Living ‘The’ Life In 08’
I want to start this message out this morning by asking you to take out a pen if you haven’t already (share if you need to). And what I want you to do, on the left hand corner of your outline…or any other piece of paper. I want you to Write the year you were born – (now you can hide it with your hand if you want to) – then put a dash and then I want you to write 20__ __. Because we don’t know what the day is. Go ahead and do this – and as you are writing yours I write down the year I was born 1979.
OKAY – now I want you to look at it. LISTEN – every one of us has one of those days on left. And we all mark that day. We celebrate that day. We eat cake, blow out candles and receive gifts on that day. (I was talking to someone recently who said they were celebrating their 29th birthday, I think it was, for the 23rd time). YES - we all have one of those days on the left and do you know what we all have one of those other days too. UNDERSTAND - one day that right hand date will also be completely filled out. NOW – we don’t really like to think about it all that much – but it’s inevitable, it’s coming.
AND LISTEN - JUST as we had no control over that first date (I MEAN - I didn’t say, “Okay Thursday 6:30 am February 4th 1960 – this looks like a good day,” No, I just kind of showed up) - we also, for the most part have no real control over that other date, the day we will die, the day our physical bodies will leave this earth, the day our life here is over…
OKAY – look at those dates again. Let me ask you a question - IS THERE anything you wrote down on the left hand corner that you can control? Do you see what it is? It’s the dash. It’s the years between your birth and your death… And over that you do have control…
SO – my question to you as we begin in just a few hours a new year, is this? How are you spending your dash? What are you doing with you dash? NOW UNDERSTAND - you only get one – nobody gets two? AND LISTEN – this morning, this moment would be a real good time for you to deal with this question – because life – it goes by so quickly, doesn’t it?
(HEY – do you know what I found out, that when people so many years ago told me that the older you get the faster time goes, I found out that they were telling the truth… I can’t believe that I am 47 years old… I can’t believe how quickly this world is getting younger… I mean, Everywhere I look I keep seeing fewer and fewer old people. AND – though it is a very sobering thought, I know that I’m not too far from the day where when people see me they will comment to each other (if they aren’t already), “my, isn’t he a cute little old man.”
WE - only get one dash – and it really does go by so quickly. CHECKOUT - how God describes your dash/how he describes your life in His word… James writes;
“Why, you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14
The Psalmist writes about the brevity of life several times;
“My life is no longer than the width of my hand…human existence is but a breath…” (39:5)
“…my days disappear like smoke…” (102:3)
“…for we are like a breath of air; our days are like a passing shadow.” (144:3)
AND Job said it like this;
“…my days are running out quicker than the thread of a fast moving needle…my life is just a breath…” (7:6,7 CEV)
QUESTION – wouldn’t you agree with me, that life is unspeakably precious and unbelievably short? AND LISTEN BECAUSE – life is so precious and so short – it is really insane to waste it on stupid things…
Like being consumed with what other people think about us…
Or getting really mad at someone and just stewing over that for years & years…
Or just living in constant fear about something
Or walking through life wearing the blinders of cynicism/negativity – so that you are never able to see the awesome wonder and beauty that God has surrounded you with everyday.
LISTEN – some people ( in fact, a large number of people) get to the right-hand side of that dash and they say to themselves “I wasted my life, All those years gone…I’m not really sure how or why it happened – it just did…”
NOW – as we get started this morning I want you to know 2 things that I am convinced of every time I get the chance to stand before God’s people.
#1 – I’m convinced of the power of God’s word to both change and empower lives
#2 – I’m convinced in the power of the moment. In the power of this moment December 30, 2007.
IN - the power of this moment, to mark for every single person in this room – a fresh start, a new beginning.
LISTEN – if you will begin applying the truths that we will talk about today… YOU will live an incredible dash and when you get to that right hand number (and we all will) you will leave this world with few or no regrets… You will leave with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment…
Prayer…
QUESTION – what do you think the most dangerous item in your house is? NOW - there has been some research done on this question… AND recent studies show that there are many household dangers… For instance each year:
460,000 injuries are caused by kitchen knives
100,000 injuries are caused by power tools
Anybody got draperies in your house? 20 deaths a year by strangulation by drapery cords.
And I don’t quite understand this one but 4,000 people will injure themselves every year on pillows (I don’t really know how that happens… zipped up? trip on them? Overcome and drown in drool)
What I want you to do now, is to turn to the person next to you and tell them what you think the most dangerous item in the house is?
