When I was I high school, my mom was ill for an extended time. My brothers were out of the house and my dad and I had to fend for ourselves. Sometimes we’d cook. But that got old. So, we’d go out to eat.
One of the places we went was a small little diner run by an African-American couple. We’re talking “soul food.” I was growing and playing three sports. So, I had an appetite. I loved eating at that little café. The food was really good stuff. And they just piled it on! The meat, the gravy, the vegetables all were hanging off the plates. Overflowing food. It made us want to go back for more – over and over again.
I wonder. Do people see you as a source of good stuff? Do people see you as someone who overflows with good stuff for them? And do they come back to you over and over for more? Do they know that you will do something or say something that will encourage them, that will lift them, that will help them?
Or is it true that some people run the other way when they see you coming – because you suck the life out of people with constant demands, criticism, and whining?
There’s a young teenager out there who’s about ready to cave into sexual temptation. Her friends are telling her that it’s fun. She wants to keep her boyfriend and he’s putting the pressure on. She’s wondering, “Is there someone I can go to? Someone who won’t condemn me for being tempted? Someone who will give me some good stuff? Someone I can go back to over and over for help?” She can’t think of anyone in her world.
There’s a young man who’s confused about the direction to go in life. He’s been cramming 4 years of college into on 6 ½. Why? When he was a kid, he stood at the free throw line when his team was down by one and he missed the shot. Ever since, he’s wondered, “Do I have what it takes to be a winner?” So, he’s stalled in life. He’s wondering, “Is there someone I can go to? Someone who won’t condemn me for procrastinating? Someone who will give me some good stuff? Someone I can go back to over and over for help?” He can’t think of anyone in his world.
To help make this talk something more meaningful to you, think of at least one person who needs you to overflow for them. Who’s counting on you being a source of life for them?
This is only going to happen when you experience an Extreme Makeover – when you overflow with the life of Jesus.
In case you didn’t know, we are having baptisms next weekend. Jesus said, “go and make disciples baptizing them…” If you have become a follower of Christ and you’ve never been baptized as a believer, then it would not be a surprise that God has been speaking to you about that. If you’re interested in being baptized, then let us know on your care card today.
Last week’s winds and snow knocked out our electricity and some of you may have missed the message. We are putting an MP3 file on our website that is under construction. You can go to cuyahogavalleychurch.com or cvccgrow.com.
But let me just give a little review. We talked about what it’s going to take to have God pick us for a makeover. Families that appear on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition record an application video and say, “We hope you pick us!” They can’t pick everyone. But God can. There’s a certain type person He picks.
But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.”
Isaiah 66:1-2 (ESV)
Look – to show regard to, to pay attention to,
“Lord, pick me for a makeover – Why? I need more strength, more protection, more reward, more forgiveness, more renewal.”
The Lord will “look” at me when I…
1. … am humble.
Proud people pretend to have it all together. Humble people know they don’t. They admit it!
2. … am contrite.
The word means extreme sorrow for sin. There’s no blame-shifting going on. I am sorry about what I have done to create my relationship problems. I don’t blame you. I am sorry about my part.
3. … tremble at His word.
We expose ourselves to God’s voice – to the Bible. We know it is God who is speaking. We dare not “do” when God says “don’t.” We dare not “don’t” when God says “do.”
Bottom line? God is looking for brokenness. I have here some decorative, ceramic balls. Put them in a bowl and sit them on a table or shelf and some people would say they are kind of nice to look at.
But let me show you the ones that God looks at!
He picks the broken ones. All the time, every time.
Why? So He can display His glory – His strength, protection, reward, forgiveness, and renewal.
Our problem is that we want to act like we look unbroken. “I’m not that bad.”
God knows better. And deep in our hearts, we know better, too. God is waiting for us to see ourselves as we really are – to admit our brokenness. That’s when He looks at us – that’s when He picks us for an Extreme Makeover.
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Now, with that in mind, I want us to shift our thinking to ask another kind of question: not “What it’s going to take to have God pick me for a makeover?” but “What’s it going to take for me to experience an overflow?” An overflow is proof that an extreme makeover has really happened.
Why is it that most of us are living lives that just trickle? Not much Jesus is really flowing out of us to others. Is it because God is stingy?
Do a little study on the word “overflow” in the Bible and you’ll come to the conclusion that God is not stingy.
My cup overflows.
Psalm 23:5b (ESV)
The LORD… says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity.
Zechariah 1:17 (HCSB)
… you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
John 15:11 (NLT)
God is able to make every grace overflow to you…
II Corinthians 9:8a (HCSB)
May the Lord make your love grow and overflow to each other…
I Thessalonians 3:12a (NLT)
God doesn’t want to give us just a little of His blessing, just a little of His life. He wants us to overflow with love and joy and peace – and all good things that will encourage the live of others.
Question. Is that your experience? Really? Some of us have to admit that when a child or a friend or a co-worker is struggling, we’d be the last person they would pick to go to. Why? Our lives overflow with discouragement and hurt.
