Identity, what labels do you wear?


Moving Forward in 2019 Part 2

As we launch into a new year, many take it as an opportunity to make better decisions, eating right, more exercise, less wasted time, more time with family and friends, starting a new hobby or schooling.

Last week we talked about starting the new year off right by choosing to forgive ourselves, walk free of regrets and be as free as we should be because of Christ setting us free…This week I want you to think about who you really are…what is your identity what labels do you wear?

LIFE STORY

We struggle with our identity and that of others, the labels we and others give us

It is at the root of prejudice, intimidation, insecurity, much of our anxiety, most psychological problems, fear, anger and so much more

It is also at the root of our successes, our sense of accomplishment, compassion, our feelings of love, and passion.

A few years ago I had another class reunion when I think about high school it wasn’t a bad time for me…I had my struggles like most. When I graduated I was 5’ 4” tall and weighed about 90-100lbs. I was always small throughout school…the reunion got me thinking about labels…we had the jocks, nerds, geeks, heads, rebels, popular kids, bandy’s, class clowns….at one point or another I fit into most of these labels….I wrestled so I was a jock, I loved reading, literature, and Shakespeare so I was a nerd, I loved sci-fi so I was a geek, in junior high I would bring candy and gum in a gym bag to sell, it was considered contraband back then because you weren’t allowed either in school, in high school drove a motorcycle to school so I was a rebel. My junior and senior year I spent lots of my earnings on clothes and I was going to the under 21 clubs dancing so I became very popular. I starred in all the school plays mostly comedic roles so thus the class clown, I was in the band from 4thto 12thgrade….but these were labels others tried to place on me, they were just a slice of who I was not the whole picture…that’s the problem with labels

Think about it….How many here were nerds? Jocks (cheerleaders included)?, rebels?, class clown, bandy’s (majorettes included)? Popular? Heads were what we called the drug users I don’t want to know this one today

Our identity comes from many places… 

what we do….our jobs, hobbies, skill sets

who we are….Father, Mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, neighbor, friend

culture or race….Italian, Polish, German, white black, Hispanic, Asian

class…lower, middle, upper

education…skilled, unskilled, bachelor’s, masters, doctorate, apprentice, journeyman, master

sex…male, female

age….Millennials, next gen, y, x, baby boomers, baby busters

All of these labels, identities…who has the right to label something?

1) Manufacturer– labels on shirt, shoes, underwear, the phones we use…we expect the people that make stuff…labels are everywhere on our stuff…and if the label is cool people will pay more for the label than for the product…I remember 2013 when rapper Kayne West sold his hip hop plain white t-shirt, for 120 dollars, and it sold out instantly…it is a plain white t-shirt people…but it’s all about the label…(in college I had to have the polo with the little alligator on it “LaCosta”

2) Owners- if you own something, you can label it…cause you own it…if you don’t own it…you can’t label it….I mean how weird would it be if I came to your house with a label maker and started labeling things like kitchen, dog, mother, sister, even if I was right, I wouldn’t have the right, because I am not the owner…visitors don’t have the right to label things

3) Purchasers– when you were a kid, what was the first thing your parents told you to do with your… coat, you baseball glove, or soccer ball, your backpack….write your name and phone number on it…

Apart from receiving the label from the manufacturer, owner, or purchaser any label is a fake label (I bought a few of those when I thought I was getting the real “Lacoste” in college)

This labeling, when done wrong, causes racism, prejudice, sexism, and ignorance to grow rampant. It causes heartache and places limits on us when the label is “stupid”, “good for nothing”, when some is labeled useless, called racial slurs, even labels like poor, republican, democratic, conservative, liberal and so on it also causes division between people, cultures, and the church….our first priority must be allowing the Manufacturer, owner, or purchaser to label you only

The one who made something is the manufacturer. 

The owner – the person who owns that something 

The purchaser – the person who bought that something… 

Which means God is the only one who has the right to label you…God is the one who manufactured you…who created you… 

Psalm 139:13

 “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

God is also the one who owns you…

Psalm 24:1

 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

God is your purchaser…

1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

God is the only one who is your Creator, God is the only who owns the earth and all of us in it, and God is the only one who loved you so much that he sent his son to die on the cross for your sins…so that by the blood of Christ He purchased you from sin and death…God is the only one who has a right…to label you…

And if we could live our lives simply rejecting all the labels that other people try to stick on us…and instead choose to let God be the one to label us…our lives would be so so so much better…and we would be able to do so so so much more in this life…because we would be free from fear of others…

I just want to look at one verse with you, that talks about this and it is found in Romans 12:2

“…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

When we accept labels we are conforming to the way of this world. When Paul is speaking of conforming to this world he is saving don’t allow yourself to be shaped into a pattern of thinking, behavior, attitudes, judgment, impurity of thought the way the world looks and acts, you are different

The question is…we know we are not supposed to do that…and yet…we find ourselves doing that all time…why?…if we are honest with ourselves, we want to fit in…no one likes being an outsider, a freak…and honestly…the world has some pretty cool riches to offer….but here Paul is saying if you want to go after all the things the world has to offer…and if you really want to fit in…then you are going to conform to the pattern of this world in order to get those things…and in the process…you are going to lose yourself…and is it worth it…Jesus put it this way Matthew 16:26

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

This world is dying and conforming to it is only a temporary enjoyment

1 John 2:17

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

What good would it be to have had the most opulent room on the Titanic or the luxury office and suite in the twin towers…conforming to the worlds pattern of thinking, the labels that come with the prejudices, insecurities and impurities of thought lead to temporary comfort but ultimate disaster

Going back to the idea of high school you could decide to conform to the patterns that someone else had set before and those patterns and labels always created an us versus them scenario and idea that we were the in-crowd and others did not fit in…it was a micro version of what is happening in our world today…the church and Christians are conforming to a label based on the world rather than Christ and it causes division not unity…we can’t think the way the world thinks, we can’t label ourselves and others the way the world does.

When you are at work, shopping, with the guy/gals the language, discussions, attitudes are mostly going to be patterned after the way the world thinks and talks…you belong to Christ first you should patterned your life, language, attitudes, and discussions based on Him.

The second part of this says be “transformed by the renewing of our minds”

Be transformed…that verb transformed there is a passive command which basically means Paul is commanding us to allow and work with the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out.

In order to live our identity out as Christ desires we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us…His job is to teach, to guide, to cause us to remember all that Jesus taught

In order to be open to really knowing our true identity it is in Christ as we see here

John 1:12

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

Galatians 3:28,29 

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

We have to know what Christ is like?  Let me ask you something…how much of this past week would you say you emulated Christ and how much did you respond like the world?

To change here are a few things we need to do!

1) If we apply the fruit of the Spirit to our daily lives Galatians 5:22,23

We will be transformed, our words, actions, attitudes, judgments

2) We can only do that by daily being in prayer and the word…we need refreshed and renewed every day like our teeth…if you did not brush your teeth they would soon stink, rot, and fall out. Such will be our walk with Christ and our lives if we are not in prayer and the word

3) Rip off the labels of the old identity that you had and accept only Christ Identity for you…many times things that were said and done in childhood or the way others have labels us stick for years…Christ has paid the price for us to be different to be who he says that we are but if we continue to go back to the old labels we will never be free

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

4) Stop caring about the pattern of the world…when someone says something is cool, something is popular, something is great.. who are they to say that it is or isn’t….Jesus looked at the broken, the downcast, all sorts of people and he made them right, he knew the real label they should be wearing…each one was a precious child of God, deeply loved by Him…the world’s understanding of things is temporary but God’s is eternal.

5) Wear God’s label first…too often we get caught up and make secondary labels first…you are God’s child ahead of your political affiliation, ahead of you educational or family background, ahead of your race, ahead of your culture…if we can come to the place of seeing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ first then we will go a long way to understanding our identity and the identity of everyone else in our lives

Do you have a label that has been killing you, holding you back, limiting who you are? Have you allowed others to steal your real identity by labeling you or putting you in a place that is an old label? Come and allow someone to help you rip off the old label.