NOW – I don’t know if there is any right or wrong answer to that question – but I want to propose to you this morning that – this is the most dangerous thing in your house…
This is not just any chair this is an ‘easy’ chair. AND - we like easy chairs because they are very comfortable…AND – we like to be comfortable. AND – it really doesn’t matter what the chair even looks like as long as it is easy… as long as it is comfortable… Now I want to demonstrate what this thing can do to a person’s life
Volunteer
Have sit in chair – your job is to get comfortable… music playing
Shoes off slippers…
Food… snack food, comfort food, drink
Remote control…
QUESTION – does this look like a guy who;
• Is ready to spring into action?
• Is passionate to do what ever God wants him to do?
• Is striving to live his dash well?
• Will even make through this sermon if we leave him there?
THINK - about your life… IS – your life. IS - your dash, primarily dedicated to life in the chair? Honestly… IS - your life primarily devoted to figuring out how you can maximize: your comfort; your security; your safety; your pleasure? IS - your life primarily about you?
NOW LET ME ASK YOU – does that kind of life make your heart beat faster? Does that kind of life cause you get up out the bed in the morning with a sense of purpose in your step and determination in your heart?…. I would doubt it… That’s why I propose that this is probably the most dangerous thing in your house. AND LISTEN – the real danger is not what is done in the chair, NO – the real danger is the things that are not done when you are in the chair.
I’m talking about the relationships that never get deepened.
I’m talking about the people in need who never get served.
I’m talking about the deep, needy desperate prayers that never get prayed
I’m talking about the gifts that are never given
The exciting dreams you never dream
The battles you never fight
The good news you never share
The lost people in your world who never meet Jesus
The laughter you never laugh
The tears you never cry
The risks you never take
The great adventure of life with God that you never live
UNDERSTAND – you were made for more than life in the chair… You were made for more then simply living to maximize your own: comfort, safety, security and pleasure… You were made to live the life, that God called you to live… A life that is abundant and full. A life of radical risk and awesome adventure… TIM – you were made to live a life that brings glory to God, impacts the world and sends out ripples that echo into eternity. THAT – my friends is the good news! THAT – is ‘the life’ that the King whose birth we just celebrated put on human flesh to bring to each of us.
BUT – unfortunately there is some bad news as well. YOU SEE - we have an enemy. A very real and powerful enemy. AN ENEMY that the bible describes as a roaring lion looking of someone to devour (1 Pe 5:8). AN ENEMY that John in Revelation 12:17 describes as angry dragon who has declared war on anyone who follows the Christ and His teachings. AN ENEMY that Jesus describes in John 10:10 as a thief…
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
QUESTION – what does the thief want to steal, kill and destroy? Your life. Your dash. Your abundant and full life. UNDERSTAND – the thief does not want you to live your dash well. IN FACT – he wants you to live your life right here, in the chair. HE – wants you to live your life for only you. Only for your: comfort, security, safety and pleasure.
QUESTION – how well did you live your dash in the year 2007? Was it the kind of year you had hope for when the ball dropped in Times Square 365 days ago? DID – you have the outcomes you had hoped for in 2007? OR – was 2007 kind of like the year 2006, which kind of like of 2005, which was kind of like 2004. HOW - successful was the (lion, the dragon, the thief) at: stealing, killing and destroying the life Jesus died to give you?
LISTEN - the question I want each of us to consider at this very moment, IS:
• What am I doing with the life that God has given me?
• That Christ bought for me?
• Am I living it for Him? Am I living it to the full…
• OR am I living it in the chair?
(Yeah, I think this chair just might be the most dangerous thing in our houses).
AS – a new year… AS – 2008 dawns… I am convinced that every person in this room desires to live their dash well. I am convinced that we would 2008 to be a different kind of year. YES – I am convinced that everyone of us longs to live our lives in 2007 – out of the chair and radical for God. BUT HOW – do we do it? I MEAN - how can you and I make sure that THIS DESIRE FOR THE LIFE, that we all have becomes a greater reality in 2008 then it ever has before. THAT – is the question I will try to answer in the few minutes that we have remaining. AND – I will answer it by pulling 7 objects (that we see pretty much see everyday) out of this bag and letting them teach us about how we can live our dash well in the year 2007. AND – prayer all week has been that the HS will uses these objects and this time to BURN God’s truth into our hearts.
A Mirror – Remember Who You Are
TIM – who or what do you see when you look into the mirror? Chances are that what you see is distorted… Chances are that the reflections you see of yourself are not the real you.