I’ve been asking myself: “What pours out of me when difficulties and troubles and irritations collide with my life?” Is it joy and peace and kindness? Is it the fruit of the Spirit? Is what flows out of me something that gives life to others?
That’s what Jesus wants for us. That’s why He came.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38 (ESV)
Think of it! Rivers of living water flowing out of our hearts. It’s an attractive image. I want that to be true for me and I bet you do, too! I want a fullness in my life to the point of overflowing. I want to offer refreshment to my wife, to my sons, and to the people in our community.
Question. If Jesus has promised rivers of living water to all who come to Him and drink, then why do many who claim to be followers of Christ never really overflow?
The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
Matthew 12:34b (HCSB)
And what’s in the heart?
What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart.
Mark 7: 20-23a (CEV)
What blocks the overflow of Jesus in our lives? What makes us overflow with all the bad stuff? What keeps us from overflowing more joy and peace and kindness into the lives of others?
Ask the congregation…
Look at the screens with me as I talk us through a process that can help us overflow.
Let’s work through this process a little more slowly.
Three prayers for a life that overflows:
1. Father, search me.
Our problems are so severe, so deeply imbedded that they can’t be wiped out without an extreme makeover. And this is a kind of revival that will never come until we ask God to search us and show us our sin.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You.
Psalm 139:23-24a (NLT)
“God, open up a searchlight in my soul. You know me. So, show me the dirt, the junk, the sinful motives, attitudes, thoughts. Reveal it to me so I can confess it to You!”
Too many times, we want God to show him his sins or to show her her sins. But we’ve got to say, “God, show me!”
To overflow, let’s pray…
Father, search me.
2. Jesus, wash me.
Once I see how dirty my soul is, I won’t be able to take it. It won’t be OK with me. It can’t be business as usual.
Wash me inside and out from my wrong and make me clean from my sin. Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:2, 7 (NLV)
Let me describe the people who are washed. We’ll have a great awareness of our sin. We’ll have a conscience that is deeply wounded. We’ll have a great fear of God – a holy reverence of God. We’ll have a strong desire to stop sinning. We’ll have a willingness to make restitution where necessary – to right the wrongs we’ve done. We’ll love what God loves and hate what God hates. We’ll desire more than anything His smile. We’ll dread more than anything His frown.
Is that you? Is that me? When we get there, we will confess and be cleansed.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I John 1:9 (NASB)
When you come clean with Christ, He cleans your cup. When your cup is clean, you are honoring God and feeling good inside.
To overflow, let’s pray…
Jesus, wash me.
3. Spirit, fill me.
When you’re empty, you need to be filled with something. Why not God?
Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in each step. Then you will not please your sinful old selves.
Ephesians 5:18b (NLT) and Galatians 5:16 (NLV)
How can I be filled with the Spirit – the living water of Jesus so that I overflow? It takes time alone with God. Prayer. Bible intake. Being in a community group to hang out with the sold out. Obedience.
And know this: eventually, an overflowing life – an Extreme Makeover – produces indescribable joy. It’s the kind of joy people in heaven know. It’s a form of heaven on earth.
Overflowing lives will mean that we share our faith. And many come to faith. The community is transformed.
In Wales in 1904, the life of God began to overflow. It’s called the Welsh revival. Interesting fact: Many policemen during the 1904 Welsh revival lost their jobs. Why? There was so little for them to do.
God is saying that when you are filled with the Sprit, something changes deep within you. This internal change is so radical and so extensive that you become more and more like Jesus. You become a spring of living water. Streams of life-giving, living water flow from you, bringing hope and help to others. This would do wonders for marriages, for parent/child relationships, for love within the church.
What pours into you, pours out of you. The promise is not only that we will be satisfied but that we will be satisfying. In being filled with the Spirit, we become not merely receptacles but rivers. A draining person becomes a refreshing person!
To overflow, let’s pray…
Spirit, fill me.
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A truth to take home: I can overflow with the life of Jesus to others.
Our problem is that we don’t want to pay the price to have an overflow. Overflow – revival – is always preceded by earnest, fervent prayer, by soul-searching, by on-fire teaching that calls people to repentance. Christian leaders are made fun of. Followers of Christ are called fanatics. And all this is just too much for most of us in our comfortable American lifestyles to endure.
A verse to remember: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 (HCSB)
A question to consider: How will I remind myself to ask God many times each day this coming week to search me, cleanse me, and fill me?
That teenage girl who’s being tempted is still out there. Will you be that overflowing person for her? That young man who is afraid to pick a career is still out there. Will you be that overflowing person for Him? Others are out there. They are waiting. Waiting on you to be a person who will overflow with the life o Jesus for them.
When people come to the diner of your life – when they get a taste of your life, will they find you full of good stuff for them – overflowing with the life of Jesus? And will they come back over and over for more because you are giving them love and joy and kindness and tenderness and toughness and truth – you are giving them Jesus!
We want people to know – to sense – as they enter this place, there’s a flowing, life-giving river here in the hearts of people.