God sees the real you…the whole you and he has given you a label Child of the King


Moving Forward in 2019 Part 1 – Forgiveness

Moving Forward in 2019 Part 1

As we launch into a new year, many take it as an opportunity to make better decisions, eating right, more exercise, less wasted time, more time with family and friends, starting a new hobby or schooling. Out of the 48 sermons I taught here last year, 38 of them directly tied in with “Love.” Understanding God’s love for others and us is always critical to moving forward….I know it at times can seem overwhelming to make changes but allow me to share a story with you. A woman tells the story of her daughter wanting to show her a daffodil field (this is a true story)

(Place daffodil field photo on the screen) Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

“I will come next Tuesday, ” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!”

“We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.”

“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, “Daffodil Garden.”

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.

“It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.”

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one.”50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1978.”

There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun ~ one bulb at a time ~ to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of indescribable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time ~ often just one baby-step at a time ~ and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.

I want us to be free, so we can bring freedom to otherstoday we begin with one day, one step at a time, let’s start today!

Forgiveness– I am not focusing or forgiving others, I have taught on that many times but I want to visit forgiving ourselves.

Many of us live in a dark place, a place that many in our lives may not know about, but it controls us….what we think, what we do, how we respond to others….there are hidden things in our lives, some that no one knows about and we fear if anyone finds out they will reject us, walk away from us, treat us differently or look at us differently

It can be wrapped up in one word…

Regret

  1. to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.):He no sooner spoke than he regretted it.
  2. to think of with a sense of loss:to regret one’s vanished youth.

Forgive

  1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.); absolve.
  2. to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.).
  3. to grant pardon to (a person).
  4. to cease to feel resentment against:to forgive one’s enemies.
  5. to cancel an indebtedness or liability of: to forgive the interest owed on a loan.

Romans 3:23-25

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood….”  

When we recognize, our sin, our blowing it is part of the human condition, it is a result of the fall of man….we are not perfect. We are not good enough It is the very reason Jesus came to die on the cross

We can’t be good enough, none of us are perfect enough…let me say something that may seem harsh but is very true

When we don’t forgive ourselves and receive the Lord’s forgiveness for us we are saying to God Jesus death on the cross was not good enough for me

So why would we do such a thing

  1. we believe we need to suffer for the consequences of our sin

– we all will feel the effects of our sin in one way or another depending on the sin…for some it is merely and internal angst for other there are external repercussions

a lie – if not found out will eat away at us inside but if found out will hurt others and we will feel the pain of their hurt

It is bred into a lot of doctrines out there that we must suffer for our sins…the problem with that is that Jesus already did all the suffering for us and paid the price so that we might understand real love 

1 Corinthians 13:3

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

When we understand real love then we understand forgiving ourselves is about truly knowing God’s love for us which allows us to walk in the freedom that forgiveness gives us

2) A struggle with forgiveness may be a struggle with self-righteous standards.

“I can’t forgive myself” is equivalent to saying, “I haven’t lived up to my own perfect standards,” or, “I haven’t lived up to other people’s expectations.”

We have created our own standard of righteousness. Perhaps we over-estimated ourselves. Or, we so worshiped the approval of others, that we lived life perpetually attempting to solicit that applause.

If this is the case we will fail every time the battle with self-forgiveness arises from failure to measure up to our own standards of performance; our own image of how good we hoped that we were. And now, we are deceived into thinking that we cannot forgive ourselves. In reality, we need to confess our sin of creating a self-righteous standard or worshipping the god of people-applause.

We need to remember the verse from earlier 

Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

We all fail but we are to all rely on God’s grace which according to Paul is sufficient for us….if this battle is ours it is as if we are saying we are God and we determine our own value rather than God determining it

We can easily find ourselves never being happy always striving to please others always being afraid that if we are wrong that we are somehow less than others…we must forgive and live in forgiveness of ourselves seeing our failures

To be honest it is only by recognizing our weakness that we can become truly strong

2 Corinthians 12:9

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

When we recognize our need to forgive ourselves then Christ can be made more alive in us and we reflect him better.

3) The person who says, “I just can’t forgive myself,” may have ascended to the throne of judgment and declared himself to be his own judge.

When we sit in judgment of ourselves this way we are the harshest of judges. We lack the love for ourselves that God commands when He says…

“Love your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18 (God the Father) Matthew 22:39 (Jesus)

we are declaring as judge we can choose to give forgiveness of ourselves or hold it against ourselves the problem is because of Jesus death on the cross, God has already forgiven you so why hold it against yourself

It is selfishness and arrogance to not forgive ourselveswhen Jesus paid the price in full…

He desires freedom for you…He knows everything you have done. He saw it before you did it and still went to the cross for it.

God has the right to judge you, but as a Christian he chooses not to, but instead sent his son to the cross for each and every sin you have ever committed…He chooses love and forgiveness instead he is the judge, to a sinful world, and to us he is the one who loves you the most!

Guilt and regret is not something that we can actually do away with. We can only suppress it. But doing so is soul-suicide. 

Guilt can only be removed by something outside of ourselves. Believing and receiving God’s forgiveness for ourselves doesn’t suppress guilt it makes us free of it so we can live in freedom if we can live in freedom than we can bring freedom to others

Psalm 33:5 He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth. 

This is what He has for you even in your lack of forgiveness toward yourself but you could experience it so much deeper if you would but choose to trust Him and forgive yourself!

Forgiveness is a choice…it often takes time and many times of our recognizing our own forgiveness until we feel it. With God, the moment we ask for forgiveness we receive it so choose to believe God rather than your feelingstoday as you move forward, take one step to accept the forgiveness for yourself that Christ paid for!

Today, I want you to choose to forgive yourself…it doesn’t mean you feel it right away but making the choice begins the process and the Lord who began the good work will complete it

Unforgiveness toward yourself means death to your joy, your peace, your contentment…so forgiveness to yourself means life to joy, peace and contentment….ask the Lord today do I have any bitterness because of things I have done, any resentment, any regrets…it doesn’t matter what you did or how long you have held them…God can help you forgive yourself and let it go today

You can never live up to God’s standard by your work, your righteousness, your goodness…but you can by his love, mercy and grace that you often pour out to others but don’t give yourself

How about giving it to yourself today?

The Hope of Christmas

Q


The Hope of Christmas

On November 21, 1943, Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote a letter to his fiancée, Maria von Wedemeyer, while Hitler imprisoned him during World War II. In the letter, he talked about a spiritual lesson he was learning from his life as a prisoner. He wrote: 

“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside is not a bad picture of Advent.”

Our freedom and our hope have come because of Christ

The theme of hope is a welcome one when we are faced with some of the things that life can throw at us. 

– When we are filled with fear, we need the hope of God’s presence, power and promises. 

– When we are faced with pain or illness, we need the hope that God is aware of what is going on in our lives. 

– When a bad and difficult situation goes on for a long time, we need the hope of knowing that God is able to overcome the evil that has besieged us in his time. 

– When it seems the world has lost its mind and has become hostile to God and everything good, then we need the hope of knowing that God is still in control and is the ultimate victor.

It is always at this time of year that we are especially faced with the world’s hostility to Christ and his coming. People are afraid to say Merry Christmas, afraid to celebrate it in the stores even though the reason the stores make so much is because of Christmas. Schools and government offices close down but the fear of mentioning Christmas is paralyzing. However, this administration, love it or hate it, does not possess the same fears about celebrating Christmas as past ones.

But our hope does not rest on the way the culture seems to be drifting — good or bad. Our hope is in something quite different. There are at least three areas from which our hope springs which I want us to look at today. 

1) We have hope because of who we are. Who are we?

We are the people of God. 

– He has created us with his own hands. 

– He has redeemed us with the blood of his own Son. 

– He has raised Christ from the grave and promised that we will follow in like manner. 

– He is preparing us a place in his kingdom.

We are the children of God. We are the redeemed. We are the heirs of a coming kingdom. This is our origin, our present reality and our inheritance. What could be better?

We should not be angry at those who will not allow a simple greeting like “Merry Christmas!” We are marching to a different Drummer in a different parade. We really don’t need to go down Main Street. 

– We should pity those who do not have this hope. 

– We should pray for them with genuine concern. 

I keep trying to figure out what people do when they do not believe in God. In what do they place their hope? The truth is they have no hope. If this material world is all there is, then there is nothing transcendent or beyond themselves on which they can place their trust and hope. And all that is left is their own ingenuity, strength and success. 

