This week and last week we are tackling two very important issues brought up in the new movie ‘The Da Vinci Code’.
They are:
1. Can we trust the Bible?
2. Who is Jesus?
Last week we addressed whether or not we could trust the Bible and we investigated some history and archeology to demonstrate the accuracy of the Bible. Based off of what we learned last week, I think it is clear that the Bible is truly God’s un-compromised Word to humankind. Having this understanding, today we are going to address who Jesus was/is according to what we find in the Bible. We are going to have somewhat of a history lesson. I am going to give you information you’ve probably never heard about two stories you may have heard many times. Let’s dive right in.
The Bible refers to a city by the name of Caesarea Philippi. see map
Caesarea Philippi stood only twenty-five miles from the religious communities of Galilee, but the city’s religious practices were vastly different from those of the nearby Jewish towns. The city stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon. and was the religious center of worship of the Greek god,
Pan. Pan was a fertility God. Originally, the city was actually named Panias in Pan’s honor. In the city there was tall cliff where local people built shrines and temples to Pan.
These shrines, as you see, are still present in the hillside to this day. If you were to travel in this region you could tour the area and actually visit this particular location.
Prior to the time of Christ, the Romans conquered this Greek territory, Pan. The city was quite damaged during it’s capture by the Romans and consequently needed rebuilding. Herod Philip, son to Herod the Great, actually oversaw the rebuilding of the city and at that time named it after himself, which is where we got Caesarea Philippi. Even though the city was then ruled by the Romans, it continued to focus on worship of the Greek gods.
Caesarea Philippi’s location was especially unique because it stood at the base of a cliff where spring water flowed.
Now that is important because at one time, the water ran directly from the mouth of a cave set in the bottom of the cliff. The spring has since stopped flowing, but again, if you tour the cliffside, you can actually explore the cave where the river once flowed from.
The pagans of Jesus’ day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves.
To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld—the gates of hell. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.
Interestingly, Jesus chose to take His disciples to this pagan setting. It was toward the end of His time, not long before His arrest when He took his disciples on a trip to Caesarea Philippi. You have to imagine that his disciples were probably pretty shocked that Jesus was taking them to such a place. Any good Jew didn’t travel to this region if at all possible. And here they were, with their Rabbi, following him to a despicable place. Jesus, however, chose this location to challenge His disciples to answer the very question we are asking today.
Matthew 16:13-14
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
The disciples were up on societies ‘buzz’ about Jesus. They were able to answer his question about what people were saying about him. The ‘Da Vinci Code’ has a lot to say about Jesus.
pg 232 - Nothing in Christianity is original
pg 233 - referring to the council of Nicea, the character Teabing states: Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet....a great powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal.
pg 233 - It’s all about power, Teabing continued. Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning of the Church and state. Many scholars claim that the early church literally stole Jesus from his early followers, hijacking his human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power.
pg 234 - The twist is this, Teabing sais, talking faster now. “....Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after his death.
pg 235 - ‘What I mean’, Teabing countered, ‘is that almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.’
So with this book and movie having so much to say about Christ, the question remains the same as it was when Christ himself uttered it. It is a two part question:
1. Who do people say that I am?
You must be familiar with what current culture says about Christ if you want to be a voice of truth to that culture.
2. (and most important) Who do you say that I am?
Matthew 16:15-16
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,[a] the Son of the living God."
Based on Peter’s confession, Jesus’ responded with a statement that has great significance. He said ‘on this rock I will build my church’. That has always been understood as on the rock or foundation of Peter’s confession. On his faith and proclamation of Christ as Messiah, on that foundation, Christ would build his church. But look at where they were as Christ spoke these words. They were at a place known for it’s shrines, cut into the rock wall at the side of the cliff.
There is great significance in the fact that they were at Caesarea Phillipi when Jesus made this statement. Ray Vander Laan, a Christian Jewish Historian, contends that Jesus was also saying, ‘on this rock, the place that reveres all sorts of evil, even at this place, where humanity is at it’s worst, I won’t turn my back, instead I will build my church and the gates of hell (where the pagan mind believed they were standing) will not prevail against it.’ See Christ didn’t come just for those hanging out in the synagogues and following the appropriate codes of conduct, Christ came for the sinners.
Mark 2:16-18 (The Message)
15-16 ...Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: "What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?"
17Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit."
Jesus came for those represented at the rock and proclaimed, ‘on this rock I will build my church.’
So, in response to the question, ‘who is Jesus?’ I must answer he is the lover of my soul, the One who loves my just as I am. But there is more to that answer. The correct response demands that we have one more quick history lesson.
Just before Jesus’ crucifixion, he rode into Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. This trip into Jerusalem is referred to as his triumphal entry. People laid their own clothes and palm branches on the ground and shouted,
Matthew 21:9
"Hosanna[a] to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"[b]
"Hosanna[c] in the highest!
Hosanna simply meaning highest adoration. Also, Jesus rode in on a donkey, a symbol at that time, of royalty. So already, symbolically, the stage is being set to receive Jesus as the Messiah/Savior to the Jews during the Feast of the Passover. What you may not know about the timing of his triumphal entry is that he actually rode into town on the traditional day that the priests were choosing the lamb (picture of lamb) to be sacrificed for the atonement of their sins during passover. Lastly, this very lamb was to be sacrificed at the appointed hour, which for more than a millennium, had been at exactly three in the afternoon. Scripture tells us that Jesus hung on his cross for 6 hours before he finally died. His time of death is noted in three of the four Gospels as being three in the afternoon. So at the same moment that the priests were sacrificing the lamb for the forgiveness of sins of the people, Christ was being sacrificed for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. Coincidence? Not a chance. God did not want there to be a doubt who Jesus was. So now, in response to the question, who is Jesus? I must answer he is the lover of my soul, the One who loves me just as I am, the forgiver of my sins. He is my redeemer, my hope, my joy, my eternal God who grants me the opportunity of eternal life with Him. He is my everything.
John 1:3-5 (The Message)
Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn't put it out.
He is life to me. Absolute life. Who is he to you? Is this Jesus the Jesus that you know? The Jesus who is your all, your very source of life itself? It’s who he wants to be for you. It’s who he died to be for you. Your everything. Your answers, your peace, your purpose, your greatest love. That’s who Jesus is to me.
Matthew 16:15-16
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Mother's Day - 'Life as a Princess' by Cathleen Parks
Nicole Johnson video, "Princess in Pajamas"
Your a princess. You are. Depending on how you view being a princess that can two completely different things. Princesses, as we are familiar with them, seem to live a very charmed life. Their hair and clothes are always perfect. Their children are clean and well behaved. They have more money than they can spend. They live with their prince in their castle and life is good.
A charmed life.
The way we perceive a princesses life is not altogether realistic, but unfortunately, it is what they are taught they must present to their public. Many of us have been taught that too. Ever heard the saying ‘don’t air your dirty laundry in public’? How often do we hide the parts of our lives that don’t seem quite presentable? God forbid that others should know that I’ve ever made a mistake, sinned, or lived in fear. What our own nature tells us is to keep these parts of our lives quiet. Let them be our own little secret. But look, here’s the cool thing. God, in typical God form, tells us to do the very opposite of what the we or our culture would tell us to do.
James 5:16 (The Message)
16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.
Now that blows the doors off of conventional wisdom doesn’t it? The Bible tells us to actually TELL each other when we’ve messed up or when we’re struggling. It goes further to say - if you tell each other - you’ll have wholeness and healing. Incredible!
Why? Because secrets are dark places and God purposes to bring light into dark places. When you talk about the struggles in your life you are taking these struggles out of the dark and bringing them into light - exposing them. It takes courage and guts be transparent with yourself and with others.
So often we would rather not address our problems. Maybe it’s easier for us.
*Head in the sand
*Shame, embarrassment
Maybe we want everyone to see us a princess in our own right - as someone who has it all together. Really - don’t we all want to have it all together? Don’t we all want to be our own little princess of our own little kingdom?
But reality says that we don’t have everything exactly right all the time. Or most of the time. If fact the Bible compares us to clay pots. The thing with clay pots is that they are actually pretty fragile. They crack very easily. They are famously IMPERFECT. I can relate to that. If the Bible is going to compare me to a clay pot I would imagine I’m pretty cracked up. In fact, I may even have a chunk or two missing. I’ve been damaged by sin, hurt, rejection. I’ve been disillusioned, lied to. I’ve had high hopes come crashing down. Crack after crack after crack in my pot. But consider this. Picture a heavily cracked pot. Now in your minds eye begin to fill it with something. Water, wine, grain, whatever. If you put just about anything in a cracked pot, what will happen? You’ll loose it. It will run out of the cracks and eventually just run out. What is the only thing you can fill a pot with that won’t run out? That’s right - light. The only thing that you can put into a cracked pot that would never run out, is light. In fact, the more cracks that are in the pot, the more apparent the light is and useful for illumination. So if I’m a cracked pot, but I allow God’s light to shine on, and through, my imperfections by exposing them, not only will I find healing and wholeness but God will be able to use my struggles to impact the lives of those around me.
Look at Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)
14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. 16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Today God wants to offer you freedom. Freedom from the things that you hold secret. If the church can’t be a safe place for us, where will be? We have to commit today to be transparent with one another. Take advantage of the small groups, develop transparent relationships with one another, talk with myself or Joe. But whatever you do, don’t keep your troubles, be it sin or struggle, to yourself. Transparency with one another strengthens and encourages each other. I want to be a princess. But I want to be the princess that God intends for me to be. You see I am a princess because He is my King. My daddy God is a King. Because he granted me daughtership, I am His princess. And only this King can take all of my imperfections and through his awesome glory make even the imperfections in my life beautiful.
LIGHT VISUAL.
God I thank you for my life. All of my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I realize it is through every part of my life that you shine in great glory!
Your a princess. You are. Depending on how you view being a princess that can two completely different things. Princesses, as we are familiar with them, seem to live a very charmed life. Their hair and clothes are always perfect. Their children are clean and well behaved. They have more money than they can spend. They live with their prince in their castle and life is good.
A charmed life.
The way we perceive a princesses life is not altogether realistic, but unfortunately, it is what they are taught they must present to their public. Many of us have been taught that too. Ever heard the saying ‘don’t air your dirty laundry in public’? How often do we hide the parts of our lives that don’t seem quite presentable? God forbid that others should know that I’ve ever made a mistake, sinned, or lived in fear. What our own nature tells us is to keep these parts of our lives quiet. Let them be our own little secret. But look, here’s the cool thing. God, in typical God form, tells us to do the very opposite of what the we or our culture would tell us to do.
James 5:16 (The Message)
16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.
Now that blows the doors off of conventional wisdom doesn’t it? The Bible tells us to actually TELL each other when we’ve messed up or when we’re struggling. It goes further to say - if you tell each other - you’ll have wholeness and healing. Incredible!
Why? Because secrets are dark places and God purposes to bring light into dark places. When you talk about the struggles in your life you are taking these struggles out of the dark and bringing them into light - exposing them. It takes courage and guts be transparent with yourself and with others.
So often we would rather not address our problems. Maybe it’s easier for us.
*Head in the sand
*Shame, embarrassment
Maybe we want everyone to see us a princess in our own right - as someone who has it all together. Really - don’t we all want to have it all together? Don’t we all want to be our own little princess of our own little kingdom?
But reality says that we don’t have everything exactly right all the time. Or most of the time. If fact the Bible compares us to clay pots. The thing with clay pots is that they are actually pretty fragile. They crack very easily. They are famously IMPERFECT. I can relate to that. If the Bible is going to compare me to a clay pot I would imagine I’m pretty cracked up. In fact, I may even have a chunk or two missing. I’ve been damaged by sin, hurt, rejection. I’ve been disillusioned, lied to. I’ve had high hopes come crashing down. Crack after crack after crack in my pot. But consider this. Picture a heavily cracked pot. Now in your minds eye begin to fill it with something. Water, wine, grain, whatever. If you put just about anything in a cracked pot, what will happen? You’ll loose it. It will run out of the cracks and eventually just run out. What is the only thing you can fill a pot with that won’t run out? That’s right - light. The only thing that you can put into a cracked pot that would never run out, is light. In fact, the more cracks that are in the pot, the more apparent the light is and useful for illumination. So if I’m a cracked pot, but I allow God’s light to shine on, and through, my imperfections by exposing them, not only will I find healing and wholeness but God will be able to use my struggles to impact the lives of those around me.
Look at Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)
14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. 16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Today God wants to offer you freedom. Freedom from the things that you hold secret. If the church can’t be a safe place for us, where will be? We have to commit today to be transparent with one another. Take advantage of the small groups, develop transparent relationships with one another, talk with myself or Joe. But whatever you do, don’t keep your troubles, be it sin or struggle, to yourself. Transparency with one another strengthens and encourages each other. I want to be a princess. But I want to be the princess that God intends for me to be. You see I am a princess because He is my King. My daddy God is a King. Because he granted me daughtership, I am His princess. And only this King can take all of my imperfections and through his awesome glory make even the imperfections in my life beautiful.
LIGHT VISUAL.
God I thank you for my life. All of my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I realize it is through every part of my life that you shine in great glory!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Chasing Daylight - Choose to Live
Were going to follow a story of 2 individuals mostly
King Saul and son Jonathan - 1 Samuel 13 & 14
I wonder how many of us are just existing or living?
Burning daylight or chasing daylight?
