Dangerous Wonder
* Introduction
* Would you agree that being a Christian today is boring?
* Daughter loves to fall off of my lap head first.
* What would happen if we all took Jesus’ advice and “became like little children?”
* The obstacle of Dullness
* Don’t you just hate dull people?
* “The most critical issue facing Christians is not abortion, pornography, the disintegration of the family, moral absolutes, MTV, drugs, racism, sexuality, or school prayer.” “The critical issue today is dullness.” – Robert Capon, Episcopal Priest
* Christianity has become dull. We’re not talking about flashy churches, multimedia presentation, or big bands, but our feelings and relationships with Jesus.
* When was the last time you heard the term “Radical Christian”
* Acts 2:42-47 – [42]They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.[43]Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! [44] And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. [45] They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met. [46] They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, [47] as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
• Are we in “awe” of what God does in our lives today?
• Do we live in harmony with each other?
* John 10:10 – [10] A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
* The Obstacle of Dream Stealers
* Example – The Movie Hook
* The child has been chased out of us.
* Our dreams are snuffed out by people who tell us what we can’t do.
* Have you ever had a Boss that finds everything wrong with your work
* The Bible has a name for dream stealers – Pharisees
* John 9 – The Blind man healed
* Mark 14:3-6 – [3] While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. [4] Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? [5] It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. [6] "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
* The Obstacle of Predictability
* Society has cloned us.
* We are born; we attend school, get a job, get married, have a family, retire and die!
* Where’s the excitement in that.
* Religion has become the same way
• Church is always Sunday Morning, Sunday Night and Wednesday Night
• Dress has to be the same
• We must sing the same songs
• New ideas are not permitted
* Predictability and faith cannot co-exist
* Jesus was unpredictable
* He ate at the wrong people’s houses (sinners)
* Hung out with the wrong people (Tax collectors, adulterers, prostitutes)
* Healed people on the wrong day (Sabbath)
* Jesus lived in the moment (John 8)
* Women found committing adultery
* How did the Pharisees know she was committing adultery?
* The Obstacles of Possessions and Money
* What is Bill Gates really going to do with $60 Billion?
* Do you worry about your bills, where the next paycheck is coming from?
* Example: Rich Mullens’ life
* Example: Faith cleaned out her nebulizer and then said that she gets money for doing something.
* 1 Tim. 6:10 – [10] Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.
* When money is on our mind, there is little else there.
* Recapturing Dangerous Wonder
* We’ve lost the gleam in our eye
* Remember your first love
* Remember when you first met Christ
* Mary – Pregnant before she was married
* Disciples in the storm – Had the creator of the universe in the bottom of the boat and was still scared to death.
* Questions:
* Why are you here?
* Is church a game?
* Is church a social club?
Is it something you do, because that’s what you’ve always done?
* Do You Want To Be Like Jesus?
* Jesus was a dangerous man
* We should be known by the fire in our souls, not how big our church is, the music we worship with, the multimedia presentations on our screen.
* How do we Recapture Dangerous Wonder
* Play with God! (God is hiding in the pages of His Word and He wants us to come find Him.
• Faith Love’s Hide-N-Seek
* Imagine! (Imagine what else God has in store for you life)
* Enjoy life! (Enjoy the life God has given us)
• Upset customer are never happy…why
FISH (Pike’s Fish Market)
• Choose Your Attitude
• Play
• Make Their Day
• Be Present
Let’s find the world of dangerous wonder. It’s a real place, you know. It is the place where children and grownups can find God, located just beyond where the sidewalk ends. The directions just might be found in your church, your Bible, or even a friendship. Dull people and dream stealers are not welcome. It is a place like Narnia in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Aslan has come back from death. Lucy and the children, eyes wide open with astonishment, recognize him, and then Aslan says,
“And now – “
“Oh yes, Now?” said Lucy jumping up and clapping her hands.
“Oh, children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. The he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began. Round and round the hilltop he led them, now hopelessly out of their reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge beautifully velvety paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs. It was such a romp as not one has ever had except in Narnia, and whether is was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind. And the funny thing was that when all three finally lay together panting in the sun the girls no longer felt in the least tired or hungry or thirsty.
