't have to give an account to them. They're the ones who will be called on the carpet--and before God himself."
1 Peter 4:3-5
This has to do w/ humility – recognizing that there's a higher authority. Were truly repentant.
2. Own our sin!
You can't blame somebody else – the blame game – I woke up on the wrong side of bed – I was born on the wrong side of the tracks - Lousy parents – I wasn't potty trained at the right age – I have bad hygiene -
The only reason we sin or mess up is b/c we chose to – James 1:13-14
"Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust."
That means we have choices, we can chose to sin or not to sin. If we don't own our sin & try to blame something or someone else that's not a contrite heart and were stuck.
3. Confess our sin.
The word confess in the Greek is 'homologeo' and means 'to agree with another'. Confession is agreeing w/ God and His standards that what I did was wrong. 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."
"I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin." Psalm 38:18
and then James 5:16 says,
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
If there is sin in your life, if you have an area of weakness that you can't talk about – it's out of control. We must confess to God, sometimes others in order to be forgiven and healed.
4. Believe in faith that you have been forgiven.
People say, you know I just don't feel forgiven.” That doesn't matter – it's not about you, it's about God and His character, and His willingness to forgive. If you ask, then acknowledge and own it – once you confess it then God is faithful to forgive – it doesn't matter how you feel, it's a done deal.
That's where our faith comes in.
We have a choice, we have a part to play in the restoration process.
God is faithful – He will do His part – the ? Is, how will we respond?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Star Wars - "The Power of the Dark Side"
The power of the Dark Side is a sinister force that cannot be used for anything other than evil. Yet even despite that great power it is limited, it's limited in the sense that it cannot overcome someone unless they succumb to it, unless they give into it, such as Anakin did.
There is the ability for everyone to resist the power of the dark side.
And we know, we can see that there is evil all around us ( terrorism, violent crimes, to even slander, or a plain lack of all morals in an individual) we see it – There is a real leader of all evil here on Earth, & it's not Darth Sidious, The Evil Emperor, but Lucifer, & he is bent on hurting & destroying & separating man from God. His agenda is laid out in John 10:10,
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..."
- that's his agenda, to deceive and ultimately destroy God's people.
Billy Graham, Angels:
'Satan has great power. He is cunning and clever, having set himself against God and His people. He will do everything in his power to hold people captive in sin and drag them down to the prison of eternal separation from God.'
I. The Nature of Evil
Lucifer is the epitome of evil –
One of the metaphors given to Satan is that of a roaring lion – 1pt. 5:8
"Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up." (message)
"Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour." (NLT)
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
Satan and demons are not just something from scary movies. They exist in the spiritual realm that we cannot see w/ the naked eye. And their goal is to harm us by enticing us to sin and that sin eventually destroys our lives.
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared.”
Ephesians 6:12 (message)
The good news is that God has not left us defenseless. He has the strategy to overcome the enemy. I'm going to use a sports analogy today to set this up.
II. The Tactics of the Enemy
In preparing to compete against another team in athletics it's good to know, 'what is their game plan?' How do they operate? Their strengths, their weakness' – what are their tactics?
That being the case, let's look at the tactics of the enemy – our enemy –
what's his gameplan?
Satan is a deceiver, he is a master deceiver, however, he is not very original.
His strategy is the same today as it was w/ Adam & Eve in the garden.
He has only 1 battleplan & 1 strategy –
Adam & Eve were told by God to have a ball in the garden, He said, be fruitful and multiply, have fun but dont touch this tree, the tree of good and evil.
Satan shows up and asks Eve what did God tell you, why do you think He said that? He doesnt want you to become like Him does He?
Look at her response in Genesis 3:6
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
and ate it."
He's tricky like that. Look at 1 John 2:16
"For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world."
Again showing the tactics of the enemy.
Satan targets our desires!
That's what he's done from day 1, that's his scheme, that's his gameplan
“A man's temptation is due to the pull of his own inward desires, which greatly attract him. It is his own desire which conceives and gives birth to sin.” James 1:14
also
"but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." v.14-15
Greek for dragged away: fishing term, to hide the hook in bait, so the next
thing you know you're hooked. The harder we fight or struggle, the deeper the hook sets.
Satan goes after a legitimate desire in an illegitimate way.
TEMPTATION IS: A battle for your heart
That is what he is after – he sets up these emotional traps all over just
hoping we'll be enticed enough to fall for it. Why does he do that?
B/c so often we make the mistake of basing our decisions off of our emotions. What happens when we base a decision off of our emotions? We get hurt,
more often than not we get hurt or hurt someone.
Here is a truth we all need to understand:
Our thoughts determine our emotions and our emotions determine
our actions.
Although it's a battle for our heart, the battle is won in the mind.
TEMPTATION IS: A battle for your mind
“...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
This is what we need to know – we need to know the enemy's tactics. We need to know what to look for – he's going to target our desires, wanting us to make decisions based on emotions.
Now that we know that what do we need to do?
Back to the sports analogy – we've heard it said, the best offense is a good defense. It applies to sports like basketball really well (both teams in NBA Finals are real good defensively which sets up their offense) It's also said the best defense is a good offense. Football is a good example this – FB being a time managemnet game, if the offense is at one end of field and they drive down the entire length of field and score, it was good for that teams defense, who rested that entire drive which strengthens their defense.
This same approach can work for us in preparing and battling temptation.
The best defense is a good offense.
What then is our offensive strategy in preparing for temptation...
III. Preparing for Temptation
Stay connected to God
You may thinking right now, “Wow, thank you bible scholar, I need to stay connected to God, wow, I would have never thought of that, you're amazing”
I know it's easy to say, but are we truly walking the walk? Yea, I'm connected
to God, I'm walking in the light, but are we really doing it?
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5
This is what it means to stay connected. We will bear fruit.
“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
If I am connected to God, if I am walking w/ Him what's going happen?
I will bear this fruit of self-control. What is self-control?
It's simply holding in passions & appetites. So when the enemy tries to attack, and lays out those traps, I'm connected to God, and self-control rules.
Basically God rules. He rules my life and it shows.
Two ways to stay connected...
Read and meditate on God's Word
"How can a young person stay pure? By reading your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you-- don't let me wander from your instructions.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
I will meditate upon them and give them my full respect."
Psalm 119:9-11,15
Hey this is not difficult stuff – it's just a matter of doing it. Of opening my bible before I go to work or when I get home. Taking some time in His word, & asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes. The bible also says that God's Word will not return void, “what can I get out of this today?
There isn't a set time when you have to sit down a read – if you wake up later than usual and cant read in the morning it doesn't mean your day is wasted –
it can be done later, in the evening, whenever –
Hey, just do it – hang out with God.
"live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Galatians 5:16
Stay connected and you can avoid falling into temptation.
Resource – The Secrets of the Vine – Bruce Wilkinson
Find close friends who share your same values
We talked about this 2 weeks ago – developing real friendships, true authentic community. It's getting connected to other believers – best way is in small groups. We have a ladies group every other Wed. and guys every other Thur.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time here – you can go online and get in depth info www.experiencefocusonline.com - "The Jedi Council"
but look at this scripture:
“Bad company corrupts good character” 1 Corinthians 15:33
Who are you hanging out with? Who are you spending most of your time with? Is it the office gossip? Is it the guy with low morals?
The person who's lifestyle is equal to Snoop Dog?
Who you hang out with you become like. They rub off. Good or bad.
"Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts."
2 Timothy 2:22
Hang out w/ those who want to do right.
I am saying don't hang out at all w/ someone who doesn't follow God whole-heartily – they live a life outside of God – am I saying avoid them all together – NO WAY! It's our job to reach out to those who do not know Christ – you just shouldn't spend the majority of your time with that crowd.
Don't place yourself in compromising situations
How easy it is for us to place ourselves in these compromising situations.
"The prudent carefully consider their steps. The wise are cautious and avoid danger" Proverbs 14:15-16
We have to be able to look at the situation and ask is this really something i should be a part of? Is this really somewhere I should go? Is this really someone I should be spend this must time with? And we allow ourselves to get into compromising situations. It is in these scenarios where the enemy comes in attacks, he attacks our desires, and we find ourselves in a pickle. A battle has begun in the heart and mind. We need to avoid those situations all together – and we know, we get that Holy Spirit check of this may not be a good idea.
"But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it."
1 Corinthians 10:13
Beyond the Holy Spirit check, how do we know we shouldn't go down that road – it is probably wrong path or a compromising situation?
The 1st clue is it's done in secret. We hide it from others. If it's something you are hiding from others, more likely than not it's a compromising situation and it only leads to temptation and pulls us away from God's desire for us.
And we dishonor God.
What do we always say when we've gotten in a bit to deep, found ourselves in trouble, “How did I get here? How did this happen?
We did it to ourselves - we lost the battle of the mind and we went for it – am I hittin home here w/ anyone or is this just for me?
Exercise yourself spiritually
“Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness.”
1 Timothy 4:7
We need to develop spiritual habits in our lives.
“Bodily exercise is all right, but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a tonic for all you do. So exercise yourself spiritually and practice being a better Christian because that will help you not only now in this life, but in the next too.” 1 Timothy 4:8
How many of you, if you tried, could run a 5k marathon tomorrow?
What if you tried really hard? What if you tried really, really hard?
No way, we have to train. I just recently started running. But for me to run a
5k I would need to train and work at it to get into the shape needed to run.
There's an enormous difference between trying to do something and training
to do something.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
To train means: To arrange my life around the activities I need that
I cannot do now.
I need to arrange my life around certain practices to develop the strategy to avoid temptation
I need to arrange my life around certain practices to stay connected to God that will produce that self-control needed.
I need to arrange my life around...
Time spent in God's Word
Time spent with God in prayer
Time spent with other believers
Time spent giving and serving - go to series: 'At Your Service'
"live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Galatians 5:16
There is the ability for everyone to resist the power of the dark side.
And we know, we can see that there is evil all around us ( terrorism, violent crimes, to even slander, or a plain lack of all morals in an individual) we see it – There is a real leader of all evil here on Earth, & it's not Darth Sidious, The Evil Emperor, but Lucifer, & he is bent on hurting & destroying & separating man from God. His agenda is laid out in John 10:10,
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..."
- that's his agenda, to deceive and ultimately destroy God's people.
Billy Graham, Angels:
'Satan has great power. He is cunning and clever, having set himself against God and His people. He will do everything in his power to hold people captive in sin and drag them down to the prison of eternal separation from God.'
I. The Nature of Evil
Lucifer is the epitome of evil –
One of the metaphors given to Satan is that of a roaring lion – 1pt. 5:8
"Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up." (message)
"Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour." (NLT)
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
Satan and demons are not just something from scary movies. They exist in the spiritual realm that we cannot see w/ the naked eye. And their goal is to harm us by enticing us to sin and that sin eventually destroys our lives.
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared.”
Ephesians 6:12 (message)
The good news is that God has not left us defenseless. He has the strategy to overcome the enemy. I'm going to use a sports analogy today to set this up.
II. The Tactics of the Enemy
In preparing to compete against another team in athletics it's good to know, 'what is their game plan?' How do they operate? Their strengths, their weakness' – what are their tactics?
That being the case, let's look at the tactics of the enemy – our enemy –
what's his gameplan?
Satan is a deceiver, he is a master deceiver, however, he is not very original.
His strategy is the same today as it was w/ Adam & Eve in the garden.
He has only 1 battleplan & 1 strategy –
Adam & Eve were told by God to have a ball in the garden, He said, be fruitful and multiply, have fun but dont touch this tree, the tree of good and evil.