I wonder if it would take an earthquake to shake you out of your slumber to finally wake up you up so you too might live.
How do you find the epi-center of God’s movement?
How do you find that life groove that allows you to begin to live the life God created for you to live?
Do we need earthquakes every-other day in our lives to shake us up, to get us to move, to re-direct our lives?
If our birth is like the sunrise, and our death like the sunset,
then in-between were all just chasing daylight.
“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4
When we think of spirituality we generally think of activities like: worship, prayer, meditation, lighting incense, or rosaries, for some it’s reading scrip. or going to places like this,
but the reality is all of those activities - while they may be spiritual, they are not at the core what makes us different from other things created, like a giraffe or orangoutang
that God created you with the capacity to choose.
It is one of the most spiritual activities we can engage in, however we usually do not approach it that way.
From the very beginning of human time God has placed us in the context that we must chose well.
Gen. 2:4 - 25
We cannot live our lives with a biblical framework of understanding without seeing at the very beginning what God did was place humanity into the very context that they had to choose.
Remember these 3 words from God, “you are free”
I love that - so many view God as the Warden - to live a life for God, connected to God is to loose your freedom. God’s got all these rules, these commandments, these boundaries,
God’s got all these, ‘DON’TS’ so when you come to God you’re limited. So you’ve gotta run from God to be free, get away from God.
But God, He knows us, He knows our design b/c he created us - He created us to be free. How many times have we run from God and made choices that become the very prisons we live in.
‘You are Free’ He says
important: 2 trees - tree of life; tree of knowledge of good/evil
life represents, symbolizes my relationship to you
my gift to you, free to live, enjoy life... other tree...
K.G/E - you are born w/ the capacity to choose.
you can choose to live a life apart from, to separate from me
Why did God give us that other tree?
He put the tree in the middle of the garden(which ticks me off a bit) why not on top of mountain?
or put on an island in the middle of the ocean miles away full of man-eating sharks, only one man so dont do it
maybe then I could make it, but nooo it’s right in the middle
(why are they hangin’ out by it?)
I have a theory on the tree K.G/E I think it was aromatic,
I have come to the conclusion it was a chocolate tree.
Why did they hang around the wrong tree?
What is it about us that just loves to stay really close to the one choice that could destroy our
lives or really wreak havoc upon us?
Think about this guys, Adam was the best looking guy in the world
It’s the one and only time he could look at eve and say,
“I am God’s gift to women”
Eve was the best looking woman in the world, she was
THE Super Model.
and they couldn’t think of anything better to do than hang around this tree, talk about a lack of imagination
it’s that choice
M&M’s - pass out - I know for some of you this will be your one healthy meal today...
open, pick one out right now, just one, dont eat - how many picked yellow, brown, green, orange, blue, red - why did you pick that? “it was first one” - I hope you don’t date like that - or found spouse that way?
Wait a minute, we’re in a spiritual place here c’mon, how many of you stopped, prayed, asked God to guide you in which M&M to pick?
None of you - (b/c when it comes to food we’re a bunch of godless pagans)
No - b/c you can choose what you want, this is the way God made you.
Even when we make the wrong choices it’s evidence that we are uniquely created by God, and by the way,
Your choices are the most powerful tool you have in shaping your future -
there are those moments and times when are future is uncertain, a bit mysterious, but I can tell you the choices you make today are the material from which your future will be created - and the crazy thing about it is that something so small and routine can have HUGE life-changing implications - b/c we all intersect thru choices.
Your life, my life - have you ever meet anyone who’s said,
“I;m not hurting anyone but myself”
Man, sober up!
I think those who say that are hurting the most people.
Our lives intersect by the choices we make
When we choose to love it affects other people, when we chose to hate...when we choose to hold onto bitterness...
when you chose to forgive you set other people free
Listen, your life right now, if you hate it, not real happy about it, well it is the sum total of the choices that have affected your life.
Sometimes our pain is the result of someone else’s choice that was made that devastated us.
All of us need to understand today that whatever life we have right now, we need to begin to take responsibility & control.
The choices we make today affect the life we live tomorrow
Sometimes,
We need to look to the end of our choice b4 we make it
It all begins w/ a choice.
(story of ignoring someone who needs help)
turn away, turn left instead of right
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.
Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is” Ecc. 10:2,3
Life is always is series of decisions,
choices that are always right in front of us and sometimes we have life-changing decisions that affect us dramatically.
But sometimes it’s those small, incidental choices that have HUGE life altering affect
oh by the way, this freedom thing,
When we make God honoring choices that reflect His character it expands your choices -
alot of people think that if you become a follower of J.C. now you have a limited amount of choices, your choices are now narrow and fewer, but that’s the exact opposite. When you enter a relationship w/ Jesus your choices will expand - however, if you make choices apart from God’s will, His character you become
limited.
example - get angry at person, bit out of control, lose control, shoot this other person, life in prison - limited choices now
what about a 16yr. old who finds out she’s pregnant.
her life, whatever decision she makes, to abort, to keep the baby, or give the baby away, whatever, it is a life altering choice. Her life has been dramatically changed due to that choice.
Life is a series of decisions, choices that we make.
When we build our life on what is true and good, honoring God it begins to expand our choices. God gives us so many good choices.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
It’s not that complicated, God created you w/ the capacity to think.
To decide, to choose, and in fact we are held responsible for those choices.
We need to choose a path that honors the heart of God, choose a path that makes you the best human being you can be.
It’s not just ever now and then, but it’s everyday, it’s in the normal part of our routine - our choices can be one of the most spiritual things we ever do.
It’s our power to choose, what r u choosing?
we can make choices that devastate our future and others, but we can also make choices that unleash love, beauty, joy, forgiveness, and adventure - we can choose to live.
So we’re born and then we die, and in-between we’re all just chasing daylight - so over the next few weeks we’re gonna take this journey together to begin to unwrap how is it that we can seize the power of every moment to begin to live the life we were created to live - so we can stop sleeping thru our dreams and live a life beyond our wildest imaginations and it all begins w/ this small little thing called a choice.
What’s Our measuring rod?
And He said to him, " `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
Matthew 22:37-39
King Saul and son Jonathan - 1 Samuel 13 & 14
I wonder how many of us are just existing or living?
Burning daylight or chasing daylight?
I wonder if it would take an earthquake to shake you out of your slumber to finally wake up you up so you too might live.
How do you find the epi-center of God’s movement?
How do you find that life groove that allows you to begin to live the life God created for you to live?
Do we need earthquakes every-other day in our lives to shake us up, to get us to move, to re-direct our lives?
If our birth is like the sunrise, and our death like the sunset,
then in-between were all just chasing daylight.
“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4
When we think of spirituality we generally think of activities like: worship, prayer, meditation, lighting incense, or rosaries, for some it’s reading scrip. or going to places like this,
but the reality is all of those activities - while they may be spiritual, they are not at the core what makes us different from other things created, like a giraffe or orangoutang
that God created you with the capacity to choose.
It is one of the most spiritual activities we can engage in, however we usually do not approach it that way.
From the very beginning of human time God has placed us in the context that we must chose well.
Gen. 2:4 - 25
We cannot live our lives with a biblical framework of understanding without seeing at the very beginning what God did was place humanity into the very context that they had to choose.
Remember these 3 words from God, “you are free”
I love that - so many view God as the Warden - to live a life for God, connected to God is to loose your freedom. God’s got all these rules, these commandments, these boundaries,
God’s got all these, ‘DON’TS’ so when you come to God you’re limited. So you’ve gotta run from God to be free, get away from God.
But God, He knows us, He knows our design b/c he created us - He created us to be free. How many times have we run from God and made choices that become the very prisons we live in.
‘You are Free’ He says
important: 2 trees - tree of life; tree of knowledge of good/evil
life represents, symbolizes my relationship to you
my gift to you, free to live, enjoy life... other tree...
K.G/E - you are born w/ the capacity to choose.
you can choose to live a life apart from, to separate from me
Why did God give us that other tree?
He put the tree in the middle of the garden(which ticks me off a bit) why not on top of mountain?
or put on an island in the middle of the ocean miles away full of man-eating sharks, only one man so dont do it
maybe then I could make it, but nooo it’s right in the middle
(why are they hangin’ out by it?)
I have a theory on the tree K.G/E I think it was aromatic,
I have come to the conclusion it was a chocolate tree.
Why did they hang around the wrong tree?
What is it about us that just loves to stay really close to the one choice that could destroy our
lives or really wreak havoc upon us?
Think about this guys, Adam was the best looking guy in the world
It’s the one and only time he could look at eve and say,
“I am God’s gift to women”
Eve was the best looking woman in the world, she was
THE Super Model.
and they couldn’t think of anything better to do than hang around this tree, talk about a lack of imagination
it’s that choice
M&M’s - pass out - I know for some of you this will be your one healthy meal today...
open, pick one out right now, just one, dont eat - how many picked yellow, brown, green, orange, blue, red - why did you pick that? “it was first one” - I hope you don’t date like that - or found spouse that way?
Wait a minute, we’re in a spiritual place here c’mon, how many of you stopped, prayed, asked God to guide you in which M&M to pick?
None of you - (b/c when it comes to food we’re a bunch of godless pagans)
No - b/c you can choose what you want, this is the way God made you.
Even when we make the wrong choices it’s evidence that we are uniquely created by God, and by the way,
Your choices are the most powerful tool you have in shaping your future -
there are those moments and times when are future is uncertain, a bit mysterious, but I can tell you the choices you make today are the material from which your future will be created - and the crazy thing about it is that something so small and routine can have HUGE life-changing implications - b/c we all intersect thru choices.
Your life, my life - have you ever meet anyone who’s said,
“I;m not hurting anyone but myself”
Man, sober up!
I think those who say that are hurting the most people.
Our lives intersect by the choices we make
When we choose to love it affects other people, when we chose to hate...when we choose to hold onto bitterness...
when you chose to forgive you set other people free
Listen, your life right now, if you hate it, not real happy about it, well it is the sum total of the choices that have affected your life.
Sometimes our pain is the result of someone else’s choice that was made that devastated us.
All of us need to understand today that whatever life we have right now, we need to begin to take responsibility & control.
The choices we make today affect the life we live tomorrow
Sometimes,
We need to look to the end of our choice b4 we make it
It all begins w/ a choice.
(story of ignoring someone who needs help)
turn away, turn left instead of right
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.
Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is” Ecc. 10:2,3
Life is always is series of decisions,
choices that are always right in front of us and sometimes we have life-changing decisions that affect us dramatically.
But sometimes it’s those small, incidental choices that have HUGE life altering affect
oh by the way, this freedom thing,
When we make God honoring choices that reflect His character it expands your choices -
alot of people think that if you become a follower of J.C. now you have a limited amount of choices, your choices are now narrow and fewer, but that’s the exact opposite. When you enter a relationship w/ Jesus your choices will expand - however, if you make choices apart from God’s will, His character you become
limited.
example - get angry at person, bit out of control, lose control, shoot this other person, life in prison - limited choices now
what about a 16yr. old who finds out she’s pregnant.
her life, whatever decision she makes, to abort, to keep the baby, or give the baby away, whatever, it is a life altering choice. Her life has been dramatically changed due to that choice.
Life is a series of decisions, choices that we make.
When we build our life on what is true and good, honoring God it begins to expand our choices. God gives us so many good choices.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
It’s not that complicated, God created you w/ the capacity to think.
To decide, to choose, and in fact we are held responsible for those choices.
We need to choose a path that honors the heart of God, choose a path that makes you the best human being you can be.
It’s not just ever now and then, but it’s everyday, it’s in the normal part of our routine - our choices can be one of the most spiritual things we ever do.
It’s our power to choose, what r u choosing?
we can make choices that devastate our future and others, but we can also make choices that unleash love, beauty, joy, forgiveness, and adventure - we can choose to live.
So we’re born and then we die, and in-between we’re all just chasing daylight - so over the next few weeks we’re gonna take this journey together to begin to unwrap how is it that we can seize the power of every moment to begin to live the life we were created to live - so we can stop sleeping thru our dreams and live a life beyond our wildest imaginations and it all begins w/ this small little thing called a choice.
What’s Our measuring rod?
And He said to him, " `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
Matthew 22:37-39
Sunday, April 16, 2006
CSI: EASTER part 3
When all is said and done, the most crucial ? is: WHY?
Why did Christ suffer and die? Not in the sense of cause, but why in the sense of purpose? What did Christ achieve by His Passion? What great thing was happening on Calvary for the world?
What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending His Son to die?
Christ suffered and died...
...To Absorb the Wrath of God
If God were not just, there would be no demand for His Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for His son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. So His love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.
God’s law demanded, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might’ Dt. 6:5
But we have all loved other things more - put them above God - that’s what sin is, dishonoring God by preferring other things over Him and acting on those preferences.
So the Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
We glorify what we enjoy most - wouldn’t you say? truck...
our own bodies... others bodies... our past heroics
Why did Christ suffer and die? Not in the sense of cause, but why in the sense of purpose? What did Christ achieve by His Passion? What great thing was happening on Calvary for the world?
What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending His Son to die?
Christ suffered and died...
...To Absorb the Wrath of God
If God were not just, there would be no demand for His Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for His son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. So His love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.
God’s law demanded, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might’ Dt. 6:5
But we have all loved other things more - put them above God - that’s what sin is, dishonoring God by preferring other things over Him and acting on those preferences.
