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Happy to Have it All (1/12/2010)

2010-01-12T08:53:00.001-05:00

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

Let me ask you a question. It’s a bit personal, but it’s only you reading this.

What is the one thing that is keeping you from being happy? Here’s another way to get to my point - How would you fill in this blank: “I will be happy when_________________”?

Admit it.

We love to have it all.

The latest in fashions. The best gadgets. The coolest car. The biggest home. The hottest girlfriend or boyfriend. The most money. The list could go on and on.

And, despite more clothes, gadgets, cars, homes, girlfriends, boyfriends, and money, a lot us remain unhappy. Despite all the stuff, we remain discontented. Despite having it all, we remain dejected, or sad, or depressed. So what do we do? We go out and get more clothes, more gadgets, trade in the car, break up with the boyfriend or girlfriend for a new one, and grab some lottery tickets for some quick cash.

And this maddening cycle continues with no end…like a mouse running on a wheel…always chasing, and never catching.

Here’s the next question.

What if whatever you filled in the blank with never comes to pass? What if you never graduate, or get a better job, or get a raise, or get good grades? What if you can’t afford the car payment, or the rent, or the credit card bill?

Seriously ask yourself – “If none of my dreams ever come true, will I ever be happy?”

If you even have to pause to answer that question, it’s time for your personal reality check. Because if your focus is on the “good life” or “having it all,” you need to re-focus…

…On the God that provides everything for everyone.

It’s not easy to let God be God and let Him provide. We are bombarded daily on how to really have the good life – on how to be really happy. Buy this, and you will be content. Do this, and your urges will be satisfied.

But there is a problem with how our world tells us to be happy. That is, it’s here today and gone tomorrow.

Today the new car is shiny and smells so good inside. Tomorrow, it has a scrape on it because someone let their shopping cart bang into it in the mall parking lot. All of the sudden, the new car isn’t so new anymore.

Today, that new boyfriend or girlfriend is the person you have been searching for years for. Tomorrow, they are looking for someone better, or cuter, or more popular.

Today, everyone at school is in awe of you because you are wearing the latest fashions from the hottest store. Tomorrow, the clothes don’t fit right anymore, or get torn, or get a stain. No longer are you the fashion icon you thought you were.

These kinds of examples are endless. But the one thing that is not endless is this simple fact - You have a God who hears you, who knows you, who protects you, and who loves you. His love for you has no end. His love for you never goes out of fashion. His desire for a relationship with you never fades. And if you love God, He gives you the grace you need for every mistake you have made and will make today and tomorrow.

So please don’t fall into the trap that you can have it all by doing it all. It never works. But by trusting that God does and will always provide, you will find that the next time you are asked the question I asked you earlier, your response will be a joyful “I am happy because I have Christ in me.”

The Only Thing That Matters (1/7/2010)

2010-01-07T20:00:00.002-05:00

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

1 Corinthians 1:18 is by far my favorite scripture from the Bible. Why? Because during my first days of finding Christ, I met with a lot of resistance from a lot of people around me, especially my family. I don’t blame them for being sensitive to my decision. I was born into a Jewish home, and my family felt offended. But the more I tried to explain my decision, the worse it got. And it wasn’t until my then mentor pointed out this passage from the Bible that I was able to put my decision to accept Christ into its proper perspective.

The point here is not about my decision or my family’s reaction.

The point here is about what all believers may be going through right now, as you read this sentence, across the world.

Students in high school across America facing fellow students who ride them pretty hard for believing in something bigger than themselves.

Students in colleges across the globe sitting in a classrooms where their professors constantly question the existence of a “higher being,” no less than accepting the fact that Jesus Christ was God’s son.

Workers sitting in office cubicles, or working under cars, or painting walls, or wiring homes, or an infinite number of work settings where fellow workers laugh at a believer’s faith.

Are these fellow students, college professors, work colleagues, or friends and family who question us headed for destruction? We can’t know because many times people say stuff just to be cool, or funny, or to be accepted, not necessarily what’s truly in their heart.

But this much I do know…it no longer matters to me what my co-workers, my neighbors, my friends, or my family think of my love for Jesus.

For I know that I have been saved.

And I know the power of God.

Do you?

God Uses all of Us (12/27/2009)

2009-12-27T18:03:00.001-05:00

The LORD God blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him. (Psalm 146:5)

There was a man in the Bible who was just an ordinary, un-assuming, everyday Joe. But his name wasn’t Joe.

It was Moses.

It’s weird to me that many people I talk to today, including those that claim to be Followers of Christ, seem to equate Moses as being some ancient God from thousands of years ago.

But Moses was anything but that. Moses was just an ordinary Sheppard. Tending sheep in his pastures. Until one day a completely unexpected call came.

“Moses, this is God. Lead my people from bondage.”

“Uh, you mean me?” Moses responded. “You must mean one of the religious leaders.”

“No,” God said, “I mean you.”

The lesson so many thousands of years ago is the same and as important as it is right now as you read this.

God uses people to change the world.

People like you. Like your best friend. Like your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife or husband. People like your school bus driver, the cafeteria worker at school, or the person behind the counter at the convenience store or the cashier at the supermarket. The boss in the corner office or the dude that keeps the copy machine working.

God doesn’t save world-changing stuff just for the jocks, corporate vice presidents, politicians, school teachers, or religious figures.

God uses everyone. The good. The bad. The beautiful. The ugly. War-loving hawks and groovy peace doves. The worst of the worst in solitary confinement in a prison and the number one ranked student in his class at some prep school. The princes and the paupers. The rich and the poor.

Over the past couple of years I have seen first-hand how the ordinary have done the extraordinary.

The college student who leaves everything convenient behind to tell people in Africa about the love of God.

The Mother who remains strong in her faith despite the cries for her troubled child remaining unheard.

The musician that uses his obvious musical talents to bring enjoyment to his listeners, but uses the love of God to minister to an ailing friend.

The guy that stands up for a friend when people in authority falsely accuse.

The lady who rescues animals that the rest of society has given up on.

The teenager who can see the forest through the trees.

Ordinary people. Doing extraordinary things. Because they trust God and depend on Him.

And in return, God blesses them.

Do you trust God? Do you depend on God? If your answer is yes, then you will do things for God’s kingdom that make the world’s version of successful people pale in comparison to what you have done.

A Real Jesus (12/15/2009)

2009-12-15T14:02:00.002-05:00

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. (John 1:14, The Message)

I wonder how many of us today claim to have a “personal relationship” with Jesus, but still treat our over-all faith like some sort of ritual infested ceremony.

I was at a Roman Catholic funeral the other day, and what really caught my attention was not so much the sadness that someone had died, but the sheer amount of rituals and memorized prayers that everyone seemed to chant at once, with none of it having any apparent meaning to the chanters, if “chanters” is such a word. My point is not to poke fun at Roman Catholicism; rather, it’s to see how quickly we can reduce Jesus to a few simple rituals and prayers every now and then when someone passes away.

In the Bible, John says that “The Word became flesh.” What does that mean for us as followers of Jesus Christ?

It means more than just a bunch of words strung together to sound important.

It means that Jesus was real. It means that Jesus was completely accessible, just like your best friend. It means that Jesus was easily reached, just like your girl friend, or your boyfriend, or your wife or husband.

So what does that mean for us today? I mean, he is no longer “in the flesh,” but is seated at the right hand of the Father. But if Jesus were today, my guess is that he would still want to have that “personal relationship” with each of us.

Jesus would be the guy to give us a lift to the mall.

Jesus would be the guy who comes over on a Sunday afternoon to watch the Red Sox and maybe a barbeque.

Jesus would be the guy we call on the phone or text that we just missed the train and will be a little late to Dunkin’ Donuts to share our heartaches over coffee.

Jesus is the guy who would go walk your dog because you are stuck in traffic.

Jesus is the guy who helps you with your homework when you just don’t get it.

Jesus is the guy playing Farmville on Facebook.

And when you had something to say to Him, he would listen to you as if you were the only person on earth.

This is the kind of Jesus that is available to each us that call themselves “followers.”

I can’t honestly say if any of those people at the funeral had a relationship with Jesus, or a relationship with a ritual, a Priest, or a prayer. I have no idea of what was in each of their hearts. But if you are a follower of Jesus, today is a day to celebrate – to celebrate that you don’t follow a religion – you live a faith!

