THREE STEPS TO A GREAT LIFE
First Christian Church 12-30-0
1. In a Charlie Brown cartoon, Lucy was talking to Linus. Pointing to a mountain, she said, “On the other side of that hill is happiness. When I get old enough to climb that hill, I will go all the way over to the other side where the sun always shines, there are no problems and there is only happiness.” Linus asked, “What happens if there’s another boy on the other side of that hill and he’s pointing to our side and he’s saying the same thing? What if he thinks happiness is on this side?” Lucy stared at him. Then she shouted across that hill, “Forget it kid!”
2. The January 17, 2005 issue of Time Magazine was titled: The Science of Happiness.
a) There were many solutions given for finding happiness.
b) Comedian Joan Rivers said “Happiness at my age means breathing.”
c) Charles Schultz said, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”
d) For 64 pages, in 25 articles, science offered a variety of bizarre and contradictory paths to happiness.
3. The Bible offers its own ideas about how we can be happy.
a) It gives us a different definition of happiness than the world gives.
b) God doesn’t want us to be average or to settle for good enough.
c) Here are three steps we can take to have a great life in 2008.
I. MAKE SURE YOUR LIFE IS HEADING IN A GOD-PLEASING DIRECTION
1. It is two days before January 1, the New Year.
a) January, takes its name from the Roman god Janus.
b) Janus was known as the god of good beginnings.
c) The Temple of Janus in Rome featured a two-faced statue. The young face of Janus looked east and the old face looked west—toward the sunset.
d) The old face was always looking behind remembering the past. The new face looked ahead, making plans, selecting new goals, and dreaming big.
e) Paul looked ahead in his own life. Paul says I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14 New Living Translation (NLT)
2. Some people spend their lives looking back.
a) Their life is filled with regrets about their past.
b) They never get over past failures or rejection.
Maybe their marriage didn’t work out.
Maybe their finances are a disaster.
They put so much effort into it, yet it didn’t go as planned.
Now they’re defeated and not expecting much good in the future.
3. It reminds me of Lot’s wife.
a) God offered her a better future.
b) But, Lot’s wife turned and looked back at the old life she was leaving.
c) God was not pleased with her focus and turned her into a pillar of salt.
d) God offers to lead us to a brighter and better future if we are willing to leave our past behind us.
e) I know what I am planning for you," says the LORD. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Jeremiah 29:11 New Century Version (NCV)
4. If our lives are heading in a God-pleasing-direction, we will look forward to what’s coming ahead.
a) The vehicle you drive has a large windshield and a small rear view mirror.
That reminds us that what has past is not nearly as important as what is coming.
Where we are going is much more important than where we’ve been.
b) We cannot change the past, but we can do something about the future.
c) If we don’t quit looking back, we might turn into a pillar of salt!
d) If we are driving yet focused on what is behind us, we might turn into a telephone pole!
5. I heard a story about a dog that had been kept on a 20 foot leash for years.
a) This was the dog’s whole world.
b) The owner came out to feed him and play with him occasionally but the dog remained on the leash.
He would see other dogs and he would run out to the end of his leash.
He knew exactly how far he could go.
He wanted to chase and play but he knew his limits.
If he went too far, the chain jerked him back into his proper place.
One day, the owner felt sorry for the dog, so he decided to let him off the chain.
The owner unfastened the chain from the dog’s collar.
The collar remained, but he wasn’t held back anymore.
The owner figured that the dog would run happy and free.
Another dog came along, and sure enough, his dog got up and took off running.
When his dog got to where the leash would have ended, he stopped right where he always did.
A few minutes later, a cat came strutting by.
This cat had tormented the dog for years.
It knew where to walk, just a couple of feet outside the leash’s range.
Again the dog took off running but stopped right where he normally did.
The dog was free; he just didn’t realize it.
All he had to do was go one step farther than he was used to going and he would have realized his freedom.
c) This is similar to what people do.
God has removed the chains of His people’s sad past.
We can, and should move forward.
d) Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave…can’t come and go at will…if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. John 8:33-36 The Message (MSG)
6. God has given us freedom.
a) We can choose to change our life.
b) Satan wants us to believe that we are still in chains.
