January 19, 2009 at 8:01 pm · Filed under Devotional, Sermon Summary, Uncategorized
Sermon Summaries are simply my sermon notes taken on my iPhone WordPress app during church. I love taking notes, but then they are lost in a stack of spiral journals. This way they are archives, searchable, and I can share them too!
I love my GPS, if used properly, can lead you to where you want to go, giving step by step directions. This is possible because of satelites in space that are looking down; they see exactly where you are, where you want to go, and all the possible route, hazzards and obsticles between the two.
Wouldn’t it be helpful to have GPS for our life?! If there was someone watching from above who knew exactly where I am, where I want to go, and all the possible paths, dangers and challenges along the way?
Yes! What I need is A God Positioning System!
The passage is: Jeremiah 39-42
Background: The Remnant of Israel were going to run to Egypt after the heir to the Jewish throne killed the Babylonian governor of the land, but first they consulted Jeremiah. This all looks very good – but in the end they didn’t take God’s advice and were later killed in Egypt!
For personal study; primary passages: Jer. 38:8-10; 41:1-3; 42:1-2; 5-7;
43:4,7 the people disobey, actions did not match their words
42:20 Their fatal mistake was not disobeying God, it was to ask for advice and then not take it treating God’s commands as a mere suggestion. It is worse to seek God’s council and reject it, than to never seek it at all.
Note in I Samuel 28:5-6, God didn’t answer Saul because he knew Saul wasn’t committed. Saul was asking with no intention of obeying God, unless God told him what he wanted to hear.
God promised in 42:7 If you stay here, I will build you up, not tear you down. But instead they ran, and later perished. Those who did stay, lived.
A Hammer: I love that our senior pastor often uses object lessons. He noted that a hammer is really two tools in one. One end is for construction, the other is for destruction. Our life in God’s Hand is constructive, in our hands life is destructive.
QUESTION: Who is holding the hammer in your life. Taking the hammer from God is a mistake. Perhaps you are fighting over the hammer?
God desires to be our Life Positioning System (LPS?) But we need to be listening AND obeying to his instructions.
January 11, 2009 at 10:46 am · Filed under Devotional, Sermon Summary, Spiritual Growth
We are in the midst of difficult times and difficult decisions. Every day we are hearing from the news reports and those we know personally that times are tough and the consensus seems to be that it will get worse before it gets better. The answer? It isn’t politics or government solutions. Even though I am frustrated with how much of our current economic problems are a direct result of our government’s meddling, the reality is that even if our economy was hummin’ along, we would not be free from problems and we would still have storms. Focusing on the current economic crisis is a distraction because the goal isn’t economic prosperity, it is spiritually prosperity.
There are four aspects of the Christian Life that we often focus on in our desire to be a better Christian: Faith, Humility, Love, and Holiness. In church this morning, the pastor speaking suggested that instead of trying to have more faith, be more humble or loving or holy, we instead ought to focus on living what he called a God-Centered Life. He defined it this way:
“A God-Centered Life is a life lived wholehearted for God without any consideration for our own needs.”
A life lived like that would, as a result, increase our faith, require humility, encourage a loving response to those who around us and produce holiness. These would become results of God rather than results of our striving and efforts. And it would produce a life that had the favor of God. Imagine that – a life with the favor of God?! Nothing could be better to gain in all of life. It fit well with my church’s theme verse:
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strongly support those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
Why do we find it so difficult to step out in faith and live a completely God-Centered Life? He suggests that FEAR is the culprit. We were challenged to consider five Basic Needs that we all seek, that are best described in a key question we ask, and that are motivated by a core fear. There are:
5 Basic Needs / Driving Question / Core Fear
1) Provision
Question: Will I have enough?
Core Fear: Scarcity
2) Protection
Question: Will I be safe?
Core Fear: Pain
3) Pleasure
Question: Will I be happy
Core Fear: Emptiness
4) Prestige
Question: Will I matter?
Core Fear: Worthlessness
5) Popularity
Question: Will I belong?
Core Fear: Loneliness
In reviewing each of those I hope I’m not the only one who sees the hidden motivators that interfere with my desire to follow God without hesitation. He made the point that in marriage counseling he often has couples start their first session by saying, “Well, we started out 50/50 but now….” and that is where he cuts them off saying, “Well, that’s the problem. Marriage isn’t 50/50, it is 100/100. If each of you are giving the other 100% effort, focusing entirely on what is best for the other, trusting that the other is doing the same, that is the secret of a healthy marriage.” Well, the same, he pointed out, is true with our walk with God!
We need to give 100% effort toward living a God-Centered Life trusting that God will also give us 100% at the same time and can meet each of those needs, answer each of those questions and calm each of those fears. I love when Truth hits me from several directions. Later today, I was reading the next chapter in The Shack, (blog post on that later after I recover from that book), the opening quote in chapter sixteen was:
An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others. – A. W. Tozer
The Bible passage for the sermon was the story of Jesus walking on the water and inviting Peter out to join him. A familiar story, no doubt, and yet I appreciated a new thought along with the telling this morning. Before Jesus appeared, Peter was focused on the storm and surviving the storm. But after seeing Jesus walking on the water, he desired what Jesus had – power over the storm. We often focus on Peter sinking when he got his focus off of Jesus, as many of us have done, but that also means that for a time, he DID have his focus on Jesus, and while he did, the storm became irrelevant.
I grabbed my Bible and wrote in the front cover, “When in the storm, Jesus invites you out onto the water. Focus on Him and walk toward Him, and the storm will become irrelevant.”
That is my desire as I head into an uncertain 2009. That I would not be focused on the storm and including God in the process, but would be solely focused on God and allowing Him to deal with the storm. In the image above, you see the choice – GOD centered, storm small and off to the side, or STORM centered and God down and off to the side. The choice is ours, every day.
I have no idea what this year will bring, but TODAY I can focus on Jesus and living a God-Centered Life, and I’m aiming to do the same tomorrow as well. Join me in trying to shift my focus away from the storm and toward Jesus.