Sweet Temptation (12/8/2009)

2009-12-08T22:08:00.001-05:00

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. (Matthew 4:1-2)

Did it ever occur to you that so many of us who count ourselves as Christians or Followers of Jesus Christ go on with our daily living with the mistaken belief that because Jesus never sinned, he was never tempted? And every time we are tempted, we scold ourselves and beat ourselves up because we faced temptation.

If you’re like me, sometimes it’s easy to fall into that thinking trap. But there is good news in Matthew 4:1-11. These versus tell of how satan tempted Jesus, and how Jesus never fell for the devil’s bag of tricks. What makes this story even more incredible to us as fallen humans is that Jesus faced these temptations after he had not eaten for forty days. What? Most of cannot imagine not eating for four hours! Jesus had not eaten for forty days. He was tired. He was hungry. His blood sugar levels must have read zero. And, after forty days and nights in the wilderness without food and water, Jesus was at his most vulnerable. And the devil knew it. And used that opportunity to attack!

First temptation – c’mon Jesus, you must be hungry…turn this rocks into bread. Jesus says no way.

Second temptation – hey Jesus, if you are the son of God, just jump from the top of the temple and God will catch you. Jesus laughs him off and refuses to test God.

Third temptation – ok Jesus, just worship me and I will give you the power to rule over the entire world. Jesus, tired and hungry and beaten with temptation, clenches his fists, breathes deeply, and tells satan to take a hike as there is only one God to serve.

You may not be hungry or thirsty. You may not be tired. But as a follower of Jesus Christ, satan has you in his gun sights, right now, even as you read this. But he is waiting – waiting until you are the most vulnerable to strike. It may be when you are frustrated at school, have a bad day at work, or a fight with a boyfriend or girlfriend or wife or husband. And most of all satan will wait for tragedy or disaster to strike you or your family or your friends. And when any of these things happen in your life, Satan will be there, waiting patiently to offer you false hope and false promises.

There may not be any easy 3-step programs guaranteed to defeat satan. But there are ways we can do some preventive maintenance…try making it a habit of being in God’s word every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Keep your prayer life active and fresh by just talking with God throughout the day. And immerse and surround yourself with genuine followers of Jesus Christ who are certain to pick you up when you feel you are starting to fall down.

Temptation is part of everyone’s life everyday. The key is resisting the urge through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Because if you keep Him big in your life and yourself small, satan has no chance.

Your Name (11/29/2009)

2009-11-29T17:12:00.003-05:00

See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. (Isaiah 48:16)

Who went to the mall this weekend? Or even out for a simple trip to pick up some milk or just a couple of “quick items?” Sadly, despite telling myself repeatedly that I would not go out into the nonsense on “Black Friday,” there I was, on Friday at about 2:00 in the afternoon, mesmerized and drooling over the latest gadgets at Best Buy.

But what I really noticed on Friday was not the latest cell phones or laptops or digital cameras. What I noticed more than anything was what seemed to be an endless sea of humanity...hundreds and hundreds of nameless faces, marching in pre-determined lines throughout the store, and each nameless face stricken with obvious stress and panic.

When I see a sea of faces, whether it be at Best Buy on Black Friday, or a huge crowd like the one I saw at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Saturday night when I went to see a college basketball game – that's all we see – a crowd of people. But how many times do we stop seeing a crowd, and instead see a person?

The mother obviously trying to start and finish her Christmas shopping while juggling two small children who are tired and cranky and crying.

The store clerk being yelled at by a customer because it's 2pm, and the item that was on sale during the “ 5am Door Buster” is out of stock.

The man sitting in section 203, row G, seat 21 at the Dunkin' Donuts Center who just put away his cell phone, his head now buried in his hands as he just got off the phone with his wife, she telling him that their marriage is over, and she won't be there when he gets home from the game.

There is someone who knows these faces – the woman and store clerk at Best Buy...the man sitting by himself at a basketball game...the wife who comforts her husband, helpless because she cannot stop the disease killing him...the student sitting in class, feeling alone and desperate from false gossiping...the person driving in the car in the next lane over who is chasing comfort in drugs or alcohol or prostitution. To us, all nameless faces that seem to come and go with the blink of any eye. But to God, all with a name. And that name is written on the palm of his hand, never to be forgotten.

My name written on God's hand? Maybe you have never had your name honored on a plaque, or certificate or award. Maybe you have never had your name honored verbally by a teacher or a coach or a boss or even a friend. And if that describes you even a little, it may be hard for you to believe that your name is written on God's hand.

But it is.

1 Corinthians says that “The person who loves God is the one God knows and cares for.” This is a promise from God to you. And this promise has never been broken.

So, the next time you feel like a nameless face in a crowd that doesn't matter, remember that those who love God will have a face known by God, and that God will care for you in your most difficult moments.

A Personal Thanksgiving (11/26/2009)

2009-11-26T10:35:00.002-05:00

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:5-6)

In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful verses the Bible. It not only tries to keep us focused on what God says is important in life, but it reminds us that God IS the focus.

This is a special Thanksgiving for me and my family. For those of you that know me well, you are probably familiar of the kind of year we have been through. But this verse reminds me that my hardships pale in comparison to those suffered by others – we have not lost a family member from the effects of a war and we have not lost our home or jobs due to the economy. We have not been stricken with disease or any health-related issues.

But we did suffer, and when we did, God proved again and again that not only are his arms big enough for me, but he will keep people in my life and have me cross paths with new people who will help sustain me and my family’s faith.

We lost our wonderful companion Duke.

And God kept us encouraged knowing that we will be rescuing another helpless lab sometime in January 2010.

We almost lost our faith in February in a situation that ripped our hearts .

And God reminded us how big He was by having us cross paths with an awesome group of people, and by keeping people in our lives that loved us unconditionally. Nothing I could do in this lifetime can ever re-pay these people adequately.

So, this Thanksgiving, I give special thanks to all of you who kept me lifted, and those who came to lift: Margie H., Stephen H., Tim C., Sarah C., Dan C., Tracy C., Lynn S., Emily S., Mike S., Josh S., James S., Matt M., Jessica R., Amy K., Mario C., Alex C., Rachel M., All of the people at WestBridge Vet Hospital, Alicia L., Kayla F., Christie F., Patty M., Laura S., Ginny M., Jeremy M., Zach L., Jordan L., Kelly L., Mike L., Pete A., Peter F., Brian L., Tim P., Jason W., Jamie W., Billy R., Bill R., Jake Z., Ethan B., Kyle W., Brad S., Shari H., Mollie E., Adam K., Brad W., Brent W., Cam B., Carol F., Jack F., Cindy F., Cody B., Don M., Natalie M., Donald I., Donna S., Doug C., Ethan L., Glen P., Gretchen K., Jenna K., Jay M., John D., John K., John R., Joe F., Josh L., Kayla G., Kevin G., Kyle B., Lenny N., Mark G., Mike G., Nik E., Quincy S., Bob K., Sean D., Steve S., Susan E., James T., Christy T., Brad L. Karen L., Sarah L., Billy H., Chris A., Frank V., Alex R., Amanda R., Chris T., David O., Fran B., Meg J., Robin D., Mark L., Jeremy R., Abe S., Henry S., Franco, Josh T., Kris T., Rod T., Ethan T., Chris B., Bob H., and everyone at Meetinghouse.

Wow – when I look at this list, I see how much God has blessed me. No gadget, no clothing, no car, no home improvement can come close to matching what each of these people have done for me. God has proved again that He will not forsake me.
So, on this Thanksgiving, to all I listed (and those who I may have forgot)…

Thank you.

Road Rules for the Real World - Special Weekend Edition

2009-11-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

Transcript of Bob's message to youth group on November 21, 2009
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Hey Guys…I know this may sound pretty old or pretty shallow, but all of us, Billy, Mark, Chris, myself – we are just thrilled that you decided to spend some time with us tonight, and maybe learn a little more about Jesus than you knew before you walked through those doors an hour or so ago.

