What Kind Of People
Ought You To Be?
Slide Show Of Katrina Devastation
As The Song ‘All I Can Say’ By David Crowder played
This week like so many of you; my eyes, my mind and my heart have been literally flooded with hundreds of disturbing images. The devastation that Hurricane Katrina has brought has been mind boggling. I MEAN – hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. PEOPLE - who just a mere week ago spent the night in their own homes, slept in their own beds and ate breakfast at their own tables … TODAY – September 4, 2005 have none of that…
I just can’t seem to get those pictures out of my mind. Those images of young and old, black and white, male and female, rich and poor… fleeing their city, trudging threw water, waving sheets and shirts from roof tops, holding their children, waiting on the I-10 overpass for help, flooding into the Superdome, people not knowing what to do - not knowing where to go, houses flooded to the rooftop, people busting through their own roofs to escape the raging waters, houses and businesses leveled by the strong winds of Katrina, people desperately looking for their loved ones, people going without food and without water, people having no place to sleep, no place to go to the bathroom and no where to turn…
AGAIN - those images are burned into my mind. They are so haunting, so disturbing. AND – they are reality for so many people this very morning. We even have a few families in this room right now who are from new Orleans. Let’s take a moment to pray for them…
UNDERSTAND WHEN – things like this happen… We all have questions, a lot of question. Tough questions. QUESTIONS – that we still have EVEN when we come in here. WHY?
• Why – did this happen?
• Why - did God allow it?
• Why – didn’t He stop it?
• Why – were some homes spared and others destroyed?
• Why – did some live and others die?
• Where – was God in all this?
Those are some very real questions… difficult questions, deep and penetrating questions and they are questions that seldom have a simple or satisfying answer… NOW – over the years I’ve gotten a lot older and a little wiser. AND – I am now pretty confident of what my answer is to those questions and to the ones that are just like them (are you ready you may want to write this down). “I Don’t Know.” “I Don’t Know Why.”
NOW – to be honest I used to have a different and strangely enough less satisfying answer… YOU SEE – I used to try to answer the kind of questions that so many have today by saying that we live in a fallen world. A WORLD – where not only do people choose to commit evil acts that hurt other people (like 9/11)… BUT - where creation itself has fallen and is now corrupted by what we call ‘natural’ disasters.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
– Romans 8:19-21
BUT – do you know what? Knowing that men can choose to commit evil acts and that creation itself is messed up because of the fall… IS NOT - a very satisfying answer when the flood waters of life are destroying so much of what you hold dear.
LISTEN – if sometimes in life, you want to ask God why, understand you are not alone. God’s people have been asking the creator why ever since time began. The prophet Habakkuk who lived over 2600 years ago asked God why… LISTEN – to what he says to God as he begins his book;
Our LORD, how long must I beg for your help before you listen? How long before you save us from all this violence? Why do you make me watch such terrible injustice? Why do you allow violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty to spread everywhere? Laws cannot be enforced; justice is always the loser; criminals crowd out honest people and twist the laws around… Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? 1:2-4,12
NOW - that’s how Habakkuk begins his book – he begins it with a big WHY? (and if I lived in his sandals, I’d probably ask it to, and so would you) BUT – checkout how he ends his book… Oh man, this is soo good.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls, (Understand Habakkuk still doesn’t like what is happening, things are still messed up, and he still doesn’t really understand why…) yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. – Habakkuk 3:17-19
• WHY did this devastation from Hurricane Katrina happen? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that God is good, that God is just, that God is fair.
• WHY did God allow it? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that God is STILL on His throne, that He is still the Sovereign Lord who is our strength and who enables us to stand on the heights.
