April 2011 Calendar

April 2011
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
					1	2
3 9:30-Sunday School 10:30=Worship	4	5	6 6:30-Fellowship Dinner	7 Pastor & Peg out of town through the 10th	8	9 9-Church Work Day
10 9:30-Sunday School 10:30=Worship Pastor away Margie Burger speaking	11	12	13 6:30 – Worship Committee	14	15	16
17 8:00-Youth program and Easter B’fast 9:30-Sunday School 10:30=Worship CHRIST IS RISEN!	18	19	20 6:30-Bible study & fellowship @ Henry’s – all welcome!	21	22	23 Children’s Easter Party
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

April 2011 Newsletter

FROM THE PASTOR:   Easter Humor

A pastor was asked to take part in an ecumenical Eater dawn pageant.  At 5:15 am he was zipping down the road, but within minutes the flashing red lights of a police car pulled him over.  The pastor was in the costume of an angel—complete with wings and a halo.  When the officer walked toward him and saw how the pastor was dressed his eyes nearly popped out of his head.  The officer regained his composure and asked, “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?”  The pastor said that he didn’t but that he really had to hurry because, “I’ve got to get to the resurrection on time!”  The officer stared at him and finally blurted out, “Go!  Just go!”  And he did.

A Sunday school teacher asked her class about the meaning of Easter.  A little boy raised his hand and said:  “That’s when we shoot off firecrackers and celebrate our freedoms.”  A little girl said, “No, that’s when we eat the turkey and give thanks.”  “I know,” a third youngster exclaimed.  “That’s when Jesus comes out of the tomb—but if he sees his shadow, he goes back in!”  

FELLOWSHIP DINNER

The fellowship dinner for April will be held Wednesday April 6^th at 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall.  Everyone is welcome, even if you don’t have time to make something to bring.

FELLOWSHIP BIBLE STUDY GATHERING

Those interested in a time of sharing, praying, and fellowshipping together are welcome to gather at the home of Henry Procopio on Wednesday April 20^th at 6:30 pm.  This is a monthly gathering but anyone is welcome to come whenever they can come. The group is studying the Gospel of Mark.  You can start at any time.  Desserts are provided.

UPCOMING DATES

May 8^th             Mother’s Day

May 14^th  Hope Center Bar-B-Que

May 22^nd  Heritage Sunday

May 30^th  Memorial Day

 

CHURCH CLEANING SCHEDULE

For April 3^rd                        Donna & Trent

For  April 10^th                        Bev & Tim Garrett           

For April 17^th                        Brenda & Tony

For April 24^th                        Martha & Henry

 

COMMUNION

We will celebrate Communion on Sunday, April 3^rd.

MEMBER ADDRESSES NEEDED

The church is responsible for keeping up with its members’ addresses even if they move.  We are missing addresses for the following members:  Charlie Brown, Mitch and Vickie Skelton, Lois Harper.  If you can get an address and phone number for any of these people please write it down and give it to the pastor. 

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY

Your will is an ideal opportunity to care for the needs of your family and advance the cause of Christ.  There is great peace of mind in knowing that both your family and the church are taken care of by the final distribution of your assets. 

WORSHIP COMMITTEE

The worship committee will meet on Wednesday, April 13^th at 6:30 pm to plan upcoming worship services.  Members of the committee are Brenda Alcorn, Tim Garrett, Martha Neeley, Peggi Billman, Jesse Browning, and Vickie Kegerise.

EASTER LILY ORDERS

If you would like to sponsor an Easter Lily to decorate our church sanctuary April 24^th you can sign the order sheet at worship or call the church answering machine at 299-5203 and leave a message giving your name, the name of the person or persons for whom you are sponsoring the lily, and if it is in honor or in memory of that person.  The lilies are $8.00 each.  You can put your donation in the offering plate marked or send it to the church marked “lilies”.

 

CHURCH WORK DAY

On Saturday April 9^th the trustees have called for a work day at the church to get the church and grounds ready for our Easter guests.  There are numerous jobs to be done, especially clean up of gardens on the south side of the church and clean up of the cemetery.  Work will start at 9am.  Many hands will help get jobs done quickly.

MISSION PROJECT OF THE MONTH

In the next several newsletters we will highlight the different local and foreign mission projects that our church supports through our weekly offerings.  One of the local projects that we support is the Joelton Hope Center which we read about monthly in our newsletters. 

Another project that is both local and foreign is Aldersgate Renewal Ministries [ARM].  (ARM is Pastor Billman’s other employer and Peggi’s employer)  ARM is located on East Avenue right in Goodlettsville, TN.  The mission of ARM is to see people filled, gifted, empowered and led by the Holy Spirit in ministry to the world.  It accomplishes that mission by a number of means.  They have an annual national conference on the Holy Spirit that is held in different parts of the country each year.  This year it will be held in Dayton, OH, July 27-31. 

At the Aldersgate Renewal Center in Goodlettsville a number of events are held.  Several Forest Grove women recently attended a Women’s Day Apart there.  Pastor Billman directs the Methodist School for Supernatural Ministry there in February and October of each year.  There is a Minister and Spouse Retreat, a worship conference and training events held there. 

ARM conducts local church renewal events like the Lay Witness Mission and Lord Teach Us to Pray weekends that we experienced here at Forest Grove.  Pastor Billman is in charge of Lay Witness Missions and Life in the Spirit Seminars scheduled across the country. 

And finally, ARM does ministry internationally.  They have done seminars in 16 different foreign countries.  Pastor Billman is in charge of this aspect of ARM’s ministry as well.  Last year Pastor Billman and Peg went on an ARM mission trip to Liberia.  This year teams will be going to do seminars in Estonia and India.  Pastor Billman will be taking a mission trip to Brazil in May to meet with the head of the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church in Brazil and teach in Nic Billman’s ministry school there. 