We all come to youth group every week hoping to have some fun. Am I right on that? And you know, that’s true – that’s part of it. But our job – my job, Billy’s job, Chris’ job, Mark’s job – is to bring Christ alive in your lives – to teach what’s in this book, the Bible, to each one of you. We know that not everyone who comes to youth group is a Christian. Because of all the people that may come to youth group or church on Sunday, we know that many of them are what we would call seekers. And all that means is that they’re just here checking out this God-thing. They’re not Christians. They haven’t bought in. They respect a friend that invited them. If you’re here as a seeker, I respect you that you’d be smart enough and care enough about your life that maybe there is a creator, and there is a designer. That there is a God.

But we also know that there people that come to youth group or church on Sunday that are on the other end. They’re more sold out. They’ve made a strong commitment to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They are not perfect, but they are sold out to God! We can call them followers of Jesus Christ.

Then we have many people in the middle. They’re not seekers and they’re not followers. They’re what we call stumblers. They’re kind of struggling in their relationship with God. They’ve said yes to God and turned their back to the world’s way, but they’re having a hard time getting their arms around what it means to be a Christian and a follower of Christ.

So no matter where you are in your spiritual journey – whether you are a seeker, a stumbler, or a follower, we are glad you are here tonight.

There are two messages that bring tears to my eyes. Two messages that if I could have five or 10 minutes with you some day at Wendy’s or McDonald’s, I’d probably tear up. One would be a message telling you that God loves you and He forgives you and He wants a personal relationship with you, not a religion. Almost anytime I talk with somebody about that, especially students, I get so emotional because I think, “Your whole life could be different if you had a relationship with God.”

The second message is now that you believe in God, what do you do with that…what to do with your life? Here’s the answer – each one of you can make a difference on this incredible playground that we call earth – and you can start doing that tonight. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what grade you are in, or how well you do in school. Heck, to make a difference fro God in our world, you don’t even have to be a youth leader or a Pastor or a Priest. You matter. You are just not some excess baggage in life. And, anytime I talk to somebody who thinks they’re just excess baggage, I stop “Time out! You’re an original masterpiece created by God, not to be excess baggage but to make a difference in this world.” Those are my two favorite messages.

Tonight I want to take a few minutes to talk to you guys about something we have been talking about at Meetinghouse Church on Sunday mornings. And if you don’t come to Meetinghouse on Sundays, I hope you and your family will give it a try because it is awesome! But tonight I want to talk about how you can make a difference with your life. How to discover your shape. Now I know you must be saying, “Shape, what do you mean by shape?”

The world, the one right outside those glass doors wants to tell you a lie. Here’s the lie: you don't matter...you're just a kid...you can’t make a difference in this world until you’re an adult. When you’re an adult and you’ve got kids and you’ve got money and a house and a car and your checking account, then you can make a difference in the world. Please guys, listen to me – that’s the world telling you a lie!

Did you guys know that some of the most important people in the history of mankind have been students, teenagers? I want to tell you none of you here tonight, and none of your friends at school, are excess baggage. Don’t believe that lie. Because God has created you for an incredible reason and when you discover how He’s created you, your life will be radically changed. You won’t wake up in the morning going, “Dude, I don’t care.” You won’t live with this apathy, and go through life just shrugging your shoulders thinking there is nothing you can do.

In the Bible, it talks about one of the kings of Israel – a guy named David. And listen to what King David said about God:

“You have looked deep into my heart, LORD, and you know all about me. You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts. You notice everything I do and everywhere I go. Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say, and with your powerful arms you protect me from every side. I can't understand all of this! Such wonderful knowledge is far above me. Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight? If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there. Suppose I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean. Even then your powerful arms would guide and protect me. Or suppose I said, "I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over." But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are all the same to you. You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me.”

In another part of the Bible, there is the story of a guy named Job who had a pretty tough life. And even in the middle of his worst suffering, he said God “Your hands formed me and shaped me.”

I realize that there are some of you in here think that God had absolutely nothing to do with you. That He didn’t form you and shape you. That He didn’t knit you together in your mother’s womb. I know that some of you or your friends or your family think that there was this huge explosion and that all of a sudden here you are. From a blob you are a complex human.

But, the reason we even have this youth group is to get across this message – that there is a designer. That you are not an accident. That you did not evolve from planets colliding. That our bodies, our world, our minds, are much too complex. It points to a designer. And God doesn’t design junk.

I hope he doesn’t get embarrassed when I tell this story, but I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s about when Stephen was in first grade. Now we all know that first grade is basically cutting, pasting, drawing – a lot of artwork. You know, a bunch of construction paper and a bunch of glue and sprinkles, and abra cadabra, art! But one week, Stephen’s class did some artwork about President’s Day – art about Abe Lincoln and George Washington. And this was just around when they have those parent-teacher conferences. So me and my wife are waiting to see Stephen’s teacher, and we are just wandering in the hallways, looking at all this art work plastered all over the bulletin boards. Some of the art work was good, but a lot of it I just could not understand what that kid who did it must have been thinking.

But you know what made some of that art an incredible work? The name. Stephen Hewitt. All of a sudden it has meaning. When I went to the school and went through the hallways and every kid’s work is up there you know what I do? Junk... Junk... Trash... Stephen Hewitt! This is it! I recognize the name. I know who he is and I have this special love for him. Guys, and that's exactly how God looks at each one of you...you are God's construction paper. You are God's glue. You are God's glitter. You are God's art project, and when He sees you, he says your name, and how much he loves you, just like how I felt when I saw Stephen's art project that day outside his first grade classroom.

You might look at your life and say “My life is worthless, my life is trash, my life is junk. My parents abuse me. Nobody likes me. People make fun of me. I’m not in the right crowd. My grades stink.” But God says, “Oh, I love you just like you are. I knit you and formed you and created you. I love you just the way you are.”

To make a difference in your life for God, God wants you to...

Discover your Spiritual gifts and then open them like presents on Christmas morning.

Here’s what the Bible says about spiritual gifts:

“There are different ways God works in our lives but it is the same God who does work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.”

The church does not just mean Meetinghouse Church, or this youth group. The church means the kingdom, the body of believers, the millions and millions of people on this planet that call themselves Christians – that’s the church. He gives you these gifts as a means of helping the entire church.

Some of you in here probably don’t know this because you haven’t discovered this about yourself yet, but you have spiritual gift – it may knowing right from wrong, maybe it is the gift of encouraging your friends or family, or maybe the gift of wisdom which is having an unusual insight about life that some people don’t have, maybe it’s the gift of service, or the gift of mercy, r the gift of hospitality where you love to make people feel welcome. You invite them into your home and you want to care for their needs.

We’re not all gifted the same. And there is no limit to the kinds of gifts you may have.

There is a catch to these spiritual gifts, as the Bible says. The catch is this: spiritual gifts are only available for Christians. That’s not a slam on those of you who are only checking out Christianity and you’re not Christians. It’s not a slam on you. But God said those who have decided to turn their back on the world to have a relationship with me; I’m going to give them special gifts. So if you’re sitting here tonight and you’re not a Christian, you may be saying to yourself, “Hey Bob, what do I need that special gift for to help the church? I don’t even care.”

Here’s why you should care, especially if you don’t have Jesus in your life. The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 2:

“People who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit understand what the Spirit means.”

If you have said yes to God at sometime in your life, you have a relationship with him, and here’s what the Bible says: You are gifted. Congratulations, you are gifted.

You may not know what your gifts are yet. I believe God gave me the spiritual gift of teaching. I believe that God gave me the spiritual gift of encouraging others. I believe that God gave me the spiritual gift of loving students. I believe God gave me the gift of writing. And the weird thing is that I didn’t even know I had any gifts until about three years ago! Somebody asked me to teach the high school youth group at another church. I did and they paid attention! Not only that, I liked it.

There’s a guy I know named Cam. I know what some of this guy’s spiritual gift are. One of his God-given gifts is the spiritual gift of encouragement. Ever since I have known him this guy is encouraging everybody. I get better emails from this student than anybody I’ve ever met in my life – encouraging! You know what happens when he types these emails? He feels like he’s being used by God. You know what the receiver of those email does? The receiver is blown away! I’m getting encouragement. Everybody needs to be encouraged. I’ve never met anybody who said, “Stop encouraging me. I’ve had enough encouragement. I can’t take it any more.” Others of you you’d rather take a punch in the stomach than meet a stranger. You say, “No, dude! Kick me in the head but I don’t want to go greet that person who is at youth group for their first time!” But some of you have the gift. You’re good at that. You’re gifted. You’ve got a spiritual gift. You’ve got to discover your gift, and then open it, like a present on Christmas morning.