• WHY didn’t God stop it? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts
• WHY did some live and others die? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that Jesus is the resurrection and the life and that he who believes in Him will LIVE even though he dies (John 11:25)
• WHY does some cancer go away and other cancer kill? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. (Ro 8:28)
• WHY do some marriages run smooth and others seems to always run up hill and even fall completely a part… I don’t know… BUT - I do know that if we consider it pure joy God will use it to make us mature and complete not lacking in anything. (James 1:2-4)
• WHY do some people seem to always have more than enough money and others can barely make ends meet? I don’t know… BUT – I do know that if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness all these things will be given to us as well. (Mt 6:33)
• WHY are some people forced to live under so much pressure and stress? I don’t know… BUT - I do know that God can give you a peace that transcends all understanding (Phil 4:7)
• WHY do some kids get to grow up in homes where they are loved and valued and others have to grow up in homes where they feel worthless and discarded? I don’t know… BUT – I do know that though your father and mother may abandon you the LORD will hold you close (Ps 27:10)
• WHY does this life at times seem to be full of nothing but struggle, hardship and suffering? I don’t know… BUT – I do know that our present suffering are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Ro 8:19).
• WHY does it seem like so many things right now are stacked against you? I don’t know… BUT – I do know that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 8:37-39)
YES – like you I have questions today.
AND – there is a lot I don’t know
BUT – I do know a few things…
AND – those are the things I must choose to hold on to… Tis so sweet;
• to trust in Jesus
• to put my hope in Him
• to rest upon His promises
• to know that if His eye is on the sparrow then that eye is most definitely watching over me
• to know that Christ can and will deliver me
• to know that he will walk with me in the wilderness
• to know that he is the matchless king and the fount of every blessing.
BUT [Tim, Laurie] – early yesterday morning, I became convinced that God ultimately did not bring us here this morning to simply answer our questions. INSTEAD – He brought us here to ask us a question. IT’S – a question that became so vivid to me as a laid in bed yesterday morning reflecting on the devastating images of the past week. It’s a question that (caused me to begin an entirely new message at 5 am Saturday) AND - it’s a question that we find in the 3rd chapter of Peter’s second letter.
3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this ’coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way,
what kind of people ought you to be?
[Tim, Laurie…] – those powerful images we have seen throughout this week (and up on this screen) ARE a vivid reminder of the truth that this world is so very fragile… AND - that nothing in it will last. UNDERSTAND – one day the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
QUESTION – do you believe this? Do you believe that this world is temporary? Do you believe that the things that we work so hard to build here will not last? ONE – more question does the way you live your life reflect that belief?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
IN – our time remaining I’d like to try to answer that question with some thoughts that God put on my heart yesterday… BUT – before I do that let me point out one important thing. THIS – is your question. UNDERSTAND – God did bring you hear to ask you what kind of person ought; your wife, your husband, your kids, your mom, your dad, your pastor or the person sitting next to you be… NO – it’s your question… and it’s mine. What kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Is Different Than The World…
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives… making every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
QUESTION – (in your life right now) are you making ever effort to be different than this world? Are you living a holy Life (a life set a part for God)?
I MEAN – WHEN people look at the way you talk, the way you live, the way you spend your money, they way you give your money, they things you value, the things you buy, they way you use your tongue, the way you treat people, the way you relate to those closest to you, the way you keep and fulfill your promises, the way you react to those who hurt you, the way you respond to (the weak, the odd, the outcast, the less fortunate)… WHEN PEOPLE – look at the things you do and the places you go… do they see someone who is different then this world? Do they see someone who is making every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him?
Are you different than the world? IF NOT – what are you going to do about it?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Knows What Really Matters…
QUESTION – what really matters?
HEY – do you know what I didn’t see images of this week? I did not see people holding pictures; of their car, their plasma TV, their stock portfolio, their office, their home, or their golf clubs with tears in their eyes, crying have you seen my…
INSTEAD – they held up pictures of what? Go ahead and say it… They held up pictures of people. WHY? Because what really matters is people. What is of ultimate and supreme importance is relationships. (even if those relationships were not perfect, and they are not) … I MEAN – do you really think that the only people holding up pictures of loved ones where those who had a perfect relationship?