ARM is an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church.  That means that the General Board gives some oversight for ARM’s ministry but ARM does not receive any funds from the General Board or from apportionment giving.  It is supported through contributions by individuals and by churches like ours.

JOELTON HOPE CENTER –Neighbors Helping Neighbors

The Hope Center is located 212 Gifford Place, between Curves and the Laundromat.  There are now over 115 client families being helped by our center.  In January 36 families [138 individuals] received food boxes. 

A barrel is in the entryway of the church to receive donations for the Joelton Hope Center.  [You can also take them directly to the Hope Center.]  For the month of April we will be collecting dried beans.  [If you buy them in bulk, package them in quart size bags.

The Hope Center is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10-4 and 10-2 Saturday.  The Hope Center Board set a goal of being open 6 days a week in 2011 so additional volunteers are needed any day Monday-Saturday.   Dee Randolph has recently started volunteering again there.  She would love for others from Forest Grove to join her. 

CHILDREN’S EASTER PARTY

Watch for more information regarding the Children’s Easter Party.

The Coat Hanger

 A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her small daughter was very sick with a fever.  She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication.  She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.

She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."

The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been left on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time had locked their keys in their car.  She looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."  She bowed her head and asked God to send her help.

Within five minutes a beat up old motor cycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head.  The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful. The man got off of his cycle and asked if he could help.

She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"   He said, "Sure." He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened.

She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."  The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour."

The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!!!"
Is - GOD  GOOD - or what!!!???     

 

Good to Remember. . .

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.

I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he
said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really
liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides... a burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

You know, life is full of imperfect things... and imperfect people. I'm not the
best at anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like
everyone else. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each
others faults and choosing to celebrate each others differences, is one of the
most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

So...please pass me a biscuit. And yes, the burned one will do just fine! And
please pass this along to someone who has enriched your life... I just did!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets... Love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don't.

ENJOY LIFE NOW - IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

The Easter Lily

Easter morn with lilies fair
Fills the church with perfumes rare,
As their clouds of incense rise,
Sweetest offerings to the skies.
Stately lilies pure and white
Flooding darkness with their light,
Bloom and sorrow drifts away,
On this holy hallow'd day.
Easter Lilies bending low
in the golden afterglow,
Bear a message from the sod
To the heavenly towers of God.
-Louise Lewin Matthews

The History of the Easter Lily
Native to Japan, Easter Lilies were imported to the United States until 1941, when World War II prompted Americans to start growing their own bulbs. Today, nearly all of the 15 million Easter Lily bulbs grown in America are produced by just ten farms along the California-Oregon border. The bulbs are harvested in the fall, and then shipped to commercial greenhouses in Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and Ohio, where they are planted in time to bloom for Easter. Easter Lilies are the fourth largest selling potted plant in America, upstaged by the popular Christmas-time poinsettias, mums and azaleas.

The Easter Connection
According to Biblical scholars, the Easter Lily was found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas is said to have betrayed Jesus. Legend tells that white lilies miraculously sprung up from the ground where drops of Jesus' sweat and tears fell during his last hours.The Easter Lily also has close associations with Jesus' mother, the Virgin Mary. In early religious paintings, the Archangel Gabriel is pictured extending a branch of white lilies to Mary, symbolizing that she had become the virgin mother to the Savior.
 

  

 

March 27, 2011 Sermon

To listen to the sermon, click here.

Following is a transcript that may differ slightly from the audio so reading and following along may not work.

HOW TO BE USED BY GOD

Part 1 of 2 03-27-11 Sermon

Last week I told you how you can become a highly ineffective Christian.  Hopefully none of you want to be like that, so this week I want to begin a two part message on how you can be used by God. 

You were not put on this planet by accident.  God made you.  God formed you.  God created you.  God designed you for a purpose.  You’re not here by accident.  God has never made anything He didn’t have a purpose for and He has a purpose for you too.  God told Jeremiah this in Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you.  Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work.”  The same is true for you.  Before you were born, God made plans for your life.  He has a special work for you to do.  He has a special purpose for you to fulfill and only you can fulfill that purpose.  If you don’t do the special work God made you to do it won’t get done because you were uniquely made for that work.

The word for that special work that God has for your life is your mission, your life mission.  And every person has a mission in this world from God.  In John 17 Jesus said, “In the same way that you  (God, the Father)  gave Me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.”  There’s no greater thrill than fulfilling your life mission.  And there is no greater feeling than the feeling of being used by God to make a difference in someone else’s life and in this world. 

Unfortunately, most people never experience that feeling.  Most people do not fulfill their mission in life.  They don’t even discover it.  They go all through life wondering, “Why am I here?  What am I here for?”  Why is that? 

Because God's mission for your life is not automatic.  You must choose it.  In fact, the Bible says there are three conditions for being used by God.  Three conditions for fulfilling the mission that God put you here on this earth to fulfill. 

Today we’re going to look at them.  How to be blessed and how to be used by God.

I.  I must abandon ALL DISTRACTIONS. 

That means all the things that are unimportant in life, I’ve got to shove them to the side and focus on what’s really most important in my life.  Jesus said this in Luke 9:62  “Anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”    There are a lot of distractions in life that can keep you from God's best, God's purpose, God's mission for your life.  Thousands of distractions in life.  But it boils down to four really big ones.  These are the four biggest distractions in life that will cause you to miss God's plan and purpose for your life.

         1.  The desire to get rich.  If you make that the primary goal of your life you will miss God's plan and purpose.  Jesus said real clearly “You cannot serve God and money at the same time.”  He didn’t say you couldn’t be wealthy.  He just said you can’t make that the number one goal of your life.  If your number one goal in life is to make a lot of money and retire, you have already missed God's purpose.  He didn’t put you here just to get rich.  He didn’t put you here just to retire.  He put you here to fulfill his plan and purpose for your life. 