7. It reminds me of the old story about the little boy and the dead duck.
a) The little boy was visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. As he headed back for dinner, he saw grandma’s pet duck. Out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his sister watching! Sister had seen it all, but she said nothing. After dinner, grandma said, “Sally, will you please wash the dishes?” But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to wash the dishes.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So Johnny did the dishes. Next day, grandpa asked the children to go fishing, but grandma said, “I’m sorry but I need Sally to help me make lunch.” Sally smiled and said, “I can go fishing, because Johnny said he wanted to stay and help grandma.” She whispered again, “Remember the duck!” After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He went to grandma and confessed that he had killed her duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
8. In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve had sinned against God, they hid from God.
a) When God asked them, “Where are you?” they said, “We are hiding because we are naked.”
God asked them, “Who told you that you were naked?”
God knew Satan had been talking to them.
God knows that Satan talks to us as well.
God is saying to you today, “Who told you that you can’t be more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ?
Who told you that you couldn’t break your addiction?
Who told you that you will never accomplish your dreams?
You have been listening to Satan, haven’t you?
b) We need to come clean with God and turn our lives in a God pleasing direction.
II. ALWAYS BE GROWING IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
1. Do you realize that no one here today is the same person they were seven years ago?
a) Approximately every seven years, we are an entirely new person.
b) In that period of time, every cell, every atom, in our body dies and is replaced with new ones.
c) Not one atom in your body today was there seven years ago.
d) Someone has called this process, “the seven year switch.”
e) As long as we are alive, no matter how old we become, there is constant new growth provided by God.
f) Just as this is true of us physically, it should always be true of our spiritual growth.
2. No new growth indicates that something is dying (or dead).
a) Israel is no longer growing; in fact, it is shrinking as they continue trying to negotiate peace with the Palestinians by giving up pieces of Israel.
b) The country of Israel was not a very large place to start with if you look at a map.
c) It was not God who determined the size of their land; God’s people determined that for themselves.
d) God spoke to Moses and Joshua saying, I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Joshua 1:3 New International Version (NIV)
e) Israel is small because the Israelites were satisfied with little.
f) In the same way, we will determine the bigness or smallness of our relationship with God.
g) How much of God do you want in your life?
All things in moderation (including God)?
Are you satisfied with where you are as a Christian?
If you want more of God, you can expand your borders in Bible reading and study, and in the many growth opportunities this church offers to you.
3. The Bible says if we don’t continue growing spiritually as a Christian we will begin to shrink.
a) Paul said to First Christian Church in Corinth, Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 New Living Translation (NLT)
b) Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in America today.
c) We can die from a spiritual heart condition as well.
d) The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" He replied, "You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won’t have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won’t have to look, so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them. Matthew 13:10-15 The Message (MSG)
e) When we ignore God’s Word, it is impossible for God to change our heart and our life…we are in the process of spiritually dying.
4. It is our responsibility to pursue God and our own spiritual growth.
a) A university professor gave her students an opportunity to evaluate her course at the end of the semester. One student said, “I liked the course, but I feel very strongly that the professor puts too much of the responsibility for learning on the students.”
b) God has put the responsibility for learning, for growth, on us as his students.
c) Our spiritual growth is a struggle, but we are not alone in our struggle.
5. God speaks to us many times and in many ways, but we don’t always recognize it as God’s voice.
a) Elijah was at a spiritual low point in his life.
b) He needed God’s guidance.
c) You may be surprised at how God chose to reveal himself to Elijah.
d) 1 Kings 19:11-13 then he was told, "Go, stand on the mountain at attention before GOD. GOD will pass by." A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before GOD, but GOD wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but GOD wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but GOD wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, "So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?" The Message (MSG)
6. God whispers to us through our conscience, through that quiet voice from heaven.
a) But, many people don’t listen.
b) You hear people say all the time, “I know I shouldn’t do this, but…”
c) How do they know they shouldn’t do it?
d) Or, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but…”
e) Or, “I know I shouldn’t buy this, but…”
f) Every time we ignore that voice that guides us to do the right thing, we shut God out of our life.
g) Hearing God—is the theme for the next couple of months at our 24/7, Saturday night, 6 pm service. Please come!
h) Our God shaped territory becomes smaller than God intended and shrinks more every time we give in to enemy voices.
