God said a long time ago in Ezekiel 22:30 (Living Bible) "I (God) looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap but I found not one." God is looking for people to use. He is looking for leaders. Nothing happens until somebody provides leadership. Everything rises or falls on leadership. We're looking for better methods, machinery, motivations. God says, I'm looking for better people, people that I can use.
We're in a series on leadership, looking at the life of Nehemiah. In a presidential campaign, a number of the candidates were questioned about their private life. The typical response was "It's none of your business." One guy said, "My private life in no way affects my ability to govern this nation." Nothing could be further from the truth. God says the exact opposite.
The Leadership Law we're going to look at today from Nehemiah is The effectiveness of my public leadership is determined by my private life.
Today we're going to get our first inside look at the heart of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a man of prayer, nine different times in this book he prays. In Nehemiah 1 we have one of the great prayers of the Bible. We learn a lot about people by listening to their prayers. We're going to get an inside look at this man, Nehemiah. We're going to see what his private life is like. We're also going to learn how to pray the kind of prayers that gets answered. God liked to answer Nehemiah 's prayers. If we can figure out what Nehemiah does then we can figure out what we can do to have our prayers answered.
Three questions:
1. When should I pray?
2. Why should I pray?
3. How should I pray?
Last week I said leadership can be learned. I believe the starting point is to learn how to pray.
Because that's what Nehemiah does first.
WHEN SHOULD I PRAY?
Before I do anything else.
The men had come back from Jerusalem and said Jerusalem is in ruins. The first thing Nehemiah did (v. 4) he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. Verse 4 also says he prayed for "some days". A leader does more than pray, but he doesn't do anything else until he prays. This is the starting point for what we want to look at. Leaders make prayer a first priority; others make prayer a last resort. That's the difference between leading in life and just living life. Leaders make prayer a first priority.
We are always on the go, want to get the job done, achievement oriented, goal oriented, busy people, prone to heart attacks. How many of us often find ourselves too busy to pray? Nehemiah says before we do anything else we must make time to pray. We'll see how Nehemiah used prayer.
Nehemiah was a man of action. Nehemiah is an organizer, motivator, manager. He likes to do things. He built the wall around the city in 52 days. Yet, instead of immediately going out and doing something, when he heard that something was wrong the first thing he did was get alone with God. He didn't form a committee. He got alone with God and prayed. This was the pattern of his life. (Cathleen and I moving?)There were nine different instances in his life.
He was a man of prayer.
WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
1. It shows I'm depending on God
The reason why we don't pray more is because we don't think we need to. We think we can handle it by ourselves. We think we can do it on our own. When you have a problem the human reaction, the natural reaction for us is to think, "Now what am I going to do about this?" instead of stopping and saying, "God, what do You want to do about
this?" Yet the Bible says in John 15 "Apart from Me you can do nothing." That's the only way we bear fruit.
We saw in Matthew 5:3 in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There is nothing God won't do for the person who is depending on Him. My usefulness as a leader, and yours, begins when I recognize my total dependence upon God. The way I know I'm depending on God is that the first thing I do when a problem comes is I pray.
2. It lightens my load
The reason why Nehemiah prayed was because he was
distressed by the bad news. He was a very sensitive person, very compassionate. He felt things very deeply. It says he wept over the ruins. But rather than simply mourning or moaning, he prayed. He took the problem to the Lord. He didn't just complain and gripe and wallow in self pity. He took his broken heart to the Lord.
The name Nehemiah means "The Lord is my comfort". When Nehemiah's heart was broken over the things that were going wrong in Israel, he took his problem to the Lord. God honors prayer that comes from a genuinely concerned heart. He longs to hear us say, "Lord, I can't handle this. I don't know how to do it. Help me!" That's the prayer that He likes to answer.
The fact is that leaders take their burdens to the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
If you're going to be a leader, it produces stress. Great
leaders find their strength on their knees.
3. It releases God's power
Nothing else releases God's power like the prayer of faith. Jeremiah 33:3 God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not." Prayer can do whatever God can do! Whatever God can do, prayer can do. Prayer taps in to the very resources of God.
Many of you came in here very fatigued. Prayer taps you in to the resources of God. When God is brought in on a
project, it turns the impossible into the possible.
The question I really want to look at today is:
HOW SHOULD I PRAY?
We have a sample of a leader's prayer in v. 5-11. You can learn a lot about a person by the kind of prayer that they pray.
A canned prayer indicates a dried up spirit. A selfish prayer indicates a selfish spirit.
Some prayers are like Christmas lists. Selfish prayers indicate a selfish heart.
Impressive prayers indicate an arrogant, prideful heart.
We learn a lot about Nehemiah by looking at the kind of prayer he prayed. Remember that Nehemiah, when he first heard about the downfall of Jerusalem, prayed for four months. This is not just a casual prayer. The prayer we're going to look at today is just a sample prayer he prayed. It gives us a pattern for successful praying. If you want to know how to pray, study the book of Nehemiah and
particularly this prayer.
Whenever people in the Bible ask God to do something they always presented a basis for it. They always said, "God I want you to do this because..." and they had a reason for Him to do it. There's many different reasons depending on the circumstance. Every time you find a prayer in the Bible, they gave a reason. A key question you want to ask yourself when you pray is this, "Why should God answer my prayer?" Why should I ask God to answer this prayer? The Bible teaches us that the right kind of praying is give God a reason to answer your prayer. Don't just say "I want this" or "This is my desire" -- Give Him a reason why you're praying this.
With that as a background let me give you the four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah.
1. Base my request on God's character
This is the greatest reason to give to God. "I'm expecting You to answer this prayer because of Who You are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!" Nehemiah comes to God and says, "God, I want you to do something back over in Jerusalem. Verse 5 "O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His command." Nehemiah said three things about God:
1. You're great -- that's God's position.
2. You're awesome -- that shows His power.
3. You keep your promises -- God's covenant.
The first thing Nehemiah did was he acknowledges who God is. That's what praise is. Acknowledge who God is and His greatness. Nehemiah is saying "God, I know our situation is in a mess, but I'm just reminding myself you're in control. I know that the problems over there in Jerusalem may be great but You are greater, You're bigger, You're bigger than this mess." He starts off by getting the right perspective. In starting to have answered prayer, say, "God, I want You to answer because of who You are. You've given us all of these things, these promises. You are a faithful God, a loving God, a merciful God" -- all these things the Bible tells us He is. You base your request on God's character.
2. Confess the sin in my life
This is step number two if you want to have answers to your prayers. The Jews had disobeyed God. As a result, God said, "All right, if you don't obey me you're going to loose the land of Israel." And they lost it. Because they had not obeyed God they lost their city, Jerusalem, the Temple and were taken into foreign captivity -- all because they had disobeyed Him. Many of the books of the prophets are about this very thing.
v. 6,7 "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes be opened to the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands and the decrees and the laws you gave your servant Moses."
Part one of Nehemiah's prayer is to base his request on who God is. "God, you're a great God. You're awesome! You keep your promises!" Part two, I admit who I am. He says, "We've sinned." Look at how many times he uses the word "I" and "we". He says "I confess... myself... my father's house ... we have acted wickedly ... we have not obeyed." It wasn't Nehemiah's fault they went into captivity. He wasn't even born when this happened seventy years earlier. He was born in captivity. Yet, he is including himself in the national sins. He says "I've been a part of the problem".
There is personal confession and there is national confession. This is something we don't know anything about. We don't have a corporate sense in America today. We are very individualistic. We're taught to confess my sins. When was the last time you confessed the sins of the nation? or the sins of your family? or your church? or your friends? We don't think that way. We're very individualistic. Our society has taught us the concept of you're only responsible for you. And that's just not true! You are your brother's keeper. We are all in this together. If there's one phrase I never want to hear it's "I've got to do what's best for me!" All kinds of things get justified with that phrase. “It doesn't matter whether I'm leaving my wife/husband and kids or whatever else, I've got to do what's best for me!” Nehemiah says "Not only do I have personal sin to confess but I have corporate sin. I'll accept the blame for other things.
Another Law of Leadership: Leaders accept the blame but losers pass the buck.
If you want to be a leader, you accept the blame and share the credit. Losers are always accusers and excusers. they're always making excuses why things didn't/couldn't happen, It's always somebody else's fault. Leaders accept the blame. "We have sinned against You." (Pres. - dropped ball - Katrina) The point is that all sin is ultimately against God. When you break a human law you are ultimately offending God. When you hurt somebody else, you're ultimately hurting God.
The older I get in the Lord, the more increasingly I'm aware of my own sinfulness and God's graciousness. What a gracious God that we have that He uses imperfect people in that way. I base my request on who God is and then I confess the sin.
3. Claim the promises of God
v. 8-9 Remember the instructions you gave to your servant Moses saying `If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen .. in my name." Notice it says "if ... I will" Circle "if". Then again He says "if ... I will". He has a warning and a promise.
Nehemiah is praying to the Lord and saying, "I want You to remember what You told your servant Moses." Can you imagine saying "remember" to God? He's reminding God what He had said in the past. God warned us through Moses that if we were unfaithful we would loose the land of Israel. But You also promised that if we repent You'd give it back to us. All through the Bible you find God's people reminding God about what He said He wants to do. David did it. Abraham did it. Moses did it. All the prophets did it. "God, I want to remind You of one of Your promises..." then they'd share it.
Question: Does God have to be reminded? No. Does He forget what He's promised? No. Then why do we do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised. Nothing pleases God more that when you remind God of one of His promises. Do kids ever forget a promise? Never. (dad - 12y. - wanna 3-wheel now or new corvette @16?)
So you have to be very careful about making them. The Bible says we're imperfect fathers and if we imperfect fathers know that we need to fulfill our promises to our kids, how much more does a perfect Father, a Heavenly Father, intend to keep the promises He's made in His word.
Prayer transforms God's promises into performance. Prayer is taking God at His word. It's holding God to His promises. It's asking God to do what He's already promised He wants to do. Nehemiah says "God, first I'm basing my prayer on Who You are. Then I'm admitting who I am. Then I'm reminding You of what You've said."
There are over 7000 promises in the Bible waiting to be claimed.
Pray the scriptures - praying God’s Word is praying God’s will.
God never shuts His storehouse until you shut your mouth. God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed. But you must claim the promises of God.
Nehemiah could claim these promises because he knew them. The promises he mentions in these verses are Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:4. When was the last time you memorized a promise or prayed out of Leviticus or
Deuteronomy?
The point is, the strength of my prayer life is determined by how well I know the promises of God. The secret of successful praying is pleading the promises of God. "God, you said it and because of what You said and who You are, I thank You that the answer is on its way. I'm expecting You to meet my needs." We need to learn the promises of God.
4. Be very specific in what I ask for
In order to get specific answers to prayer you've got to make specific requests.
If you make general prayers, how will you know if they are answered?
v. 10,11 "They are your servants, your people, whom you've
redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this, your
servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in
revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
Nehemiah has the whole prayer just to have the little request at the end. "When I go before the king to ask to be released to go build the wall, give me success when I make that request to the king." Nehemiah is willing to go to Jerusalem. He was available. He was willing to rebuild the project. But he knew he'd have to get the king's permission first who was definitely not a believer. You don't just let your right hand guy walk away. The king has the power of death and life over anybody. Nehemiah was asking a leave of absence for three years, to go back to his home town and rebuild a wall the king had ordered not to be rebuilt. This was the reason he was asking for success when he went to talk with the king.
He's not hesitant to pray for success. He's very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, "Lord, make me successful!" If you haven't, why haven't you? What is the alternative? A failure? There is nothing wrong with praying for success if what you're doing is ultimately for the glory of God. Pray boldly. Pray that God will make you successful in life for the glory of God. That's what Nehemiah did. This is a valid prayer. Give me success!
Remember this is just a sample prayer of four months of praying. What did Nehemiah do during these four months? Did he have this one prayer and he prayed it over several times a day? No, I doubt it. If Nehemiah was praying over a four month period his prayer probably evolved into this. Like our prayers do a lot of time. You start praying for something and then it gets clarified. That's one of the purposes God delays answering prayers many times; He wants us to clarify.
“Lord, give me success in this!
William Carey who founded the modern missionary movement used to say, "Expect great things from God; do great things for God." That's a good motto for every believer.
Summary: The type of prayer that God answers. Four marks of Nehemiah's prayer that are the same four marks we need to have in our praying if we're going to be a leader who has his/her prayers answered on a regular basis:
1. It's a prayer of conviction. It's a prayer of conviction of who God is. It's conviction that God is a just God, a great God, in control. He wants to hear me. He wants to answer my prayers. It is conviction acknowledging who God is. This is what praise is all about. Praise is bragging on God.
2. It's a prayer of confession of what I am and who I am. "God, I've blown it. I've made mistakes and I'm imperfect." Be very specific.
3. It's a prayer of confidence in what God has promised. "I know who You are, I know what I am, I know what You've said." God said it, I believe it -- that settles it! If God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not. Claim God's promises. The promises are the keys that unlock the answers to prayer. You've got to learn those 7000 promises.
4. It's a prayer of commitment. "I'm willing to be part of the answer. God, You can use me. I commit myself. I'll be part of the solution."
We're talking about leadership. Every one of you are leaders because leadership is influence. You are leaders in different parts of life. The issue is not whether you're a leader or not, it's whether you're a good leader or not. The first step in leadership is to develop a private life, time alone with God -- a personal, daily, devotional walk. If you want to be a leader, develop your prayer life. Learn to pray like Nehemiah prayed. Watch the doors of heaven open up.
Practical things: devotions
Next week we're going to look at the next chapter and answer the question, "What do you do after you've prayed?" I've prayed, I've been praying about the situation. What do I do next? A leader does more than pray but he doesn't do anything until he prays.
Prayer:
I'd like to walk you through these four steps. Think of one thing you've really had your heart set on. It's a real prayer request you'd like to pray. First, in your heart, base your request on who God is. Before you give the request to God, say, "God, I know You can answer this request because You are..." and tell Him what He is. A great God, a loving God, a merciful God. You listen to our prayers. You are a faithful God, You keep Your promises. On the basis of that make your request.
Number two, "God, I confess the sin in my life." Ask God if there is any sin He needs to reveal to you. We commit them specifically, we need to confess them specifically. Don't make a blanket approach, "God, forgive all my sins." Is there an attitude or action you need to change? Ask God to cleanse your life.
Then would you claim the promises of God. If you can't think of one right now, I suggest Philippians 4:19 "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thank God that He gives us these promises.
Then be very specific in what you ask for. Lay your request out to God. Some of you need to pray that God would make you successful in a certain venture or project. If you're not sure that God wants you to do it, get something you're sure God wants you to do.
Then a prayer of commitment. "God, I'm willing to be part of the answer. I'm willing to be used by You in any way for the answer."
Thank You, Father, for these lessons we've learned from this great leader Nehemiah. May all of us develop our prayer life and grow closer to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
LEADING IN LIFE - The Making of a Leader
THE MAKING OF A LEADER
We're going to start a series I'm calling "Leading in Life".
