FULL LIFE
1) Intro
Intro: Something that has characterized all cultures throughout history is the presence of heroes. It seems that in every culture we develop heroes. Whether it be John Wayne, riding out onto the range alone to defeat the bandits, or Luke Skywalker, flying a mission to save the empire, or Michael Jordan leading the Bulls through a championship season, or James Bond, saving the world in an afternoon while not spilling his tea. We all have images of heroes, those people who seem larger than life, doing things thought impossible, and setting a pattern for us to follow.
One of the reasons we focus on heroes is that deep down each of us wants to be a hero; we each want to be special, someone who makes a difference in the life of somebody. The need for significance is one of the most compelling needs we face: far greater than the need for food or water or survival. We each want to give ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves.
The second reason we love to focus on heroes is that we never want to give up hope. When do the heroes show up? Not during the Cowboy/Indian peace talks, but when the Indians are on the warpath, the fort is surrounded, and the water supply is just about gone. Those who offer hope when all hope is gone are the ones seen as the heroes.
This morning I would offer you a truth: God loves to provide heroes! Think with me through Jewish history: Abraham - When Lot and all the inhabitants of Sodom and the area are captured and taken away, Abraham gets his home boys, 318 soldiers trained in his household, and they go beat up on the Elamites and the others there.
Joseph - If you like Rocky, you’ve got to like Joseph. In Rocky, he keeps getting beat up, but when he’s beat up the most, that’s when you know he’s just getting ready to fight. Joseph - hated by his brothers, kidnapped, sold into slavery, tempted to sin daily, when he does right is thrown in jail, is forgotten there, helps two prisoners have hope, but is neglected when they get out of jail. Just when you think it couldn’t get much worse, he is elevated to be the second highest in the land.
How about Moses, the deliverer, parting the Red Sea.
Or how about Gideon, defeating the massive army of the Midianites with only 300 men. How about Samson, time after time destroying the Philistines, and in the end killing more in his death than he had in his lifetime. We love heroes.
God is a God of heroes, a God who constantly offers hope. No matter how bad things get, there is always hope. In the midst of our problems, God offers us hope. We see this hope expressed in the second half of the book of Isaiah. In the first half of the book, we see much written about the judgment that is coming on the people for their sinfulness. But in the last half we see that Isaiah writes to give the people comfort and hope in the midst of their punishment.
God gives his people hope
God chose us to be in relationship with Him
Ephesians 1:5 (Msg)
Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
What is relationship?
Die Scribner-Bantam Engelse Woordeboek definition as “connection, kinship, or involvement.” Also it is affiliation, assosiation and belonging
John 3:16 (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 10:10 (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
1) A LIFE FILLED WITH GOD
John 10:10 (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The Thief comes to destroy and kill
• Suicide
• Murder
•
steal
But God wants a relationship with us
Mat 17:20 is our theme verse:
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
2) Growing people into life-giving relationships
Whenever we start blaming others for our own actions or situations, we are really declaring their lordship over our lives.
The way that we are judged according to Matthew 25 is on how we cared for those less fortunate. The sign that we are saved, that the Holy Spirit resides within us is that we serve the poor!
Rick Warren says “If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I’m only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Philippians 2
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The reason that Jesus is exalted to the highest place is that he was a servant – an obedient servant of God and a caring servant of the poor.
How?
1 John 3:18
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Do we all need to become Mother Theresa? (It would be nice) but no – be yourself, with the poor – we are to spend our gifts, not someone else’s. What ever gift God has given you, “spiritual” or not – use it to bless the poor: computers, finances, job skills, compassion encouragement, evangelism, healing, prophesy… Bless the poor!
Service to one another (for another sermon)
I really wanted to make this point, but I’ve already gone to long, but suffice it to say we must extend our service to our sisters and brothers in the church as well.
3) Growing in an authentic life-giving church
Authentic Christian Community
Causes a community to grow
Filled with livegiving Bussiness
Isaiah 58:8-12 (Message)
“If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
• Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places – firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
Isaiah 58: 12 (Message)
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.”
In closing
Jeremia 1:4- 11
4 The Lord gave me this message:
5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”
7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.
8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!
10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”
Ezekiel37
Eseg. 37:1-4 (NLT)
1 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.
2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.
3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!
Rom 10:9 (NLT)
9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