7. Obedience to God’s Word will restore our heart.
a) 1 John 2:3-5 (New International Version) We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him
b) Isn’t it amazing that we can know the right thing to do, yet still ignore it?
c) Someday we will look back and understand how many times God tried to reach out to us.
d) For a person to be a practicing thief, liar, slanderer, gossip, adulterer or any of the things listed as evil in the Scripture and at the same time think they have a relationship with God deceives themselves. John says that person is a liar and does not follow the truth.
e) When we refuse to follow God’s guidance, we step out of God’s protection and favor.
f) But, when we ask forgiveness, God will restore us and our God-territory will begin to grow again.
8. We don’t have to have special talents or skills to grow as Christians.
a) I read about a janitor in a large school district who lost his job because he was couldn’t read. People were leaving written instructions for him but, because he couldn’t read, things weren’t getting done. Finally, he was fired. But he was a very enterprising man. He went into business for himself and soon became very successful. He applied to the bank for a loan to expand his business; the bank officer who reviewed his financial statement was impressed. “Good heavens man, you’ve done all this and you are illiterate? Just imagine where you would be if you could read and write!” The ex-janitor replied, “Yup, I would be a janitor at the school district.”
b) Our background does not disqualify us for growing and prospering in God’s kingdom.
9. How much of God’s favor and blessings we experience, depends on how well we follow his directions.
a) Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. But anyone who doesn’t love me won’t obey me. John 14:23-24 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
b) God deals with us and brings areas to light where we need to improve.
c) Sometimes he does it through sermons, through lessons, through a pastor or a friend, through seemingly random statements that prod our conscience.
d) When he brings these corrective thoughts to our attention, if we want his continued blessings, we have to be willing to do what God commands.
10. God never meant life to be as hard for us as many people make it out to be.
a) The children of Israel wandered around in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land for 40 years.
b) A trip of that distance should have taken 11 days!
c) Because of their lack of faith, and obedience, they kept going around and around in circles.
d) Déjà fools!
e) Have you have been stuck at the same place in your life, year after year, going around in circles?
f) Our prayer should be, God, please show me the truth about myself.
Help me to listen and obey.
I don’t want to be at the same place next year.
I want to receive all the blessings you have planned for me.
11. There are no limits to our growth except the ones we put on ourselves.
a) I read about a full grown whale 100 feet long and weighing 160,000 pounds. But, scientists must use a microscope to see a whale at its earliest stages.
b) Giant redwoods reach a height of 300 feet. But, they began as a seed 1/16 of an inch in diameter.
c) Jesus said that good seed, in good soil can produce …a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Luke 8:8 New Living Translation (NLT)
d) A person wanting to grow in Christ can take on giant redwood proportions!
e) It is possible to grow a hundred times larger (spiritually) than when we began as a new Christian.
III. EXPECT GOD’S BEST FOR YOUR LIFE
1. There was once an 18-year-old college freshman. She knew what she wanted in a man. So, she began to look for her knight in shining armor on a white horse. At the beginning of her sophomore year, she realized that the color of the horse wasn’t that important. When her junior year rolled around she thought, who needs armor? Besides, it just gets rusty! As a senior, she decided to take the horse.
a) Sometimes our great expectations dwindle over time.
b) Our happiness depends on what we looking for.
c) Two opposite kinds of birds fly over the California deserts; the Hummingbird and the vulture. All the vulture can see is rotting meat, because that’s all he’s looking for. He thrives on that diet. But the Hummingbird ignores the rotting flesh of dead animals. Instead, he looks for the tiny blossoms on cactus flowers. He finds the colorful blooms, almost hidden from view by the rocks. Each bird finds what it is looking for.
d) What are you looking for?
e) What have you found?
f) Look for God’s best for your life and you will find happiness.
