Sermons by James

Why Do Feel So Blah?

2009-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Why Do I Feel So Blah?

Everyday life can be pretty mundane can’t it? You wake up, go to work, come home, watch tv, fall asleep. Wake up, go to work, come home, watch tv, fall asleep. After doing this for months and months and years and years you begin to just get this blah feeling about life. You feel grey on the inside as if my soul is dying this slow death. My life is just blah,

What is this all about? Is there more to life then just this 9-5 job with a bunch of people I really don’t even like, with a company that honestly could really care less about me. Everyone is just going through the motions trying to pretend for their bosses that they really care about what they are doing.

Why? Why do I feel so blah about life? Have you ever felt that way? Some of you are thinking, that is my life you’re talking about, you don’t have to convince me. Nothing really excites me any more. I’m just going through the motions and I really don’t know how to get out of this rut that I’m in.

Many of you might say, when I was younger things seemed to be different. Have you ever thought that way? Back in my college days and through seminary God gave me a big vision to be the next Billy Graham of Russia. These thoughts were something that consumed my mind and my prayers that God would use me to win thousands and thousands of people for Christ in Russia. At seminary we had to write down our vision and make a plan as to how this was going to happen and wow, it was like I couldn’t write fast enough. This was something that got my motor running, I felt so alive.

I had big plans but what got in the way of those plans? Life set in along the way. The things of this world started distracted me more and more away from that vision until it was a distant memory. Life sets in on all of us doesn’t it at times. We get so wrapped up in ‘living life’ that we get distracted away from those big things God called us to in our youth. Many of us had big plans and visions of what we were going to do for Christ. But life gets in the way doesn’t it?

I had a friend ask me this great question recently and I want to ask you all the same thing today. What are you working on and praying for that is BIG? You have to do all the normal stuff of life but what are you working on that is big? Are you willing to push back from your life and do something that matters? It’s a great question. If we’re not careful we’ll just go day to day and never push back and look at the big picture. Perhaps there is something bigger and grander God has for your life.

This question is for you not someone else. This forces us to look in the mirror and ask the question, what am I working on that matters?

Jesus actually said the same thing in Matt 6:31…
31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

You spend all your time worrying about the day to day activities of life and they’ll probably just take care of themselves anyway. You’re just like the pagans. Be consumed with Him.

Here is the question…what are you praying for? Are your prayers consumed with the minutiae of life? Your at a big mall and in a hurry, Lord, Help me to find a parking spot, or you just sped past a cop with a radar gun and you cry out, God, help me to not get a ticket, or you come to a test unprepared, God help me to pass the test, … would this all get taken care of any way. Do you really want to spend another year with just that stuff? Isn’t something bigger and grander?

What have you been praying for that is big? Is there anything so big that when you pray you know it won’t happen if God doesn’t intervene? Let me ask you, what are you praying for big? I want you to commit this year to latch on to something big this year and not let go until He moves.

Are you asking God anything that honors His size and His magnitude? You know God can move the mountains. Do we believe that? One thing I learned at seminary was that God is a BIG God. God is limitless and all powerful and we bring His name no glory when we only ask him for the mundane things of life. God help me to find just the right kind of outfit for that party next week. God help me to get up on time this morning. God help me to find a good mechanic for my car. Are these things unimportant, no, but God says those things he will take care of. He will take care of you, stop worrying about all that minor stuff of life and focus on something BIGGER.

If you’re a family that prays together? The size of your prayers determines the size of your God. Is He bigger then just the next test or the next

Have you ever noticed this in a prayer group? I’m as guilty as the next guy but it’s just an observation. What prayer requests do we have? People sit there and try and think up something. If you’re actually praying for something that will be right on the top of your head, you won’t have to search your brain.

What are you asking for that it consumes your mind and you are regularly crying out to God.

Luke 11. The disciples ask a great question, teach us how to pray. These were guys that have been around him for quit a while and saw him praying.

1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

Jesus launches into this discussion about prayer…When you pray...

Before Jesus teaches them how to pray he teaches them what they should be praying for and we looked at this in a previous sermon but in the prayer we call the Lord’s prayer the main point is that we should be praying for the things that are important to God. Making Him known and personally knowing Him.

So the first thing we see as to why we feel so blah about life is that we’re focused on the wrong things. We’re focused on all the stuff of life we’re trying to get for ourselves rather then the things that are important to God, making Him known.

Let’s go back to the story about my vision for Russia and when I was writing out that vision I couldn’t write fast enough. My heart was racing, my face felt flush. Why? When we’re focused on something that excites God and something he’s created us for we come alive inside.

The next part I’m going to focus the majority of our time on goes beyond the what we should be praying for but the how.

Luke 11:5-
In these days and in this culture hospitality was a crucial obligation. The host must feed the traveler who has come to someone’s home. And what is going on here is normally you would buy enough bread for the day.

5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

So one late night a certain home has some surprise guests show up at their house. The custom was to give them, not just a piece from your loaf but an entire loaf of bread for their travels. This certain home didn’t have any full loaves left so they went knocking on their neighbor’s door late at night because they knew this certain neighbor had a stash of loaves.
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'
So this neighbor comes knocking late at night, please give me some bread for my guests. Now, the neighbor is completely asleep with his family and kids all in the same room and the same bed which was customary. The doors of these days had a huge bar across them with all kinds of noisy rings and to unbolt the door would have caused a huge noise and awaken the entire family. So he refuses and sends the friend away empty handed.

Now in these parables often somebody in the story represents us and somebody represents God the Father. The guy sleeping represents God, strange huh? Jesus represents God the Father this way not me.

v. 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

The only thing that makes the guy get up and give him what he asks was his boldness.

Boldness-means shameless, inappropriateness, persistence. His shameless asking. Surely you don’t mean God is like that? Luke 18 says a similar thing about the judge not being bothered. This widow just keeps coming and the judge says just to get the woman out of his hair. Alright enough already.

What is Jesus talking about? Are we supposed to just bug God to death until He gives us what we want? Actually yes. This is pretty much what this story Jesus teaches is saying. That if we go to God with boldness, shameless persistence, even inappropriate persistence He will give us what we ask.

Our way of praying is much more tame isn’t it. “Lord I have this friend who isn’t a Christian, if it’s your will would you speak to him. If not, no problem I won’t bug you about it again.” We see this kind of begging and pleading and inappropriate and rude don’t we? Jesus is talking about begging and pleading.

Story of Natalie’s shameless pleading.

v. 9 keep seeking, keep knocking, keep asking…in other words you keep coming at God until He gives you what you’re asking for. If that makes you a little more uncomfortable you’re not alone. God is not annoyed by that but he is honored by that.

But, surprisingly, if you look at the prayers of the OT these guys came after God with persistence and boldness. God I am coming after you and I’m not going away.

One of the most unusual stories is the story of Jacob wrestling with God and would not stop until God blessed Him. We look at that story as pretty unusual but in light of this context it makes perfect sense. Jacob was not going to give up until he got what He wanted from God, His blessing. Jacob wanted more then anything else to be a part of God’s plan for this world.

Now, he’s not talking about coming after God for that new car you’ve always wanted. Just before this Jesus teaching us what we should be praying for.

When was the last time you cried out to God, God use me for your purposes. I am not going to stop asking until you use me to bring the world to you. I am going to be so persistent that you are going to get tired of me. I’m sick and tired of just going through the motions of this boring life. God I want to be a part of something BIG you are doing and I’m not going to go away until you answer my prayer. Keep seeking, keep knocking, keep asking because God is honored by that. God honors those who pray in this way.

v. 10 for everyone who asks receives. You may have to ask for years not just once. I know you hear me God. The door will be opened.

Do you pray like that? Is it any wonder that our lives are so powerless and boring? Is it any wonder that our churches are so feeble?

Some of you are a result of your mom or dad asking seeking and knocking for years and years and years and now you are here. Some of you are in the faith or in this position of life because someone who loved you understood this principle.

When you ask in this way God realizes that this is something big and serious and passionate to you. This isn’t just, God help it not to rain for the mothers day picnic. God wants us to ask of Him something BIG. And when he finally answers it takes our faith to new levels its never been.

Don’t spend another year asking for things that will be taken care of anyway.

Sometimes God wants to know if this is just a passing fad or if we’re really serious about this. We’ve all had those friends we commit to pray for then after the 2nd or 3rd day we’ve totally forgot. Why do we do this? Because ultimately its just not that important to us. And God wants to know, is this really important to you?

Bill Bright. He was a businessman, things were going well but God began to come into his life. Spread out a map on their kitchen table and he and his wife asked, God give us this world. God answered that prayer with campus crusade for Christ. Why because he prayed big.

I went to Sam recently and told him, yea, maybe after this starting point class we can do three a year. Sam wrote back and said, why not have multiple classes going on at the same time, not just 2 or 3 a year. Sam is thinking big.

What’s your vision for this church? What’s my vision? As I worked on this sermon I kept asking God what’s my vision for this church? After Friday night when we had met one on one with each other in discipleship and prayer for one another, I was reminded how incredibly important those kinds of relationships are for spiritual growth. Getting with someone who knows you so specifically that they are praying for you is such a fertile place for spiritual growth to happen. And my vision for this church is to see a thousand people involved in these kinds of providential relationships.

Ask and seek and knock. You are not going away. What is it? What are we going to ask God for that is big. If you have nothing, ask God to give you a vision for something big. Or pray this, God I’m not going to go away until you make me a part of something BIG you are doing.

It may be 10 years, 5 years, or a year before you see any movement on this issue but would you be willing to pray for something big, something outside of your day to day life, something outside of the minutiae of life, something BIG.

Jesus loves when we keep asking, he loves relentlessly people, and He’s moved by this because he is moved by people that won’t go away. If you’ve never been gripped like that then maybe you haven’t been praying like God wants you to pray.

If you pray like this it will change your life, change your heart, and change your perspective. It will change your thoughts about God. When you pray for months and months and years and years for something and God begins to move it will change you like nothing else. You will be changed forever.

What are you going to pray for this year? When we pray like this for something bigger then ourselves God gives us purpose and meaning and direction and excitement we’ve never felt before and that blah of life will go away.

Why Do I Feel So Alone?

2009-04-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Why Do I Feel So Alone?

Who has a myspace page, facebook account or twitter account? Millions and millions of people are on these programs aren’t they? I saw a news story about you tube this morning and they said they get 50 hours of video uploaded every minute and 100 million views a month. Incredible. Why? They said what is driving all this is people sat around for years and years desiring to be on the stage of TV and now they have their chance.

What are all these millions of people looking for? What is driving this? We all want to be known and be known for something. I was looking at facebook and here are some things that I noticed people want to be known for…There’s those people that want to be known as the world travelers, some as the politically conscious, those as the crazy fun party people, those as the super active busy people. We all want to be known for something.

Some more general things people want to be known for are…Good looks, healthy lifestyle, active lifestyle, accomplishments, success of our kids, education, super mom and wife and business woman, business success, family guy, great dads and husband, loyal friend, known as a leader, known for your talent, then there’s those that want to be known as the guy who doesn’t care what anybody thinks about them. …everyone wants to be known and known for something whether you realize it or not. People around you can figure this out by the type of things that you project to be important.

The problem is that when there is a gap between what I want to be known for and what I really am, there the problem lies. When there is this gap we all project a different image then what we really are. We put on this happy face.

When we do this it sets us up for secrets. All of us have some gaps so we learn to pretend to be something or someone we’re not exactly.

When you’re dating someone you learn this very quickly. Think back to your dating years if you can remember or if you’re dating right now this is very familiar. You will do everything to put your best foot forward. Why? You want them to see your best side and that part of you that’s a little embarrassing you try your hardest to keep that hidden. This is just human nature. I’ve never experienced this personally but I’ve heard of girls pretending to cook something for the guy to make them think that they are this great cook.

We’d all like to be known as a healthy person. The health craze is everywhere but we say one thing and then go eat a 2000 calorie meal.

Married couples know about this gap. Every couple here has probably fought all the way to church and then when we enter the door we’re all smiles. Why do we smile and why is it even weird right now to say this out loud? Because what we want to be known for and who we really are are very different things at times. Married couples have fought all the way to church then when you get out of the car you are happy and waving at everyone.

We train our kids to pretend don’t we. We train them to maintain an image. Then when the reality of our kids show up we make up an excuse, oh they didn’t get enough sleep last night. This way of life becomes engrained in us from a very early age. When we’re around church people or in public we must act a certain way. Now when we’re at home all bets are off. My family was especially trained at doing this and because of that this is a real struggle for me.

Financial debt is a good proof of our need to present an image. We buy things we can’t afford because we want to known as someone with a lot of money because we have a lot of nice stuff.

We hope that nobody gets to know the real me but we all feel so lonely at times, why?

We’re going to address this issue today, why do I feel so alone? And next week we’re going to answer the question, why do I feel so blah about life? Is there more to life then just this 9 to 5 rut I’m in?

There is a discrepancy between what we want to be known for and what we really are. Everyone struggles with that.

And the question I have for us all today is who really knows you?

I’m not unrealistic. I know you don’t just go around and pour out your life struggles with a perfect stranger but the question is … who really knows you?

People, whether they will admit it or not want to be known by someone, really known. One of the most difficult things to deal with in life is to feel all alone, to feel like no one really knows you. That is one of the most empty feelings in the world to walk into a room and realize no one knows you and no one really cares to know you.

Our society is a scattered society. America is one of the most mobile societies of all time. Because of this, many of us live far from families, we go to colleges that are far away, we bounce from one church to the other and the result of this mobile society is isolation and feelings of loneliness. This exasperates the problem of feeling alone doesn’t it? I would love to live close to all my family but none of them live in the same town. Ashley’s family is the same way.

Thus, facebooks popularity. Facebook is a place for people to feel connected but it really never meets that deep longing in all of us to really be known. This social networking sites just touch the surface of our need to be known.

Adding to the problem of loneliness is we’re all afraid that if someone really knows us they’ll reject us. And that’s why we settle for something less, we settle to pretend to be someone we’re not so that people will like and accept us for who we … want to be? Strange isn’t it, but we all do it.

Now if you say, hey, my life is an open book. That is what people know me for. Then this sermon might not be for you but be careful that you’re not just pretending to be the guy or gal that’s totally transparent. That’s another popular one people want to be known for these days especially in the Christian circles, the my life’s an open book guy. Many of us can act like we’re an open book but once again, it’s just an act.

None of us are alone in this struggle so if you’re thinking you’re abnormal, you’re wrong, because everyone struggles.

What we all really need is not just to have more followers on your twitter account (I have 1 person following me).

If you hear nothing else today hear this, what we need is to be known by a community of believers who know you and accept you for who you really are and support you in becoming who you really want to be.

This goes well beyond just sharing your problems with a friend. More then just feeling connected on facebook. We’ve all had those friends that we share all kinds of things with. We tell them all of our problems with life and they generally know us which is good to a point. But what the NT advocates is something beyond that, something deeper and something more meaningful.

To be known by a group of people who actively help and spur us on to become who we want to be in the power God.

This might be surprising, but this is exactly what the local church is supposed to be doing and offering. There lies the difference between what the world has to offer and what the local church should be doing.

A place where people can go and say, there is this gap in my life, but here is who I really am and we should accept them, forgive them. We should be experts and being accepting and forgiving people because we’ve been accepted and forgiven ourselves.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”

We should be doing and offering the same thing this verse is talking about. A safe place where broken people just like ourselves can come and get support for their gaps in life. Unfortunately, the church so often is known for the exact opposite. A group of people who are judgmental and un accepting of people who are struggling.

So many times people think that they need to get their lives in order first before they can ever take a step into the church. How wrong is that?

We here at The Bridge want to be a place that is different, not only do I accept you but I’m going to work along side you to help you be all that God wants you to be. That should be the local church.

Today I want to look at the scripture scattered throughout the NT.

James 5:16 “therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

Here’s the second question. Who have you confessed your sins to? When was the last time you confessed your sins to someone else? When was the last time? Think about it. Not just saying your sorry after a fight with your spouse or girlfriend. This is probably one of the most neglected verses in all the Bible. We are told to confess our sins not just our life problems to one another.

There’s a hilarious video swirling around that’s a little too out there for showing at the church but the title of it is, called white people problems. The video very sarcastically points out how most of the things we get all up in arms about are pretty trivial.

Problems that I’ve faced these last couple of weeks…
a/c on one of our cars is blowing not as cold as it should
I accidentally bought the non fat plain yogurt instead of low fat vanilla. Now my breakfast routine is messed up.
Someone accidentally turned the power off to my tivo machine and I missed a mavs game. Why do they have to have a mavs game at 3 in the afternoon anyway.
Some milk we bought went sour before the exp date.
I got hardly any chicken in my sweet and sour chicken at pei wei.
My haircut lady sold me some shampoo that she guaranteed would solve my scalp problem. She was wrong.
Ashley and I can’t decide whether to spend our 1st anniversary in San Francisco or Colorado.

We all have real sin problems on the inside that we desperately need to be healed from. We are all addicted to some sort of sin and if you don’t then you are either not being honest with yourself or you have disillusioned yourself because no one has ever been perfect. We all have areas in life that we can be working on.

And as I’ve noticed those that are closest to God usually are those that see their depravity the most. Have you ever noticed that? People that are far far from God tend to be those that see little fault in themselves and those closest to God see how far from perfect they are and how much they need support to bridge those gaps in their lives. Look at some of Paul’s statements,
16But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

We’re all addicted in one way or another. It may not be alcoholism but we have somethings. You might say, I’d like people to know me as a loving and caring person but every time I go home I can be the most unloving person to my wife. I’d like to be that kind of person to those that are closest to me but it’s a struggle.

James says, don’t just tell God, tell someone else. That is the way God designed us. What’s the purpose in telling someone else? Look at the last part of that verse.

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Here’s the 3nd question for all of us. Who is specifically praying for you? Who is praying for you so specifically because they know your innermost struggles you are going through right now because you share with them on a regular basis what’s going on inside? Anyone? No one?

About 4 years ago I started meeting with a Christian friend on a regular basis and I regularly confessed my sins and he specifically prayed for me about these things and I look back and realize that this was some of the most fruitful growing times in my Christian life. Why? Because God honors it when people get together to do this confession and prayer on a regular basis.

Who is specifically praying for you?

2nd verse: Hebrews 10:24-25
24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The only way I will know how to spur you on is to know where you are struggling. You might say, hey, I’ve struggled for years with looking at the wrong things on the internet. Or you might say, I spend way too much time thinking about the next thing I’m going to buy and very little time thinking about the things that are important to God, making Him known. Or, I want to be an encourager, but honestly, I don’t encourage anyone.

We are here to spur each other on towards good deeds.

Look at the last part of this verse, 25, this is very practical teaching. Keep meeting together. You can’t grow in your faith if you rarely meet with other believers. This isn’t rocket science. If you want to grow, it doesn’t happen in isolation, it only happens with a group of believers.

Galatians 6:2 says, Carry each others burdens (sin burdens, the gap burdens). In the context of Galatians the burdens he is talking about are sin burdens not just life burdens. So often we think of that in terms of hardships of life, my mother is sick, or my car broke down, or I’m struggling at my job, or I missed my flight.

We get wrapped up and concerned about all the wrong things don’t we. Those aren’t the burdens of life Paul is talking about here in Galatians, he’s talking about our sin burdens.

What exactly does that mean? This means you have someone who knows exactly what you are struggling with and they commit to pray specifically for that, and they commit to call you on a regular basis to talk about that and encourage you along.

You might have a friend that you’re meeting with on a regular basis and he’s calling you up regularly asking you specifically how you’re doing with that sin issue, he’s praying for you daily, he’s encouraging you every time you meet together.

Romans 15:7 says, Accept one another just like I have accepted you.

How did Jesus accept you? Just the way you are. Why are most people reluctant to share their real sin problems? Because we’re all afraid that we won’t be accepted by the other people.

I want you to find a group of people you can trust and they can help you carry that Gap burden going on inside of you.

My dream is to have small groups of guys and women with women walking together, carrying one another’s burdens.

Would someone get under the burden with me because I’ve tried it on my own and it’s not getting any better.

The NT doesn’t just think this is an add on but this is at the core of the NT church. Is Sunday service important, yes. Is bible study important, yes. Is fellowship time important, yes. But the most important thing the church can be doing is this right here. That is why we think this should be happening all over the church, groups of people who at the core are accepting and burden sharing with one another.

Where can and are we trying to do this? Structured environments we call community groups can help facilitate this to happen. This doesn’t just naturally happen, very rarely does it?

God honors it when people come together to do this.

We know what you want to be known for but who really knows you. Secrets eat at your soul and will come out at some point one way or another.

This past week something very shocking happened at my work. The police came down to arrest a guy that has worked for me for years for solicitation of a minor online.