I want to begin with a verse out of Proverbs. Proverbs 28:2 "A nation will be strong and endure when it has intelligent, sensible leaders." Circle the words "strong" and "endure". Those are the two benefits of having good, strong leadership. I think you could apply this verse to your family. I think you could say, A family will be strong and endure when there's good leadership. And a business, and a church. In the Living Bible it says, "With honest, sensible leaders there is stability." There are few things that are needed more in life today than stability. We need it in our homes, our nation, our world. There are rapid changes and upheavals and we need stability. It comes from leadership.
(diff. in living and leading in life)
Today we're going to begin an exciting discovery what the principles of leadership are in the book of Nehemiah. That's going to be our textbook. For years all I knew about Nehemiah was the was rebuilding a wall. That's all I knew. But the fact is, this is the greatest leadership book ever written. By his examples we're going to learn principles of leadership.
Today I want to give you the background of the book. But before we do that I want to give you LAWS OF LEADER-- six principles of why we're going to even do this study.
1.NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEONE PROVIDES LEADERSHIP FOR IT.
That is a law of life. Look at history. The Civil Rights movement was nothing until a man came along named Martin Luther King and said, "I have a dream" and he provided leadership. The NASA space program was nothing until a guy named John Kennedy said, "We're going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." A man by the name of Ray Crocks said, "I want fast food at a convenient price in a clean atmosphere" and he invented an entire industry called fast food. This church started because God said, "Joe and Cathleen, I want you to be leaders and get this thing off the ground." In your own family -- you have family problems... nothing happens until somebody in the family assumes leadership and says, "We're going to do something about it." Everything rises or falls on leadership. Most problems can be traced to a lack of competent leadership. The greatest problem today is a leadership shortage. The greatest need is trained leaders.
In the book of Judges there were seven cycles -- up and down, up and down. The last verse of the book Judges 21:25 "Every man did what was right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel." Where there is no leadership, people do their own thing. There is instability.
2. LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE
If I had to summarize leadership in one word it's influence -- for good or for bad. There are positive leaders and negative leaders. Have you ever gone onto a playground at school and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? For good or for bad.(pic) Have you ever set with a group of teenagers and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? Have you sat in a committee meeting and figured out who the leader was, often not the chairman? It's the person everyone keeps looking to to find out what he thinks? Every time you influence somebody you're assuming leadership.
I Timothy 4:12 Paul told Timothy, "As a young man be an example in leadership." Age has nothing to do with leadership. You can be an influence at any age and you're a model whether you like it or not. Everybody here today is a leader, just in different areas. Anytime you influence somebody you're a leader. The issue is not Are you a leader? The issue is whether or not you're a good one. You are a leader -- in your family, at home, at work, at school. The issue is, Are you a good one or not?
Nehemiah is the outstanding example in the Bible. He
accomplished incredible odds in a brief time because
he was a leader.
3.THE TEST OF LEADERSHIP IS "IS ANYBODY FOLLOWING?"
If you want to know whether you're a leader or not, simple -- Look over your shoulder. Jesus said in John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me." I Cor. 11:1 Paul said, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." We all need human models. Sure we're to follow Christ but we need human models to follow.
John Maxwell's parable of leadership, "He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk."
Leadership has absolutely nothing to do with titles or position. It has to do with influence. This is a mistake a lot of people make. A guy thinks, because he has a title, people are going to automatically follow and that's not necessarily true at all. There is a big difference between having a boss and having a leader. It's not a position or a title. Many
people have authority but they don't have leadership.
Ever seen that?
If you have to tell people that you are the leader, if you have to remind people that you're the leader, you're not. Leadership is influence and if you're not influencing anybody it doesn't mater whether you think you're the leader or not -- you're not. It's all influence.
The same thing is true in your home. When you say to your wife, "We're going to do it this way, because I am the spiritual leader, " you ain't. You've just lost it. The truth is if you're really leading, you don't have to remind people.
How about if your kid comes to you and says, "Why should I do this?" and you say, "Because I say so". That is a very weak position to motivate from. It just doesn't work too good. The test of leadership is if you have somebody following. You cannot force people to follow you no matter what you do.
4. THE FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP IS CHARACTER, NOT CHARISMA
A lot of TV evangelists have had lots of charisma, but they've bombed out because they had no character. They had major character defects.
A while back on one of the children's quiz shows the question was "What do you call a person who speaks through a dummy without moving his lips?" The child said, "An evangelist?"
The foundation of leadership is character, not charisma. Charisma has nothing to do with it. You don't have to have charisma to be a leader. You do have to have character, credibility, because leadership is influence and if you don't have credibility nobody is going to follow you.
Reputation is what people say you are, character is what you really are. D. L. Moody said, "Character is what you are in the dark when nobody is looking." I Timothy 3:1-13, Paul lays out the leadership characteristics for church leadership. All those characteristics he laid out necessary to be in the ministry, not once does he mention you've got to have a seminary education. Leadership is not based on academies it's character, on who you are.
Leaders come in all types and shapes and sizes of temperaments. There is no one leadership personality. God wants to use your personality. Look at the four different temperaments: Paul was a choleric. Peter was a sanguine. Moses was a melancholic. Abraham was a phlegmatic. They are as different as night and day. God used them all. Leadership has nothing to do with personality. You don't have to be outgoing to be a leader. You don't have to be a sanguine to be a leader.
What you do have to have is character. All great leaders have character. Sometimes a person gets into leadership without character and then those character flaws cause their downfall.
As we look at Nehemiah, we're going to see a man of God who was a very ordinary type of person but did extraordinary things because he had character in his life.
The fact is you will burn out if you try to imitate somebody else's personality. If you want to be a leader, don't say, "I want to be like..." and pick a model. If you try to imitate their personality, you will most likely burn out. (didn’t figure out until came here) All leaders are very different, there is great diversity. What great leaders do have in common is credibility and character.
Hebrews 13:7-8 "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." This passage gives us three characteristics of good leaders:
They have a message worth remembering. When they talk, people listen. "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you." Evidently, there is something worth remembering there.
They have a lifestyle worth considering. "Consider the outcome of their way of life." Does their walk match their talk? Does their life match what they say they are?
They have a faith worth imitating. "Imitate their faith."
If you want to be a good leader, you need to develop a message worth remembering (What is my life message? What does God want to say to the world through me?), have a lifestyle worth considering and have a faith worth imitating. That's all character.
5. LEADERSHIP CAN BE LEARNED
If I didn't believe this we wouldn't be wasting time on this
series. Every one of you can be a great leader. Philippians 4:9 "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put into practice." Leaders are made not born. There is no such thing as a born leader. They are made by the way they respond to circumstances. You can take two people in exact opposite situations, circumstances, one of them will end up being a leader, the other washes out because of the choices they make.
The priority of training leaders I think can be seen in the ministry of Jesus. Mark 3:14 "He appointed twelve that they should be with him and he should send them out." Jesus had a public ministry and a private ministry. His public ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. His private ministry involved training the disciples. Even within the twelve He had an inner circle -- Peter, James, John -- who got to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Transfiguration -- they got extra attention. In Galatians, Paul said Peter, James and John were the pillars of the church. Jesus invested the maximum time with those who would bear the maximum responsibility. He fed the masses but He spent most of His time training leadership. Leadership can be learned.
6. THE MOMENT YOU STOP LEARNING, YOU STOP LEADING
All leaders are learners. Every leader is a learner. The moment I stop learning, I stop leading. You must always be developing and growing and becoming what God wants you to be. Learning to be a leader takes a lifetime. We'll see it in the life of Nehemiah -- how God prepared him and God used him and how God used the lives of other people that Nehemiah taught.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 "If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success." If you've got a dull ax and you're chopping wood, it takes more energy. But if you have a sharp ax it doesn't take as much energy. Work smarter, not harder. People say, Hard work brings success. I know lots of people who work hard, and aren't successful. They do hard work digging ditches every day, but they're not working smarter. You need to learn to be a leader.
I honor you for being here. The very fact that you're here says more about you than it does about this message. It says that you're interested in learning to be a leader. I honor you for that. The person who thinks, "I know it all" is going to be left behind. It's the person who says, "I need to learn. I need to grow." I want to challenge you to not miss any of this series. This will help you at work, at church, in your business, in your home. I believe God has a place for you to serve. I believe that the very fact that you're alive means God has a purpose for your life. That involves having an
influence on other people.
THE BACKGROUND OF NEHEMIAH'S STORY
In 586 BC the city of Jerusalem in Israel was destroyed. Jews were deported over to Babylon which is now Iraq. They were to be kept there for 70 years. But in 537 the first group of Jews were allowed to return. In 516 the Temple was rebuilt. In 458 Ezra led the second group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Then in 445 Nehemiah asked permission to return to Jerusalem with a third group to rebuild the city walls.
Where is it happening? Jerusalem.
The Problem is that the city walls needed to be rebuilt. Today we use other means to protect our cities -- like radar. We don't need walls. But in those days if a city was walled and an enemy came against it, it might take 2, 4, 6 months for the enemy to break in. The walls were very important. The Jews had been taken away in captivity into another country. They finally were allowed to trickle back in. Finally they were allowed to rebuild the Temple. But the city was still in ruins, rubble. All the walls were falling down. It was just junk and they were living in a heap.
The people were defenseless. They were vulnerable to attack and harassment because they had no protection. Because they were defenseless they were also discouraged and defeated.
Why were they in captivity in the first place? It was the sin of the nation. God said, If you guys don't get your act together I'm going to allow an enemy nation to come in, and He did. But now He's allowing the Jews to come back, the Temple has been rebuilt but the city is still in rubble, a big mess, and the walls are broken down. People are living in rubble, low morale, and they're defeated, discouraged, depressed. What do you do when you have that kind of situation?
You need a leader.
Nehemiah 1 "The word of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year. While I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah and some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, `Those that survived the exile are back in the province and they are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire.' [It's very significant about the gates.] When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned, fasted and prayed before the Lord God. Then I said ..." the next verses gets into his prayer.
Notice: Nehemiah first says "I was in the city of Susa". First place, notice this was written in first person. Nehemiah wrote this book. This is his journal. We're going to get a personal account of a leader, not from third hand experience. This is his personal journal. We're going to get an inside look at the leader.
He was in the citadel of Susa. Susa was not the capital of the Persian Empire but was kind of like a summer palace. Nehemiah is there in the king's summer palace which is in modern day Iraq.
Last part of v. 11, he says "I was the cupbearer to the king." This tells us what Nehemiah did for a living, who he was, what his occupation was.
It says Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. What was a cupbearer? If he was going to go back and try to rebuild the wall, obviously he's not a contractor, he's a cupbearer. A cupbearer was probably the second most important position in the kingdom. He was a combination Prime Minister, body guard, personal security agent and assistant to the king. He did all of these things. He was very well trusted. He was the person the most trusted by the king. He was the king's personal security agent, and prime minister. The reason he was called cupbearer was because part of his job was to taste the wine before the king drank it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. There were a lot of assassination attempts in those days. The king was paranoid and fearful so they would have a guy who would test all of the wine. If he keeled over they knew that was bad wine! It was a pretty dangerous job, considering in those days a lot of people didn't like the King.
The point I want to make here is that Nehemiah had to be absolutely loyal and trustworthy, a Jew brought over in captivity or actually he was probably born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years, but he was not a Persian and he is second in command. Isn't it neat how God has a way of always getting His men in the right position at the right time? Nehemiah is really a major figure in the Persian government.
Verse 1 says in the month of Chislev his brother Hanani has been on a trip to Jerusalem and he comes back. Jerusalem is about 800 to 1000 miles from Susa. In those days that would take probably about two months travel on camel and it's all across the desert. It's major hard driving. His brother comes back and Nehemiah says, give me a report about all of our relatives, what's happening over there in Jerusalem? Hanani says, "It's all bad news, the people are in the pits, our relatives are discouraged, the walls have not been rebuilt. They've got the temple rebuilt but the whole city lies in ruin. All these guys are coming in invading the city and the people are discouraged, depressed, low morale. It's bad!"
Nehemiah's reaction in v. 4 "When I heard these things I sat down and I wept and for some days I mourned and I fasted and I prayed before the God of heaven." Nehemiah's reaction was four things: he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. He's really taking this thing seriously. He's saddened by this. He's embarrassed for the people of God. He says, I prayed and in the next few verses, 4-11, he gives us the prayer. Notice it says, "for some days". Circle that phrase. He didn't do it for just one day. How long did he do it? He tells us. In v. 1 he tells us this is the month of Chislev when he heard about it. In chapter 2, the very first verse, he says the month of Nisan of the twentieth year of the king he gets the chance to go. He's been praying all of this time. Nehemiah had been praying, weeping, fasting, mourning for four months. He took this seriously, very deeply in his heart. He prayed for four months straight. Nehemiah is a man of prayer. He has 11 prayers; there's more prayers in this book
than almost any book of the Bible. One of them we'll cover next week.
WHY DID GOD CHOOSE NEHEMIAH AS A LEADER? Of all the people why did God choose Nehemiah, the cupbearer to a pagan king? Three reasons:
1. NEHEMIAH WAS SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS ABOUT HIM
Nehemiah's reaction is pretty incredible. Nehemiah has it made. He's at the peak of his career. Nehemiah is living on easy street, the second best position in the kingdom. He's got a great salary, he doesn't have to rock the boat. The problems in Jerusalem must seem like a million miles away. He's never even seen Jerusalem. He was born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years. When he hears about God's people depressed, discouraged, defeated he takes it seriously.
In the following weeks I'm going to give you leadership insights from Nehemiah. Here's one of the first ones: Leaders are sensitive to the needs of people around them. That's the first principle of leadership I want to bring out of this book. Living in the Houston area, life is really so easy compared to the rest of the world. Most of the world would love to have your problems. Their problems are "Am I going to have food today?" and we're worried about "My shoes don't match my purse!" or "I've got on summer colors and it’s fall!" We live in the Houston area which is in so many ways insulated and isolated that all of the problems the rest of the world faces seem far away. You could turn on your TV any night and see all of these needs but become callused because we see them all of the time.
The point I want to make is this: The people that God uses are people who care about the things God cares about. And God cared about the fact that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. Since God cared about it, Nehemiah cared about it and that made him a leader.
Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, used to say, "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." That's the first step in being a great leader. A sensitivity to the needs around you.
2. NEHEMIAH WAS DEPENDABLE
He had a proven track record. We see that the king considered him so trustworthy he gave him the most reliable position of the kingdom -- cupbearer. He intrusted his personal security to him. There was enormous trust there. The point I want to make here is that God uses people who are trustworthy, reliable, dependable.
Luke 16:10-13. "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's money, why should you be trusted with money of your own? "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
We see a couple ways God tests our faithfulness to see if He's going to use us or not. One of the ways He tests us is how we serve in another person's ministry before He gives us our own. Another way is what do we do with our money? The Bible tells us that the way you manage your money determines how much God can bless your life. Your giving determines to a great degree how much God can bless your life. If you cannot be trusted with this small amount of worldly wealth who's going to trust you with true spiritual riches?