UNDERSTAND - what really matters in life is NOT – the size of your investment portfolio, the square footage of your house, the make of your car…the size of the diamond in your jewelry… NO - what matters most in life is loving God and loving people…
AND listen - THIS week was a huge wake up call FOR YOU to remember to what really matters in life… AGAIN – as people sat in the midst of such destruction & devastation… IT - wasn’t; their career, their possessions or their money that mattered.. IT WAS - the people – God had placed in their lives..
Question - What is important in life? Sports arenas, beach front houses, casinos and luxury hotels…OR - quality relationships with those you love. What really matters? Listen - It’s time to recommit ourselves to spiritual values. Who cares if the package didn’t get there on time? Who cares if the carpet has a Kool-Aid stain on it? Who cares if your investment portfolio has headed south? Who cares if you’re going to miss that plane. What matters most is people…
You know I imagine that in all of those homes and buildings that were destroyed there was a lot of expensive stuff. BUT – every bit of that expensive stuff is now being summed up in a single word, ‘debris.’ DEBRIS – that must be removed so rescuers can get to what really matters people… [Tim, Laurie…] – don’t wait until you are sitting in the flood waters of tragedy before you figure out what really matters.
LISTEN – no matter how bad you thin your marriage is; no matter how unfair you think your parents are or how disrespectful you feel your kids are… IF – you get separated during a tragedy you will be holding up their picture. Why wait until then to figure out what really matters.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Builds Their Life On A Solid Foundation…
MOST - of the world, if they didn’t know already… now knows that the city of New Orleans is basically a giant bowl that sits several feet below sea water. NOW – building a city on land that is below sea level when you are surrounded by water seems like a dangerous and risky place to put a city of a nearly 1 million people.
AND – many people today (after this disaster) are starting to play arm chair quarterback and they are questioning why this city was even built there in the first place (I mean what did they expect would eventually happen building where they did?)…
AND - some are even asking the question “should even rebuild there again.” YES – maybe that land was not the best place to lay a foundation to build a city… AND YES - maybe it was kind of crazy to build on it… BUT – that is not something I care to debate.
INSTEAD – I want to talk about building project that is even crazier. I want to talk about people who claim Jesus and yet choose to build their lives on another foundation. A foundation that not only sits below sea level but is made of sand… JESUS – said the following to those who had just listen to Him give the greatest talk of all time about the life we are to live… (a life where we; do not get with or hate our brother; control our lust; tell the truth our yes means yes; turn the other cheek, go the extra mile; put God first; pray and keep on praying; God is more important then money)
"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit--but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."
- Matthew 7:24-27 (Msg)
LISTEN – if you choose to build your life on the pursuit of; pleasure, power, possessions and popularity… IF – you choose top NOT build on the solid foundations of the truths of the Creator God.. what did you think was going to happen when the storm came and the waves came up? QUESTION – (and be honest) what foundation are you ‘really’ building your life on? AND – what do you intend to do about it?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Is Storing Up Treasure In Heaven…
ONE – day some people who were following Jesus were fighting over money… SO – He took the opportunity to tell a parable.
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ’What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ’This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." – Luke 12:16-21
QUESTION – have you ever played the game of monopoly…? NOW - the goal of monopoly is the same as the goal for any game – To Win. AND in monopoly to win means that you own all the best property, the most expensive property – that you have tons of houses and hotels, AND of course lots of cash….
Ever play the game? Ever win? Ever do real well, I mean you have tons of money, you own all the rail roads, the bank is borrowing money from you and more hotels then the Holiday Inn… BUT let me ask you a question – WHAT happens when the game is over? It all, every hotel, every house, every piece of property, every dollar,
it all goes back in the box…
He was a shrewd guy, this man in Jesus’ story. I mean this dude – really learned to play the game, and he played it real well. And understand - it’s not a bad thing to play the game well. t is just that in the process of playing the game, he just forgot one thing. He forgot that the game would end.
And listen the game always ends. For every player, the game ends. Every day you pick up a newspaper, and you can turn to a page that describes people for whom this week the game ended. AND – perhaps for 1,000’s on the gulf coast the game ended this very week.
UNDERSTAND – it all goes back in the box–houses, cars, jewelry, titles, clothes, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, even your body – it all goes back in the box….So you have to ask yourself this question, "What really matters? What’s worth giving your life to?"