Why not allow a group of people who love you and accept you to pray and walk with you in this life.

We all need this. We all struggle, we’re all addicted to sin in one way or another. If you don’t think so then you are disillusioned. If you allow that sin in your life to go unchecked it will only get worse and you can’t overcome that by yourself by the way.

It is so unhealthy to carry secrets. Once we reveal secrets this burden being lifted can do wonders to help free us from guilt.

Plug for community groups. Starting point. If you want to join one of these groups just come see me or write that on your visitation card.

So, let me go back to my original question, who really knows you? Does anyone? And who have you confessed your sins to lately and who is praying specifically for you about your sin problems? Anyone?

You might say, I want to be a great wife or husband, a successful businessman or woman, a loving father, a devoted Christian, a gracious person? But I’m not there yet honestly.

I want all of us to close the gap between what we want to be known for and who we really are. To do this it’s going to take some risk of opening up to a group of people who are fellow strugglers and they can help share that burden with you.

World Champion Worrier

2009-04-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the subject of worry. We saw that Jesus taught us to stop worrying and the primary way to stop our worrying is to shift our devotion. When we shift our devotion away from all these things such as family, career, financial stability, etc. to the things that God is devoted to, knowing him and making him known. All these other needs of life we worry about God takes care of.

Can we be devoted to the right things and still be worrying? Yes. I’ve learned over the last several weeks that as a pastor I can be devoting myself to the right things and still not trusting God with the future. Pastors can be some of the biggest worriers out there can’t they. But God wants us to even when we’re devoting ourselves to making Him know to trust Him. Today we’re going to look at a Prophet of God who was trying to do the right thing but in the midst of it stopped trusting God with His future and tried to take control Himself.

The ultimate reason we worry is because we can’t control the future. We’re usually fine today but it is tomorrow we worry about. Controlling people are usually people who can’t trust anyone else, including God with their future. Jesus comes along and says don’t worry about tomorrow trust your heavenly Father about tomorrow. When we hear someone say don’t worry, we start thinking your’re saying “don’t care”. Well, I care about it so I’m going to worry right.

Jesus doesn’t say these things are important but he says the things that you worry about will be the things that you are devoted to. Kids grades. What if we shifted your devotion to something else. And we learned that the bigger your faith the less you will be worried or stressed right.

The temptation is to push back and say that this is just too simplistic. When I worry I feel more responsible and when I don’t worry I feel irresponsible. My thoughts are consumed with tomorrow and if I stop worrying things won’t get done. Is that right? Jesus says to stop worrying and trust God with tomorrow. All you can do is to be in the now and trust God with tomorrow.

Today. We’ll rap up this series with a story. 1 Kings 19: We’re not going to go over the entire story but I’d love for you to read the rest of the story when you go home. But at the end of this story God asks Elijah a great question that God asks all of us at one time or another. This is a great question obviously because it comes from God but it zooms right into our hearts especially for us worriers. And if you struggle with this issue as most of us do this might be a question you could write on a 3x5 card and pin it on your wall or some place you see often.

When the nation of Israel became a kingdom their first king was Saul, then David, Solomon, after Solomon the kingdom split.
Northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. The northern kingdom’s king was Ahab at this time. Ahab was a wicked king and had lead Israel way away from God. Lead them into worshipping all kinds of bad things like Baal. Because of this God sent a messenger Elijah with some voice of reason to come and warn them.

Have you ever had a voice of reason come into your life? A message you felt, this must be from God? We may not always embrace the message but God is often speaking to us today just like he spoke to Ahab back in the day.

Elijah said that God wasn’t too happy with how things were going so God is going to turn off the rain. Months went by all the sudden without any rain.

Meanwhile God tells Elijah you’re going to have to hide out for 3 years because everyone is going to be ticked off at you. God provided for Elijah while this drought was going on. Elijah goes back on God’s request and says God has a lesson for you if you’re ready to listen to it. If so, God will let it rain again.

God knows when we are ready to listen and knows when we’re not ready to listen and He will wait us out won’t he. Even if it takes a life time. Why? Because He loves us. And often God uses difficult circumstances to try and get our attention doesn’t he. If you’re going through a trying time, if you’ve been in a difficult season for many years. Stop and think about what God may be trying to teach you. God’s primary purpose for us is to change us to be more like Jesus so that we can be used for His purposes and His glory. But some of us have been stuck in the same rut for so long, but God will keep trying.

So apparently Ahab seemed ready to hear the message so Elijah tells him to bring your Baal God to this mountain and we’re going to see which of these God’s are going to make it rain. Ahab says fine. They met on top of Mt. Carmel. Over 400 prophets of Baal are there and thousands of people from all around have heard of this competition and come to watch.

So they build their alters and get to work with the sacrifices. Elijah rebuilt an old alter that used to be used (in disrepair). So the next morning the Baal side starts to make their sacrifices, they dance around, they scream they yell, they cut themselves all the while Elijah is sitting there watching this and he begins to make fun of them in some pretty politically incorrect ways.

But Elijah starts to very vocally mock them and their God. Pretty politically incorrect isn’t it. While they’re dancing around, singing and shouting and cutting themselves, Elijah says, shout louder, perhaps Baal is traveling, maybe he is sleeping, maybe …he really makes fun of them. This goes on into the evening and no rain.

Now it’s Elijah’s turn. He says before I’m going to pray I’ll drench my alter to show that it’s not a trick. He prays and God lit up that alter. The people get furious at these Baal prophets for misleading them and they slaughter them all.

Now Elijah goes to Ahab and says you better run back to the city because before you get there its going to rain.

Now Elijah is like a rock star. He has the ear of God.

In the mean time Ahab goes back home and has a talk with Jezebel his wife. Does anyone know whose wife Ahab was?

She’s about as wicked as it comes and this is where the story really begins. All that was just a ramp up for this story so let’s jump into the text.

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

Elijah here’s the deal you’re going to be as dead as all the prophets. Jezebel is one of the most powerful people in all of the nation. Elijah should have been full of confidence because God has just done some amazing things through him, but look at verse 3.

3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life.

he runs for his life. He was afraid of tomorrow. He was okay with today but totally afraid for tomorrow.

I think if we could see all the things God has done for us in the past and the things we struggle with now we’d probably all be confused about why don’t you just trust God. Just like we’re thinking with Elijah.

Stones of remembrance. We need to remember past faithfulness so that we can be reminded over and over that God is in control, he knows whats best, and we are supposed to just trust him.
When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. Does this remind you of another prophet of God’s who went under a tree to die? Jonah did the same thing. Not sure what it is about sitting under a tree to feel sorry for yourself.

All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
Strengthened by that food he travels for 40 days and nights to Horeb. This is where the burning bush was and this is where the Ten Commandments were. This is where the Israelites thought that God hung out. So he travels there to die and to be close to God. Goes into a cave.

v.9 And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

You are miles and miles away from where I had you. Suddenly tomorrow seems threatening and you ran away? Elijah what are you doing here? I love this question because I have a feeling some of us have done some running haven’t we? I know I have at times in my life just run away mentally and emotionally.

Some of us have run mentally because we’re so stressed out and worried about tomorrow.
Emotionally they just aren’t there. The passion of life is just gone.
Some of us have physically run away.
Some of us have checked out of the relationships.
You are in a place you have no business being. You would have never imagined yourself there in a hundred years but you’ve drifted so far from where God would have you.

Why have you allowed a future you can’t control take you away from me? What are you doing here? Why did you run? Why have you allowed the uncertainty of tomorrow to take you into a cave? You’re physically there but emotionally you are so distant. You’re physically here but so detached from all emotions.

V10..Elijah want to give God some information. We love to do this too. But God, you know my children, etc. Let me explain my circumstances to you God. Not sure if you realize what’s going on.

10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

He reviews what has happened. They’re trying to kill me. You expect me to stay there under threat of death? Do you know what’s going on around me?

11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."

Wonder what was going on in Elijah’s mind. How is that going to help my situation God? Wow, you’re going to pass by and they’re just going to stop chasing me?

Elijah stayed in the cave and didn’t obey…so God sent him some loving reminders that he’s not going to stop pursuing him.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

What in the world are you doing here? Elijah was so far from God’s plan and purposes at this point. He allowed worry and control for tomorrow to take him away.

14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

v.14 I have been very zealous for blah blah blah….same speech, they are trying to kill me too. As he’s saying all this he starts to think about what God is trying to get across to him and it starts to hit him.

Has God been trying to speak to you lately? Has he been trying to say some things to you?

Are you so wrapped up in the things of this world God’s asking you “what are you doing here?”
Is your devotion so concentrated on making sure your kids are going in the right direction, so wrapped up in figuring out where you’re going to spend your next vacation, so into your career and making sure you’re savings account is where it should be?

God says to all of us, “what are you doing here?” Your life is wrapped up in things I never intended you to get wrapped up in. Shift your devotion to the things that are important to me, knowing me and making me known.

Let’s see what happened as a result of Elijah’s running.

15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

v.15 alright, go back the way came and go to the dessert of damascas and anoint this new guy as king. They already have a king. Also anoint this other guy as king of Israel. Also appoint a new prophet.

So God has a purpose and plan. Hmm…God is in control and He is doing his work.

v.17 Elijah you think you’re the only one left but you’re not. You don’t know what’s really going on in this plan.

God has some great things and ways he wants to use your life for His glory but as long as we keep worrying, we keep trying to control our futures we keep going for what is the safe route for us God can’t use you. We’re fearful of the future just like Elijah and the danger is that eventually God will just use someone else.

God’s work and God’s plan will get done with or without you just like with Elijah. Elijah could have continued to be a part of His plans but he refused to trust God so he was replaced.

So when I start to worry and fret about how this ministry is going to come together…oh, God is in control, I can only take care of my responsibilities today, there’s nothing I can do about tomorrow. Oh and when I worry about these things too much I’m a real grouch with Ashley because I’m not living in the moment but worried about the future. I’m burdened down so I can’t really relate with others the way I should be.

Your worry and stress hasn’t added a thing to your life but it has taken away many great things, like your relationships, your joy, your peace, your abundant life.

If you have allowed your worry to drive you to do all kinds of stupid things, to drive you away from your relationships, away from good business practices, away from…

God is still in control and still has a purpose and plan for your life despite all the detours you’ve been on. Not only has worry not helped solve anything but its gotten you and your family far off the trail. Today’s worries can blank out past God’s faithfulness.

We’re simply to do what we know we should be doing today and not worry about tomorrow. Devote yourself to the things that are important to God, not important to yourself. God I’m going to do all I can today and trust you with tomorrow. I’m going to walk into tomorrow with confidence.

Your other option is to worry. Build things up in your mind and trust yourself and you’ll keep running, you’ll keep living in your own strength.

Let me ask you. Have you gone some places you shouldn’t have gone. If so, you need to go back. Some of you have to make things right with your relationships. Some of you need to apologize to those closest to you. Some of you need to go back in your mind and remember what God was calling you to. Some of you need to break some bad habits you’ve developed during these stressful times. You need to get some help to break those habits.

You do what you can do today and then trust me with tomorrow. If God really cares for you He will take care of you.

My prayer is that during these stressful times we would respond in a totally radically different way and our light would shine so brightly in the darkness that many people will be drawn to the Father.

Shift Your Devotion

2009-04-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

Shift My Devotion

Worry is like an old friend who has over stayed his welcome isn’t it. We love him but we’re just tired of him being around. We’d all love to be done with worry wouldn’t we?

Worry is a pre occupation with tomorrow. I’m okay right now but tomorrow I’m not sure of. It’s about control isn’t it? Those uncertain things we want to control them and the only way we know how to do that is to worry. We can’t actually do something so we decide worry is our only option. And in those free moments our minds just can’t stop racing with all the worries of the day.

These days we have more to worry about then ever don’t we?

New York Times has an interesting feature on their website. They are taking a poll from people around the world and asking them to pick one word for how they are feeling during this economic downturn. The bigger the word the more people are choosing that particular word. Here are some of the big words. Disgusted, anxious, uncertain, concerned, scared, worried, frustrated, angry, powerless, stressed, cautious, resigned, outraged,

All these words can sum up our feelings on any given day can’t they? We all have these feelings lately especially with all the problems going on around us. The opportunities to worry are plentiful in all our lives.

Someone once said, ‘Worrying is like prayer in reverse’. Prayer makes issues smaller…worrying makes issues bigger.

This wee we’re going to look at the solution to how to stop worrying. And next week we’ll have a special Easter service and then the following week we’ll finish our series on Worry with a look at an OT character who dealt with many of these issues.

Jesus comes along and says there is a solution to all this worry. You don’t have to medicate, you don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to your counselors.

Review of last week. What you are devoted to will fuel your worry. Your worry reveals your devotion. Jesus outlined some very negative consequences of worry.
worry keeps you from enjoying what you have “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it only empties today of its strength.” Spurgeon.
worry makes you forget your worth
Worry solves nothing. You can’t add anything to your life by worrying. You can’t impact anything by worrying.
Worry erases the promises of God from your mind

Question from last week: What am I most devoted to?

Read Matt 6:27-34
27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Oh you of little faith! there is a relationship between the size of your faith and the size of your worry.

There is a compound word that doesn’t show up anywhere else we can find it in the greek. Literally it meant, “you little faither”. You’ve already believed the harder to believe parts yet you’re getting tripped up by this issue, trusting God with the next series of events. The reason you’re so worried all the time is you are little faithers.

Have you ever met someone who lives with little worry in much more perilous situations? If I had to live in that situation I’d be a basket case yet they’re not too worried. You’ve just met someone with big faith.

31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Verse 31: The what we eat, drink, wear were the worries of the day. This was a hand to mouth economy. Today we’re worried about different things aren’t we.
Watching videos, forefathers sacrificed so we could worry about things other then food, drink and clothes.

But the problem is that we still worry. We still worry about our retirement, whether our job is the right fit for us, we worry about our kids and how they’ll turn out, we worry about our family, we worry about our jobs, we worry about whether we’re going to get married and if so will that be the right person. we worry about everything.

Worry ultimately has nothing to do with our circumstances and everything to do with our faith. We say, if this were a better situation I wouldn’t worry as much. Not true at all is it. As soon as one situation gets resolved the next one comes right along because worry has nothing to do with your circumstances and everything to do with who your putting your faith in.

Pagans run after…that is parallel to worry. If you’re a Christian and you’re so stressed out you’re acting like there is no God. You’re living your life like an atheist. We say one thing but practice in are life much different.

But, as you are with non believers and they see your life and no worries the unbelievers should be wowed by are lives. How are you handling this different? This is a huge opportunity to shine and stand out in the crowd. They aren’t chasing after all these things that all our friends chase after and yet they seem at peace? How is that possible? The only Bible many people will ever read is your life in front of them.

And if you give into worry there might as well not be a God for you. You are not representing me very well.

I believe in my heart, especially from personal experience, that God allows bad things to happen to good people so that our faith can grow and so that we can stand out from the world. Why? Because when a believer handles a difficult circumstance differently then this stands out like crazy to the world. Where are they getting their peace of mind?

You might say, “Is there any other way I can shine my light to the world. I want to be one of those super rich people who are generous with their money. Let me shine like that God.” Have you ever had that dream? I know I think about that some time. God let me be one of those mega rich people who uses your money so wisely that everyone will see it and be moved. But we don’t get a choice.

I was reading a book on prayer recently by Dr. Constable and in there he tells the story of how he and his wife never had children. He says that at some point they had to come to the faith that God not allowing them to have children was for the best because God loved and cared for them. They viewed not having children as a blessing from God to serve Him in a greater capacity and to reach out in ways that they never could if they had children.

Verse 32 and your heavenly Father knows that you need them..
This is what separates you from the pagan. Do you really believe that God knows that you need these things and cares? When we don’t trust God to take care of us in the way He knows is best for us we are not representing the Christian life well. When we live like God knows and cares for all my needs and we trust him totally for are here and now we will stand out like crazy from the world. The bigger your faith the smaller your worry. The unbeliever doesn’t have that assurance but we do and we should.

Verse 33 the solution. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
There is something you can do about worry other then just try to stop worrying. The solution to worry is redirecting your devotion. Remember the first part that you can’t serve God and money. God knows our hearts and he knows that we want it all. We want everything the world has to offer and at the same time we want just enough Christianity to help us get by. But Jesus comes along and says that that will not work.

Jesus comes along and says, But seek first ….what you have been seeking first is the wrong thing. What you have been devoting yourself to has left you in a worrying lifestyle. The solution is to channel your devotion to something else. The kingdom of God

…as long as your primary devotion is financial security, your marriage, your kids, your business; you’ll live a life filled with worry. This is Jesus’ invitation to live an entirely different lifestyle.

You’ve probably sang and heard this so many times you’ve forgotten what it actually means.

Remember our sermon from several weeks ago on the Lord’s prayer? Why did he teach us to pray like that? Lord make your name great and help me to make that my passion. Help me to do your will and make you known. Lord, give me the basics in life and if I have extra help me to use it for your kingdom. Why did he teach us to pray like that? Because he knows that when we pray like that it begins to change our hearts. Our hearts begin to be focused on his kingdom first. On making his name known instead of our own pleasures of life, instead of what the pagans are running after. When we pray like that it changes us.

What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? Your kingdom comes before mine.

This shift isn’t just a half hearted shfit. Look at the rich young ruler.

Luke 18:18A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 20You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'[a]"
21"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.
It doesn’t really matter our wealth status does it? It’s hard for all of us to make this shift in devotion.

We are willing to follow God through everything but don’t mess with my standard of living. Don’t mess with the plans I have for my life and my family. These things are just too important to me to have a good house in a good neighborhood with family all around. These things are not negotiable. Jesus knew the heart of the rich young ruler and he knows our hearts.

If Jesus marched right in here today and asked you to sell everything you have and give it to the poor and follow Him in a totally radically different way. How would you respond? Well, Jesus, if I sold my house now, it’s just not a good time in the market. Can this wait until my kids get out of school? I’m right in the middle of my program at college and…

Jesus says, I have a mission for you, you’re not going to need anything other then the basics because all these things just weigh you down. If you were rid of all this you could and would serve me with a much fuller heart. What would your first reaction be? Would it be like the rich young ruler who had to pause…you know, I don’t think you realize how difficult that would be for me.

What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? Your kingdom comes before mine.

Are those other things wrong? Bad? No, but it’s what our hearts desires are. It’s what we’re pursuing after.

What does it means to seek first the Kingdom of God? We are totally focused and passionate about winning our friends to Christ. What can I do to know God better and to make Him more known to those around me. How can I use the extra money, time, resources God’s blessing me with to make His name known?

What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? I want your will to be done in my life first then my way. When you make that shift, that transition, the clouds part and the joy of life returns or comes for the first time. Suddenly there is a peace that passes all human comprehension.
And all these things will be given to you as well. Really? Yes, because you’re more important then the birds and the flowers. Of course he’s going to take care of you.

Ashley coming back from overseas without a worry in the world.

34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Verse 34. Don’t worry about tomorrow. In other words, when your mind goes to all the worries of tomorrow, just stop, thy will be done tomorrow. I’m going to seek his kingdom today and not worry about the IF’s of tomorrow. What can I do today to know him more and make him known to others.

As my faith gets bigger my worry gets smaller. And as my devotion shifts to God’s will rather then my own my worry gets smaller.

And when your worry gets smaller your relationships get better, your joy of life gets fuller, your business gets better, all the things that you were focused on, God will give you those things too.

Application:
Turn your bulletin over and make a list of all your worries. Then next to those worries make a new list of things you can start doing to be a part of making Christ known with your life and to those around you.

Move from believe that to action, I trust in. We can say all we want but when we actually start taking action and living differently, that is where the exciting life is.

Your Devotion Dictates Your Devotion

2009-03-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Your Devotion Dictates Your Worry

Well, for the next 3 weeks we’re going to talk about worry.

As I look at you all it doesn’t look as if any of you are worried. If we were able to look down into the depths of the soul I may be able to find a worry or two.

Proverbs 14:13
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.

We all have the ability to put on our “happy face” and appear “normal”. Despite all of our happy faces down deep we have some real life problems we’re dealing with don’t we. Worry is one of those things that lurks below the surface in all of us.

We all have more to worry about these days because we’re all worried more then ever these days with the financial situation out there. If you watch or read any news at all many are talking about the possibility of a financial collapse, about another great depression, etc. I don’t have any idea what type of worries might be heavy on your heart today. Those things that keep you up at night thinking instead of sleeping. Most of us have real life situations that we can be worrying about.

MetLife, the company I now work for as my weekday job has a new marketing campaign. “for the IF in life”. This is a pretty brilliant campaign because it taps into that part of all of us that worry about the future. We worry about the unknown out there in the future don’t we.