3. NEHEMIAH WAS AVAILABLE
When the situation needed a leader, Nehemiah said, "I volunteer! Here am I, send me!" He had the job, the position that everybody else wants and the problem is a thousand miles away, two months away across the desert on a camel and he says, "I'll go! I'm not even a contractor but I'll go rebuild the wall!" God still chose him even though he didn't have the skills for that particular job. But he was sensitive and he was dependable and he was available.
God is not looking for ability in leaders as much as he's looking for credibility, dependability, and availability. Those qualities are a matter of choice. You may say, "I don't have certain gifts or talents or intellect." That doesn't even matter to God. What matters are, Are you credible? Do you have character? Are you growing in character? Are you sensitive to people? Are you dependable? Can God rely on you? Dependability is much more important than ability. Are you available?
Nothing happens until someone provides leadership for it. Everything rises or falls on leadership. God wants to use you as a leader in your home, your business, your church. If you'll stick with me over the next several weeks, I will teach you the principles from God's word on how you can be a leader.
Prayer:
As we close, let's do a little personal evaluation. How about these three reasons God used Nehemiah? Am I sensitive to the needs around me? Ask yourself that. Or am I so caught up in what I'm doing, my plan that I can't hear God's voice? Am I sensitive? That's why God chose Nehemiah. Am I aware of what my wife's greatest needs are? my husband's needs are? Am I sensitive enough to be aware of what my kids' greatest needs are? Am I aware of the needs of the people that I work with? Am I aware of the greatest needs in my church? Could I name them right now? Do I even care? What breaks your heart? Does your team losing on TV upset you more than people around you are going to die and go to hell unless we reach them with the good news? What breaks your heart?
How about dependability? Can I be depended on? Am I reliable? How about availability? Am I available to God? to be used in any way that He wants to use me?
As we close, I invite you to pray a one sentence prayer: "God, I want to be willing to be used by You anywhere, anytime, any way." If you say that and mean it, hang on for a fun time. If you get usable, God will wear you out and there is no greater thrill than to be used by God in the kingdom of God.
Father, may be we challenged from the life of Nehemiah as we look at this man. The principles are thousands of years old but they apply today in the rat race we live in. Lord, we want to be sensitive, dependable and available to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
We're going to start a series I'm calling "Leading in Life".
I want to begin with a verse out of Proverbs. Proverbs 28:2 "A nation will be strong and endure when it has intelligent, sensible leaders." Circle the words "strong" and "endure". Those are the two benefits of having good, strong leadership. I think you could apply this verse to your family. I think you could say, A family will be strong and endure when there's good leadership. And a business, and a church. In the Living Bible it says, "With honest, sensible leaders there is stability." There are few things that are needed more in life today than stability. We need it in our homes, our nation, our world. There are rapid changes and upheavals and we need stability. It comes from leadership.
(diff. in living and leading in life)
Today we're going to begin an exciting discovery what the principles of leadership are in the book of Nehemiah. That's going to be our textbook. For years all I knew about Nehemiah was the was rebuilding a wall. That's all I knew. But the fact is, this is the greatest leadership book ever written. By his examples we're going to learn principles of leadership.
Today I want to give you the background of the book. But before we do that I want to give you LAWS OF LEADER-- six principles of why we're going to even do this study.
1.NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEONE PROVIDES LEADERSHIP FOR IT.
That is a law of life. Look at history. The Civil Rights movement was nothing until a man came along named Martin Luther King and said, "I have a dream" and he provided leadership. The NASA space program was nothing until a guy named John Kennedy said, "We're going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." A man by the name of Ray Crocks said, "I want fast food at a convenient price in a clean atmosphere" and he invented an entire industry called fast food. This church started because God said, "Joe and Cathleen, I want you to be leaders and get this thing off the ground." In your own family -- you have family problems... nothing happens until somebody in the family assumes leadership and says, "We're going to do something about it." Everything rises or falls on leadership. Most problems can be traced to a lack of competent leadership. The greatest problem today is a leadership shortage. The greatest need is trained leaders.
In the book of Judges there were seven cycles -- up and down, up and down. The last verse of the book Judges 21:25 "Every man did what was right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel." Where there is no leadership, people do their own thing. There is instability.
2. LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE
If I had to summarize leadership in one word it's influence -- for good or for bad. There are positive leaders and negative leaders. Have you ever gone onto a playground at school and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? For good or for bad.(pic) Have you ever set with a group of teenagers and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? Have you sat in a committee meeting and figured out who the leader was, often not the chairman? It's the person everyone keeps looking to to find out what he thinks? Every time you influence somebody you're assuming leadership.
I Timothy 4:12 Paul told Timothy, "As a young man be an example in leadership." Age has nothing to do with leadership. You can be an influence at any age and you're a model whether you like it or not. Everybody here today is a leader, just in different areas. Anytime you influence somebody you're a leader. The issue is not Are you a leader? The issue is whether or not you're a good one. You are a leader -- in your family, at home, at work, at school. The issue is, Are you a good one or not?
Nehemiah is the outstanding example in the Bible. He
accomplished incredible odds in a brief time because
he was a leader.
3.THE TEST OF LEADERSHIP IS "IS ANYBODY FOLLOWING?"
If you want to know whether you're a leader or not, simple -- Look over your shoulder. Jesus said in John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me." I Cor. 11:1 Paul said, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." We all need human models. Sure we're to follow Christ but we need human models to follow.
John Maxwell's parable of leadership, "He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk."
Leadership has absolutely nothing to do with titles or position. It has to do with influence. This is a mistake a lot of people make. A guy thinks, because he has a title, people are going to automatically follow and that's not necessarily true at all. There is a big difference between having a boss and having a leader. It's not a position or a title. Many
people have authority but they don't have leadership.
Ever seen that?
If you have to tell people that you are the leader, if you have to remind people that you're the leader, you're not. Leadership is influence and if you're not influencing anybody it doesn't mater whether you think you're the leader or not -- you're not. It's all influence.
The same thing is true in your home. When you say to your wife, "We're going to do it this way, because I am the spiritual leader, " you ain't. You've just lost it. The truth is if you're really leading, you don't have to remind people.
How about if your kid comes to you and says, "Why should I do this?" and you say, "Because I say so". That is a very weak position to motivate from. It just doesn't work too good. The test of leadership is if you have somebody following. You cannot force people to follow you no matter what you do.
4. THE FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP IS CHARACTER, NOT CHARISMA
A lot of TV evangelists have had lots of charisma, but they've bombed out because they had no character. They had major character defects.
A while back on one of the children's quiz shows the question was "What do you call a person who speaks through a dummy without moving his lips?" The child said, "An evangelist?"
The foundation of leadership is character, not charisma. Charisma has nothing to do with it. You don't have to have charisma to be a leader. You do have to have character, credibility, because leadership is influence and if you don't have credibility nobody is going to follow you.
Reputation is what people say you are, character is what you really are. D. L. Moody said, "Character is what you are in the dark when nobody is looking." I Timothy 3:1-13, Paul lays out the leadership characteristics for church leadership. All those characteristics he laid out necessary to be in the ministry, not once does he mention you've got to have a seminary education. Leadership is not based on academies it's character, on who you are.
Leaders come in all types and shapes and sizes of temperaments. There is no one leadership personality. God wants to use your personality. Look at the four different temperaments: Paul was a choleric. Peter was a sanguine. Moses was a melancholic. Abraham was a phlegmatic. They are as different as night and day. God used them all. Leadership has nothing to do with personality. You don't have to be outgoing to be a leader. You don't have to be a sanguine to be a leader.
What you do have to have is character. All great leaders have character. Sometimes a person gets into leadership without character and then those character flaws cause their downfall.
As we look at Nehemiah, we're going to see a man of God who was a very ordinary type of person but did extraordinary things because he had character in his life.
The fact is you will burn out if you try to imitate somebody else's personality. If you want to be a leader, don't say, "I want to be like..." and pick a model. If you try to imitate their personality, you will most likely burn out. (didn’t figure out until came here) All leaders are very different, there is great diversity. What great leaders do have in common is credibility and character.
Hebrews 13:7-8 "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." This passage gives us three characteristics of good leaders:
They have a message worth remembering. When they talk, people listen. "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you." Evidently, there is something worth remembering there.
They have a lifestyle worth considering. "Consider the outcome of their way of life." Does their walk match their talk? Does their life match what they say they are?
They have a faith worth imitating. "Imitate their faith."
If you want to be a good leader, you need to develop a message worth remembering (What is my life message? What does God want to say to the world through me?), have a lifestyle worth considering and have a faith worth imitating. That's all character.
5. LEADERSHIP CAN BE LEARNED
If I didn't believe this we wouldn't be wasting time on this
series. Every one of you can be a great leader. Philippians 4:9 "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put into practice." Leaders are made not born. There is no such thing as a born leader. They are made by the way they respond to circumstances. You can take two people in exact opposite situations, circumstances, one of them will end up being a leader, the other washes out because of the choices they make.
The priority of training leaders I think can be seen in the ministry of Jesus. Mark 3:14 "He appointed twelve that they should be with him and he should send them out." Jesus had a public ministry and a private ministry. His public ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. His private ministry involved training the disciples. Even within the twelve He had an inner circle -- Peter, James, John -- who got to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Transfiguration -- they got extra attention. In Galatians, Paul said Peter, James and John were the pillars of the church. Jesus invested the maximum time with those who would bear the maximum responsibility. He fed the masses but He spent most of His time training leadership. Leadership can be learned.
6. THE MOMENT YOU STOP LEARNING, YOU STOP LEADING
All leaders are learners. Every leader is a learner. The moment I stop learning, I stop leading. You must always be developing and growing and becoming what God wants you to be. Learning to be a leader takes a lifetime. We'll see it in the life of Nehemiah -- how God prepared him and God used him and how God used the lives of other people that Nehemiah taught.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 "If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success." If you've got a dull ax and you're chopping wood, it takes more energy. But if you have a sharp ax it doesn't take as much energy. Work smarter, not harder. People say, Hard work brings success. I know lots of people who work hard, and aren't successful. They do hard work digging ditches every day, but they're not working smarter. You need to learn to be a leader.
I honor you for being here. The very fact that you're here says more about you than it does about this message. It says that you're interested in learning to be a leader. I honor you for that. The person who thinks, "I know it all" is going to be left behind. It's the person who says, "I need to learn. I need to grow." I want to challenge you to not miss any of this series. This will help you at work, at church, in your business, in your home. I believe God has a place for you to serve. I believe that the very fact that you're alive means God has a purpose for your life. That involves having an
influence on other people.
THE BACKGROUND OF NEHEMIAH'S STORY
In 586 BC the city of Jerusalem in Israel was destroyed. Jews were deported over to Babylon which is now Iraq. They were to be kept there for 70 years. But in 537 the first group of Jews were allowed to return. In 516 the Temple was rebuilt. In 458 Ezra led the second group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Then in 445 Nehemiah asked permission to return to Jerusalem with a third group to rebuild the city walls.
Where is it happening? Jerusalem.
The Problem is that the city walls needed to be rebuilt. Today we use other means to protect our cities -- like radar. We don't need walls. But in those days if a city was walled and an enemy came against it, it might take 2, 4, 6 months for the enemy to break in. The walls were very important. The Jews had been taken away in captivity into another country. They finally were allowed to trickle back in. Finally they were allowed to rebuild the Temple. But the city was still in ruins, rubble. All the walls were falling down. It was just junk and they were living in a heap.
The people were defenseless. They were vulnerable to attack and harassment because they had no protection. Because they were defenseless they were also discouraged and defeated.
Why were they in captivity in the first place? It was the sin of the nation. God said, If you guys don't get your act together I'm going to allow an enemy nation to come in, and He did. But now He's allowing the Jews to come back, the Temple has been rebuilt but the city is still in rubble, a big mess, and the walls are broken down. People are living in rubble, low morale, and they're defeated, discouraged, depressed. What do you do when you have that kind of situation?
You need a leader.
Nehemiah 1 "The word of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year. While I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah and some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, `Those that survived the exile are back in the province and they are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire.' [It's very significant about the gates.] When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned, fasted and prayed before the Lord God. Then I said ..." the next verses gets into his prayer.
Notice: Nehemiah first says "I was in the city of Susa". First place, notice this was written in first person. Nehemiah wrote this book. This is his journal. We're going to get a personal account of a leader, not from third hand experience. This is his personal journal. We're going to get an inside look at the leader.
He was in the citadel of Susa. Susa was not the capital of the Persian Empire but was kind of like a summer palace. Nehemiah is there in the king's summer palace which is in modern day Iraq.
Last part of v. 11, he says "I was the cupbearer to the king." This tells us what Nehemiah did for a living, who he was, what his occupation was.
It says Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. What was a cupbearer? If he was going to go back and try to rebuild the wall, obviously he's not a contractor, he's a cupbearer. A cupbearer was probably the second most important position in the kingdom. He was a combination Prime Minister, body guard, personal security agent and assistant to the king. He did all of these things. He was very well trusted. He was the person the most trusted by the king. He was the king's personal security agent, and prime minister. The reason he was called cupbearer was because part of his job was to taste the wine before the king drank it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. There were a lot of assassination attempts in those days. The king was paranoid and fearful so they would have a guy who would test all of the wine. If he keeled over they knew that was bad wine! It was a pretty dangerous job, considering in those days a lot of people didn't like the King.
The point I want to make here is that Nehemiah had to be absolutely loyal and trustworthy, a Jew brought over in captivity or actually he was probably born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years, but he was not a Persian and he is second in command. Isn't it neat how God has a way of always getting His men in the right position at the right time? Nehemiah is really a major figure in the Persian government.
Verse 1 says in the month of Chislev his brother Hanani has been on a trip to Jerusalem and he comes back. Jerusalem is about 800 to 1000 miles from Susa. In those days that would take probably about two months travel on camel and it's all across the desert. It's major hard driving. His brother comes back and Nehemiah says, give me a report about all of our relatives, what's happening over there in Jerusalem? Hanani says, "It's all bad news, the people are in the pits, our relatives are discouraged, the walls have not been rebuilt. They've got the temple rebuilt but the whole city lies in ruin. All these guys are coming in invading the city and the people are discouraged, depressed, low morale. It's bad!"
Nehemiah's reaction in v. 4 "When I heard these things I sat down and I wept and for some days I mourned and I fasted and I prayed before the God of heaven." Nehemiah's reaction was four things: he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. He's really taking this thing seriously. He's saddened by this. He's embarrassed for the people of God. He says, I prayed and in the next few verses, 4-11, he gives us the prayer. Notice it says, "for some days". Circle that phrase. He didn't do it for just one day. How long did he do it? He tells us. In v. 1 he tells us this is the month of Chislev when he heard about it. In chapter 2, the very first verse, he says the month of Nisan of the twentieth year of the king he gets the chance to go. He's been praying all of this time. Nehemiah had been praying, weeping, fasting, mourning for four months. He took this seriously, very deeply in his heart. He prayed for four months straight. Nehemiah is a man of prayer. He has 11 prayers; there's more prayers in this book
than almost any book of the Bible. One of them we'll cover next week.