One of my favorite movies is the movie Lion King. A few weeks back I was reminded of just how much I like this movie when I bought a used VHS tape for $2, at the Movie Gallery and watched it with Mei-Leigh. The star of this story is a lion named Simba. And Simba because of various things:
• Mistakes in his past
• What His uncle scar said about Him
• Bad choices he had made
• And a new philosophy of life he had adopted (a kuna ma tata…)
Did not see the real Simba when he looked in the mirror. The reflections he saw were distorted… AND – this distortion caused him to forget who he was. And he winds up living with a wart hog and a meerkat whose highest ambitions in life are breakfast, lunch and dinner. THEN – one night, Simba’s father appears to him in a vision:
Mufasa: Simba
Simba: Father?
Mufasa: Simba, you have forgotten me
Simba: No! How could I?
Mufasa: You have forgotten who you are, and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba you are more than what you have become.
Simba: How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.
Mufasa: remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember who you are.
Question – like Simba have you forgotten who you are? HAVE YOU – allowed: your past, your failures, your sin, your bad choices and the uncle scars, meerkats and wart hogs in your life to keep you from seeing the real you. I think it’s time to look in the mirror…
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!... Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. – 1 John 3:1-3
Who are you? At this very moment God is looking at you and saying… You Are:
• My child (a son, a daughter of the K of k and L of l…
• The One I love
• The One I adopted into my family
• The one I chose before the foundations of the earth were even laid
• The one who though you have flaws and failures are still is worthy of my grace.
• My workmanship, my masterpiece
• The one created a new in Christ Jesus, to do awesome things that will display my glory to the world.
• You are more
IN - his book, Abba’s Child, Brennan Manning
The basis of my personal worth is not my possessions, my talent, not esteem of others, reputation… not kudos of appreciation from parents and kids, not applause, and everyone telling me how important I am to the place… I stand anchored now in God before who I stand naked, this God who tells me, “You are my son, my beloved one.” (and then he draws this conclusion)
Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. God’s love for you
and his choice of you constitute your worth.
Accept that, and let it become the most important thing in your life.
UNDERSTAND – the first step to living life out of the chair, to living a dash of risk and adventure… is to remember who you are, is to look CLOSER into the mirror of God’s love and radical acceptance.
AND – oh yeah, you’ll have to slow down to see your true reflection clearly…
A Withered Branch – Stay Connected, Pursue Intimacy With God
THIS – is a Palm Branch that was cut off the palm trees in the front of the building on December 8th. On December 8th – it look just like the ones that are one the tree now.
Jesus was heading to the garden with His guys. AND – they were flipping out… I MEAN – think about what had just happened…
• Jesus, washing their
• Jesus, telling them that one of them would betray Him
• Jesus, taking the bread and the cup… and telling them, “my body will be broken, my blood will be shed… for you.
WHAT – kind of thoughts were going through their mind as their feet walked the dark path to the garden? “What are we going to do? How will we make it? How will we survive without Jesus.?”
Have you ever found yourself on a dark path asking yourself: “How will I make it? How will I ever survive this one?” Jesus’ answer to them is His answer to us…
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. – John 15:4-8
There is no doubt that you will have face challenges in the year 2008. And staying connected, pursuing intimacy with God will make huge difference… (rub leaf in bag and leaf on the plant)…
AND TIM – you stay connected to God by: studying His word, praying, worshiping, being in His church, savoring His creation, reading great books (I listed a few on the back of your notes) & hanging out with his people.
Every time you see a branch – connected, green and alive or disconnected withered and dead let it remind you… of your need to be connected to God. A connection that will feed the cravings of soul, making it come alive.
HEY WE – are doing 2 new studies as we launch the year 2008 at Southeast. Wednesday night we will begin a study on Spiritual Disciplines…(coed class). Basically a spiritual discipline is a practice that puts you in a place where God can transform you. AND – on Sunday morning as we begin 2008 – One adult study “Do It Again”
Water – Pour More Of God IN…
THIS – glass of water represents our life when we come to Christ… It’s clear… we are pure… BUT – then life comes (pretty much the same day) and we find out that even though we are saved… we still have some of the same struggles…(dirt) WITH… Anger/Gossip/slander/lust/lies/addiction/envy/bitterness… and our clear glass is not so clear anymore.
HEY – did anyone add any dirt to their glass in 2007? My hunch is that if you are like me… you even added some of the same dirt that you resolved would not be in your life in 07’.
DO – you ever get frustrated trying to remove the dirt from your life? QUESTION – why do we fail more times then not, when we try to remove it? ANSWER – because WE TRY to remove the sin and dirt from our lives…
UNDERSTAND – on our own power we will NEVER be able to get the dirt out. BUT – the good news is that there is another power that is available to every believer, the Holy Spirit. AND – this power; this spring of living water that according to Jesus in John 7, is streaming from within each of us, is designed to get the dirt out….