There are different levels of worriers out here today. Some of you don’t worry at all no matter what. Some of your spouses try to get you to worry more. Others worry about everything. You internalize everyone’s problems. You’ve tried to worry less but it just doesn’t work. You can’t get your mind to stop at night because you have a million things on your mind. And the rest are some where in between somewhere but lately probably all of our worry levels have risen. Because if you watch the news at all you’ll get 10 new things to worry about a day.

We’re going to look today at some teachings on worry given almost 2000 years ago but surprisingly these things are still so practical and applicable to us today. And surprisingly worry isn’t anything new. People worried about very similar things 2000 years ago.

We’re going to start off with three questions…

1. Who of you by worry can add a single hour to your life?
2. Who of you have worried so much may have take a year or two off your life? your spouses life? kids life? Worry has a physical effect on us, look at the presidents hair color.
3. Has worry ever helped any situation you’re worrying about get better?

In summary … if worrying can’t extend your life, if worrying shortens your life, and if it can’t help any situation out…why would we ever worry? So why don’t we just stop it! Is it that simple? Usually not. Don’t you love when someone tells you to just stop worrying? You tell them you’re really worried about this situation and they just tell you, well, don’t worry about it…thanks. That’s like someone telling you to try and go to sleep. How do you do that? Same with worry, have you ever tried to stop worrying by stop worrying? It doesn’t work does it. Then you’re worrying about worrying.

So right up front, I want to give you the heart of the message. Jesus says that the things that you’re most devoted to fuel the things that you worry about the most. In other words the things that your most devoted to is the thing that you’ll worry about. Jesus says that I want to take away the mystery of worry to you, the thing that you’re most devoted to is the thing that you’ll worry about the most, those things that keep you up at night.

Here some proof. If you lost your job I would not go home and worry about it. If your kid was doing bad in school I wouldn’t go home and worry about how your kids are doing in school. Do I sit around and worry about your retirement? No. You might say, “you’re not a good pastor!” I would agree with you, I have a cold heart don’t I.

The point is that my worry is tied to my devotion. The things you worry about reflect your core devotion. What if….What if you shifted your devotion? What would happen to all your worry?

We’re going to look at that question next week. But this week we’ll start in verse 24.

24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Matt 6:24 When Jesus decided to launch his preeminent discussion on worry with what, money. Money = mamun = stuff. Statistics show that most peoples number one thing that they are worried about is Money. Interesting isn’t it. Jesus is pretty smart, it’s almost as if he knows our hearts.

Money is also the number 1 thing that causes marital problems isn’t it? Why is that? Because what you’re devoted to will be emotional to you. That’s why money is such a hot topic for us because that is where our hearts are at.

Illustration of Ashley buying $200 at walmart. Why was my first reaction such an emotional one? Because that’s where my devotion is. Jesus knows us all too well and that’s why he began this discussion about worry with the topic of money.

Jesus is saying here, you can’t serve God and your stuff. You can like both but you have to decide which one you’re most devoted to. Our hearts make that decision for us don’t they?

This sermon is going to be broken into two parts. We’ll look at the first half this week and then the second half next week. The first half we’re going to focus on 4 negative consequences of worry. And next week we’ll focus on the ultimate solution to worry. How to shift your devotion. Jesus does something remarkable that a lot of these self help books and other things don’t do, he tells us how we can actually stop worrying.

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

25 Jesus then takes us into a discussion about that topic of who you’re serving. Therefore, a connecting phrase. I know you’re thinking about what you’re going to eat or wear. I don’t want you to worry about. These were the things that they were worrying about at that time. If he were writing directly to us he would say don’t worry about your health, your job, your 401k, your children’s education. Don’t worry about those uncontrollable details of your life.

Jesus, are you saying that its not important if we eat, have a job, have kids, etc. He’s not saying these things aren’t important but he’s saying you still don’t have to face the uncertainty about tomorrow with worry. Stop worrying. “Is not life more important then food and clothes.” He’s trying to pull us out of our hyper focus on things.

A life lived to the fullest (or the abundant life Jesus came to give us) is more important then whether my kids get into a certain program at school? A life lived to the fullest is bigger then your health? A life lived to the fullest is more important then whether or not your married? Is life more important then whether you health is good?

1. worry keeps you from enjoying what you have. Worry is assuming the responsibilities you can’t handle. Those things that you can’t handle you leave alone. Worry about things you can’t control keeps you from enjoying the life that Jesus came to give us. Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come to give you life and to have life to fullest.” Look at the last part of Jesus’ sermon about worry, 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Worry should not be the characteristic of a Christian. Jesus came to give us a different kind of life that isn’t bogged down by the worries of this world. We should be different, not the same.

26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

He goes on…In the midst of all of our worries (list several big ones)…He stops us and how insensitive is this…Look at the birds of the air…what? I don’t have time to look at the birds of the air…I don’t have a job…I don’t have time to look at the birds of the air...i’m scared to death all the time that terrorist are going to attack.

Jesus would say, slow down…look at the birds of the air…stop for a minute and look. They don’t sow and reap, In our day and age he’d say…They don’t have a college education, they don’t have a 401k…he’s saying the birds of the earth really don’t try. They just do things because they want to…they don’t have plans, day timers, blackberrys, mortgages, birds just go with the flow and on instinct. And yet, your heavenly father feeds them.

Here’s the question. Are you not more valuable then the birds of the air. Do you think you are more important then the animals. Remember in creation, he made man and women different, in his image. When he sent a savior into the world he sent a savior to die in the form of humans, not birds.

Do you think he cares more for you then he does more for the birds? Yes

2. worry makes you forget your worth. Makes you feel forgotten or worthless.

I’m telling you why you can face the uncertainties of life without worry b/c God cares for you. I’m telling you why you can face the day without a job. I’m telling you why you can keep moving forward even though you’re scared to death of something bad happening out there.

Pause for a moment and think…what would your life be like without worry? How much freer would your life be? How much better would your relationships be? How much more peaceful would you heart be? How much happier would you be?

If you think I’m making it too simplistic, you think this is too silly, Get super hyperfocused on all those things…can you by worrying today bring certainty to tomorrow. Jesus says, if your worry isn’t going to get you anywhere then take my advice, look at the birds of the air. Really look at them. Look how greatly I take care of them. If God loves them so much don’t you think he loves me even more.

27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

3. Worry solves nothing. Do you know why you worry? You worry because at the core it’s about control isn’t it? We want and love to control things don’t we? And we don’t want to let go of our “seeming” control of our problems. When one worry is gone you replace it with another. There are always a line of worries waiting to get in the door. You enjoy entertaining them. Worry will never solve anything. If I was the world champion worrier would I be able to control the outcome of any situation with my worry? NO.

Who are you going to put your trust in? Yourself? Who can do nothing to change tomorrow? Or God who is in total control? I’m going to trust the only one who can do something about my tomorrow.

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Look at the flowers of the field. If God takes care of birds and flowers and they don’t do anything, don’t you believe that God will take care of you.

4. Worry erases the promises of God from your mind. The promise of God is that he will not allow his children to beg for bread. Romans 8:31-32 a promise from God, “31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

We start thinking that God doesn’t care for me. He doesn’t care if I have the baby I’ve always wanted. He doesn’t care if my marriage works out. He doesn’t care if I find the job I’m looking for. Worry erases from you mind that God cares and that he will take care of you. God cares for you more then anything in this world. And he knows what is best for us and we have to trust that he’s all knowing and all caring. But when we worry we erase all these promises of God don’t we?

I know many of you are saying, “I know what you’re saying is right but I just can’t stop. I want to stop and I’ve tried to stop but I just can’t stop.”

When I was in seminary I took a class on psychology and in there I learned that most of our negative behavioral patterns are patterns because when we do something over and over for many years it changes the pathways of our brains. If we worry a lot our brains begin to form patterns of worry. And when we’ve done the same thing for many many years it becomes harder and harder to change those patterns doesn’t it? Some of you have been there. Sometimes it takes a life changing situation to break us out of those patterns. So if we can form negative patterns by doing something negative over and over again we can also reverse those patterns by doing something positive. And the Bible says that we can renew our minds by memorizing the promises of God.

And then you goes right to heart of the issue. O you of little faith?

Jesus is connecting some huge dots here and he’s saying if you’ll connect these dots, step back and look at the big issue here. At the core of worry is you placing your faith not only in these things but also in yourself to control the unknown rather then God.

Worry is a devotion issue. Worry is a faith issue. Worry is a trust issue.

His point is not that these things are important; his point is that you should not put your trust, your faith, and your devotion in these issues.

What if you could wake up every day and you were totally confident God loved you more then the birds and flowers. You would not worry would you. This is a faith issue.

How much better would your life be? Your relationships? Your business? Your church? Your relationship with your kids?

One question to ponder and one practical application:

1. If the emotion of worry is driven by our devotion then here’s the big question. What are you most devoted to? Next week Jesus is going to draw this parallel where he calls us to shift our devotion. If my worry pinpoints my devotion, what am I truly devoted to? Once I really determine what I’m really devoted to, is that really life? that’s why Jesus started the conversation with, you can’t be devoted to your stuff and God.
2. Would you be will to do something once a day…read these verses we’ve talked about and the one’s we’re going to talk about next week. Here is what may happen…God may start to point some things out in your life. God may start to do something permanent in your heart. If jesus commanded us to stop worrying about things in life then we have to assume that there is a way to stop isn’t there. Many of you may be thinking that, I’ve tried to stop before, there’s no way. But if Jesus commanded it there must be a way isn’t there.

Make Hypocrisy History

2009-03-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

How many times have you heard non Christians joke about the hypocrisy of Christians? How many disillusioned people have you met that have been burned by a fake Christian?

Preachers falling have become so common place that we no longer even bat an eye do we? People aren’t stupid. They see all this that goes on and it just keeps adding to their ideas that Christians are all hypocrites. They say and or portray one thing but live privately in a different way.

Matt 6:1 …definition of hypocrisy. Practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.

Hypocrisy in any form, giving, praying, fasting. Hypocrisy seems to touch a raw nerve in Jesus doesn’t it? Jesus didn’t just speak out against it he went on a full on assault. Jesus assaulted it, he attacked it over and over again throughout his ministry here on earth.

Jesus attacks it so often because the insiders have such a tendency towards hypocrisy.

Listen to Jesus’ words in Matt 23:33 to those he was confronting the Pharisees with hypocrisy…
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

Jesus hated hypocrisy and left not grey area for misunderstanding.

But unfortunately, for far too many people being a Christian and being a hypocrite go hand in hand. We could try to say that the outsiders just have misunderstood those in the church but sadly most of their perceptions are true.

Religious artificiality is a disease of the soul that can only be healed by having an authentic relationship with the great healer.

Let’s look at the Old testament –

Isaiah 29:13
13 The Lord says:
"These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.

Their reverence is a tradition learned by rote. Down deep in their hearts they are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Sound familiar. This sounds eerily like many of the legalistic churches out there I described.

I don’t blame non Christians from being turned off from Christianity because hypocrisy is rampant isn’t it? When a Christian is authentic he can’t help but stand out because it is different.

I have been a around Christians my entire life and authenticity is rare.

Ezk 33:30-33
30 "As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.' 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.

Like a performer, you have great words, you bring out the urges in us to do what is right but in the end no life change really happens.

Scary isn’t it? God was condemning them because they came, heard the words of the Lord, expressed devotion with their mouths but in their hearts nothing was changing, they put nothing into practice.

Do we act one way with some people and another with others?

Now let’s go back to the passages we’ve been looking at.

Matt 6:1 Warning right off the bat…beware…definition of hypocrisy. Practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Don’t do that, say’s the savior, otherwise you’ll get your reward right then and there.

At the time this was written there were 3 great works among the Jews of the day…giving, praying, and fasting. Understand Jesus doesn’t dispute these as good works. He is all for giving, praying and fasting. His concern was that this had degenerated into a masking of evil motives. He attacks their motives.

Look at the Beginning verse
3, 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
5 5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.
16 16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.

When you give, when you pray, when you fast. Don’t be hypocrites. He is attaching the hypocrisy surrounding these acts not the acts themselves.

Give generously but keep it to yourself. When you announce it in your own ways no matter how subtle we may be that is your reward. Motivations can be so deceiving can’t they? What’s at the heart of your giving?

Hypocrisy is about the heart. What is your motivation. To discover our hidden motivations are often more and more difficult the older we get. The more we do things the more we are blinded by our ways. We get so used to putting on the masks that we get to the point where we have deceived ourselves. We’ve all seen these people in our older people. Put an end to it now while there is still a chance. Don’t be part of the problem, be something different.

6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray

Take a look at your prayer life. How much of it is phony? How much of it is real? Is it hard for you to just get real with God all by yourself?

16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do
And fasting. Whenever you fast don’t put on a gloomy fase. That tells you that Jesus’ face was not gloomy. Why are all the pictures of Jesus so gloomy? Don’t do it to be seen. I don’t think this is a problem we struggle with but we have our own ways of displaying pride. Just fast for God’s glory.

Three practical tips and two warnings…

1. Exposing hypocrisy is helpful. Overexposure to Christianity will produce hypocrisy. Don’t model a pias religious front.

2. Practicing hypocrisy is natural. It appeals to our old nature. So watch yourself, it can creep up on us before we know it.

3. Breaking with hypocrisy is painful. Someone who is steeped in religion for many years is painful to train. It starts with an admission by saying I am a hypocrite.

Warnings:

1. Evaluate your private life vs. your public persona. If you’re doing these things, giving, praying, or fasting in public only something is wrong. Evaluate your heart. Why do you do the things you do? Is your private life dead as a door knob? Don’t hide behind a mask. Be real. Ask for help. Admit your weaknesses. Jesus loves when we admit our weaknesses and ask for help but he hates hypocrisy.

2. Watch how strongly you embrace your traditions. Hold them loosely. Things that aren’t the essentials of the faith you should hold loosely. Ask yourself, is my holding on to this turning others off? Is my holding on to this burdening my children?

God Doesn't Need Your Money

2009-03-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Intimacy in any relationship doesn't just happen. It requires regular relational deposits. Imagine the state of a marriage where the husband and wife did not put any time or attention into their relationship. It might be characterized by a lot of things, but intimacy would not be one of them. Our relationship with God is no different. An intimate relationship with Him is not something we arrive at; it is something we continually pursue. And as we do, we enjoy the benefits and demonstrate the marks of a maturing follower.

Matt 6:1 1"Be careful he’s setting up the discussion not to do your 'acts of righteousness' private disciplines before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no say this out loud with me reward from your Father in heaven.2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Money does more to compete with our faith then anything else. We worry about money more then anything else. That is a human reality. We all struggle with that whether you are a Christian or not. Jesus comes along and says, I know you’re trusting me for eternal life but I want to teach you to trust me now and now is this thing of money.

So Jesus asks I want you to trust me and give…we start saying things like, well, the church doesn’t need my money. The only way to teach you to trust him is to mess with the thing that is getting in the way, your wealth. God is eventually going to be calling for your checkbook, not because he needs it but because he wants your heart. He says, no, its not about needs it about your heart. He wants to teach you to trust him. You have a choice in the matter. Give first, save, and live on the rest.

By doing that I’m trusting you more then I trusting in money. Money is an emotional thing isn’t it? Why is it emotional? Because you trust in it. Money represents your security. Why should it be so emotional? It’s just a piece of paper with some guys picture on it. God knows you. Jesus knows this so he messes with it not to just mess with you but because he wants to play that role for you. He wants you to put your security in Him not this money.

The Lord's Prayer

2009-03-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Jesus says in matthew 6 that this should be how we pray. The Lord’s prayer is something we’ve all said hundreds of times but few really know what it means. Language and culture and context have all left the Lord’s prayer meaningless to us or we interpret the wrong meaning of how we should pray all together. Jesus says we should not babble like the pagans when we pray yet exactly what it wasn't supposed to be it has become, meaningless babble for most. It has become nothing more then that to us because we don’t know what it means or we don’t understand what it means. Hollowed be thy name? what does that really mean? Give us our daily bread…why do we have to ask for that when God’s already promised to supply all our needs? Lead us not into temptation…I thought God didn’t tempt us so why would we ask God not to lead us into temptation.

I want to encourage everyone to try and incorporate the Lord's prayer into your prayer life if you aren't already. I was personally convicted that if Jesus said, "this is how you should pray," we should take that seriously to understand it in our own language. This isn't some legalistic rule or task to check off but I think he modeled this for a reason because he knows praying like this will change us, help us know him more, and ultimately glorify him. So take some time to put it into your own words (no meaningless babble). Then use it as a guide as you pray and see what God does. Below is my version as an example...(I'd love to hear others). The process of sitting down and working through each and every word has been extremely beneficial for me. I hope it will be the same for you.

Heavenly Father, make yourself known to every person through my life, my church-the bridge, and every church around the world. I long for the day when the gospel has reached the whole world and you will come and set everything right. I pray I’d live today as if you’ve already come and help lead others to do the same. I want to devote my life to these purposes so I ask you to provide for my basic needs so I won’t be distracted away, and if you give me extra, help me to use that to further your purposes and not mine. Forgive my sins and help me to be quick to forgive others because how can I represent you well if I don’t understand grace. Keep me far from the things that tempt me and empower me to run when I see sin coming so that I won’t be disqualified from the race.

Going Out

2009-02-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

Going Out

One thing that always bothered me about the church I grew up was that church was mostly designed or geared with church people in mind. They had this bunker mentality that always viewed those on the outside as a threat. Now they would never admit that and might even get mad if you accused them of that but it was very evident by their actions that outsiders were a threat if they didn’t comply with the rules of the insiders.

Let me give you an example…dress code. I had finally got up the nerve after several months to invite my one of my friends to church and to my surprise he agreed to come with me. Now my friend was definitely an outsider. He hadn’t grown up in church at all. What do I mean by outsiders? As always he wore a ball cap into church because he didn’t know any better. Right before the service was to start the pastor came down from the stage and walked right over to my friend and jerked his cap off and told him to show some respect. Our church had a strict dress code that was made up to accommodate the churches standards and highly enforced by the church. If an outsider walked in there he would have no idea what that dress code may be and if an outsider wanted to start attending that church he’d have to change his ways to comply with the churches code. The church was designed with church people in mind. Of course my friend never came back to church. What message do you think that sent to my friend? If you do not comply with our ways, in other words, be like us, then you’re not welcome. What message did it send to me as someone who was going out to bring someone in? That told me to stop going out to bring outsiders in. Do you think I ever invited my friends to come back. No way.

Even though we had visitation Sundays and a push for bringing new people in that rarely if ever happened. For the 18 years I attended there we fluctuated between about 100 – 300 people with pretty much the same cast of characters as was always there. Why do you think that is? It’s my theory that even though they gave lip service to evangelism going out and bringing people in was quickly crushed.

My hearts desire is to create a ministry where people are GOING OUT and encouraged to go out and BRING PEOPLE IN because they know this place was designed with the outsider in mind. Not a place where the outsider is going to immediately feel like an outsider. And when the outsider comes into this place this will be as close as an un-churched person will get to the tangible presence of God. We’re his hands and feet etc.

In Acts 15 we see a very interesting controversy over this issue of going out and bringing people in. This week we’re going to camp out on this first issue of going out. And next week we’ll hit the issue of bringing people in. They are very much tied together but I want to first tackle the issue of going out because it is a foundational mindset if we are ever going to bring people in.

Background: Acts 15 We are about 15 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. We have a well established church in Jerusalem by this time. Paul and Barnabas have been going out and establishing churches amongst the Gentiles. And some of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem began to feel threatened by these Gentile converts. So the leadership sent someone to go up to the church in Antioch and remind them that they needed to first become Jews before they could become Christians. Or to put it another way, to become a Christian meant you were now Jewish and should follow all the laws of Judaism and in particular circumcism in this case. “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” (15:1) If that was the final word on the matter don’t you think this would have put a damper on Paul’s zeal for the Gentiles? The spread of the gospel would have come to a quick stop because now if you wanted to be a Christian you’d first have to schedule some radical lifestyle changes such as surgery and adding any and all Jewish laws and customs.

This doesn’t go over well with Paul and Barnabas. In fact, if you read the book of Galatians you get the idea that Paul was extremely passionate (extremely passionate is the Christian word we use for being ticked off) about this issue. As a result we see the first recorded deacon board meeting showdown. At this board meeting we see all the big players of the NT.

On one side of the argument we have people like James, Peter, Paul and Barnabas and on the other side the text says it is the converted Pharisees. Of course we know from history that the Pharisees were a very powerful group Jewish leaders in both the political and religious realm at the time. Apparently some of these had converted to Christianity and were now in powerful positions within the early Jerusalem church.

The basic position of these Christ following Pharisees was this, that Christianity was an exclusive club only for the Jews and if you want to join this club you’re going to have to become like us. And on the other side were Peter, James, Paul and Barnabas arguing that we need to open this thing up to everyone, not just the Jews or those that have converted to Judaism. You might think that this should have been a no brainer but we are 15 years after Christ has ascended and this issue is just now coming to a head.