Satan shows up and asks Eve what did God tell you, why do you think He said that? He doesnt want you to become like Him does He?
Look at her response in Genesis 3:6
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
and ate it."
He's tricky like that. Look at 1 John 2:16
"For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world."
Again showing the tactics of the enemy.
Satan targets our desires!
That's what he's done from day 1, that's his scheme, that's his gameplan
“A man's temptation is due to the pull of his own inward desires, which greatly attract him. It is his own desire which conceives and gives birth to sin.” James 1:14
also
"but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." v.14-15
Greek for dragged away: fishing term, to hide the hook in bait, so the next
thing you know you're hooked. The harder we fight or struggle, the deeper the hook sets.
Satan goes after a legitimate desire in an illegitimate way.
TEMPTATION IS: A battle for your heart
That is what he is after – he sets up these emotional traps all over just
hoping we'll be enticed enough to fall for it. Why does he do that?
B/c so often we make the mistake of basing our decisions off of our emotions. What happens when we base a decision off of our emotions? We get hurt,
more often than not we get hurt or hurt someone.
Here is a truth we all need to understand:
Our thoughts determine our emotions and our emotions determine
our actions.
Although it's a battle for our heart, the battle is won in the mind.
TEMPTATION IS: A battle for your mind
“...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
This is what we need to know – we need to know the enemy's tactics. We need to know what to look for – he's going to target our desires, wanting us to make decisions based on emotions.
Now that we know that what do we need to do?
Back to the sports analogy – we've heard it said, the best offense is a good defense. It applies to sports like basketball really well (both teams in NBA Finals are real good defensively which sets up their offense) It's also said the best defense is a good offense. Football is a good example this – FB being a time managemnet game, if the offense is at one end of field and they drive down the entire length of field and score, it was good for that teams defense, who rested that entire drive which strengthens their defense.
This same approach can work for us in preparing and battling temptation.
The best defense is a good offense.
What then is our offensive strategy in preparing for temptation...
III. Preparing for Temptation
Stay connected to God
You may thinking right now, “Wow, thank you bible scholar, I need to stay connected to God, wow, I would have never thought of that, you're amazing”
I know it's easy to say, but are we truly walking the walk? Yea, I'm connected
to God, I'm walking in the light, but are we really doing it?
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5
This is what it means to stay connected. We will bear fruit.
“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
If I am connected to God, if I am walking w/ Him what's going happen?
I will bear this fruit of self-control. What is self-control?
It's simply holding in passions & appetites. So when the enemy tries to attack, and lays out those traps, I'm connected to God, and self-control rules.
Basically God rules. He rules my life and it shows.
Two ways to stay connected...
Read and meditate on God's Word
"How can a young person stay pure? By reading your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you-- don't let me wander from your instructions.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
I will meditate upon them and give them my full respect."
Psalm 119:9-11,15
Hey this is not difficult stuff – it's just a matter of doing it. Of opening my bible before I go to work or when I get home. Taking some time in His word, & asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes. The bible also says that God's Word will not return void, “what can I get out of this today?
There isn't a set time when you have to sit down a read – if you wake up later than usual and cant read in the morning it doesn't mean your day is wasted –
it can be done later, in the evening, whenever –
Hey, just do it – hang out with God.
"live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Galatians 5:16
Stay connected and you can avoid falling into temptation.
Resource – The Secrets of the Vine – Bruce Wilkinson
Find close friends who share your same values
We talked about this 2 weeks ago – developing real friendships, true authentic community. It's getting connected to other believers – best way is in small groups. We have a ladies group every other Wed. and guys every other Thur.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time here – you can go online and get in depth info www.experiencefocusonline.com - "The Jedi Council"
but look at this scripture:
“Bad company corrupts good character” 1 Corinthians 15:33
Who are you hanging out with? Who are you spending most of your time with? Is it the office gossip? Is it the guy with low morals?
The person who's lifestyle is equal to Snoop Dog?
Who you hang out with you become like. They rub off. Good or bad.
"Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts."
2 Timothy 2:22
Hang out w/ those who want to do right.
I am saying don't hang out at all w/ someone who doesn't follow God whole-heartily – they live a life outside of God – am I saying avoid them all together – NO WAY! It's our job to reach out to those who do not know Christ – you just shouldn't spend the majority of your time with that crowd.
Don't place yourself in compromising situations
How easy it is for us to place ourselves in these compromising situations.
"The prudent carefully consider their steps. The wise are cautious and avoid danger" Proverbs 14:15-16
We have to be able to look at the situation and ask is this really something i should be a part of? Is this really somewhere I should go? Is this really someone I should be spend this must time with? And we allow ourselves to get into compromising situations. It is in these scenarios where the enemy comes in attacks, he attacks our desires, and we find ourselves in a pickle. A battle has begun in the heart and mind. We need to avoid those situations all together – and we know, we get that Holy Spirit check of this may not be a good idea.
"But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it."
1 Corinthians 10:13
Beyond the Holy Spirit check, how do we know we shouldn't go down that road – it is probably wrong path or a compromising situation?
The 1st clue is it's done in secret. We hide it from others. If it's something you are hiding from others, more likely than not it's a compromising situation and it only leads to temptation and pulls us away from God's desire for us.
And we dishonor God.
What do we always say when we've gotten in a bit to deep, found ourselves in trouble, “How did I get here? How did this happen?
We did it to ourselves - we lost the battle of the mind and we went for it – am I hittin home here w/ anyone or is this just for me?
Exercise yourself spiritually
“Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness.”
1 Timothy 4:7
We need to develop spiritual habits in our lives.
“Bodily exercise is all right, but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a tonic for all you do. So exercise yourself spiritually and practice being a better Christian because that will help you not only now in this life, but in the next too.” 1 Timothy 4:8
How many of you, if you tried, could run a 5k marathon tomorrow?
What if you tried really hard? What if you tried really, really hard?
No way, we have to train. I just recently started running. But for me to run a
5k I would need to train and work at it to get into the shape needed to run.
There's an enormous difference between trying to do something and training
to do something.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
To train means: To arrange my life around the activities I need that
I cannot do now.
I need to arrange my life around certain practices to develop the strategy to avoid temptation
I need to arrange my life around certain practices to stay connected to God that will produce that self-control needed.
I need to arrange my life around...
Time spent in God's Word
Time spent with God in prayer
Time spent with other believers
Time spent giving and serving - go to series: 'At Your Service'
"live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Galatians 5:16
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Star Wars - "The Phantom Menace"
It seems we live in an angry society. In the U.S. Every 14 sec. There is a violent crime, every 24sec. there's another murder. All over our country divorce courts are full of people who are angry. People – professionals lose their jobs b/c of outbursts of anger. We try to hide this 'Phantom Menace' in the shadows of our lives – we deny that anger exists, some even claim, “it's just my personality, it's just the way I am, get used to it baby!” Sometimes anger can just smolder, boil under the surface. Other times it explodes like a geyser.
BALLOON ILLUS.
Blow up – don't tie – don't pop it - “Here's how we are with anger” - turn to the person next to you and let a little air out in their face.
Anger is like that in some of us – we let a little out at a time – throughout the day little by little we spit & spew on people. Little stuff builds up & we take it out here or there. It comes across as negativity, glass is half empty, in a sarcastic & complaining way.
Blow balloon back up – now release it! Some anger can get out of control & instead of bouncing off the ceiling & walls – were bouncing off of people & our relationships – especially those close to us & people get hurt! (Blow up own balloon) Sometimes we just get so full or so addicted to our release of anger that – pop balloon – we just pop! We just explode – have you ever been around people like that?
Do you like being around people like that? You kinda expect it, yet you never know when it's coming
How is your irritation quotient – 'Everybody's normal till you get to know them' by John Ortberg – pg. 128
How did you do in your irritation quotient test?
Throughout our day, there are multiple opportunitiesto get angry b/c, well people are idiots aren't they?
Under the surface we steam, we are boiling at different degrees.
Do you know what's going on? We've been denied our sense of satisfaction.
A definition for frustration is: when reality and expectations collide – Our frustration creates anger. We are dissatisfied.
We'd be satisfied if the dummy on the road knew what he was doing, or we'd be satisfied if our boss saw how good we really are, or we'd be satisfied if our spouse would cooperate w/ our agenda.
We get angry.
I. When do we get angry?
When our sense of satisfaction is denied.
There's a great example of this in Genesis 29-31
Jacob sees this lady at the well (“lovely in form and beautiful ” = HOTTIE) –
tell story
“Now it was Jacob's turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: "So what's my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You've ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that's yours? Let's see it--display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us. "In the twenty years I've worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket--actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I've done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times.” Genesis 31:36-41
It's not fair
Luke 15 – tell story
"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast! Luke 15:28-30
The older brother calls, "foul – not fair"
II. Anger becomes good or bad w/ our motive
Anger stands against something – it's always up against something or someone – it's demeanor or purpose, it's directive is against something, we all experience it. The ? is, “what will we do with it?” What's our motive?”
Our anger can be destructive & selfish
When selfishness directs my anger it can be destructive.
Genesis 4 – Cain and Abel – tell story
These 2 were to offer sacrifices to God, Abel did, Cain blew it. Cain's offering was rejected by God & he's angry.
"...The LORD accepted Abel and his offering, but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected."Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked him..." Genesis 4:4-6
Sometimes b/c our desire for satisfaction has been denied we think God's not playing fair – sometimes we shake our fist at Him in a fury, sometimes we quietly hold back and say, “I'm gonna live life my way, I'm gonna make things work for me, not relying on anyone else, not even God, I'll take matters into my hands.”
This is what Cain did – it was selfish and destructive:
"Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, "Let's go out into the fields." And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother." Genesis 4:8
While we may not kill physically, we'll kill a relationship, we'll sever a friendship, we'll destroy our own integrity, our character.
This anger is selfish, self focused, and then it's destructive – look at James 4:2
“You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them.”
We mishandle anger when...
...practice self – protectionism
I'm not talking about an event when someone is bringing you bodily harm but the reality is pain enters our lives everyday – emotinal pain is a part
of our everyday lives. We use anger to avoid going to that place, protecting ourselves from going to that level – you see there is always a deeper emotion behind anger, underneath the surface emotion of anger –
is the emotion of sadness.
We don't like that feeling, we don't like talking about it, we don't like to subject ourselves to the risk of looking weak, so it's easier to be angry. We protect ourselves from that feeling
...we shift the focus
When we get close enough to someone that an event or someone exposes my selfishness, or exposes my insensitivity, or exposes my wrong then I want to shift the focus or you could call it 'becoming defensive'. Our immediate response too often is:
“Yeah, but you're the one who... it wasnt my fault it was...” we shift the focus away from ourselves.
Anger can be productive and loving
Anger motivated by love can be very productive. Many examples of this in Jesus' life. In fact the Bible is full of occasions when God is angry. I highlighted one story for you: Mark 3
"Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man's hand on the Sabbath? If he did, they planned to condemn him. Jesus said to the man, "Come and stand in front of everyone." Then he turned to his critics and asked, "Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?" But they wouldn't answer him. He looked around at them angrily, because he was deeply disturbed by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, "Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal again! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to discuss plans for killing Jesus." Mark 3:1-6
The one thing that moves the loving heart of God to act in anger, to be motivated by anger is when the law of love is broken. The story of God throughout the Bible is a story of God's love for us, and His invitation to love Him & His call for us to love each other.