         2.  The second biggest distraction in life is wallowing in past mistakes and failures.  We all make mistakes.  We remember the past and we rehearse it over and over.  You can’t focus on past mistakes – guilt and shame and all of that – and focus on God's plan for your life at the same time.  God says, “Let it go.  Get over it.  I want to forgive it and let’s get on with My plan and purpose for your life.”  You cannot wallow in past hurts and past guilt.  Let it go.

         3. The third thing that will distract you from God's plan is worrying about what other people think.  The Bible says that’s a trap.  In fact, it’s a big waste of time because when you start worrying about what other people think you start comparing – America’s favorite indoor sport.  We compare everything.  God says don’t do it because: first, you will find that you are doing better than some people and you get full of pride and ego, or two, you find people who are doing better than you and you will get depressed or discouraged, envious, jealous.  Don’t do it.  Don’t compare yourself.  You are unique.  And God has a unique plan for your life and you will miss it if you’re always looking at what God is doing in everybody else’s life. 

4.  The fourth distraction that keeps you from discovering God's plan for your life is your plans.  Your plans can be a distraction from God's plans.  Your dreams, your wishes, your goals, your ambitions, all your hopes and desires.  You think if you figure out what you want to do with your life and you do it, you’ll be happy.  Wrong.  You’ll be unsatisfied until you find the purpose for which God made you.  And God knows that only in fulfilling the niche for which He wired you will you find ultimate fulfillment, ultimate meaning.  You can make all the plans in the world and they won’t ultimately satisfy you.  God's mission for your life is not something you can add on to your great goals and ambitions and dreams. 

We need to pray like David did in Psalm 119 “Turn me away from wanting any other plan but Yours.”  Have you ever prayed that prayer?  Have you said, “God, I don’t want anybody else’s plan for my life.  I just want Your plans.”  Because the main reason people miss their mission is they’re unwilling to give up their own plans.  They want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to serve God and self at the same time.  It won’t work that way.

Hebrews 12:1 says this “…We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.”  Anything that gets in the way.  Do away with it, discard it.  Abandon it.  Let go of it.  Anything that would keep you from being what God put you on earth to become. 

That brings up two very important questions:

         1. How badly do you want to be what God meant for you to be?  How badly do you want to fulfill the mission that you were created to fulfill?  “I’d like to do it in my spare time, when it’s convenient...”  No.  How badly do you want it?  Do you want it more than anything else?

         2. What are you willing to give up in order to get it?  Because you will have to give up something.  You cannot do God's mission for your life and hold on to everything else that everyone around you wants you to do.  You can’t fulfill everyone else’s dream plus do what God wants you to do.  You will never experience the blessing of God in a great way until you totally abandon yourself to His will, His call, His purpose, His mission for your life.  You just say, “I’m selling out, God.  You made me so let me do what You put me here to do on this earth.” 

Why in the world should I do that?  Why should I choose to abandon all these other things that are not important and choose God's will for my life?  Because it’s the only way to really live.

Jesus said, “Only those who throw away their lives (there’s the abandonment part) for My sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live!”  If you want to live the life that you’re meant to live you’ve got to give up your plans and abandon it all for the sake of His call on your life. 

If I really want God’s blessing on my life, and I want Him to use me and I want to fulfill my mission, first of all I have to abandon all the trivia, the stuff that the world thinks is very cool but ultimately isn’t going to last.  I abandon all distractions.

II.  If I want God's blessing on my life I must Adopt GOD’S PURPOSE.

I have to adopt God's purpose for my life.  That starts with a personal commitment.  I say, “God, more than anything else I want Your will in my life.  More than anything else I want to be what You made me to be.  I want to do what You created me to do.”  It starts with a complete commitment. 

The Bible says this in Romans 6 “…give yourselves completely to God- every part of you… for you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for His good purposes.”  When you adopt God's purpose for your life, your values and your priorities immediately get switched around.  They change radically.  Once you say God, “Your purpose is number one in my life.”  All of a sudden the things that I used to think were really important are not so important any more.  They all become secondary.  It’s not like I’m forgetting them.  They’re just secondary.  And all the things that God values most become most important to me.  What He says is important, I say is important.  Everything else takes a back seat. 

One of the best examples of this radical change in values is seen in a guy in the Bible named Paul.  This is a guy who turns from a religious terrorist to becoming a follower of Christ. He was a Christ hater and he became a Christ follower in just an instant.  And Paul understood the difference between what really matters and what doesn’t.  He knew the difference between what was important and what was unimportant.  He could clearly see I don’t want to give my life to something that’s going to last 10, 20, 30 years.  I want to give my life to something that’s going to last for eternity. 

Acts 20:24 Paul says, “The most important thing (there’s the priority) is that I...”  get to retirement.  No.  That’s not what he says.  “The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus gave me-- to tell people the Good News about God's grace.”

Notice what’s the most important priority in God's book?  Once I become a follower of Christ, what’s the most important priority?  To tell other people.  If you have discovered that God has a plan and purpose for your life that He loves you and wants a relationship with you, God says, I want you to make as your priority telling that to other people.  We are the ones who are to pass it on.  Listen--Somebody told you.  You’re supposed to tell other people.  Telling the people the Good News about God.

As a parent you learn a very important parenting tool called repetition.  If I want the kids to remember something you have to say it more than once.  You have to repeat it over and over and over if you really want them to remember some instruction. 