The H in SHAPE stands for Heart.

What’s in your heart? What do you love? What are you passionate about? Have you ever thought, “What do I really, really love in life?” Some of you love doodling, or drawing. Some of you love to develop. Some of you love to perform. Some of you love to start things. Some of you love to finish things. Some of you love to improve things. Some of you love to be with people. God has given you some loves.

Listen to what Psalm 37 says

“Delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desires.”

Some of your heart’s desires are so incredible, you have such great love but they’re kind of locked up because you haven’t taken delight in God. You’re not going to use those for the right reasons. But believe me when you do, your heart can be filled with selfish ambition – “Me, me, me. Look at me. I love me and I want to take care of me.” Or your heart can be filled with the desire to express love. That is God's will.

The A in SHAPE is Abilities.

You have to determine your abilities which will influence your impact. When you determine what you’re good at, it’ll influence your impact.

When I was in seventh grade I signed up for a speech and debate class. Science – C, English – C, Math – C- (that’s if I cheated just to get that!), Speech and debate – A+. I wasn’t even a Christian, but I loved to debate. I loved to use the logic. I loved to speak. God gave me that ability before I had a relationship with him. When I became a Christian, I had something to speak about; God's love letter, God's Word.

What are your abilities? Graphics? Teaching? Writing? Promoting? Researching? Drama? Cleaning? Some of you are incredible with talking on the phone! That’s okay. That may be one of your best abilities! Surfing. Some of you know Frank. Frank loves surfing. Can he use that for God? Why not? Why not start a surf ministry. You know, have a little Bible study on the beach then go out surfing. Same goes for skate boarding. If you love skate boarding, that may be your ministry.

Determine your abilities which will influence your impact.

2 Corinthians 12 says, “There are different abilities to perform service.” In the Old Testament, in Exodus 31, “The Lord said to Moses, look I have chosen Bezalel son of Uru, grandson of Hur from the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, given him wisdom, intelligence and skill in all kinds of crafts.” God has given you some incredible abilities. Some of you are unbelievably talented. But a talent without passion without a spiritual gift is just used for yourself which becomes empty.

The P in SHAPE is Personality

My challenge to each of you tonight is to delight in your personality. I am here to tell you tonight that each one of your personalities is unique and important. What your personality is will impact what you do in this world. Some of us in here are real outgoing. Some of you here would rather just mind your own business, and would be happy if no one bothered you. One is not better than the other.

God has given you a very unique personality. Some of you that aren’t Christians yet, you’re going to see how God's going to use your personality to make a difference in this world.

There was a guy in the Bible named Paul. He wrote over half the books in the New Testament. Before he was a Christian he was a murderer. He was going to stomp out Christianity. He was zealous. He was radical. He was driven. He was passionate. He was going to destroy Christianity - until he came into relationship with Jesus Christ. Then that personality was used, that same passion, that drive that was against Christ was now used for Christ.

I am here to tell you that each one of you in here tonight has a personality that is perfect for making a difference in this world. God's given you an incredible personality. Don’t try to be like somebody else. Don’t be copy when you are created as an original masterpiece.

The E in SHAPE is your experiences (both positive and negative).

A hurt will not be wasted. I know some of you in here you may only be 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 but you have some experiences both good and bad that make up your shape. Here’s what I’m saying. For those of you who are Christians, you’ve got the “S” part. For those of you who aren’t, you’ve got all the other ones. The Christian has the Spiritual gifts, the Heart, the Abilities, the Personality and Experiences and you look at those together and say, “God, all that I am and all that I’ve been through, what can I do to make a difference in this world?” Your experiences – God will use your good experiences and God will use your bad experiences.

Your good experiences…2 Corinthians 9 says, “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospels.” Because of the service by which you have proved yourself, what happens? People will praise God.

Some of you here may have heard the word testimony. It’s a churchy word that basically boils down to what your personal story is – how you came to believe in God. Chris gave his testimony a few weeks ago. Each us has their own testimony – their own story – and no two are alike. Now, some of the testimonies that we hear are pretty radical. Some of you that don’t have a lot of negative experiences, sometimes you feel guilty. You say, “My life hasn’t been like that. I’ve had a pretty positive life. My parents aren’t divorced. I don’t do drugs. I haven’t had sex. I don’t kidnap animals. I don’t sacrifice the neighbor’s kitten. That’s not me. I’m not a chronic drug addict. I have no story.” Yes, you do! By you not having that type of story you’ve got a story. You’re actually more in the minority because most people mess up their lives. Depend on God to use your experiences.

What about the painful experiences? Some of you are going, “I was abused. How is God going to use that? I was sexually molested. How is God going to use that?” Maybe something bad has happened to you. But the cool thing about that is that you can use that horrible experience to build others up. Because once you talk about it openly, and how God has come into your life and healed your heart, one by one, people in and around your life, whether it be at school, or on the ball fields, or in your neighborhoods, or at home…one by one, people will come to you, and ask for your help. “Ethan, can I talk to you? Matt, you got a minute?” God takes your pain. God shares your pain with others. And now, those others are now on the road to recovery to get help. And in the end, God didn’t waste your hurt- he used your hurt.

Some of you are seekers, you know what you’re doing? You’re using that hurt to keep you from God. You think it’s God's fault that you are hurt. You say, “I don’t want to have a relationship with God. He’s the one who hurt me.” No. God doesn’t bring hurt. There may have been circumstances. God loved you so much He gave you free choice. And in a free-choice world, bad things sometimes happen to good people. You are a good person and there’s some pain. It’s not God's fault. But give it to God and let him heal you. And let him bring some positive out of that negative.

SHAPE – Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences. That’s a lot to think about, so let’s pray together.

God thank you that you created us and shaped us and you love us unconditionally not based on our abilities. You love us not based on our spiritual gifts. You love us not based on our personality, what we look like or how much money we have. You love us because you created us and you want us to have a relationship with you. God, I pray that the students in here tonight and the thousands of students who live in this area will discover their shape and they’ll understand that they’re not excess baggage; that they can make a difference. And God, I pray that you would show us what that difference is. Thank you for your love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Never Forgotten

2009-11-19T08:39:00.004-05:00

Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Social Networking. Two words that were non-existent as little as three to four years ago. Today, social networking is as much part of our lives and our language as any other routine we go through. We bath and brush our teeth everyday, and then head straight to Facebook or MySpace to see what happened overnight. I know people that would skip brushing their teeth in the morning, but would never skip Facebook for breakfast.

Like many of you, I enjoy social networking. While I know that it also hurts our inter-personal skills, web sites like Facebook have enabled me to re-connect and stay connected with people from my past who I had lost contact with. And, like many of you, I have a profile on Facebook – mine reads “I don’t practice a religion. I live a faith.” And I will never change my profile in the eyes of God.

I have been overly blessed over the past eight years or so. I have been blessed that God has put me in the path of people that brought me to Christ, people that taught me about Christ, people who encouraged me to serve for Christ, and most of all, people who have sustained my faith in Christ. You know who you are.

That’s not to say that my walk or journey has been all lollipops and rainbows. I have seen peaks so high that I thought I would never land. And I have been in valleys so low I never thought I would be rescued. But by keeping God big in my life and myself small, God has always carried me in his mighty arms. And I’m no small package!

Maybe you have not been so fortunate. What I mean by that is maybe you find yourself “going through the motions” (thanks here to Matthew West) of religion, and find yourself stuck in neutral, or even in reverse.

Maybe you go to church every Sunday, and take communion once a month, and go through all the rituals we have filled our Sunday mornings with, and when you get home, you can barely remember what was said from the pulpit.

Maybe you pray as hard as you can, and your soul just continues to feel empty.

Maybe you think there just has to be more than this. You hear everyone talking about a “personal relationship with Jesus,” but all you see in and around your life, especially on Sundays, is people who look like they have this Jesus thing all figured out. They dress in their Sunday best, look like they painted on a permanent smile in the morning, carry around huge bibles, sing perfectly in church choirs or worship bands, and take scrupulous notes during the message or sermon.