When that solitary law is broken – the heart of God is broken & there's an emotion of anger. Jesus' heart was deeply disturbed b/c the law of love was broken. And these guys said there was no law above our Jewish code, including the law of love & Jesus was angry.
There's a right kind of anger, a righteous anger that can be motivated by love. An abused woman, an abused child.
Unfortunately we more often chose the selfish anger, the anger motivated by our selfishness rather than that motivated by love – a love and care for others.
"In your anger do not sin" Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Ephesians 4:26-27
Paul says, “you're gonna get angry, that's gonna happen, but don't sin in your anger. Don't let anger control you”
In another letter to the Galatians the apostle Paul talked about the fruit, the product, the result of God's work in us when we focus our attention on God, quieting ourselves in Him. One of those fruits is self-control. And in Paul's teaching it does not describe a place that we get to where we'll never experience or feel anger again, but rather we'll practice and develop self-control so that when we feel the emotion – we'll stop & ask some ?'s that will help us understand the motive.
God's way to deal...
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.”
Psalm 37:7-8
STOP - we have to learn to stop, slow down before God... then
Be Quiet - I know it's easier said than done, but it matters to be quiet before the Lord, it is there that we can turn the fire off, its there that are demeanor can begin to change as we find perspective.
Consider - to consider, “this is really happening, I'm angry” it is here where we can ask some ?'s, “what's the purpose of my anger? What's the motivation behind this? Does my anger help anyone?” to consider what resentment lies beneath all this? To consider how it is I might practice love and that my anger can be productive?
This comes from self-control – time w/God
(More on this next week)
BALLOON ILLUS.
Blow up – don't tie – don't pop it - “Here's how we are with anger” - turn to the person next to you and let a little air out in their face.
Anger is like that in some of us – we let a little out at a time – throughout the day little by little we spit & spew on people. Little stuff builds up & we take it out here or there. It comes across as negativity, glass is half empty, in a sarcastic & complaining way.
Blow balloon back up – now release it! Some anger can get out of control & instead of bouncing off the ceiling & walls – were bouncing off of people & our relationships – especially those close to us & people get hurt! (Blow up own balloon) Sometimes we just get so full or so addicted to our release of anger that – pop balloon – we just pop! We just explode – have you ever been around people like that?
Do you like being around people like that? You kinda expect it, yet you never know when it's coming
How is your irritation quotient – 'Everybody's normal till you get to know them' by John Ortberg – pg. 128
How did you do in your irritation quotient test?
Throughout our day, there are multiple opportunitiesto get angry b/c, well people are idiots aren't they?
Under the surface we steam, we are boiling at different degrees.
Do you know what's going on? We've been denied our sense of satisfaction.
A definition for frustration is: when reality and expectations collide – Our frustration creates anger. We are dissatisfied.
We'd be satisfied if the dummy on the road knew what he was doing, or we'd be satisfied if our boss saw how good we really are, or we'd be satisfied if our spouse would cooperate w/ our agenda.
We get angry.
I. When do we get angry?
When our sense of satisfaction is denied.
There's a great example of this in Genesis 29-31
Jacob sees this lady at the well (“lovely in form and beautiful ” = HOTTIE) –
tell story
“Now it was Jacob's turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: "So what's my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You've ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that's yours? Let's see it--display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us. "In the twenty years I've worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket--actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I've done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times.” Genesis 31:36-41
It's not fair
Luke 15 – tell story
"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast! Luke 15:28-30
The older brother calls, "foul – not fair"
II. Anger becomes good or bad w/ our motive
Anger stands against something – it's always up against something or someone – it's demeanor or purpose, it's directive is against something, we all experience it. The ? is, “what will we do with it?” What's our motive?”
Our anger can be destructive & selfish
When selfishness directs my anger it can be destructive.
Genesis 4 – Cain and Abel – tell story
These 2 were to offer sacrifices to God, Abel did, Cain blew it. Cain's offering was rejected by God & he's angry.
"...The LORD accepted Abel and his offering, but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected."Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked him..." Genesis 4:4-6
Sometimes b/c our desire for satisfaction has been denied we think God's not playing fair – sometimes we shake our fist at Him in a fury, sometimes we quietly hold back and say, “I'm gonna live life my way, I'm gonna make things work for me, not relying on anyone else, not even God, I'll take matters into my hands.”
This is what Cain did – it was selfish and destructive:
"Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, "Let's go out into the fields." And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother." Genesis 4:8
While we may not kill physically, we'll kill a relationship, we'll sever a friendship, we'll destroy our own integrity, our character.
This anger is selfish, self focused, and then it's destructive – look at James 4:2
“You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them.”
We mishandle anger when...
...practice self – protectionism
I'm not talking about an event when someone is bringing you bodily harm but the reality is pain enters our lives everyday – emotinal pain is a part
of our everyday lives. We use anger to avoid going to that place, protecting ourselves from going to that level – you see there is always a deeper emotion behind anger, underneath the surface emotion of anger –
is the emotion of sadness.
We don't like that feeling, we don't like talking about it, we don't like to subject ourselves to the risk of looking weak, so it's easier to be angry. We protect ourselves from that feeling
...we shift the focus
When we get close enough to someone that an event or someone exposes my selfishness, or exposes my insensitivity, or exposes my wrong then I want to shift the focus or you could call it 'becoming defensive'. Our immediate response too often is:
“Yeah, but you're the one who... it wasnt my fault it was...” we shift the focus away from ourselves.
Anger can be productive and loving
Anger motivated by love can be very productive. Many examples of this in Jesus' life. In fact the Bible is full of occasions when God is angry. I highlighted one story for you: Mark 3
"Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man's hand on the Sabbath? If he did, they planned to condemn him. Jesus said to the man, "Come and stand in front of everyone." Then he turned to his critics and asked, "Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?" But they wouldn't answer him. He looked around at them angrily, because he was deeply disturbed by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, "Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal again! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to discuss plans for killing Jesus." Mark 3:1-6
The one thing that moves the loving heart of God to act in anger, to be motivated by anger is when the law of love is broken. The story of God throughout the Bible is a story of God's love for us, and His invitation to love Him & His call for us to love each other.
When that solitary law is broken – the heart of God is broken & there's an emotion of anger. Jesus' heart was deeply disturbed b/c the law of love was broken. And these guys said there was no law above our Jewish code, including the law of love & Jesus was angry.
There's a right kind of anger, a righteous anger that can be motivated by love. An abused woman, an abused child.
Unfortunately we more often chose the selfish anger, the anger motivated by our selfishness rather than that motivated by love – a love and care for others.
"In your anger do not sin" Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Ephesians 4:26-27
Paul says, “you're gonna get angry, that's gonna happen, but don't sin in your anger. Don't let anger control you”
In another letter to the Galatians the apostle Paul talked about the fruit, the product, the result of God's work in us when we focus our attention on God, quieting ourselves in Him. One of those fruits is self-control. And in Paul's teaching it does not describe a place that we get to where we'll never experience or feel anger again, but rather we'll practice and develop self-control so that when we feel the emotion – we'll stop & ask some ?'s that will help us understand the motive.
God's way to deal...
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.”
Psalm 37:7-8
STOP - we have to learn to stop, slow down before God... then
Be Quiet - I know it's easier said than done, but it matters to be quiet before the Lord, it is there that we can turn the fire off, its there that are demeanor can begin to change as we find perspective.
Consider - to consider, “this is really happening, I'm angry” it is here where we can ask some ?'s, “what's the purpose of my anger? What's the motivation behind this? Does my anger help anyone?” to consider what resentment lies beneath all this? To consider how it is I might practice love and that my anger can be productive?
This comes from self-control – time w/God
(More on this next week)
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Star Wars - The Jedi Council
If you are familiar w/ the Star Wars saga you recognize the overall theme of good v. evil. Throughout all 6 episodes you see the forces of good, The Republic, battling the formation and then completion of the Evil Empire. One of the many subplots we see is that this battle is not a one man show, like Rambo or one of Arnolds films. The Republic is a group of fighters, hero's, friends that band together for what is right and just. Along their side is the Jedi Order:
A noble order of protectors unified by their belief and observance of the Force, the Jedi came to serve as guardians of peace and justice.
The Jedi High Council is the main interface between the Jedi and the government of the Republic.
There is so much more to the Jedi council and the Jedi Order than an interface to the people – they are a close knit circle of friends. With a tight bond between brothers who all sacrifice and serve by protecting and putting their lives on the line. All becoming very close along their journey as they move from the apprentice stage to Master.
And in this battle we see a group of companions that together fight for what is right...
Companions are an important part of this battle, this journey we all call life.
In the Bible we also see time and time again a group of friends that together fight for what is right.
We see that even Jesus had a tight knit group of friends. Those that helped and supported Him on His journey to the cross. Think about the people that supported Him along His journey:
Ofcourse you have the 12 disciples - His traveling companions if you will.
Of those 12 He spent more time with 3, Pete, Jim, and John.
He would take these 3 away to special events such as the Transfiguration on the Mountain and the raising of Jairus' daughter to name a couple.
Of those 3, He was probably closest to John. Which the Bible to refers to as, “The disciple whom Jesus loved” as well as while He was on the cross Jesus asked John to take care of His mother, Mary.
The Bible also points out others in Jesus' circle – Mary Magdalene,
Martha, and Lazarus were friends of Christ. As well as others who along w/ those already mentioned were companions of Christ. Those who helped Him accomplish His goal which was getting to the cross.
Because He was born to die, He came to give His life as a ransom for many so that we could live.
Just as the Republic and the Jedi all had companions in their journey
and Jesus had His friends to help Him along His journey, we too all need companions, friends to help us along our journey in life.
It's interesting if you look through history to see the # of famous people who had these small bands of friends to help and encourage each other.
Did you know that Ben Franklin had a small group – He did - the name of his group was, 'my most ingenious friends group'.
They would get together, write papers, discuss them, discuss their ideas, ask questions – the group meet every friday night for 40 yrs.
Do you know why Ben was still accomplishing great things in his late 80's & 90's – his greatest inventions came after he was 70 b/c he had a group of friends who were encouraging and supporting him.
Did you know that Thomas Edison had a small group? He called it,
'my mastermind alliance' – He put together those with a similar like mission & that group meet over a 6 yr. Period In that time they came up w/ 300 patented inventions – they were avg. one minor invention every 6wks. And one major every 6mos.
We cannot make it in life alone, God did not create us that way. We need our own companions, our own small group of friends - look at:
“Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone... there is no one to help him... Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Being a part of a small group of friends is critical
I know some of you are now, I know some have been a part of them in the past and completely know the benefits. But if you are not now at this time all I can say is you are missing out on so much more that God has for your life. We are created for community. For real relationships, for true authentic community.
SIX ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY
The 1st 2 kinda go together, they are Service & Sacrifice.
Service and sacrifice are essential to authentic community. True friends serve each other – they make sacrifices. A true friend is committed to you, and one of the measurable ways to know is they will sacrifice their needs for yours. Look at what Jesus said:
“...here is how to measure it--the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” John 15:13
Friends are committed to each other, they have each other backs, they care about what is important to the other.
“Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.” Philippians 2:4
One of the best examples of this kind of friendship can be found in
1 Samuel 18 – David and Jonathan. This is right after the famous battle of David defeating Goliath when David meets Jonathan for the 1st time and they become instant friends.
“After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king's son. There was an immediate bond of love between them, and they became the best of friends... And Jonathan made a special vow to be David's friend, and he sealed the pact by giving him his robe, tunic, sword, bow, and belt.”