That might keep you for awhile, but what happens when all those things in which you have placed your trust and hope fail? Success and strength come to an end. There is only an empty void without God. If you have placed all of your hope in your abilities, and your abilities fail, then you are going to have to figure out who you are all over again. 

-If you believe this whole world happened by chance, then chance is all you can hope for.

 – If you believe this world is the result of a cosmic accident, then the best you can hope for is something accidental. 

– If existence does not have meaning, then the best you can hope for is a meaningless existence. 

– If there was no God in the beginning, then the best you can hope for is a godless future.

But, thank God, we have a sure and certain hope that is grounded in reality — the reality of God and life itself. 

Our lives began with God and will end with God. Jeremiah said, 

Jeremiah 1:4,5

The Lord gave me this message: 5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

Isaiah the prophet said, Isaiah 49:1 

The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.

The apostle Paul wrote about…Galatians 1:15

“But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace….” 

The point is, if that was true for them, it is also true for you. In fact, one more thing… Ephesians 1:3-6

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

God knew you before you were born — even before the world was created. He set you apart to belong to him. He called you and knew you by name. He created you to belong to him that you might know him and live with him forever. This is who you are. 

God says this about you through Peter…1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2) We have hope because of whose we are.

The only way that we can have hope in who we are, is because of Whose we are.

God is our father and we are his children. He has…. ransomed, restored, raised us. It is all about him. 

– We have confidence because our confidence is in him. 

– We have hope because we know that God knows what is going on in our lives. 

– We have courage to face the future because he is in control of all of existence, and he will overcome all the problems that evil has brought into our lives. God will overcome this and make us victorious in the process.

Because of who God is, we know that something good is going to happen….. Something is on the horizon…. Something is growing…. Something is happening because there is…. Someone behind the scenes making it happen. We are not sure what it is going to look like, but we know it is going to be wonderful. It has already begun in us, and one day it will be completed. Paul put it this way he was

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

It is in knowing whose we are that we are able to redirect our confidence from ourselves, our efforts and our abilities to something which is lasting. 

We are able to hope because we are able to trust God. We no longer have to be in control. We can let go and let God. 

It is important to understand that hoping is not wishing. Wishing is something that those who do not have God do. At one time that is where we were, for as the Bible says…  Ephesians 2:12

In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

– To hope is to give up control and give the control to God.

– It replaces confidence in ourselves to confidence in God. 

– It is not wishing, for wishing keeps things within the bounds of our own imaginations. Hope is open-ended — an expectation that God is going to do something greater than we could have ever dreamed.

 Wishing is fantasy, hope is based in a grand reality — the person and character of a loving, ever imaginative God who always has our best in mind. Here is how the apostle Paul put it…2 Corinthians 1:20-22 

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

We have wonderful hope because we have a wonderful God who will never fail us. Paul writes to young Timothy….2 Timothy 2:13 

If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

We are hopeful because of whose we are.

3) We have hope because of where we are.

Where do you live? If you thought of your physical address, or the name of your state, you have missed the point. 

-If you belong to Jesus Christ you are living in his kingdom. That’s where you are. You do not have to wait until Jesus comes again. He has already come. The kingdom of God is here. It is within us and around us. We are walking with God every day. We live with an awareness of his presence and the expectation of his working in our lives. We are not just sitting around waiting for heaven. Heaven has already begun for believers. We are already getting a taste of what it will be like. God is our Father, Jesus Christ is our brother, and our sins are forgiven. His resurrection is the promise of eternal life for us. God has shared his joy with us and placed his peace within us. Because we are living in the kingdom, we live in hope. It is because of where we are that we know where we are going. 

We live with confidence in the present and we face the future with courage because…Hebrews 6;19

“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls….”

Bethany Hamilton was once ranked as the best amateur teen surfer in Hawaii. But one day in October, 2003, she lost an arm to a tiger shark while surfing. The story of a beautiful and talented teenager losing an arm to a shark made national news. However, there is another side to Bethany that kept her from being depressed and sinking into a life of self-pity — she had a relationship with Christ that transcended the tragedy she experienced. Soon after the attack, she began to raise money to restore a man’s eyesight. While she was visiting New York City, she gave her ski coat to a homeless girl. Her story which appeared in USA Today states: “As always, Hamilton remains undaunted. She has told her father that if having only one arm proved detrimental to reaching the top in competitive surfing, then she’d see about playing soccer.” 

Her pastor, Steve Thompson, said, “She’s looking forward to the future. She’s asking herself, ‘How can I show the world I still have a life, that I enjoy my life, and that my life is filled with joy?’ She has an underlying trust that God is taking care of her.” There is someone who understands who she is, whose she is and where she is. 

Her tragedy became a triumph, and it was all because Hope came to earth one Christmas day.

And so, I say with Paul Ephesians 1:18

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

All of this shows that are hope is accomplished in this familiar Christmas passageIsaiah 9:6,7

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

The Joy of Christmas

The Joy of Christmas–

Luke 2:8-11

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

This great news we have, a savior born for us. A way has been made not just for heaven but for us to have an eternal relationship with the one who loves us the most.

Christmas is supposed to be a joyous time, a time of great love and happiness, for some of us, it is, for others, it is a roller coaster ride of joy and disillusionment, for others it is a difficult time they just want to get through.

The night Jesus was going to be whipped, betrayed and then ultimately delivered to the cross, He said these words to his disciples

John 15:11, 12

“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

Let me help you today have joy always not just for Christmas but we will start there

Robert Robinson was just a small boy when his dad died, and this meant that he had to go to work while still very young. Without a father to guide him, he fell in with bad crowd of friends.

One day his gang harassed a drunken gypsy. Pouring more whiskey into her, they demanded she tell their fortunes for free. Another time, he and his rebellious friends started harassing pastors. Another time they decided to go hear the great evangelist George Whitefield and heckle him. As Whitefield preached, a deep sense of sin came over Robert. That started a 3 year journey searching out the claims of Christ – finally, at the age of 20, he made peace with God andimmediately set out to become a preacher. Two years later, in 1757, he wrote a great hymn…

Come, Thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above…

He preached for many years until he came to a hard place in his life and then left his church because of unfair accusations. That deeply hurt him and he walked away from his faith and became very lonely, deeply angry and extremely critical in his old age.

One day as a miserable man, he was riding in a stagecoach and a lady sitting across from him – apologized to him for singing, “Come Thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace…. And then Robert said, “Lady, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

At the end of his life – coming back to his faith – he said… “I lost that great emotion because I failed to flame the embers of love in order to keep joy burning bright in my life.”

How joyous will you be at the end of your life’s journey?

This is one of the most probing and personal questions that could be asked of every single one of us here today! Do you know someone whose joy has gone sour – they’re living in a tower of bitterness and over- powered by emptiness? Will this be your existence some day?

How do you feel about the Christmas season supposedly the season of joy, love, giving?

John 15 in Jesus setting up that our joy should overflow gave us 3 “remains”

John 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

John 15:7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!

John 15:9 I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

The promise is, if we “remain” in these things our joy will overflow

“Remain” = Jesus is literally speaking a vow – because the very nature of God is on the line by making this statement! God cannot change, lie or reverse his promises. Look at it this way – Jesus gives a vow to validate a vow to us! This is how serious Jesus takes joy!

  1. What Are The Joy Busters In Life?

– Relationships.

We see family generally a few times a year and joy and tensions can go hand in hand it is easy to step into a role that you have to play as son, daughter, sister, brother niece, nephew and so on when we need to remember as a new creation in Christ, we are to be Jesus in every situation

Paul writes this to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians 1:22

“God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”

Whether they purchase the right gift for you or not, whether they are always a pain or a blessings, whether they are a jerk or a joy choose to put Christ first, be Jesus to your family as you may be the only Jesus they really see!

James Dobson said “Family problems can be like washing machines. They twist us, spin us and knock us around but in the end we come out cleaner, brighter and better than before.”

– Tradition.

Many times traditions can suck the joy out from our lives. Religious baggage we sometimes carry into our new relationship with Christ, ends up draining the joy right out of us!