ANSWER - what really matters in life is loving God and loving people… Therefore a wise person – a person who does not live foolishly – will invest their time, talents and treasure in God, in His kingdom, His church and his people… BECAUSE none of those go back in the box….
LISTEN – what you invest in God and in the people that matter to God takes on an eternal significance. And people who come to understand this -- stay up awake at night, trying to figure out ways to give their lives, to invest their lives, in ways that will make a difference.
“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes…”
- James 1:14
Moments come and years fly, you cannot stop them and you cannot control them. And one day, the final moment of your life will come, and you cannot control that either. And Jesus says anybody who goes through life, no matter how well they’ve played the game, and doesn’t prepare for that moment, is not a smart guy.
QUESTION – where are you storing up your treasure?
Are you ready for the game to end?
Even if it were to end today?
Have you ever surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Does Life Together…
This week I remember listening to a reporter who was talking about the people who had arrived at the Astrodome in Houston. She said something that really hit me. She said that there are a lot of people there who are there all by themselves. YEAH – they are surrounded by thousands yet they are still all alone. She said that those people kind of just lay on the cots with there blankets pulled up to their neck and have an empty stare.
NOW – it has to be beyond difficult to endure what so many are enduring right now… BUT IMAGINE – having to endure it all alone… IMAGINE – having to go through it with; no one to ‘really’ talk to, no shoulder to cry on, no hand to hold. UNDERSTAND – we were meant to do life together…
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. – Eccl 4:9-12
WE - were meant to do life TOGETHER…
WE – need each other
WE – need each others;
• Help
• Support
• Prayers
• Tears
• Laughter
• Encouragement
• Correction
• love
WE – need the power that God has placed in each of us as believers to heal one another’s hurts and to encourage and support one another in our spiritual journey.
That is why we have life groups at Central Christian Church. IN FACT – that is why we want to do more than have small groups, that is why we want to be a church of small groups. Our goal is to be a place where nobody stands alone.
What kind of PEOPLE should we be…
You Ought To Be Someone Who Looks For Opportunities To Do Good…
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. – Galatians 6:10
THIS TRAGEDY – on the gulf coast will give us plenty opportunities (for weeks and months) to be the hands, the feet, the voice and the touch of Jesus Christ… WHAT – a dark time, for we who are the light of Christ to shine?
Video clip of Journey Christians
Efforts in New Orleans…
You Ought To Be Someone Who is Desperate To Rescue Others…
TO ME – some of the most dramatic pictures that I have seen are of people being rescued. I MEAN – those images of men; being lowered from helicopters, taking axes and tearing throw roof tops, of boats maneuvering through treacherous waters, of people digging through mounds of debris to rescue people are powerful…
I heard the commander of the Coast Guard (who has rescued 1,000s) say that the hardest thing for him to do is to get his guys to take at least a 2 hour break to get some rest.)
Church it is with that same kind of desperation we are to rescue those who do not know Jesus.
Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. John 4:35
CAN – you see them on the roof tops waving their white shirts and holding up signs that say ‘Help Us:
• help us – our marriage is falling a part
• Help us – we have an addiction that is destroying our lives
• Help us – we feel hopeless…
Who have you rescued?
Who have are you trying to rescue now?
What are you waiting for?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You Ought To Be Someone Who Makes God Their Everything…
Many people in this past week have lost everything?
NOW – I do not in any way whatsoever want to minimize what they have lost…
BUT – I want us to just think a moment about this concept of ‘everything’
Friday night we watched a movie called, ‘Dairy Of A Mad Black Women.’ I want to show you a clip…
It’s a clip of daughter visiting her mom in a nursing home… The daughters husband made her put her mom there… AND – he had just recently threw her out of the house literally… She comes to see her mom and she is devastated BECAUSE she feels that she has lost everything…
Show The Clip
I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.
– Phil 4:11-13
After the Scripture was read our praise team closed with David Crowder’s song ‘ Everything”