In the Bible Jesus has something so important to say that He says it five times.  He says it five times in five different ways in five totally different settings.  And it is recorded in five different books of the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts.  It’s called the Great Commission.  There are actually five great commissions and they all boil down to this phrase – go and tell.  If I am a Christian, I am to share the Good News with other people.  A non-sharing Christian is a contradiction.  Kind of like jumbo-shrimp.  How can you be big and small at the same time?  How can you be a non-sharing, non-caring, non-witnessing Christian?  Everybody in this room, if you’re a follower of Christ, you are a witness.  The only question is are you a good one or are you a lousy one?  You are representing Jesus Christ if you claim to be a Christian. 

We have the greatest message in the world.  It’s the Good News.  Here’s the Good News that we’re supposed to share.  2 Corinthians 5:18, 20 “Through Christ, God has made peace between us and Himself,  (God is not mad at you.  Because of what Jesus Christ did, God is not mad at you.  That’s Good News.)  and He gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with Him…  So we have been sent to speak for Christ.”  God has never made a person that He didn’t love.  If you’re alive, He loves you.  If you’re alive, He wants you to know Him and love Him.  And because God cares, we must care.  We must pass on this Good News so others can have a relationship with God.  Everybody matters to God.  Jesus Christ died on the cross.  He let them stretch out His hands and nail him to the cross so He could say “This is how much I care.  This is how much I care about you.  And I want you to know it.” 

You need to remember that all the people around you, your relatives, your neighbors, your co-workers every one of them have a God-shaped hole in their heart and only God can fill that hole.  They may not know it but they have a hole in their heart that only God can fill.  We try to fill that emptiness in our lives with a lot of things – sex, being popular, money, achievement, getting well known, all kinds of things.  We try to fill the emptiness in our lives with something to give our life meaning but none of those things ultimately satisfy. 

On the outside people may say, “I’m not interested in Jesus.  I’m not into God.”  But inside there is a hole in their heart and it’s a universal hunger.  One thing I know is that every person I’ve met has a universal hunger for God.  They may just not know it.  It’s true all around the world and it doesn’t matter what background you were brought up whether you were religious or not.  It’s there.  It’s wired into your being. 

You need to realize that no matter how resistant people seem to be, inside there is a hunger for God.  You want to make your life count?  Let me tell you the best investment of your time, the best investment of your money.  The best investment of time and money is getting people into heaven.  That’s going to make a difference not for ten years or fifty years or even a thousand years but for eternity.  There is nothing more significant that you can do with your life.  There is nothing more you can do to help a person than to get out of hell and into heaven.  If you have helped one person get into heaven, your life has meaning because you have made an eternal difference in someone’s life. Nothing else you’re going to do in life, no achievement, will ever equal getting one person into heaven because they’ll be grateful for the rest of eternity. 

Luke 16: 9 “Jesus said, ‘Use your worldly resources to benefit others and to make friends.  In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven.’”  What’s He talking about here – use your money to make friends.  He’s not talking about buying a bunch of friends.  He’s talking about making eternal friends.  You use your time, your money, your energy, your efforts to help people find a relationship with God and in eternity you’re going to enjoy that relationship forever. 

Our problem is we forget how good it is to be followers of Christ.  We forget how good it is to feel forgiven, to have a purpose in life.  We forget how lousy we felt when we were unbelievers. 

When you don’t have Jesus in your life you’re constantly plagued by things like bitterness and anger and depression and loneliness and worry and stress because you’re living totally on your own strength and you don’t have anybody else helping you.  You weren’t made to live that way.  We forget what a good deal we got in on when we were forgiven and given a purpose for living and a home in heaven. 

Nothing changes lives like Jesus Christ.  This is why we abandon all distractions.  This is why we stay focused because nothing is more important than the eternal destiny of people.  What makes the difference is that one individual life that still needs to go from hopelessness to hope, from guilt to forgiveness, from bitterness to love, from no purpose to real purpose.  That brings us to our third key.

If you want to be used by God, if you want God's blessing on your life you put out the trivia in your life and say God, Your purpose is what I’m going to adopt and then...

III.  I must anticipate GOD’S HELP.

Whenever God asks you to do something He’s going to give you the power to do it.  You can expect it, you can count on it, and you can depend on it.  You should anticipate God's help. 

Matthew 6:33 “God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the kingdom of God your primary concern.”  In a crowd this size there are a lot of needs.  No doubt.  There are physical needs here, emotional needs, spiritual needs, relational needs, many needs in this room today.  Do not focus on your need.  Focus on God's purpose and plan and mission for your life.  God says, “ If you put that as your primary concern I’ll take care of all your needs.”  That’s His promise.  And God does not lie.

You can do one of two things.  Either you can work on meeting your needs or you can let God meet your needs.  Who do you think will do a better job?  You need to say, “God, I’m not going to focus on my needs.  I’m going to focus on putting You first in my life, living for You, fulfilling my mission,” and God says, “Ok.  Then I assume responsibility for all the needs in your life.  If you give Me your life then all the responsibilities come with it and I will assume the needs of your life because you are putting Me first.” 

God told Jeremiah this, “…Go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.  Don’t be afraid of people for I will be with you.  And I will take care of you.” You want to know why most people don’t fulfill their mission?  They’re afraid.  You want to know why most people never tell anybody about Jesus Christ?  They’re afraid.  “What will other people think?”  God says, “I'll be with you,” and you lose your fear when God is near.  When you realize the importance of sharing your faith you will lose your fear too.  Love always triumphs over fear.  If you really love people you don’t care about the fear.  You tell them. 

Courage is not the absence of fear.  Courage is doing something in spite of your fear.  Courage is doing the thing you fear the most.  Are you afraid to tell your neighbors about Christ?  Do it anyway.  Because you love them and you love God.  Are you afraid to invite somebody at work to church or to our bible study, do it anyway.  Because you love them and you love God.  Love always beats fear.  And they will be eternally grateful.  