Expectations based on the traditions of Christmas, thinking you will have the perfect traditional hallmark Christmas and when it doesn’t happen our joy is stolen from us

Paul asked a very penetrating question in Galatians 4:15 “Where is that joyful spirit we felt together…” NLT

That question needs to be asked in the church today. Is there really joy in the house?

Psalms 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation…”

Billy Sunday said, “To see some people today you would think that the essential of Christianity is to have a face so long you could eat oatmeal out of the end of a exhaust pipe.”

C.S. Lewis wrote, “It is not so much the joy of the Lord we are seeking as the Lord of joy Himself.”

– Trials.

James 1:2 “Consider it joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

A funny thing happened in Huntingdon, PA last month. Edith, a mother of eight, was coming home from a neighbor’s house one Saturday afternoon. As she walked into the living room, she saw five of her youngest children huddled together, concentrating with intense interest on something.

As she slipped near them, trying to discover the center of attraction, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Right in the middle were five baby skunks. She screamed at the top of her voice, “CHILDREN, RUN!” Each child grabbed a skunk and ran.

Sometimes life is like that. You are going full steam ahead, with the wind in your sails, when you suddenly hit a sand bar. It is like confronting a room full of skunks. You just want to get out of the room. Maybe you are confused, angry, and discouraged and all your joy is gone.

2 Corinthians 7:3, 4 “…I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you…I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.” (NIV)

Eusebiusof the 3rd Century said, “A vast multitude was imprisoned in every place. The prisons — prepared for murderers and robbers — were filled with spirited bishops, joyful pastors, and happy deacons … so there was no longer room for those condemned of crimes.”

Through all that, the presence of joy and the passion of joy never left these joyful Christians!

I read some stories in November of our brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world, persecuted, tortured a killed for their beliefs…what have we to fret about? What are you going through at Christmas that robs you of your joy when those going through these things still have their’s?

  1. What Are The Joy Builders In Life?

– Lift Up Praise.

Acts 16:25, 26 “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.”

– Love The Fruit.

Galatians 5:22, 23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Remember what Robert Robinson said, “I lost that great emotion because I failed to flame the embers of love in order to keep joy burning bright in my life.”

Listen, when we have been embraced by His love, then we can experience His joy – when we live his love we can’t help but have joy!

– Live in its power.

Nehemiah 8:10 “The joy of the Lord is your strength!”

– Live By Laughter.

A child laughs 400 times a day on the average, while an adult laughs only 15 times each day.

Norman Cousins He healed himself of a major chronic disease with “DLT”- Daily Laughter Therapy! He called laughter, “inner jogging.”

The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota reported in 2005 that laughter helps our breathing by disrupting our normal respiration pattern and increasing our breathing rate. It increases circulation and improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues throughout your body.

Their research showed that laughter stimulates your immune system to fight off disease by increasing the concentration of immunoglobulin A in your saliva and by increasing the activity and number of T cells in your blood? Laughter decreases cortisol levels (stress hormones).

And it’s a natural stress reliever. Have you ever laughed so hard that you doubled over, fell off your chair, spit out your food or wet your pants? That’s because you can’t maintain muscle tension when you are laughing!

IT’S ALSO BEEN PROVEN…PEOPLE WHO LAUGH LIVE LONGER! There’s a definite link between a CHEERFUL OUTLOOK and LONGEVITY due to release of cytokines! Cytokines like laughter have a positive effect on everyone (cells) around them that brings life

One of my favorite stories is about a nurse with a grumpy attitude. A man walks into the doctor’s office and as he walked to the counter, this grumpy nurse barks, “Down the hall, first door to the right, and take off your clothes – the doctor will be in soon!” He said, “But nurse, it’s just a sore arm, I don’t think all that is necessary.” She repeated, “Down the hall, first door to the right, and take off your clothes.” He said, “But nurse.” “Down the hall, first door to the right, and take off your clothes.”

So he went down the hall, walked through the first door on the right, and saw another man already standing there in his underwear, shivering. So he said to man already in the room, “Boy, that receptionist is really something, isn’t she? I just have a sore on my arm and she told me to come down here, go through this door and take off my clothes.”

The other man in his underwear said, “You think that’s bad? I’m just trying to deliver for UPS.”

Joy is a choice….it is not dependent on others but instead is dependent on our choices.

If Jesus is Lord of your life then His joy should remain in you as you

– choose to allow His Spirit to pour through you as you are tied into the branch

– choose to believe he is for you and will do whatever he needs to bless, protect, guide, help cause growth in you

– choose to believe he is the one that loves you the most and will love you always

If you are filled with the Spirit then Joy should be a natural in you. Because Joy is who the Holy Spirit is…as much as all of the other “fruit”

Remember the news of Great joy means

This great news we have, a savior born for us. A way has been made not just for heaven but for us to have an eternal relationship with the one who loves us the most.

Fish, bread and a relationship?

There is an old adage…give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 

It is not just an old adage it is a mindset that we can have toward God if we are not careful

 

John 6:22-26

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone— 23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks— 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

 

The 30K had eaten they knew Jesus didn’t go with the disciples but they knew he was there and they were confused.

 

Jesus begins to try to help them have bigger thoughts and bigger dreams…he saying yes, I fed you but did you miss how I fed you it was a genuine miracle and all you are worried about is my meeting your physical need, your materialistic need and you tried to solve your political need by trying to make me King…what I am about is so much bigger than that

 

John 6:27,28

27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

 

Once again Jesus is trying to get them to think bigger.  If all you are looking for is food, that will get you by for a day or two but what I have to give you is the key to everything for eternity. Jesus had already established this when being tempted by Satan in the wilderness…Matthew 4:4

 

“But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

 

Let me ask you today, what is it that you need? As you look at your life, your family, your future? What are you seeing that you need?

 

Hebrews tells us Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So as we read His word, we see the stories we can count on Jesus being able to do the same things for us. We get caught in the same trap as they did…lets read the next verse to see what I mean

 

John 6:28

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

 

What should we do, what acts of righteousness should we do to see this stuff happen for us, how good do we have to be….just tell us Jesus and we will do it!

 

We want to work to make God love us. We bargain with him to gain His favor, Jesus if you do this for me I’ll never do that again or if you do this for me I’ll do this for you all the time…yes we bargain or we work really hard or we try to be really, really good.

 

But here is what Jesus said John 6:29

 

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

 

Jesus is saying it is not about the work, it is about relationship!

 

We are always striving to please God and God is always just loving us.

 

Jesus fed the 30K people not because he was simply trying to make people happy he did it because of His relationship with His Father and His love and compassion on the people.

 

He is telling all of these people he just fed, please don’t think so small as to just get your needs met, meeting your needs is easy for me, but if you have relationship with me you will be blessed forever and have all of your needs met in the process.

 

Still, they are looking for the works, Here is what Moses did for us, what will you do for us?

 

John 6:30,31

They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

 

Think with me for a minute…what kind of relationship would you have with your child if all they did was want from you…if their expectation was always “What do you have for me?” rather than Mom, Dad I just love you and love all you have done for me

 

They are saying Moses gave us bread from heaven what will you do….when in fact they got it wrong Exodus 16:4 says that it was God who gave them bread from heaven

 

John 6:32,33

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

 

The children of Israel ate bread in the wilderness and all of them died.

 

Jesus is saying stop worrying about all the stuff of life, what you should eat what you should drink…I’ve got this if you will trust me, build relationship with me…I’ll make it happen

 

When we think about how our lives are so very short, the things we are so very worried about the things we think are important aren’t really in the scope of eternity but remember what Jesus did here, He empathized with the people….He said I know you are hungry so I’ll feed you but don’t belittle our relationship into me just performing for you….life is very short and eternity is forever so look a little higher, think a little deeper, don’t you think if I can perform miracles like feeding 30K I can take care of your needs but don’t you want more than just you belly filled, I want to have a loving relationship with you that takes away all fear, worry, doubt and that helps you never fear again. I want to give you true life in every sense of the word if you will just trust me….

 

Their response….very sad John 6:34

Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

Once again they are missing it….the one who has all that they need is standing right in front of them. The one who will bring peace, love, joy, and so much more to them if they are willing is standing right in front of them. The one who will never leave them or turn his back on them for all eternity is standing right in front of them, the one who can push back every enemy, give them strength, life hope and they are settling for crumbs. Jesus gently replies

John 6:35 -37

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.