WHY DID GOD CHOOSE NEHEMIAH AS A LEADER? Of all the people why did God choose Nehemiah, the cupbearer to a pagan king? Three reasons:
1. NEHEMIAH WAS SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS ABOUT HIM
Nehemiah's reaction is pretty incredible. Nehemiah has it made. He's at the peak of his career. Nehemiah is living on easy street, the second best position in the kingdom. He's got a great salary, he doesn't have to rock the boat. The problems in Jerusalem must seem like a million miles away. He's never even seen Jerusalem. He was born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years. When he hears about God's people depressed, discouraged, defeated he takes it seriously.
In the following weeks I'm going to give you leadership insights from Nehemiah. Here's one of the first ones: Leaders are sensitive to the needs of people around them. That's the first principle of leadership I want to bring out of this book. Living in the Houston area, life is really so easy compared to the rest of the world. Most of the world would love to have your problems. Their problems are "Am I going to have food today?" and we're worried about "My shoes don't match my purse!" or "I've got on summer colors and it’s fall!" We live in the Houston area which is in so many ways insulated and isolated that all of the problems the rest of the world faces seem far away. You could turn on your TV any night and see all of these needs but become callused because we see them all of the time.
The point I want to make is this: The people that God uses are people who care about the things God cares about. And God cared about the fact that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. Since God cared about it, Nehemiah cared about it and that made him a leader.
Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, used to say, "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." That's the first step in being a great leader. A sensitivity to the needs around you.
2. NEHEMIAH WAS DEPENDABLE
He had a proven track record. We see that the king considered him so trustworthy he gave him the most reliable position of the kingdom -- cupbearer. He intrusted his personal security to him. There was enormous trust there. The point I want to make here is that God uses people who are trustworthy, reliable, dependable.
Luke 16:10-13. "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's money, why should you be trusted with money of your own? "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
We see a couple ways God tests our faithfulness to see if He's going to use us or not. One of the ways He tests us is how we serve in another person's ministry before He gives us our own. Another way is what do we do with our money? The Bible tells us that the way you manage your money determines how much God can bless your life. Your giving determines to a great degree how much God can bless your life. If you cannot be trusted with this small amount of worldly wealth who's going to trust you with true spiritual riches?
3. NEHEMIAH WAS AVAILABLE
When the situation needed a leader, Nehemiah said, "I volunteer! Here am I, send me!" He had the job, the position that everybody else wants and the problem is a thousand miles away, two months away across the desert on a camel and he says, "I'll go! I'm not even a contractor but I'll go rebuild the wall!" God still chose him even though he didn't have the skills for that particular job. But he was sensitive and he was dependable and he was available.
God is not looking for ability in leaders as much as he's looking for credibility, dependability, and availability. Those qualities are a matter of choice. You may say, "I don't have certain gifts or talents or intellect." That doesn't even matter to God. What matters are, Are you credible? Do you have character? Are you growing in character? Are you sensitive to people? Are you dependable? Can God rely on you? Dependability is much more important than ability. Are you available?
Nothing happens until someone provides leadership for it. Everything rises or falls on leadership. God wants to use you as a leader in your home, your business, your church. If you'll stick with me over the next several weeks, I will teach you the principles from God's word on how you can be a leader.
Prayer:
As we close, let's do a little personal evaluation. How about these three reasons God used Nehemiah? Am I sensitive to the needs around me? Ask yourself that. Or am I so caught up in what I'm doing, my plan that I can't hear God's voice? Am I sensitive? That's why God chose Nehemiah. Am I aware of what my wife's greatest needs are? my husband's needs are? Am I sensitive enough to be aware of what my kids' greatest needs are? Am I aware of the needs of the people that I work with? Am I aware of the greatest needs in my church? Could I name them right now? Do I even care? What breaks your heart? Does your team losing on TV upset you more than people around you are going to die and go to hell unless we reach them with the good news? What breaks your heart?
How about dependability? Can I be depended on? Am I reliable? How about availability? Am I available to God? to be used in any way that He wants to use me?
As we close, I invite you to pray a one sentence prayer: "God, I want to be willing to be used by You anywhere, anytime, any way." If you say that and mean it, hang on for a fun time. If you get usable, God will wear you out and there is no greater thrill than to be used by God in the kingdom of God.
Father, may be we challenged from the life of Nehemiah as we look at this man. The principles are thousands of years old but they apply today in the rat race we live in. Lord, we want to be sensitive, dependable and available to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iLife - by Cathleen Parks
‘Unwritten” - Natasha Bedingfield
No one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live you life with arms wide open
Today is where you book begins
The rest is still unwritten
------------------------------------------------------
Today is where YOUR book begins.
Over the last 5 weeks in this series, ‘Finding GOD on your iPod’ was a creative way to share with you the structure of our church, FOCUS*. The same structure just so happens to also be the keys to living a successful life.
The structure is based on 2 scriptures:
The first one is called ‘The Great Commandment’ because Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was and this was his answer.
Matthew 22:37-39
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
The second is called the great commission because this was Jesus’ directive to use, his call to us...
Matthew 28:19-20
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Those 2 scriptures show us how to live a purpose-driven life as well as a be a part of a purpose-driven church.
A healthy church is one living out the 5 purposes in those 2 scriptures - a God-driven life consists of those 5 purposes. So let me make it clear that when I refer to this purpose driven life I am actually talking about 2 different things
1 your individual life
2 the church body, which is in itself life
Based in these 2 scriptures we can see that the 5 ingredients to being purpose driven are clear - let’s break them down:
-Love the Lord your God - Worship - iWorship
-Love your neighbor as yourself - Ministry/Service - iLove
-go and make disciples - Evangelism - iShare
-baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - Community/fellowship - iConnect
-teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you - Discipleship - iLearn
Our goal at FOCUS* is to learn together how live out these 5 purposes. In everything we do - we want to see these 5 purposes overlapping each other.
Our focus is not to grow a church - that isn’t what it’s about - our focus is to have a healthy church.
We can measure whether this life called the church body is healthy by looking at these 5 purposes, or systems, in the same way that seeing if or physical bodies are healthy by looking at the 9 body symptoms.
In our own body make-up - we have 9 central systems that govern the body, nervous system, circulatory system, muscular... respiratory... skeletal... and so forth...
(Joe and some of you may have seen that at the
‘Body Worlds’ exhibit)
When all are functioning we are in balance. What happens if just one begins to falter?
We get out of balance, become unhealthy
We stop either growing or functioning properly
To live out a purpose driven life we need to have all 5 purposes, or you could even say systems, functioning:
So we say:
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church!
or
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great person!
How do you see yourself living out these 5 purposes?
Maybe 1 or 2 real well?
Maybe not any really?
No matter where you see your life today, no matter where you are on this scale today - you CAN move forward -
you CAN live a purpose-driven life. Just like the final line in todays song - the rest is still unwritten
Let me show you how this works. We already established that there are 5 purposes or systems that have to be in place to see a healthy, purposeful life. But let me take it a step further and say that these purposes need to overlap - intertwine - they are dependent on one another. To see even 1 system functioning at it best means that the other 4 systems would be functioning also. In some cases, systems will fail without the support of another system. For example, you absolutely cannot love others as yourself until you love God with all you’ve got first.
Neighbor = those you are in contact with throughout your day
Give example of v.b. tour. and drive home
Ask: What would you do in that situation? How would you feel about helping?
Is it fair to say that on your own you could not love them enough to desire to help them? I’m sure most of us would say that we would struggle a little here. Our struggle is evidence that we need a Godly love that accepts and forgives. It reaches out to those we may not normally want to reach out to. So you can see that loving God with all we have really is a prerequisite to loving others as ourselves.
I believe that when we apply the prerequisite and we truly fall in love with God, we seek to get to know Him and then we grow in love more and more - then loving others will come much more naturally to us. In the same way, when we begin to see others with a Godly perspective, which the closer we get to Him the easier that becomes, we can’t help but to have a desire to put into action The Great Commission.
The first thing the great commission calls us to action on is to ‘go and make disciples’. This is evangelism. It is simply telling others about Jesus. Sharing your experiences with Him. Sharing His love and what He’s all about.
Our desire to share Jesus with others is a direct reflection of our ability to see people through a Godly perspective. To know that each individual is created by, and deeply loved by, our God spurs in us a desire to love them to.
The great commission leads us on a journey then with people. It says first go and make disciples/to evangelize and then to baptize. I like this one because it emphasizes community and fellowship. It demonstrates the need for one another. Can you imagine someone attempting to baptize themselves? We really do need each other. Time and time again God’s Word reiterates our need for one another:
Heb 10:24& 25And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25Let us not give up meeting together, ... but let us encourage one another.
James 5:16 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.
John 13:34 Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.
Job 42:11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him.
Job 16: 5 my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Provebs 12:25 Worry weighs us down; a cheerful word picks us up.
This one sums up what we can be to one another. This is what Paul and Timothy wrote in a letter.....
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
Man that’s community! with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God
Actually as mentioned before, this scripture shows the overlapping of the five purposes because you can see how it naturally flows into the last purpose that says ‘ teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you -’. Listen to how clear it is in vs. 12....showing you step-by-step how to live well before God.
These purposes are our roadmap to health. Individually and corporately. We are called to be a people that absolutely love God. And not because we have to - nobody, including God, wants to be loved like that. But instead we love God because of who He is. We take action to get to know Him. To learn more and more about Him, and to grow deeper and deeper in relationship with Him. And as we do, we develop a love for others that spurs us on to the other 4 purposes of service, evangelism, community, and discipleship.
You know as we looked through some of this scripture today some of you may have paused right in the beginning. Right when we hit ‘ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' You might feel like you love the Lord but you realize maybe that you love Him because you are suppose to. Because you’ve been taught to - because you are obliged to. But with all your heart, soul and mind.....maybe not. Coming to this place and reconciling it is the first step to the rest of life. It is the prerequisite to everything. In our song it is the main verse:
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions -Let it go - come to a place of full acceptance. A place of love for God that is truly with all your heart, soul, mind.
And then I think the song really demonstrates what happens next, ‘ Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else’. No one can feel your emotions, dictate your life, you make your decisions and only you choose to let God in. And then what?
‘ no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Let your book begin today. If your here and you are thinking - yep - that’s me. I want to love God with all I’ve got - this is your beginning.
Pray
If your here today and you know you’ve got the number 1 step down but your feel like you could use a little help with steps 2-5, join the club. We all need a little reminder every now and then to remember what it’s all about. Are you allowing others to speak into your life and are you speaking into others? Now matter how successful you are with these 4 purposes, as the song says, the rest is still unwritten. Every day is a new day to learn something new as we grow in the Lord and to impart something new as we encourage those around us. Let’s pray together that God would illuminate areas of our lives that he desires to work in, in a greater way. And let’s commit together to be a people who are dedicated to and partnering together in living purposeful lives
No one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live you life with arms wide open
Today is where you book begins
The rest is still unwritten
------------------------------------------------------
Today is where YOUR book begins.
Over the last 5 weeks in this series, ‘Finding GOD on your iPod’ was a creative way to share with you the structure of our church, FOCUS*. The same structure just so happens to also be the keys to living a successful life.
The structure is based on 2 scriptures:
The first one is called ‘The Great Commandment’ because Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was and this was his answer.
Matthew 22:37-39
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
The second is called the great commission because this was Jesus’ directive to use, his call to us...
Matthew 28:19-20
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Those 2 scriptures show us how to live a purpose-driven life as well as a be a part of a purpose-driven church.
A healthy church is one living out the 5 purposes in those 2 scriptures - a God-driven life consists of those 5 purposes. So let me make it clear that when I refer to this purpose driven life I am actually talking about 2 different things
1 your individual life
2 the church body, which is in itself life
Based in these 2 scriptures we can see that the 5 ingredients to being purpose driven are clear - let’s break them down:
-Love the Lord your God - Worship - iWorship
-Love your neighbor as yourself - Ministry/Service - iLove
-go and make disciples - Evangelism - iShare
-baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - Community/fellowship - iConnect
-teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you - Discipleship - iLearn
Our goal at FOCUS* is to learn together how live out these 5 purposes. In everything we do - we want to see these 5 purposes overlapping each other.
Our focus is not to grow a church - that isn’t what it’s about - our focus is to have a healthy church.
We can measure whether this life called the church body is healthy by looking at these 5 purposes, or systems, in the same way that seeing if or physical bodies are healthy by looking at the 9 body symptoms.
In our own body make-up - we have 9 central systems that govern the body, nervous system, circulatory system, muscular... respiratory... skeletal... and so forth...
(Joe and some of you may have seen that at the
‘Body Worlds’ exhibit)
When all are functioning we are in balance. What happens if just one begins to falter?
We get out of balance, become unhealthy
We stop either growing or functioning properly
To live out a purpose driven life we need to have all 5 purposes, or you could even say systems, functioning:
So we say:
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church!
or
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great person!
How do you see yourself living out these 5 purposes?
Maybe 1 or 2 real well?
Maybe not any really?
No matter where you see your life today, no matter where you are on this scale today - you CAN move forward -
you CAN live a purpose-driven life. Just like the final line in todays song - the rest is still unwritten
Let me show you how this works. We already established that there are 5 purposes or systems that have to be in place to see a healthy, purposeful life. But let me take it a step further and say that these purposes need to overlap - intertwine - they are dependent on one another. To see even 1 system functioning at it best means that the other 4 systems would be functioning also. In some cases, systems will fail without the support of another system. For example, you absolutely cannot love others as yourself until you love God with all you’ve got first.
Neighbor = those you are in contact with throughout your day
Give example of v.b. tour. and drive home
Ask: What would you do in that situation? How would you feel about helping?
Is it fair to say that on your own you could not love them enough to desire to help them? I’m sure most of us would say that we would struggle a little here. Our struggle is evidence that we need a Godly love that accepts and forgives. It reaches out to those we may not normally want to reach out to. So you can see that loving God with all we have really is a prerequisite to loving others as ourselves.
I believe that when we apply the prerequisite and we truly fall in love with God, we seek to get to know Him and then we grow in love more and more - then loving others will come much more naturally to us. In the same way, when we begin to see others with a Godly perspective, which the closer we get to Him the easier that becomes, we can’t help but to have a desire to put into action The Great Commission.
The first thing the great commission calls us to action on is to ‘go and make disciples’. This is evangelism. It is simply telling others about Jesus. Sharing your experiences with Him. Sharing His love and what He’s all about.
Our desire to share Jesus with others is a direct reflection of our ability to see people through a Godly perspective. To know that each individual is created by, and deeply loved by, our God spurs in us a desire to love them to.