The gravitational pull of all of us is towards this hoarding mentality. Going out and bringing in people that are different then us scary. It goes against our human nature to reach out to outsiders.

Paul, maybe not being on the ‘inside’ of Judaism defers the argument to Peter and James. Peter goes first and then James comes in to close out the argument against circumcism of the Gentiles. And the argument of James is the one I want to focus on today…

Let’s begin by looking at verse 13 where James says,

13When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. 14Simon[a] has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16" 'After this I will return
and rebuild David's fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things'
18that have been known for ages.

1. What the quote supports?

The quote is clearly meant to support the argument that the prophets and what they are arguing are in agreement. See verse 15…”the words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written”

What are they in agreement about? Looking back at verse 14 we see what James quotes Peter as saying that, three things…

1. God showed his concern by choosing a people from the Gentiles for Himself.
2. These were uncircumcised Gentiles.
3. That God used the ministry of Peter to do this.

This was James’ argument that the uncircumcised Gentiles could be accepted into the people of God, on the same level as Christ following Jews.

Now could these truths be supported by the prophets? James clearly believes they can be. He gives a lose translation of what Amos the prophet said and he also basically says that this truth of Amos is also the truth of all the prophets, in verse 15: "With this the words of the prophets agree."

What is he saying through the prophet here? That there will come a time when his anger will be turned away and that the ruined people will be restored. The restoration of the fallen tent of David is just a graphic way of saying that he will restore the spiritual welfare of his people and those that have been shaken to its core will be restored.

Then in verse 12 the purpose of that rebuilding/restoring is that they may possess Edom, the typical hostile Gentile nation. At first it looks like this is a typical conquering of Israel’s enemies and possessing of the land. But if you look at the second half of verse 12 you see something very interesting, he says Edom and all the nations that bear my name. Enemies don’t bear the name of God. People called by God’s name are God’s people. So the point of the text isn’t conquering in the sense of defeating them but rather converting them. This is world missions in Amos 9:12, not world domination.
The Same Message in Other Prophets
And just like James says, this is not unique to Amos. Isaiah 11:10,
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
And Zechariah 2:11 says,
11 "Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
So the answer to our second question is that the prophecy James cites in Acts 15:16–18 means in its OT context that there is a day coming when God will return in favor to his people, repair them and rebuild them, and make them a means to gather in all the nations who are called by his name.
2. How the quote supports James’ argument.
James' Words to the Council
Recall James' words to the Council in Jerusalem. They are summed up in Acts 15:14—
• through the ministry of Peter
• God himself visited the uncircumcised Gentiles
• and took out from them a people for his name.
Does the quotation from Amos agree with this? If we let the OT context be our guide, it does indeed!
The Restoration of God's People
First of all, James quotes God in verse 16, "I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up." And we understand this to refer primarily to the restoration of God's people (especially the Jews).
Jesus came into the world and began to gather a true believing remnant of Israel. First there were 12 apostles; then there were 5,000 converts in Jerusalem. And so it spread as God began to fulfill his promise to rebuild the dwelling of David and repair the ruins of his people.
A Way Opened for the Gentiles
Then James goes on in verse 17 and says that purpose of these rebuilt ruins was not to horde the blessing of God but to make a way for the rest of men to seek the Lord, specifically, all the Gentiles who are called by the name of the Lord.
The Jewish nation as a whole was not used to the idea of sharing their faith. Even though from the very beginning of the establishment of the nation it was God’s intension that this message be for every nation. See Genesis 12:1-3, the covenant was that the entire world would be blessed through Israel. The gravitation pull of Israel throughout their history was to hoard this blessing. They saw no reason to share it with anyone.
This was personified in the story of Jonah. Jonah first of all was shocked with the idea that God wanted him to go to a Gentile nation and preach to them about God. He was shocked because this type of act was unheard of in Israelite history. Secondly he all but refused to go until God forced him and even then he did not want the Nenevites to come to repentance and when they did he was depressed. For lack of a better word they were hoarders of their faith. They took the blessings of God and hoarded for themselves.
My theory is this, that amongst some of the Jews that converted to Christ there was still this general attitude that this was for Us. And when Paul and Barnabas who were of different breed were going out and converting Gentiles, this was not acceptable to some. This is a Jewish thing and if they want to be a part of this they need to become one of us. There was this definite “insider outsider” mentality amongst most of the Jews.
Let me tell you this…the gravitational pull of any group is towards this insider/outsider mentality and the natural pull for anyone is to hoard what we’ve been given for ourselves. This is OUR group and we feel a threatened by any outsiders who come in.
So what does all this mean for us?
The answer from the text is very simple:
1. We are ruins in the process of being repaired and rebuilt by the grace of God,
2. and we are here that the rest of men may seek the Lord, all the Gentiles who are called by his name.
You might say, well, we aren’t Jews, we are the Gentiles being restored, so how does this apply to us? As the rebuilding starts and Gentiles begin to be included in the dwelling they too become a part of the rebuilt ruins that are now a part the gathering and rebuilding process of all Jews and Gentiles. Remember what we learned last week that who God has chosen he will draw to himself. That is what Paul meant in

Ephesians 2:19-20, “19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Are we hoarders of the gospel message like the Jews?

In America?

If the ratio of Christian workers to total population that exists in North Africa were applied to the U.S. and Canada, those two countries would have about 120 full-time Christian workers living in them. Also, there would be only 7 small churches in the entirety of those two countries.

We are God’s chosen people. Why were you chosen? We were chosen to GO OUT and to bring them in. There is a mind shift there. This church shouldn’t be designed for with insiders in mind. Our soul purpose is to reach out to the outsiders. You’re purpose is to be that banner of God proclaiming the message of salvation to your friends.

What do we do once people start turning to Christ and we start bringing them in? We’re going to look at that next week.

Dependent Soul

2009-01-21T09:34:00.001-08:00

Change is hard. We love the comfort of routines and predictability in life. I remember the first time my parents moved away from the house I grew up in, it was hard. I was already moved away to college but still it was hard not being able to come home to the house I spent 18 years in. Change and the unknown is something none of us just love. The Jewish nation was the same way. They had a habit during the Exodus period of looking back and wanting to go back to Egypt, where they had been for 430 years, where they felt comfortable and things were predictable and life was controllable.

As we look at today’s text we come to a passage in Numbers 11 where the Jews start to grumble about the food that God was providing for them, Manna. Last week we talked about God as the living water of life and our tendency to want to drink from dirty cat bowls. And even the week before Sam talked about the woman at the well. (if you are wondering, we didn’t plan that out, but God apparently did). As we continue this series on food and drink references in the Bible we come to this passage about Manna, one of the most famous and yet mysterious food references of the Bible.

4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

Where we are at: Introduction to the text: The Jewish nation was in captivity in Egypt. It took 430 years of slavery until the yoke became unbearable to them and they cried out for deliverance. Think about it, God waited for them to get to the point to where they cried out to Him, deliver us. He had to break their independent ways and get them to the point to where they were helpless and in need. So he sent Moses, who didn’t even want the job, to lead them out. Through a series of unbelievable miracles, which made it perfectly clear that it was God and God alone who delivered them, they began the Exodus towards Canaan, the promised land.

And in this manna from heaven God was not just trying to feed His people along the way, He was trying to teach them a lesson. As a child I used to think of it in very simple terms that God wanted to feed them but He wanted to do something inside them also. He wanted to change their heart. And in Deut we find out exactly what God was trying to teach them through the manna…
a. Deuteronomy 8:3
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

God wanted to teach them that they were totally dependent upon Him. As simply as that. Man is absolutely dependent upon God. And today I want to look at what dependence meant for the Jewish and what it means for us today.

TOTAL DEPENDENCE MEANS…NO GOING BACK

The first thing we see is the phrase “We remember”…They started longing to go back to Egypt. They remembered all the wonderful varieties of foods they used to have access to. They forgot about all the bad parts of slavery, the fact that they had cried out to God for deliverance.

Illustration: So often we look back on life with nostalgic longing for the past. I remember life without kids was so nice and peaceful. Or married couples in the midst of hardships long for the days of lonely single life. A life of faith means we don’t look back. You face the challenges of today with faith and dependence upon God. Looking back with thoughts of turning back never solves any of the problems because true happiness is never found by changing your circumstances. You are who you are no matter who you might be married to, no matter how many children you do or don’t have

This wasn’t the only time the Israelites wanted to go back. Throughout their journey from Exodus to Canaan they made several attempts and complaints to want to go back to the security and predictability of Egypt. Even when they were on the brink of going into the Promised Land, after the spies came back with the dire report they wanted to replace the leader with someone who would take them back to Egypt.

Going back for them meant questioning God’s leading in the past, it meant longing for the days of life fitting neatly in a box, it meant questioning God’s plan for them going forward.

Illustration: Sometimes we do that don’t we. God leads us down a path and we begin to regret things. We begin to get afraid that He won’t take care of us anymore. Ashley was struggling with some of this very thing this week and I thought it would be good for us all to hear from her to know that this is something we all go through.

Total dependence means no going back. God has lead our ministry to this point and he wants to leads us further. We have to resist the urge to look back with regret, to look back with longings to go back.

TOTAL DEPENDENCE MEANS…RELINQUESING CONTROL (getting out of the drivers seat of your life)

“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost…” In Egypt they had some control (very little) but some control over their lives. This Exodus from Egypt that God had started them on was a life of lost control.

1. Their route to the destination was given by God.
a. They had an absolute destination, Canaan. God knew where they were going and how they’d get there. They knew where they were going but they had no idea how they’d get there. God wanted them to learn to be dependent on Him and Him alone. He sent a cloud by day and fire by night to guide them.
b. Exodus 13:18 says they were lead through the wilderness, not a direct or normal path that would have been taken to Canaan.
c. God often leads in unpredictable ways. Why is that? We don’t know, we don’t understand but that is what makes God God and we are not. You can’t put God in a box.
d. Illustration: God wants our dependence on Him. God knows that the more predictable life is for us the more our tendencies are to exclude Him from our life’s. Never could I have imagined I’d be where I’m at today.
b. Illustration: God knows where we are going and how we’re going to get there. We don’t. Where is this ministry going? God knows, we don’t.
2. Their provisions along the way were given by God.
a. God humbled the Israelites in the sense that He sought to teach them to have a realistic awareness of their dependence on Himself for all their needs. This is true humility. God's provision of manna to eat and clothing to wear should have taught the people that they were dependent on His provision for all their needs, not just food and clothing.
b. God was warning the Israelites against excessive self-reliance (cf. Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4).
c. "Just as the Genesis narratives used God's act of providing clothing for Adam and Eve to demonstrate his care for humankind after they were cast out of the Garden (Ge 3:21), so God's care for Israel in the wilderness is pictured here in his providing for their clothing (Dt 8:4). Moreover, the same picture of God as a loving father, which permeates the early chapters of Genesis . . ., is recalled again here: 'As a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you' (Dt 8:5; cf. 32:6)."115
d. Moses applied the lesson to Israel's future in this section. When the people settled in the land and experienced God's blessing of material wealth, they would face temptation to think they were responsible for it rather than God (v. 17). The prophylactic to this spiritual delusion was to remember what God had taught them in the past. It had been He, not themselves, that had been responsible for their prosperity.
e. Illustration: The uneasiness of being in the passenger seat.

Illustration: In natural life we move from total dependence to more and more independence. A baby is totally dependent upon the parents and as we grow we grow in our independence. We can do things for ourselves. We have a natural appetite for independence.

The spiritual life should actually move in the opposite direction. We start off born sinners, separated from God, independent in every way. When we come to Christ we are saying we no longer want to live a life separated from God so we accept the sacrifice of Christ to provide a perfect punishment for sin that we couldn’t provide ourselves. Our Christian life is then about shedding all of those independent ways we’ve learned over the years and growing more and more dependent upon the Father.

God wants to break us of that appetite and teach us to have an appetite for total dependence upon Him.

TOTAL DEPENDENCE MEANS…CULTIVATING AN APPETITE FOR GROWING DEPENDENCE

6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

Their souls had lost their appetite for this food from heaven. (explain the Hebrew here).

They were fed up with this manna, years and years of eating the same food over and over again. Ultimately, they ate manna for 40 years!!! (see Ex 16:35) That would mean if you were 20 years old when the Exodus started you’d have eaten manna until you were 60 years old, your entire adult life one food.

7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

Illustration: first thing that came to my mind was the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbits food they brought with them. It provided all the nourishment they needed. They were trying everything they could to give this stuff some taste or some zip. But they grew weary of it.

Part of the reason they lost their appetite for the manna was they forgot who was sending it.

We do that sometimes don’t we? We blow off the provisions of God as mere circumstance or chance. Well, I earned the money, I worked hard, I built this house with my hard earned career. We forget where it all comes from. They had forgot where it all came from, even in Egypt, they forgot all the food they were getting was from God too…

5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

1 Chronicles 29:11,12

It takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy a heavenly diet.

Manna is referred to in Psalms 78 as food from heaven, angel’s food. God’s ways aren’t always something appealing. A life of not controlling, not knowing what’s around the corner, life isn’t in a neat little box. Sometimes we get sick and tired of a life dependent on God.

How can we cultivate an appetite for growing dependence?

1. Instead of looking for the exit (going back to Egypt) or complaining find the lesson to be learned.

All to often we get in situations and do nothing but complain just like the rabble. God wants us to be able to look around and realize that this could be a growing experience for us instead of a opportunity to quit or complain.

Why do we resist living a life of dependence upon God? Dependence requires a life of faith and trust in where God is leading us. Just like the Jews resisted living this dependent life because total reliance upon God meant giving up control and giving up control meant giving up the predictability of life. Remember, life in Egypt was hard but it was predictable for them.

We are the same way. We want our predictable life’s to be all in control and we love the predictability of knowing what our future holds and even though we know this life isn’t what God wants of us we’re willing to just stay in Egypt because it is easy and predictable. A life of faith and dependence means we can’t control the future, we don’t know where God may be leading us, we don’t know how we’re going to get to where we’re going.

Illustration: “the thing about being a soldier is that life is not so much about choices its more about duty so if your country needs you to go some where you go…” Unlike in the German army, we as believers do have choices. We can choose to turn back to Egypt and not follow God’s leading or we can choose to continue on this great adventure of trusting God and not knowing what’s around the next corner.

Where is God leading Hanuri English Ministry? I have no idea but God is doing something among us and wants to do something through us. God wants us to resist the urge to stay in our comfort zone, resist the urge to go back to the path of least resistance, resist the urge to long for the predictability of the past. He wants us to step out in faith, looking to Him for our direction. God has placed in all of you a desire to reach out, a desire to be a part of something significant. You all have stepped out, this ministry has done a lot of great things for God, you have left Egypt but it is easy to look back and say is it worth it? Maybe we should just not rock the boat and go back to the easy predictability of the past. God has a route he’s taking us on. You may think this wasn’t the route that I would have taken to get us to where we want to be but God has his reasons. God has his lessons for us he’s teaching us. God is teaching us to be more dependent on him along the way.

Thirsty Souls

2009-01-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thirsty Souls

Dehydration illustration: Riding on the Russian train without water. You don’t appreciate the value of good, pure, refreshing water until you are in a situation where you are thirsty and you can’t get it.

These next few weeks I want to spend some time looking at some food and drink metaphors in the Bible. God so often uses these metaphors because they speak so plainly to our hearts. We all love food and love drink. You have referred to yourselves as the buffet church. So let’s take some time to look at some of these passages. The first one we’re going to look at is found in Jeremiah.

Describe the situation during Jeremiah’s time.
• King Manasseh
• King Josiah brought back many great reforms including the Passover feast.

Jeremiah 2:13 says, "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Explain cisterns and spring water of this time

Judah was a desert like land and where water was scarce cisterns were used. Spring water or well water was the ideal but cisterns were built to capture water where good water could not be found. Cistern water was often dirty because it was just rain water run off and often it was just used for irrigation or watering the herds. A cistern is a man-made container, chipped out of rocky ground, designed for collecting rain water for drinking. If the cistern was not broken, its water would be polluted by dirt and insects. But, if the cistern had cracks, its water would seep into the ground and be lost.

Let’s look at how Israel forsake God:

2:8 Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols.
First thing we see is that their leadership was corrupt.

11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their Glory
for worthless idols.
They were worshipping idols instead of God. Unlike the nations around them who at least kept the gods they had (which weren’t really gods), Israel stooped even lower then them and changed their god.

18 Now why go to Egypt
to drink water from the Shihor?
And why go to Assyria
to drink water from the River?
Israel was fascinated with the gods around them. Egypt and Assyria were the two superpowers around them at the time and they both had their versions of god and Israel wanted what they had.
23 "How can you say, 'I am not defiled;
I have not run after the Baals'?
See how you behaved in the valley;
consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
running here and there,
24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
sniffing the wind in her craving—
in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
at mating time they will find her.
35 you say, 'I am innocent;
he is not angry with me.'
But I will pass judgment on you
because you say, 'I have not sinned.'
Lastly, despite all this they believed they were innocent. They were so entrenched in their ways they didn’t even know right from wrong any longer.

Why would they think they were innocent? They were making the sacrifices, they were praying, they were doing everything they thought was right. But, Chapter 3:10 goes on to say that they had only returned to God in pretense and not with their hearts.

So what was it? Idol worship.? But what does/did Idol worship mean? What was at the heart of their idol worship? Moses had told them plainly in Deuteronomy 6:4-6. “Hear oh Israel: The Lord our God is One God, Love the Lord your God with ALL YOUR HEART, with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your HEARTS.

God was after an exclusive love relationship. We have to go all the way back to the garden to understand this. God created mankind with thirsty souls that could only be satisfied by God. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. All was well.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden the perfect love relationship between God and man was broken. God’s plan throughout the history of mankind is to restore that relationship for His glory. He wants that relationship back. When mankind is in true relationship with God is pleased and our souls are satisfied, our thirst is quenched, the longing we’ve been looking for is realized. God created mankind in such a way that the only way he can be completely satisfied is when he is in a right relationship with God.

But the problem is that our sin leads us to try and satisfy our thirsty soul with anything and everything out there. And Satan wants to do everything he can to keep us from this relationship with God. He is the master of deception, offering us things that are close to the real thing but will never satisfy. The temptation Satan deceived Eve with was that they could be like God. In other words, they would no longer have a need for God. You can satisfy yourself because you will be like God. God was no longer the only source for life. From that moment on sin entered the world and separated man from God. But God made a way for mankind to be restored to that relationship. Throughout the Bible God says over and over that if you drink from me, the living water of life, you will thirst no more. But if you turn to anything else you will not be satisfied.

Israel, like Adam and Eve, turned to other god’s and when that didn’t satisfy they turned to other gods. Look at verse 36:
36 Why do you go about so much,
changing your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt
as you were by Assyria.

But nothing they were trying was satisfying their thirsty souls:

The problem was not that they were trying to satisfy their souls it was the means by which they were trying to satisfy it. CS Lewis put it like this…

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink
and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like
an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies
in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by
the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily
pleased.

Israel became all too satisfied with drinking the dirty water from the cisterns of idol worship. But ultimately it never quit satisfied them. But this didn’t stop their pursuit, they just kept on bouncing from one dirty cistern to another. God has so much more to offer us if we will just go to him for our source of life. If we will just go to him to quench our thirst.

I used to have a cat before Ashley and I got married. I wasn’t the best pet owner and this cat had a water bowl that didn’t get cleaned very often. And there were times I would go months without cleaning that bowl. And for some odd reason that bowl would just get disgustingly bad. It would get so bad it would start to smell. Eventually that cat died, I’m not sure why but he died. But the point Jeremiah is trying to get across to Israel and to us today is that turning away from God would be like me getting on my hands and knees drinking from the dirty filthy cat bowl instead of drinking this cold, pure, wonderful Ozarka water.

Satan twisted the truth in the Garden and tempted Adam and Eve into sin and the truth was also twisted by Israel who came to the point they were more then willing to drink from a filthy cat bowl of water rather then drink from the pure living water of God that would deeply satisfy their soul.

Let’s examine a little closer the truths that were twisted that lead Israel down this dark path.