So the Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
We glorify what we enjoy most - wouldn’t you say? truck...
our own bodies... others bodies... our past heroics
Sunday, April 09, 2006
CSI: EASTER part 2
You may have heard this phrase “the gospel.” What does that mean? It’s just the old English word for “good news.”
Gospel just means good news. “By the gospel you are saved.” In other words, by the good news you are saved.
(last week we looked at the Trial ans Death of Jesus Christ)
Why did God allow that? Why did Jesus go through all that suffering, the grueling, gruesome, horrendous, brutal suffering? Why did God allow it?
The most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. You’ve seen this verse probably at a lot of football games. Some guy usually with colored hair holds up a John 3:16 sign in the end zone.
What in the world is John 3:16? It’s the verse in the Bible that says this
\“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That’s the most famous verse in the Bible. It’s often called the gospel in a nutshell or Christianity summarized.
If you were only going to memorize one verse in the entire Bible this would be the one I would recommend – John 3:16 –
because it is the gospel – the Good News – summarized.
In fact, you can even see the word “gospel” spelled out. Notice the letters “God’s … only …Son …perished… eternal… life “– which spells “gospel.”
What we’re going to do today is we’re going to tear this verse apart. Because it explains why God created you, put you on this earth, why Jesus Christ died for you, and how you can have a ticket to heaven. It’s all there.
I want you to notice first of all there are 25 words in this verse – John 3:16. The middle word,
the thirteenth word is the word “Son” talking about Jesus Christ. The first half of the verse is all about God. “For God so love the word that He gave His only begotten.” Then there’s “Son” in the middle. And the last twelve words are all about man. “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That in itself is a picture. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to be the bridge between God and man so we could know what God is like.
Today we’re going to look at how this verse shows us God’s plan for your salvation and how you can have a ticket to heaven. If you’ve ever wondered, and everyone does eventually, “What is going to happen to me after I die?” you picked a really good week to come to church. Because
this is the week that we’re going to talk about that particular theme.
One of the greatest weaknesses of our culture is short term thinking. There’s far more to life than just here and now. We act like this life is all there is. We spend our time and our money and our effort and energy acting like, “You only go around once in life. You better go it with gusto!” But we don’t realize that you’re going to spend far more time on the other side of death in eternity than you do on this side here on this earth. You get maybe 60, 80, 100 years here.
You’re going to spend trillions of years on that side. So it does make sense wisely to spend part of the time on this side getting ready for that side. That’s what we’re going to talk about – the four essentials for preparing for eternal life.
Let’s tear apart the most famous verse in the Bible. Today is Christianity 101. The first essential for you in getting to heaven is this…
1. You need to acknowledge God’s passion.
What do I mean by that? You need to realize how much God loves you. It all starts with you understanding how amazingly extravagantly God loves you. God’s passion for you.
A lot of people think God is mad at them. God is not mad at you. He’s mad about you.
The whole issue of the cross explains that.
The Bible says in this famous verse “God so loved the world…” He so loved the world. What does that mean? First we know the Bible says, “God is love.” It doesn’t say He has love. It says He is love. It is His nature. It is His essence. “God is love.” The Bible says that He created everything to be objects of His love, including you. The whole reason you are alive, the reason your heart is beating right now, there’s only one reason for it. God made you to love you.
That’s why you’re alive. There’s no other reason why you’re alive. God made you to love you.
He brought you into existence, obviously using the DNA of your parents, to love you. And God so loved the world. His love is extravagant. It is lavish. It is beyond comprehension. In fact, you will never, ever be able to understand fully how much God loves you because you don’t have the brain capacity. It’d be like an ant trying to understand the Internet. You just don’t have the brain capacity to understand how much God really loves you. But the Bible says He created
the entire universe just so He could create humans in order to love them.
Look at these verses from the Bible. 1 John 4 says “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love. He sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” God didn’t just say He loved you.
He showed He loved you. He proved He loved you in the most expensive way – by sacrificing His own Son for you. We’re going to talk about that in a minute, what that means. When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross with His arms outstretched He was saying to yo u, “I love you this
much! I love you this much! So much it hurts.” Even if you were the only person who had ever lived on earth and you had sinned, you’d blown it, you’d made mistakes, you needed a savior,
Jesus Christ still would have come to earth and died for you. That’s how much He loves you.
1 John 3 “What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown us that we should be permitted to be called and counted as the children of God.”
God wanted a family to love.
That’s why He created human beings. He wanted a family to love. He wants you in it. The most amazing thing to me is that the creator of the entire universe would care about me and would want me in His family.
But God’s love for you all through the Bible and through Jesus’ example explains that His love is four-dimensional for you. Eph. 3 “May you be able to feel and understand how long, how wide, how deep and how high [that’s the four dimensions ] God’s love really is and experience this love foryourself.”
God says, “I don’t want you to just know I love you. I want you to feel that I love you.” Most people have never felt loved by God. They’ve never experienced God’s love. They say, ”Oh, yes. I believe God loves me.” But they’ve never felt it. God says, My love is long and wide and deep and high. What does that mean?
How long is God’s love? Long enough to last forever. That’s what makes it different from human love. Have you noticed human love wears out? That’s why we have so many divorces.
God’s love will never stop loving you. It is long enough to last forever.
It is wide enough to be everywhere. There is no place that you could go in life that God’s love is not with you. You will not always feel it. In fact, sometimes you’re going to feel alone.
But you will never be alone. Because God’s love is everywhere. It’s wide enough to be everywhere. There’s no place that you can be where God isn’t. It’s wide enough to be everywhere.
It’s deep enough to handle everything. No problem, no pressure, no stress, no difficulty.
You say, “I’m in the pits right now!” God’s love is there. There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.
Then it is high enough to overlook your mistakes. God loves to forgive. He loves to help you start over.
I believe that God brought you here this morning to FOCUS* church so He could say this to you, “I love you. I love you.” God wants to say to you this morning “I love you.” That’s the
starting point to understand and recognize and acknowledge God’s passion for you.
This is the second key. The second key to understanding how you get to heaven. First you
acknowledge God’s passion. Second…
2. You appreciate God’s present.
God has a gift for you. It’s a present. The gift is His very own Son. That’s the second part of this most famous verse. “God so loved the world…” That’s His passion. “…that He gave His only begotten Son…” That’s His present. God says, I want you to appreciate it.
Notice it doesn’t say, God so loved the world that He sent an angel. It doesn’t say, God so loved the world that He sent a prophet, that He sent a godly teacher, that He sent a moral, ethical leader. No. It says He sent His only begotten Son.
What does that mean? It means God said, “I’m coming myself. I’m going to come to earth in human form.” Jesus was God in human form. God’s Son. He’s the physical representation of God here on earth.
Let’s just review this again. I know I said it last week but I want to say it again. Jesus never claimed to be a good teacher. Jesus never claimed to be a moral leader. Jesus never claimed to be a prophet. In fact, He never claimed to be anything but the Son of God. He said I am God!
That’s what makes some people really nervous about Jesus. Remember I said last week if you ever meet anybody who claims to be God you’ve only got three options. Really only three options in response to somebody who claims to be God.
Number one is the guy’s an idiot. He’s a nut case. He’s like the guy on the funny farm who claims he’s Napoleon. He’s diminished capacity. He’s mentally unstable. He’s whacked out.
That’s one option, you can think.
Second option is I don’t think he’s out of touch with reality. I just think he’s a fraud. He is a swindler. He’s a phony. He’s a crook. He’s trying to be something that he claims to be that
he’s not most likely to get my money. And there are a lot of religious con men in the world, would you agree with that? The only third alternative is, He tells the truth. If He’s telling the truth, if He really is God then what does that mean. That means I have to obey Him. I have to worship Him. I have to bow down to Him.
That’s why they crucified Jesus. They couldn’t get Him on any charges because He hadn’t done anything wrong. So finally they asked Him, “Do you claim to be the Son of God?” and He said,
“Yes. I am the Son of God.” They said, “That’s it! It’s heresy. It’s blasphemy. You’re going to the cross.”
That’s why they killed Jesus.
I know I’ve had some friends who’ve said to me, I don’t think Jesus was the Son of God. I just think He was a great moral teacher. He couldn’t be! In fact that’s the one option He could not be. Because no great moral teacher would say, “I’m God. Worship Me” unless He was. No great moral teacher would say, “I’m the only way you get to the Father except through Me.”
That’s it. So that one is not available. He’s either who He claimed to be or He’s nuts or He’s the biggest fraud in history and He’s got two billion people worshipping a fake, a phony.
Right now, everybody here already believes something about Jesus. You either believe He’s the Lord who He claims to be – God in the flesh. Or He’s a liar, the biggest one in history. He conned out a lot of guys. Or He’s a lunatic. He’s either delusional or He’s deceptive or He’s deity. Those are your choices. That’s what makes a lot of people nervous. Because they don’t want to admit what He is.
Jesus says, “I am coming to earth for your sin.” Romans 3 say
“Out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with Himself, a pure gift. [It’s a gift. It’s a present.] He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”
The Bible says
“When we were unable to help ourselves at the moment of our need Christ died for us although we were living against God.”
Why did Jesus Christ have to die? Let’s review it again. In the first place, the Bible says nobody’s perfect. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all blown it. I don’t measure up to my own standard much less God’s. The Bible says all have sinned. That means me, you, the pope, the president, Billy Graham, everybody. I’ve really never met anybody who claims to be perfect, unless they are out of touch with reality. Because nobody bats 1000. We’ve all done things we regret.
The Bible says, “All have sinned…” It says if you do the crime you pray the time. In other words, if you get a ticket you’ve got to pay it. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” Spiritual death. So that means somebody’s got to pay for all the things you’ve done wrong in life. Either you or somebody else. Somebody’s got to pay for all the things you’ve done wrong.
Either you go to hell or somebody pays it for you. That’s where God steps in and says, “I’ll do it. I created you. I made you. I love you. I will pay for all the things you’ve done wrong.”
What does that mean? It means everything you’ve ever done wrong and I’ve done wrong and everything I haven’t done yet but I’m going to do that’s wrong, that I don’t even know about, and what you’re going to do a that you don’t know about, has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. That’s good news.
It’s already been paid for The Bible explains it this way. “God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then in exchange He poured God’s goodness into us.” What a deal! The word for this is called, by the way, grace. When God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. So here’s the deal.
God says I’m going to take all of Joe Parks’ wrong things he has done in his life and I’m going to put them on My Son Jesus Christ, and He’s going to pay for them on the cross. Then I’m going to take all the good things Jesus has done and put them on Joe so he can get into heaven. What a deal! What a deal!
Friends, that is love in the first degree. That is love in the first degree! And when they drove those nails through the hands of Jesus they went straight into the heart of God.
Friends, there is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way you’re ever going to get into heaven which is a perfect place and you’re not except on the ticket that Jesus bought for you. Otherwise Jesus’ sacrifice was an absolute, total, unmitigated waste if there was any other way for you to get into heaven.
The amazing thing is this. God planned the whole thing even before He created you. Because He knew what was going to happen in advance. The Bible says this in Ephesians “Saving is all His idea and all His work. [In other words, He does all the work] All we do is trust Him [circle “all we do is trust Him”] enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish.” That’s the present. God’s gift to you.
Notice – this is very, very important. It’s not what you do that gets you into heaven. It’s what Jesus Christ already did. That’s the only way. It’s not what you do. It’s what Jesus Christ already did.
It’s already been done. It’s already been done, I’ve done it all for you. I’ve paid the price. That why Jesus, with His arms outstretched on the cross said, “It is accomplished. It is finished. I have already paid for all the sins of everybody. All you need to do is trust Me, to appropriate that gift.”
If somebody brings you a gift, if you don’t unwrap it, that’s dumb. If you don’t accept it, that’s dumb. God has a gift for you. How do you accept it? By believing.
This is why we should life with constant attitude of gratitude. And a constant attitude of thanksgiving to Jesus Christ and gratefulness and appreciation because He deserves it. He
earned it. He paid for my freedom with His life. He paid for my ticket to heaven with His blood and He is worthy of all of our praise. When Jesus Christ paid for your sins on the cross it split history into AD and BC. Why? It is the most significant thing that ever happened. Every time you write a date you’re using Jesus Christ as the focal point. You say 2006. From what? From Jesus Christ’s death for you. That was His present. These are the essentials for getting ready for the other side of death. First, you acknowledge God’s passion. He loves me more than I’ll ever be able to know. God so loved the world.
That’s His passion. Then you appreciate His present. That He gave His only Son. He came to earth and gave His life for you. What do you do next?
3. You accept His proposal.
You accept God’s great proposal. God has an incredible offer for you, one like you will never ever receive anywhere else. It’s this. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son…” then here’s the proposal, “…that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.” God says, You believe what I did for you, you will not perish.
Notice who this proposal, this offer is for. Titus 2, says
“The free gift of eternal salvation [notice it’s a free gift. That’s the present] is offered to everyone. ”
Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior.
It’s offered to everybody. In fact, He gets more specific in the next verse Col. 3:11
“One’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant. Such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters and He is equally available to all.”
Notice it doesn’t matter how much money you make – a lot or a little – rich or poor. It doesn’t matter what your economic status is. It doesn’t matter your ethnic or racial background. It doesn’t matter your social prestige, whether you’re famous or not. It doesn’t matter what your religious background is. Jesus died for you. I don’t care if you’re Catholic or Jewish or Buddhist or Baptist or Moslem or Hindu or no religious background, Jesus still died for you. And He wants you to have a relationship with Father God.