The great commission leads us on a journey then with people. It says first go and make disciples/to evangelize and then to baptize. I like this one because it emphasizes community and fellowship. It demonstrates the need for one another. Can you imagine someone attempting to baptize themselves? We really do need each other. Time and time again God’s Word reiterates our need for one another:
Heb 10:24& 25And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25Let us not give up meeting together, ... but let us encourage one another.
James 5:16 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.
John 13:34 Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.
Job 42:11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him.
Job 16: 5 my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Provebs 12:25 Worry weighs us down; a cheerful word picks us up.
This one sums up what we can be to one another. This is what Paul and Timothy wrote in a letter.....
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
Man that’s community! with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God
Actually as mentioned before, this scripture shows the overlapping of the five purposes because you can see how it naturally flows into the last purpose that says ‘ teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you -’. Listen to how clear it is in vs. 12....showing you step-by-step how to live well before God.
These purposes are our roadmap to health. Individually and corporately. We are called to be a people that absolutely love God. And not because we have to - nobody, including God, wants to be loved like that. But instead we love God because of who He is. We take action to get to know Him. To learn more and more about Him, and to grow deeper and deeper in relationship with Him. And as we do, we develop a love for others that spurs us on to the other 4 purposes of service, evangelism, community, and discipleship.
You know as we looked through some of this scripture today some of you may have paused right in the beginning. Right when we hit ‘ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' You might feel like you love the Lord but you realize maybe that you love Him because you are suppose to. Because you’ve been taught to - because you are obliged to. But with all your heart, soul and mind.....maybe not. Coming to this place and reconciling it is the first step to the rest of life. It is the prerequisite to everything. In our song it is the main verse:
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions -Let it go - come to a place of full acceptance. A place of love for God that is truly with all your heart, soul, mind.
And then I think the song really demonstrates what happens next, ‘ Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else’. No one can feel your emotions, dictate your life, you make your decisions and only you choose to let God in. And then what?
‘ no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Let your book begin today. If your here and you are thinking - yep - that’s me. I want to love God with all I’ve got - this is your beginning.
Pray
If your here today and you know you’ve got the number 1 step down but your feel like you could use a little help with steps 2-5, join the club. We all need a little reminder every now and then to remember what it’s all about. Are you allowing others to speak into your life and are you speaking into others? Now matter how successful you are with these 4 purposes, as the song says, the rest is still unwritten. Every day is a new day to learn something new as we grow in the Lord and to impart something new as we encourage those around us. Let’s pray together that God would illuminate areas of our lives that he desires to work in, in a greater way. And let’s commit together to be a people who are dedicated to and partnering together in living purposeful lives
Sunday, September 03, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iShare
I love that song. It is a very creative video.
I have a soft-spot for Nickelback b/c I’m a 80’s metalhead and I like NB’s stuff. They have some very thoughtful lyrics as well - this song, 'Savin’ Me' - Overall, he just wants out of a bad situation and needs help doing so, but he wants to be helped by someone who truly thinks he deserves saving.
A pretty inspirational song.
The chorus is impactful:
And teach me wrong from right And I'll show you what I can be Say it for me Say it to me And I'll leave this life behind me Say it if it's worth saving me
I wonder what we could say? I wonder what we could share
that would be worth it for someone to hear and listen?
What could we say, what could we share that it would be so meaningful to others that they’d leave (all that they know) their life behind them and go with what you have?
We are to be a voice of HOPE
This is a message God spoke in the O.T.
"But you are my witnesses, O Israel!" says the LORD. "And you are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. Is. 43:10
Israel’s task was to be a witness, to be a voice of hope, telling the world who God is and what He has done. Believers today share the same responsibility - do people know what God is like thru your words and example? Though they cannot see God directly, they see Him reflected in you. (mirror)
Another O.T. scripture -
”Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.” Daniel 12:3
Many people strive to be stars in the unstable world of sports or entertainment, only to find the pursuit meaningless or temporary. God tells us how to be ‘eternal stars’ - by “turning many to righteousness” - by being a Voice of Hope!
Throughout the New Testament God is changing the lives of people through His Son Jesus Christ - story after story... Sual(Paul)... Cornelious... the Blind man... and on and on...
Look at this story in John 1:
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" “Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). John 1:35-42
I want you to think about this for a moment, this is HUGE!
We’re talking Peter here! Peter... who... became disciple...
... was part of Christ’s inner circle
... was the 1st great VoH after pentecost
... became the recognized leader of the church
and it was his brother Andrew who lead him to Christ.
Peter was living this normal, regular routine life and then Andrew takes him to Christ. From that moment on Peter found purpose in life, his reason for living, life actually meant something - Andrew had something worth sharing. (changed Peter's life)
Andrew was a voice of hope - this is a great example of how God has called us to be His witnesses that we read in Is. 43 and how to shine like the stars that we read in Da. 12
to be a Voice of HOPE
Here’s another ex. closer to home (lynn video)
Lynn is a godly woman who continues to impact the lives of those around and beyond... and did you catch how she was lead to Jesus Christ? or how she ‘meet the Lord’ in her own words there?
2 people - Andy and her mother
Andy is living out Dan. 12:3, shinning star - He is this mirror reflecting the glory of God, the love of God out to others - and Lynn was one of those who saw Christ in Andy.
Her mother is living out Is. 43 as well as John 1 leading her now adult daughter to church to meet Christ.
Andy and her mother had something worth sharing - they were both a VoH
Let’s look at Rick (video) - how cool - their testimony - heard that b4? your testimony can be broken down to 3 simple steps - Life b4 JC - how met JC - life after JC - that’s testimony.
Your life story will change the life of others
How did Rick come to know Christ?
Wife and other believers (men’s group)
Let me ask you, who made a difference in your life?
Who was a shinning star in your life? Who reflected the love of God to you? Someone did, maybe a # of people did
Now let me ask you this - how can we make a difference?
How can we share this good news, this amazing story of love, forgiveness, and acceptance?
HOW?
Invest and Invite
All of us know people, people who are close to us who do not know Christ intimately. Who have not stepped over that line and accepted Him as Savior.
Invest in them - you’re not on your own, we will be praying with you and partnering together to share the love of Christ w/ them. I promise you our goal every week here is to share the love, acceptance, and forgiveness Christ offers.
Operation Andrew:
LOOK AROUND where you live, work, or go to school—
this is your mission field. List names of individuals you
know who need Jesus Christ.
LOOK UP because God changes people through prayer.
Pray each day for those on your list, that God will give
you opportunities to share His love with them.
LOOK OUT for ways to cultivate friendships with each
person on your list. Spend time with them. An invitation
to dinner or a sporting event will cultivate friendships, to build trust which can open the way to talk about Christ.
LOOK FORWARD by beginning to talk with each person
on your list about attending church or maybe a small group or down at Montrose with you.
Choose a specific date, pray, and invite them.
LOOK AFTER those who respond to Christ or even begin
to show interest in the Gospel, for they need your
encouragement. Continue to love and pray for those
who do not respond.
I have a soft-spot for Nickelback b/c I’m a 80’s metalhead and I like NB’s stuff. They have some very thoughtful lyrics as well - this song, 'Savin’ Me' - Overall, he just wants out of a bad situation and needs help doing so, but he wants to be helped by someone who truly thinks he deserves saving.
A pretty inspirational song.
The chorus is impactful:
And teach me wrong from right And I'll show you what I can be Say it for me Say it to me And I'll leave this life behind me Say it if it's worth saving me
I wonder what we could say? I wonder what we could share
that would be worth it for someone to hear and listen?
What could we say, what could we share that it would be so meaningful to others that they’d leave (all that they know) their life behind them and go with what you have?
We are to be a voice of HOPE
This is a message God spoke in the O.T.
"But you are my witnesses, O Israel!" says the LORD. "And you are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. Is. 43:10
Israel’s task was to be a witness, to be a voice of hope, telling the world who God is and what He has done. Believers today share the same responsibility - do people know what God is like thru your words and example? Though they cannot see God directly, they see Him reflected in you. (mirror)
Another O.T. scripture -
”Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.” Daniel 12:3
Many people strive to be stars in the unstable world of sports or entertainment, only to find the pursuit meaningless or temporary. God tells us how to be ‘eternal stars’ - by “turning many to righteousness” - by being a Voice of Hope!
Throughout the New Testament God is changing the lives of people through His Son Jesus Christ - story after story... Sual(Paul)... Cornelious... the Blind man... and on and on...
Look at this story in John 1:
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" “Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). John 1:35-42
I want you to think about this for a moment, this is HUGE!
We’re talking Peter here! Peter... who... became disciple...
... was part of Christ’s inner circle
... was the 1st great VoH after pentecost
... became the recognized leader of the church
and it was his brother Andrew who lead him to Christ.
Peter was living this normal, regular routine life and then Andrew takes him to Christ. From that moment on Peter found purpose in life, his reason for living, life actually meant something - Andrew had something worth sharing. (changed Peter's life)
Andrew was a voice of hope - this is a great example of how God has called us to be His witnesses that we read in Is. 43 and how to shine like the stars that we read in Da. 12
to be a Voice of HOPE
Here’s another ex. closer to home (lynn video)
Lynn is a godly woman who continues to impact the lives of those around and beyond... and did you catch how she was lead to Jesus Christ? or how she ‘meet the Lord’ in her own words there?
2 people - Andy and her mother
Andy is living out Dan. 12:3, shinning star - He is this mirror reflecting the glory of God, the love of God out to others - and Lynn was one of those who saw Christ in Andy.
Her mother is living out Is. 43 as well as John 1 leading her now adult daughter to church to meet Christ.
Andy and her mother had something worth sharing - they were both a VoH
Let’s look at Rick (video) - how cool - their testimony - heard that b4? your testimony can be broken down to 3 simple steps - Life b4 JC - how met JC - life after JC - that’s testimony.
Your life story will change the life of others
How did Rick come to know Christ?
Wife and other believers (men’s group)
Let me ask you, who made a difference in your life?
Who was a shinning star in your life? Who reflected the love of God to you? Someone did, maybe a # of people did
Now let me ask you this - how can we make a difference?
How can we share this good news, this amazing story of love, forgiveness, and acceptance?
HOW?
Invest and Invite
All of us know people, people who are close to us who do not know Christ intimately. Who have not stepped over that line and accepted Him as Savior.
Invest in them - you’re not on your own, we will be praying with you and partnering together to share the love of Christ w/ them. I promise you our goal every week here is to share the love, acceptance, and forgiveness Christ offers.
Operation Andrew:
LOOK AROUND where you live, work, or go to school—
this is your mission field. List names of individuals you
know who need Jesus Christ.
LOOK UP because God changes people through prayer.
Pray each day for those on your list, that God will give
you opportunities to share His love with them.
LOOK OUT for ways to cultivate friendships with each
person on your list. Spend time with them. An invitation
to dinner or a sporting event will cultivate friendships, to build trust which can open the way to talk about Christ.
LOOK FORWARD by beginning to talk with each person
on your list about attending church or maybe a small group or down at Montrose with you.
Choose a specific date, pray, and invite them.
LOOK AFTER those who respond to Christ or even begin
to show interest in the Gospel, for they need your
encouragement. Continue to love and pray for those
who do not respond.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iLearn - by Cathleen Parks
"All Because Of You" - U2
I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
And it left me no illusion
I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am...I am
I like the sound of my own voice
I didn't give anyone else a choice
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train
Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
Some people got high rises on their backs
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks
You can make me perfect again
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am...I am
I'm alive
I'm being born
I just arrived, I'm at the door
Of the place I started out from
And I want back inside
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am
I love the line in the U2 song we just heard that says, ‘You heard me in my tune, when I just heard confusion.’
I am so thankful that God ‘hears us in our tune’. He knows us so well. He looks at us and sees all of our potential. He sees what he created us to be.
LOOK AT VARIOUS SEEDS
For these seeds to be all that they hold the potential to be they have to do a lot. Now think about all that has to happen for a seed to become what it is created to be. They have to be dispersed. They have to open up, they have to take root, they have to have the right conditions for growth (the right amount of sunlight, water, soil - and seeds needs are very different) they have to be given the opportunity to grow and be given their needs during their growth.
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23 (Message)
3-8"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
9"Are you listening to this? Really listening?"
The Meaning of the Harvest Story
18-19"Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21"The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23 (NIV)
3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
The sower is anyone who spreads the Word of God
The seed is the Word of God
The soil is the heart of the person hearing the Word of God
Now as Jesus told this story he was speaking to those living in the region of Palestine and so the palestinian way of sowing and reaping a harvest would have been their mental backdrop to the picture Christ was creating through the parable. Explain the sower throwing the seed from the bag flung over his shoulder and the roads between and through the fields
The seed that falls on the road represents a hardened/calloused heart.
This is like the person who hears the word of God but because of a hardness, a critical spirit, a harsh judgmental way of viewing life - it never takes root in their heart and Satan comes and steals the Word, steals what was never able to penetrate the hardened heart.
The seed that falls on the gravel or stoney ground.
You picture this as soil w/lots of rocks, but it isn’t. In the land of Palestine much of the ground was just a bit of topsoil that was on top of rock. When seed fell on this ground it didn’t have enough earth for the roots to dig down deep enough so whenever there was any kind of problem, when the sun came out, when conditions were anything less than perfect then the seed just dried up. This is like the person who casually hears the word of God and lets it kind of get into his heart but really doesn’t think about it or ponder it too carefully. Churches all over our country are full of these individuals right now. They are in church because they keep up good appearances there or they maintain good business contacts over the weekend or it’s obligatory and they just feel like they ‘should’ go to church and so in they go and they hear the word of God and it may even catch their attention - for a minute -but they don’t take it seriously enough to let it really go deep into there spirit and it just withers away as the hours and days pass by.
The seed that falls in the weeds.
This one hits home with all of us because we’ve all experienced weeds in our lives. These seeds represent the word of God that falls on listening ears - not calloused hearers - not casual hearers, but those that want to know God in a greater way, those that desire a greater depth of relationship with Him, but our lives are so crowded with family life and business life and all the stuff that the thing that we really wanted - time w/the Word, time to hear it and time to apply it, and the Word - the very Word that is life to us and to our souls - it just gets choked out - becomes unfruitful in us.
Then there is the seed that falls on the good soil. In this soil the Bible tells us the seed, which represents Word, germinates. It takes its root and it bears fruit. Some of it 30 fold some 60 fold and some 100 fold. It is a heart that is ready to receive the Word of God. When the Word becomes imbedded in a persons heart it begins to multiply, to transform into what God designed it to be.
Now let me show you this...the difference between all of these seeds growing is not the seed, not the sower, but the soil. It’s not always the sower who does a bad job of sowing, it’s never the word of God (the seed) that doesn’t produce, the Bible says that in this particular story the problem is the one who hears, the soil, the listener.
I wonder where you find yourself in this parable? Are you a calloused heart? I mean are you here because you kind of have to be, either by design or by conscience and your going to hear everything but really that’s it - you really don’t want to go any further. Are you casual about it - you know, kind of yeah I hear yah, but a little time passes and well....it’s gone. Is your life crowded so that really you don’t have time at all for the Word of God? Or are you developing a caring, concerned heart to receive God’s truth? Do you say to yourself, ‘Boy I’d really like to move to the next step here - to advance in this journey that I’m on.’ Let me direct you to one more passage in scripture to look at
James 1:21-24
"In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like."