1 Samuel 18:1-4
This is a true picture of sacrifice – Jonathan in giving these 4 items to David was in essence surrendering his rightful place to the throne. He was giving David his royalty when he gave him these things. In sacrifice and in serving his friend he was saying this was David's place as the next King of Israel. As this story continues we see that King Saul begins to recognize that David is God's chosen King to lead Israel and crazy jealous, and tries to kill David. But Jonathan's loyalty to David never fades.
A couple of chapters later,1 Samuel 23, we see Jonathan's love for David
“One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. "Don't be afraid," Jonathan reassured him. "My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be second to you, as my father is well aware." So the two of them renewed their covenant of friendship before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.” 1 Samuel 23:15-18
Jonathan was willing to sacrifice and serve, that's what true friendship looks like. What is one word for Sacrifice & Service – LOVE
Elements 3 & 4 – Support & Encouragement
There are going to be times in life, and many of you know this already, where the bottom just falls out. Some kind of hardship or difficulty that can literally rock your world. In those times you find out who your true friends are. Friends walk in as everyone else is filling out. The Bible talks about this and calls it, carrying each others burdens. “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
The word 'carry' in the Greek is an imperative, it's a command. The Apostle Paul is commanding us as followers of Christ to carry one anothers burdens. "Yeah, OK I'll carry it if it's convenient, or I'll carry it if it's not to heavy, or whatever", NO, that's not what the Word of God is telling us here. As a part of the family of God we are to support those who need our support. So whenever someone is dealing with a loss, or a severe setback or letdown we are to be there for them, to support, to come alongside them.
Not only is support needed in those times but so is encouragement.
Look at what Paul told the church in Thessalonia:
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
The Greek word for encourage is “parakeleo” which means: to exhort, encourage, comfort, console, to come alongside. It is the word taken from the Greek word for the Holy Spirit, 'paraclete' which means the Holy Spirit is our counselor and comforter.
I like this quote from Larry Crabb: Connecting -
“The deepest urge in every human heart is to be in relationship w/ someone who absolutely delights in us.”
You see that's what friends do, they delight in us, they just love us for who we are – They are to stand with us in our darkest despair, and rejoice w/ us in times of joy. Only in authentic community with real friends can we find that support & encouragement.
Element 5 – Confrontation
Authentic community is not only found in the fun, fuzzy, warm feelings of support and encouragement, sometimes we need to be confronted. And who better to confront us than those who love and care for us. Those are the appropriate ones to come and confront us.
A friend cares enough to warn you when your about to run into a brick wall. Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend can be trusted.” Why?
B/c they are doing it for our best interest.
The Bible is very clear that as a part of the family of God we are to warn those, to confront those who are headed towards a train wreck.
“...if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. Remembering the next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong.” Galatians 6:1
We are literally to help others the way we want to be helped.
“Let us speak the truth in love.” Ephesians 4:13
Notice the attitude, the motivation that needs to be used. It is done out of concern, it is done out of love. Forgiveness is invloved. Christians often confuse confrontation with judgment. We hear people say, “well who are you to judge me?” But judgment and confrontation are 2 totally different things.
Look at the differernce
The Motivation behind Confrontation: LOVE
We are looking out for their best interest, it is out of real concern, real love for that person that it is done gently and humbly.
The Motivation behind Judgment: Contempt
It's looking down on someone with utter disgust, it creates a sense of superiority, that you're better than they are.
We have a responsibility to one another in real, authentic community to warn, to show a friend they are headed down a path that does not honor God.
But it is important to confront in a way that is loving, not harsh, but humbly wanting to show them what you see happening.
So we confront, as a friend that is one of your responsibilities.
I have friends in my life who have full reign to look me in the eyes and let me know that I'm blowing it – one of those individuals is my wife, and believe me she lets me know!
I know these people care about me and they have my best interest in mind - so let it be.
Element 6 – Acceptance
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you.” Romans 15:7
The Bible tells us that while we were still sinners, enemies of God, lost in this world, Christ accepted us. It tells us that God accepts each of us just as we are with no strings attached. God accepts us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. He begins to work inside of us as we saw last week – it is something the Holy Spirit Does in us to transform us into the image of Christ.
A true friend loves you for who you are but that does not mean they condone sinful behavior. Acceptance is about taking them just as they are and loving them enough to see what God wants them to become.
Acceptance is a powerful gift in a friendship and it leads to one of the most important aspects of community – that is connection.
Connection is where the trust is built up in a persons life where real life change can occur through the Holy Spirit. The ability to trust comes from an atmosphere we must have of acceptance, and of love, and forgiveness.
We must be a church, a people who love, accept, and forgive.
LoveAcceptForgive
These 6 elements of authentic community can even be narrowed down to
LAF.
A noble order of protectors unified by their belief and observance of the Force, the Jedi came to serve as guardians of peace and justice.
The Jedi High Council is the main interface between the Jedi and the government of the Republic.
There is so much more to the Jedi council and the Jedi Order than an interface to the people – they are a close knit circle of friends. With a tight bond between brothers who all sacrifice and serve by protecting and putting their lives on the line. All becoming very close along their journey as they move from the apprentice stage to Master.
And in this battle we see a group of companions that together fight for what is right...
Companions are an important part of this battle, this journey we all call life.
In the Bible we also see time and time again a group of friends that together fight for what is right.
We see that even Jesus had a tight knit group of friends. Those that helped and supported Him on His journey to the cross. Think about the people that supported Him along His journey:
Ofcourse you have the 12 disciples - His traveling companions if you will.
Of those 12 He spent more time with 3, Pete, Jim, and John.
He would take these 3 away to special events such as the Transfiguration on the Mountain and the raising of Jairus' daughter to name a couple.
Of those 3, He was probably closest to John. Which the Bible to refers to as, “The disciple whom Jesus loved” as well as while He was on the cross Jesus asked John to take care of His mother, Mary.
The Bible also points out others in Jesus' circle – Mary Magdalene,
Martha, and Lazarus were friends of Christ. As well as others who along w/ those already mentioned were companions of Christ. Those who helped Him accomplish His goal which was getting to the cross.
Because He was born to die, He came to give His life as a ransom for many so that we could live.
Just as the Republic and the Jedi all had companions in their journey
and Jesus had His friends to help Him along His journey, we too all need companions, friends to help us along our journey in life.
It's interesting if you look through history to see the # of famous people who had these small bands of friends to help and encourage each other.
Did you know that Ben Franklin had a small group – He did - the name of his group was, 'my most ingenious friends group'.
They would get together, write papers, discuss them, discuss their ideas, ask questions – the group meet every friday night for 40 yrs.
Do you know why Ben was still accomplishing great things in his late 80's & 90's – his greatest inventions came after he was 70 b/c he had a group of friends who were encouraging and supporting him.
Did you know that Thomas Edison had a small group? He called it,
'my mastermind alliance' – He put together those with a similar like mission & that group meet over a 6 yr. Period In that time they came up w/ 300 patented inventions – they were avg. one minor invention every 6wks. And one major every 6mos.
We cannot make it in life alone, God did not create us that way. We need our own companions, our own small group of friends - look at:
“Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone... there is no one to help him... Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Being a part of a small group of friends is critical
I know some of you are now, I know some have been a part of them in the past and completely know the benefits. But if you are not now at this time all I can say is you are missing out on so much more that God has for your life. We are created for community. For real relationships, for true authentic community.
SIX ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY
The 1st 2 kinda go together, they are Service & Sacrifice.
Service and sacrifice are essential to authentic community. True friends serve each other – they make sacrifices. A true friend is committed to you, and one of the measurable ways to know is they will sacrifice their needs for yours. Look at what Jesus said:
“...here is how to measure it--the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” John 15:13
Friends are committed to each other, they have each other backs, they care about what is important to the other.
“Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.” Philippians 2:4
One of the best examples of this kind of friendship can be found in
1 Samuel 18 – David and Jonathan. This is right after the famous battle of David defeating Goliath when David meets Jonathan for the 1st time and they become instant friends.
“After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king's son. There was an immediate bond of love between them, and they became the best of friends... And Jonathan made a special vow to be David's friend, and he sealed the pact by giving him his robe, tunic, sword, bow, and belt.”
1 Samuel 18:1-4
This is a true picture of sacrifice – Jonathan in giving these 4 items to David was in essence surrendering his rightful place to the throne. He was giving David his royalty when he gave him these things. In sacrifice and in serving his friend he was saying this was David's place as the next King of Israel. As this story continues we see that King Saul begins to recognize that David is God's chosen King to lead Israel and crazy jealous, and tries to kill David. But Jonathan's loyalty to David never fades.
A couple of chapters later,1 Samuel 23, we see Jonathan's love for David
“One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. "Don't be afraid," Jonathan reassured him. "My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be second to you, as my father is well aware." So the two of them renewed their covenant of friendship before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.” 1 Samuel 23:15-18
Jonathan was willing to sacrifice and serve, that's what true friendship looks like. What is one word for Sacrifice & Service – LOVE
Elements 3 & 4 – Support & Encouragement
There are going to be times in life, and many of you know this already, where the bottom just falls out. Some kind of hardship or difficulty that can literally rock your world. In those times you find out who your true friends are. Friends walk in as everyone else is filling out. The Bible talks about this and calls it, carrying each others burdens. “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
The word 'carry' in the Greek is an imperative, it's a command. The Apostle Paul is commanding us as followers of Christ to carry one anothers burdens. "Yeah, OK I'll carry it if it's convenient, or I'll carry it if it's not to heavy, or whatever", NO, that's not what the Word of God is telling us here. As a part of the family of God we are to support those who need our support. So whenever someone is dealing with a loss, or a severe setback or letdown we are to be there for them, to support, to come alongside them.
Not only is support needed in those times but so is encouragement.
Look at what Paul told the church in Thessalonia:
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
The Greek word for encourage is “parakeleo” which means: to exhort, encourage, comfort, console, to come alongside. It is the word taken from the Greek word for the Holy Spirit, 'paraclete' which means the Holy Spirit is our counselor and comforter.
I like this quote from Larry Crabb: Connecting -
“The deepest urge in every human heart is to be in relationship w/ someone who absolutely delights in us.”
You see that's what friends do, they delight in us, they just love us for who we are – They are to stand with us in our darkest despair, and rejoice w/ us in times of joy. Only in authentic community with real friends can we find that support & encouragement.
Element 5 – Confrontation
Authentic community is not only found in the fun, fuzzy, warm feelings of support and encouragement, sometimes we need to be confronted. And who better to confront us than those who love and care for us. Those are the appropriate ones to come and confront us.
A friend cares enough to warn you when your about to run into a brick wall. Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend can be trusted.” Why?
B/c they are doing it for our best interest.
The Bible is very clear that as a part of the family of God we are to warn those, to confront those who are headed towards a train wreck.
“...if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. Remembering the next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong.” Galatians 6:1
We are literally to help others the way we want to be helped.
“Let us speak the truth in love.” Ephesians 4:13
Notice the attitude, the motivation that needs to be used. It is done out of concern, it is done out of love. Forgiveness is invloved. Christians often confuse confrontation with judgment. We hear people say, “well who are you to judge me?” But judgment and confrontation are 2 totally different things.
Look at the differernce
The Motivation behind Confrontation: LOVE
We are looking out for their best interest, it is out of real concern, real love for that person that it is done gently and humbly.
The Motivation behind Judgment: Contempt
It's looking down on someone with utter disgust, it creates a sense of superiority, that you're better than they are.