Notice how you accept God’s proposal. First it’s who it’s for – it’s everybody. How do you accept it? The Bible says this in Romans 3
“God says He will accept us and acquit us [in other words declare us not guilty, wipe out all the things we’ve done wrong. Our record is cleared] if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. We can all be saved in this same way by coming to Christ no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.”
I’m grateful for the last part of that verse.
No matter who we are or what we’ve been like. It says you trust just in Jesus Christ. Somebody says, “I’ve messed up my life too much.” No, you haven’t. Or you say, “I’ve lived my life too long without God.” No, you haven’t. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, who you’ve done it with, where you’ve done it. What matters is what direction are your feet headed right now? Are they headed towards Jesus Christ?
There’s only one condition to accepting God’s proposal of eternal life for you. Only one.
What is it? You trust. You trust Him. It says “Whosoever believes in Him will not perish.” Believing is not knowing. It’s trusting. It’s not just knowing about Jesus. It’s not just saying, “I believe He’s God.” Big deal! You say, “I believe in Jesus.” So does the devil but you’re not going to find him in heaven. The devil knows Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The latest poll in Newsweek says 82% of America would say, “I believe Jesus is the Son of God.” So what? It means more than a head knowledge. It’s a heart knowledge. The word in Greek “believe” literally is the word, pisteuo which means, “to trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to commit to.” I could have a chair here and say, “I believe in that chair. I believe it will hold me up.” But until I sit down on it I don’t really believe in it. Let me explain it this way, I believe in Karl Marx. I believe he existed. I believe he’s the founder of communism. But I’m not a communist. I believe in Hitler, but I’m not a Nazi. I believe in Osama bin Laden but I’m not a member of Al Qaeda. But I believe in Jesus and I’m a Christian. Why? Because I trust Him. I’ve committed myself to Him.
Let me give you another example. It’s the difference between having a close friendship and just being acquainted. Difference between meeting and engaging with someone famous, maybe you’ve met a well-known musician or actor or politician, shook their hand, maybe chatted for a while - So u can say, I know So n So. But I don’t really know them. I’m not in their inner circle. I’m not a close personal friend.
I don’t have a deep relationship with them. I just know about them. Here’s the problem.
A lot of people know about Jesus, but they don’t know Him. Many people got it in their head but they don’t have it in their heart. They now about Him. They believe He’s the Son of God. But they don’t trust Him with their lives. Jesus died for you so you could have a relationship with Him. God made you for purpose and the number one part of that purpose is to get to know and love and trust God. Right now He offers you the proposal of a lifetime.
“Right now God is ready to welcome you into His family. Today He is ready to save you.” Have you ever personally accepted what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross and told Him so. If you haven’t you ought to. In fact, you ought to do it now. In fact, why don’t we just pause right here
and pray together. Just bow your head and talk to Jesus Christ. You say, “I don’ t know what to say!” I’ll say some words and you follow me in your mind. You don’t have to say it aloud. God knows your heart. He knows what you’re thinking. Just say this.
Dear Jesus, I don’t understand it all, but I want to thank You for loving me. I want to thank You for coming to earth for me. And I want to thank You for giving Your life for me so I
could go to heaven. I want to accept Your free gift of forgiveness and salvation. I want You to be the savior of my life and the Lord, the manager of my life. I want to learn to trust You
and to love You and to fulfill Your purpose for my life. I say to You to day, Come on in to my heart. Amen.
What do I do after I’ve accepted God’s proposal? Here’s the last thing you do.
4. You anticipate God’s promise.
“God so loved the world…” That’s His passion and I admit and recognize it. “…that He gave His only begotten Son…” That’s His present that He wants to give you. “…that whosoever believes in Him …” That’s the condition, that’s the proposal. “…should not perish but have ever lasting life.” That’s the promise. “Should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Did you know that you were made to last forever? One day you’re going to die. That’s going to be the end of your body. Your heart’s going to stop. But that’s not going to be the end of you.
On no! God wants you to be in heaven with Him. Not in hell.
What is hell? Hell was made for the devil and his demons. Really it was. A lot of people have a big myth about hell. They think hell is where you go if you’re really, really, really, really bad.
Like an ax murderer. But heaven is a place where you go if you’re pretty good. Most of us want to be good enough to go to heaven but bad enough to be fun.
The fact is, if you could be good enough to get to heaven on your own then Jesus Christ coming to earth and dying for you was a total waste. The truth is heaven is a perfect place and you’re not. And God doesn’t grade on a curve. Have you ever been to DisneyWorld or 6 Flags or some Carnival and they have those rides that say, “You’ve got to be so tall to ride this ride.” And little kids are jumping up: “I’m tall enough! I’m tall enough!” I can imagine getting to heaven and God having a 1000-foot sign and saying, “You’ve got to be this perfect to get in here.” I’m not and you’re not. That’s why we needed Jesus. Jesus paid for your ticket into heaven.
Notice God’s promise. 1 Peter 1
“We are now members of God’s own family. And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life. It is kept in heaven for you and [this is the good part] God will make sure that you get there safely to receive it. [In other words God makes sure you’ll get there] because you are trusting Him.”
All of God’s children are guaranteed heaven. The problem is not everybody’s in God’s family.
You need to understand the distinction. Everybody is created by God but not everybody is a child of God. Only those who choose and say, “God, I want to be in Your family.” Only those who choose to believe and trust what Jesus Christ did.
The next verse shows the three benefits of being in God’s family. And these are big ones.
“What a God we have! Because Jesus was raised from the dead we’ve been given [here are the three things] a brand new life [that takes care of my past] everything to live for [that takes care of my present] and a future in heaven [that takes care of my future].” So God says here’s what I offer you: past forgiven, purpose for living, home in heaven. Not a bad deal. Past forgiven, purpose for living, home in heaven. That’s what God says I offer to you.
Bible says this in Psalm 34 “Open your eyes and see how good God is.”
In the movie The Passion of the Christ one of the most graphic scenes to me is when Pilate, the
governor of Judea, walks out in front of an entire mob and he asks the single most important question in history.
He asks, “What will you do with Jesus?”
I’m asking you that question right now. What will you do with Jesus? It is the most important question you will ever be asked in your life. It no t only determines the rest of your life but where you’ll spend eternity: What will you do with Jesus?
Let me explain something to you. You don’t have to have all of it figured out, all your questions answered, all your doubts resolved before you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.
One day a guy came to Jesus who had a sick daughter. He said, “Lord, I want You to heal my daughter.” Jesus looked at him and said, “Do you believe I can heal her?” The guy said, “I want to believe. Yeah, I believe. Help me with my doubts.” Jesus said, “That’s good enough!” And Bam! He healed her.
You can come to Jesus Christ this morning and say, Jesus I want to believe. Help me with my doubts!
Prayer:
Thank You for Your amazing love and grace for them. Lord, there are people here who know about You but they’ve never really known You. They’ve never begun a relationship with You. I pray that You’ll give them the words right now to start that relationship with You. Thank You for loving us even before we know You.
Now you pray. Say, “Dear Jesus. I don’t understand it all but I want a relationship with You. I want to thank You for loving me. I want to thank You for coming to earth for me. I want to thank You for giving Your life for me so I could go to heaven. I want to accept Your free gift of forgiveness and salvation. I want You to be the Savior of my life and the Lord of my life and the manager. You call the shots from here on out. I want to learn to trust You and to love You and to fulfill Your purpose for my life. Amen.
SO HOW SHOULD I RESPOND TO HIS DEATH FOR ME?
1. I OUGHT TO LOVE CHRIST - with all my heart 1 JN 4:19
Even if God never did anything else for me…
He deserves my total devotion
2. I OUGHT TO HATE SIN - ROM. 6:6
It was my sin & yours that nailed Jesus to the cross
How can I laugh at sin on TV or in movies?
The cross shows how serious sin really is. no laughing matter
3. I OUGHT TO TELL OTHERS - 2 COR. 5:14
If someone died for you – wouldn’t you want to know about it?
This is the motive behind everything we do at FOCUS*:to reach one more for Christ.
ILL: Typical resident sits at home on weekends totally unaware of what God has done for him or her.
If that person lives & dies without knowing Christ
Then, for that person, Jesus’ death was a waste!
Tell someone this week, those close to you... family, friends, co-workers - who needs to know
that is in your realm of influence - tell them this week.
Gospel just means good news. “By the gospel you are saved.” In other words, by the good news you are saved.
(last week we looked at the Trial ans Death of Jesus Christ)
Why did God allow that? Why did Jesus go through all that suffering, the grueling, gruesome, horrendous, brutal suffering? Why did God allow it?
The most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. You’ve seen this verse probably at a lot of football games. Some guy usually with colored hair holds up a John 3:16 sign in the end zone.
What in the world is John 3:16? It’s the verse in the Bible that says this
\“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That’s the most famous verse in the Bible. It’s often called the gospel in a nutshell or Christianity summarized.
If you were only going to memorize one verse in the entire Bible this would be the one I would recommend – John 3:16 –
because it is the gospel – the Good News – summarized.
In fact, you can even see the word “gospel” spelled out. Notice the letters “God’s … only …Son …perished… eternal… life “– which spells “gospel.”
What we’re going to do today is we’re going to tear this verse apart. Because it explains why God created you, put you on this earth, why Jesus Christ died for you, and how you can have a ticket to heaven. It’s all there.
I want you to notice first of all there are 25 words in this verse – John 3:16. The middle word,
the thirteenth word is the word “Son” talking about Jesus Christ. The first half of the verse is all about God. “For God so love the word that He gave His only begotten.” Then there’s “Son” in the middle. And the last twelve words are all about man. “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That in itself is a picture. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to be the bridge between God and man so we could know what God is like.
Today we’re going to look at how this verse shows us God’s plan for your salvation and how you can have a ticket to heaven. If you’ve ever wondered, and everyone does eventually, “What is going to happen to me after I die?” you picked a really good week to come to church. Because
this is the week that we’re going to talk about that particular theme.
One of the greatest weaknesses of our culture is short term thinking. There’s far more to life than just here and now. We act like this life is all there is. We spend our time and our money and our effort and energy acting like, “You only go around once in life. You better go it with gusto!” But we don’t realize that you’re going to spend far more time on the other side of death in eternity than you do on this side here on this earth. You get maybe 60, 80, 100 years here.
You’re going to spend trillions of years on that side. So it does make sense wisely to spend part of the time on this side getting ready for that side. That’s what we’re going to talk about – the four essentials for preparing for eternal life.
Let’s tear apart the most famous verse in the Bible. Today is Christianity 101. The first essential for you in getting to heaven is this…
1. You need to acknowledge God’s passion.
What do I mean by that? You need to realize how much God loves you. It all starts with you understanding how amazingly extravagantly God loves you. God’s passion for you.
A lot of people think God is mad at them. God is not mad at you. He’s mad about you.
The whole issue of the cross explains that.
The Bible says in this famous verse “God so loved the world…” He so loved the world. What does that mean? First we know the Bible says, “God is love.” It doesn’t say He has love. It says He is love. It is His nature. It is His essence. “God is love.” The Bible says that He created everything to be objects of His love, including you. The whole reason you are alive, the reason your heart is beating right now, there’s only one reason for it. God made you to love you.
That’s why you’re alive. There’s no other reason why you’re alive. God made you to love you.
He brought you into existence, obviously using the DNA of your parents, to love you. And God so loved the world. His love is extravagant. It is lavish. It is beyond comprehension. In fact, you will never, ever be able to understand fully how much God loves you because you don’t have the brain capacity. It’d be like an ant trying to understand the Internet. You just don’t have the brain capacity to understand how much God really loves you. But the Bible says He created
the entire universe just so He could create humans in order to love them.
Look at these verses from the Bible. 1 John 4 says “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love. He sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” God didn’t just say He loved you.
He showed He loved you. He proved He loved you in the most expensive way – by sacrificing His own Son for you. We’re going to talk about that in a minute, what that means. When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross with His arms outstretched He was saying to yo u, “I love you this
much! I love you this much! So much it hurts.” Even if you were the only person who had ever lived on earth and you had sinned, you’d blown it, you’d made mistakes, you needed a savior,
Jesus Christ still would have come to earth and died for you. That’s how much He loves you.
1 John 3 “What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown us that we should be permitted to be called and counted as the children of God.”
God wanted a family to love.
That’s why He created human beings. He wanted a family to love. He wants you in it. The most amazing thing to me is that the creator of the entire universe would care about me and would want me in His family.
But God’s love for you all through the Bible and through Jesus’ example explains that His love is four-dimensional for you. Eph. 3 “May you be able to feel and understand how long, how wide, how deep and how high [that’s the four dimensions ] God’s love really is and experience this love foryourself.”
God says, “I don’t want you to just know I love you. I want you to feel that I love you.” Most people have never felt loved by God. They’ve never experienced God’s love. They say, ”Oh, yes. I believe God loves me.” But they’ve never felt it. God says, My love is long and wide and deep and high. What does that mean?
How long is God’s love? Long enough to last forever. That’s what makes it different from human love. Have you noticed human love wears out? That’s why we have so many divorces.
God’s love will never stop loving you. It is long enough to last forever.