Who here can relate to that? You read something and someone can ask you about what you just read and you don’t have clue?
A guy by the name of Mortimer J. Adler wrote a book called ‘how to read a book’. And in it he said this:
The 1 time people read for all they are worth is when they are in love and they are reading a love letter. They read every word 3 ways. They read between the lines and the margins. The read the whole in terms of the parts and each part in terms of the whole. They grow sensitive to context and ambiguity, to insinuation and implication. They perceive the color of the words, the order of the phrases and the weight of the sentences. They may even take the punctuation into account. Then if never before or after, they read it carefully and in depth.
Now I’m telling you if we learn to read the Bible like that - we will be surprised what happens. When we ask questions. Why is that there? Why is this here? What does this mean? You don’t just read it. You read it and absorb it and you work with it. But don’t just read the words. Let the Word of God get into your heart as you focus your attention on it’s truth. If you don’t do that, then reading the Bible will be a meaningless ritual and that’s not what God intends for it to be. Look at the next verse there in
James 1:25
"But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action."
I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
And it left me no illusion
I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am...I am
I like the sound of my own voice
I didn't give anyone else a choice
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train
Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
Some people got high rises on their backs
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks
You can make me perfect again
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am...I am
I'm alive
I'm being born
I just arrived, I'm at the door
Of the place I started out from
And I want back inside
All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am
I love the line in the U2 song we just heard that says, ‘You heard me in my tune, when I just heard confusion.’
I am so thankful that God ‘hears us in our tune’. He knows us so well. He looks at us and sees all of our potential. He sees what he created us to be.
LOOK AT VARIOUS SEEDS
For these seeds to be all that they hold the potential to be they have to do a lot. Now think about all that has to happen for a seed to become what it is created to be. They have to be dispersed. They have to open up, they have to take root, they have to have the right conditions for growth (the right amount of sunlight, water, soil - and seeds needs are very different) they have to be given the opportunity to grow and be given their needs during their growth.
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23 (Message)
3-8"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
9"Are you listening to this? Really listening?"
The Meaning of the Harvest Story
18-19"Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21"The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23 (NIV)
3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
The sower is anyone who spreads the Word of God
The seed is the Word of God
The soil is the heart of the person hearing the Word of God
Now as Jesus told this story he was speaking to those living in the region of Palestine and so the palestinian way of sowing and reaping a harvest would have been their mental backdrop to the picture Christ was creating through the parable. Explain the sower throwing the seed from the bag flung over his shoulder and the roads between and through the fields
The seed that falls on the road represents a hardened/calloused heart.
This is like the person who hears the word of God but because of a hardness, a critical spirit, a harsh judgmental way of viewing life - it never takes root in their heart and Satan comes and steals the Word, steals what was never able to penetrate the hardened heart.
The seed that falls on the gravel or stoney ground.
You picture this as soil w/lots of rocks, but it isn’t. In the land of Palestine much of the ground was just a bit of topsoil that was on top of rock. When seed fell on this ground it didn’t have enough earth for the roots to dig down deep enough so whenever there was any kind of problem, when the sun came out, when conditions were anything less than perfect then the seed just dried up. This is like the person who casually hears the word of God and lets it kind of get into his heart but really doesn’t think about it or ponder it too carefully. Churches all over our country are full of these individuals right now. They are in church because they keep up good appearances there or they maintain good business contacts over the weekend or it’s obligatory and they just feel like they ‘should’ go to church and so in they go and they hear the word of God and it may even catch their attention - for a minute -but they don’t take it seriously enough to let it really go deep into there spirit and it just withers away as the hours and days pass by.
The seed that falls in the weeds.
This one hits home with all of us because we’ve all experienced weeds in our lives. These seeds represent the word of God that falls on listening ears - not calloused hearers - not casual hearers, but those that want to know God in a greater way, those that desire a greater depth of relationship with Him, but our lives are so crowded with family life and business life and all the stuff that the thing that we really wanted - time w/the Word, time to hear it and time to apply it, and the Word - the very Word that is life to us and to our souls - it just gets choked out - becomes unfruitful in us.
Then there is the seed that falls on the good soil. In this soil the Bible tells us the seed, which represents Word, germinates. It takes its root and it bears fruit. Some of it 30 fold some 60 fold and some 100 fold. It is a heart that is ready to receive the Word of God. When the Word becomes imbedded in a persons heart it begins to multiply, to transform into what God designed it to be.
Now let me show you this...the difference between all of these seeds growing is not the seed, not the sower, but the soil. It’s not always the sower who does a bad job of sowing, it’s never the word of God (the seed) that doesn’t produce, the Bible says that in this particular story the problem is the one who hears, the soil, the listener.
I wonder where you find yourself in this parable? Are you a calloused heart? I mean are you here because you kind of have to be, either by design or by conscience and your going to hear everything but really that’s it - you really don’t want to go any further. Are you casual about it - you know, kind of yeah I hear yah, but a little time passes and well....it’s gone. Is your life crowded so that really you don’t have time at all for the Word of God? Or are you developing a caring, concerned heart to receive God’s truth? Do you say to yourself, ‘Boy I’d really like to move to the next step here - to advance in this journey that I’m on.’ Let me direct you to one more passage in scripture to look at
James 1:21-24
"In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like."
Who here can relate to that? You read something and someone can ask you about what you just read and you don’t have clue?
A guy by the name of Mortimer J. Adler wrote a book called ‘how to read a book’. And in it he said this:
The 1 time people read for all they are worth is when they are in love and they are reading a love letter. They read every word 3 ways. They read between the lines and the margins. The read the whole in terms of the parts and each part in terms of the whole. They grow sensitive to context and ambiguity, to insinuation and implication. They perceive the color of the words, the order of the phrases and the weight of the sentences. They may even take the punctuation into account. Then if never before or after, they read it carefully and in depth.
Now I’m telling you if we learn to read the Bible like that - we will be surprised what happens. When we ask questions. Why is that there? Why is this here? What does this mean? You don’t just read it. You read it and absorb it and you work with it. But don’t just read the words. Let the Word of God get into your heart as you focus your attention on it’s truth. If you don’t do that, then reading the Bible will be a meaningless ritual and that’s not what God intends for it to be. Look at the next verse there in
James 1:25
"But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action."
Sunday, August 20, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iLove
This song, ‘Chain of Love’ is just 1 of Clay’s 5 # 1 hits.
Clay is from Beaumont, Tx. & gives much of the credit of his success to his wife, 2 daughters and his faith in God.
I don’t think there’s a better song to find God on your iPod than this one:
chorus-
You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you
Summed up in a word - iLove
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1 John 3:18
(instilling mess. into children and it’s for us all) - Here’s why?
Treat everybody as if they have a need
- b/c everybody does.
We want to be people who are known by love:
Some of you have heard me say that can happen thru
sacrifice and service
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Ephesians 5:1-2
The good news is that God gave us a model. Jesus Christ. “I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” MT 20:28 Jesus taught us to give your life away in order to find it. The greatest thrill in the world is to be used by God. To put love into action.
What does it take to love like Jesus?
Three characteristics to look at.
1. IT MEANS BEING AVAILABLE. MT 20:30-32
“Two blind men were sitting by the roadside. And they shouted, ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’ Jesus stopped and called to them. ‘What do you want me to do for you? He asked’.”
Notice the word “stopped”. Jesus was willing to be interrupted.
Most of Jesus’ ministry and miracles were interruptions. -
how willing are we to be interrupted?
Pro. 3:28 “Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now.”
Servant-hearted people are ready and responsive. They say “OK, let’s do it!” There are hurting people all around us and the wounded will not wait. God gives us His power when we are willing to serve. John Wesley’s said: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, by all the ways you can, in all the places you can, and at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”
What might make us unavailable?
a. Feeling of Self-importance. read - LK 10:30-37
The first attitude we see here is “keep your distance.” Do not get to close to people or you might have to help them. We live in a world where people do not want to be bothered. We have what is called a cocoon people. We drive through our neighborhood push the garage door opener. Climb out of our cars and go directly into our homes without having to talk with any one. Many can do their banking right from home or direct deposit. We talk to each other through e-mail. When we eat out we can go to drive up window and be alone. Many times when we use our phones we talk to an automated system or answering machine. All of these keep us at a distance and as the saying goes, “out of sight out of mind.” Another attitude is you can look but do not get involved. We see the need like the Levite and even know what has happened but fail to take action to help. We are like that if we are stuck in a traffic jam and get impatient but when we get to the scene of what has happened we drive by not giving any help. These two men felt too important to help one in need. The third man stopped and helped and his attitude was to treat this person as he would want to be treated.
b. Feeling of Idealism. “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” Eccl. 11:4 In America, we have a made an idol out of excellence. There are some Christians who say, “If you can’t do it first class, don’t even try.” Everything doesn’t have to be perfect for God to bless. If God only used perfect people would you be used? We all have weakness, faults, failures and limitations. God can use us all. He used a donkey that talked to keep a man from sure death. He used a big fish to turn a man around to speak His word.
c. Materialism is another barrier that keeps us from being available to serve. Jesus said, “You can’t serve two masters.” LK 16:13. “Am I going to be a kingdom-builder or am I going to be a wealth-builder?” It is a decision to only gain riches or to be blessed with What God entrusts to us. If God wants to give you wealth then it is your decision what to do with what He has given. Some are so busy taking care of things; they don’t have time to take care of their spiritual life or care for others.
How available are we to be of service for Christ?
2. IT MEANS BEING THANKFUL.
Jesus and Lazarus. “Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.”
JN 11:41
Jesus had an attitude of thankfulness in everything that He did. He started with thankfulness, then he performed ministry. Jesus was thankful in the tough times. Jesus was thankful when He was criticized. Jesus was thankful when things were not easy in ministry. Ministry and miracles always happened with an attitude of thankfulness.
The apostle Paul was thankful. He said, “I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me.”
(1 Tim. 1:12) Why should we serve God with thankfulness, with a sense of delight, not a sense of duty? Why should we serve with a sense of opportunity, not out of a sense of obligation? Because He’s given us life, through Jesus Christ. He saved us! If He never did anything else for us, it should make us thankful for the rest of our lives and we should love to serve Him. “It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan.” 2 Tim. 1:9 What are some things that bring us to not being thankful?
a. Comparing and criticizing. “Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant?” Rom 14:4 We’re on the same team, all His servants. God’s opinion is what matters. We are to live for God’s approval, not people’s approval. He’s given us each different abilities, different tasks. When we compare what we have, it steals our joy and gratitude. When we are thankful for all God has done, there’s no longer any need to compare and criticize. I personally would pray that Christians would compete on who could serve the best and want to be first with the helping.
b. Wrong motivations.
“When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven”. MT 6:1
Self-promotion and servant hood don’t mix. A lot of our service can be self-serving. We serve to get others to like us. We serve to be admired. We serve to achieve our own goals, our own agenda. We serve to feel good about ourselves. (M)We think how noble we are. We serve to manipulate God. We bargain, “God, I’ll serve you if you take care of my need.” When we lose a sense of thankfulness and joy in our service, check our cause for doing what we are doing.
3. IT MEANS BEING FAITHFUL.
“The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful.” 1 CO 4:2
When we serve, we should never give up. Don’t quit in the middle of an assignment.
Jesus said this in JN 17:4,
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work that You gave me to do.”
Jesus was faithful. He didn’t give up. He didn’t give in. He was determined. We need to be able to say, when we get to heaven, that we completed the work God gave us to do. You may retire from your job, but you never retire from ministry. God wants us to serve all of our life. Any time you serve in Jesus’ name, no matter how small, it matters. “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort” 1 CO 15:58 There is a difference between significance and prominence. They are not the same thing. My nose is prominent. My heart is significant. The parts of your body that you don’t see are often more important than the parts you do see! And the same is true in the Body of Christ. In fact, things behind the scenes are more important. Several years ago two teenage boys tried to come into a church service. Only it was packed out and they couldn’t find any seats. So they turned around to leave because they couldn’t find a seat. But one usher said, “Come on, guys. I’ll find you a seat.” And that usher personally escorted them down to the center and set them in the middle and found them two seats. That night both of those boys accepted Christ and became Christians. One of them was Billy Graham who has now led millions and tens of millions of people to Christ. Do you think that usher is going to get any credit in heaven?
Small acts of ministry can be so significant. Real servants do every task with equal dedication because they know it all matters.
They are all important. God knows that you have something to give that will make a difference.
We have all been Shaped to serve.
What is your background, talents, skills, contacts, interests, or hobbies that God can use through you?
and meet the needs of others - b/c we are to:
Treat everybody as if they have a need
- b/c everybody does.
HB 6:10 “He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
How do we love like Jesus?
Be available, thankful, & faithful
How do we serve the needs of people?
1. See the needs of those around me.
Let the Holy Spirit guide you. (compass) - walk Spirit
1 CO. 10:24 “People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves.”
2. Understand people in their pain.
I always pray that I can have the heart of Christ - He saw their pain - When the good Samaritan saw the wounded man he had pity on him. This also means we take time to listen to people. - it’s being available - willing to be interrupted
2 CO. 1:4 “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
3. Seize the moment and meet the need.
This is the Jonathan factor that we learned in the series,‘Chasing Daylight’
Pro. 3:27-28 “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor, "Maybe some other time," or, "Try me tomorrow," when the money’s right there in your pocket.”
You know there's difference between a LEADER and a SERVANT -
Every leader serves, but not every servant leads.
Servants are willing whenever, sometimes only when they are obligated.
Leaders take iniative - leaders see the need and fill the need.
If we are to seize the moment we must be willing to take the risk.
4. Spend what it takes.
Gal. 6:10 “Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers.”
There is always a cost to being kind and serving others.
This is one of those life scriptures I try to live by -
I want to 'Go after God', to seek Him and His ways - and I long to live
just as the Apostle Paul here in this verse by example for others -
this is Love in Action:
"Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9
Clay is from Beaumont, Tx. & gives much of the credit of his success to his wife, 2 daughters and his faith in God.
I don’t think there’s a better song to find God on your iPod than this one:
chorus-
You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you
Summed up in a word - iLove
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1 John 3:18
(instilling mess. into children and it’s for us all) - Here’s why?
Treat everybody as if they have a need
- b/c everybody does.
We want to be people who are known by love:
Some of you have heard me say that can happen thru
sacrifice and service
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Ephesians 5:1-2
The good news is that God gave us a model. Jesus Christ. “I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” MT 20:28 Jesus taught us to give your life away in order to find it. The greatest thrill in the world is to be used by God. To put love into action.
What does it take to love like Jesus?
Three characteristics to look at.
1. IT MEANS BEING AVAILABLE. MT 20:30-32
“Two blind men were sitting by the roadside. And they shouted, ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’ Jesus stopped and called to them. ‘What do you want me to do for you? He asked’.”
