EXTREME LIVING Attitude is Everything
(All my sermons use illustrations from Sermon Central and all Scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted)
In our world there seems to be a need to take things to another level. When I was younger I enjoyed sports, now there is EXTREME sports. Our world is inundated with EXTREME things; extreme home make-overs, extreme foods, extreme video, extreme fitness, and extreme guitar. My Space even has an extreme section. But, extreme living is not new. I believe the Bible can teach us how to live EXTREME lives and if you have your Bible with you today please turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10.
Neh 8:10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
PRAYER
The strength we have is the joy of the Lord? The verse actually say that our rock, strength, fortified place, stronghold or defense is gladness or rejoicing in Jehovah or the Lord. It means that if we are living EXTREME lives, nothing in this world is to BIG or too DIFFICULT for us to handle, because we have the Lord.
Max Lucado tells of this kind of joy, let me read this to you:
“I have everything I need for joy!” Robert Reed said. His hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out audiocassette. Robert has cerebral palsy. The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduate with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College or from venturing overseas on five mission trips. And Robert’s disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal. He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language. Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he distributed brochures about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa. I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.” His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held together by joy.
That is the kind of JOY we need to live EXTREME lives, nothing on the outside having control of us, but the inner peace and joy of the Lord our Savior and our King. So HOW do we go about allowing this to happen?
I. JOY COMES FROM BEING IN THE LORD’S PRESENCE
The first thing is to understand that JOY comes from being in the presence of the Lord. I think that King David understood this simple fact.
Ps 16:5-9 The Living Bible The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine. 6 He sees that I am given pleasant brooks and meadows as my share! What a wonderful inheritance! 7 I will bless the Lord who counsels me; he gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do. 8 I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or to fall. 9 Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy.
God Himself is our prize! BUT HOW? Verse 8 tells us HOW! I am always thinking of the Lord. Every thought of David’s was filtered through the Lord. David said that Jehovah counseled him and gave him wisdom and told him what to do. This is the secret to EXTREME living, knowing that if we are always thinking of the Lord He will counsel us and give us wisdom and tell us what to do. AND, all of us would like to have someone to tell us what to do, wouldn’t we? Is it not FEAR that keeps us from having Joy? And isn’t that FEAR driven by not knowing what we need to do?
Perhaps that fear comes because we are NOT REALLY in the presence of the Lord as we claim. Truly if we are in God’s presence are we not in the safest place we can be?
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received nothing but refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the old man’s response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew. The Moral of The Story Is This! : When you’re prepared, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God.
II. JOY COMES FROM HAVING THE HOLY SPIRIT
Extreme living comes from having the strength derived from the Joy of the Lord. This happens from being in the Lord’s presence all the time and from having the Holy Spirit of God with us.
Gal 5:22-23 Again from the Living Bible But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws.
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, it is He that produces these fruits in our lives!! If we remain in Christ we have the power of the Holy Spirit and we can bear the fruit we desire to have in our lives. Jesus told us this in the Gospel of John, chapter 15 verses 4-5 John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Apart from our Lord we can do nothing, let alone have Joy in our lives! Extreme living is all about remaining in the presence of God. It is about having the counsel, the wisdom and the leadership of our God in our lives. Extreme living is having the Holy Spirit in control of our lives in order that we might overcome the FEAR of the unknown future. Extreme living is about understanding that God really is in control of everything, HE alone knows everything. If we are in His presence, if we hold His Holy Spirit there is nothing we cannot do, there is nothing we cannot face.
Example: tennis ball vs. play dough We are all affected by the storms and struggles of life. The question to consider is how are you going to respond? Like a tennis ball or play dough? You see, when you put pressure on play dough, it leaves a lasting imprint. Everybody can tell that is has been tampered with because of the mark it left. However, when you put pressure on a tennis ball, although it initially caves into the stress, it doesn’t remain in that condition. It always bounces back to its original shape. How do you respond to the pressures and struggles of life?
III. JOY GROWS OUT OF REAL WORSHIP
Extreme living is all about having the strength that comes from joy in the Lord. I believe we are to come to the building as God’s church each and every Sunday to build each other up. To be strengthened by each other, sharpened and tuned. If joy is connected to strength, then when we are strengthened We will have joy. We are strengthened when we work together.
Paul put it this way, again in the Living Version: 1 Cor 14:26 Well, my brothers, let’s add up what I am saying. When you meet together some will sing, another will teach, or tell some special information God has given him, or speak in an unknown language, or tell what someone else is saying who is speaking in the unknown language, but everything that is done must be useful to all, and build them up in the Lord.
You see we meet in worship to draw close to Him who saves. To Him who gives us strength and to have the Holy Spirit present. This presence may different for many. I was listening to Air One on the radio the other day while running errands. I am not a big fan of the radio, this station is good Christian music but it covers the entire range of styles when it comes to music. The person speaking was telling of an incident when she was able to give another lady a ride home, one that had drifted from God for quite sometime and really didn’t trust people or the Lord anymore. During the ride home, playing the radio the lady she was giving a ride home to just started crying and apologized saying that she was at a place in her life where she had not been close to God and that the music convicted her and made her cry. The other lady explained that it was not the music but a place where God was calling her through a closeness she felt with the music and the words and the worship. Does that not happen on Sunday mornings when we worship? Sometime it is the music, sometimes it is the words from the sermon and others from the communion meditation, but never is it us, it is God calling us through our worship.
Everything that is done is useful to build each other up in the Lord. That is EXTREME Living, living within the presence of God, and being filled with His Holy Spirit, and coming to worship Him together to build one another up.
IV. WE CAN BE JOYFUL IN SPITE OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
Extreme living is a way to understand that no matter what is happening around us, nothing can change the fact that God is in control and we MUST rejoice in Him.
Once again from the Living Bible Paul tells us: Phil 4:4-7 Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Remember that the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
Isn’t it all about our ATTITUDE? Always be full of Joy in God, and we can show others we believe this by being considerate and unselfish in everything we do. Always placing the needs and desires of others before our own. AND not worrying about anything. HOLD THE PRESSES, I need to hear that more than most people I know. I am by nature a person that worries about everything. It is not something I want to do but it is in my nature. I have of late, found that by turning things over to the only one that can really do anything about it I have found more peace and more rest by trusting that God will do the right thing.
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen." After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. “Hah, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor." As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall." We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways.
We started our sermon this morning with a passage from Nehemiah, he directed the people on how to re-build the wall, and we saw in chapter eight that after the Word, or Law of God was read to the people they wept. But they were told that the Joy of the Lord is their strength.
And as the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, "In God we will have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20] Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a mere spider’s web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always. Just speak His name through Jesus His son, and you will see His great power and love for you.
Are you ready to live an Extreme life in Jesus? This morning as the musicians come forward can I ask you, are you rejoicing in the Lord? Are you here today and ready to get close to God, be filled with His Holy Spirit and find joy in times of worship? We can find Joy in God always, do you need Him today?
INVITATION