And there you sit. Feeling inadequate. Feeling like you don’t measure up to the family sitting next to you. Feeling like God is keeping score, and you can’t even get close to the end zone.

If this comes even close to how you have felt at anytime in your walk, think about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:3 – ”Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.”

That’s it. Done. No more, no less. Simple? Yes, but that’s all we need to know – that Jesus was killed – for you and me. That Jesus was buried – for you and me. And that Jesus was resurrected – for you and for me.

It all comes back to the cross. So the next time that your walk feels more like a chore, or when you feel empty, or that you are going in reverse, or that God may not love you unconditionally, think simply of the cross. And how God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not be lost, but have eternal life.

God, Do You Hear Me?

2009-11-13T08:19:00.001-05:00

And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. (Romans 8:27)

If there is nothing more frustrating, more aggravating, or more confusing for believers in today’s culture, it must be about something so simple.

Prayer.

Every day, many of us carry around this big bag of guilt on our shoulders that we don’t pray enough. That we don’t pray “right.” That we don’t pray for the right things. That we don’t pray under the right circumstances. Amazingly, some people I have met actually feel guilty because they feel that they pray too much. Huh?

The fact of the matter is that prayer is highly personal, and often we try to put “style” over substance. What I mean is that many of us feel that we have to “look the part” if we pray. But, when we do that, our prayer becomes shallow, irrelevant, and meaningless.

So what do we do?

Read today’s scripture reference one more time – does it not say, “And God, who sees into our hearts...”?

At the end of the day, God knows us far better than we will ever know ourselves. God knows what’s in your heart. God knows your troubles and your triumphs. God knows what you went through yesterday, what you are going through today, and, best of all, what you will go through tomorrow.

Does this mean we just forget about prayer? Absolutely not!

Like I said a minute or two ago, many of us think that we don’t pray enough. But in reality, that’s probably not the case at all. In fact, all of us pray more than we think.

Remember last week when you were driving home from work or school, and you were thinking about things that happened that day, and wondering where God was in your life? You were praying.

Remember earlier this week when you were playing your favorite sport, or your favorite music, or reading your favorite magazine, and were wondering about all the stuff you were experiencing and how it fit with your purpose on earth? You were praying.

Remember in September when you returned to school and you saw some of the people you don’t particularly care for, and were wondering how you, as a Christian, are you going to deal with them this year? You were praying.

Remember this morning or last night when you were showering or bathing and all you could think about was all “stuff” you are going to have to deal with today or in the coming days, and you were wondering, “Hey, where’s God in all of this?” You were praying.

How could all this be? Because the Holy Spirit turns your worries, your cries, and your heartbreak into appeals for His grace. And because God can see into your heart 24/7, you will always be heard.

This doesn’t mean that we just simply not set apart time for God on a regular basis. Not at all. As a Christian Brother, I encourage each of you to set apart time each day for some one-on-one time with God. But on those days where your world just seems to be overflowing past the “fill up to here” line, take comfort knowing that God sees into your heart, and that God hears your silent prayers.

God on Your Side

2009-11-10T09:03:00.001-05:00

You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book. (Psalm 56:8)

Do you feel alone this morning?

You could be in a classroom full of students in high school or college, but never have felt more alone.

You could be sitting in your cubicle at work, surrounded by a sea of other cubicles that look exactly the same, all full of people. But you have never felt more alone.

Maybe your day requires a lot of driving – and there you are, driving in your car or truck, surrounded by literally thousands of other cars and trucks going in your direction and against your direction. And you have never felt more alone.

Maybe you don’t feel alone today. Maybe it was yesterday, or last week, or last month. Maybe it will be tomorrow, or next week, or next month. And it doesn’t matter how successful you are, what you look like, or what your position in life is. There have been, and will be days, when you feel that you live on a desolate island, where no one understands your needs, no one understands your concerns, nobody understands your worries, and nobody understands your troubles.

It happens to the parent AND the child. It happens to the boss AND the worker. It happens to the teacher AND the student. It happens to the Pastor AND the parishioner. It happens to the leader AND the follower.

On those days your island may seem isolated and bare and cold. But, there is great news for each of us that put our faith in God.

He is near you! The Bible talks about how close the shepherd (leader) is to his sheep (follower) (see John 10:14). The Bible talks about how close the branch is to the vine (see John 15:5)!

And that’s how close God is to you every day, including those days on that desolate island. Because God DOES keep track of my every toss and turn you have on a sleepless night. Because God DOES keep track of every tear you have shed, and every ache you have experienced.

One of the most encouraging passages of the bible is found in Psalm 56:9-
“My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side!”

Friends and readers, if there were no other reason to put your trust in God today, all you have to do is read Psalm 56:9. It is true. It is real. And it is free.

I'm Sorry?

2009-11-06T14:00:00.002-05:00

After I was turned around, I changed the way I thought and acted. After I was taught a lesson, I hung my head in shame. I was so ashamed and humiliated, because of all the stupid things I have done ever since I was young.
Jeremiah 31:19

Have any of you really disappointed someone? Have you ever done anything that made people change their opinion of you…for the worse? Maybe it involved getting caught going too far with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe it had to do with embarrassing files in your computer’s hard drive. Maybe it happened when you came home wasted after a party. The list is pretty endless.

And you probably know that if you have had any of these experiences or experiences like them, you also probably know what regret feels like.

You know what it’s like to try and go back and erase what you did.

To want to stop people from being disappointed in you.

Personally, I have been there.

And will probably be there again.

We seek forgiveness.

But too often, repentance gets overlooked in our communication with God.

Here’s what I am getting at. When we feel guilty about something we’ve done, the usual pattern is to offer up a quick prayer of apology, as God for forgiveness, and then get on with our lives. Maybe sometimes we will remind ourselves of a verse like 1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong), just as a little bit of extra assurance. And in the process, we skip over repentance.

You see, sometimes it’s not enough simply to say, “I’m sorry” after letting others down…especially when that someone is God. Sometimes we need to give ourselves time to experience regret over our actions in order to fully appreciate God’s forgiveness. Trust me on this…

One of the best ways to generate true feelings of repentance is to spend some time thinking about what Jesus did on the cross.

Thinking about his love for you.

Thinking about who he is.

And the more we understand who it is we have sinned against, the more we will experience genuine, heart-felt repentance for our sins.

Ask God to show you who he is.

Ask him to help you repent.

That’s a prayer he will never refuse.

Have a great today…and if you don’t feel like doing anything today, try to remember to do one important thing- that is, love those in and around your life as Jesus loves you. No matter how bad you think you have disappointed the people in your life, Jesus loves you.

Faith Rewarded (11/2/2009)

2009-11-02T13:23:00.002-05:00

But those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:13)

As far as I can remember from my childhood, I always thought I had a direct line to God. I always felt that He was talking to me, and that when I thought about Him, He was actually listening. He didn’t always do what I wanted. In fact, I had absolutely no idea why at times He didn’t do what I wanted, but at other times, He seemed to come out of left field and do something great for me that I really didn’t expect. You may have heard a lot about “seeds of faith.” Somehow, I believe that those seeds were being planted when I was growing up. Who planted those seeds, I have no idea. And it really doesn’t matter.

Why?

Because those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).

It’s all about faith.

You won’t be saved if you ace every test in school this semester. You won’t be saved if you get a promotion at work. You won’t be saved if you get a date with the captain of the football team or the Homecoming Queen. Jesus calls all that stuff, “stuff.”

What Jesus says has nothing to do with things we can touch, taste, or smell. All Jesus is saying is that if you stick with your faith in Him, if you hang in the game with Him until the final whistle blows, you will be rewarded.

You will be saved.

Now, that all sounds a lot easier said that done. Because there are dark forces of evil waiting to trip you up. Temptations. Sins. All the work of the devil as he tries to get you to walk to the edge of the cliff, and entice you to take that one more step where you end up falling to a dark and bottomless pit.

Jesus is your guide on that cliff…no matter how close you come to the edge, an everlasting and undying faith in Jesus, even when things don’t seem to go your way, provides you with all the assurance you need that you will never ever fall into that dark and bottomless pit.

So, climb that mountain of faith. Stare down the devil at the peak. And be happy as you look across the vastness of your life that Jesus has your back.

