Relationships Series

*STORY OF ME LOSING MY SHORTS IN JR HIGH DURING THE GAME*

Have you ever had some embarrassing moment?

We’re going to take a few minutes and let you write down your most embarrassing moment. Don’t put your name on it, but just write it down and put it in this box.

There are few events more embarrassing than tripping or falling down. Have you ever had that experience? You’re walking along confident, assured, proud, and your foot catches an uneven spot in the sidewalk and you do that half fall. Sometimes in the mix of relationships, when we don’t know what to do, when we aren’t paying attention, we stumble.

We make mistakes.

We get into or stay in damaging relationships.

We lash out in anger.

We’re not all that we could be, should be, every moment of every day of our life.

We betray our friends

We lie to our friends

There is good news about all of this: WE HAVE ALL DONE IT

Regardless of what type of background you come from, we have all made mistakes when it comes to relationships.

Tonight, we’re going to talk about stumbling when it comes to relationships. We’re going to talk about what to do, and the next steps we take.

Phillippians 2:1-8 (Message)

Listen to this:

1-4If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Three questions to ask yourself tonight…

1. Has love made a difference in you?

When people feel loved, they act different. They relate different, they just are different.

When a child feels loved, they feel like they belong. They feel a sense of being in the right place.

*exercise of writing stuff to each other*

2. Who do you want to be #1?

As people who God has put love in our hearts, we should treat others differently. We should be full of love and full of joy, and full of grace.

*EXAMPLE OF GRACE – DRIVING IN CALIFORNIA*

Thomas a Kempis “Whoever loves much, does much”

“If we discovered that we had five minutes to live, we would spend those last five minutes desperately trying to call the people that we love and tell them. – Why wait until the last 5 minutes?”

*ILLUSTRATION OF CONCERT*

*WHO IS FIRST?*

How do I be selfless?

Being selfless is simply putting yourself at the end of the agenda.

Being selfless is putting yourself last.

3. Do you encourage?

The Bible time and time again talks about building each other up. And all we do is seem to tear people down.