It is wide enough to be everywhere. There is no place that you could go in life that God’s love is not with you. You will not always feel it. In fact, sometimes you’re going to feel alone.
But you will never be alone. Because God’s love is everywhere. It’s wide enough to be everywhere. There’s no place that you can be where God isn’t. It’s wide enough to be everywhere.
It’s deep enough to handle everything. No problem, no pressure, no stress, no difficulty.
You say, “I’m in the pits right now!” God’s love is there. There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.
Then it is high enough to overlook your mistakes. God loves to forgive. He loves to help you start over.
I believe that God brought you here this morning to FOCUS* church so He could say this to you, “I love you. I love you.” God wants to say to you this morning “I love you.” That’s the
starting point to understand and recognize and acknowledge God’s passion for you.
This is the second key. The second key to understanding how you get to heaven. First you
acknowledge God’s passion. Second…
2. You appreciate God’s present.
God has a gift for you. It’s a present. The gift is His very own Son. That’s the second part of this most famous verse. “God so loved the world…” That’s His passion. “…that He gave His only begotten Son…” That’s His present. God says, I want you to appreciate it.
Notice it doesn’t say, God so loved the world that He sent an angel. It doesn’t say, God so loved the world that He sent a prophet, that He sent a godly teacher, that He sent a moral, ethical leader. No. It says He sent His only begotten Son.
What does that mean? It means God said, “I’m coming myself. I’m going to come to earth in human form.” Jesus was God in human form. God’s Son. He’s the physical representation of God here on earth.
Let’s just review this again. I know I said it last week but I want to say it again. Jesus never claimed to be a good teacher. Jesus never claimed to be a moral leader. Jesus never claimed to be a prophet. In fact, He never claimed to be anything but the Son of God. He said I am God!
That’s what makes some people really nervous about Jesus. Remember I said last week if you ever meet anybody who claims to be God you’ve only got three options. Really only three options in response to somebody who claims to be God.
Number one is the guy’s an idiot. He’s a nut case. He’s like the guy on the funny farm who claims he’s Napoleon. He’s diminished capacity. He’s mentally unstable. He’s whacked out.
That’s one option, you can think.
Second option is I don’t think he’s out of touch with reality. I just think he’s a fraud. He is a swindler. He’s a phony. He’s a crook. He’s trying to be something that he claims to be that
he’s not most likely to get my money. And there are a lot of religious con men in the world, would you agree with that? The only third alternative is, He tells the truth. If He’s telling the truth, if He really is God then what does that mean. That means I have to obey Him. I have to worship Him. I have to bow down to Him.
That’s why they crucified Jesus. They couldn’t get Him on any charges because He hadn’t done anything wrong. So finally they asked Him, “Do you claim to be the Son of God?” and He said,
“Yes. I am the Son of God.” They said, “That’s it! It’s heresy. It’s blasphemy. You’re going to the cross.”
That’s why they killed Jesus.
I know I’ve had some friends who’ve said to me, I don’t think Jesus was the Son of God. I just think He was a great moral teacher. He couldn’t be! In fact that’s the one option He could not be. Because no great moral teacher would say, “I’m God. Worship Me” unless He was. No great moral teacher would say, “I’m the only way you get to the Father except through Me.”
That’s it. So that one is not available. He’s either who He claimed to be or He’s nuts or He’s the biggest fraud in history and He’s got two billion people worshipping a fake, a phony.
Right now, everybody here already believes something about Jesus. You either believe He’s the Lord who He claims to be – God in the flesh. Or He’s a liar, the biggest one in history. He conned out a lot of guys. Or He’s a lunatic. He’s either delusional or He’s deceptive or He’s deity. Those are your choices. That’s what makes a lot of people nervous. Because they don’t want to admit what He is.
Jesus says, “I am coming to earth for your sin.” Romans 3 say
“Out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with Himself, a pure gift. [It’s a gift. It’s a present.] He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”
The Bible says
“When we were unable to help ourselves at the moment of our need Christ died for us although we were living against God.”
Why did Jesus Christ have to die? Let’s review it again. In the first place, the Bible says nobody’s perfect. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all blown it. I don’t measure up to my own standard much less God’s. The Bible says all have sinned. That means me, you, the pope, the president, Billy Graham, everybody. I’ve really never met anybody who claims to be perfect, unless they are out of touch with reality. Because nobody bats 1000. We’ve all done things we regret.
The Bible says, “All have sinned…” It says if you do the crime you pray the time. In other words, if you get a ticket you’ve got to pay it. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” Spiritual death. So that means somebody’s got to pay for all the things you’ve done wrong in life. Either you or somebody else. Somebody’s got to pay for all the things you’ve done wrong.
Either you go to hell or somebody pays it for you. That’s where God steps in and says, “I’ll do it. I created you. I made you. I love you. I will pay for all the things you’ve done wrong.”
What does that mean? It means everything you’ve ever done wrong and I’ve done wrong and everything I haven’t done yet but I’m going to do that’s wrong, that I don’t even know about, and what you’re going to do a that you don’t know about, has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. That’s good news.
It’s already been paid for The Bible explains it this way. “God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then in exchange He poured God’s goodness into us.” What a deal! The word for this is called, by the way, grace. When God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. So here’s the deal.
God says I’m going to take all of Joe Parks’ wrong things he has done in his life and I’m going to put them on My Son Jesus Christ, and He’s going to pay for them on the cross. Then I’m going to take all the good things Jesus has done and put them on Joe so he can get into heaven. What a deal! What a deal!
Friends, that is love in the first degree. That is love in the first degree! And when they drove those nails through the hands of Jesus they went straight into the heart of God.
Friends, there is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way you’re ever going to get into heaven which is a perfect place and you’re not except on the ticket that Jesus bought for you. Otherwise Jesus’ sacrifice was an absolute, total, unmitigated waste if there was any other way for you to get into heaven.
The amazing thing is this. God planned the whole thing even before He created you. Because He knew what was going to happen in advance. The Bible says this in Ephesians “Saving is all His idea and all His work. [In other words, He does all the work] All we do is trust Him [circle “all we do is trust Him”] enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish.” That’s the present. God’s gift to you.
Notice – this is very, very important. It’s not what you do that gets you into heaven. It’s what Jesus Christ already did. That’s the only way. It’s not what you do. It’s what Jesus Christ already did.
It’s already been done. It’s already been done, I’ve done it all for you. I’ve paid the price. That why Jesus, with His arms outstretched on the cross said, “It is accomplished. It is finished. I have already paid for all the sins of everybody. All you need to do is trust Me, to appropriate that gift.”
If somebody brings you a gift, if you don’t unwrap it, that’s dumb. If you don’t accept it, that’s dumb. God has a gift for you. How do you accept it? By believing.
This is why we should life with constant attitude of gratitude. And a constant attitude of thanksgiving to Jesus Christ and gratefulness and appreciation because He deserves it. He
earned it. He paid for my freedom with His life. He paid for my ticket to heaven with His blood and He is worthy of all of our praise. When Jesus Christ paid for your sins on the cross it split history into AD and BC. Why? It is the most significant thing that ever happened. Every time you write a date you’re using Jesus Christ as the focal point. You say 2006. From what? From Jesus Christ’s death for you. That was His present. These are the essentials for getting ready for the other side of death. First, you acknowledge God’s passion. He loves me more than I’ll ever be able to know. God so loved the world.
That’s His passion. Then you appreciate His present. That He gave His only Son. He came to earth and gave His life for you. What do you do next?
3. You accept His proposal.
You accept God’s great proposal. God has an incredible offer for you, one like you will never ever receive anywhere else. It’s this. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son…” then here’s the proposal, “…that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.” God says, You believe what I did for you, you will not perish.
Notice who this proposal, this offer is for. Titus 2, says
“The free gift of eternal salvation [notice it’s a free gift. That’s the present] is offered to everyone. ”
Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior.
It’s offered to everybody. In fact, He gets more specific in the next verse Col. 3:11
“One’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant. Such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters and He is equally available to all.”
Notice it doesn’t matter how much money you make – a lot or a little – rich or poor. It doesn’t matter what your economic status is. It doesn’t matter your ethnic or racial background. It doesn’t matter your social prestige, whether you’re famous or not. It doesn’t matter what your religious background is. Jesus died for you. I don’t care if you’re Catholic or Jewish or Buddhist or Baptist or Moslem or Hindu or no religious background, Jesus still died for you. And He wants you to have a relationship with Father God.
Notice how you accept God’s proposal. First it’s who it’s for – it’s everybody. How do you accept it? The Bible says this in Romans 3
“God says He will accept us and acquit us [in other words declare us not guilty, wipe out all the things we’ve done wrong. Our record is cleared] if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. We can all be saved in this same way by coming to Christ no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.”
I’m grateful for the last part of that verse.
No matter who we are or what we’ve been like. It says you trust just in Jesus Christ. Somebody says, “I’ve messed up my life too much.” No, you haven’t. Or you say, “I’ve lived my life too long without God.” No, you haven’t. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, who you’ve done it with, where you’ve done it. What matters is what direction are your feet headed right now? Are they headed towards Jesus Christ?
There’s only one condition to accepting God’s proposal of eternal life for you. Only one.
What is it? You trust. You trust Him. It says “Whosoever believes in Him will not perish.” Believing is not knowing. It’s trusting. It’s not just knowing about Jesus. It’s not just saying, “I believe He’s God.” Big deal! You say, “I believe in Jesus.” So does the devil but you’re not going to find him in heaven. The devil knows Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The latest poll in Newsweek says 82% of America would say, “I believe Jesus is the Son of God.” So what? It means more than a head knowledge. It’s a heart knowledge. The word in Greek “believe” literally is the word, pisteuo which means, “to trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to commit to.” I could have a chair here and say, “I believe in that chair. I believe it will hold me up.” But until I sit down on it I don’t really believe in it. Let me explain it this way, I believe in Karl Marx. I believe he existed. I believe he’s the founder of communism. But I’m not a communist. I believe in Hitler, but I’m not a Nazi. I believe in Osama bin Laden but I’m not a member of Al Qaeda. But I believe in Jesus and I’m a Christian. Why? Because I trust Him. I’ve committed myself to Him.
Let me give you another example. It’s the difference between having a close friendship and just being acquainted. Difference between meeting and engaging with someone famous, maybe you’ve met a well-known musician or actor or politician, shook their hand, maybe chatted for a while - So u can say, I know So n So. But I don’t really know them. I’m not in their inner circle. I’m not a close personal friend.
I don’t have a deep relationship with them. I just know about them. Here’s the problem.
A lot of people know about Jesus, but they don’t know Him. Many people got it in their head but they don’t have it in their heart. They now about Him. They believe He’s the Son of God. But they don’t trust Him with their lives. Jesus died for you so you could have a relationship with Him. God made you for purpose and the number one part of that purpose is to get to know and love and trust God. Right now He offers you the proposal of a lifetime.
“Right now God is ready to welcome you into His family. Today He is ready to save you.” Have you ever personally accepted what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross and told Him so. If you haven’t you ought to. In fact, you ought to do it now. In fact, why don’t we just pause right here
and pray together. Just bow your head and talk to Jesus Christ. You say, “I don’ t know what to say!” I’ll say some words and you follow me in your mind. You don’t have to say it aloud. God knows your heart. He knows what you’re thinking. Just say this.
Dear Jesus, I don’t understand it all, but I want to thank You for loving me. I want to thank You for coming to earth for me. And I want to thank You for giving Your life for me so I
could go to heaven. I want to accept Your free gift of forgiveness and salvation. I want You to be the savior of my life and the Lord, the manager of my life. I want to learn to trust You
and to love You and to fulfill Your purpose for my life. I say to You to day, Come on in to my heart. Amen.
What do I do after I’ve accepted God’s proposal? Here’s the last thing you do.
4. You anticipate God’s promise.
“God so loved the world…” That’s His passion and I admit and recognize it. “…that He gave His only begotten Son…” That’s His present that He wants to give you. “…that whosoever believes in Him …” That’s the condition, that’s the proposal. “…should not perish but have ever lasting life.” That’s the promise. “Should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Did you know that you were made to last forever? One day you’re going to die. That’s going to be the end of your body. Your heart’s going to stop. But that’s not going to be the end of you.
On no! God wants you to be in heaven with Him. Not in hell.
What is hell? Hell was made for the devil and his demons. Really it was. A lot of people have a big myth about hell. They think hell is where you go if you’re really, really, really, really bad.
Like an ax murderer. But heaven is a place where you go if you’re pretty good. Most of us want to be good enough to go to heaven but bad enough to be fun.
The fact is, if you could be good enough to get to heaven on your own then Jesus Christ coming to earth and dying for you was a total waste. The truth is heaven is a perfect place and you’re not. And God doesn’t grade on a curve. Have you ever been to DisneyWorld or 6 Flags or some Carnival and they have those rides that say, “You’ve got to be so tall to ride this ride.” And little kids are jumping up: “I’m tall enough! I’m tall enough!” I can imagine getting to heaven and God having a 1000-foot sign and saying, “You’ve got to be this perfect to get in here.” I’m not and you’re not. That’s why we needed Jesus. Jesus paid for your ticket into heaven.
Notice God’s promise. 1 Peter 1
“We are now members of God’s own family. And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life. It is kept in heaven for you and [this is the good part] God will make sure that you get there safely to receive it. [In other words God makes sure you’ll get there] because you are trusting Him.”
