-Restigouche
Valley Church NOTES - 10/22/2000
Living My Best Life - Part 1
Essentials of My Best Life
Pastor Bill Jewett
October 22,2000
Many of us don't live like we know how live:
o We have to learn as we go
o We pick up negative ways of coping with life
o We get angry at the wrong times
o We worry about things that don't really matter
o We handle relationships poorly and wonder why we can't get along with others and can't figure out why we don't have many close friends
o Countless people get involved with drugs and alcohol because they lack a sense of purpose in their lives
Jesus teaches us what is important (Matthew 22:36-40). I've appreciated the person who asked the question of Matthew 22:36: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?
Jesus answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' All the Law and the writings of the prophets hang on these two commands." (Mat 22:36-40 NCV)
FOUR ESSENTIALS TO LIVING MY BEST LIFE
1. Christ - My Eternal Source of POWER & SECURITY
One New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.
Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas.
In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.
Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.
J.B. Phillips paraphrases Ephesians l: 19-20, "How tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God." When we make firm our connection with God, his life and power flow through us.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-- Benjamin Franklin.
n My Need - Who Can I Trust?
A Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world, with one chance in a million of being successful. Besides having more powerful defenses than any other post under the American Flag, it is protected by distance.
Taken from the book At Dawn We Slept by Gordon Prange. Written on Sept. 6, 1941 by journalist Clarke Beach.
My people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me-the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
(Jer. 2:13 NLT)
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
(Jn 7:38-39 NIV)
F.B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part. The men roped themselves together in this order: guide, traveler, guide, traveler, guide. They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing. He was held up temporarily by the other four, because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice. But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him. The only one to stand firm was the first guide, who had driven a spike deep into the ice. Because he held his ground, all the men beneath him regained their footing. F.B. Meyer concluded his story by drawing a spiritual application. He said, "I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God, I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. And because He stands, I will never perish."
n God's Answer - The JOY of His Presence
2. Character - The Eternal PERSON I Am Becoming
n My Need - Who Am I?
If you love me, you will obey what I command.
(John 14:15 NIV)
Introduction: (Duct tape illustration using a roll of tape) Many of you here are very familiar with this product. You have probably used it many times for many different purposes.
Years ago, thousands of dollars went into research to develop this product - it is the invention of two men.
Today, we use it on tons of things...to temporarily fix pipes…If you get a hole in your pants while you are out hunting, you can use it to tape up your pants…If your children get out of hand, you can always use it to tie 'em up… It is even used on the space shuttle to temporarily fix problems… I used to have a friend that swore up and down that the world was held together with duct tape and bailing wire.
Duct tape was created with a purpose in mind - it is designed to be used in heating and air conditioning applications -- to seal up the joints on metal ductwork. Has any of you in here ever tried to use it on ductwork? This is some of the sorriest tape for ductwork I have ever seen! You try to use it on the insulation around the duct and it sticks for about two minutes. It doesn't really stick to the duct either.
It was created for a purpose, but it does everything but what it was designed to do!
We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18 NIV)
We are nearing the season of mask-wearing, Halloween, and some of our children, at least, will be putting them on. In the radio program, The Lone Ranger (who was known as "The Masked Man"). Some of us who are older remember how thrilled we were when we heard that call of, "Hi-ho, Silver!" to the beat of the William Tell Overture, and the invariable question, "Who was that Masked Man anyway?" And, we were distressed a couple of weeks ago to learn that the Supreme Court has ordered that The Masked Man has to take his mask off. The Lone Ranger cannot wear it anymore!
But in Verse 12 of Second Corinthians, Chapter 3, Paul tells us who "The Masked Man" of the Bible is. It is Moses.
When Moses came down from the mountaintop, we learn that his face was shining, and that brilliant face of Moses becomes the symbol of the attraction, the glory, that there is about trying to keep the Law of God. Every one of us has felt that attraction at times. We know what it feels like to have some opportunity given to us to show what we can do and to respond to it. We feel a quickening of our blood when we feel certain demands we think we can meet, and we want an opportunity to show that we can. An awful lot of people can get very excited over that kind of thing today in the realms of music, sports, politics, and various other areas of human endeavor. That is all symbolized by the glory of Moses' face.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like...
(Gal 5:19-20 NIV)
Remember these are the acts of the sinful nature. What does Paul mean? Not just an act of sin, but a habit of sin.
But The fruit of the Spirit: is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control.
(Gal 5:22-23)
There is a contrast between works and fruit, which is important to understand. A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and in the case of the believer, it is the life of God's Spirit.
When you think of "work" you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of "fruit" you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life.
It is possible to counterfeit some of the fruit of the Spirit, but the flesh can never produce the fruit of the Spirit. The difference? When the Spirit produces the fruit, God gets the glory and the Christian is not conscious of his spirituality; but when the flesh is at work, the person is inwardly proud of himself and is pleased when others compliment him.
We must also remember that this fruit is produced to be eaten, not to be admired and put on display. People all around us are starving for love, joy, peace and all the other graces of the Spirit. When they find them in our lives, they know that we have something that they lack.
n God's Answer - The Dignity of TRUE INNER GOODNESS
3. Compassion - My Eternal PURPOSE In Life
Sign on door: "Gone out of business. Didn't know what our business was."
There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark."
Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read."
J. M. Boice, Learning to Lead, Revell, 1990, p. 38.
n My Need - Why Am I Here?
You… were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
(Gal 5:13 NIV)
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mat 4:19 NIV)
The glory of God, and, as our only means to glorifying Him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life.
C.S. Lewis.
n God's Answer -- WORK that Matters in Eternity
4. Community - Eternal RELATIONSHIPS to Share My Life With
One can acquire everything in solitude except character.
"Stendhal in Fragments, I" Christianity Today, November 22, 1993, p. 37.
n My Need - Aloneness
God said, "It isn't good for man to be alone…"
(Gen. 2:18 TLB)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
(Jn 13:34-35)
n God's Answer - FRIENDS that Last Forever
Copyright © 2000 Bill Jewett
Restigouche Valley Church