The Worry Snuggie (10/29/2009)

2009-10-29T08:56:00.001-04:00

The Worry Snuggie (10/29/2009)

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? (Matthew 6:27)

Worries. Nerves. Anxieties. Fears.

A thousand words.

One feeling.

That you are not in control.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are. It doesn’t matter if you are in school, or have a full time job, or even if you sit around the house all day eating bon-bons and watching brain-dead talk shows or the latest “Judge” show.

Worry impacts all of us. It infects us like a bad cold and slowly but surely, it completely takes over all of us. It’s like wrapping ourselves in a “Worry Snuggie.”

But there is a huge problem with the Worry Snuggie. That is, instead of making us feel all warm and toasty, the Worry Snuggie saps us of every ounce of energy we have. The Worry Snuggie plays havoc with our minds and emotions because as we wrap ourselves even tighter in the Worry Snuggie’s grip, we put our minds into overdrive by over-thinking with the thought of “if I can barely get by today, how on earth am I going to deal with tomorrow?” And it’s an endless cycle that keeps us from enjoying the life God intends for each of us to live everyday.

A few weeks ago in the small group I attend, we talked a lot about living happily in the “here and now,” and about how difficult it is to give God our problems in a culture where we are literally bombarded with thoughts, images, and false promises that we can do it all, and that we somehow have this magical power to flip a switch and make everything all better.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Because every time we try to go solo and tackle something in our life that looks and feels so overwhelming – whether it be a test or paper in school, a project at work, or dealing with difficult people, we are simply going to lose.

Why?

Because we tried to do it on our own, without God. And by going alone, we tried to become God.

Are you worried today? Over money, or flunking a test at school, or falling behind at work, or losing a relationship?

Then try something new today – try keeping God big in your life, and yourself small. God knows what you are going through, and absolutely wants to help you, right now. Just give it to him, and let God be God, and you be you.

What's Your Sacrifice?

2009-10-26T08:32:00.001-04:00

The person who cheats will be cursed. He has a male animal in his flock and promises to offer it, but then he offers to the Lord an animal that has something wrong with it. I am a great king," says the Lord All-Powerful, "and I am feared by all the nations. (Malachi 1:14)

Before Jesus' once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross, God's people had to offer several different sacrifices every year in order to maintain their relationship with Him. There were sin offerings, thanksgiving offerings, freewill offerings, festival offerings, just to name a few. Most of these offerings involved killing animals.

But the one common thread of all of these Old testament offerings is that God expected the absolute best from His people. If the offering called for a young bull, God expected the person offering the sacrifice to use the best young bull in his herd. Not the young bull with a blemish, was crippled, or just simply was not the best of the flock.

The good thing for us is that God doesn't require us to give him animals or birds or used cell phones as an offering to Him. But that doesn't mean God still does not desire and reward sacrifice. It's a golden opportunity for all of us.

What kind of sacrifice does God want from you today?

It's very simple.

He wants us.

He wants us to give Him our heart.

He wants is to give Him our mind.

He wants us to give Him our will.

And we can do this by loving and worshipping Him.

By putting Him first in our lives.

Would you put Him first by using your money to sponsor a child in Africa instead of using what little money you have to stuff your face with pizza or a bacon-ator at Wendy's, or going to the movies every week?

Would you put Him first by serving a ministry of your church for two or three hours a week instead of wasting countless hours playing video games, getting brain-dead doing Myspace or Facebook or AIM for hours, or watching TV?

If you truly put God first in your life, give Him the best you have. God wants prime sacrifices, not your leftovers. God wants all of you, not just what you think you can spare.

Have a great and blessed day. And remember to love those in and around your life as Jesus loves you.

Seeing God through the Mud – Bob’s Message to the MHC Youth Group on Oct. 24, 2009

2009-10-25T09:05:00.002-04:00

“Seeing God through the Mud”
October 24, 2009

First off, I want to repeat something that I mentioned the last time I had the honor to speak to you guys a few weeks ago – that is this – we, all of us, Billy, Chris and Frank – we all know that there are like a million things you could be doing on a Saturday night. You could be at the movies, or hanging out with friends at the mall, or at Friendly’s. But just think about how awesome it is, that each of you may have decided, yeah, I could do any one of those things tonight –the movies or the mall or bowling, or whatever your group of friends typically do on a Saturday night. But I decided that I am going to a church youth group meeting tonight. Sure, you may want to come here and play in the gym or hang out with your friends. But my guess is that for most of you, at least part of the reason you came tonight is that you want to get to know God and this guy Jesus just a little bit better than you knew him yesterday.

Why? Because even if you are an atheist and don’t believe in any God, people in general just seem to be interested in the life of Jesus. But here’s the reality. Jesus was either who He said He was, or He was a total liar. Really, it boils down to that. He either was who He said He was – Jesus said, “I am God, God in the flesh, and I came to pay for your sins,”- or He ran this great scam, and 2000 years later you guys are coming here, to youth group, to come worship a liar. Nobody denies that He existed. The problem seems to be that people tend to deny is that Jesus was who He said He was. Do people believe that He was who He said He was? That he was God, in human form, like you or me??

I’m going to talk a little tonight about a very important event that took place thousands of years ago during a time we call the Ministry of Jesus. This event is in found in the Bible in the Book of John, and it’s a story of Jesus healing a blind guy. What you’ll notice in this story is that Jesus didn’t just heal the blind guy. I mean, if I’m God walking around on earth and I’m going to heal somebody, I could just snap my fingers or say abra cadabra, “You’re healed” and I’m done. But Jesus doesn’t do this. There’s more that’s going on in this story. In fact, this story has three types of people that may remind you of somebody you know in your life today.

The first group of people we’ll call a person who is hurting from something that has gone wrong in their life. The second group of people is those that really don’t believe that Jesus is God. And the third group is what we call the followers of Jesus Christ. All I ask is that for the next few minutes, you follow along this story the best you can.

The Bible says in John 9 that Jesus was walking along the road, and He saw a man who had been blind since he was born. What you need to know about this guy who was blind from birth is that at this time in human history there was only one job for somebody who had been blind from birth. It was the job of a beggar. In this culture, at this time, if you were blind, that’s what you did. You were a beggar. So Jesus is walking along. He sees this guy who had been blind from birth. Then His followers, His disciples, said this: “’Teacher,’ the disciples asked Him, ‘Why was this man born blind? Was it punishment from his own sin or, or was it a sin his parents committed before he was born?’”

Picture this: Jesus is walking through town. The Bible says that everywhere Jesus went, there was a crowd. There are people lined up to see him. If you can’t picture this in your head, then picture a parade. How many people in here have been to a parade in person? Maybe a parade on the Fourth of July or maybe a parade on Thanksgiving Day or New Years’ Day, or maybe you saw the Red Sox parade when they won the World Series or the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl. Well, imagine this parade with no floats, no marching bands – just one man walking down the street. Jesus. And there are like hundreds of people on the sidewalk watching Jesus walk down the street. So imagine Jesus is walking down Main Street in Mansfield, and he sees this blind guy in the crowd, and he suddenly stops – and He stops the whole parade. Jesus looks at this blind guy. And as Jesus is looking at this blind dude, Jesus’ disciples – his followers, ask Jesus, “Hey Jesus, was this guy born blind because of some sin he committed or some sin his parents committed?”

And that’s a pretty normal question for people at this point in history because during this time, it was normal to think that if a person had any type of deformity – like a short arm or a limp in your walk or something about their body was messed up – like blindness, that it was a punishment for your sin or your parents’ sin.

So this is how Jesus answered the question:

Jesus tells his followers, you’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. Jesus says, “c’mon guys, there’s just no connection between this man’s blindness and his sin or his parent’s sin. He is blind so the deeds of God may be put on display.

When Jesus said this, his disciples must have looked at each and said, “say what?” This guy was born blind so that the power of God could be shown? Oh good grief, now I’ve heard everything! You see, what Jesus is doing when He answers their question is saying, “I’m not going to be caught in this dumb discussion of whether it’s his sin or his parent’s sin. It’s neither. This guy was born blind so the power of God could be shown.” Right there, He sets the stage for a great miracle that we’re about to see.