Notice the word “stopped”. Jesus was willing to be interrupted.
Most of Jesus’ ministry and miracles were interruptions. -
how willing are we to be interrupted?
Pro. 3:28 “Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now.”
Servant-hearted people are ready and responsive. They say “OK, let’s do it!” There are hurting people all around us and the wounded will not wait. God gives us His power when we are willing to serve. John Wesley’s said: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, by all the ways you can, in all the places you can, and at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”
What might make us unavailable?
a. Feeling of Self-importance. read - LK 10:30-37
The first attitude we see here is “keep your distance.” Do not get to close to people or you might have to help them. We live in a world where people do not want to be bothered. We have what is called a cocoon people. We drive through our neighborhood push the garage door opener. Climb out of our cars and go directly into our homes without having to talk with any one. Many can do their banking right from home or direct deposit. We talk to each other through e-mail. When we eat out we can go to drive up window and be alone. Many times when we use our phones we talk to an automated system or answering machine. All of these keep us at a distance and as the saying goes, “out of sight out of mind.” Another attitude is you can look but do not get involved. We see the need like the Levite and even know what has happened but fail to take action to help. We are like that if we are stuck in a traffic jam and get impatient but when we get to the scene of what has happened we drive by not giving any help. These two men felt too important to help one in need. The third man stopped and helped and his attitude was to treat this person as he would want to be treated.
b. Feeling of Idealism. “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” Eccl. 11:4 In America, we have a made an idol out of excellence. There are some Christians who say, “If you can’t do it first class, don’t even try.” Everything doesn’t have to be perfect for God to bless. If God only used perfect people would you be used? We all have weakness, faults, failures and limitations. God can use us all. He used a donkey that talked to keep a man from sure death. He used a big fish to turn a man around to speak His word.
c. Materialism is another barrier that keeps us from being available to serve. Jesus said, “You can’t serve two masters.” LK 16:13. “Am I going to be a kingdom-builder or am I going to be a wealth-builder?” It is a decision to only gain riches or to be blessed with What God entrusts to us. If God wants to give you wealth then it is your decision what to do with what He has given. Some are so busy taking care of things; they don’t have time to take care of their spiritual life or care for others.
How available are we to be of service for Christ?
2. IT MEANS BEING THANKFUL.
Jesus and Lazarus. “Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.”
JN 11:41
Jesus had an attitude of thankfulness in everything that He did. He started with thankfulness, then he performed ministry. Jesus was thankful in the tough times. Jesus was thankful when He was criticized. Jesus was thankful when things were not easy in ministry. Ministry and miracles always happened with an attitude of thankfulness.
The apostle Paul was thankful. He said, “I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me.”
(1 Tim. 1:12) Why should we serve God with thankfulness, with a sense of delight, not a sense of duty? Why should we serve with a sense of opportunity, not out of a sense of obligation? Because He’s given us life, through Jesus Christ. He saved us! If He never did anything else for us, it should make us thankful for the rest of our lives and we should love to serve Him. “It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan.” 2 Tim. 1:9 What are some things that bring us to not being thankful?
a. Comparing and criticizing. “Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant?” Rom 14:4 We’re on the same team, all His servants. God’s opinion is what matters. We are to live for God’s approval, not people’s approval. He’s given us each different abilities, different tasks. When we compare what we have, it steals our joy and gratitude. When we are thankful for all God has done, there’s no longer any need to compare and criticize. I personally would pray that Christians would compete on who could serve the best and want to be first with the helping.
b. Wrong motivations.
“When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven”. MT 6:1
Self-promotion and servant hood don’t mix. A lot of our service can be self-serving. We serve to get others to like us. We serve to be admired. We serve to achieve our own goals, our own agenda. We serve to feel good about ourselves. (M)We think how noble we are. We serve to manipulate God. We bargain, “God, I’ll serve you if you take care of my need.” When we lose a sense of thankfulness and joy in our service, check our cause for doing what we are doing.
3. IT MEANS BEING FAITHFUL.
“The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful.” 1 CO 4:2
When we serve, we should never give up. Don’t quit in the middle of an assignment.
Jesus said this in JN 17:4,
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work that You gave me to do.”
Jesus was faithful. He didn’t give up. He didn’t give in. He was determined. We need to be able to say, when we get to heaven, that we completed the work God gave us to do. You may retire from your job, but you never retire from ministry. God wants us to serve all of our life. Any time you serve in Jesus’ name, no matter how small, it matters. “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort” 1 CO 15:58 There is a difference between significance and prominence. They are not the same thing. My nose is prominent. My heart is significant. The parts of your body that you don’t see are often more important than the parts you do see! And the same is true in the Body of Christ. In fact, things behind the scenes are more important. Several years ago two teenage boys tried to come into a church service. Only it was packed out and they couldn’t find any seats. So they turned around to leave because they couldn’t find a seat. But one usher said, “Come on, guys. I’ll find you a seat.” And that usher personally escorted them down to the center and set them in the middle and found them two seats. That night both of those boys accepted Christ and became Christians. One of them was Billy Graham who has now led millions and tens of millions of people to Christ. Do you think that usher is going to get any credit in heaven?
Small acts of ministry can be so significant. Real servants do every task with equal dedication because they know it all matters.
They are all important. God knows that you have something to give that will make a difference.
We have all been Shaped to serve.
What is your background, talents, skills, contacts, interests, or hobbies that God can use through you?
and meet the needs of others - b/c we are to:
Treat everybody as if they have a need
- b/c everybody does.
HB 6:10 “He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
How do we love like Jesus?
Be available, thankful, & faithful
How do we serve the needs of people?
1. See the needs of those around me.
Let the Holy Spirit guide you. (compass) - walk Spirit
1 CO. 10:24 “People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves.”
2. Understand people in their pain.
I always pray that I can have the heart of Christ - He saw their pain - When the good Samaritan saw the wounded man he had pity on him. This also means we take time to listen to people. - it’s being available - willing to be interrupted
2 CO. 1:4 “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
3. Seize the moment and meet the need.
This is the Jonathan factor that we learned in the series,‘Chasing Daylight’
Pro. 3:27-28 “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor, "Maybe some other time," or, "Try me tomorrow," when the money’s right there in your pocket.”
You know there's difference between a LEADER and a SERVANT -
Every leader serves, but not every servant leads.
Servants are willing whenever, sometimes only when they are obligated.
Leaders take iniative - leaders see the need and fill the need.
If we are to seize the moment we must be willing to take the risk.
4. Spend what it takes.
Gal. 6:10 “Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers.”
There is always a cost to being kind and serving others.
This is one of those life scriptures I try to live by -
I want to 'Go after God', to seek Him and His ways - and I long to live
just as the Apostle Paul here in this verse by example for others -
this is Love in Action:
"Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9
Sunday, August 13, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iConnect
Jordan Pruitt is the next up and coming disney created star. (in line w/ Hil. Loh. Alli & AJ , Miley Stew. aka H.M....) Jordan only 15yrs. old and her music was featured on the disney movie, ‘Read it and weep’. She is on the rise and very soon you will be bombarded w/ Jordan Pruitt.
This song is more prevalent than I think we really know. Look at these lyrics:
You don't know my name
You don't know anything about me
At your right to play nice
I wanna be in your game
That things that you say
You may think I never hear about them
But word travels fast
I'm telling you to your face
I'm standing here behind your back
Chorus-
You don't know how it feels to be outside the crowd
You don't know what it's like to be left out
And you don't know how it feels to be your own best friend
On the outside looking in
If you could read my mind
You might see more of me that meets the eye
And you've been all wrong
Not who you think I am
You never given me a chance
Chorus
Oh I'm tired of staying at home
I'm bored and all alone
I'm sick of wasting all my time
The yearning of the human spirit is to connect.
God has created us for community. Do you know of any other songs that has the theme of loneliness?
Of wanting & longing for companionship? Of wanting to be included and loved?
(think of some w/ neighbor) ‘I’m w/U’ Avril
In the Genesis story of creation Adam was not complete until there was Eve. The meaning is clear: no individual is
complete in himself, in herself - humanity is persons-in-relationship.
The ? is how do we complete ourselves then?
Think about all the clubs and org. we get involved in?
The Lions Club, The Elks Lodge, The Boosters, the Garden Club, the committee of fair housing, fraternities, social clubs,
book clubs, poker club, theater groups, and on and on,..on
God has created us to connect, created us for community.
Something I’ve never done b4, teach out of the Song of Songs - A book that is so descriptive in an intimate relationship between 2 lovers, a man and woman, the lover and his beloved. What some may not see is that this is a love song of God to all mankind. A message of salvation, that we are God’s beloved. A longing for us to move out of solitude into communion. Communion in an intimate relationship w/ Savior.
Ahh... but there’s more...
In this we see just how we are and have been created to connect.
Let’s look together, beginning in ch.1
Right off the bat in vs. 2 we have the words, “Kiss me”
This in the Hebrew is a direct, and passionate appeal to connect.
The appeal to connect
This person does not want a surface relationship, they do not want just an acquaintance, This is an appeal for their life to be connected to someone else.
Life to be meaningful must be joined together with others.
This is true for all of us. However,
we don’t always share that info do we? Sometimes we hide it, we don’t feel we want to burden others or we feel that we don’t want others to know of our loneliness (which is the exact opposite of what we need) So
look at the next line in v. 2
“your love is better than wine”
The meaning of wine, in this context, is that it lifts a person from isolation into shared fellowship.
For those who are lonely, those who are consumed in themselves, feeling inadequate, feelings of guilt or shame,...
wine or something of the like, can temporarily free them from such inwardness and liberate them to talk freely
(courage in a can)
It assists in communicating w/ others - you feel me?
Wine and the like is praised b/c it releases inhibitions and stimulates conversation. It banishes isolation & bridges the chasms that separate people. But, love is better than wine.
The longing to connect
B/c love does it better - love dissolves the separating wall & enables true communication of emotion, thought, and
purpose. (not only in intimate lover relation. - deep friendships, comrades, love like bro. or sis. - like family/ God’s)
There is an insurmountable # of people who tried wine or the like and have discovered it doesn’t work, as a matter of fact in the even short distance of the long run, it makes matters worse.
People are longing for something that works permanently.
That can only be found in a loving communion or
community.
v.3 “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out.”
The need to be known
Since we have been created for community there is this deep desire w/in each of us to be known. And there is no other sound more important, more delightful, than the sound of our own name.
Dale Carnegie -
“A person’s name is the sweetest sound they hear”
All of us make an appeal to connect, we all long to connect, each of us has the need to be known.
Each of us have the same desies:
We want to know and be known
We want to love and be loved
HOW? and WHY?
Let’s read Hebrews 10 - circle every ‘let us’
22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:22-25
1. Go after God v.22
"let us draw near to God"
2. Believe v.22, 23
"let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess"
The 1st and most important connection to make is that w/God (scrip.)- We have a loving God who longs for a personal connection w/ each and every one of us. Here in Heb. we see how to connect w/ others as well as God - we are to pursue God, to go after God, to draw near - that is a prioritizing - making God # 1 b4 all else.
We then live by faith that God is in control of everything in our lives and if we pursue Him 1st we believe everything else will fall into place.
“your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:32-33
3. Gather v.25
"Let us not give up meeting together"
We cannot make it on our own. God created us for community - Adam was not complete until Eve.
There are those who occasionally attend some sort of gathering w/ other believers, be it a church service or small group or some other outing - or attend an Easter or Christmas service thinking they’ve done their duty (“I’ve put in my time”)
But Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
We need each other- on a regular basis. couple reasons why
4. Urge v.24
"let us consider how we may spur one another on"
We need others in our lives who are going to spur us on, urge us to go farther - you know what this means? We need urgers in our lives to create and bring change. And are you ready for this, we all need to change.
Our lives in Christ is all about change. That’s what God is doing - we are transforming into the likeness of His Son,
Jesus Christ
Everyone of us needs people urging us, helping us to change. WHY? B/c alone we can never live out the full capacity God has for us - we need to be challenged
(I think that’s why Dr. Phil is so popular - all we’ve had are Talk show hosts who comfort and along comes Dr. Phil who says, “You ought stop doing that, that’s just stupid!” - we’re thinking, “yeah, that’s right”) - vid
Urging gets us where we need to go and it’s the uncomfortable confrontation that you get to live out, Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend can be trusted” Why?
If we are left to our own we will never rise to a higher level than what is comfortable.
5. Love v.24, 25
“let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds... let us encourage one another”
Sometimes life just rips out the capacity to believe in what you are capable of doing - sometimes we have waited for something to happen for long we don’t ever think it’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s attempts that failed, “I gave it my best shot, it didn’t happen”
So when times get tough we just lower our stand/expect.
We need others to put the ‘courage’ back in our lives.
We need others helping us to believe that we can do all and everything God has called us to do. It’s not that profound really - we need people in our lives to say to us, ‘Y U can’
Your mind may be lying to you, circumstances may be telling you otherwise, but ‘Yes you can!’ You can do this.
“I know you, you can do it” ever notice how other people see more in us than we do ourselves?
Is there anything you’ve given up in your life?
What has crushed the possibilities of what’s supposed to happen in your life?
We need others to encourage us, to tell us, ‘Yes you can’
more on love next week
This song is more prevalent than I think we really know. Look at these lyrics:
You don't know my name
You don't know anything about me
At your right to play nice
I wanna be in your game
That things that you say
You may think I never hear about them
But word travels fast
I'm telling you to your face
I'm standing here behind your back
Chorus-
You don't know how it feels to be outside the crowd
You don't know what it's like to be left out
And you don't know how it feels to be your own best friend
On the outside looking in
If you could read my mind
You might see more of me that meets the eye
And you've been all wrong
Not who you think I am
You never given me a chance
Chorus
Oh I'm tired of staying at home
I'm bored and all alone
I'm sick of wasting all my time
The yearning of the human spirit is to connect.
God has created us for community. Do you know of any other songs that has the theme of loneliness?
Of wanting & longing for companionship? Of wanting to be included and loved?
(think of some w/ neighbor) ‘I’m w/U’ Avril
In the Genesis story of creation Adam was not complete until there was Eve. The meaning is clear: no individual is
complete in himself, in herself - humanity is persons-in-relationship.
The ? is how do we complete ourselves then?
Think about all the clubs and org. we get involved in?
The Lions Club, The Elks Lodge, The Boosters, the Garden Club, the committee of fair housing, fraternities, social clubs,
book clubs, poker club, theater groups, and on and on,..on
God has created us to connect, created us for community.
Something I’ve never done b4, teach out of the Song of Songs - A book that is so descriptive in an intimate relationship between 2 lovers, a man and woman, the lover and his beloved. What some may not see is that this is a love song of God to all mankind. A message of salvation, that we are God’s beloved. A longing for us to move out of solitude into communion. Communion in an intimate relationship w/ Savior.
Ahh... but there’s more...
In this we see just how we are and have been created to connect.
Let’s look together, beginning in ch.1
Right off the bat in vs. 2 we have the words, “Kiss me”
This in the Hebrew is a direct, and passionate appeal to connect.