You don’t have to be a superstar for God to bless your life.  You don’t have to be a superstar for God to use you.  God uses very ordinary people.  But you do have to do the thing that you fear.  You have to move against your fear and you have to be persistent and share the Good News. 

Lost and missing children flyers always get me.  You can see bunches of them on the bulletin board as you go into Walmart.  When I think of the parents whose hearts must be breaking, their children, their lost children are lost and not found. 

God has millions of these in Tennessee alone.  Lost children that He loves and He wants found and He wants brought home.  In the next 365 days, 2.3 million Americans will die.  And many of them will go into an eternity without hope.  In the next 365 days, 54 million people from around the world will die and many will go into a Christ-less eternity. 

On September 11^th the people in the towers of the world trade center did not plan on what happened.  The 300+ firefighters who went up the stairwells of the towers did not expect they would never see their colleagues or family members again.  Neither did the many police who perished.  God only knows how many were lost for eternity.  We have no guarantees that our lives will not end just as abruptly someday.  But we can have a guarantee that we will not be lost.

Prior to September 11^th no one knew the name Todd Beamer.  Since that infamous day, his name has become synonymous with heroism and faith.  In the final moments of his life, this 32 year old businessman acknowledged his dependence on God by calling out to Him in prayer, a practice that for Todd was as natural as drawing a breath. 

Even though his mom had taught Todd to pray the Lord’s Prayer when he was but a toddler, even though Todd had a bookmark with the Lord’s Prayer on it in his Tom Clancey novel, even though his home fellowship group was in the midst of a study of the Lord’s Prayer, the reason why Todd Beamer chose to end his life praying this most famous of all prayers was because it allowed him to seize the moment and acknowledge that the Lord was in control even though his personal world was as out of control as it could be.  Todd abandoned all distractions, he adopted God’s purpose for his life, and he anticipated God’s help.

The Good News is only Good News if it gets there in time.  When you start thinking about the eternal destinies of other people all of a sudden a lot of problems just seem kind of petty and pretty shallow.  When you think about eternity in the balance, people need the Lord.  You’re going to be in heaven, if you’re a believer, because somebody cared enough to tell you.  Have you cared enough to tell anybody else?  Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you?  Will anybody say, “Thank you!  I’m here because of you.”  You are the only Christian some people know.  God has intentionally put people around you that He wants you to share with about Him.  Share the Good News.  And part of your mission is to invite them into God's family.

The Bible says that God is looking for people to bless.  God is looking for people to use.  2 Chronicles 16 “The eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward Him so that He can show His great power in helping them.”  Will you be one of those people?  Will you?  Will you say, “Yes!  I'll willing to abandon all the trivia, focus on adopting God's purpose for my life and expect God to help me.”  Will you be one of those people?  If so, God has made an incredible promise to you.  If you’re willing to abandon what isn’t important and put His goal first in your life this is what Jesus said, “Let Me assure you (that means God guarantees it) that no one has ever given up anything (abandoned anything)  for the love of  Me and to tell others the Good News who won’t be given back a hundred times over.  All these will be his here on earth and in the world to come he shall have eternal life.”  God says anything you give up for Him, for His plan and purpose and for sharing the Good News with others, you will be rewarded one hundred times over.  There is not a stock in the world that can give that kind of return.  It is by far, the best investment of your life.

Prayer:

      God wants to use you.  That’s why He brought you here.  You’re not here by accident.  He wants to use you in this world to make a difference.  You have four possible responses.  Like Moses you can say, “Who, me?”  Like Habbakuk you can say, “Why me?” Like Jonah you can say, “Not me!”  Or like Isaiah you can say, “ Send me!”  What’s your response going to be?  What is distracting you from really being used by God?  Will you abandon all distractions?  Will you adopt God's purpose for your life?  Will you anticipate His help?  If so, pray this prayer, 

“Father, God, I want You to bless me.  I want You to use me.  I want You to use me in greater ways than ever before.  I want to abandon all distractions, focus on my mission.  Help me to know what that is.  I want to adopt Your purpose for my life as my top priority.  What’s important to You is going to be important for me from now on.  I thank You in advance that You’re going to be with me.  I invite You to bring people into my life that You want me to tell about You.  Make it natural and unpressured.  Help me to be sensitive to the needs of others.  I want somebody to be in heaven because of me.  Help me to reach one more for Jesus.  Here am I, send me.  In Your name, I pray.  Amen.”

March 20th Sermon

I'm sorry there is no audio of the sermon this week. Here is the manuscript:

HABITS OF HIGHLY INEFFECTIVE Christians

Set for Life

Part 3 of 3 03-20-11 Sermon

A number of years ago, on a mission trip to Nepal, Peg and I were in a group that went on an 8 hour bus ride to the city of Tansen.  It was definitely not a tourist area.  Along the road there were very steep drop offs and no guard rails.  As you looked down in the ravines you saw the remains of other buses and vehicles that did not make it on the winding curves.  It was clear why this was not a tourist destination.

We were going to Tansen because we wanted to see where the missionaries worked and we wanted to meet some of the Nepali Christians.  We did get to meet some of these Christians and eat with them and share with them.  We even got to go to a Nepali prayer meeting one night.  The church we met in had no seating.  We sat on the floor together and we prayed together, us in English and they in Nepali.  I remember at one point the missionary leaned over to us and told us that the person praying was praying for our son, Luke.

When we left, the Christians there thanked us for visiting with them, sharing with them, and praying with them.  They said, other Christian groups had come but they only snapped pictures of the Nepali Christians.  They did not interact with them at all. They were just tourists.