Now my guess is that nobody in here is blind, because if you are, you’re doing a pretty good job of pretending you can see. But try to imagine for a second what a blind guy must have been going through. He is blind – darkness is all this guy ever knew. Darkness and begging. He can’t even conceive of what blue looks like or red or orange or green. A million images that you and I take in every day of nature, he has no idea. This guy has never seen a sunset or a tree or a mountain or an ocean. He has no idea of that. Even as a little child, when his mom would hold him in her arms and he could maybe reach up and feel her face or even feel a warm tear that might have come out of her eye, he has no idea what his mom looks like. I mean, he doesn’t even know what a tear looks like. This guy was always dependent on a friendly arm or a walking cane take him places. But what is about to happen is so cool. Jesus is about to heal him.

The Bible says “Then Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smoothed the mud over the blind man’s eyes.” Wow – I mean, of all the ways that Jesus could heal this guy, this is how He chooses to do it. He’s talking to this guy, then He spits on the ground, and He takes the saliva and makes this mud pie and puts it on his eyes.

So he gets to the pool, and he begins to wash. Just imagine for a second that light now begins to pour into his eyes. Something he’d never experienced ever before – he could see light. Then, all of a sudden, as his eyes, as the crust comes off, all of a sudden, he begins to see a reflection of a person he had never seen in his entire life. He sees himself! He looks up and sees the sky. He’d heard people say the sky was blue. Now, all of a sudden, it registers that that’s blue. He sees a tree and goes, “Green tree!” And for the first time, he sees a mountain and an ocean.

I have to imagine that, at that moment, it had to have been awesome for the blind guy. I can’t imagine he was healed and then all of a sudden went, “Oh! Ok, now I can see. Well, time for me to get back to my begging post because I’ve got a great spot on the corner and that’s where good business is now – right on the corner.” No way! He saw clearly. The Bible said he started to move toward his family and friends. Probably picking up the pace and running a little bit – “I can see, I can see!” and the closer he got to his parents’ house… “Mom! No cane! Check this out!” No walking cane!

Then the Bible says, “When he went and washed, he came back seeing. His neighbors and others, who knew him as a blind beggar, asked each other, ‘Is this the same man? Is that the blind beggar?’ Some said he was, others said, ‘No it can’t be the same guy, but he sure looks like him.’ And the beggar kept saying, ‘It’s me! It’s me, the guy who used to be blind! I can see. I am that same man. “Then the people asked him, ‘Who healed you? What happened?’ And he told them, ‘The man they call Jesus made this mud pie and smoothed it over my eyes and told me, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash off the mud.” I went and washed and now I can see.’ They said, ‘Where is this dude Jesus now?’ And the blind man said, ‘I don’t know.’”

This really frustrated the people who knew him. So they did the only thing they knew to do – they took the man to the Pharisees. Now, I realize some of you in here have grown up in church and you know what a Pharisee is. But many of you haven’t, so let me explain. A Pharisee, these are the people who doubt what’s going on here. “Pharisee” is a fancy word for “religious ruler.” A Pharisee is somebody who’s focused on a real small picture of God instead of the big picture of God. For example, if there were Pharisee leaders at youth group tonight, they wouldn’t let some of you in this room. A Pharisee leader would stand by the door and go, “Not you! Not the way you’re dressed. You can’t come in. No. I’ve seen you. You have a reputation at your school. There’s no way you can come into this church.” A Pharisee is someone who would like to keep human laws and not necessarily God’s laws. They knew God’s laws, but they were much more interested in keeping human laws. They were kind of like the religious cops of the day.

So the people took the guy who was blind to the Pharisees on the same day that Jesus had healed him, which just so happened to be a Sabbath day. Why weren’t the people just happy that this guy’s blindness had been cured? Because of one simple reason – Jesus had healed the man on a Sabbath. Now, a Sabbath doesn’t mean much to you today. But a Sabbath is a day that the law said you don’t work on. Some of you who may ask, “How did Jesus work on the Sabbath? All He did was heal a guy.” You know how He worked? He spat on the ground and He made mud. That was considered work. That’s how nutty the Pharisees were about man-made laws, that He worked on a Sabbath. The only time that you could actually work on a Sabbath was to save somebody’s life – not to heal someone. So now these religious leaders, they don’t even care that the blind guy’s been healed. They’re just really ticked off that Jesus worked on the Sabbath.

The Bible goes on to say that “The Pharisees asked the man how his blindness had been cured. So the man told them, ‘He smoothed some mud over my eyes, and when it washed away, I could see.’ And then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man Jesus is not from God because He’s working on the Sabbath.’ But on the other hand, some of the other Pharisees were saying, “Ok, if Jesus is not from God, then he is just an ordinary sinner – but how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?’

Now the Pharisees were just as confused as the people who lived in town! They didn’t know what to think. So they asked the man who used to be blind, “This man who opened your eyes. Who do you say He is?’ What do you make of him? And the man said, ‘I think He must be a prophet.’”

The Bible doesn’t even tell us that these Pharisees, these religious leaders, were actually excited that this guy was healed. All they’re after is trying to get at Jesus. The religious leaders didn’t like Jesus because He taught differently. He taught more about God’s love, than man-made rules. He taught more about a relationship with God than keeping the rules.

The story goes on – the Jewish leaders wouldn’t believe that he had been blind, so they called in his parents. So here’s this guy who’s been healed, telling his story, and they go, “No, we don’t believe you because that would mean that Jesus is something special, like he’s God or something, and we just won’t stand for that! So they call the parents in. They said, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he see?” The reason this is such a big deal is that no one in the history of the world has been born blind and healed. No one in the history of the world. Do all the research you want. But nobody in the history of the world has been born blind and healed. Until this moment.

“The parents replied, ‘We know this is our son and that he was born blind. But we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. He’s old enough to speak for himself. Ask him yourself.

So the Pharisees call this guy back in a second time. And this time they say to the man, “Give God the credit. He’s the one who healed you. All glory belongs to God by telling the truth because we know Jesus is a sinner.” You’ve probably figured out by now that these Pharisees are the skeptics, the doubters.

Here’s what the guy said, and this is a great response: “‘I don’t know whether He’s a sinner,’ the blind man replied. ‘But I know this. I was blind, and now I see.’” What did this guy say? He didn’t know the answers to their question. He didn’t know who Jesus was. All he said was this, “I was blind, but now I see.” This was his entire story of being healed…these seven words…”I was blind, but now I see.”

Still, despite all these questions to the man who was blind and to his parents, the Pharisees still are not satisfied! They keep going after this guy and ask ‘What did He do? How did He heal you?’ The guy says, ‘Look! I’ve already answered all these questions, and you don’t like my answers. Do you really want me to repeat myself over again? Are you guys thinking about joining up with Him and becoming his followers?

Then the Pharisees cursed him and said, ‘Get out! You don’t know anything.’ And as the former blind man is leaving, he stops on the way out the door, turns around, and really gives it to the Pharisees. The man who was blind tells them, “This is very strange. He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know anything about Him. You religious people are supposed to be so close to God. He healed me, and you don’t know anything about Him. God doesn’t listen to sinners, but He listens to those who are ready to worship Him and do His will. Ever since the world began, has anybody been able to open the eyes of someone born blind? If this man were not from God, He couldn’t do it.’ Wow. Can you imagine on his way out, that the man who used to be blind really gives it back to the Pharisees? These religious rulers in their robes and their fancy hats, whatever they were wearing, they went after him. They said, ‘You were born in sin. Are you trying to teach us?’ And they threw him out of the synagogue.”

As we finish up tonight, let me ask you a question. Would you identify with one of these three? Is there one of these three that you would say, “That describes me?” You don’t need to say it out loud. You don’t need to share with anybody. Just in your own heart. Are you the one hurting? Or are you a doubter of Jesus Christ? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ?

“Bob, you might be saying, I’m hurting. I may not be blind, but I’m hurting and need some healing.” Or you may say, “I’m a skeptic. I am a doubter. I came tonight with a friend and I’m interested in this Jesus. But I gotta tell ya Bob, I just don’t get it. I don’t get the God thing. I don’t get the Jesus thing. I don’t get the church thing. I’ve got questions.” Or third, maybe you’re here today and you’re a follower. You got out of bed today because you want to go to youth group. You like coming to church or youth group. This is the time you get your spiritual tanks recharged.