The appeal to connect
This person does not want a surface relationship, they do not want just an acquaintance, This is an appeal for their life to be connected to someone else.
Life to be meaningful must be joined together with others.
This is true for all of us. However,
we don’t always share that info do we? Sometimes we hide it, we don’t feel we want to burden others or we feel that we don’t want others to know of our loneliness (which is the exact opposite of what we need) So
look at the next line in v. 2
“your love is better than wine”
The meaning of wine, in this context, is that it lifts a person from isolation into shared fellowship.
For those who are lonely, those who are consumed in themselves, feeling inadequate, feelings of guilt or shame,...
wine or something of the like, can temporarily free them from such inwardness and liberate them to talk freely
(courage in a can)
It assists in communicating w/ others - you feel me?
Wine and the like is praised b/c it releases inhibitions and stimulates conversation. It banishes isolation & bridges the chasms that separate people. But, love is better than wine.
The longing to connect
B/c love does it better - love dissolves the separating wall & enables true communication of emotion, thought, and
purpose. (not only in intimate lover relation. - deep friendships, comrades, love like bro. or sis. - like family/ God’s)
There is an insurmountable # of people who tried wine or the like and have discovered it doesn’t work, as a matter of fact in the even short distance of the long run, it makes matters worse.
People are longing for something that works permanently.
That can only be found in a loving communion or
community.
v.3 “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out.”
The need to be known
Since we have been created for community there is this deep desire w/in each of us to be known. And there is no other sound more important, more delightful, than the sound of our own name.
Dale Carnegie -
“A person’s name is the sweetest sound they hear”
All of us make an appeal to connect, we all long to connect, each of us has the need to be known.
Each of us have the same desies:
We want to know and be known
We want to love and be loved
HOW? and WHY?
Let’s read Hebrews 10 - circle every ‘let us’
22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:22-25
1. Go after God v.22
"let us draw near to God"
2. Believe v.22, 23
"let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess"
The 1st and most important connection to make is that w/God (scrip.)- We have a loving God who longs for a personal connection w/ each and every one of us. Here in Heb. we see how to connect w/ others as well as God - we are to pursue God, to go after God, to draw near - that is a prioritizing - making God # 1 b4 all else.
We then live by faith that God is in control of everything in our lives and if we pursue Him 1st we believe everything else will fall into place.
“your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:32-33
3. Gather v.25
"Let us not give up meeting together"
We cannot make it on our own. God created us for community - Adam was not complete until Eve.
There are those who occasionally attend some sort of gathering w/ other believers, be it a church service or small group or some other outing - or attend an Easter or Christmas service thinking they’ve done their duty (“I’ve put in my time”)
But Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
We need each other- on a regular basis. couple reasons why
4. Urge v.24
"let us consider how we may spur one another on"
We need others in our lives who are going to spur us on, urge us to go farther - you know what this means? We need urgers in our lives to create and bring change. And are you ready for this, we all need to change.
Our lives in Christ is all about change. That’s what God is doing - we are transforming into the likeness of His Son,
Jesus Christ
Everyone of us needs people urging us, helping us to change. WHY? B/c alone we can never live out the full capacity God has for us - we need to be challenged
(I think that’s why Dr. Phil is so popular - all we’ve had are Talk show hosts who comfort and along comes Dr. Phil who says, “You ought stop doing that, that’s just stupid!” - we’re thinking, “yeah, that’s right”) - vid
Urging gets us where we need to go and it’s the uncomfortable confrontation that you get to live out, Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend can be trusted” Why?
If we are left to our own we will never rise to a higher level than what is comfortable.
5. Love v.24, 25
“let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds... let us encourage one another”
Sometimes life just rips out the capacity to believe in what you are capable of doing - sometimes we have waited for something to happen for long we don’t ever think it’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s attempts that failed, “I gave it my best shot, it didn’t happen”
So when times get tough we just lower our stand/expect.
We need others to put the ‘courage’ back in our lives.
We need others helping us to believe that we can do all and everything God has called us to do. It’s not that profound really - we need people in our lives to say to us, ‘Y U can’
Your mind may be lying to you, circumstances may be telling you otherwise, but ‘Yes you can!’ You can do this.
“I know you, you can do it” ever notice how other people see more in us than we do ourselves?
Is there anything you’ve given up in your life?
What has crushed the possibilities of what’s supposed to happen in your life?
We need others to encourage us, to tell us, ‘Yes you can’
more on love next week
Sunday, August 06, 2006
'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iWorship
This artist’s name is Matisyahu. Matt is the one who introduced me to this guy, he said, “Have you heard all the underground buzz, it’s like this jewish orthodox reggae rap, have you heard of it?” I was like, “ofcourse, I’m always on the cutting edge of jewish orthodox reggae rap, c’mon”
No - I’ve never heard of him.
We started listening to it in the car and basically what this guy has done is he’s gone back to the Torah w/ this reggae fusion rap thing w/ these phat rhymes - it began underground,
but when CD hit - it broke out on the charts and soared to 4.
then live CD moved to 36.
Pretty interesting life story - He grew up in white plains, NY - parents sent him to Hebrew school - he didn’t like it - caused problems - almost kicked out - he went beyond the typical teenage rebellion stage - started experimenting in different ways.
Thru all this he said he felt a void in life - so he went to Colorado on a life quest, so to speak - it was there and that time when he came to realization that there is a God.
He began to explore his roots - went to Israel - once back in US he met a Rabbi who spoke into his life and that’s where he (Matthew Miller) became ‘Matisyahu’ - which is basically the Yiddish pronounciation of Matthew - he is fully devoted in the Jewish orthodox lifestyle and is all over the billboard charts.
“All of my songs are influenced and inspired by the teachings that
inspire me. I want my music to have meaning, to be able to touch
people and make them think…Breaking out of slavery is definitely
a theme in my music: You're a slave to yourself and you don't even
know…I think this is a concept many people don't recognize. We
think of slavery as someone else enslaving us, but in truth, we are
often the ones enslaving ourselves. We are so busy being influenced
by money, by society, by external pressures, that our true identity
and abilities can be hidden.” - Matisyahu, Interview at Chabad.org
check out some of these lyrics:
Chorus:
What's this feeling?
My love will rip a hole in the ceiling
Givin' myself to you from the essence of my being
Sing to my God all these songs of love and healing
I Want Moshiach (messiah) now so it's time we start revealing
You're all that I have and you're all that I need
Each and every day I pray to get to know you please
I want to be close to you, yes I'm so hungry
You're like water for my soul when it gets thirsty
Without you there's no me
You're the air that I breathe …
Said, thank you to my God, now I finally got it right
And I'll fight with all of my heart, and all a' my soul, and all a' my might
Bridge:
Me no want no sinsemilla.(don’t know what that is, that’s probably a good thing - it’s a highly potent kind of pot)
That would only bring me down
Burn away my brain no way my brain is to compound
Torah food for my brain let it rain till I drown
Thunder!
Let the blessings come down
Strip away the layers and reveal your soul
Got to give yourself up and then you become whole
So what’s this about - it’s about getting your eyes off yourself and focusing on something or someone bigger than you.
To attach my life to a higher level of meaning and value.
To sum up this song in one word it would be iWorship.
Now I know when i say the word worship and you saw when you came in that today is about worship - immediately our thoughts go to this churchified mindset, primarily religious connotations. I wonder what’s the 1st word that pops into your mind?
Tendency to lean towards formal religious kind of stuff - singing, prayer, church service... maybe something like this
(video - Mr. Bean goes to church)
Some people quite comfortable w/ that - they understand it, grew up in it
For others it’s a very Mr. Bean type scenario that’s foreign and uncomfortable and maybe disconnect. Worship, “That’s not me, that’s not about everyday life, it’s maybe something I can squeeze in an hour on the weekend.”
What I’m not going to talk about is adding more spiritual activity -
ultimately I don’t believe that’s the primary goal of worship.
Singing and prayer and other activities are an important component of worship but it’s a very small portion of it - Worship is much more than religious or spiritual activities.
You see worship can include a vast # of act. you’re already doing day after day -
Worship all depends on mindset and heart attitude.
Instead of defining it as activity, what if worship meant being a better employee, boss, spouse, parent, friend, butcher, baker, candlestick maker - what if worship meant everything we do, even the mundane, mow the lawn, do the laundry,
answer email, meet deadlines.
What would happen if worship could enter into my everyday life and change my life?
Worship is way of Life
Now worship is primarily for God and we give it to God, not to get anything back, but b/c He is worthy and b/c God is sooo good and in that it changes us. Thru worship our hearts are filled w/ joy, we become grateful for what we have, we become more confident b/c we are loved just as we are and assured of that. In worship I remember I am not alone, God is w/ me and that creates new levels of peace, comfort and security. I am humbled in God’s greatness, I realize it’s not all about me - remember, I’m not talking about just singing here, it’s a way of life - here’s what i noticed - when I don’t worship I get attitude problems, I become anxious about tomorrow and other stuff, I envy other people and what they have, I get this sense of entitlement that destroys gratitude and I think you get the picture - you see we were made to worship - it’s like Matisyahu said, “it’s like water to my soul, like the air that I breath” and it’s alot bigger than maybe we thought it was.
We’re going to unpack 1 scripture that’s really going expand the traditional mindset we have of worship - Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, (like Matisyahu said, got to give yourself up to make you whole) holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.”
I love the Message tranalation - “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life
and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1 (MSG)
That is worship.
That tells me worship is a way of life, it means I get up in the morning, worship is when I eat breakfast, and going to work, laughing w/ friends, playing w/ my kids, and dealing w/ difficult situations, it’s way of life. (gona come back to that)
That’s the summary of what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1
Now he breaks it down w/ 2 ideas - here’s the 1st one
He says, “in view of God’s mercy”
Worship is a new perspective I view life from
If I could describe worship w/ 1 word it would be perspective.
We all know perspective can change everything.
I have a letter here from a young college girl writing to her parents: Dear Mom and Dad,
Just thought I'd drop you a note to clue you in on my plans. I've fallen in love with a guy named Jim. He quit high school after grade eleven to get married. About a year ago he got a divorce.
We've been going steady for two months and plan to get married in the fall. Until then, I've decided to move into his apartment (I think I might be pregnant).
At any rate, I dropped out of school last week, although I'd like to finish college sometime in the future.
Your loving daughter
P.S. Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that everything I've written so far in this letter is false. NONE of it is true. But,
I did flunk Chemistry - I just wanted you to keep it in
perspective.
Perspective can change everything.
Perspective changes the way we see something, when we see something differently it profoundly changes the way we react to it. (like glasses - w/out blurry, w/ clear)
We have all seen people face very similar circumstances that were difficult and one person got bitter about it while
another got better.
One person, “I’m the victim, everything’s going wrong, and nothing is good”, yet the other found a way to find hope in it.
To find opportunity in the challenge. What’s the difference -
Perspective
Worship is a new Perspective
Jesus didn’t come to give us a new religion, He came to create in us a new perspective, He said, “If you live according to my teachings, it’s like having a house that’s built on a firm foundation and it will withstand the storms.”
He helped change our perspective - that there is a loving
Father who longs to be w/ you - a relationship w/ you.
How does this happen? this new perspective -
“I have set the Lord continually before me.” - Psalm 16:8
That’s profound, that’s the goal. that’s the perspective of worship. That doesn’t mean I sit in lotus position all day chanting scripture and hymns.
It means thru all the activities of my day, I try to develop this way of bringing my mind back to God’s goodness, greatness, faithfulness - I become aware again and mindful again on purpose. (God compass)
Some may say, no way, can’t do it - we do it all the time - phone conversation w/ one person yet simultaneously you’re
thinking about another convo. or...
you walk in home from work, play w/ kids, yet not really there b/c mind is thinking about project needs to be done at work.
or... at work typing on computer, but not there, thinking about lunch.
We do this all the time, kinda 2 places at once. So instead of drifting, instead of wandering mindlessly into another place - like ever read a page or article get to bottom and not know what just read - ever sit in a room listening to someone speak then realize later you have no idea what they were saying, are you doing that now?
it’s like auto pilot, just drift - this mindlessness is totally fatal to my experience w/ God. find myself stressed, fatigued, tense
We are can purposely draw ourselves back to God. To keep Him continually b4 us - it’s a lifestyle of worship, we live and act and work and play from this God perspective. (ask Holy Spirit to keep us aligned)
Discussion Questions:
• Which part of the day do you find the hardest to share with God?
• What is one thing you can do to be intentional about keeping the flow of thoughts upward during that part of the day?
“in view of God’s mercy” getting a new view, perspective
“Take your everyday, ordinary life … and place it before God
as an offering.”
Worship is a lifestyle that includes every area of my life.
‘Take you everyday life’ - it’s a lifestyle and you place all it b4 God - he repeats this in - Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were
working for the Lord and not for people.
This is revolutionary stuff guys, look at ‘whatever’ underline that. That word in the greek, whatever, you know what it means... whatever.
You see he’s not saying, when you pray or when you do
religious activities - whatever you do - he says it again
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 whether you eat or drink (all the ordinary and mundane of life) or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Ethical boundaries - can’t say, I’m gonna hot wire a car for Your glory Lord”
The vast majority of the stuff we do can be an act of worship.
Think about your vocation for a minute, col. 3:23 - you get this and you’re headed down God’s path.
In life it’s not what you do that matters;
it is who you do it for.
God is not into what you do for a living, it doesn’t matter if you’re a truck driver, CPA, student, or Pro football player - His 1st concern is, “are you doing it for ME?”
Here’s a thought - If Jesus were to show up at your work dressed for the same job, would things go differently?
We can learn a thing or 2 from Jesus, even in the workplace.
When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the
synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked.
"What's this wisdom that has been given Him, that He even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter?” - Mark 6:2-3
Yes He was. That’s what most people knew Him as.
Remember at His baptism w/ John and the dove and the Voice from heaven, which was Father God saying, “this is my servant whom I am well pleased.”
Pleased w/ what? Not His preaching, He hadn’t started that yet - what was He talking about? He’s been in the carpentry shop for about 20 yrs. now making chairs, making tables - Father God was saying He’s just as much in my will there as He will be teaching and preaching.
How do you think Jesus was at work? Do you think He did shotty work? Do you think He was ever ticked at His boss, “Man, working for Joseph really sucks” Do you think He ever bad mouthed other employees? “James you’re a lousy bum!”
How do you think He did His work?
Jesus is our model. A christian is to be Christ-like.
So much so that Father God is pleased with us even on the job - not just on Sunday. God is not saying, “I sure am happy Joe goes to church every Sunday” - You know why?
B/c worship is a lifestyle that includes every area of my life.
review: worship is new pers/ lifestyle includes every area life
(rem. compass)
Discussion Questions:
• What can I do to take my everyday work and place it before God as an offering or worship?
• If Jesus were to show up in my workplace looking just like me,what would the execution of my job look like? What adjustments would He make? Where am I getting it right?
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