I have also gone on mission trips with Appalachia Service project that go to Appalachia and sleep in uncomfortable settings and take showers in inconvenient places and during the day work in blistering heat and sometimes rain to repair the homes of the poor.  There are other people, tourists, who drive by these homes and see their poor condition.  They may see the people sitting out on their porches and they may slow down to snap a few pictures, but that’s it.  They’re just tourists. 

It seems to me that there is such a thing as a tourist Christian.  There really is.  The tourist Christian is someone who sort of looks at life from a safe distance, from a comfortable kind of environment, someone who lives an insulated life and who watches from afar as other people are elbow deep in ministry to help hurting people.  They never get their own hands dirty serving other people in the name of Jesus Christ.  So they never experience the joy and the fulfillment and the adventure and the satisfaction of living a Christian life as God intended. 

So what I decided to do today was to bring a somewhat tongue-in-cheek message to those who may be tourist Christians, and who want to stay that way. How can I encourage you to remain living a mediocre Christian existence?  If you want to be a fully ineffective, partially devoted, casually committed, completely stagnant, plain vanilla Christian then you’ve come to the right place.  I'm going to help you do that today.  Yes, it is a life that is unsatisfying.  Yes, it is a life that will eventually bring regret.  But it’s a safe life.  It’s a comfortable life.  And if you just want that, if you just want to stay comfortable, today I'm going to give you some ideas on how you can continue to do that.  Of course, if that is not what you want, do the opposite of what I tell you this morning.

What are some of the habits that you can cultivate to make sure that you remain mired in mediocrity?

1.  Highly Ineffective Christians edit scripture

Usually highly ineffective Christians don’t read the Bible.  But everybody owns one.  So the great fear is that some day we’ll have another earthquake and the Bible will fall off the shelf and open up to a very convicting verse.  What do you do?  You have to learn to edit scripture in your mind so you read it in a way that allows you to do what you wanted to do anyway and not what God wanted you to do.  That’s the goal. 

In the autobiography of Larry King, the talk show host, he talks about growing up in Brooklyn, New  York.  He said growing up in Brooklyn he and his buddies always wanted to go play stickball.  Stickball is a game of baseball that you would play in an empty lot.  They would look around for places to play stickball.  The problem is all the property owners in Brooklyn didn’t like kids playing stickball on their property.  So they would post signs that read, “Private.  No stickball playing allowed.” 

Is there any ambiguity about what that sign is trying to say?  No.  It’s clear.  Whoever posts that sign does not want kids coming on their property playing stickball.  But the problem was the kids wanted to play stickball and they wanted to get around these signs. 

So they mentally edited those signs to give themselves permission to do what that wanted to do anyway.  So this is what they would imagine a sign saying, “Private?  No!  Stickball playing allowed.”  And they would play!  What were they doing?  They were just mentally editing that sign to give themselves permission to do what they wanted to do all along. 

This is exactly what ineffective Christians tend to do when they read the Bible.  They want to interpret it in such a way to give themselves permission to do what they want to do.  

For example, in Revelation 3:15-17 God says, “I know you well.  You are neither hot nor cold.  I wish you were one or the other but since you are merely lukewarm I will spit you out of My mouth.  You say ‘I am rich with everything I want.  I don’t need a thing,’ and you don’t realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and naked and blind.”  If you’re a highly ineffective Christian you read it and go, “Yikes!”  That’s a very convicting verse.” You want to edit that verse.  There’s several ways you can do it. 

One way is to do what Thomas Jefferson did.  Thomas Jefferson, a former president, did not believe in miracles.  So he literally took his Bible and took a knife and cut out every verse that talked about miracles.  That’s one way you can do it.  The problem is your Bible ends up looking like swiss cheese, inconvenient. 

I have seen people go to great lengths to twist the Bible and edit the Bible to say, not what it’s intended to say, but what they want it to say.  There are verses that you come across when you’re reading through the Bible that you sort of mentally edit out, just pretend they’re not there.  Verses like, “Love your enemies,”  I don’t like that one.  Or “Turn the other cheek.”  “Better to give than receive.”  “The first shall be last.”  These are difficult verses.  Sometimes we just want to mentally edit them out and pretend they don’t exist. 

I was talking with a woman who had a bad relationship with her father.  She wouldn’t even talk to him on the phone if he called.  Not only would she not forgive him, she wouldn’t even think about that possibility.  She just ruled it out.  What was she doing?  She was editing the Lord’s prayer.  Because Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  She’s saying, “I know better than Jesus does and I'm making the decision that I'm going to edit that out of my Bible and pretend it doesn’t exist.” 

But the truth is the degree to which we refuse to apply to our lives the most difficult, the most challenging verses in the Bible, that is the degree to which we will be highly ineffective Christians.  It’s the degree to which we say, “I'm going to live my way, go down my path, regardless of what God wants me to do.”  If we should make that decision, that is the path to disappointment and to heartbreak and pain and regret. 

If you’re a highly ineffective Christian, first you need to learn to edit scripture to your own liking.  And then, second,…

2.  LIVE AN UNEXAMINED LIFE

What does that mean?  Living an unexamined life means you don’t peer down to the depths of your soul and come face to face with the unvarnished truth about who you are.  It means you don’t look down deep inside yourself and ask the tough questions, what is it about who I am that compels me to keep committing the same sin over and over again?  I know God doesn’t like it.  I know I ought not to do it.  But something inside me compels me to continue to go down this path.  You don’t ask the question, What is causing that?  What dynamics from my past or my personality or my pride or my self-will is causing me to go down that path time after time? 

To live as a highly ineffective Christian, you don’t question your motivations.  You don't confront your frailties.  You don’t deal with the dysfunctional aspects of who you are.  It means you don’t ponder the hard questions of life.  You don’t ask yourself, “Am I really being a godly mom or a godly dad to my children?”  Or you don’t ask yourself, “God, what is the next step You want me to take in my spiritual development?”  You don’t say to yourself, “What is the legacy that I want to leave behind after I die?”  Or you don’t ask the question, “What could God do with my life if I didn’t give Him ten percent of it but I gave Him 100% of my life?  What would God do with it?  What could God do with it?  What will God do with it if I opened my life up that way to Him?” 