1. God or god’s are merely there to satisfy my needs. I call this “Vending Machine Theology”
a. If I push this button, I should get this result.
b. They were treating God just like the other gods. The only time they went to Him was to get something from Him. He was their vending machine.
c. Illustration of Conway. Carrying luggage for him. We all know people like this and honestly we can’t stand to be around them. Unfortunately, God so often is put in this place.
d. Why do you go to God?
e. Illustration of preparing for this sermon. I wanted to push the button of prayer and get what I wanted from God. Is asking God for things wrong? No. But it’s first and foremost about the relationship with God and not what you can get out of Him.
2. What hoops do we need to jump through to get what we want? I call this “Circus Theology”
a. If you go there you will see all these different animals that will do all these different tricks but you can tell that these animals have been trained to believe if they do this trick they will get this treat. They just do this over and over all day long for some sort of food. The saddest of all is the elephants, You will see them get into all kinds of strange positions, you know they don’t want to get into, just to get the treat.
b. Religious activity doesn’t equate to true relationship.
c. You see Israel, they were sacrificing, they were praying, they were doing all the things on the surface that seemed to be right but there motivation was wrong.
d. God wants our hearts. He’s not interested in your religious activities.
e. In my younger days I was studying Romans and for the first time Romans 12:1 penetrated my heart. “therefore, I urge you brothers, in light of God’s mercy (that I just talked about in the first 11 chapters), to offer your bodies as living sacrifices…” When I understood this for the first time my heart was lifted out of my body. I had spent my entire life doing the things of God because that was what a Christian did. For the first time I understood that I want to serve him because of what he’s done for me. When I started living with this truth in mind, I had this unbelievable joy to serve Him.
f. When we come to church, go to bible study, do our quiet time, when we pray…remember its about the relationship. We come to service today not out of guilt or habit or obligation but we come today to worship our Lord. To pour our hearts out to him in prayer. To listen to His Word for instruction. It’s about a love relationship, nothing more and nothing less.
g. Israel missed it.

The twisted theology of Israel lead them down a path to where they were okay with drinking dirty water instead of the water of life offered by God.

CS Lewis said we all fall into one of three categories…and as I go over these think about which of these you may fall into.

1. “The Fool’s Way” involves putting the blame on the things that fail to provide permanent satisfaction and thinking that this lasting joy can be gotten by finding something better than you have had. You could try a different wife, another vacation destination, another house or car, looking for that which will fully satisfy. People like this tend to “spend their whole lives trotting from woman to woman (through the divorce courts), from continent to continent, from hobby to hobby, always thinking that the latest is ‘the real thing’ at last, and always disappointed.”
2. “Way of the Disillusioned ‘Sensible Man,’” the cynic. Such people do not expect too much and thus are not disappointed when they do not get it.
3. “The Christian Way” maintains that we were created with a desire that can only be satisfied by the Creator Himself. These pleasures here on earth that lead to emptiness are pointers to the one and only source of true satisfaction, GOD.

Illustration of Nancy: Ashley asked her how she’s gotten to the place where she rarely if ever misses her quiet time with God. Nancy said something extrodinary. She said, she just doesn’t miss because she loves her quiet time with God. She has this strong desire to drink daily from the living water of God therefore it is an extremely rare occasion for her to miss.

If we could all be like Nancy and drink from the living water on a daily basis our souls would be satisfied and overflowing to the point that our ministry would be deep and wide as hers is. Our souls would be satisfied and we wouldn’t be like the Israelites trying to get satisfaction from things that bring no satisfaction.

RUTH: The Hopeful One

2008-12-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Be A Vessel Of Hope
Opening Introduction:
As we’ve been studying, Jesus is unashamed to have women of questionable repute in his family. In fact, he actually goes out of his way to point them out. In Jesus’ genealogy listed in Matthew chapter one, only fathers and sons are recorded, with five notable exceptions where mothers are also named.
Both Ruth and Rahab make the list (Matt 1:5). So does Tamar (Matt. 1:3), who entered the royal bloodline by disguising herself as a harlot and seducing Judah to impregnate her (because of the unjust way he treated her—see Gen. 38).
Isn’t that wonderful? People tend to conceal the more disgraceful events and people in their family. But not Jesus. He chooses to highlight possibly the five most scandalous women in his lineage. God showcases his grace all over the Bible—even the genealogies!
Opening Illustration:
People without hope…
Summarize the story of Ruth:
The story of Ruth is one of Hope in desperate times. According to 1:1, the story took place during the time of the judges. This was a 400-year period after Israel entered the promised land under Joshua and before there were any kings in Israel (roughly 1500 BC to 1100 BC). The book of Judges comes just before Ruth in our English Bibles and you can see from its very last verse what sort of period it was. Judges 21:25 says, "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes." It was a very dark time in Israel. The people would sin, God would send enemies against them, the people would cry for help, and God would mercifully raise up a judge to deliver them. Again and again the people rebelled, and from all outward appearances God's purposes for righteousness and glory in Israel were failing. And what the book of Ruth does for us is give us a glimpse of the hidden work of God during the worst of times.
Look at the last verse of Ruth (4:22). The child born to Ruth and Boaz during the period of the judges is Obed. Obed becomes the father of Jesse and Jesse becomes the father of David who led Israel to her greatest heights of glory. One of the main messages of this little book is that God uses people of character to bring hope to a nation in this situation but also on a personal level.
Have you ever wanted to be used by God to bring hope to your friends? Co-workers? As we look at the character of Ruth we discover some qualities she had that not only brought hope to the nation of Israel but also to her mother-in-law.
Summarize the situation with Naomi. Famine in the promised land, moves to Moab, sons marry Moabites, death to husband, sons, she’s left with 2 daughter in laws and now there is famine in Moab, she hears that the famine in the land of Judah was over so she decides to return home. Naomi tries to send the 2 daughters home, Orpah agrees but Ruth decides to stay with her. We learn of Naomi’s hopeless attitude when we come to 1:20-21
20 "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
Naomi had lost all sense of hope. Her attitude was a good picture of the attitude of the land. All hope was lost, God has betrayed her and the nation. But then in steps Ruth. Someone God used to bring hope to Naomi and the Nation.

I want to look at 4 character qualities of Ruth and see what made her a vessel God used to bring so much hope. And encourage us to make these character qualities a part of who we are so that God can also use us to bring hope to our friends, family, city, nation, and the world.

First Quality: She had a Sold Out Heart
Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi appears amazing. Verse 14 says that Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye but Ruth clung to her. Not even another entreaty in verse 15 can get Ruth to leave. This is all the more amazing after Naomi's grim description of their future with her. Ruth stays with her in spite of an apparently hopeless future of widowhood and childlessness. Naomi painted the future black and Ruth took her hand and walked into it with her.
The amazing words of Ruth are found in 1:16–17, She gave everything up to serve Naomi.
Entreat me not to leave you or return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God; where you die I will die and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you.
These are amazing words. Ruth's commitment to her destitute mother-in-law is simply astonishing. First, it means leaving her own family and land. Second, it means, as far as she knows, a life of widowhood and childlessness, because Naomi has no man to give, and if she married a non-relative, her commitment to Naomi's family would be lost. Third, it means going to an unknown land with a new people and new customs and new language. Fourth, it was a commitment even more radical than marriage: "Where you die I will die and there be buried" (v. 17). In other words, she will never return home, not even if Naomi dies. But the most amazing commitment of all is this: "Your God will be my God" (v. 16). Naomi has just said in verse 13, "The hand of the Lord has gone forth against me." Naomi's experience of God was bitterness. But in spite of this, Ruth forsakes her religious heritage and makes the God of Israel her God. Perhaps she had made that commitment years before, when her husband told her of the great love of God for Israel and his power at the Red Sea and his glorious purpose of peace and righteousness. Somehow or other Ruth had come to trust in Naomi's God in spite of Naomi's bitter experiences.
2:11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
Ruth’s amazing servants heart had become the talk of the town. When you serve others in radical ways you will stand out. People will take notice because this goes against human nature to serve yourself.
Contrast the heart of Naomi. She went where it was comfortable, left the promised land.
Would you be willing to abandon it all for the sake of the cause of Christ? God can do mighty and significant things with an abandoned heart.
I wanted to say, she went above and beyond the call of duty but actually going above and beyond is the call of duty for the Christian.
3:40 Illustration of Stephen Baldwin’s nanny:
Could you give it all up for the cause of Christ? If there’s a resistance in your heart, God wants your abandoned heart. God may not be calling you, but maybe he is. The bottom line is that God wants us to live no matter where he’s called us with abandoned hearts.
Luke 14:26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
If God calls, you can leave family, you can leave your job, and you can make radical commitments and undertake new ventures. Or you can find the freedom and courage and strength to keep a commitment you already made. When you believe in the sovereignty of God and that he loves to work mightily for those who trust him, it gives a freedom and joy that can't be shaken by hard times. The book of Ruth gives us a glimpse into the hidden work of God during the worst of times. And so like all the other Scriptures, as Paul says (Romans 15:4, 13), Ruth was written that we might abound in hope.

Second Quality: She Stepped Out
2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
Ruth took the initiative to serve her mother-in-law. Naomi apparently was in a deep depression about life. Her life wasn’t going to matter what so ever and she just wanted to give up. Look at verses 19-20…
Contrast the heart of Naomi. No where in here do we see her taking any initiative.
Very rarely are people going to reach out to us, we have to reach out, take the first step with others. There are plenty of people in your life right now I’m sure you can think of that are looking for some hope. They need someone to step out and reach out to them. When we take the initiative to serve others, to reach out to others, there will be a lot of AS IT TURNED OUT, moments in life.
Illustration of Billy Graham’s Sunday school teaching story… It was July 1, 1885 when Edward Kimble felt the tugging of the Spirit to share his faith with a young shoe salesman he knew. At first Kimble vacillated, unsure if he should talk to the man. But he finally mustered his courage and went into the shoe store. There Kimble found the salesman in the back room stocking shoes, and he began to share his faith with him. As a result, the young shoe salesman prayed and received Jesus Christ that day. That shoe salesman's name was Dwight L. Moody, and he became the greatest evangelist of his generation. Through a chain of people Billy Graham came to Christ.
When we take the initiative to serve others, to reach out to others, there will be a lot of AS IT TURNED OUT, moments in life. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO STEP OUT IN FAITH.
Third Quality: She Worked Hard
2:7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
She is an amazing worker. Verse 7 continues, "She has continued from early morning until now without resting even for a moment." Verse 17 goes on to say that she gleaned until evening and then before she quit, she beat out what she gleaned, measured it, and took it home to Naomi. There is no doubt that the writer wants us to admire and copy Ruth.
Whatever the Lord has given you to do do it with a diligent heart. Work hard. God can do significant things with someone who works hard at what they do. How often have you read the biography of great men of God and learned that they were lazy slothful people? One thing that most great people who do great things for God have in common is that no matter how small there task may have seemed they did it with all their heart.
What ever ministry God has given you, do it with all your heart. We’ve all been given areas to serve others, whether its at work, as Sunday school teachers, with friends, with family members. Do what you do with all your heart and God will make it significant.
COL 3:23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Fourth Quality: She Remained Humble
We see Ruth's humility. She knows how to take initiative without being presumptuous. In verse 7 the servants report to Boaz how she had approached them that morning. She had said, "Pray, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers." She does not demand a handout. She does not presume the right even to glean. All she wants to do is gather up the leftovers after the reapers are done and she asks permission even to do that. She is like another foreign woman who came to Jesus and said, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs," to which Jesus responded by extolling her faith. Ruth knows how to take initiative, but she is not pushy or presumptuous but meek and humble.
Now we come to the most important interchange in the chapter—verses 10–13. Ruth raises a question which turns out to be very profound. It's one that we all need to ask God. Hardly anything in our life is more important than the answer we get.
Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?"
Ruth knows that she is a Moabitess. From a natural viewpoint she has two strikes against her. She does not resent this, but accepts it. As a non-Israelite she does not expect any special treatment. Her response to Boaz's kindness is astonishment.
She is very different from most people today. We expect kindness and are astonished and resentful if we don't get our rights. But Ruth expresses her sense of unworthiness by falling on her face and bowing to the ground. Proud people don't say thanks. Humble people are made even more humble by being treated graciously. Grace is not intended to lift us out of lowliness. It's intended to make us happy in God.
Proud people look to be served rather then to serve. Illustration of Phillip. He felt he had a right given to him at birth to be served by others rather then to serve. Spiritually we can suffer from the same thing. We’ve been given so much so early in life that we begin to expect God’s blessings, and when we don’t get what we want we complain and moan.
Grateful humble people are in awe of what God has done for them and there souls desire is to serve God, not out of obligation but out of thanks. “God, you have done so much for me, I don’t deserve anything, I’m willing to serve anyone, anytime, any where.”
Proud people are like Phillip, what is God going to do for me.
Conclusion:
When we live with the character of Ruth, abandoned in her heart, proactive in her reach, hard working in her actions, and humble in her attitude. God can use us to bring hope to people around us.
This Christmas season there are people all around us who are in need of hope. People like my friend Marshall who are asking the question, what is this life all about. They’ve lost all hope for any meaningful existence. But we can be vessels of hope. Live with an sold out heart, step out in faith, work hard at what God’s given you to do, but always remember where you came from. God can use this type of vessel.
Illustration: Tonya

RAHAB: The Faithful One

2008-12-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

RAHAB: The Faithful One
Faith in God Alone

Opening Illustration:
Ashley’s true faith in Santa Clause as opposed to my lack of faith.
Ashley had absolute faith in Santa Clause.

We’ve been studying this advent season the women named in the genealogy of Christ found in Matthew.

We learn from the genealogy in Matthew 1:5 that Rahab the harlot was the great-great-many times great-grandmother of Jesus.

1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,

Where we are at in history:
As we learned last week Israel’s early history was in big time jeopardy because the Patriarchal son Judah was slipping further and further into Canaanite culture and beliefs. That was until Tamar, the only righteous one of the bunch stepped in and saved the messianic line and helped turn Judah’s life around.

The next we see Judah in Egypt with all the brothers and Joseph a changed man. Egypt goes through a great famine and because of Joseph the people are saved and the Jew’s are blessed. They grow strong during this time of favor in Egypt, so strong that the Pharos’s become afraid and enslave them. Then comes Moses to lead them out of Egypt, headed for the Promised Land. Because of Moses’ sin he cannot lead them to the final stage of the land so in steps Joshua who takes over leadership. Before they enter the land, the Jewish people send an envoy to the Canaanites with the message, "God, the Creator of the Universe has promised this land to our forefathers. We are now here to claim our inheritance, and we ask you to leave peacefully." Needless to say most of the Canaanites don’t leave (only one tribe takes them up on their offer and leaves.)

Meanwhile, Joshua has clear instructions from God that if the Canaanites don't get out, the Jews must wipe them out, because if they remain in the land they are going to corrupt the Jews. It is made clear that the Canaanites are extremely immoral and idolatrous people and the Jews cannot live with them as neighbors.

This is where we pick up our story, the taking of the Promised Land. The Promised Land is ruled by 7 Canaanite tribes with 31 fortified cities. The first stage of 7 years of conquering the Canaanites was going to be the conquering of Jericho. Jericho was the first of these fortified cities to be targeted by Israel. This would split the Canaanites in two because it sat right in the middle and this would cut off supply lines and communication lines.

So Joshua first sends out a couple of spies to Jericho to scoop out the land.

Rahab: Joshua 2:1-24
Explain the text:

Verse 1
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
First of all who was Rahab? And why did they choose her house as a place to stay? Keil and Delitzsch’s suggestions might be true, "Their entering the house of such a person would not excite so much suspicion. Moreover, the situation of her house against or upon the town wall was one which facilitated escape." Prostitutes were often involved in espionage.
But I have a hunch that it was Rahab that found the two spies. She felt something in her soul, and was led by God to invite these men to her house. I believe this was a divine appointment by God. He had chosen one person and her family in the city to be saved, and it was the harlot Rahab.
Verse 2-3
2 The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land."
This is the moment of truth for Rahab. Before this, she could have gone along and helped the spies without really making a commitment in her heart. But now she must choose sides. Will she protect these spies or will she warn her city? Something deep in her heart helped her to make this decision.
Verses 4-7
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
She made her choice to protect these strange men from a foreign country. And in the next few verses we find out why…
Verses 8-11
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."
What a wonderful statement of faith by a woman with little knowledge of the God of Israel. God had placed this faith in her heart, and he had caused the spies to be led to her house for the purpose of saving her and her family. Notice the statement she makes in verse 11, "for the LORD your God is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."
Matthew Henry comments, "Rahab the harlot, who had only heard of the wonders God had wrought, speaks with more assurance of the truth of the promise made to the fathers than all the elders of Israel had done who were eye-witnesses of those wonders, many of whom perished through unbelief of this promise. Blessed are those that have not seen, and yet have believed; so Rahab did. O woman, great is thy faith!"
Verses 14-16
14 "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land."
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 Now she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way."
From verse 18 we know that Rahab let the men down with a scarlet cord. Tell the rest of the story.
The story of Rahab does not end here in the book of Joshua. We learn later that she married Salmon. Some commentators think that he might have been one of the two spies whom she saved. From Ruth 4:21 we learn that her son was Boaz who married Ruth. So she became a respectable woman.
The story of Rahab is an amazing story of faith by a despised member of society from a godless nation. In the New Testament, James gives Rahab as an example in James 2:25 of a person whose faith causes them to do good works. And in Hebrews 11:31 she is listed in this famous roster of the heroes of the faith along with Moses, Abraham, and Noah. What does this tell us about the mercy of God? He took a despised person who committed great sins and elevated her to a position of honor among the greatest in the history
Here’s the message of Rahab…
1. God desires your absolute faith.
2. God delights in your absolute faith no matter who you are.
God desires your absolute faith.
ABSOLUTE VODKA = without impurities
Often in the OT the writers will juxtapose two characters next to each other like Judah and Tamar to show one as opposed to the other. Here we have Rahab’s faith juxtaposed next to Achan’s faith and the faith of the Israelites. Rahab’s faith was without impurities/absolute…while Achan lacked the faith even though he was an eye witness to God’s miracles.
Remember, Joshua has clear instructions from God that if the Canaanites don't get out, the Jews must wipe them out, because if they remain in the land they are going to corrupt the Jews. It is made clear that the Canaanites are extremely immoral and idolatrous people and the Jews cannot live with them as neighbors.

Contrast Israel’s lack of Faith in God alone:
Achan's disobedience in Joshua 7 is an illustration of how the obedience of faith was a condition of a successful conquest. Israel was defeated at Ai because Achan disobeyed the command to destroy everything. He said, "When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them" (Joshua 7:21). In other words, Achan stopped trusting that God's way was best and most rewarding, and so his desire for the happiness he could achieve with gold and silver became stronger than his desire to follow God and obey his commandments. This attitude of covetousness so dishonored God that he refused to fight for Israel until things were rectified.
The story of the conquest is told in the book of Joshua. It can be summed up like this. Jericho falls in chapter 6. Then after a brief setback due to the disobedience of Achan, in chapter 7, Ai is captured. Then with Gilgal as the base, Joshua subdues all the southern part of Canaan in Joshua 9-10, and all the northern part in Joshua 11. In chapters 13-21, the land is parceled out to the tribes of Israel. The climax comes in Joshua 21:43 with these words:
Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the Land which he swore to give to their fathers; and having taken possession of it they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
The book of Joshua ends on a triumphant note. But there are premonitions of trouble ahead because, even though all the nations had been subdued, and Israel enjoyed rest, there were remnants of the godless nations still in Canaan, and Joshua had to warn the people before he died "Take good heed to yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God. For if you turn back and join the remnant of these nations left here among you, . . . know assuredly that God will not continue to drive out these nations before you" (Joshua 23:11-13).
When the book of Judges opens, we sense immediately a different atmosphere, and we brace ourselves for the worst. Joshua dies, and Judges 2:10 tells us ominously, "And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel. And the people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals."

Rahab’s absolute Faith:
Here is this prostitute Canaanite who has never even seen me but only heard of me and she has more faith then you do.
First point: God desires your absolute faith.
What is faith? Faith is trusting that God knows best and that what He has for us is better then anything else we can come up with.

Faith in God is keeping our eyes on Him and off of the temptations of life.
Achan thought that if he could just grab a few things, which was totally normal in war, then this would give him some satisfaction. This silver would be more satisfying then the things God was offering. Achan was walking by sight and not by faith. It is hard isn’t it to walk by faith and not by sight.

We had our faith tested recently with the break in. I had to ask myself is it these things that bring me happiness or satisfaction. Especially that flat screen TV. I loved that TV. But God was sending me a little reminder to get my eyes off the temptations of this world and back on Him. Not that flat screen TV’s are bad in themselves but it’s what our heart does with that temptation.

We all have temptations in life that trip us up and keep our eyes off of God. For Achan it was the temptation of a financial windfall. The world has a lot to offer seemingly that keeps us distracted, fortune, fame, entertainment…all these things can become a Baal god that we substitute for the true God. All of our souls thirst for satisfaction. The question is what do you use to quench that thirst? Are you regularly going to the well of God and being satisfied in your soul? If not, there’s a good chance something else is out there you are turning to whether you realize it or not.