We have a responsibility to one another in real, authentic community to warn, to show a friend they are headed down a path that does not honor God.
But it is important to confront in a way that is loving, not harsh, but humbly wanting to show them what you see happening.
So we confront, as a friend that is one of your responsibilities.
I have friends in my life who have full reign to look me in the eyes and let me know that I'm blowing it – one of those individuals is my wife, and believe me she lets me know!
I know these people care about me and they have my best interest in mind - so let it be.
Element 6 – Acceptance
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you.” Romans 15:7
The Bible tells us that while we were still sinners, enemies of God, lost in this world, Christ accepted us. It tells us that God accepts each of us just as we are with no strings attached. God accepts us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. He begins to work inside of us as we saw last week – it is something the Holy Spirit Does in us to transform us into the image of Christ.
A true friend loves you for who you are but that does not mean they condone sinful behavior. Acceptance is about taking them just as they are and loving them enough to see what God wants them to become.
Acceptance is a powerful gift in a friendship and it leads to one of the most important aspects of community – that is connection.
Connection is where the trust is built up in a persons life where real life change can occur through the Holy Spirit. The ability to trust comes from an atmosphere we must have of acceptance, and of love, and forgiveness.
We must be a church, a people who love, accept, and forgive.
LoveAcceptForgive
These 6 elements of authentic community can even be narrowed down to
LAF.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Star Wars - "May the Force be with you"
The hype has hit are the movie-goers bought into it with the release of the last movie of the Star Wars saga. Some people stood in line for weeks prior to the opening of The Revenge of the Sith. At the time of its release two million Americans played hooky from work so they could watch the premiere. Worldwide through last Sunday, "Revenge of the Sith" had taken in $504.4 million since its almost simultaneous debut in most countries beginning
May 18.
George Lucas’ Star Wars series has become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon as well as an incredible marketing phenomenon, too. In fact the last movie sold two billion dollars in movie related merchandise. One commentator said that the famous Star Wars phrase, “May the force be with you” ought to be changed to “May the sales force be with you.”
I myself have been a Star Wars fan since the beginning, with the exception of Jar Jar Binks. I don’t think anybody honestly really liked Jar Jar Binks. And Yoda bugs me a bit, but you’ve got this guy whose supposed to be so brilliant and so wise and so full of wisdom and yet he can’t speak a straightforward English sentence.
“Totally backward his sentences are.
Really annoying the little creep is”
Certainly Lucas has created more than just a raw adventure series. For example he has intentionally added religious overtones to the movies. In The Phantom Menace for example we learn that young Anakin Skywalker was immaculately conceived and that his appearance was a fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Sound familiar? I’m not saying that there’s anything theologically profound about Star Wars but I do believe that part of its success is due to these underlying spiritual themes.
So I (being a Star Wars fan) see this as an intriguing way to ask the question, “What would the Bible say about these spiritual themes that we see in the
Star Wars movies? And what can these themes tell us about the real God?
So over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at spiritual parallels from the movie Star Wars and what God's Word says.
Well we see that: the movies tap in to a desire in each person to connect with something bigger than themselves.
To know that we haven’t been left alone in the universe to kind of figure things out by ourselves. To believe that we can have a supernatural resource to guide us through the crises of life. In Star Wars this sense of the supernatural is represented by The Force. In fact, you remember these famous words, “May The Force be with you.” George Lucas told Time magazine, “I put The Force into the movie for a reason. I put The Force into the movie to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people.” In other words, he wanted to stimulate questions about God and what God was really like. And here’s the amazing thing. If this does succeed in pointing people toward the Bible to discover the real life counterpart to the fictional force what they will find is something even more spectacular, even more astonishing, even more awe inspiring than all of the special effects of the Star Wars movies. Because, as amazing as Lucas paints The Force, to be honest it absolutely pales in comparison to the incredible adventure story that the Bible paints about the Holy Spirit.
How amazing is the Holy Spirit?
For one thing He created the entire universe. The Bible says that the world was created out of the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. In fact, we encounter the Holy Spirit in the opening scene of the Bible, the very second verse which says this,
“Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
The Holy Spirit is seen in the very process of creation. That’s just the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s feats in history’s biggest adventure story.
He also caused Jesus Christ to be conceived in the womb of a virgin, setting up God’s great redemptive drama. Matthew 1:18
“Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”
In fact it was also the Holy Spirit who culminated this historic drama by participating in the raising of Jesus from the dead in His triumphant victory over the grave. Romans 1:4 talks about the power of that Spirit of holiness which raised Christ to life again from the dead.
“And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit” Romans 1:4
And, on top of that, it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Bible, working through a variety of people to create the most important, the most profound, the most practical spiritual book ever written, a book that peels back the vale of mystery and introduces us to God Himself. 2 Peter 1:21
“It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messages from God.”
Not only that, it was the Holy Spirit, Acts 2 says, that instituted the miraculous birth of the Christian church when He was poured out in an unprecedented way in what has come to be known as Pentecost. The disciples were all together. Acts 2:4 says this
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And because of how He empowered them and emboldened them and guided them the church was born and the church began to thrive despite this relentless persecution by the real life counterpart of the evil empire which was the Roman Empire.
As if all of that weren’t amazing enough this very same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, the very same Spirit of God who created the universe takes up residence inside every single follower of Jesus Christ where He does an inside job of recreating them over time to become more and more like Jesus.
1 Corinthians 3:16
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.”
So in the most profound sense a follower of Jesus Christ is never alone. In fact, the very name of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, literally means the Holy Spirit is our counselor. He is our advocate. He is our comforter. He is our guide. He is our helper.
He will stay with believers. He will guide them into the ways of God.
The Holy Spirit is amazing.
He also gives spiritual gifts. What are spiritual gifts?
(reference: 'At You Service - Discover Your Design - April 10, 2005)
They are a divine enablement to accomplish things for God that we could never possibly do in and of our own talents and our own abilities. And allowing God to energize and use this spiritual gift that He has given to you is one of the most fulfilling, satisfying adventures of the Christian life.
1 Corinthians 12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” So He gives each follower of Jesus a gift.
The Bible says there’s a number of gifts. And God will give you one if you give your life to Him. And as He energizes it He uses you in the furtherance of that gift, amazing things can happen and you’re going to find fulfillment and satisfaction like nothing else.
Inside of me, inside of every follower of Jesus He also gently but powerfully works to transform us more and more over time into the image of Jesus Christ. To help us act more like Jesus would act, to respond more as Jesus would respond, to make choices as Jesus would make more and more over time.
And that’s not all He does inside of us. The Bible also promises that He will produce nine qualities inside of us that human beings could only experience on a superficial level without the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit we can experience much more fully. This is referred to in the Bible as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You see in described in Galatians 5:22-23.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those are the very nine qualities we need most in life, aren't they? You’re living a stressed out life and you say, “God, I need more peace.”
The Holy Spirit says, I can help with that. “I need more self control.” The Holy Spirit says, I can help you with that. “I want to be more loving… I want to be kinder… I want to be gentler...” The Holy Spirit says, I can help you with that. “I want to know God more fully.” The Holy Spirit says, You can. Through Me.
That’s just a brief summary of the Holy Spirit’s astounding ministry.
Yet there have been a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of misconceptions, a lot of confused people about the identity and the role of the Holy Spirit. So what I want to do today is use this fictional creation in Star Wars of The Force and draw a contrast between that entity and the real life Holy Spirit as a way of helping us understand who the Holy Spirit is, what His role is and what difference it makes to you today in your life.
Some contrasts between this fictional force of Star Wars and the real Holy Spirit.
The first contrast is this. The Force is impersonal.
Star Wars defines The Force as: The Force is an energy field generated by all living things.
Some cults erroneously teach that the Holy Spirit is also a force, an energy. Sort of like electricity or magneticism. That’s what they teach but is it true? It reminds me of something Abraham Lincoln said to his children once, “If you call a tail a leg then how many legs does a dog have?” Five? He said, “Wrong. There would still be four legs because calling a tail a leg does not make it so.” That’s true.
And calling the Holy Spirit a force does not make it so. Because the firm evidence of the Bible shows that the Holy Spirit is not impersonal...
but He is personal.
He is a person. Not that He has hands and feet - He’s Spirit - but He has all the qualities that makes a person a person in the truest sense.
Having character, having personality, having a will, having intellect, having emotions, having the ability to communicate. The Bible says the Holy Spirit can be lied to. He can teach. He can be outraged. Why?
Because He is a person. Those things would not be true of an energy force of an energy field.
Have you noticed the Bible always refers to the Holy Spirit with personal pronouns? It never refers to the Holy Spirit as “it”. The Bible always refers to the Holy Spirit as “Him” or “He”. For example John 15:26
“When the counselor comes, that is the Holy Spirit, He will testify about Me.”
Two things there. First, He, which indicates He is a person not an it, not a force. Second, what is He going to do? He’s going to testify. A force field can’t testify. That requires intellect, communication abilities. So there’s two ways that verse shows us the Holy Spirit is a person.
Why should that matter? Why should that matter to us? Because if the Holy Spirit were merely an energy force we could never personally relate to Him. We can know about the force of magnetism but we can’t know the force of magnetism. But because the Holy Spirit is a person, we can know Him personally. We can interact with Him, we can commune with Him, we can relate to Him. And He can personally respond to us. That’s hugely important.
2. The Force’s divinity is uncertain.
We don’t know if it’s God or not. George Lucas says, “I would hesitate to call The Force, God.” One common characteristic of cults today is they also deny the deity of the Holy Spirit. But the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit’s divinity is certain. It is clear, the Bible says, that He is God. He is equally God along with God the Father and God the Son who together make up the trinity.
This is illustrated a number of ways in the Bible. One Acts 5:3 where the Apostle Peter is confronting a guy called Ananias by saying,
“How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?” Then in verse 4 Peter adds, “You have not lied to man but you have lied to God,” because the Holy Spirit is God.
The Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit possesses every attribute that makes God, God. Why is that important for us? For this reason: it means the Holy Spirit when you are going through troubled times, when you are in need of comfort, when you are in need of encouragement is more than a good friend that sits next to you and commiserates with you. That’s all your friend can do is feel bad for you and commiserate with you. But because the Holy Spirit is God, because He possesses the infinite power of the God of the universe He can do more than just commiserate with you. He has the power to make an actual difference in your life. So it’s extremely important that the Holy Spirit is God.
3. The third contrast between The Force of Star Wars and the true Holy Spirit is The Force is both good and bad.
You have the good guys, the Jedi knights and they access the positive side of The Force. You have the bad guys like Darth Vader and the evil emperor Darth Sidious and they receive power from The Dark Side. This is a concept that’s taken from Eastern philosophy where God is both good and bad at the same time. In fact in Hinduism there are millions of impersonal gods. There are good gods and bad gods. In fact in Hinduism there’s actually a goddess of death in whose name people have killed other people in the past.
When you think about this concept, the possibility that God in His infinite power would be both good and bad that’s a frightening thought. But the Bible tells us it isn’t true. The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit, being God, is only good. He is only, only good. Psalm 34:8 invites us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Not only that but the Holy Spirit opposes evil which is what we would want God to do. Why is this important to us? It’s important to us because the Holy Spirit, you can count on Him to always do what is ultimately in your best interest. You can trust Him to always do what is good and what is right so your trust in Him can be complete, your reliance on Him can be total.