 

Jesus is telling them and us, whatever you need, if you trust me, if you build relationship with me, I’ll be there for you.

 

Something else that hurts us sometimes in our trusting the Lord is that we feel if we blow it that we have to work back to get that relationship….real love says you are always loved, real relationships says you are always welcomed home.

 

Jesus is saying while you may have done some things that have hurt our relationship know that I am always still here waiting for you to come back….once you have relationship with the Lord you need to come to an understanding that He always loves you….it is His desire that as you grow to understand that, that you would want to do the things that please Him like caring for others, being kind, sharing the love and truth of God with others, choosing to want to draw closer to him and get further away from sin.

 

Our pettiness, jealousy, envy, fear, all fade away as we are growing ever deeper in our relationship with Him…he will meet all of our needs if we will but choose relationship with Him over trusting in our own abilities or the world.

 

On a different occasion, Jesus said this

 

Matthew 6:25-33

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

So what is this mystical relationship I’m talking about?

 

Just like any other relationship it is an investment in time and vulnerability

 

You can’t trust someone if you don’t know them so how can we know God? Three ways

 

  • Read your Bible – God’s love letter for you it reveals his heart
  • Pray – talking with someone, engaging in conversation always enables you to get to know them better
  • Spend time with people that reflect Jesus

 

To some of you, these might seem like pretty basic stuff and it is but here is my question for you

 

How much time are you spending reading, listening, or engaging in conversations every day that are not Christ-centered or Christ uplifting or simply building you up?

 

We will all have a tendency to throw up those emergency prayers, we all have a tendency to panic, worry, take things into our own hands, try to control them if our relationship is not where it needs to be.

 

God desires for us peace, love, joy, prosperity, blessing and so much more…relationship makes that happen.

 

Can I challenge you to take a deep look at your life and think about how much peace you really have, how much joy you really have, how much blessing is really in your life…Jesus wants you never to be hungry spiritually (or physically) and lacking what I have just described shows a hunger that is going unsatisfied.

 

Allow the Lord to refresh your relationship with Him today

 

Can you imagine going into every meeting with peace, handling every difficulty in your life with joy, watching God’s blessings on your life all of the time? It is not about your circumstances it is always about your relationship

 

 

What is it that you really need?

What is it that you really need?

 

The people followed Jesus because of all the signs and wonders he performed, they wanted all the power that he was willing to do for them…but what was sad was they missed who Jesus really was because they didn’t really want what He was offering them they wanted their own way….is that the way we are?

 

 

John 6: 1- 15

 

After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. 7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” 10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 

The resurrection and this story are the only two stories in all for Gospels, that must mean that this is a very important story…. let’s take a look to see why.

 

Jesus is making quite a stir, this is nearing the second Passover that he is celebrating in ministry. Which means it is only a year until he will be crucified

 

The people are seeing the miracles but missing the message…we’ll talk about that later

 

Notice just like we talked about with the marriage feast in Cana, God cares about what is important to us, Jesus saw the people were hungry and wanted to feed them.

 

Philip was from the city of Bethsaida the nearest city to where they were so Philip would have known what shops were nearby, how many loaves of bread they could probably get from the local bakers but Jesus is teaching an important lesson.

 

Faith according to the writer of Hebrews is this… Chapter 11:1-3

 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

 

You have probably heard verse one, hundreds of times…faith requires us to move even if we can’t see or fully understand but we know God’s voice and we move knowing he will meet us each step of the way.

 

Verses 3 challenges us to believe that every word God says is true and he will always come through and it is trusting that by His hands if he is speaking to us, things are going to happen, it doesn’t matter if it looks possible or not, when we choose to trust him He can take nothing, as he did with the universe and create something out of it.

 

  • So the first thing we really need is the faith to believe God at His word above what may even seem impossible because nothing really is impossible with Him!

 

Philip knew there was no way in his home village that enough bread or fish would be there to feed 5000 men (which could mean up to 30K people)

 

It was very practical, Bethsaida was not that large of a village that there would even be a need for that much bread. Bread was not preserved the way ours is so it would go bad quickly so bakers only made enough to sell that day

 

Second, we see Philip responding with another practical response…BTW faith is rarely practical

 

John 6:7

Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

 

This is two hundred days wages. Some scholars believe they had this much in their treasury which if you think about it was not very much when Jesus is physically caring for twelve men, and their families needs but whether it was an amount of money that they had in the treasury or not Philip is saying we don’t have enough money to feed 30K people.

 

How many times have you felt like the Lord was asking you to do something and you gave him a million excuses as to why you couldn’t.  I am sure most of them are legitimate reasons. We must always realize if God is asking us to do something he has miracles on his mind, the miracle of fulfilling our destiny, the miracle of impacting the world around us, the miracle of teaching us the fruit of the spirit in action and many others….we all have dreams and the Lord challenges us, stretches us, even pushes us because he wants us to draw closer to His heart and understand His dreams for us.

 

How do we know this? John gives us a commentary that explains this..

 

John 6:6

But this He (Jesus) said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

 

Before I discuss this, we need to understand point two of what we really need

 

  • What we really need is… to understand that when God asks us to do something he has the fulfillment of our dreams and impacting our world on His mind….I know it is scary but we can’t accomplish great things for God in our comfort zone and we will not fulfill our purpose by just living daily life Daniel put it this way11:32b

 

“the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

 

So John is saying Jesus is testing Philip. God doesn’t ever tempt us but he will certainly test us and our faith

 

1 Peter 1:7

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

 

Don’t be mistaken, God knows exactly what you will do, but He allows our faith to be tested so we know who we are, so we will end up giving more glory as we grow in faith doing even greater things.

 

In this case, Jesus wanted to show them what He could do with anything brought to Him. Andrew brought the young boys 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus

 

Think about the faith it took to even think to yourself well it’s not much but who knows what Jesus could do with it…he turned water into wine

 

-I don’t know if that is what Andrew thought, but it is always important in going deeper with the Lord to remember what He has done for us in the past….that helps build faith.

 

What did Jesus do to further help them grow?

 

John 6:11

11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

 

First, he gave thanks it is important if you are going to do anything serious for God to have an attitude of gratitude, it causes you to remember who is really in control of your life and who loves you the most

 

Notice what happened the disciples took the loaves and fish Jesus gave them then they took them and through their hands 30K+ people were fed

 

  • What we really need is… to be faithful to God’s challenge for us and just begin to walk it out and He will blow us away with what he can do through us

 

This was all preparation the steps of building their faith. See we don’t change the world all of a sudden, God looks for people he can trust with little things and then he can trust them with bigger

 

Matthew 25:21

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

 

God wants the church to change the world, not just endure until he returns, he sent his son to die on the cross for everyone and we are who He wants to use like the disciples to see the miracles at our hands

 

But we get caught up in wanting the wrong things, we miss the message….Israel saw this man who performed miracles, fed the masses solved their horrible problems of social injustice and they wanted a king

 

John 6: 14, 15

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 

You might ask now how could they do that but we often misinterpret Jesus ourselves….we want him to make us powerful in government, rich in finances, popular among people, great at everything so people will love us….none of that is wrong if that is truly what God wants but the purpose of those things must be to fulfill our purpose in loving God with everything we have and are, our skills, talents, personalities, minds, drive, and loving all people the same way so they can either come to Jesus or grow to become more like Jesus.

What they really needed was the power and love that enables them to fulfill the Father’s heartbeat.

 

God wants you to change your world by learning to love God with everything within us, and loving people so they don’t wind up in hell and grow to be who God has called them to be!

 

What do you really want? What God really wants is for you is…

 

The faith to believe God at his word so you will always be confident and never fear

 

Trust Him that if he asks you to do something that you will do it knowing that God wants to fulfill your destiny, your dreams, your purpose and it comes by believing Him at his word…willing to leave your comfort zone?

 

Take the steps of faith that when he asks us to do something if we are willing to take the steps, he will blow us away with what he will do through us

 

 

 

 

Miracles can happen and are waiting for you, if you are all in!

Miracles can happen and are waiting for you….if you are all in!

John 5:1-9

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Jesus is coming back into Jerusalem to celebrate another feast. The sheep gate is the gate closest to the Temple because it is the gate that all of the animals came through that were going to be sacrificed.