Paul put it like this…
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Faith in God is keeping our eyes on Him and off of the troubles of life…
Do you have the faith to trust God no matter what it may look like on the surface?
Jesus helping Peter walk on water gave us a perfect illustration of this. When Peter kept his eye’s on Christ he was fine, but when he took his eye’s off Christ and saw all the trouble around him he started sinking.
Faith is placing our total confidence that life with God is better then anything else. No matter what we may think or see that seems better for us out there.

Bamo returning back to a very dangerous place. He keeps his eye’s on Christ, not on the troubles of this world.

We may think that having total security in our finances is what will make us happy, we may think that perfect physical health for our entire family is what will satisfy us, we may think that our kids getting into the perfect school or the perfect class will satisfy us, but this God who is all powerful, all loving, all caring, wants us to come to the place in our lives where we truly realize and experience total faith in HIM and nothing else. He wants to strip these Baal gods out of our lives so that we come to the point where we live in such a way that our life exudes the fact that nothing else truly satisfies but YOU.

Second point: God delights in your absolute faith no matter who you are.

Rahab was everything that the Jew’s thought God wasn’t looking for on the outside. She was a woman first of all, she was an outcast of society and most likely and outcast of her own family. She was the lowest of the low, and she was a Canaanite. But what happened? She had faith in God and he used her in an incredible way and he blessed her for it. This story illustrates the point that God makes over and over throughout the Bible, including the three women we are studying during Advent, that it doesn’t matter who you are, what your past may be, what society you come from, God cares for you and he wants to use and bless you if you’ll just put your faith in HIM.

• If I were just this or that, I could really do something for Christ. I was always an extremely shy kid growing up and I always thought, there is no way God could use me because I just can’t speak. I had that Moses syndrome, and I still do in some sense. I battle with this idea that God can use me, but Rahab teaches us that no matter who you are, what your background is, what your default you may think you have (I’m not tall enough, good looking enough, elequant enough) God doesn’t care, he can use you as long as your faith is pure.

• God can do great things with the absolute faith of people like us.
We may feel small and insignificant but God delights in using people like us if we will place our absolute faith in Him.

TAMAR: The Righteous One

2008-12-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Matthew 1
The Genealogy of Jesus
1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.[b]
General Introduction:
Why would Matthew include these four women specifically in the line of Christ? Why would these four be singled out to be included and not others? It is extremely unusual, first of all, for women to be included in genealogies at all. This just wasn’t the norm especially in Jewish tradition. Just the fact that there were women included in the genealogy of Christ makes these women stand out and be noticed to the original reader for sure. Secondly, why these four women? What did they do that made them stand out in history and be remembered forever?

Over the next 3 weeks of advent I want to look at these four women Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Mary, and examine what made them so special that they would be included here in Jesus’ genealogy. Each one of these women was unique in there own way yet strikingly similar in others. For instance, all were either rumored to be in infidelity or known for their infidelity. Why in the world would women of this nature be included in the line of Christ first of all and then if they were why would God then want to put the spotlight on them?

How many know anything about their family line? After studying your family line it’s always interesting the skeletons you will find hidden. When something shameful has gone on in the past it’s usually brushed under the rug as much as possible so no one will find out. I remember it wasn’t until just recently my mom told me about a BIG family secret from our past. A certain relative who is dead and gone by now was not only the grandfather but also the father of one of my 2nd uncles. I didn’t know them too well but well enough to remember them and even to this day it is a secret that no one wants to talk about.

That’s why it is even more fascinating why these women were included in the line of Christ. The first woman we want to focus on is Tamar found in Matt 1:3

Introduction:
3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

For the general reader this seems pretty normal, “whose mother was Tamar.” But of course there was a fascinating story behind this simple description of, “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,”…but just to wet your appetite a little, Judah was Tamar’s father in law.

But before we get deep into that story let’s set the scene of where we are at in our historical setting.

First of all, who was Judah? Judah was the great Grandson of Abraham. Judah’s father was Jacob, of the Jacob and Esau story. The twins who were so very different, one was favored by the father and the other by the mother. Judah’s Grandfather was Issac. Remember Issac was the one who was told to go sacrifice his son Jacob and then a substitute was provided. So, we aren’t too far after the covenant that was made between God and Abraham.

What was the covenant? The covenant is a critical part of all these stories but also the story of Tamar and is built around the family heritage theme of God's fulfillment of the divine promise of progeny and land God had made to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 12.
2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
God had made a covenant with Abram that could not be broken. Through your descendant I will bless the entire world. Being only the 4th generation in this line Judah would have understood this covenant crystal clear.

Levirate marriage:
Deuteronomy 25:5-10 (New International Version)
5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me." 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," 9 his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." 10 That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.
Background on Judah:
Judah was 4th son and the apparent leader of the 12 boys of Jacob. Judah was the only brother who stood up and talked his brothers into only selling Joseph, the favored chosen son, into slavery rather then killing him. After Joseph is sold into slavery Jacob, in his grief passes the patriarchal leadership of the family from Joseph to Judah. In the middle of the narration of Joseph’s story of him in slavery the writer inserts this story about Judah. Judah had apparently decided to just get away from the family after this incident with Joseph. Most likely it was out of guilt, he couldn’t stand to see his father constantly in grief and being reminded of this sin he’d allowed to happen. Whatever his reasons for leaving it was unusual for the patriarch to leave his family like this. He didn’t go far from the family, only about 8 miles, but he did settle in a Canaanite settlement.

While in this area he met a beautiful Canaanite girl named Shua and married her quickly without consulting anyone apparently. It was custom at this time that the parents would arrange the marriages. Since Jacob had made it clear to him that he was to be the chosen patriarch and he was destined to be the ancestor of the messiah he should have been much more cautious in whom he choose to marry. But, his decision it seems was made in hast possibly because of her beauty. Shua was not only a Canaanite in parentage but also in character, she was unwilling to be converted to worship Jehovah. It is true the text doesn’t specifically say this but it can be inferred by the fact that all three of her sons were rejected by God from carrying on the patriarchal line from Judah.

Judah and Shua had three sons in very quick succession. Er, Onan, and Shelah. As Er grew he was anxious to get his teenage son a wife. Maybe because now he had seen the result of his own mistakes in choosing a wife he was careful to choose a God fearing wife. He finally found Tamar, though nothing is said about her background, we learn quickly from the following story that she was a woman of strong Godly character.
Summary of Tamar’s story:

So Tamar married Er, Judah's firstborn son. It seems however that Er was a rebellious son, and probably resented his father’s choice for a wife. He apparently was more interested in following his mother’s Canaanite ways rather then Jehovah. The Bible doesn’t give much detail here but Er was “wicked in the eyes of the Lord” and therefore God took his life early in his teens, before he had even been with Tamar. It could have been his refusal to consummate the marriage that God was angered and took his life (similar to the next son Onan’s sin).

It was already a custom in those days that, if a man died without children, his next younger brother should marry his wife to carry on the dead brother’s line. This was called a Levirate marriage, which was later incorporated into the Mosaic Laws. Judah had an obligation to Tamar to give her to the second son. He had contracted with her and her family to marry his son, and had no doubt told them of the spiritual responsibilities and privileges this would bring.

The obvious next step was Tamar would be given to Onan in marriage, which was done. Onan was no different then his brother in this matter. He wanted nothing to do with Tamar nor the responsibilities of carrying on this spiritual line. Onan, possibly out of fear of the same thing happening to him, “went into his brother’s wife” but “spilled the seed on the ground” in a last second change of mind. As a result, the Lord greatly displeased, and slew Onan also.

One can imagine Judah’s dismay with this situation. He was torn now. He knew he had contractual obligations to Tamar and her family. He also knew that he needed a grandson to carry on this spiritual patriarchal line, but it seemed that Tamar was either bad luck or he realized what was actually going on. God was not going to have anything to do with a Canaanite being a part of this messianic lineage. So, Judah didn’t give Tamar his third son. He sent her away back to her own family and told her that when Shelah was old enough he would bring her back. "Stay as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up (Genesis 38:11)."

Sending Tamar away was quit unusual in the first place. Tamar was now Judah responsibility and he was basically shirking the responsibility he had to her. But, either because he knew the third sons attempt at that time would be the same result or the third son was truly not of age he sent Tamar home with a promise to return. Years had gone by, Shelah grew up, but Judah didn't marry him to Tamar.

Sometime later, another tragedy occurred. Judah’s wife died. Judah wasn’t too grieved and soon “Judah was comforted.” A good indication that the home life must not have been that great. He quickly got back to business and went to Timnah for the annual sheep shearing. This was usually a time of festivity and so he decided to go up and join in the festivals.

Tamar had not forgotten Judah’s promise to her, however. It was not her fault that Er and Onan had died. She was anxious and willing to fulfill her contracted responsibilities and her part in the messianic lines Judah had talked about in the beginning. It was evident by this time to her that Judah was not going to fulfill his promises to her. She truly longed to play the part in God’s plan which Judah had promised to her. So she began to look for any opportunity she could to get Judah to fulfill his promise to her. She realized that he had forgotten her and or was just totally unwilling to have anything to do with her anymore so she’d have to use some trickery if anything was going to happen.

Tamar devised a plan to dress as a veiled temple prostitute during the local harvest festival knowing that Judah would be coming that way. It should be noted that the situation came to this desperate point not because of Tamar’s actions but because of Judah’s actions. Judah was the one who married a non believer in hast. Because of this, his boys all followed their mother’s Canaanite faith and were not suitable in God’s eyes to be a part of the messianic line. Therefore the only option left for Tamar was Judah who was now a widower. Tamar apparently knew the sinful ways of Judah and how far he’d drifted away from the promises of God, so in her mind this might have been the only option left. We will see later in the story that she was called righteous and the fact that she was not only included in the lineage of Jesus but also singled out with these other 4 women in Matthew’s lineage. This does say a lot that her actions should not be judged on the surface for what they may seem to us.
The method may look wrong. However, some higher force bigger than them was driving them. Sarah missed it once when she told Abraham to go into Hagar to get a child. However, there was another time when she did not miss it in the book of Genesis 21:10 Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac. Abraham was very unhappy in verse 11 but God said, “Go ahead and do what Sarah tells you to do.” Sometimes inside a mother, inside a woman, lies that deep moving of a conscience to fulfill the higher purposes of God. Many have gone through difficult circumstances but they have obeyed their conscience to fulfill what they knew was right.
Back to the story, Judah did come and propositioned Tamar as she had hoped. Judah didn’t have the money to pay her for her services so he offered to send her a young lamb when he returned to his flock. Tamar agreed but took his signet seal, cord and staff as collateral. Judah didn’t come with any money prepared. God brings order out of chaos.

Time went by and Judah came back with the lamb and asked around but couldn’t find the temple prostitute he had slept with so he went back home. Meanwhile, Tamar became pregnant, soon Judah found out about Tamar’s pregnancy and because Tamar was still Judah’s responsibility he ordered that she be brought to him and burned for getting pregnant out of wedlock. And Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned." Gen 38:24

But, shockingly, in the process of interrogating Tamar, Judah came to realize it was he was indeed the father. Tamar discreetly presented to him his signet seal, cord and staff he had left with her as collateral. He knew he’d been caught. No longer could he be angry and judgmental but he became repentant, forgiving and compassionate. In that moment he realized that she had been more righteous then he. He took her in as his own and cared for her and the twin children from that time on.

Character qualities that made Tamar a hero:
It takes courage to do the right thing
• When you’re the only one doing right (WORK, Bad boss)
It takes perseverance to do the right thing
• She stuck with it throughout her life/didn’t forget from her youth
• Judah was probably hoping she’d just forget but she didn’t
It takes grace to do the right thing
• Judah changed as a result of a good wife.
the story depicts Judah's moral growth as he learns to take responsibility for his actions, and overcomes his past misdeeds.

Value People Over Possessions

2008-11-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Second principle we learn is…
VALUE PEOPLE OVER POSSESSIONS

Introduction:
A gunman opened fire at a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, killing two and causing shoppers at the busy store to scramble for cover.
Palm Desert Councilman Bob Spiegel told The Times that based on early reports, two rival groups shopping at the store had some kind of argument and then shots were fired. Two men were killed in the exchange of gunfire, he said.
Riverside County sheriff and fire officials responded to a report of a shooting and two gunshot victims at 11:32 a.m.
"We have two dead individuals inside the store," Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department told the Associated Press. "The events of why the shots were fired is still ongoing."
Glenn Splain, a worker at a nearby World Gym, told the Associated Press "Some people got into a fight. ... One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."
Customers in a frenzy for deals at a Long Island Wal-Mart trampled an overnight stock clerk to death, the NY Daily News reports. Witnesses said he tried to hold back the crowds as they took the doors right off their hinges in the dash when the store opened at 5 a.m. this morning for Black Friday:
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."
A pregnant shopper who made her way inside the store with the masses was pushed to the ground and suffered a miscarriage, a witness said. Sadly, no one stopped to help the victims:
Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.
"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."
Only a few stopped.
"They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."
When will this maddening race for more stuff stop? It seems like every year it gets worse. How much stuff is enough?

Stuff is something we all have in common. We all have stuff. It seems like the older I get the more stuff I seem to have. Getting married 3 months ago I realized quit quickly that now my stuff has been doubled. Last weekend I stuffed more and more things into our attic to the point there was no more room there so we filled up our garage where we used to park the car. I started thinking…maybe we need a bigger house to hold all our stuff. Maybe I need to build a storage shed in the back so we can fit all our stuff in. To add to all that we took a trip down to San Marcos Outlets on black Friday and stuffed our car full of more stuff.

When is enough enough?

So when we come to this text after hearing all that we’ve heard so far my first thought is, how far off base have we really gone?

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Text Introduction:
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read verse 45? Do you get as uneasy as I do when you see this radical lifestyle being put out there by Luke as praise worthy example to follow? I hear people explain this lifestyle away as maybe something temporary. The speaking in different tongues was something temporary so this must have just been a very unique time in the history of our church and it called for this radical lifestyle.

Well, before you write it off too quickly let’s take a look at some other scripture. Sam taught you, I’m sure, that you shouldn’t base any theology on one single verse or passage but you should always look at it in context of the book and in context of the entire Bible to make sure it lines up with other passages.
After digging a little deeper into the word I found it interesting that this wasn’t the only place in the NT where selling your possessions to meet the needs of others was advocated. And we don’t have to go far. The topic of how believers handle their finances is one that Luke’s seems to really have a passion for.
in Luke 12 we find Luke recording a series of Jesus’ parables and sayings and towards the end of this section Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give alms”.
33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Being Little Sheep
Luke 12 vs 32: "Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Here Jesus says that the basis of fearlessness is not our human resources, but God's being there for us. Don't fear even though you are only sheep (in the midst of wolves, 10:3) and even though you are little and not great. And remember the basis of your fearlessness is: you have a Father who owns and runs the world and he really loves giving the kingdom to his sheep-like children. "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
What's the Threat That Makes Jesus Say This?
Now here's the question: What is the threat in verse 32 that makes Jesus say, "Fear not, little flock?" What are they being tempted to fear in this context?
You can find the answer in either direction: going backward a few verses or going forward a few verses. If you go backward, the thing they are in danger of fearing is the call to no longer be like the nations (v. 30) who seek things, who build bigger barns. If we actually focus on the kingdom and stop pursuing things and ease and security, will we really be happy? Will we really survive?
To this Jesus says, "Fear not, little flock." Don't be afraid to stop seeking things.
Or if you go forward in the context (to v. 33), the thing they are in danger of fearing is giving things away. Verse 33: "Fear not, little flock, . . . Sell your possessions and give alms." So if you go backward to verse 30 the fear is not seeking things the way the nations do; and if you go forward to verse 33 the fear is giving things away.
Seeking the Kingdom by Selling and Giving
We can draw out some principles from this section of Luke and from the Early Church in Acts 2. The first principle is this:
Stop Your Quest for more Stuff
Parable of the rich fool:
Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
The point of this parable is this, your contentment, peace, and fearlessness shouldn’t be based on your stuff or how much stuff you have but rather on God. This man found his comfort in his stuff rather then from God.
I have a close relative who is the modern day rich fool. He has an obsession with buying and finding new things. He has so much stuff that he is constantly trying to figure out where and how to store all his stuff. He loves buying stuff. He obviously doesn’t get his peace from God but on a day to day basis he gets his joy, peace from hunt and quest for more stuff and better prices.
Standing in line on Friday at Pottery Barn some ladies behind me were talking endlessly about how they had been there since 4:30am and how they found this bargain and that bargain and where this person could have done better in finding that. It was almost comical to listen to them until I got up to the register and became convicted of all the stuff we were buying. It took them literally 15 minutes to ring up all the stuff in our cart.
We have to admit we have a problem. We are constantly on a quest for more and more stuff. Bigger, better, the latest gadget. We learn from an early age that stuff brings us happiness and I think our way of justifying it we look for bargains. Well, I saved 50%, I couldn’t pass up that deal. Then we get home and stick it in the closet. It’s easy for us to say, well, my comfort doesn’t come from my possessions. But my question for us today is this, then why do we continue to buy more stuff? What is driving us to accumulate more and more of what we really don’t need?

Jesus calls this kind of living foolish living because they are living for themselves and not “being rich towards God.” Jesus’ message to us today is, “Stop your quest for more stuff.”
The second principle we learn from Luke 12 and Acts 2 is this:
Sell What We Don’t Need
When we are placing our trust in Jesus we have nothing to fear when we sell our stuff. We are showing in a tangible way our total dependence upon God. Why were the sheep tempted to be in fear? Because ultimately living on just your needs and not stockpiling things is a little scary isn’t it? This stuff I have brings me a lot of comfort, it brings me a lot of peace that we don’t even realize. To have nice things brings me a good feeling and I don’t want to lose that feeling.
In verse 33 Jesus says, “Fear not little flock, … Sell your possessions and give alms.” In other words, put your trust in me not these things. Jesus said the same thing to the rich young ruler, “what must I do to have eternal life,” “sell everything you have and give to the poor.” For Jesus, trust is an action not just a thought or a feeling. We have to put into action where our heart is.
The third principle we learn Luke 12 and Acts 2 is this:
Funnel Your Resources into Ministry
In every one of these places where we see the Early Church selling their possessions or Jesus telling us to sell our possessions or the rich young ruler, there is a purpose behind selling the possessions….The purpose is to meet people’s needs. This is what we as believers are to be known for. This is why I believe the first picture we get of the Early Church in Acts is a people who got this message. They were different then the nations, they were no longer people who stockpiled their recourses, who put their trust in what they possessed, they were placing their trust in God with all their heart. And it was totally evident by their lifestyle.
They funneled their recourses directly into ministry. And this wasn’t just any ministry, this was a ministry to the poor. A ministry to those in need. The Bible is clear that we are to support those that are ministering to us but beyond that the Bible speaks even more to the fact that we are to minister to the poor.
This is where we have to be purposeful and creative. If we are going to funnel our resources into ministry we have to have a purpose and a plan.
Rick Warren, purpose driven guy, says that he funnels over 90% of his income into ministry to the poor, and I know that a great deal of that is going to a ministry he started to meet the needs of the poor in Africa. Rick still lives in the same house as he did when he started saddleback church and before he wrote the best selling books. He still drives the same 1990 truck. He is being purposeful and creative in how he’s funneling his resources.
The fourth principle is this:
Store Rewards in Heaven
33“Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Purses that will not wear out are rewards that we will enjoy for eternity in Heaven. Stop trying to build up wealth here on earth that will wear out, that will not last. The wealth that will last is what you do for eternity. When we stop our quest for the latest and greatest gadgets out there and start spending our time and resources for meeting needs of the poor and promoting the spread of the Gospel we are storing up treasuring in Heaven that won’t get old after a year. When we do all this we are storing for ourselves rewards in heaven.
And when we live this radical type of lifestyle like the Early Church the nations around us will stand up and notice. What was the result of the Early Church, they had good favor with everyone and people were coming to Christ daily. If you live like this you will stand out. People will notice and people will come to Christ. You’ll be storing up treasures you can’t imagine in Heaven. Don’t you want to be this kind of person?
CONCLUSION:
In October 1795, William Carey received a packet of letters in India. One of the letters criticized Carey for "engaging in affairs of trade" instead of devoting full time to his missionary work. Carey was hurt and angered by the accusation. If he had not worked, he and his family would have starved since the support from England was so slow and small and sporadic in arriving.
He wrote back these words,
. . . I will only say that, after my family's obtaining a bare allowance, my whole income, and some months, much more, goes for the purposes of the gospel, in supporting persons to assist in the translation of the Bible, write copies, teach school, and the like . . . …I am indeed poor, and shall always be so till the Bible is published in Bengali and Hindosthani, and the people want no further instruction. (Mary Drewery, William Carey: A Biography, p. 91)
"After an allowance for me and my family, my whole income goes for the purposes of the gospel." That's what the Early Church was all about and that is how I believe we are being called live today.
My question for all of us today is, where do you spend the majority of your resources? Are you like the Early Church, radically different from how the nations handle their finances? Or is there not that much difference? Are you wrapped up in the quest for more stuff? Or do you make it your focus to further ministry?