2. There’s an interesting story in the Bible about a poor widow.
a) Her husband died and she didn’t have enough money to pay her bills.
b) The creditors were coming to take her two sons as payment.
c) The only thing she had left was a small pot of oil.
d) Elisha the prophet showed up at her home and asked her to do something unusual.
e) Go out to all of your neighbors and gather up as many large, empty containers as you can find that can hold oil.
f) Don’t just get a few; get as many as you can possibly find.
g) He had to get her faith going in the right direction. She had sat around long enough accepting defeat.
h) So she gathered up empty containers, brought them home, and Elisha told her to pour the little oil she had into the other containers.
i) At first, it looked as though she was going to transfer it from one container to another, but the Scripture says her oil never ran out.
j) God supernaturally multiplied the oil until every single container was completely full.
k) If she would’ve gotten a thousand more containers, they would have been filled by God as well.
l) So it is with a person’s empty life and the oil of the Holy Spirit.
m) Ephesians 3:20 With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. New Century Version (NCV)
We are the ones who limit God!
His resources are unlimited!
Do you believe this?
n) Matthew 9:28-30 …blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored... New International Version (NIV)
3. God wants what is best for us but sometimes we don’t act like we believe it.
a) Our discouragement can cost us what God has in mind to give to us.
b) I remember in Exodus 6:8-10 (New International Version) God promised his people Israel, I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’ " Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement...
c) 10 out of 12 who checked out the Promised Land were negative. The Bible says, So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it- these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. Numbers 14:36-38 (New International Version)
4. Negative and discouraged people allow their problems and circumstances to defeat them.
a) They live a joyless life, then turn and steal the joy of others around them.
b) For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:5-7 (New International Version)
c) Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. New International Version (NIV)
d) Paul, in Ephesians 5:18-20 says …be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. New Living Translation (NLT)
e) We can overcome the pressures of life by keeping a song of praise to God in our hearts.
f) Throughout the day, continually express a grateful attitude for all God has done for you.
5. Charles Dickens wrote the classic novel called Great Expectations.
a) It is the story of an orphan boy named Pip. He was passed around from home to home by people who didn’t really care about him. A boy like that didn’t have much hope for his future. But then, an anonymous donor began to give him money. It came to him through a lawyer named Jaggers. He would not tell Pip who his benefactor was. Pip began to live life with great expectations. He looked around at the faces of the people he knew: “Who is helping him out? Why were they doing it? His expectations about himself grew.
He could go off to London and become a fine gentleman.
He could marry a beautiful woman and live happily ever after.
All Great expectations.
But Pip looked for the wrong things from the wrong people in the wrong places.
And in the end, his world collapsed around him.
b) Many have started out life with great expectations and ended up disappointed.
c) Pip had an earthly benefactor, but we have a heavenly benefactor who loves us and supports us and gives us a good future here on earth and promises us a place in his own home.
d) He has gone ahead to prepare that place for us. His name is Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
1. God is working behind the scenes in our life.
a) We may not see the fruit of it yet, so we must learn to trust him.
b) In God’s perfect timing, his plan for our life will come to completion.
2. I’ll close with the Legend of Solomon’s Temple:
a) There was a legend among the Jews that during the seven years it took to build Solomon’s Temple something unusual happened.
b) Early in the construction process a pre-cut stone was brought from the quarry that didn’t fit. (All the stones were cut and shaped off site but this particular stone just didn’t fit.)
c) The workers thought the stone cutters had made a mistake so they rolled it over the cliff into the valley below.
d) Years passed and the grass and moss covered the rejected and forgotten stone.
e) When the Temple was almost completed, there was one space that had yet to be filled.
f) The workers sent word to the stone cutters that they needed one more stone.
g) The stone cutters said they had shaped that missing stone first—a long time ago.
h) One of the workers remembered the stone that didn’t fit, that was thrown into the valley.
i) They found it, cleaned it, and brought it back to the Temple site.
j) The workers lifted the stone into the empty space and it fit perfectly.
k) It was the capstone.
l) Psalm 118:22 David says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.”
m) Peter said, Jesus Christ of Nazareth…whom God raised from the dead…Ac 4:11 He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12
3. Is something missing in your life?
a) Is SOMEONE missing in your life?
b) When we look up to Christ for help—we can look forward to life!