All of God’s children are guaranteed heaven. The problem is not everybody’s in God’s family.
You need to understand the distinction. Everybody is created by God but not everybody is a child of God. Only those who choose and say, “God, I want to be in Your family.” Only those who choose to believe and trust what Jesus Christ did.
The next verse shows the three benefits of being in God’s family. And these are big ones.
“What a God we have! Because Jesus was raised from the dead we’ve been given [here are the three things] a brand new life [that takes care of my past] everything to live for [that takes care of my present] and a future in heaven [that takes care of my future].” So God says here’s what I offer you: past forgiven, purpose for living, home in heaven. Not a bad deal. Past forgiven, purpose for living, home in heaven. That’s what God says I offer to you.
Bible says this in Psalm 34 “Open your eyes and see how good God is.”
In the movie The Passion of the Christ one of the most graphic scenes to me is when Pilate, the
governor of Judea, walks out in front of an entire mob and he asks the single most important question in history.
He asks, “What will you do with Jesus?”
I’m asking you that question right now. What will you do with Jesus? It is the most important question you will ever be asked in your life. It no t only determines the rest of your life but where you’ll spend eternity: What will you do with Jesus?
Let me explain something to you. You don’t have to have all of it figured out, all your questions answered, all your doubts resolved before you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.
One day a guy came to Jesus who had a sick daughter. He said, “Lord, I want You to heal my daughter.” Jesus looked at him and said, “Do you believe I can heal her?” The guy said, “I want to believe. Yeah, I believe. Help me with my doubts.” Jesus said, “That’s good enough!” And Bam! He healed her.
You can come to Jesus Christ this morning and say, Jesus I want to believe. Help me with my doubts!
Prayer:
Thank You for Your amazing love and grace for them. Lord, there are people here who know about You but they’ve never really known You. They’ve never begun a relationship with You. I pray that You’ll give them the words right now to start that relationship with You. Thank You for loving us even before we know You.
Now you pray. Say, “Dear Jesus. I don’t understand it all but I want a relationship with You. I want to thank You for loving me. I want to thank You for coming to earth for me. I want to thank You for giving Your life for me so I could go to heaven. I want to accept Your free gift of forgiveness and salvation. I want You to be the Savior of my life and the Lord of my life and the manager. You call the shots from here on out. I want to learn to trust You and to love You and to fulfill Your purpose for my life. Amen.
SO HOW SHOULD I RESPOND TO HIS DEATH FOR ME?
1. I OUGHT TO LOVE CHRIST - with all my heart 1 JN 4:19
Even if God never did anything else for me…
He deserves my total devotion
2. I OUGHT TO HATE SIN - ROM. 6:6
It was my sin & yours that nailed Jesus to the cross
How can I laugh at sin on TV or in movies?
The cross shows how serious sin really is. no laughing matter
3. I OUGHT TO TELL OTHERS - 2 COR. 5:14
If someone died for you – wouldn’t you want to know about it?
This is the motive behind everything we do at FOCUS*:to reach one more for Christ.
ILL: Typical resident sits at home on weekends totally unaware of what God has done for him or her.
If that person lives & dies without knowing Christ
Then, for that person, Jesus’ death was a waste!
Tell someone this week, those close to you... family, friends, co-workers - who needs to know
that is in your realm of influence - tell them this week.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Sunday, March 19, 2006
USING MY WEAKNESSES - part 2
We want to finish the message on Using Your Weaknesses.
The fact is everybody has weaknesses – emotional, physical, intellectual, relational, financial. We all have weaknesses. What we usually do with our weaknesses is we deny them or we hide them or we pretend they don’t exist or we ignore them or we excuse them or we blame other people for them. God comes along and says, “I’ve got something totally different. I want to use your weaknesses.” We say, “No, God! You don’t want to use them. You want to take away my weaknesses !” God says, “My ways are not your ways. My ways are higher than your ways I’m smarter than you. I have a plan. I want to use your weaknesses.” You say, “But God, don’t You want to use my strengths? You gave me all these abilities and talents. Why don’t You use my strengths?” He says, “I will use your strengths, yes. But I also want to use your weaknesses.”
Remember what we defined weakness as. We’re not talking about something you can change. We’re not talking about a sin, a character defect, a fault – overeating, chocolate, being late. No, that’s stuff you can do something about. When we talked about God wanting to use your weaknesses, we’re talking about any limitation in your life that you either inherited or you cannot change. There’s some things in your life you go, “Why God? Why did I have this relationship? I didn’t choose my parents. I didn’t choose my body. I didn’t choose my natural makeup. I didn’t choose the fact that I may have a predisposition toward depression, or worry, or losing my temper. I didn’t choose a lot of things in my life, yet they do limit my life, they often cause pain in my life. I can’t change some of those things.” If you naturally have a bad back, you’re going to have a bad back all your life. God says, “I have a plan even for your weaknesses. Not just your strengths but even your weaknesses.”
1 Corinthians 1:27 “God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to put wise men to shame and what the world considers weak in order to put powerful men to shame.”
Underline “purposely chose” and circle “weak”. God purposely chose the weaknesses in your life, not the sins, not the character faults, but those limitations in your life that you cannot change and you just inherited them. You’ve got them
and God says He wants to use them.
There are three steps God has to take us through in order to use our weakness.
1. First, I must admit my weakness. That’s pretty easy for most people. I don’t know anybody who maintains that they’re perfect. We all have shortcomings and faults and areas we’re weak in. So the first thing, we just say, “You’re right. I don’t have it all together. I’d like to pretend that I do. I’d like to think that I do. But I don’t.” So I stop pretending. I stop hoping that my weaknesses will just go away if I ignore them. I stop making excuses. I stop blaming other people for my weaknesses. I stop defending them. I stop denying them. I just admit: I have some weaknesses in my life – physical, spiritual … all these areas. That’s a pretty easy step. The second step is a little more difficult.
2. I must be grateful for my weaknesses. Why would anybody be grateful for their weaknesses? We talked about four reasons. Paul says “I’ve cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ in my life. When I have weaknesses it …
1) guarantees God’s power, because I’m depending on Him.
2) prevents arrogance, because I know I can’t do it all on my own.
3) it causes me to value others. Nobody gets all the pieces of the puzzle in their box. You don’t have all the gifts. God wants us to value each other, so nobody gets it all. You’re lacking some things and I’m lacking some things so we need each other. I need you, you need me – we need each other. We’re supposed to have helpers and friends who compensate for our weaknesses.
4) It gives me a ministry. Your greatest ministry, the way you can make the biggest impact on earth is that God will take your greatest weakness and turn it into a ministry. And God will take your deepest hurt and turn it into your life message. The Bible says He takes us through problems and comforts us so we can turn around and help people with the same comfort we’ve been given. Who could better help somebody going through a divorce than somebody who went through the pain of a divorce? Who can better help somebody struggling with an addiction than somebody who was an addict and Jesus helped them through it? Who could better help a couple with the pain of not having children when they wanted them than a couple who wanted children but were unable to have them for one reason or another? The very thing you’re most ashamed of, that you’re most embarrassed about., the very thing you wished nobody knows about, that skeleton in your closet, the very thing that still hurts you and pains you, if you’ll let God work on it in your life and touch you and heal you, God will use to help other people. That’s called a ministry.
But none of this can take place unless you’re willing to take step three. That’s what we’re going to talk about. I have to recognize my weaknesses, be grateful for them and think how God can use them. But if you want God to use the weakness in your life.
3. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO SHARE.
I must openly share my weaknesses. I let down my guard. I take off the mask. I put aside my defenses and just admit it. It’s like that “great” theologian, Flip Wilson, used to say, “What you see is what you get”. You be open and honest with people. This is called being vulnerable.
Would you agree that if you’re open and honest about your weaknesses with everybody around you, then that is a risky thing to do? It is. Highly risky. You don’t know how they’re going to respond to it. “I’m afraid to let you know what I’m really like because if you don’t like it, I’m up a creek because I’m all I’ve got. So what I’ll do is wear a mask and pretend to be what I think you want me to be. Then I think you’ll like me. Because if I really let you know what I’m really like, with all my faults and hurts and weaknesses and you reject that, I’m dead in the water. Tough luck!” So we live with masks most of our lives. It’s scary, risky, to be honest – gut level honest about your weaknesses with people.
God says do it. Four reasons. James Cook had to learn this lesson the hard way. He was the captain who discovered Hawaii and the Fiji islands and a number of other South Pacific islands. On one of the islands he discovered, they treated him like a god, put him on a pedestal because they’d never seen anybody like him. When he left on board the ship and pulled out to sea, they ran into a storm. Captain Cook was afraid the boat would capsize. Out of fear, they turned around and came back to shore. When they did, the natives murdered Captain Cook and his crew. He’d fallen off their pedestal and they couldn’t handle it. He wasn’t a god. No god would be afraid of a storm. They realized he was a mere mortal. He had disappointed them so they killed him.
I doubt any of you are going to get killed for being open and honest about your fears, but it is a risky proposition. So why should I learn to live a lifestyle where I’m honest and open, up front, about the emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual weaknesses in my life? Four reasons:
1. It is emotionally healthy
Maintaining an image of perfection requires an enormous amount of energy. When you try to live a life that shows everybody “I’ve got it all together” when you know you don’t and everybody else does too but you keep up the pretense, that’s why you’re under such stress. When you walk around with a mask on all the time, it creates enormous pressure in your life – tension, anxiety – What if I let the mask drop? One of the reasons you’re so stressed out and you’re near burn out is that you’re trying to be something you’re not. You’re trying to pretend you’ve got it all together when you know you don’t. Everybody else knows it too but you’re trying to keep up the façade that you’ve attained perfection and you’ve got it under control and everything’s hunky-dory. On the other hand, if you drop the mask and let down your guard and be real, honest, there is nothing as liberating emotionally than just being real, being honest, and not trying to put on show. In fact, that’s the only healthy way to live.
James 5:16 “Confess your faults to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Circle “each other”.
You probably do a pretty good job of confessing your faults to God. But it says to confess them to each other. It says you confess them to each other so you can be healed. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing. That’s the starting point. Some of those things that still hurt in your life, if you don’t get rid of, they’re never going to be gotten rid of until you share them with another person.
The very fact of sharing it with somebody else means the door is opening. The boogieman is not the boogieman anymore. They’re on the road to recovery. That’s the first step.
There are some things in your life that just won’t budge. Habits that you just can’t get rid of no matter how many messages you listen to, how many books you read, seminars you go to – there are some things in your life that you don’t like that just won’t change no matter how much you pray, “God, please take this out of my life!” It’s not going to, It’s not going to budge until first you be honest about it with some other human being. God wired us up that way. He wants us to help each other. We’re all stuck on this planet together. (starburst video)
Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.
It is emotionally healthy to let it go. As long as you’re not sharing with anybody saying you can handle it on your own, God says, “No, you can’t.”
If you’re looking for a place to do it, a good place is called FOCUS*. This place is a hang out for sinners. We’re all a bunch of guys and girls who have blown it in various areas. In fact, when we put up our sign, it ought to be “No perfect people need apply.” This is only for people who lie, cheat, steal, and have other kinds of faults. This is for human beings. This is not a place where people are perfect. This is a place for people who want to change. This is a place for people who want to grow. If you don’t want to grow, or you want to wear a mask and pretend like you’ve got it all together, you’re in the wrong church! This is the place where people are real and vulnerable. Why? It’s emotionally healthy.
2. It’s spiritually empowering.
The Bible says in the book of James, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Circle “grace” and “humble” Those two words go together.
What is grace? Grace is the fact that God gives you what you need not what you deserve. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t give you what you deserve? If we got what we deserve, none of us would be here right now. He gives us what we need. That’s called grace. Grace is the power to change. You need grace every single week. You’re going to need it this week. You’re going to need grace to handle the problems you’re going to face in the next seven days. You’re going to need grace to handle the people you face in the next seven days – the conflicts. You’re going to need grace to handle the pressures you’re going to face in the next seven days.
How do you get grace? God gives grace to the humble. How do I get grace? By humbling myself. How do I do that? By being honest about my weaknesses. That’s what humility is. Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. You are a whole bundle of strengths and weaknesses. You have some tremendous strengths in your life. There’s no doubt of that. You also have some tremendous weaknesses in your life. I’m sure of that to because it’s the same in my life. I’ve got some great strengths in my life and I have enormous weaknesses.
Many people have a false idea of what humility is. You think humility is putting yourself down all the time, “I’m no good! I’m a bum! Worthless. Nobody loves me, everybody hates me. I’m going to go eat maggots! I’m a piece of junk.” Jesus Christ did not die for junk. The cross shows you value. Jesus said, “Let me show you how much I value you.” This much and he stretched his arms out on the cross. He says we’re worth dying for. Jesus did not die for junk. And the very fact that Christ died for you shows how much you matter to God, how much He values you. Humility is simply being honest about your weaknesses. And the more honest we are, the more grace we get. The more grace we get, the more power we have to change.
3. It is relationally attractive.
People like you more when you do it. A whole lot more. The fastest way to endear yourself to other people is to quit trying to pretend like you’ve got it all together. And just admit your weaknesses. We love people who are honest, open, vulnerable, down to earth, real and admit it when they’ve blown it. We love those kinds of people. We love being around them.