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. – Eph 5:18
So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. – Gal 5:16 (NLT)
IN – 2008, to live your dash well, to get the dirt out… you need to pour more of God in. let the Holy Spirit fill and control you… Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves AND – here is what that looks like…
A Light – “It’s Not About Me, It’s About Him”
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16
There is a story that was going on long before you breathed you first breathe – long before that left side of your dash ever existed. And this story will still be going on long after you have breathed your last and that right side of you dash is filled in.
It is the story of an:
• All powerful/knowing/present
• Always existing
• Great, mighty, eternal, invisible, immortal, indescribable, uncontainable, good and gracious king…
Creating long before time began a world of billions of galaxies and breathless beauty and wonder for one purpose to have an intimate relationship with the crown of His creation… you and you and you and you…
NEVER – forget why everything, and I mean everything exists, so that you and God can be together. SO THAT – you can know Him, be with Him… AND rest and come alive in Him! It’s not about me it’s about Him.
AWHILE BACK - I picked up a book that I really needed to read. I was feeling a little dry, withered and disconnected from the God I love. I needed something to help me to remember who I am. I want to read a few words from that book:
Though we are transient dust particles in a universe that is expanding faster than the speed of light, the unexplainable mystery of mysteries is that you and I are loved and prized by the God of creation.
Simply because he wanted to, He fashioned each of us in his own image, creating within us the capacity to know Him. And if that wasn’t staggering enough, in spite of our foolishness and rebellious hearts, God pursued us with relentless passion, fully expressing to us His unfathomable love through the mercy and grace of the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ.
YES – there is an awesome story going on of a Great and Merciful God bringing His people back to Himself. Rescuing them from faraway places and bringing them back home. A story whose final and never ending chapter will be when the new heaven and the new earth come down from the sky.
BOTTOM LINE God is big and we are not. HE – is the one who is calling the shots, directing the script, determining the plot, we are not. AND what’s really wild is that while this huge and powerful God doesn’t need any of us… He nevertheless has invited each of us to join him and play a part in the story that never ends.
In 2008 to live your dash while…
Stop getting being so caught up in and giving most of your energy to your own little story. STOP looking for ways to shine the light on yourself… and making it all about you. AND INSTEAD – enter every environment (home, school, work, church..ect) with every intention to shine as little light as possible on you and as much light as possible on Jesus, God the Son. WHAT – a concept! WHAT – a way to walk through life!
A Book – God Knows What’s Best For Your (Better than you know what’s best for you)
LISTEN – this is one truth that will radically change your life in 2008. I MEAN – embracing this. LIVING – this… WILL – without a doubt make 2008 a different year then the years before. SURE – we may know this truth in our heads but for most of us it’s never made the trip from our head – to our heart – to our actions.
YOU SEE – we think…
• That we know what is best for us
• We think we know what will make us happy, WHAT – will fulfill us, satisfy us.
• We think we know had to predict and determine the outcomes in our lives.
BUT – do we? GOD SAYS – I know BETTER than you what will fulfill you, what will satisfy the deep hunger in your souls, what will make you happy. I know better than you how to have the outcomes, how to have the life in 2008 that you have always dreamed about. QUESTION – who ‘really’ knows BEST… THIS – is a crucial issue for you and I to nail down before we launch out into to 2008.
QUESTION – how many of you… CAN THINK – of a time when you made a decision that you were absolutely sure at the time would bring you joy, contentment, happiness – satisfaction… (MAYBE – it was a relationship, a marriage, a move, a purchase, a job change)… BUT – not long after you made it you realized you were wrong/that you made a mistake? (YEAH – I think we all got some of them).
OKAY – here’s another one… HOW – many of you can think of a time where you knew the decision you were about to make you was what was what was best for you. I MEAN - you were certain it would make you happy BUT – at the last minute something happened and the deal fell through (they left you at the altar, broke up with you, gave the job or promotion to someone else)… AND – you were so mad, so frustrated so ticked off about it… BUT – 6 months later you were saying ‘Man, I’m sure glad that didn’t happen.”