Beside this gate is a pool of water known as Bethesda or (House of Mercy)

For years people would gather at this pool waiting for some kind of stirring of the waters.

There were 5 separate roofed areas where people would pack in by the pool. A multitude meant at least hundreds of blind, lame, paralyzed broken in every way were there waiting for a stirring of the waters.

We still do this today….for the most part we aren’t standing by some magical pool looking for a miracle but we do things like

Read our horoscopes
Consult psychics
Do other risky things with our lives, health, and finances
Things we hope will bring the answer to our life problems, things that make us feel like we are in control

All in the hope of getting ahead by some magic.

The danger is we become so focused on trying to make things happen in our own strength, with our own wisdom, by our own abilities, when the Lord speaks, gives some kind of wisdom, or understanding to bring us to freedom we can miss it because we are looking for what we want rather than God.
There is no doubt in my mind that people were healed getting into the water. If some hadn’t the multitudes would not have gathered but is that the way God wants to do things

There is no doubt that coincidences happen with a horoscope or a Psychic or people can twist events to make it look like the horoscope or Psychic were correct….there is no doubt some people win placing bets but the reason casinos, racetracks and others are in business is because they win far more often than they lose…but even if you do win is that the way God wants to supply for you

God’s heart is that we always will grow deeper in our relationship with Him and that all of our needs, our security, even our life comes in and through Him.

With Him, we win every time, with him we are never lost, never alone. He is always with us! Building relationship with Him gives us confidence, hope, and freedom always…other things can lead us to bondage and will lead us there.

Here, by the pool, Hundreds of people are in need of a miracle. Hundreds are wanting to get healed, delivered, brought to freedom but the sad part is that only one will trust the Lord….

How do I know….

John 5:19

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

The Father responds to faith so he had Jesus going to the person He knew had faith in Him rather than the stirring of the water.

This is one of the keys to seeing the miracles in our lives, it is about our faith in God not in ourselves, our jobs, bosses, others in our lives but God.

When we come to the realization that it is God who created us, knows us the best, loves us the most and has a tremendous plan for our lives.

God is more than willing to move mountains for us because it is faith that moves God…but He wants to know if we are willing to believe
Abraham took his only son up the mountain and even though God had asked him to sacrifice his son, by faith He believed God was not after the death of his only son but would provide a ram. (Genesis 22)

It is not a matter of proving to God that we believe but instead proving to ourselves that we believe…God knows that we have the heart to believe we need to come to the truth that we believe…let’s look at what Jesus said

John 5:6

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Now that seems like a crazy question to ask someone who has been sitting by a miracle pool for up to 38 years. What is he really asking?

1) Are you tired of being in the condition you are in? We don’t change until we are in enough pain, God always want to move in our lives but we have to choose to decide we want to be free
2) Do you recognize that I can heal you? Often we think God will meet the needs of other people but will He meet ours. Jesus is challenging him to consider that God knows, understands and wants to do something about his condition….we need to remember God knows us better than we know ourselves, He always wants us to recognize that we are important to Him, important enough to meet our needs
3) Do you see yourself as something more than sitting here? Many begin to so identify with their condition, sickness, mental, social, economic, spiritual limitations then God pushes us to admit that we want to change

All of this was posed in the question and Jesus is still posing it to us now

If you are tired of the condition you are in….bring it Jesus and if you are willing He will change it

Do you recognize that He can heal you and that you are important enough to him that He wants to?

Can you see yourself apart from the limitation that has been placed on you? Can you see yourself no longer a victim? No longer considered stupid or untalented or impoverished, or a nobody or any of the other labels that have been placed on you by others that you have believed all of this time. We must never allow other people’s limited perception of us to define us….God says we are amazing, worthy of love, His princes and princesses but we must choose to believe it!

Hear the limitations of the man’s thinking

John 5:7

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Jesus didn’t ask the man if he was going to get into the water, he asked if he wanted to be healed.

Too often we look at a problem and say, “I need this to solve my problem and if God has another means of meeting that need we may miss it.

You may be praying for finances to meet a particular need and God sends a different answer…a better job, an additional job, a new thing to replace what you through you needed money for…the man needed a healing not dunked in the water

I remember having a job I hated and asking the Lord to get me out of the job, and praying basically begging God to get me a better job, finally at the end of my begging God was able to get through and said why don’t you pray that I bless you in this job and I complained again but God I want out of this job…eventually God got through and I asked for his blessing in the job and he did, I was blessed with more money than I could imagine but the real thing was there were two guys that I was able to lead to the Lord that both died within two years after I left there and would not have come to Christ if I selfishly demanded my own way.

God’s plans are for your good…I know many of you have read this scripture multiple times but it is worth remembering when we are in need of a miracle

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

God is always looking for those who will trust Him and believe Him at his word….this man didn’t know it but he was such a man, God knew he was a man of faith and stretched him

When God sees we have miracle working faith, when He sees we have a blessing waiting, even though we don’t see it yet he will challenge us to use it

John 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

God saw the man able to walk…the man didn’t know for sure that he could walk and Jesus challenged him to walk

How does he see you?

Does he see skills and talents in you that either you are afraid to use, or don’t know you have…He is asking you to use them because he has a blessing on His mind for you

Does he have a promotion waiting for you, a call to higher responsibility that you may be afraid of? He made this promotion for you…it will stretch you but you will love it if you will just trust Him

Is he challenging you to begin tithing? (giving at least 10% of your income)…it is not because he wants to hurt you but he has a blessing on His mind for you of being debt free, never being afraid of a lack of finances, He has a financial harvest on his mind for you

Is he asking you to commit everything to Him. To challenge you to completely lay down your agenda for Him? If so, he has an incredible life and adventure planned for you that will not always be easy but I guarantee will be worth it!

That is what happens when you begin to respond to the Lord and trust him…Here is what happened to the lame man

9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

God is stretching us as a church…God is challenging the church to step up and change our culture to bring hope, life, freedom, joy…

the question is are you willing to respond to him?

Are you willing to believe God has something better for you? Are you willing to believe Him and take the leap of faith you need?

Today is your day….today is the day he is calling you to take the leap to say “I’m all in!” I’m surrendering my attitudes, my desires, my dreams, my gifts, my finances, all that I am because I want what He has for me

How is your joy

In our world today joy is missing in so many….the news robs us, the pressures of life rob us, attacks on our health, family, finances, jobs all rob us…if you add to that, many in the church are so austere that they can enjoy creation and the life Christ has for us.

 

Revelation 4:11 (KJV updated)

 

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure, they and we are and were created.

 

God enjoys us, not like a puppeteer enjoys his puppets, but like a loving parent enjoys their children. He enjoys spending time with us in quiet and solitude and in laughter and fun

 

God created laughter, He created joy, happiness, love

 

I think we forget that sometimes.

 

Jesus is God with us, God in the flesh and where do we see him perform his first miracle at a celebration!

 

John 2:1-11

 

The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.

9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 

Jesus shows up at the party and brings six additional guests with him

 

The disciples with him at the time were Peter, Andrew, Nathanael, Philip, James, and John

 

This wedding was either a family member of Jesus’ or a very close friend of His mother, Mary.

 

We begin by seeing that three days after Jesus had called Nathanael, the come to the wedding and Mary is already there.

 

The traditional wedding feast lasted 7 days…let me stop there for a minute….with every wedding they took 7 full days off from their labors to celebrate, feast, dance and enjoy each others company plus they had 22 holidays per year mostly of a celebration of family and thankfulness to God for His provision in one way or another. Joy was very much part of the culture.

 

We must remember Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit part of the Holy Spirit, part of God.

 

As Jesus and his disciples were there celebrating Mary came to Jesus with a problem…we are out of wine

 

Once again this was probably family and Mary is coming to her eldest son; Joseph has passed so if this is family she comes to her eldest to solve a family problem.

 

John 2:4

 

“Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

 

 

Jesus and his friends had been celebrating and he is making it clear to Mary out of respect…while this may be a family issue, I have the Kingdom on my mind….his tone here is one of utmost respect for Mary but he needs to make it clear to her that while I am your son, I am not here to do your bidding, I’m here to do my Father’s bidding

 

Jesus was a loving son and he also understood the ramifications of running out of wine at a wedding feast.