On the other hand we despise people who are deceitful, hyper-critical and pretend like they’ve got it all together when they don’t and are arrogant and they’re jerks. We don’t’ like that. If you want people to be open to you, all you have to do is be open to them. Be honest.
Whenever you go out and share your strengths, that always creates competition. It’s bragging. But whenever I share weakness that creates community. Vulnerability is the key to fellowship. Would you like to be closer to your husband/wife? Would you like to have a more intimate relationship with your kids or best friends? Would like like to have a more solid relationships? The key is to be vulnerable.
What is it in your relationships that you’re pretending not to know? There’s a big problem in your home, your friendship, with that person you’re dating or engaged to. It’s like a big pink elephant sitting in your living room and you’re saying, “I don’t see any pink elephant.” What are you pretending not to know, that you know is wrong in that relationship? You’re not doing anything about it, you’re not talking about it, you’re not being honest.
We are emotionally distant until we break down the barriers and admit our weaknesses.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever shared your greatest fear with your spouse? I’m not talking about “I’m really afraid of spiders.”
Husbands, have you ever shared your deepest fears? “I’m afraid that I will not be able to provide for you, that I might loose my job and can’t find another one.”
If you want to be close to somebody there’s only one way to genuine intimacy. Remember?
Truth... Trust... Transperancy
There is no intimacy without vulnerability. That’s why some people can never have a relationship. They’ll never let anybody get close to them. So they’re lonely. God says, “I want you to learn to be an open, vulnerable person because it’s emotionally healthy, spiritually empowering, and it is relationally attractive.”
4. It’s a mark of leadership
If you want to be a leader, you’ll have to become vulnerable. Every one of us is called to be leader. Every one of you are leaders in different areas, different domains. Sometimes you’re a leader in your community, your neighborhood, you block, your family. You have to take a leadership role sometimes with children, sometimes with aged parents, sometimes at work or at school. There are some times you have to take the lead.
Leadership can be summed up in one word -- influence. Leadership is influence. It’s not position. It’s not title. It’s influence. If I were to take you to the grade school and at recess on the playground, within five minutes you could pick out which kids were the leaders. It’s real simple. They’re the ones who are influencing everybody else.
If you want to be an influential leader, if you want to say, “I don’t just want to waste my life. I want to make an impact. I want to leave the world a better place because I was here,” you’re going to have to be a leader. The way you become a leader is through credibility. Credibility is the one essential requirement for leadership. If you don’t have credibility, people won’t trust you. And if people don’t trust you, you certainly can’t influence them.
How do you get credibility? By being vulnerable, open. When you go to a bank and borrow some money do they immediately hand over the money to you? No. They do what’s called a credit check. They look and see are you credit worthy? Are you credible? Do you pay off your debts on time, with interest, without any late payments or penalties? Are you trustworthy? And if you are credit worthy, then they’ll loan you money.
Every moment of your life, people around you are doing credit checks on you. Your kids, before they do what you say, they’re going to say to themselves, “Does their life back up what they say? Are they worthy of trusting? Are they worthy of following?” Your friends, your neighbors, the people you work with, if you’re a salesman, your customers, “Are you credible?”
How do you be credible? Not by being perfect but by being honest. If you have to be perfect to be a leader, how many leaders are we going to have in the world? None. You don’t have to be perfect to be a leader but you do have to be honest about your weaknesses. When you’re honest about your weaknesses they say, “This person’s not trying to give me a snow job. Not trying to blow me away. He’s not wearing a mask. He’s the real article, the genuine item. I can trust what that person says so I will follow them. I will do what they say.” It’s integrity, humility – credibility – being vulnerable.
When you do that you can influence others.
We have to decide in life whether we’re going to impress people or influence people. You can’t do both. You can impress people from a distance, but you can only influence people up close. From a distance, you look pretty classy. You could be a celebrity from a distance but when you get up close to people they see your warts and liver spots and cellulite and other failings, faults, failures in your life. But you don’t have to be perfect to be a leader, you do have to be real. God says I want you to be that because He wants leaders in this world to impact the world for good, not for evil.
Why are we talking about this? Why have we spent two weeks on this?
Since Cathleen and I began ministry about 12yrs. ago, we’ve been trying to build a model of LAF (Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness) and vulnerability - it has culminated here @ FOCUS. We’ve always wanted this family to be a place where you don’t have to have it all together and people can be honest, open about their struggles. The tragic thing is in alot of churches, that’s the last place you want to share your weaknesses, to be honest. “If I let them know what’s going on in my marriage, with my kids, in my life or the addictions and secret sins in my life right now, they’re just going to judge me. They’re going to put me down. If I tell the church it will be gossip.” But if there is any place that ought to be able to help you when you hurt, it ought to be God’s family. For 12yrs., we’ve tried to model this, be open and honest about our own faults and weaknesses. And the other staff and other people.
Let me give you five things to share. What do I share? These are all out of the examples of the Apostle Paul. Paul was honest in all five areas.
1. My failures.
2. My feelings. Some of you men have never done that with your wife.
3. My faults.
4. My frustrations.
5. My fears.
You could take a survey of the Bible to see you that God
always uses weak people. His gift is turning weakness into strength.
Moses – Moses’ greatest weakness was his anger. He got angry one day and killed an Egyptian so he got kicked out of Egypt. He got angry one day and struck a rock that God told him to speak to and that kept him out of the Promised Land. He got angry and threw the Ten Commandments down and broke them. He had to go back and get them again. Anger was Moses’ greatest weakness. And yet, in the Bible, there were only two people called meek. “Meek” means “anger under control” – Jesus and Moses. God took his greatest weakness and turned it into his greatest strength. He was a patient man. He put up with a million babies for forty years in the wilderness.
David is called “a man after God’s own heart.” You’d think Mr. Purity. David stole a man’s wife, committed adultery with her and then had the man killed. I don’t call that purity. Yet David’s greatest area of failure, God turned it around and built strength in his life. He became a man so pure that calls call him a man after His own heart.
Abraham, in the Bible, is called the Father of faith. He’s a spiritual giant. He has enormous faith. Yet when you study Abraham’s life, his greatest weakness was his lack of faith. He was a doubter, always worrying. One time the enemy came and he said to his wife, “Tell them you’re my sister so they won’t kill me to take you.” I’m sure his wife was thinking, “There’s a man of faith!! He’d save his neck by giving his wife away.” God took the man’s greatest weakness and turned it into a strength.
Peter. Jesus came to Peter and said, “You are a rock. You’re going to be called Rock from now on. You’re stable.” Peter was anything but stable. He was Mr. Impulsive. Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. Mr. Do-Something-Impulsively-And-Later-Regret-It. “I’ll never deny You!” then three minutes later he’s denying Him three times! When they came to arrest Jesus, Peter pulls out his sword and knocks off a guy’s ear – that’s before Tyson! Jesus said, “Don’t do that!” and sticks it back on. Peter was Mr. Impulsive. Yet his greatest weakness is turned into a strength.
All of God’s giants have been weak men and weak women.
My favorite of these is Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver. Jacob was a manipulator. Jacob was a schemer. All his life, he spent scheming to get his way. He made one mess after another and then he’d run from it. He ran his entire life because of all the messes. He’d create a mess and run. Create a mess and run. Out of one relationship into another. One night he had a dream. He had a vision that he was wrestling with God. He said, "I’m not going to let go until you bless me, God.” And God said, “Ok, I’ll bless your life.” Then it says He grabs his thigh and pulls his hip out of socket. He touched him. Your thigh muscle is the strongest muscle in your body. God touched him at his greatest point of strength. The Bible says from that point on, Jacob’s life was blessed, but he walked with a limp the rest of his life. Touched at his greatest point of strength and turned into a weakness. Why? Two reason:
1) God wanted him to have a constant reminder: You’ve got to depend on Me from now on. (thorn)
2) Jacob could no longer run away from his problems. That old habit of creating a problem and running from it, he couldn’t do any more because he had a limp.
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. And the entire nation was named after that guy. It was changed from “Jacob” which means “schemer, deceiver, manipulator” to Israel which means “Prince of God” and the nation of Israel was named after that man.
God wants to take the greatest weakness in your life and turn it into a strength. But if He does, if God blesses your life in a great way, you will walk with a limp the rest of your life. There will be a thorn, a reminder that God’s in charge.
The greatest example of God turning weakness into strength is what Jesus did on the cross and that’s what we remember at communion. “Although He died on the cross in weakness, Jesus now lives in the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak, but we live in Him and have God’s mighty power.”
The fact is everybody has weaknesses – emotional, physical, intellectual, relational, financial. We all have weaknesses. What we usually do with our weaknesses is we deny them or we hide them or we pretend they don’t exist or we ignore them or we excuse them or we blame other people for them. God comes along and says, “I’ve got something totally different. I want to use your weaknesses.” We say, “No, God! You don’t want to use them. You want to take away my weaknesses !” God says, “My ways are not your ways. My ways are higher than your ways I’m smarter than you. I have a plan. I want to use your weaknesses.” You say, “But God, don’t You want to use my strengths? You gave me all these abilities and talents. Why don’t You use my strengths?” He says, “I will use your strengths, yes. But I also want to use your weaknesses.”
Remember what we defined weakness as. We’re not talking about something you can change. We’re not talking about a sin, a character defect, a fault – overeating, chocolate, being late. No, that’s stuff you can do something about. When we talked about God wanting to use your weaknesses, we’re talking about any limitation in your life that you either inherited or you cannot change. There’s some things in your life you go, “Why God? Why did I have this relationship? I didn’t choose my parents. I didn’t choose my body. I didn’t choose my natural makeup. I didn’t choose the fact that I may have a predisposition toward depression, or worry, or losing my temper. I didn’t choose a lot of things in my life, yet they do limit my life, they often cause pain in my life. I can’t change some of those things.” If you naturally have a bad back, you’re going to have a bad back all your life. God says, “I have a plan even for your weaknesses. Not just your strengths but even your weaknesses.”
1 Corinthians 1:27 “God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to put wise men to shame and what the world considers weak in order to put powerful men to shame.”
Underline “purposely chose” and circle “weak”. God purposely chose the weaknesses in your life, not the sins, not the character faults, but those limitations in your life that you cannot change and you just inherited them. You’ve got them
and God says He wants to use them.
There are three steps God has to take us through in order to use our weakness.
1. First, I must admit my weakness. That’s pretty easy for most people. I don’t know anybody who maintains that they’re perfect. We all have shortcomings and faults and areas we’re weak in. So the first thing, we just say, “You’re right. I don’t have it all together. I’d like to pretend that I do. I’d like to think that I do. But I don’t.” So I stop pretending. I stop hoping that my weaknesses will just go away if I ignore them. I stop making excuses. I stop blaming other people for my weaknesses. I stop defending them. I stop denying them. I just admit: I have some weaknesses in my life – physical, spiritual … all these areas. That’s a pretty easy step. The second step is a little more difficult.
2. I must be grateful for my weaknesses. Why would anybody be grateful for their weaknesses? We talked about four reasons. Paul says “I’ve cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ in my life. When I have weaknesses it …
1) guarantees God’s power, because I’m depending on Him.
2) prevents arrogance, because I know I can’t do it all on my own.
3) it causes me to value others. Nobody gets all the pieces of the puzzle in their box. You don’t have all the gifts. God wants us to value each other, so nobody gets it all. You’re lacking some things and I’m lacking some things so we need each other. I need you, you need me – we need each other. We’re supposed to have helpers and friends who compensate for our weaknesses.
4) It gives me a ministry. Your greatest ministry, the way you can make the biggest impact on earth is that God will take your greatest weakness and turn it into a ministry. And God will take your deepest hurt and turn it into your life message. The Bible says He takes us through problems and comforts us so we can turn around and help people with the same comfort we’ve been given. Who could better help somebody going through a divorce than somebody who went through the pain of a divorce? Who can better help somebody struggling with an addiction than somebody who was an addict and Jesus helped them through it? Who could better help a couple with the pain of not having children when they wanted them than a couple who wanted children but were unable to have them for one reason or another? The very thing you’re most ashamed of, that you’re most embarrassed about., the very thing you wished nobody knows about, that skeleton in your closet, the very thing that still hurts you and pains you, if you’ll let God work on it in your life and touch you and heal you, God will use to help other people. That’s called a ministry.
But none of this can take place unless you’re willing to take step three. That’s what we’re going to talk about. I have to recognize my weaknesses, be grateful for them and think how God can use them. But if you want God to use the weakness in your life.
3. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO SHARE.
I must openly share my weaknesses. I let down my guard. I take off the mask. I put aside my defenses and just admit it. It’s like that “great” theologian, Flip Wilson, used to say, “What you see is what you get”. You be open and honest with people. This is called being vulnerable.
Would you agree that if you’re open and honest about your weaknesses with everybody around you, then that is a risky thing to do? It is. Highly risky. You don’t know how they’re going to respond to it. “I’m afraid to let you know what I’m really like because if you don’t like it, I’m up a creek because I’m all I’ve got. So what I’ll do is wear a mask and pretend to be what I think you want me to be. Then I think you’ll like me. Because if I really let you know what I’m really like, with all my faults and hurts and weaknesses and you reject that, I’m dead in the water. Tough luck!” So we live with masks most of our lives. It’s scary, risky, to be honest – gut level honest about your weaknesses with people.