You don’t ask those kinds of tough questions.  Instead, an ineffective Christian decides to sort of doggie paddle around the shallow end of life.  If you’re going to live an unexamined life whatever you do stay away from this verse.  Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Test me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Just take that black magic marker and blot out that verse.  Get rid of that thing.

How can you insure that you will skim the surface of life instead of going deep?  Three steps you can take to help you sink to true ineffectiveness.

         1.  Fill your life with noise. 

It’s a very effective technique.  Fill your life with noise.  When you get up in the morning, have the radio blaring.  Then when you sit down to breakfast, have the Today show blaring.  Then on the way to work in the car, have the radio blaring again.  When you get to work have background noise going all the time.  Keep your door open so the commotion of your workplace is constantly present.  When you get ready to go home put on the radio in the car so you’ll have that on the way home.  When you get home, turn on the news while you’re eating dinner.  Then sink into your favorite chair and channel surf until you fall asleep. 

Why?  Why would you do that?  Because 1 Kings 19:12 says,  “God often speaks in a gentle whisper.”  And if you don’t have a lot of noise you may hear it. 

         2.  Fill your life with activity. 

Fill it with busyness.  Fill it with tasks and action.  Flit from thing to thing, from task to task without any margin as fast as you can so you don’t have time to take a breath.  Why?  Because Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” 

         3.  Fill your relational world with superficial friendships. 

Friendships where you spend an inordinate amount of time talking about trivia.  Avoid challenging relationships.  Here’s another good verse to edit out.  Proverbs 27:17, “For as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.”  You might as well just rip out the book of Proverbs from your Bible.  It’s only trouble.  Get rid of it.  It’ll just cause you problems.

If you want to be an ineffective Christian, fill your life with superficial friends, with people who are stagnant, with people who are visionless, with people who are satisfied with sort of skimming the surface of life.  When you hear people talk about opportunities to get involved in a small group, to take a new step, to get involved with new people, to do life together, friends that you can learn from and grow with and be encouraged by, be held accountable by, and develop together spiritually, and when you hear those kind of opportunities and something inside of you says, “I want that,” and you’re tempted to get involved, here’s my advice to you.  Stick your fingers in your ears and hum that Simon and Garfunkel song from the 1960s “I am a rock.  I am an island.”  Just keep saying “I don’t need other people.  I can do this by myself.” 

That’s a great prescription, that kind of unexamined life – the noise, the busyness, the superficial friendships that will help you stay mired in mediocrity and keep you highly ineffective as a Christian.  Here’s a third habit of highly ineffective Christians….

3.  they treat God only as a pal

This illustrates a technique that ineffective Christians develop.  That is they tend to take something that is true but they emphasize one spiritual truth while overlooking a whole bunch of other spiritual truths.  They tend to get a very skewed and distorted perspective of the Christian life.

For instance, in this case, it is true to say, “Jesus Christ can be your friend.”  He said Himself in John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do what I command.”  Jesus told His disciples, “I no longer call you servants.  Now I call you friends.” 

It’s the truth.  Jesus Christ has been my friend for over 40 years.  He’s been my best friend.  He’s been the most loyal friend I’ve ever had.  He’s never left me.  He’s never let me down.  He’s been the most steadfast friend.  He’s been the most intimate friend, the most loving friend that I’ve ever had.  It is true.  Jesus Christ can be your friend.  And that brings us great comfort. 

But sometimes it brings us too much comfort.  That is not all that Jesus is.  If you just see Him as a friend.  Think about this.  Friends don’t give commandments.  Friends just kind of make suggestions.  You can take them or leave them.  Friends are not someone you worship.  A friend doesn’t stand ultimately in judgment over you.  A friend is someone you hang out with, you joke around with.  You don’t give reverence to a friend.  But while Jesus Christ is my friend, He is so much more than my friend. 

Listen to the words of the Apostle John, his vision in Revelation 5, “Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousands times ten thousands.  In a loud voice they sang, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.’  Then I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing, ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever and ever.’” 

That is my Lord too.  He deserves my awe and my worship and my praise and my reverence.  He deserves that because of who He is.

But, to be a highly ineffective Christian, don’t exalt God as Lord over all your life.  Instead, you must bring Him down to your level.  You must think of God as your heavenly pal, the good Lord, the man upstairs, my big buddy, Mr. Jesus.  When you are tempted to sin do not picture God sitting on His throne surrounded by worshiping angels and beings too wonderful to describe.  Do not picture Him in His blinding righteousness or yourself so filled with awe that you shrink back from His presence.  Picture Him instead in a cardigan sweater and jeans like Mr. Rogers, putting His arm around you saying, ‘That’s ok, bud.  Don’t  sweat the little sins.  I’ll take care of it.’  By doing this you will treat the sacrifice He made on the cross merely as something one business partner would do for another.  Think of God as a loving, doting grandfather complete with rocking chair and beard.  Pray casually without reverence.  If you focus your mind on making the Almighty omnipotent master of the universe seem like just any other person you will be well on your way to a wonderfully ineffective life.” 

There’s a fourth characteristic of highly ineffective Christians….

4.  They live like CHAMELEONS.

You know what a chameleon is.  They blend in to whatever their surroundings are.  They’re the stealth reptile.  Fully ineffective Christians learn to blend in with whatever their surroundings are.   