 

Running out of wine would be like running out of food at a dinner party or a church picnic yet in the community it would have been worse than here because the whole community would have been invited and it would have been something that would never have been forgotten.

 

Jesus didn’t need to care…he could have just said “oh well, guys lets move on this feast is over these people should have prepared better, they should have done better, they knew what would happen if they didn’t have enough wine and they choose to be ill-prepared” he could have left and been perfectly right….but he didn’t

 

That is not the way God is….God understands the human heart, emotions, our brokenness the way we condemn ourselves

 

How many of you have ever said to yourself…”I’m so stupid!” or I should have done better or should have known better?” I don’t want to see hands but if we are all be honest I will bet most of us have done that at some point.

 

How important is wine in the scheme of all creation? How important is this one wedding in the scheme of all creation? This story is showing us that what you do, what you are concerned about while you may not think it is important to God because of starving children, or war…you need to realize you are important to God and he is big enough to handle all of the starving children and every war and the little things that concern you…Remember this?

 

Psalm 139:1-3

 

O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

 

Jesus had no need to do anything for this wedding but he knew their hearts, what they were feeling, everything about them and he knew this would remind them of God’s great love….I need to add this… getting drunk was not an option in a Jesus culture so this was not about drunkenness in any way

 

John 2:5-8

 

5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.

 

I don’t think Mary quite understood what Jesus was saying just yet but she submitted to Jesus and instructed the servants to just do what Jesus wanted

 

The six jars–

 

These were the wash pots, they had water in them to keep cleaning off the tables they were used as part of the Jewish purification rites in other words they were common things.

 

Most of us feel common, we don’t necessarily feel like we are special or unique…we go about our business day after day and hope to just get by…but if we are willing Jesus takes that which is common and makes it into something special.

 

If anyone had known this “wine” had come from these common pots they would have rejected it without even trying it…if they would have rejected it they would have missed out not just on good wine but the best.

 

I think the Lord wants us to begin to think about ourselves that way, we are called of God to change the world…if we allow our lowly beginnings or our view of ourselves to hinder our being used of God so many will miss out on the best wine….we can not view ourselves anything less than the light of the world the salt of the world because Jesus does not lie and that is what He has called us. Just in case you don’t know these verses

 

Matthew 5:13-16

 

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

 

Here is what happened next

 

9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

 

When we allow the Lord to bring the light through us we are not only good at what we do, we can be the best….don’t be ashamed or afraid of God living inside of you…Don’t be ashamed or afraid sharing the truth that you know. You sharing His word and living your life as an example to others is sweet and refreshing to those in need…

 

Psalm 119: 103-105

 

How sweet your words taste to me;

they are sweeter than honey.

104 Your commandments give me understanding;

no wonder I hate every false way of life.

105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet

and a light for my path.

 

What we have come to understand of real life in Jesus, we must take and share it to bring hope and to bring joy.

 

Jesus chose wine because it was what the culture dictated but it also always brings joy and Jesus did it in the best way to bring the greatest joy.

 

 

He knew what the people needed that was important to them

 

– what is important in your life that you don’t think Jesus would care about? Know that He does because you are important! Let him bring you joy by lifting this burden, meeting that need

 

– whatever view you have of yourself it is probably nothing compared to the way the Lord values you!Stop limiting what God will do in you and through you…just like the pots who were the most inconsequential of things and Jesus made the bearers of the best…he will do the same for you

 

– Recognize just like Jesus did at the wedding, He wants to bring you joy…what is robbing your joy today? He cares for you, he loves you let Him bring you Joy not because of what you have done or who you are but just because He loves you!

 

Why does Jesus want you to know and have joy? John 2:11 tells us why

 

11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 

Your joy will awaken others to see Jesus, it will cause them to believe, it will heal them.  What will you choose today? Some here have been hurting and miserable for a long time. I’m not saying you aren’t saved I’m just saying the stuff of life, your past, your self-condemnation, your judgmental nature have robbed you of real joy…Let the Lord give it to your today

 

If you don’t know Jesus if you don’t have a relationship with him, today is your day…you can know what it is to have real joy he will heal you, forgive you, bring you freedom all today if you are willing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things that prepare you for all God has for you!

Things that prepare you for all God has for you.

 

God has confirmed our call as a church with Charlie being here, there was not really anything he said that we did not already know…some of the things he said to some of you may have felt new but you know in your heart of hearts, He had already been speaking it to you…

 

For example our worship teams want a new sound, I had already talked to them about being a multigenerational worship team, as we are but now they will press in and bring the excitement and life as well as the awe inspiring sound to our worship in an even greater way than we have ever seen before…why because their hearts are right, second they have the desire and agree with the desire God placed in their hearts…so it will happen…but even for them there are some basic keys we must have to prepare for God’s call

 

I don’t want us to miss out on anything God has for us so I want to challenge you this morning to revisit some of the basics so we are able to run our race with endurance to win! Losing is not an option

 

It is not rocket science or brain surgery to flow in the gifts of the Spirit it is the Father’s heart that each one of us do…in fact you may not know this but you are already equipped with a gift

 

Romans 12:1-2

 

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn toknow God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.(NLT)

 

God calls us to sell out to Him in all we do to be willing to change our attitudes, behaviors (to start thinking and acting like Jesus) we need to no longer look at things the way the world does but know the Father’s heart well enough that we change the world rather than the world changing us….we fight, have divisions, arguments, all because we don’t have His heart and mind yet, thinking like Him

 

He has equipped us already to do this…let’s jump down

 

Romans 12:3–8

 

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 Foras we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

This is a list of some of the gifts God the Father pours out onto his kids…notice God through his grace has poured these gifts out on us…we have not earned them….we have not worked to make them happen…God has just given them to us to impact our world…

 

You have them, you might just not know it yet because you have not been in a position to hear and understand what God wants to do through you….

 

Someone could give you a router, a pressure cooker, air hammer, hot pepper corer but if you don’t know what they are or how to use them properly without either reading the manual or having others teach you…you could try to use them and hurt yourself or others or destroy what was meant to be a blessing…so it is with the gifts

 

We make it harder than what it is but we have the tools in our tool box to understand and flow in every and any gift all of the time if we are just willing

 

 

 

1) Prayer

 

Jesus is God and yet he would take time to pray either to deal with an issue, like raising Lazarus from the dead or going off by himself to pray, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, John 17just to give three examples

 

Prayer is effective to moving mountains

 

James 5:16

 

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

 

Simply, for Christ-followers prayer is the best way to communicate with God.

 

– Prayer is the vehicle for daily dialog with the One who created us. The importance of daily communication through prayer cannot be overestimated.

 

– It is mentioned over 250 times in Scripture.

 

Value of daily prayer

 

-Daily prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of our lives with God.

 

-Daily prayer gives us the chance to express our gratitude for the things He provides.

 

-Daily prayer provides the platform for confessing our sin and asking for help in overcoming that sin.

 

-Daily prayer is an act of worship and obedience.

 

-Daily prayer is a way to acknowledge who is really in control of our lives.

 

 

2) Word

 

God’s word is life so much so that I would challenge you that if you are listening to any teaching or reading any books by anyone who has not read the whole Bible through…in my opinion they do not understand the whole message of Christ and can easily lead others into error.

 

Let me remind you of one little passage Jesus said about the word…while being tempted by Satan he said this…

 

Matthew 4:3,4

 

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 

It is God’s word that brings life, health, freedom, and apart from it we will have none….

 

If you read the entire story of the temptation of Jesus defeated Satan not with crazy gyrations or what I like to call Christian incantations but by the word…to defeat the enemy in your life and move in power it is by the word.

 

– One of our most powerful weapons is the “sword of the Spirit” which is the “word of God” according to Ephesians 6:17

 

What does this sword do? Hebrews 4:12answers that question

 

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

 

It is a living word which means it can have one meaning right now to meet a situation I am in at this moment and a year or ten years from now the same verse may bring out something totally different that is life to me then…

 

– Apart from God’s word we are direction-less

 

Psalm 119:105

 

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet

and a light for my path.