4. The fourth contrast is The Force calls upon people to rely on their feelings.
You see this over and over again in Star Wars. Young Anakin Skywalker is told this, “Feel. Don’t think. Trust your instincts.” And at another point OB1 Kanobe tells Luke Skywalker “Trust your feelings.” Listen to the way George Lucas articulated the thinking behind this. “Ultimately The Force is the larger mystery of the universe and to trust your feelings is your way into that.”
That is a very, very, very dangerous message. Feelings shift, feelings change, feelings get contaminated by evil and by self-interest and by ego and by deception. Feelings are notoriously unreliable. I'm sure you recall the Columbine school killings where these kids went in the school and murdered a bunch of people. What was their reasoning: they were just living out authentically their feelings. This is what they felt they should do. This is what they felt was the right thing, the best thing for them to do so they did it. That doesn’t make it right. This is the danger of relying on feelings.
The Holy Spirit says something different. The Holy Spirit invites testing. He invites testing. He says, Don’t just rely on your feelings. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
God has given us a standard against which we can measure. When we believe we’re hearing the whispering of the Spirit in our lives, the nudgings of the Holy Spirit encouraging us to do something, to say something, we can measure it against this measuring rod that God has given us of the Bible because the Holy Spirit will never contradict something said in this book.
So if you feel like God is nudging you through His Holy Spirit to do something and this book says don’t do it, that’s not the Holy Spirit that’s urging you to do something. It’s your own self-interest. It may be an evil source. Because the Holy Spirit lives inside of every Christ-follower another way we can test the spirits is by going to a mature, godly Christian who knows us well and say, I feel like the Holy Spirit is encouraging me in this direction. Would you pray about it? Would you see if there’s consistency between what you sense from God and what I’m sensing form God?
I remember when Cathleen and I were praying about something BIG we felt God was doing in our lives. We prayed together, but also separately - I knew the Holy Spirit lives in my wife and He lives in me. He is not going to be inconsistent and tell her one thing and tell me another. We needed to pray, we needed to find out. Is the Holy Spirit consistent? Absolutely! We need to seek counsel from other godly people. We need to look in this book and see the wisdom about making this decision.
The Bible says, Don’t just rely on feelings. Test the spirits because without that we are left tossed on a treacherous sea of emotionalism and relativism that will shipwreck your life. If you base your life on your feelings you will shipwreck it sooner or later. The Bible wants to protect you from that.
5. Another contrast between The Force of Star Wars and the real Holy Spirit is that The Force is reserved only for the elite.
Only a few people are able to access the power of The Force. According to Star Wars. It says this: Through the Force a Jedi knight can see far off places. He can perform amazing feats and he can accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.
But the Holy Spirit is available to all. He is available not to just a few. He is available to all. To each and every person who in repentance and faith receives Jesus Christ as the forgiver of their sins and is thereby adopted into what’s called The Body of Christ which is the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body whether Jew or Greek, slaves or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
Why is this important? Because through the Holy Spirit all Christ’s followers can see and understand and discern things that other people cannot. They can perform amazing feats of courage and love which leave the world astounded. They can accomplish things through their spiritual gift that otherwise would not be humanly possible. Only because God resides in us.
There is a difference between the Holy Spirit entering into a believers life at the moment of salvation – what is called the New Birth or New Life and the Baptism or Coming upon of the Holy spirit.
At salvation each person receives the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit now resides in the believer.
“...Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” Ephesians 1:13
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes into a believers life after salvation is a done done. That baptism is to provide:
- spiritual power for living
“But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit” Jude 20
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." Ephesians 6:18
- serving & speaking of Christ
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
As Christians, followers of Jesus Christ we are called to love God with all our heart and serve Him, in other words, what can I do to further the advancement of God's agenda?
The Force is an entertaining invention of Hollywood. I love going to the movies. I love seeing all the action. But the Holy Spirit is real. He is available to help you and to encourage you and to comfort you and to empower you and to enlighten you and to guide you and to teach you.
May 18.
George Lucas’ Star Wars series has become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon as well as an incredible marketing phenomenon, too. In fact the last movie sold two billion dollars in movie related merchandise. One commentator said that the famous Star Wars phrase, “May the force be with you” ought to be changed to “May the sales force be with you.”
I myself have been a Star Wars fan since the beginning, with the exception of Jar Jar Binks. I don’t think anybody honestly really liked Jar Jar Binks. And Yoda bugs me a bit, but you’ve got this guy whose supposed to be so brilliant and so wise and so full of wisdom and yet he can’t speak a straightforward English sentence.
“Totally backward his sentences are.
Really annoying the little creep is”
Certainly Lucas has created more than just a raw adventure series. For example he has intentionally added religious overtones to the movies. In The Phantom Menace for example we learn that young Anakin Skywalker was immaculately conceived and that his appearance was a fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Sound familiar? I’m not saying that there’s anything theologically profound about Star Wars but I do believe that part of its success is due to these underlying spiritual themes.
So I (being a Star Wars fan) see this as an intriguing way to ask the question, “What would the Bible say about these spiritual themes that we see in the
Star Wars movies? And what can these themes tell us about the real God?
So over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at spiritual parallels from the movie Star Wars and what God's Word says.
Well we see that: the movies tap in to a desire in each person to connect with something bigger than themselves.
To know that we haven’t been left alone in the universe to kind of figure things out by ourselves. To believe that we can have a supernatural resource to guide us through the crises of life. In Star Wars this sense of the supernatural is represented by The Force. In fact, you remember these famous words, “May The Force be with you.” George Lucas told Time magazine, “I put The Force into the movie for a reason. I put The Force into the movie to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people.” In other words, he wanted to stimulate questions about God and what God was really like. And here’s the amazing thing. If this does succeed in pointing people toward the Bible to discover the real life counterpart to the fictional force what they will find is something even more spectacular, even more astonishing, even more awe inspiring than all of the special effects of the Star Wars movies. Because, as amazing as Lucas paints The Force, to be honest it absolutely pales in comparison to the incredible adventure story that the Bible paints about the Holy Spirit.
How amazing is the Holy Spirit?
For one thing He created the entire universe. The Bible says that the world was created out of the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. In fact, we encounter the Holy Spirit in the opening scene of the Bible, the very second verse which says this,
“Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
The Holy Spirit is seen in the very process of creation. That’s just the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s feats in history’s biggest adventure story.
He also caused Jesus Christ to be conceived in the womb of a virgin, setting up God’s great redemptive drama. Matthew 1:18
“Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”
In fact it was also the Holy Spirit who culminated this historic drama by participating in the raising of Jesus from the dead in His triumphant victory over the grave. Romans 1:4 talks about the power of that Spirit of holiness which raised Christ to life again from the dead.
“And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit” Romans 1:4
And, on top of that, it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Bible, working through a variety of people to create the most important, the most profound, the most practical spiritual book ever written, a book that peels back the vale of mystery and introduces us to God Himself. 2 Peter 1:21
“It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messages from God.”
Not only that, it was the Holy Spirit, Acts 2 says, that instituted the miraculous birth of the Christian church when He was poured out in an unprecedented way in what has come to be known as Pentecost. The disciples were all together. Acts 2:4 says this
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And because of how He empowered them and emboldened them and guided them the church was born and the church began to thrive despite this relentless persecution by the real life counterpart of the evil empire which was the Roman Empire.
As if all of that weren’t amazing enough this very same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, the very same Spirit of God who created the universe takes up residence inside every single follower of Jesus Christ where He does an inside job of recreating them over time to become more and more like Jesus.
1 Corinthians 3:16
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.”
So in the most profound sense a follower of Jesus Christ is never alone. In fact, the very name of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, literally means the Holy Spirit is our counselor. He is our advocate. He is our comforter. He is our guide. He is our helper.
He will stay with believers. He will guide them into the ways of God.
The Holy Spirit is amazing.
He also gives spiritual gifts. What are spiritual gifts?
(reference: 'At You Service - Discover Your Design - April 10, 2005)
They are a divine enablement to accomplish things for God that we could never possibly do in and of our own talents and our own abilities. And allowing God to energize and use this spiritual gift that He has given to you is one of the most fulfilling, satisfying adventures of the Christian life.
1 Corinthians 12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” So He gives each follower of Jesus a gift.
The Bible says there’s a number of gifts. And God will give you one if you give your life to Him. And as He energizes it He uses you in the furtherance of that gift, amazing things can happen and you’re going to find fulfillment and satisfaction like nothing else.
Inside of me, inside of every follower of Jesus He also gently but powerfully works to transform us more and more over time into the image of Jesus Christ. To help us act more like Jesus would act, to respond more as Jesus would respond, to make choices as Jesus would make more and more over time.
And that’s not all He does inside of us. The Bible also promises that He will produce nine qualities inside of us that human beings could only experience on a superficial level without the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit we can experience much more fully. This is referred to in the Bible as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You see in described in Galatians 5:22-23.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those are the very nine qualities we need most in life, aren't they? You’re living a stressed out life and you say, “God, I need more peace.”
The Holy Spirit says, I can help with that. “I need more self control.” The Holy Spirit says, I can help you with that. “I want to be more loving… I want to be kinder… I want to be gentler...” The Holy Spirit says, I can help you with that. “I want to know God more fully.” The Holy Spirit says, You can. Through Me.
That’s just a brief summary of the Holy Spirit’s astounding ministry.
Yet there have been a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of misconceptions, a lot of confused people about the identity and the role of the Holy Spirit. So what I want to do today is use this fictional creation in Star Wars of The Force and draw a contrast between that entity and the real life Holy Spirit as a way of helping us understand who the Holy Spirit is, what His role is and what difference it makes to you today in your life.
Some contrasts between this fictional force of Star Wars and the real Holy Spirit.
The first contrast is this. The Force is impersonal.
Star Wars defines The Force as: The Force is an energy field generated by all living things.
Some cults erroneously teach that the Holy Spirit is also a force, an energy. Sort of like electricity or magneticism. That’s what they teach but is it true? It reminds me of something Abraham Lincoln said to his children once, “If you call a tail a leg then how many legs does a dog have?” Five? He said, “Wrong. There would still be four legs because calling a tail a leg does not make it so.” That’s true.
And calling the Holy Spirit a force does not make it so. Because the firm evidence of the Bible shows that the Holy Spirit is not impersonal...
but He is personal.
He is a person. Not that He has hands and feet - He’s Spirit - but He has all the qualities that makes a person a person in the truest sense.
Having character, having personality, having a will, having intellect, having emotions, having the ability to communicate. The Bible says the Holy Spirit can be lied to. He can teach. He can be outraged. Why?
Because He is a person. Those things would not be true of an energy force of an energy field.
Have you noticed the Bible always refers to the Holy Spirit with personal pronouns? It never refers to the Holy Spirit as “it”. The Bible always refers to the Holy Spirit as “Him” or “He”. For example John 15:26
“When the counselor comes, that is the Holy Spirit, He will testify about Me.”
Two things there. First, He, which indicates He is a person not an it, not a force. Second, what is He going to do? He’s going to testify. A force field can’t testify. That requires intellect, communication abilities. So there’s two ways that verse shows us the Holy Spirit is a person.
Why should that matter? Why should that matter to us? Because if the Holy Spirit were merely an energy force we could never personally relate to Him. We can know about the force of magnetism but we can’t know the force of magnetism. But because the Holy Spirit is a person, we can know Him personally. We can interact with Him, we can commune with Him, we can relate to Him. And He can personally respond to us. That’s hugely important.
2. The Force’s divinity is uncertain.
We don’t know if it’s God or not. George Lucas says, “I would hesitate to call The Force, God.” One common characteristic of cults today is they also deny the deity of the Holy Spirit. But the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit’s divinity is certain. It is clear, the Bible says, that He is God. He is equally God along with God the Father and God the Son who together make up the trinity.