ONE MORE…. HAVE - you ever watched someone you love make a decision that they are so sure is what is best for them… BUT – standing on the sidelines you know that it is going to be a train wreck one day. SO – you try to warn them… “he is not the right one for you, that’s not the move you need to make…
…YET – they are so sure it the best thing that they go for it, they jump in with both feet… AND – sure enough they crash and burn… Maybe not right away… Maybe it took a few months or years… BUT – it blew up on them…
NOW I – say all this to say to make this point. WE DON’T - always know what’s best for us even when we think we do… There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. – Proverbs 14:12
(Tim) YOU – don’t always know what’s best for you… BUT GOD – always knows what’s best for you… AND IF – we embrace and live this truth our 2008 will be much different… THERE IS - is a passage that Solomon wrote in Proverbs that really speaks to this… Proverbs 3:5,6 (Let’s take a look at it).
Trust in the LORD with all your heart…
FIRST – let’s note what that verse is not saying… IT – is not saying… TRUST – your heart. IT – is saying TRUST the Lord. QUESTIONS – how many times have you been told the opposite… “now honey all you need to do is trust your heart, follow your heart and you will be fine…” NOW – come on is the heart really that trust worthy? The heart is deceitful above all things… (Jer 17:9)
TODAY – your heart says “he’s the one”
3 years later your heart says, “he’s not the one… maybe he was the one, maybe I should look for another one…
DON’T – trust you heart… TRUST – the lord… TRUST – the Lord with your heart.
and lean not on your own understanding…
NOW – lean and trust mean the same thing. DON’T – trust your own understanding. LISTEN – when it comes to your own reasoning, your own opinions and God’s commands… God wins! WHEN – it comes to your own reasoning; this how I think relationships should work, this how I understand the handling of money…
WHEN – it comes to your reasoning and God’s commands… God wins. This book wins!
in all your ways acknowledge him
NOW - the word ways means all the arenas of your life… (friends, work, family, marriage, conflict… FATHER – here’s what I’ve been thinking about…
What do you have to say…
AND – the word acknowledge means to submit… IN – all the arenas of your life submit to what God has to say…
and he will make your paths straight
BY – path he means your lifestyle, your way of life…
Straight - upright, prospered, blessed, bring you to your desired outcomes…
IF – you were to take me back to the chapter in your life that you regret the most… I THINK – you would find that the outcome would have been much different IF at the beginning of that chapter you decided that God knows better than you what is best for your life.
AND HEY – Solomon the guy who wrote those awesome words found in Proverbs 3:5,6… HE – wasn’t so good at taking his own advise… HE – thought that his reasoning could
LISTEN – if in 2008 you resolve this in your own mind… “Father, whether I understand it, like it, agree with, or whether or not it makes sense – I am going with your word.”
Glasses – See Everyone As Someone Who Christ Died For
UNDERSTAND – everyone you lay eyes on is someone that Christ died for. THE PERSON – to your right and left. THE PERSON – in front of and behind you… IS SOMEONE – of immense value. IS – someone worth the death of the Son of God. QUESTION…
• How do you treat someone with that kind of value
• How do you respond to someone who is that important and valuable to someone you love.
THIS - truth… THIS – kind of thinking… WILL – have a huge impact on your 2008. GOD – is radically in love with and finds incredible value in everyone… AND – if we are in love with God, we should love and value everyone.
NOW – if we are honest we’d have to admit that we do not always do this… OUR – tendency is treat people by have valuable they are to us. IF – you can help me… THEN – I’ll pay more attention to you…
HOWEVER – we do at times value the people that people we value value… MEN – you value your mother in-law… maybe the bosses kids… HOW – do you treat someone who: you don’t know, don’t like who God died for?
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us (husband, wife, kids, parents, people you work for/with, the person in front of you and behind you, the person you are going to have a difficult conversion with this week, the person who: fired you, betrayed you, left you, abandoned you…)
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
– 1 John 4:9-11
WHAT IF – in 2008 we saw everyone as someone that Jesus died for… Would it change the way you treat them? Would you talk to them differently? What if we heard the voice of God whisper to our heart…
That’s not just…
• Your wife
• Your husband
• Your kids
• Your parents
• The cashier at Publix
• The person at work that drives you insane
• Someone with an immoral lifestyle
• The person you are angry at
That is someone that I died for…
NOW – I’m not saying that we just roll over, that we don’t have conflict, we don’t confront… I’m just saying that in the midst of life… WHAT IF - in 2008 we remember we are in the presence of people so valuable to the Father that he sent his son to die for them. REMEMBER – the old song (red and yellow, black and white they are… PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT!)
SO – we need to careful, cautious, mindful…
A Rope – We’re Better Together
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
I think King Solomon pretty well said it all with those words… We are better together! We were made for each other. AND – together we can help each other live our dash well… BOTTOM LINE – if you are not in community with other believers the chances of you REALLY getting out of the chair and living your dash well in 2008 are pretty slim…
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