God says do it. Four reasons. James Cook had to learn this lesson the hard way. He was the captain who discovered Hawaii and the Fiji islands and a number of other South Pacific islands. On one of the islands he discovered, they treated him like a god, put him on a pedestal because they’d never seen anybody like him. When he left on board the ship and pulled out to sea, they ran into a storm. Captain Cook was afraid the boat would capsize. Out of fear, they turned around and came back to shore. When they did, the natives murdered Captain Cook and his crew. He’d fallen off their pedestal and they couldn’t handle it. He wasn’t a god. No god would be afraid of a storm. They realized he was a mere mortal. He had disappointed them so they killed him.
I doubt any of you are going to get killed for being open and honest about your fears, but it is a risky proposition. So why should I learn to live a lifestyle where I’m honest and open, up front, about the emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual weaknesses in my life? Four reasons:
1. It is emotionally healthy
Maintaining an image of perfection requires an enormous amount of energy. When you try to live a life that shows everybody “I’ve got it all together” when you know you don’t and everybody else does too but you keep up the pretense, that’s why you’re under such stress. When you walk around with a mask on all the time, it creates enormous pressure in your life – tension, anxiety – What if I let the mask drop? One of the reasons you’re so stressed out and you’re near burn out is that you’re trying to be something you’re not. You’re trying to pretend you’ve got it all together when you know you don’t. Everybody else knows it too but you’re trying to keep up the façade that you’ve attained perfection and you’ve got it under control and everything’s hunky-dory. On the other hand, if you drop the mask and let down your guard and be real, honest, there is nothing as liberating emotionally than just being real, being honest, and not trying to put on show. In fact, that’s the only healthy way to live.
James 5:16 “Confess your faults to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Circle “each other”.
You probably do a pretty good job of confessing your faults to God. But it says to confess them to each other. It says you confess them to each other so you can be healed. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing. That’s the starting point. Some of those things that still hurt in your life, if you don’t get rid of, they’re never going to be gotten rid of until you share them with another person.
The very fact of sharing it with somebody else means the door is opening. The boogieman is not the boogieman anymore. They’re on the road to recovery. That’s the first step.
There are some things in your life that just won’t budge. Habits that you just can’t get rid of no matter how many messages you listen to, how many books you read, seminars you go to – there are some things in your life that you don’t like that just won’t change no matter how much you pray, “God, please take this out of my life!” It’s not going to, It’s not going to budge until first you be honest about it with some other human being. God wired us up that way. He wants us to help each other. We’re all stuck on this planet together. (starburst video)
Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.
It is emotionally healthy to let it go. As long as you’re not sharing with anybody saying you can handle it on your own, God says, “No, you can’t.”
If you’re looking for a place to do it, a good place is called FOCUS*. This place is a hang out for sinners. We’re all a bunch of guys and girls who have blown it in various areas. In fact, when we put up our sign, it ought to be “No perfect people need apply.” This is only for people who lie, cheat, steal, and have other kinds of faults. This is for human beings. This is not a place where people are perfect. This is a place for people who want to change. This is a place for people who want to grow. If you don’t want to grow, or you want to wear a mask and pretend like you’ve got it all together, you’re in the wrong church! This is the place where people are real and vulnerable. Why? It’s emotionally healthy.
2. It’s spiritually empowering.
The Bible says in the book of James, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Circle “grace” and “humble” Those two words go together.
What is grace? Grace is the fact that God gives you what you need not what you deserve. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t give you what you deserve? If we got what we deserve, none of us would be here right now. He gives us what we need. That’s called grace. Grace is the power to change. You need grace every single week. You’re going to need it this week. You’re going to need grace to handle the problems you’re going to face in the next seven days. You’re going to need grace to handle the people you face in the next seven days – the conflicts. You’re going to need grace to handle the pressures you’re going to face in the next seven days.
How do you get grace? God gives grace to the humble. How do I get grace? By humbling myself. How do I do that? By being honest about my weaknesses. That’s what humility is. Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. You are a whole bundle of strengths and weaknesses. You have some tremendous strengths in your life. There’s no doubt of that. You also have some tremendous weaknesses in your life. I’m sure of that to because it’s the same in my life. I’ve got some great strengths in my life and I have enormous weaknesses.
Many people have a false idea of what humility is. You think humility is putting yourself down all the time, “I’m no good! I’m a bum! Worthless. Nobody loves me, everybody hates me. I’m going to go eat maggots! I’m a piece of junk.” Jesus Christ did not die for junk. The cross shows you value. Jesus said, “Let me show you how much I value you.” This much and he stretched his arms out on the cross. He says we’re worth dying for. Jesus did not die for junk. And the very fact that Christ died for you shows how much you matter to God, how much He values you. Humility is simply being honest about your weaknesses. And the more honest we are, the more grace we get. The more grace we get, the more power we have to change.
3. It is relationally attractive.
People like you more when you do it. A whole lot more. The fastest way to endear yourself to other people is to quit trying to pretend like you’ve got it all together. And just admit your weaknesses. We love people who are honest, open, vulnerable, down to earth, real and admit it when they’ve blown it. We love those kinds of people. We love being around them.
On the other hand we despise people who are deceitful, hyper-critical and pretend like they’ve got it all together when they don’t and are arrogant and they’re jerks. We don’t’ like that. If you want people to be open to you, all you have to do is be open to them. Be honest.
Whenever you go out and share your strengths, that always creates competition. It’s bragging. But whenever I share weakness that creates community. Vulnerability is the key to fellowship. Would you like to be closer to your husband/wife? Would you like to have a more intimate relationship with your kids or best friends? Would like like to have a more solid relationships? The key is to be vulnerable.
What is it in your relationships that you’re pretending not to know? There’s a big problem in your home, your friendship, with that person you’re dating or engaged to. It’s like a big pink elephant sitting in your living room and you’re saying, “I don’t see any pink elephant.” What are you pretending not to know, that you know is wrong in that relationship? You’re not doing anything about it, you’re not talking about it, you’re not being honest.
We are emotionally distant until we break down the barriers and admit our weaknesses.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever shared your greatest fear with your spouse? I’m not talking about “I’m really afraid of spiders.”
Husbands, have you ever shared your deepest fears? “I’m afraid that I will not be able to provide for you, that I might loose my job and can’t find another one.”
If you want to be close to somebody there’s only one way to genuine intimacy. Remember?
Truth... Trust... Transperancy
There is no intimacy without vulnerability. That’s why some people can never have a relationship. They’ll never let anybody get close to them. So they’re lonely. God says, “I want you to learn to be an open, vulnerable person because it’s emotionally healthy, spiritually empowering, and it is relationally attractive.”
4. It’s a mark of leadership
If you want to be a leader, you’ll have to become vulnerable. Every one of us is called to be leader. Every one of you are leaders in different areas, different domains. Sometimes you’re a leader in your community, your neighborhood, you block, your family. You have to take a leadership role sometimes with children, sometimes with aged parents, sometimes at work or at school. There are some times you have to take the lead.
Leadership can be summed up in one word -- influence. Leadership is influence. It’s not position. It’s not title. It’s influence. If I were to take you to the grade school and at recess on the playground, within five minutes you could pick out which kids were the leaders. It’s real simple. They’re the ones who are influencing everybody else.
If you want to be an influential leader, if you want to say, “I don’t just want to waste my life. I want to make an impact. I want to leave the world a better place because I was here,” you’re going to have to be a leader. The way you become a leader is through credibility. Credibility is the one essential requirement for leadership. If you don’t have credibility, people won’t trust you. And if people don’t trust you, you certainly can’t influence them.
How do you get credibility? By being vulnerable, open. When you go to a bank and borrow some money do they immediately hand over the money to you? No. They do what’s called a credit check. They look and see are you credit worthy? Are you credible? Do you pay off your debts on time, with interest, without any late payments or penalties? Are you trustworthy? And if you are credit worthy, then they’ll loan you money.
Every moment of your life, people around you are doing credit checks on you. Your kids, before they do what you say, they’re going to say to themselves, “Does their life back up what they say? Are they worthy of trusting? Are they worthy of following?” Your friends, your neighbors, the people you work with, if you’re a salesman, your customers, “Are you credible?”
How do you be credible? Not by being perfect but by being honest. If you have to be perfect to be a leader, how many leaders are we going to have in the world? None. You don’t have to be perfect to be a leader but you do have to be honest about your weaknesses. When you’re honest about your weaknesses they say, “This person’s not trying to give me a snow job. Not trying to blow me away. He’s not wearing a mask. He’s the real article, the genuine item. I can trust what that person says so I will follow them. I will do what they say.” It’s integrity, humility – credibility – being vulnerable.
When you do that you can influence others.
We have to decide in life whether we’re going to impress people or influence people. You can’t do both. You can impress people from a distance, but you can only influence people up close. From a distance, you look pretty classy. You could be a celebrity from a distance but when you get up close to people they see your warts and liver spots and cellulite and other failings, faults, failures in your life. But you don’t have to be perfect to be a leader, you do have to be real. God says I want you to be that because He wants leaders in this world to impact the world for good, not for evil.
Why are we talking about this? Why have we spent two weeks on this?
Since Cathleen and I began ministry about 12yrs. ago, we’ve been trying to build a model of LAF (Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness) and vulnerability - it has culminated here @ FOCUS. We’ve always wanted this family to be a place where you don’t have to have it all together and people can be honest, open about their struggles. The tragic thing is in alot of churches, that’s the last place you want to share your weaknesses, to be honest. “If I let them know what’s going on in my marriage, with my kids, in my life or the addictions and secret sins in my life right now, they’re just going to judge me. They’re going to put me down. If I tell the church it will be gossip.” But if there is any place that ought to be able to help you when you hurt, it ought to be God’s family. For 12yrs., we’ve tried to model this, be open and honest about our own faults and weaknesses. And the other staff and other people.
Let me give you five things to share. What do I share? These are all out of the examples of the Apostle Paul. Paul was honest in all five areas.
1. My failures.
2. My feelings. Some of you men have never done that with your wife.
3. My faults.
4. My frustrations.
5. My fears.
You could take a survey of the Bible to see you that God
always uses weak people. His gift is turning weakness into strength.
Moses – Moses’ greatest weakness was his anger. He got angry one day and killed an Egyptian so he got kicked out of Egypt. He got angry one day and struck a rock that God told him to speak to and that kept him out of the Promised Land. He got angry and threw the Ten Commandments down and broke them. He had to go back and get them again. Anger was Moses’ greatest weakness. And yet, in the Bible, there were only two people called meek. “Meek” means “anger under control” – Jesus and Moses. God took his greatest weakness and turned it into his greatest strength. He was a patient man. He put up with a million babies for forty years in the wilderness.
David is called “a man after God’s own heart.” You’d think Mr. Purity. David stole a man’s wife, committed adultery with her and then had the man killed. I don’t call that purity. Yet David’s greatest area of failure, God turned it around and built strength in his life. He became a man so pure that calls call him a man after His own heart.
Abraham, in the Bible, is called the Father of faith. He’s a spiritual giant. He has enormous faith. Yet when you study Abraham’s life, his greatest weakness was his lack of faith. He was a doubter, always worrying. One time the enemy came and he said to his wife, “Tell them you’re my sister so they won’t kill me to take you.” I’m sure his wife was thinking, “There’s a man of faith!! He’d save his neck by giving his wife away.” God took the man’s greatest weakness and turned it into a strength.
Peter. Jesus came to Peter and said, “You are a rock. You’re going to be called Rock from now on. You’re stable.” Peter was anything but stable. He was Mr. Impulsive. Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. Mr. Do-Something-Impulsively-And-Later-Regret-It. “I’ll never deny You!” then three minutes later he’s denying Him three times! When they came to arrest Jesus, Peter pulls out his sword and knocks off a guy’s ear – that’s before Tyson! Jesus said, “Don’t do that!” and sticks it back on. Peter was Mr. Impulsive. Yet his greatest weakness is turned into a strength.
All of God’s giants have been weak men and weak women.
My favorite of these is Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver. Jacob was a manipulator. Jacob was a schemer. All his life, he spent scheming to get his way. He made one mess after another and then he’d run from it. He ran his entire life because of all the messes. He’d create a mess and run. Create a mess and run. Out of one relationship into another. One night he had a dream. He had a vision that he was wrestling with God. He said, "I’m not going to let go until you bless me, God.” And God said, “Ok, I’ll bless your life.” Then it says He grabs his thigh and pulls his hip out of socket. He touched him. Your thigh muscle is the strongest muscle in your body. God touched him at his greatest point of strength. The Bible says from that point on, Jacob’s life was blessed, but he walked with a limp the rest of his life. Touched at his greatest point of strength and turned into a weakness. Why? Two reason:
1) God wanted him to have a constant reminder: You’ve got to depend on Me from now on. (thorn)
2) Jacob could no longer run away from his problems. That old habit of creating a problem and running from it, he couldn’t do any more because he had a limp.
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. And the entire nation was named after that guy. It was changed from “Jacob” which means “schemer, deceiver, manipulator” to Israel which means “Prince of God” and the nation of Israel was named after that man.
God wants to take the greatest weakness in your life and turn it into a strength. But if He does, if God blesses your life in a great way, you will walk with a limp the rest of your life. There will be a thorn, a reminder that God’s in charge.
The greatest example of God turning weakness into strength is what Jesus did on the cross and that’s what we remember at communion. “Although He died on the cross in weakness, Jesus now lives in the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak, but we live in Him and have God’s mighty power.”
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