This is illustrated a number of ways in the Bible. One Acts 5:3 where the Apostle Peter is confronting a guy called Ananias by saying,
“How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?” Then in verse 4 Peter adds, “You have not lied to man but you have lied to God,” because the Holy Spirit is God.
The Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit possesses every attribute that makes God, God. Why is that important for us? For this reason: it means the Holy Spirit when you are going through troubled times, when you are in need of comfort, when you are in need of encouragement is more than a good friend that sits next to you and commiserates with you. That’s all your friend can do is feel bad for you and commiserate with you. But because the Holy Spirit is God, because He possesses the infinite power of the God of the universe He can do more than just commiserate with you. He has the power to make an actual difference in your life. So it’s extremely important that the Holy Spirit is God.
3. The third contrast between The Force of Star Wars and the true Holy Spirit is The Force is both good and bad.
You have the good guys, the Jedi knights and they access the positive side of The Force. You have the bad guys like Darth Vader and the evil emperor Darth Sidious and they receive power from The Dark Side. This is a concept that’s taken from Eastern philosophy where God is both good and bad at the same time. In fact in Hinduism there are millions of impersonal gods. There are good gods and bad gods. In fact in Hinduism there’s actually a goddess of death in whose name people have killed other people in the past.
When you think about this concept, the possibility that God in His infinite power would be both good and bad that’s a frightening thought. But the Bible tells us it isn’t true. The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit, being God, is only good. He is only, only good. Psalm 34:8 invites us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Not only that but the Holy Spirit opposes evil which is what we would want God to do. Why is this important to us? It’s important to us because the Holy Spirit, you can count on Him to always do what is ultimately in your best interest. You can trust Him to always do what is good and what is right so your trust in Him can be complete, your reliance on Him can be total.
4. The fourth contrast is The Force calls upon people to rely on their feelings.
You see this over and over again in Star Wars. Young Anakin Skywalker is told this, “Feel. Don’t think. Trust your instincts.” And at another point OB1 Kanobe tells Luke Skywalker “Trust your feelings.” Listen to the way George Lucas articulated the thinking behind this. “Ultimately The Force is the larger mystery of the universe and to trust your feelings is your way into that.”
That is a very, very, very dangerous message. Feelings shift, feelings change, feelings get contaminated by evil and by self-interest and by ego and by deception. Feelings are notoriously unreliable. I'm sure you recall the Columbine school killings where these kids went in the school and murdered a bunch of people. What was their reasoning: they were just living out authentically their feelings. This is what they felt they should do. This is what they felt was the right thing, the best thing for them to do so they did it. That doesn’t make it right. This is the danger of relying on feelings.
The Holy Spirit says something different. The Holy Spirit invites testing. He invites testing. He says, Don’t just rely on your feelings. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
God has given us a standard against which we can measure. When we believe we’re hearing the whispering of the Spirit in our lives, the nudgings of the Holy Spirit encouraging us to do something, to say something, we can measure it against this measuring rod that God has given us of the Bible because the Holy Spirit will never contradict something said in this book.
So if you feel like God is nudging you through His Holy Spirit to do something and this book says don’t do it, that’s not the Holy Spirit that’s urging you to do something. It’s your own self-interest. It may be an evil source. Because the Holy Spirit lives inside of every Christ-follower another way we can test the spirits is by going to a mature, godly Christian who knows us well and say, I feel like the Holy Spirit is encouraging me in this direction. Would you pray about it? Would you see if there’s consistency between what you sense from God and what I’m sensing form God?
I remember when Cathleen and I were praying about something BIG we felt God was doing in our lives. We prayed together, but also separately - I knew the Holy Spirit lives in my wife and He lives in me. He is not going to be inconsistent and tell her one thing and tell me another. We needed to pray, we needed to find out. Is the Holy Spirit consistent? Absolutely! We need to seek counsel from other godly people. We need to look in this book and see the wisdom about making this decision.
The Bible says, Don’t just rely on feelings. Test the spirits because without that we are left tossed on a treacherous sea of emotionalism and relativism that will shipwreck your life. If you base your life on your feelings you will shipwreck it sooner or later. The Bible wants to protect you from that.
5. Another contrast between The Force of Star Wars and the real Holy Spirit is that The Force is reserved only for the elite.
Only a few people are able to access the power of The Force. According to Star Wars. It says this: Through the Force a Jedi knight can see far off places. He can perform amazing feats and he can accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.
But the Holy Spirit is available to all. He is available not to just a few. He is available to all. To each and every person who in repentance and faith receives Jesus Christ as the forgiver of their sins and is thereby adopted into what’s called The Body of Christ which is the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body whether Jew or Greek, slaves or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
Why is this important? Because through the Holy Spirit all Christ’s followers can see and understand and discern things that other people cannot. They can perform amazing feats of courage and love which leave the world astounded. They can accomplish things through their spiritual gift that otherwise would not be humanly possible. Only because God resides in us.
There is a difference between the Holy Spirit entering into a believers life at the moment of salvation – what is called the New Birth or New Life and the Baptism or Coming upon of the Holy spirit.
At salvation each person receives the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit now resides in the believer.
“...Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” Ephesians 1:13
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes into a believers life after salvation is a done done. That baptism is to provide:
- spiritual power for living
“But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit” Jude 20
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." Ephesians 6:18
- serving & speaking of Christ
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
As Christians, followers of Jesus Christ we are called to love God with all our heart and serve Him, in other words, what can I do to further the advancement of God's agenda?
The Force is an entertaining invention of Hollywood. I love going to the movies. I love seeing all the action. But the Holy Spirit is real. He is available to help you and to encourage you and to comfort you and to empower you and to enlighten you and to guide you and to teach you.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Every Sunday is a Memorial Day
“Memorial Day is an official holiday in most states of the United States. It was observed on May 30 until 1971, when for federal employees,, the date was changed to the last Monday in May.
It is also known as Decoration Day.The custom of placing flowers on the graves of the war began on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, NY, and Waterloo has been recognized by Congress as the official birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1868,
Gen. John A. Logan, then president of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that May 30th would be a day to decorate with “flowers on the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”
After World War I the day was set aside to honor of all the American wars, and the custom was extended to pay homage to deceased relatives and friends, both military and civilian. The most solemn ceremony conducted on Memorial Day
is the placing of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns located in Arlington national Cemetery
....From the Encyclopedia Americana, 1991 edition
Tomorrow we will celebrate this day. Many people see it as just a day off;
a 3 day weekend. But for those who have lost someone because of war or military action, it means much more than a day off.
In fact, every American ought to recognize this day out of his patriotic duty to his country and in honor of those who spilled their blood to make America what she is today--free, strong, and a nation worth fighting for.
Because men & women have died for this country, we have the right to teach God’s word freely. We have the right to live at peace in our own homes.
We have the right to pursue peace, prosperity and happiness.
Thank God for those who died to make us free.
As we prepare to enter into a day to remember those who died for liberty,
it is fitting to remember the one who died to set us free from spiritual tyranny. Jesus fought the armies of Hell that we might have liberty in his holy name.
We celebrate Memorial day once a year to remember those who died for freedom, but every week is a celebration of the Memorial of Christ. What I'd like us to look at today is to parallel our nations Memorial Day with the memorial day of Christ. Because for the Christian, every Sunday is a memorial day. In the church world we physically remember by partaking in Communion.
On Memorial Day we...
1-Mourn the Loss
2-Remember the Lives
3-Are thankful for the Sacrifice
In light of Christ’s battle, let’s examine evidence of our memorial in Him as we recognize the likeness of our celebration of our military.
On Memorial Day we...
1-Mourn the Loss
We remember the loved ones who died, wish they were here and not gone; here to share with us, to hold, to talk to and to see. But because of death, we can not.When people die, we naturally think of the “If Only’s”
“If only I had told him I loved him”;
“If only I had kissed her one last time”;
“If only I hadn’t spoken so harshly”.
We replay those doubts over and over in our minds. but we ultimately know those “If Only’s” would not change a thing.On the Lord’s Memorial Day, we are to examine our responsibility to Him. The Christ-follower must recognize that he is very responsible for His death. (death of Christ) “If only we had not sinned he would not have had to die.” But we are to blame. We must examine ourselves as we meet around his memorial (which is Communion) as if we would stand before a mirror and realize the truth in
...Rom 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
I am the one to blame. I caused all his shame. He was publicly humiliated, beaten, spit upon, treated as a sinner because I am a sinner.
As we mourn the loss of Christ, realize that we are the guilty ones. And know that if there only be one sinner who was lost, He still would have died.
His love is that great.
Matt 18:12-1412
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
We are that lost sheep and Jesus found us. Mourning the loss is the first thing we must do as we celebrate the memorial of our Lord. This is why Jesus gave us the bread. At communion, the first thing you do with the bread as you partake of this memorial is break it. Whether you physically break it with your hands, you break the body of Christ. Just as our sin broke the physical body of Christ.
The breaking of the bread is symbolic of the breaking of Christ's body.
On Memorial Day we:
1-Mourn the Loss and
2-Remember the Lives
Part of our emotional healing in the process of grief is to remember the lives of the loved one who has passed.The headstones we put on the graves are a testimony of who those people were. As we walk around a cemetery we some remembrances of those who died. Epitaphs I found.
Gone So Soon
Beloved Sons (on a stone of twins who died near the same time)
Dear Parents, Though we will miss you much, we know you rest with God.
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Faithful Unto Death
Gone But Not Forgotten
A Tender Mother and a Faithful Friend
At Rest
The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want
Life’s Work Well Done She Rests in Peace
Age 64, 7 months, 9 days At Rest
some are more creative:
Under the sod and under the treesLies the body of Jonathan Pease.
He is not here, there's only the pod:Pease shelled out and went to God.
On the 22nd of June - Jonathan Fiddle - Went out of tune
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
In a cemetary in England: Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so shall you be,
Remember this and follow me.
- To which someone replied by writing on the tombstome:
To follow you I'll not consent, Until I know which way you went.
All of these messages tell us a little about the one who is buried under that headstone. Likewise the epitaph that Jesus left tells us something about him. Inscribed on just about every communion table I have ever seen are the words found in
1 Cor 11:24
"and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
What must we remember about Jesus?
His amazing sacrifice on the cross ofcourse – that is what communion
always refers to – but I believe Jesus would like us to go further, to look prior to the cross, in......
how He lived and what he taught through His life. That requires us to dig a little deeper, to open our Bible's and study. He set a glowing example of how to live in love. Going to the cross was the ultimate sacrifice of love. Our life should reflect that love. (mirrors)
The bread that we first have broken is a reminder of the body of Christ. We are vividly reminded each time we observe this memorial that we are a part of the body of Christ. We reflect Christ.
When we physically eat this bread it becomes a part of our body. Our body uses this bread for our nourishment. But Jesus doesn’t only want us just to be physically nurtured as we meet around the table but he also wants us to be spiritually edified.
This remembering is not simply the recalling of historical facts, it’s a participation in spiritual realities. At the Lord’s Table (communion) we don’t walk around the monument and admire it. We have fellowship with a living Savior as our hearts reach out by faith.