On Sunday the chameleon Christian is in church.  Then comes Monday morning at the office or at school.  We sort of blend in to those surroundings and we laugh at the off colored jokes and the sexist remarks and we may make a few of our own.  We participate in the backstabbing and in the office politics and in the gossip.  And when friends swear and make a mockery of the name of God we find ourselves doing the same thing. And when we’re among racists, we’re racist. 

The test of a chameleon Christian is this:  Does anybody where you work or in your neighborhood even have one hint that you’re a Christian?  If no one has a clue, you are on your way to being highly ineffective as a Christian. 

If you want to live as a chameleon Christian one verse that you need to edit out of your Bible is what Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Forget that advice.  What does Jesus know anyway?  Who does He think He is?  God?  Just edit it out of your Bible.  Pretend it isn’t there.  Try serving God as your master when you are in these four walls and then when you go beyond these four walls try serving the world as your master.  And you will live forever comfortably in the ranks of highly ineffective Christians.

A fifth habit of highly ineffective Christians is …

5. Ineffective Christians keep quiet about their faith.

Otherwise it’s going to blow their cover.  How can you be a chameleon Christian if you’re telling people about Jesus Christ?  You can’t blend in that way.  Highly ineffective Christians will edit out of their Bible the words that Jesus uttered, His last directive to His people just before He ascended into heaven, The Great Commission, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  They just pretend Jesus never said it. 

But sometimes even highly ineffective Christians sort of get guilt trips about their faith.  They get into a situation where they can’t get out of it.  My advice is, if you’re a highly ineffective Christian and you find yourself in that situation just seize that opportunity and talk about your faith in as inept and ineffective way that you possibly can. 

Here are two examples, two illustrations, of being highly ineffective in the way you talk about your faith.  I want to set up this scene.  It’s at the Nashville airport.  You have a highly ineffective Christian who has an encounter with a stranger.  This first technique is called the “skirt”.  This is how a highly ineffective Christian just sort of skirts the issue of talking about God.

“So you heading to Chicago today?

“Yeah…”

“We’re supposed to have nice weather there, you know.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Nice weather.  We’re supposed to have nice weather.”

“Great, great.”

“I see you carry a Bible in your briefcase.”

“What?  No.  Maybe my wife put it there…”

“Are you a Christian?”

“Look!  Can’t a guy carry around a Bible without getting the third degree?”

Excellent example!  Notice how he skirts the issue of talking about God.  And by the way, you get extra credit if you manage to make the other person feel guilty about bringing it up.  Extra points.

This is another highly ineffective technique.  The scare.

“So… are you going to Chicago on a visit?”

“Yes… hold on a second.  …  What God?  Oh, yes.  Thou art right.”

“Are you talking to me?”

“No, I was talking to the Lord.  You see He’s called me to Chicago on business.  He talks to me, you know.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes.” 

“That’s very interesting.  Did you know we’re supposed to have nice weather there?”

“Praise the Lord!  Would you like to pray with me right now to become a Christian?”

“You know what?  I think I have to change flights!”

        

The scare is a very effective technique.  Like you go to a crowded movie theater and you’re looking for an empty seat so you ask, “Excuse me is that seat saved?” and the person next to it said, “I don’t know if that seat’s saved but the real question is ‘Are you saved?’”  Either technique will be equally ineffective.  The skirt or the scare will help you to repel people from a conversation about God. 

Whatever you do, don’t think about the person’s eternity.  Just block that from your mind.  Don’t think about the emotional healing that God would bring into their life if they were to meet him.  Don’t think about the destructive patterns in their life that are ruining their life and hurting their families that if they met Jesus Christ how He would lovingly begin to work with them to get them past those destructive patterns.  Don’t think about their kids.  Don’t think what would happen if a mom or dad met Jesus Christ and then began to create a godly environment in that home.  Don’t think how those kids would benefit and generations to come how they might be effected.  Don’t think about purpose and meaning that God would infuse into that person’s life.  Don’t think of them as people. 

Because the danger is if you begin to think about people as real human beings then you’ve got to think about the real places of heaven and hell and the real choices that people make and the real eternal destinations that people choose.  Whatever you do don't tell people, “This is what I used to think about God and this is how I met Him and this is how He’s changed my life.  This is what I’ve learned.  This is what He’s done in my life.”  Don't just in a natural way talk about what God means to you. 

So whatever you do block out the words of the Apostle Paul from your mind and from your Bible where he said in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”  Block it out of your mind. 

I would conclude this point and I would conclude this whole message with five words. 

May it never be so.  May it never be so!

Prayer:

      Father, we’ve had some fun today talking about how not to live an authentic Christian life and may it never be so.  May it never be said of us that we settle for the safe and we settle for the comfortable.  Father, more times than I would like to admit I see a bit of myself in those habits.  I see times when I like to pretend that a convicting verse isn’t there.  I try to mentally edit it out rather than face it and apply it.  There are times when I’ve been a chameleon Christian and I’ve just blended into the surroundings I’ve been in.  I felt sick about it afterwards.  There have been times when I’ve only treated You as a pal, as a friend and I’ve not given You the reverence and the worship and the praise and the awe and the wonder that You so richly deserve.  All of us see a bit of ourselves in those habits.  God, we don’t want to be highly ineffective Christians.  Not one person here wants to someday look You in the eye and say, “It was safe the life I lived.  It was uneventful the life I lived.  It was comfortable the life I lived.”  No.  We want to look You in the face and say, “Jesus, thank You for this grand adventure that You had us on and thank You for the joy and the fulfillment and the satisfaction that You breathed into our lives because we didn’t flinch from Your teaching.  But we gave ourselves to You unreservedly and said, “Use us 100% of who we are.  Use us for Your purposes.  You point the way and we will follow.  You point the hill and we will take it.  We want to be those kind of Christians.  Give us the courage to live those kind of lives in Jesus name.  Amen.