 

As we study the word and listen to quality teaching from those in the 5 fold ministries listed in Ephesians 4 we can stand safe and secure

 

2 Timothy 3:16

 

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

 

2 Timothy 2:15

 

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

 

3) Fasting – is separating yourself from food for a period of time to focus on prayer, the study of the word, and the presence of God…Jesus made the assumption that this would be a normal part of every Christ followers life

 

Matthew 6:16

 

And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.

 

Practice your gift –God expects us to walk by faith in fact it is impossible to please God apart from faith so we must assess our gifts, begin to use what we know we have for the kingdom and begin to investigate and ask the Lord if there aren’t other gifts that we have like those listed in Romans 12 earlier and learn to develop them, study, talk to one of the Pastors about them and develop them to advance the Kingdom of God

 

Ephesians 2:10

 

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

 

God gave you gifts because he has good things planned for you and for others if you will but choose to use them for Him you will be fulfilled and change the world

 

I know some of you read the verses and say, “I don’t see anything I am gifted in there” two things first you may have some gift and because you have never explored it you don’t know you have it or second, God has so many different gifts, that we can’t even count them. In many cases the very things you love to do are part of the giftings God has given you to impact the lives of others!

 

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

 

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

 

Notice varieties of gifts, ministries, effects…look to develop what God has placed within you to change the world!

 

1 Peter 4:10,11

 

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

Then this last verse you hear me quote often

 

Matthew 5:16

 

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

 

Ladies and Gentlemen please don’t misunderstand me these are not works, these are acts of love….you should want to spend time with the Lord every day in prayer, you should want to read his love letter to draw closer to his heart, you should want to fast to separate your self from everything else…this is how we grow in intimacy and intimacy causes a relationship to be strong

 

God desires for us to flow in every gift powerfully but they must be guided by knowledge of who he is, if we don’t know his heart we will say and do anything that comes to mind, the enemy can easily trick us into believing things that are against God’s word, he can get us into a works mentality that will exhaust us rather than bring us to freedom so we can free others…intimacy does that

 

Then by faith, we begin to put to practice what we know and healing, deliverance, prophetic, freedom, love, joy, peace, all flow from us freely

 

God wants to give you everything and intimacy with Him causes a trust to be built that allows Him to give you everything in power.

 

Will you covenant with Him today to grow in intimacy with Him…pray, study His word, fast, and then practice the gifts he has given you?

 

NEXT WEEK IF YOU ARE READY FOR IT….PART OF THE VISION

Integrity?

Integrity?

A story is told of some young men who were late to class.

Four high school boys were late to their morning classes one day. They entered the classroom and solemnly told their teacher they were detained due to a flat tire. The sympathetic teacher smiled and told them it was too bad they were late because they had missed a test that morning. But she was willing to let them make it up. She gave them each a piece of paper and a pencil and sent them to four corners of the room. Then she told them they would pass if they could answer just one question:

Which tire was flat???

Talk about the lack of integrity in the country.

Integrity Uprightness of Character, honesty.

Looking for people of integrity in our generation perhaps could be compared to searching for a needle in a haystack. Indeed it may be easier to identify a grain of salt in a snowstorm.

What we are seeing in the Catholic church right now is a scramble for integrity. Everyone is talking about it and everyone is disgusted by what has gone on. I hear questions and comments nearly every day of how could this have happened?

Obviously, there were some very disturbed people in the clergy and some have covered it up…we will not know the total fallout for years

When this happened in the 80’s with Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Robert Tilton, and Larry Lea

Then others later Ted Haggard, Eddie Long, Marcus Lamb

Galatians 6:1

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

How could something like this happen? Very easily I’m afraid

Jim Bakker stopped praying stopped being in the word 3 years earlier

We have seen the gifts of God, whatever they are, or the blessings of God whatever they are, on us still even though there is a little sin here or there. It doesn’t take long for that sin to overwhelm us and watch our integrity fail.

Let me explain what I mean

True men and women of integrity or rare indeed.

Are you one of them?Is your life characterized by integrity? The Bible clearly indicates that our lives should be. In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us that we should be as good as our word. Are you as good as your word?

We used to teach our children that our reputation was extremely important. Parents would exhort children by telling them that they had worked hard to create a good name for themselves and that the children should work hard to maintain it.

Abraham Lincoln said “For a man to train up a child in the way he/she should go, he must walk that way himself.”

Have you ever wondered what people associate with your name? Do people say that you can be trusted, that you are reliable, that you can be counted on, that you are a man or woman of integrity? These things should be important to us because our lives speak volumes to those around us.

Matthew 5:33-37

 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. 35 And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Leviticus 19:12 ’You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. Explain that they took this to mean that they could with other things.

Jesus is saying that for our righteousness to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, our word must be good enough.

Jesus is not prohibiting oaths taken in a court of justice or oaths taken in the name of God on solemn religious occasions. Romans 9:1, Gal 1:20, 1 Cor 15:31, Paul swears oaths through Christ, Hebrews 6:13-14, God swears an oath to Abraham

Jesus is saying that we are not to swear as the religious leaders had been doing.

Matthew 23:16-18

“Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

I know this is one of the hard verses in the Bible but hear me out, please.

Jesus is saying, on one hand, you give your word, you make a promise with no intent to keep it “swearing by the altar of God” (God’s very presence) and then you make promises on things less valuable, “the gift on the altar” (the gold or other sacrifices) but on things that don’t really matter, are not eternal you swear making it possible for you to even change your mind and think you are maintaining your integrity.

As Christians, as people whose citizenship is in heaven, we must show integrity in our words and deeds. The keeping of our word depends on the actions that we take.

Integrity with words

Matthew 5:37

 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

James 5:12 

But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

1 Timothy 4:12 

Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

Integrity with your actions

– Toward people

At the age of twenty-four, Abraham Lincoln served as the postmaster of New Salem, Illinois, for which he was paid an annual salary of $55.70. Even then, twenty-four years before he entered the White House, the rail splitter was showing the character that earned him the title of “Honest Abe.” The New Salem post office was closed in 1836, but it was several years before an agent arrived from Shington to settle accounts with ex-postmaster Lincoln, who was a struggling lawyer not doing very well. The agent informed him that $17 was due the government. Lincoln crossed the room, opened an old trunk and took out a yellow cotton rag, bound with a string. Untying it, he spread out the cloth and there was the $17. He had been holding it untouched for all these years. “I never use any man’s money but my own,” he said.

It is not what we profess, but what we practice that makes us Christians.

People will judge our God and are doing so today, by the way, we act toward others. We must be people of integrity when we deal with all people. Jesus should affect how we conduct ourselves. When we say we are going to do something, it is as good as done!

Proverbs 20:7 

A righteous man who walks in his integrity How blessed are his sons after him.

– Toward God

Matthew 5:33

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’

Deuteronomy 23:23 

“You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira lied to God and that is why they were killed. They volunteered to give the proceeds of the sale of their land to God, but then they withheld part of it.

When we tell God that we are going to commit our lives to Him, we must fulfill that vow to Him. When we say that we love God, then we will keep His commandments.

Horace Greeley, newspaper publisher, and abolitionist had a quote that Harry Truman used to like: “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow, only one thing endures — character.”

Side note – character is revealed by the fruit of the Spirit active in every way in our lives

I know I started talking about the scandal in the Catholic church, you know I find it appalling and anti-Christ but I also must, as we talked about several weeks ago about judging,…challenge each one of us to live lives of integrity and to show by our actions toward each other and God that we are not like that…we must show the world what a true Christ-follower looks like and at the same time pray for those who are victims and for those who were the predators

If we can walk in the love of God and his grace toward this that not only scandalizes these children who many are adults now but even more so scandalizes the name of Christ the one who loves us the most then, we are true people of faith.

The Catholic church is going to have to deal with its issues but even more so we must live lives that reflect Integrity in all that we say and do….we can not sit in judgment if we have a lack of integrity in our lives

So this is a wake-up call to the church and all Christians everywhere that the Lord is depending on us to be a true reflection of Him in all we say and do! I am in no way excusing their lack of integrity but I am challenging each of us in ours!

What promises have you made to the Lord? your family? your boss? Your employees, your neighbors, can you be counted on to be a person of your word and the Word….does your life reflect the Word of God and Christ-likeness always?

I end with one of my favorite verses Matthew 5:16

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”