Sit down and determined for you and your family, how much is enough? After our families NEEDS are met how can we start or continue to sell and give to help further kingdom cause?

Live in Community Not Isolation

2008-11-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Introduction:
Cheers was one of the most popular TV shows of the 80’s. It was all about a group of people who came together everyday at this bar named Cheers. The theme song went something like this, “Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came, you want to be where everybody knows your name.” This show depicted a group of rag tag people who felt known and accepted despite each characters flaws.
Another show that came along in the 90’s was Friends. Same situation, a group of friends who know each other and despite all their flaws and quirkiness stuck with each other no matter what. Seinfeld was the same thing. Why were these shows so popular?

Chuck Swindoll wrote in his book “Dropping your Guard”
The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his Church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell other or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.

Counterfeit community. Our society is full of counterfeits offering something close to the real thing but missing God.

Someone has observed that the fastest growing community groups are in inner city America. They are known as gangs. Their rapid growth is due in large part to the conditions of community they replicate without the core being centered on God, a close counterfeit. Here are some qualities of a street gang…
• Acceptance and belonging
• Sense of family
• Sense of belonging to something with a greater cause
• United for one purpose
• Encouraged to use giftedness to benefit the group
• Devoted to the cause
• Personal identity is that of the group
• Loyal even to death

Sound familiar? People everywhere are searching for true community but often settling for a close but cheap knockoff.

HOW DID WE GET INTO THE STATE WE’RE IN?:
At the fall in Genesis Satan tempted them, “You will be like God.” Independence was desired over dependence. Oneness with God and with each other was broken and changed every part of humanity. Now our nature is isolation from God and isolation from each other. Christ came that He might restore what was broken by sin. The community of believers connect together for life change, to counteract the results of the fall. That is why this business of us connecting in community is so important. When we connect together we are moving closer to reversing the results of the fall and closer to what God truly intended for us, oneness with Him and oneness with each other.

Satan is the master of counterfeits. He knows that what we lost in the fall can only be filled through community with God and Christian community with each other. So Satan is constantly offering us variations on that, something that seems like the real thing but in the end, it doesn’t fulfill our hearts desires.

A survey researching American society found that “70 percent of Americans now recognize that while they have many acquaintances they have few close friends- and they experience this as a serious void in their lives. Moreover, two out of five state they have fewer close friends than they did in the recent past.”

We live in a society that encourages individual lifestyles and community counterfeits.

People want to feel connected but we all too often settle for the counterfeit rather than the real thing. Why do you think we usually would rather watch a movie with someone else then alone? And we enjoy watching movies at the theater not only because of the big screen but also because we’re sharing the experience with others.

WHAT COUNTERFEITS?
Researchers have said that the biggest draw for sites like Facebook or tweeter is that in this disconnected world, it makes people feel connected to each other. We’re all looking and longing for a sense of community, a sense of connection with other people. But unless that connection is a true Christian community it will ultimately leave us hallow.

The early church showed us what true Christian community looks like and how when we as believers create an environment like this, life change begins to happen. Let’s look at some of the key things they did to connect in Christ for life change and see where we can improve our community life. We want to offer the world around us something different and real. We don’t want to offer just another counterfeit community. We want to make sure we are authentically a community that is Christian.

CREATE A COMMUNITY NOT ANOTHER COUNTERFEIT

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

When we look at this early church we see almost a utopian kind of situation. In fact the word utopia is actually used in these verses to describe the situation. What Luke’s describes for us is an almost perfect picture of what our Christian Community looks like. And as we look into their practices more carefully we and try to model our community after their example to make sure we aren’t settling for a counterfeit community but rather we are moving closer and closer to an authentic Christian community. So what I want to do today is look at some of their key characteristic as it relates to connecting in community that is Christian.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY…GROWS TOGETHER
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
1. A place where we acknowledge we are strugglers and we lock arms to journey towards God together.
2. The Bible is full of verses and examples of coming together for strength. Ecc 4:12 says…12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
3. We are better together then we are apart. That is how God has designed us as humans to be dependent upon each other for growth.
4. I love golf and one reason I really like it is because it is an individual sport. You are totally dependent upon yourself to win or lose. There is something that happened to us in the Fall that makes us want to ‘go it alone’ or ‘I can do this myself, I don’t need anyone’s help.’ We have this strange dichotomy in America of a strong desire for total independence while at the same time we have this longing for community and connection so we fall over and over again for these counterfeits.
5. We are in this together. I love and care for you so much that I’m going lock arms with you to do whatever it takes to grow together. A place where we are discipling one another.
6. Is there someone in your life that you know you are locking arms with and moving forward together with? It is very evident that spiritual growth is the center of this relationship.
7. That’s what marriage should be and that’s what this community should be all about. Everyone locking arms saying, “We’re in this together”, we’re going to invest in each other’s lives.
8. Fight against the desire to ‘go it alone’. Find a group or someone to lock arms with and help each other along in this Christian walk. Don’t go it alone.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY…DISPLAYS INTIMACY
9. v.44 had everything in common.
1. Once again this word Kionania comes up, translated here as everything in common.
2. These early believers were growing together in deep intimate relationships.
3. We guys especially are afraid of anything to do with intimacy or feelings. We may go there with our wife’s but with another man is another story. Our society has skewed so much what biblical male friendship should be we stay far away from that.
4. About as deep as two guys get in their conversations is ‘how bout them cowboys.’
5. The world is longing for intimate relationships with God and with others. We should be a beacon of light displaying something different then what the world has to offer.

Fight against surface level relationships. Open up. Ask questions. Express feelings.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY… MEETS NEEDS
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
• Talk about this in more detail next week but they were all about meeting each others needs.
o People will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY… CELEBRATES LIFE
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
• A place where we celebrate the blessing of God together. v.46 glad hearts
The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).
 Tell about disconnected society, does any one care.
 One thing that we should be known for is glad and thankful hearts. We should be known for our praise. People don’t want to be a part of a place that is depressing. They want to be a part of something joyful.
 Praise and worship at the church in Krasnodar.

Fight against the grind of life. Take time to celebrate, praise God.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY… REMAINS HUMBLE
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
• A place to discover and live out authentic Christianity together.
 This word translated sincere or humble in the greek is a work for a smooth stone. smoothness, i.e. (figuratively) simplicity of hearts.
 They were not out to impress anyone or put on a big show, they were characterized by a humbleness of heart.
o People are looking for authenticity. All of these counterfeits out there are just that, counterfeit. In the end they don’t bring the satisfaction to the heart that everyone is longing for. These relationships are hallow and without meaning.

Fight against putting on a show. Be yourself. Good or bad, happy or sad, people want to see authenticity.

TRUE COMMUNITY…REACHES OUT
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
10. A place to find people relentlessly committed to welcoming all.
 These were people from every corner of the earth at that time and they were all together with humble and simple hearts. There were people from every race and every walk of life.
 Acts 2: 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"
 There were people of every nation coming together. Cultural differences

Fight against comfortableness. When you’re in or around your own culture you feel comfortable, at ease. I remember when I lived in Russia for a year and came home there was just something about being home, back in my culture that was comforting. Our natural tendency is to want to be around people that are like us, think like us, act like us. But the Bible is quit clear that we are to reach out, go beyond our comfort zones of culture. Dallas, like most big cities in the world, has a very diverse culture. Dallas is one of 3 major cities where the government places refuges seeking asylum for various reasons. There are over 65 different nationalities living in the Vickory area near 75 and Park. Christian community is reaching out.

TRUE COMMUNITY brings LIFE CHANGE
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
SO WHAT?
My challenge for us today is, will we continue on the path towards creating a true Christian Community here?

Our sin nature drives us towards these counterfeits and deeper into isolation from God and isolation from true Community.

Fight against the counterfeits in your own life!
 Do xtian life Together
 Strive for deeper relationships
 Meet Needs
 Celebrate the life
 Be authentic
 Seek to be inclusive

Key Results Areas:
• A place to find people extremely devoted to God.
o We looked at this last week. They were devoted to God.
• A place to discover authentic Christianity.
• A place to find people earnestly desiring to be obedient worshipers in all areas of life.
• A place where people are irrevocably connected to each other.
o v.44 They were in this together, committed to intimate fellowship.
• A place where committed people make community a priority in life’s full schedule.
o They were devoted to making connecting a priority.
• A place where we acknowledge we are strugglers and we lock arms to journey toward God together.
• A place where we look for what is right with one another, not what is wrong.
• A place where we intentionally allow others to know us.
• A place where we are discipling one another.
• A place to find people relentlessly committed to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us in our everyday lives.
• A safe place where there is an open chair to welcome others.

What the world is longing for:
1. Something authentic
2. Real relationships
3. Grace

What connecting in Christ looks like…
1. purposeful – one cause – they connected together for a common cause. A place you will find people extremely devoted to God. Desiring to be obedient in all areas of life.
a. This was more then a social gathering
b. They were into the right thing with the right devotion.
2. full of good deeds –
a. They came together and focused on meeting the needs of the people.
3. inclusive –
a. Acts 2: 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"
b. There were people of every nation coming together. Cultural differences,
4. intimate – kionania (did life together)
a. a place to find Christian love
5. sincere –
a. A place to discover authentic Christianity. a place to be yourself

Two things they overcame:
Racial diversity:

1. The Jews of this time thought of many of these Diaspora and non ethnic Jews as lower then themselves.
2. We see in these verses that all those prejudices were apparently put aside. They all came together in unity for a common cause under the banner of Christ.

Economical diversity:
1. They gave to anyone who was in need. The poor in Jewish circles were considered cursed by God and if you gave to them you were interfering with God’s judgment on them.

One thing they didn’t quit get yet:

LIVE IN UNITY NOT SEPARATION

LIVE TOGETHER NOT SEPARATED

LIVE IN HARMONY NOT PARTIALITY

LIVE IN HARMONY NOT EXCLUSIVITY

Introduction:
One of the ways I think about Planting a Passion is that we are planting a people who are committed to live for a great cause, not a great comfort. I have preached before under the banner: To be a Christian is to move toward need not comfort. To get up in the morning and go to bed at night dreaming not about how to advance my comforts, but how to advance some great God-centered cause.

Ethnocentrism – the conviction or the feeling that my ethnic group should be treated as superior or privileged.

Review of last week/Introduction to the text:
1. Last week, the first principle we saw from the early church was their devotion. They took the things of God seriously and put their heart, mind and soul into the study of the Word, fellowship, breaking bread together and prayer. And we looked at the 3 I don’ts that keep us from being devoted, I don’t have the time, I don’t care, and I don’t have the desire.
2. We’re going to look at a second characteristic seen in Luke’s description of what the early church was all about and draw out another principle that we can apply to our lives and church today.

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

1. Explain what it looked like to live in this community. Kionania: what it looked like to live in community.
2. They made it a point to meet together, to do bible study together, to pray together, to do life together. They were intentional about their relationships.

Two things they overcame:
Racial diversity:
Acts 2: 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

3. The Jews of this time thought of many of these Diaspora and non ethnic Jews as lower then themselves.
4. We see in these verses that all those prejudices were apparently put aside. They all came together in unity for a common cause under the banner of Christ.

Economical diversity:
2. They gave to anyone who was in need. The poor in Jewish circles were considered cursed by God and if you gave to them you were interfering with God’s judgment on them.

One thing they didn’t quit get yet:
Religious diversity:

3. For the casual reader of the text here one might think that the remarkable thing going on here was that they were unified in the cause for Christ, which was definitely true and definitely an amazing great thing. But there is something even more incredible that made everyone in Jerusalem stand up and take notice.
4. We have to first read this from how to original readers would have understood it. What type of religious environment was going on in Jerusalem at the time?
5. Let’s go back to a couple of stories from the Gospels to get an idea of the religious environment/context of the time to see what made this statement in Luke so amazing to the readers of the time:
Luke 4:16-30: The Kingdom Is Ethnically Different Than You Think
We begin in Luke 4:16-30. Here is the homegrown boy coming back to his hometown, Nazareth, after making a name for himself in Capernaum. He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath and a crowd comes to hear him. And what he does in this message is almost incredible. He almost incites a riot. And he does it intentionally. First they give him the scroll of Isaiah the prophet to read from, and he chooses chapter 61. It's about the coming redeemer who will set free the oppressed and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (vv. 18b-19); and he claims that it was being fulfilled in their hearing. Verse 21: "And He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'" Now that was astonishing. Headlines: "Homegrown boy claims to be the Messiah." But this would not cause a riot. Verse 22: "And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips." So far so good.
But look what he says next. Utterly unexpected! Inexplicable if what you want is a following. Inexplicable if you only want church growth. He chooses to tell two stories from the Old Testament that fly right in the face of the ethnocentrism of his own hometown. He could hardly have been more offensive. He knows what their response is going to be because he says in verse 24, ""Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown." In other words, Yes, you are speaking well of me now (v. 22) while you have your own conception of what the Messiah will do, and what his kingdom will be like. But wait till I tell you what I am about to do and what my kingdom will be like.
Then he tells story number one. Verses 25-26, taken from 1 Kings 17: "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; (26) and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon (Phoenicia), to a woman who was a widow." Out of the blue he tells a story about God's passing over all the ethnic Jews to bring a miraculous blessing to a foreign, Gentile from the land of Sidon (Phoenicia). And he does this blatantly and forcefully and without softening or explanation: There were many widows in Israel, and God blessed a foreigner.
And if that were not enough he tells a second story in verse 27 from 2 Kings 5: "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Again the point is: of all the people that God might have chosen to heal of leprosy he chose a foreign king, a Syrian, not a Jew.
These two stories were not lost on the ethnocentrism of Nazareth. Verse 28: "And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; (29) and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. (30) But passing through their midst, He went His way." They get it, and they didn't like it.
Now what is the point of this story? The point is: The kingdom I am bringing, Jesus says, is ethnically different than what you think. Your chosen place as Israel has not produced humility and compassion, but pride and scorn. Jesus is the end of ethnocentrism. Look to me. Learn from me, he says, I have come to redeem a people from every ethnic group, not just one or a few. Woe to you for your failure to see in the justice and mercy of God his zeal to gather from all the peoples a kingdom of priests and friends.
Matthew 8:5-13: Faith in Jesus Trumps Ethnicity
Have I gone too far in pronouncing a woe on these people of Nazareth? You decide as you consider another story, this time from Matthew 8:5-13. Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and then, in Matthew 8:1-4, touches a leper, the most despised and ostracized of all people in Israel, and heals him. Then in Matthew 8:5 he enters Capernaum and meets the second most despised and offensive kind of person – a Roman centurion. Like an American Marine to a Taliban freedom fighter. The fact that this particular Centurion has some popularity among the Jews (Luke 7:3-5) is passed over by Matthew. It is not relevant for his point. The man is a foreigner, a non-Jew. That is what Matthew's point turns on.
What will be the point of this story? The Centurion begs Jesus, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." Without the slightest query or hesitation Jesus says in verse 7, "I will come and heal him." Then the Centurion says something Jesus finds astonishing. Verse 8: "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. (9) For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it."
When Jesus hears this, verse 10 says, he marvels. Then he takes this whole situation which everyone thought was about healing and power and authority, and he turns it into something utterly different, namely, a situation about the composition of the kingdom out of foreigners and about the dangers of banking on ethnic identity for blessing. Verse 10b: "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. (11) I say to you that many will come from east and west . . ." East and west! What is that? That is Phoenicia (the Gaza Strip), Egypt, Greece, Arabia, Persia (Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China). And what will happen when they come – these foreigners with their uncircumcised, non-kosher foreign ways and foreign looks? Verse 11b: ". . . and [they will] recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; (12) but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Now this is utterly shocking! You have to feel the force of this. Here is Jesus saying to the chosen people of Israel that first Romans, like this believing Centurion, and then all kinds of unclean ethnic Gentiles, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but you, the "sons of the kingdom," will be cast into outer darkness. This is almost unheard of to speak of the chosen race this way. What is he saying? He is saying: Jesus is the end of ethnocentrism.
Or to put it more positively: Jesus is saying that with his coming a radically new way of defining the people of God is here, namely, faith in him. Faith in Jesus trumps ethnicity. Over and over in the gospels this happens:
1. The story of the Good Samaritan – the foreigner is the hero of compassion (Luke 10:33).
2. The healing of the ten lepers, and only one returns; and what is he? A Samaritan, the foreigner shines with humble gratitude (Luke 17:16).
3. The healing of the Syrophoenician's daughter (Mark 7:26).
4. The worshipping of the wise men from the East, probably Persia or Arabia (Matthew 2:1).
5. And finally the death and resurrection of Jesus which he himself interprets in advance in the parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:33-43). The owner of the vineyard sends his son to gather fruit from his people. They kill him. And Jesus asks, "What will the owner do?" What will God do when his Son is rejected by his chosen people? Verse 43 gives the answer: "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it."
So what made this so remarkable to the original reader?
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
1.

How the bible defines godly relationships.
The remarkable thing about this early church is that in the midst of diversity of cultures and status they came together as one. They were unified as one.
These early believers had frequent contact with each other. Communal
living was voluntary and temporary in the Jerusalem church (4:32, 34-35;
5:4); it was not forced socialism or communism. No other New Testament
church practiced communal living to the extent that the Jerusalem
Christians did. The New Testament nowhere commands communal living,
and Acts does not refer to it after chapter five.

Introduction:

1. Define the words ‘were together’
a. They associated together, and so both expressed and increased their mutual love.
b. kionania (most intimate relationship possible) used to describe the relationship between the Trinity.
c. The first church was a diverse group of believers speaking different languages, different economic and social status. Yet they were able to come together in unity and worship.
d. Americans love for independence and isolation – people long for true connection whether they act like it or not. People will come to a place that is authentically living out community.
e. Community in bible study, prayer. This is not an individual gospel.
2. Define the words ‘had everything in common’
a. Fight against the trend of the society towards isolationism.
b. Break cultural boundaries.
c. Our houses are built to isolate
d. Our schedules are built to isolate. Work dominates life.
e. Our love for entertainment is built to be a bad knock of true community
3. Don’t wait for others, be proactive.
4. Move past surface level relationships towards deep biblical kionania
a. Share your hearts in prayer
b. Share you true thoughts in study
c. Don’t be afraid to ask deeper questions (people are hungry)

The result of all this was 2 things…
1. God showed up
a. Where 2 or more are gathered in my name
Unbelievers were attracted to the Savior
Unity in the midst of diversity
The "promise" is the gift of the Holy Spirit (1:5, 8; 2:33). Those "far off"
probably include the Diaspora Jews and the Gentiles. Peter had already
expressed his belief that Gentiles could be saved (v. 21; cf. Joel 2:32), a
fact taught repeatedly in both the Old and the New Testament. Peter's later
problem involving the salvation of Cornelius was not due to a conviction
that Gentiles were unsaveable. It was a question of the manner by which
they became Christians (i.e., not through Judaism, but directly without
becoming Jews first). Note, too, Peter's firm belief in God's sovereignty
(cf. v. 23). God takes the initiative in calling the elect to salvation, and
then they repent (v. 38; cf. John 6:37; Rom. 8:28-30).

Be Devoted Not Distracted

2008-11-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

INTRODUCTION:
A couple of years ago I had to privilege to spend every Sunday afternoon with a very special couple, Charlotte and Don Brasher. You see, Don was dying of Parkinson’s disease and as a part of a ministry at our church I would go over every Sunday afternoon and minister to Don. At least that’s what I originally thought. What actually ended up happening was Don and Charlotte ministered to me. Soon after I started going to their house Don lost all use of his legs and voice. I walked in the door on a Sunday afternoon and saw Charlotte crying and she explained that he can no longer get out of bed and he’d be confined to his bed from now on. The nurses and doctors all tried to convince her to put Don away in a nursing home where someone else could care for him but she refused. She told me, “Don devoted his life to me and I could never put him away like that.” The next 6 months I watched as Charlotte spent every waking hour caring for him in every way possible. Don could no longer eat through his mouth and had to have a feeding tube put in. Charlotte decided to not have any cooked meals in the house because she didn’t want to upset Don with the smells of food he couldn’t eat. Charlotte kept all the doctors and nurses on their toes making sure that they found the right medications to ease his pain when possible and to get him the finest care available. I vividly remember towards the end Don was in constant pain, the medications weren’t working any longer, Don was crying out in the only way he knew how as he laid their, immobile. Charlotte was ripped apart by his pain and would literally stay up all night holding his hand, rubbing his aching legs, singing songs to him and praying that the pain would go away. She rarely got over 2 hours of continual sleep herself. While I was there she would tell me about what a great man and husband he was. Even though I really talked very little with Don I felt like I knew him personally because she loved talking about him. She told stories like how, no matter what, the first thing he would do when he got home, would be to give her a kiss. How he refused to take any job where he’d had to be traveling away from her for any amount of time. She loved Don with all her heart, mind and soul and it extremely evident to me in her total devotion to him. I have never seen anything like it before. Eventually Don went on to be with the Lord. Charlotte was thankful his pain was over but crushed by his passing.
What you are devoted to becomes evident to someone who is around you for any amount of time, just as it was so very evident how devoted Charlotte was to Don and Don was to Charlotte. Everyone is devoted to something or someone. Some of our devotions may not be as noble as caring for a dying spouse. But we all have them whether we realize it or not.
In the next three weeks I want to take a fresh look at the beginnings of the church and examine some of their basic practices and see what we can learn from them to apply to our church and lives today.
BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION:
Acts 2:42 takes place in a very interesting/exciting time of our church history. This was the very beginnings. Christ had just resurrected and ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit at the Day of Pentecost where many signs and miracles were performed and 3000 were saved. This was the beginning of the church as we know it lead by the apostles themselves. We’re going to focus on this morning a couple of verses in Acts 2:42-43. Here Luke gives a sort of summary statement about what the church was characterized by at the time right after all these 3000 people came to Christ. So what was their key characteristic?