If we approach this memorial in the proper attitude we will experience spiritual growth. Just as our physical body grows when fed properly. It is a faith growing exercise.(in taking of the bread, we remember his sacrifice of love, and we are a part of it, let's take it now)
On Memorial Day we
1-Mourn the Loss
2-Remember the Lives
3-(remember their sacrifice) Are Thankful for the Sacrifice
ILLUSTRATION from “Stories from the Heart”
It was a few weeks before Christmas 1917. The beautiful snowy landscapes of Europe were blackened by war.The trenches on one side held the Germans and on the other side the trenches were filled with Americans. It was World War I. The exchange of gunshots was intense. Separating them was a very narrow strip of no-man’s-land. A young German soldier attempting to cross that no-man’s-land had been shot and had become entangled in the barbed wire. He cried out in anguish, then in pain he continued to whimper.Between the shells all the Americans in that sector could hear him scream. When one American soldier could stand it no longer, he crawled to that German soldier. When the Americans realized what he was doing they stopped firing, but the Germans continued. Then a German officer realized what the young American was doing and he ordered his men to cease firing. Now there was a weird silence across the no-man’s-land. On his stomach, the American made his way to that German soldier and disentangled him. He stood up with the German in his arms, walked straight to the German trenches and placed him in the waiting arms of his comrades. Having done so, he turned and started back to the American trenches.Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder that spun him around. There stood a German officer who had won the Iron Cross, the highest German honor for bravery. He jerked it from his own uniform and placed it on the American, who walked back to the American trenches. When he was safely in the trenches, they resumed the insanity of war!
That German soldier was thankful for that American soldiers sacrifice.
All the heroic acts done on the battlefields through history have made our country what it is today. We are free. We are wealthy and we are respected around the world..
I am proud to be an American and I have the luxuries of this country because men & women have died to give me that opportunity.
In the same way, the price Jesus paid afforded us salvation. We have the promise of salvation and we did nothing to afford this luxury. For this we must be thankful. This is why Jesus gave us the cup.
1 Cor 11:2525
" In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
When we drink the juice, we remember our forgiveness. It is the blood of Jesus that He spilt in order to clean our hearts from sin.The old hymn I sang as kid in children's church says it best:
“What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus”
Heb 9:13-14 The writer explains to us what Christ's sacrifice did for us in this new covenant.
"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
When we believe and accept what Christ did for us on the cross. We are cleansed, we have forgiveness of our sins, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise of eternal life.
3 unmerited gifts given to you. All we have to do is believe and become a Christ follower and the grace of God is poured out onto you. Now that is something to be thankful for!
When we drink the juice, we remember our forgiveness and salvation. Let us drink.
I hope that after today’s message you will have a greater understanding of what it means to spend time around the Memorial of Christ.
The Communion Table.
1-Mourn the loss of the body of Christ and examine our responsibility to it as you break the bread.
2-Remember the life of Jesus as you compare your life with his. Eat the bread and realize that you are one with his body.
3-Be thankful for His sacrifice because it is through His that we are saved; partake of the cup and be thankful for His sacrifice that offered your forgiveness.
This Memorial Day, remember your Savior and His Memorial.
Perhaps the Memorial we observed today is unfamiliar to you.
Maybe you are outside of Christ. You can have the forgiveness that is
promised to all and claimed by few.
It is also known as Decoration Day.The custom of placing flowers on the graves of the war began on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, NY, and Waterloo has been recognized by Congress as the official birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1868,
Gen. John A. Logan, then president of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that May 30th would be a day to decorate with “flowers on the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”
After World War I the day was set aside to honor of all the American wars, and the custom was extended to pay homage to deceased relatives and friends, both military and civilian. The most solemn ceremony conducted on Memorial Day
is the placing of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns located in Arlington national Cemetery
....From the Encyclopedia Americana, 1991 edition
Tomorrow we will celebrate this day. Many people see it as just a day off;
a 3 day weekend. But for those who have lost someone because of war or military action, it means much more than a day off.
In fact, every American ought to recognize this day out of his patriotic duty to his country and in honor of those who spilled their blood to make America what she is today--free, strong, and a nation worth fighting for.
Because men & women have died for this country, we have the right to teach God’s word freely. We have the right to live at peace in our own homes.
We have the right to pursue peace, prosperity and happiness.
Thank God for those who died to make us free.
As we prepare to enter into a day to remember those who died for liberty,
it is fitting to remember the one who died to set us free from spiritual tyranny. Jesus fought the armies of Hell that we might have liberty in his holy name.
We celebrate Memorial day once a year to remember those who died for freedom, but every week is a celebration of the Memorial of Christ. What I'd like us to look at today is to parallel our nations Memorial Day with the memorial day of Christ. Because for the Christian, every Sunday is a memorial day. In the church world we physically remember by partaking in Communion.
On Memorial Day we...
1-Mourn the Loss
2-Remember the Lives
3-Are thankful for the Sacrifice
In light of Christ’s battle, let’s examine evidence of our memorial in Him as we recognize the likeness of our celebration of our military.
On Memorial Day we...
1-Mourn the Loss
We remember the loved ones who died, wish they were here and not gone; here to share with us, to hold, to talk to and to see. But because of death, we can not.When people die, we naturally think of the “If Only’s”
“If only I had told him I loved him”;
“If only I had kissed her one last time”;
“If only I hadn’t spoken so harshly”.
We replay those doubts over and over in our minds. but we ultimately know those “If Only’s” would not change a thing.On the Lord’s Memorial Day, we are to examine our responsibility to Him. The Christ-follower must recognize that he is very responsible for His death. (death of Christ) “If only we had not sinned he would not have had to die.” But we are to blame. We must examine ourselves as we meet around his memorial (which is Communion) as if we would stand before a mirror and realize the truth in
...Rom 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
I am the one to blame. I caused all his shame. He was publicly humiliated, beaten, spit upon, treated as a sinner because I am a sinner.
As we mourn the loss of Christ, realize that we are the guilty ones. And know that if there only be one sinner who was lost, He still would have died.
His love is that great.
Matt 18:12-1412
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
We are that lost sheep and Jesus found us. Mourning the loss is the first thing we must do as we celebrate the memorial of our Lord. This is why Jesus gave us the bread. At communion, the first thing you do with the bread as you partake of this memorial is break it. Whether you physically break it with your hands, you break the body of Christ. Just as our sin broke the physical body of Christ.
The breaking of the bread is symbolic of the breaking of Christ's body.
On Memorial Day we:
1-Mourn the Loss and
2-Remember the Lives
Part of our emotional healing in the process of grief is to remember the lives of the loved one who has passed.The headstones we put on the graves are a testimony of who those people were. As we walk around a cemetery we some remembrances of those who died. Epitaphs I found.
Gone So Soon
Beloved Sons (on a stone of twins who died near the same time)
Dear Parents, Though we will miss you much, we know you rest with God.
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Faithful Unto Death
Gone But Not Forgotten
A Tender Mother and a Faithful Friend
At Rest
The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want
Life’s Work Well Done She Rests in Peace
Age 64, 7 months, 9 days At Rest
some are more creative:
Under the sod and under the treesLies the body of Jonathan Pease.
He is not here, there's only the pod:Pease shelled out and went to God.
On the 22nd of June - Jonathan Fiddle - Went out of tune
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
In a cemetary in England: Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so shall you be,
Remember this and follow me.
- To which someone replied by writing on the tombstome:
To follow you I'll not consent, Until I know which way you went.
All of these messages tell us a little about the one who is buried under that headstone. Likewise the epitaph that Jesus left tells us something about him. Inscribed on just about every communion table I have ever seen are the words found in
1 Cor 11:24
"and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
What must we remember about Jesus?
His amazing sacrifice on the cross ofcourse – that is what communion
always refers to – but I believe Jesus would like us to go further, to look prior to the cross, in......
how He lived and what he taught through His life. That requires us to dig a little deeper, to open our Bible's and study. He set a glowing example of how to live in love. Going to the cross was the ultimate sacrifice of love. Our life should reflect that love. (mirrors)
The bread that we first have broken is a reminder of the body of Christ. We are vividly reminded each time we observe this memorial that we are a part of the body of Christ. We reflect Christ.
When we physically eat this bread it becomes a part of our body. Our body uses this bread for our nourishment. But Jesus doesn’t only want us just to be physically nurtured as we meet around the table but he also wants us to be spiritually edified.
This remembering is not simply the recalling of historical facts, it’s a participation in spiritual realities. At the Lord’s Table (communion) we don’t walk around the monument and admire it. We have fellowship with a living Savior as our hearts reach out by faith.
If we approach this memorial in the proper attitude we will experience spiritual growth. Just as our physical body grows when fed properly. It is a faith growing exercise.(in taking of the bread, we remember his sacrifice of love, and we are a part of it, let's take it now)
On Memorial Day we
1-Mourn the Loss
2-Remember the Lives
3-(remember their sacrifice) Are Thankful for the Sacrifice
ILLUSTRATION from “Stories from the Heart”
It was a few weeks before Christmas 1917. The beautiful snowy landscapes of Europe were blackened by war.The trenches on one side held the Germans and on the other side the trenches were filled with Americans. It was World War I. The exchange of gunshots was intense. Separating them was a very narrow strip of no-man’s-land. A young German soldier attempting to cross that no-man’s-land had been shot and had become entangled in the barbed wire. He cried out in anguish, then in pain he continued to whimper.Between the shells all the Americans in that sector could hear him scream. When one American soldier could stand it no longer, he crawled to that German soldier. When the Americans realized what he was doing they stopped firing, but the Germans continued. Then a German officer realized what the young American was doing and he ordered his men to cease firing. Now there was a weird silence across the no-man’s-land. On his stomach, the American made his way to that German soldier and disentangled him. He stood up with the German in his arms, walked straight to the German trenches and placed him in the waiting arms of his comrades. Having done so, he turned and started back to the American trenches.Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder that spun him around. There stood a German officer who had won the Iron Cross, the highest German honor for bravery. He jerked it from his own uniform and placed it on the American, who walked back to the American trenches. When he was safely in the trenches, they resumed the insanity of war!
That German soldier was thankful for that American soldiers sacrifice.
All the heroic acts done on the battlefields through history have made our country what it is today. We are free. We are wealthy and we are respected around the world..
I am proud to be an American and I have the luxuries of this country because men & women have died to give me that opportunity.
In the same way, the price Jesus paid afforded us salvation. We have the promise of salvation and we did nothing to afford this luxury. For this we must be thankful. This is why Jesus gave us the cup.
1 Cor 11:2525
" In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
When we drink the juice, we remember our forgiveness. It is the blood of Jesus that He spilt in order to clean our hearts from sin.The old hymn I sang as kid in children's church says it best:
“What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus”
Heb 9:13-14 The writer explains to us what Christ's sacrifice did for us in this new covenant.
"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
When we believe and accept what Christ did for us on the cross. We are cleansed, we have forgiveness of our sins, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise of eternal life.
3 unmerited gifts given to you. All we have to do is believe and become a Christ follower and the grace of God is poured out onto you. Now that is something to be thankful for!
When we drink the juice, we remember our forgiveness and salvation. Let us drink.
I hope that after today’s message you will have a greater understanding of what it means to spend time around the Memorial of Christ.
The Communion Table.
1-Mourn the loss of the body of Christ and examine our responsibility to it as you break the bread.
2-Remember the life of Jesus as you compare your life with his. Eat the bread and realize that you are one with his body.
3-Be thankful for His sacrifice because it is through His that we are saved; partake of the cup and be thankful for His sacrifice that offered your forgiveness.
This Memorial Day, remember your Savior and His Memorial.
Perhaps the Memorial we observed today is unfamiliar to you.
Maybe you are outside of Christ. You can have the forgiveness that is
promised to all and claimed by few.
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