First and most important characteristic we see in this early church is their devotion…
My goal for us this morning’s message is that we would leave here ready and committed to BE DEVOTED.

Be DEVOTED
1. 42 They devoted themselves to the…The very second word here ‘devoted’ is a very interesting word in the Greek language. Proskartereo
a. to be earnest towards, i.e. (to a thing) to persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor) -- attend (give self) continually (upon), continue (in, instant in, with), wait on (continually).
b. Your version might say, "constant in prayer" or "faithful in prayer." Those all get at aspects of the word. The word is used in Mark 3:9 where it says, "[Jesus] told his disciples to have a boat ready (proskartere) for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him." A boat was to set apart - devoted - for the purpose of taking Jesus away in case the crowd became threatening. "Devoted" - dedicated for a task, appointed for it.
c. Now, boats just sit there. But people are not dedicated that way. When the word is applied to a person it means devoted or dedicated in the sense not only of designation and appointment but of action in the appointed task, and pressing on in it. So for example in Romans 13:6 Paul talks about the role of government like this: "You also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing." That is, they are not only designated by God for a task, but are giving themselves to it.
d. Jesus also used this term Proskartereo when he urged the disciples to persist with him in prayer, the night he was arrested in the garden. He wanted them to preserver with him in prayer.
e. This type of devotion was something Jesus was continually looking for from the disciples and His followers when He was here on earth. It is no wonder that after the crucifixion and resurrection these very same followers finally got it. No longer were they apathetic or sporadic followers but they were devoted, dedicated for the task at hand on a continual basis.
f. In our culture we most often will use the word devoted when referring to someone who is ‘devoted’ to their job. Man, that guy is a devoted employee. I’m a manager at my work and it is very easy to see who the devoted employee’s are and who is there just to get a paycheck. Those devoted employees give their ALL to their job. They eat, sleep and breathe their work.
g. This is how the early church was described by Luke. They were continually devoting themselves to their faith. This was an ongoing action; this was something that consumed their minds. They were in this with all their heart, mind and soul, this wasn’t just a side thing for them, this was their passion.
h. I want to pause here for a moment and get you thinking about this on a personal level. What would your passion be? Where or what are you devoting your life to? What would those that are closest to you say you are devoted to?

What were they devoting themselves to?
2. Let’s keep reading and look deeper at what were they devoting themselves to? 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. I want to take a quick overview of these four things.
a. Apostles teaching
i. The NT had not been written at this point and the apostles were all there in Jerusalem teaching these new followers about the faith.
ii. It says here that they were continually devoting themselves to the Word. They were hungry to learn more, to dig into the word. Do you remember the last time you had a passion for learning like the early church had? From historical records and other passages in the Bible we learn that the early church would meet in homes, listen to teaching over meals, and meet regularly at the temple courtyards for teachings. They spent a lot of time learning from the apostles.
iii. We get bombarded by Christian teaching to the point we begin to tune it out and take it for granite. I know I do at least. One thing is true about their situation, everything they did revolved around intimate relationships. We know that because of the next 2 thing on the list they were devoting themselves too.
b. Fellowship (kionania)
i. They were making their relationships a priority. This wasn’t just a casual acquaintance. Kionania is the same word Paul uses in Corinthians to describe the relationship between the Trinity. Very intimate.
ii. We’re going to focus more on this point of fellowship in a couple weeks but just know that everything they did had at the core of it an intimacy of fellowship. They were in this together, learning together, praying together, as a true family should be.
c. Breaking of bread together 1 Cor 1:9; 10:16
i. In these days sharing meals together was the highest form of intimacy.
ii. Daily the community broke bread together in homes--sharing a meal, beginning it with the bread and ending it with the cup of the Lord's Supper (Lk 22:19-20; 24:35; Acts 20:7, 11). With constant intimacy, exultant joy and transparency of relationship they enjoyed the graces of Messiah's salvation in a true anticipation of his banquet in the kingdom (Lk 22:30; compare Acts 16:34). It was a gracious witness to the people (laos), "Israel as the elect nation to whom the message of salvation is initially directed"
iii. Looking backward
iv. Looking forward
v. Looking inward
1. Fellowship with God must be examined.
vi. Looking outward
1. Fellowship with you fellow believers is just as important.
d. Prayer
i. A prayerless life is a godless life
ii. The more we pray the more we are connected to God and visa versa.
3. All four of these things go hand in hand. You can’t have truly devoted study of the Word without being intimately involved with others around you learning together. You can’t have a devoted prayer life if you’re not devoting yourself to the Word and fellowship.

4. Being devoted to these things doesn’t necessarily have to mean that you are doing them every waking hour.
a. Just because I am devoted to my wife doesn’t mean that I spend every minute of every day with her, serving her, trying to please her (she would probably go nuts).

What devotion does look like:
5. I love studying genealogy. Ashley can tell you that my favorite website is genealogy.com . In studying my lineage I discovered that one of my forefathers in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s was the first Baptist missionary to Alabama. Alabama was the frontier of that time. This man devoted his life to spreading the gospel to these new lands that were being developed and at the end of his life wrote a history of the Baptist church in Alabama. As I read some of that I realized what devoted people they were. The prayer meetings that would go all night. The lengths they would go to teach the word, traveling through all kinds of dangers. One word comes to mind when I think of them, devoted. Devotion isn’t hard to spot is it? Honestly, we just do see it too often any more.

What devotion doesn’t look like:
6. Let’s agree on some ways that would constitute someone not being devoted to the faith.
a. For instance, if someone only turns to God in prayer or to the word in times of crises we would say that isn’t devotion.
b. A quick prayer at meals is pretty much the only time someone prays, we could agree that that person isn’t devoted to prayer.
c. The only time someone uses their bible is when they’re frantically searching for it on Sunday mornings would most likely mean that person is not devoted to the teaching.
So I think we’re clear now on the difference between being devoted and not being devoted.

Results of their devotion:
d. Because of their devotion we see a couple of results…
e. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
f. First, God acted. It says the apostles were doing many signs and miracles. It is true that this was a special time in church history and God was performing many signs in fulfillment of prophesies of the OT that the Holy Spirit had come.
i. But it is true that no matter where believers meet God shows up.
ii. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20
iii. Can we control what God will do? NO but we can expect him to show up.
iv. God has promised to show up when we meet together in His name and if this isn’t the case then we are no more then just a social club.
g. Second thing we see happening is that the world saw this and were in reverential awe. The world see’s God through us. We are the window people see God through.
i. It says here in v.43 that the people were in reverential awe. They recognized this was not from man but from God.
ii. The world is looking for God. It is what everyone is longing for whether they realize it or not. And when we allow God to show up and do things that only God can do people will notice and be drawn to him. When the world see’s genuine devotion to God, that is attractive.

Things that keep us from being devoted…
Be DEVOTED not DISTRACTED
I came up with 3 things that keep us distracted from God and not surprisingly it didn’t take me very long to come up with them because I’m guilty of all three.
7. I don’t have the time.
a. Busyness of life
b. We so often bog ourselves down with too much action…We become so busy with life that we have no time or engery to even be devoted to God.
c. Uncomplicate your life if you have to. Look at the things that keep you preoccupied and distracted from you devotion to God.
d. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you; so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not being any need (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
8. I don’t care.
a. Apathy creeps into our life.
b. Church of Laodocia in Revelation was warned because you’re neither hot nor cold I’m going to spit you out of my mouth
9. I don’t have the desire.
a. Other things in life become more appealing and it comes down to choices we make, would I rather be watching a video or praying…watching a video.
b. Entertainment
c. Gadgets
d. Good life
10. I want everyone right now to do some self evaluation. Where do you stand up when it comes to your devotion? Where does your practical every day devotion lie? Would someone who knows your prayer life describe it as persevering? Actions speak louder then words. Can you say that yes, I am just like this early church; I persistently, continually am devoting myself to these basics of the faith. Or are you somewhere in between? A little off track and need to do some reorganization of priorities in life to get back on track. Or maybe you are just way off track, apathetic to the things of God, just going through the motions.
11. Here’s my advice to all of us. If you’re off track, talk to someone. The thing that keeps us in our ruts most often is our stubbornness to keep up the act. Talk to someone our close to, share your struggles, talk to your spouse, talk to your friends, talk to your leaders, but that is a great first step.
12. My prayer is that you’ll be inspired by the early church to get rid of the distractions in your life that are keeping you from devoting yourself fully to these basics of the faith.

Second principle we learn is…
VALUE PEOPLE OVER POSSESSIONS
1. This is a tuff one because we love our stuff so much don’t we?
2. Explain the situation found at the time. The people were selling goods to meet specific needs. This wasn’t a commune type situation it was a group of people who saw the needs of others and reached out with what God had entrusted to them.
3. The Greek word used here for common is often translated as utopia. This was a utopian type of community where there wasn’t a focus who had what but rather these believers came together and met each others needs. It was as simple as that.
4. This is a common message throughout the NT. Which is more important to you, will you use your possessions to please yourself or to bless others? Tell the story of the rich young ruler.
5. These people understood it was all God’s in the first place and everything they owned was from God and they could use what they had to be a direct blessing to people. They valued people over their possessions.
6. Churches are dying today because they are not doing anything which the world should look at and say: “There is evidence that God is real and that he is glorious.”
7. Detached giving – they gave to meet the needs to the people directly.
8. What is that one thing you are holding on to too tightly? If God asked you to give up ______ and you really had to think about whether you would or not, there’s a good chance you are holding onto your possessions too tightly. God wants us to be prepared to bless others with what he’s entrusted to us.
9. Illustration of someone who is a giver…Living with the idea that God owns everything and we are privileged stewards of what he’s given us, we therefore have the joy of using our possessions to bless others.

Third principle we learn is…
LIVE IN COMMUNITY NOT ISOLATION
1. define kionania (most intimate relationship possible) used to describe the relationship between the Trinity.
2. The first church was a diverse group of believers speaking different languages, different economic and social status. Yet they were able to come together in unity and worship.
3. Americans love for independence and isolation – people long for true connection whether they act like it or not. People will come to a place that is authentically living out community.
4. Community in bible study, prayer. This is not an individual gospel. Everything in the gospel pushes us towards togetherness.
5. Fight against the trend of the society towards isolationism.
a. Break cultural boundaries.
b. Our houses are built to isolate
c. Our schedules are built to isolate. Work dominates life.
d. Our love for entertainment is built to be a bad knock of true community
6. Don’t wait for others, be proactive.
7. Move past surface level relationships towards deep biblical kionania
a. Share your hearts in prayer
b. Share you true thoughts in study
c. Don’t be afraid to ask deeper questions (people are hungry)

The result of all this was 2 things…
1. God showed up
a. Where 2 or more are gathered in my name
Unbelievers were attracted to the Savior

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIRST CHURCH
BE DEVOTED NOT DISTRACTED

VALUE PEOPLE OVER POSSESSIONS

LIVE IN COMMUNITY NOT ISOLATION

2:42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, 93 to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 94 2:43 Reverential awe 95 came over everyone, 96 and many wonders and miraculous signs 97 came about by the apostles. 2:44 All who believed were together and held 98 everything in common, 2:45 and they began selling 99 their property 100 and possessions and distributing the proceeds 101 to everyone, as anyone had need. 2:46 Every day 102 they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, 103 breaking bread from 104 house to house, sharing their food with glad 105 and humble hearts, 106 2:47 praising God and having the good will 107 of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day 108 those who were being saved.
1. the early church were devoting themselves to the following...a. apostles teaching b. fellowship c. breaking of bread d. prayer
2. the result was...a. awe b. miraculous things happening
3. the early church ....a. were together b. they met physical needs

42. They continued steadfastly (Periphrasitc active imperfect) (same participle in v.46). to the apostles teaching and in sharing of everything (kiononiai – partner, sharer in common interest) to the Lord’s supper and prayer.

43. Awe kept on coming on all and sings and wonders kept on coming through the apostles. (the more signs the more awe and fear)

44. All were together in the same place and kept sharing everything in common (kiona).

45. The were in the habit of selling their things distributed it to those who had needs.

46. With everyone in total agreement they daily gathered and worshipped in the temple (there was not a division yet between the Christian and Jew), they were eating meals together in their homes, sharing their food with glad and simple (comes from the word, stony ground, without stony ground/smooth) hearts.

47. Praising God and having the gratitude of all God’s people. And the Lord kept on adding (imperfect active) to the number being saved daily.

I. Those who became believers were devoted. 42
a. They devoted themselves to the apostles teachings
b. They devoted themselves to kiononiai
c. They devoted themselves to communion
d. They devoted themselves to prayer
II. There was an awesome awareness that God was doing something big among them. 43
a. Everyone was in awe at the sign and wonders being done among them
III. The believers did everything they could to help meet each others needs. 44-45
a. They met together continually
b. When someone was in need they sold something to meet their need
IV. There was unity amongst the believers in worship and fellowship and everyone praised God for what was going on. 46-47a
a. There was unity amongst the believers in worship
b. There was unity amongst the believers in their daily sharing of food in each others homes
c. The result was grateful and humble hearts
V. Summary statement: The Lord was adding to the number of saved people daily. 47b

The strong (the advantaged) are always under obligation to minister to the weak (the disadvantaged):

The new believers were pure and ready to serve. One thing was for sure was that they were devoted. What did this devotion look like? They were devoted/committed:
1. Biblical teaching
2. Sharing life together
3. Communion (connecting in Christ)
4. Prayer
5. Doing good deeds
6. Unity of the body

The fruits were:
1. awe of the people/goodwill of the people ‘they will see your good deeds and glorify the Lord’
2. Celebration/praise
3. God was adding to their numbers daily

STEP 3: CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE TEXT
Theme: The believers of Pentecost devoted themselves to spiritual transformation
Thrust: by meeting together daily to study, pray, have communion, and to meet everyone’s needs resulting in the continued growth of the church.

STEP 4: THE PURPOSE BRIDGE
To motivate people to be devoted to meeting together for life change. (return to your first love)

STEP 5: THE CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE SERMON
(proved) How does the early believer’s devotion motivate us today?

(explained) The fundamentals of the faith.

(multiple thrust) The fundamentals of the faith are anchored in
1. devotion to the maturation process
2. devotion to each other
3. devotion to God

The third and most important group described here is the emerging church, that body of new believers who repented and placed their faith in Jesus as the Messiah as a result of Pentecost and the preaching of Peter. Let me draw your attention to a few of the characteristics of the church as described here by Luke.
1. Identity
The church in Jerusalem, though it was newly born, had a distinct identity. Those who were in and of the church knew it, and those who were without recognized the difference between the Christians and the rest of the population of the city. Even though many of the Jews were religious and though both believers and unbelievers still went to the temple and participated in the temple worship (cf. Acts 3:1), there was a discernible difference. Those who were saved were baptized, marking themselves out. By this they indicated that it was not by law-keeping or by their good works, but rather by faith in Jesus alone as their Messiah that they were saved.
Sadly, though we hear a fair bit of talk about separation, it is very difficult to tell the saints from the heathen these days. There are some saints (or so they claim) who refuse to identify themselves with the church. And there are all too many unsaved who have entered the formal ranks of the church. The church has become almost indistinguishable from the world, and the world has greatly infiltrated and infected the church. There is not the clear identity of a Christian today as there was then.
2. Commitment and Consistency
One of the most striking characteristics of the newly-born church in Jerusalem was their commitment. They were committed to Jesus, the Christ. They were committed to one another. They were committed to meeting the needs of others. They were committed to gathering together. The key expression here is “continually devoting themselves” (2:42) and the same term rendered “continuing” (2:46, NASB). The other key term or expression is “daily” or “day by day.” Day after day these saints pressed on, committed to the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Day after day they went to the temple and ate from house to house.
How different the church is today. People hop from church to church, looking for that group which most ministers to them. And when it is not convenient, they stay at home. When the weather permits, they go out to the lake. I am not opposed to good times, but I am saying that we are not marked by the consistency and diligence of the early church. We need little or no excuse for “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). We need little prompting to do things which are more immediately gratifying.
3. Community
If the first church had a strong sense of identity, they also had a strong sense of community. During our Lord’s early life, the disciples, due to personal ambition, were competitive and even argued among themselves. They argued, for example, over who was considered the greatest of them. But Jesus told them that the badge of discipleship was to be their love one for another. They would, through the Holy Spirit, have a deep unity, which would be expressed by a strong community among them. One of the strongest impressions we gain from Luke’s description of the first church was their sense of community. They were continually together, in the temple, and from house to house. And they also shared everything together. They “had all things in common” (according to the definition given above).
In our culture, community is not a strong emphasis, even in the church. We live in a very individualistic age. We are, by the definition of some, an “independent Bible church.” Unfortunately, this can simply mean that we are a church of independent, autonomous people—a group of rebels. While the early church was to be characterized by diversity, the “Lone Ranger” mindset was not considered a virtue. Community is a desperate need, not only in our church, but in every church which names the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
4. Spontaneity
I have chosen the term spontaneity, not because I find it the best term to describe the church in Jerusalem, but because I could not think of a better term. What I mean by this characterization is that the church did what it did spontaneously. It did not act out of compulsion or out of a command, but out of desire and joy. People did not begrudgingly give up their possessions and minister to the needs of others. They jumped at the chance. It was an evidence of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
It is interesting to note that while Peter promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who repented and were baptized (2:38), we read nothing in this characterization of the church about “signs and wonders” or even the gift of tongues being spoken by the congregation. I am not suggesting that phenomenon such as tongues may not have happened, but only that Luke does not bother to report that it did.
There is a very good reason, I feel. The gift of tongues was the evidence of the outpouring of power on the apostles, just as Jesus had promised (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). But the power of the Spirit in one’s life is not necessarily proof of piety. Charisma is not the same thing as character. The qualifications which are laid down for elders and deacons in the New Testament do not mention the possession of any particular gift, and certainly not of particularly spectacular charismatic gift. They do require Christian character. Luke’s description of the church here focuses on its conduct and its character, not on its charisma (other than that evidenced through the apostles). I believe this is a clear evidence of what is most important. Samson was a man on whom the Spirit came in power, but he was no example of godly character. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was demonstrated by the miracle of generosity.
5. Celebration
Closely related to the spontaneity of the conduct of the church was its mood and atmosphere of celebration:
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:46).
It was not a morbid sense of duty or obligation which motivated the conduct of the church but a deep sense of gratitude and of praise. If I struggled with the term “spontaneity,” I find the term “celebration” precisely the term to employ here. Everything the church did, it did as a celebration, including its sacrificial giving. Evangelism was not merely a command, a task, or a ministry; it was the praise of God, the joy of the Lord overflowing, so that men and women could not help but to speak of the Savior.
Here is perhaps the most desperately lacking ingredient of all—celebration. Worship has become a fad, and celebration can be a part of worship, but celebration is not seen only in worship; it is seen in everything we do. Celebration is the fruit of the Spirit of God, perhaps a blend of love, joy, and peace. It is that which comes when we are aware of the grace of God at work in and through us. May God grant us a Spirit of Celebration in our church and in our individual lives.
Conclusion
As I compare our church and my life with that of the first church, I find many shortcomings. These characteristics are not goals to strive for so much as they are fruits. We should not work at celebration so much as we should seek to know Him. We should, in Jesus’ words, abide in Him and in His words. We should pray that we may not grieve the Spirit, but that the fruit of the Spirit might become evident in us. May those attitudes and characteristics of the first church be found in us, by His grace, and through His Spirit.