Who are you? You don’t have to answer that right now…just think about it…which one are you?

Are you a follower. If you’re a follower, just remember this tonight. You watch for changed lives. If you’re a follower of Jesus, if you’re a disciple of Jesus, watch for changed lives. Don’t be like the Pharisees who saw this blind guy healed and they didn’t care about him. It didn’t impact them. When you hear about a friend who has come to Christ, you ought to throw a little party. You hear of a friend who would just normally come to youth group on a Saturday, but then starts coming to church on a Sunday morning – when you hear that, you ought to go, “Wow! That’s great!” Because if you are not celebrating anybody’s spiritual growth, you have become hard to the ways of God. If you look around and say, I’ve got a friend who’s now reading the Bible and just go, “That’s cool,” but it doesn’t mean anything to you, here’s what’s happened to your heart. It’s shriveling up. So celebrate! Watch for changed lives. Why? Because it proves the power of God.

The second person is the skeptic, the doubter. Maybe this is you. You’re like, “This is my parent’s deal. I’m forced to come here. I come here to play this game with my folks that if I come to youth group, they will think I have it all together and I will behave at home and do my homework and take out the trash and walk the dog, and in return my parents will extend my curfew or they’ll get me a cell phone, or they will let me drive, or this whole youth group thing is just really a condition for me getting my driver’s license.” Whatever it is. But in your heart, you’re a skeptic. You’ve got questions. You don’t get it. There’s stuff that we talk about at youth group or read in the Bible that’s hard for you to buy. You wonder. You doubt.

If that kinda describes you, here’s what I want to say to you…I think being a skeptic is a fine place to be. If you’re a skeptic, let me challenge you. Go ahead and ask questions. There’s no question that you’re asking today that hasn’t been asked in over 2000 years of Christianity. If you have a question, just pull me or Billy or Chris or Frank aside and ask. There are no dumb questions. I should know. Sometimes I think all my questions are dumb!

Finally – are you hurting tonight? What does it mean to hurt? Some of you in here, I understand. You cover it well. You hide it well. You live in a decent house. But I know there’s some hurt in here, in this room, right now. It might be relational hurt. It might be from fighting with your parents or brothers or sisters every day, or watching your parents fight with each other all night. There are addictions in here that you can’t shake. There are people in here tonight who are hurting because they have made some bad decisions. Whatever it is. What I want you to hear tonight is this: just like Jesus stopped that parade that one day, just like He stopped the crowd and He looked at that blind guy, I want you to feel that, sense that you might be hiding your hurt from other people, but God sees it, just like he saw that blind guy that day thousands of years ago. God is looking at you right now, at this very moment and saying, “I don’t want you to live like that. I don’t want you to be hurting anymore. I’ve got a way that you can find some healing in your life.” God is just saying, “Follow me.”

Let’s pray:

God, we want to worship You. We want to worship You with our lives. I know there are some people here today who are just hurting so badly they don’t know how to worship You because all they’re thinking about is their pain. I pray that You would meet them like You met the blind beggar and heal them of their hurt. And, God, there are some people here who are skeptics, who’ve got so many questions. They’re just not sure what to do with those questions. I pray that You would, in the way that only You can, provide them answers through other people, through Your word, through their study and their sincere investigation. God, I know there are followers here today who know You and have relationship with You. God, I pray that You would help them to look at changed lives, to see Your power, for them not to focus on their problems but to see how You could take their problems and reveal Your power. God, that we might be different as we walk out of here today. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

To Tell the Truth (10/22/2009)

2009-10-22T10:40:00.002-04:00

His wife Rebekah was very beautiful, and the men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to tell them she was his wife. He thought they might kill him so they could have her. (Genesis 26:7)

Unless you have been sleeping under a rock since the beginning of the year, you have no doubt heard all the political chatter going on in our nation’s capital. Now before you go ahead and delete this message because you think this is going to be some sort of political commentary in support of Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians, or whatever label you choose, this is not about politics or government or policies or legislation or elections or being on the right wing or the left wing.

It’s about telling the truth.

And, sadly, this daily struggle all of us have with “telling the truth” is not confined to our politicians. The struggle to be truthful is everywhere – at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, in our homes. And worst of all – in our churches. And that’s probably the hardest one to swallow.

In Genesis 26, Isaac was really up against the wall. If he told the truth and admitted that Rebekah was his wife, there was no doubt that the men of a town called Gerar would kill Isaac and take her. If he told a little “fib” or “white lie” that this beautiful woman was his sister, the men would probably just leave both Isaac and Rebekah alone, and move on to someone else. In the end, Isaac decided to lie.

Now none of us were there at the time and can tell what Isaac was thinking when he said that Rebekah was his sister. My guess is that Isaac figured, “hey, this is just a little white lie - no one will get hurt from this little fib.”

Wow…how wrong he was.

Let me ask you a question…

Right now, as you read this, are you in a situation where you are wondering if you should tell the truth, or a “little white lie”?

If you are, ask yourself this – if I lie, will God bless my deceit?

Think about it for a minute…the God who hates lies and loves the truth…will this one and only holy God bless my fibbing? Bless my cheating on an exam or project in school? Will He bless me surfing the web at work when I should be working? Will He bless me when I spread false rumors about others at school or work so I get more popular or look better in the eyes of my school or work-mates?

I sincerely doubt it.

If you are even considering a thought that is less than 100% truthful, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to examine your heart, look in the mirror, and start asking the tough questions you know need to be answered.

Am I being honest at school or work or with friends?

Are my relationships real, or based on flimsy lies?

Do you always tell the truth, or only when it is convenient for you? If you cannot honestly answer that question, let me suggest this…start by answering that question truthfully today. You may be young and think you have all the time in the world to “right your ship,” but you never know when something is going to happen and God’s plans just don’t mesh with yours. Think about the people that have been in and around your life that were taken suddenly and never had a chance to tell the truth and “right their ship.”

Don’t let that person be you. If you are a witness in a court case, you’ll be asked to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

You may not be a witness in court today.

But you are a witness for Jesus everyday. So, “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Time to Clean Up

2009-10-19T13:48:00.001-04:00

The priests and Levites had gone through a ceremony to make themselves acceptable to lead in worship. Then some of them killed Passover lambs for those who had returned, including the other priests and themselves. (Ezra 6:20)

Can you remember the last time you tried to get yourself cleaned up after getting dirty? I mean real dirty – like after painting part of the house, planting shrubs, cleaning out the attic or basement or garage?? Me? I hate cleaning the basement because it seems that all of the dirt seems to attach to me like a second skin. And what’s up with that smell down there? I mean, it smell’s like my Grandmother’s house!

But that second skin of dirt. Man, that is definitely what sin is like. It clings to us. It makes us stink. I can deal with being dirty and smelly. But one thing I can’t deal with is the dirt and smell of sin getting in the way of my relationship with God. Why? Because if God is holy and pure and completely removed from sin, than sin simply cannot exist in his presence. So, in order for me to have a growing and loving relationship with sinless and pure God, doesn’t it just make sense that we have to be pre and sinless?

But that’s where our problem lies – we, as humans, cannot come close to purifying ourselves. Oh, we could try every self-help book in the local bookstore, or try some mystical magical wand to clean ourselves like we discussed this week at the kick-off the Original Life series at Meetinghouse Church. But we know that none of that stuff will work in the end.

Simply put, each and every one of us need Christ to do this for us.

You have heard this simple truth before and you will no doubt hear it until the day you leave this earthly life – that is, Jesus’ death on the cross paid the eternal cost for our sins. It justified us. It made us holy and pure in God’s eyes. There is a “but” here – Jesus’ death did not eliminate the sinful urges each of us has every day. And the fact is that if we continue to give in to those urges, our sin creates a huge distance between us and God.

One of the constant and consistent themes of the Bible is the relationship between purity and obedience. Obedience is having a heart that’s right before God. Listen, it’s pretty easy to fool your friends, co-workers, school-mates, and even your parents with a fake purity act. But you can’t fool God. Simply out, if what you are doing on a daily basis in your life doesn’t match up with what’s in your heart, you know that you are putting on an act. And you mind as well drop the act ‘cause God knows you just ain’t being real.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry. God has great news for you, and all of us. God can and will change your heart. All you have to do is ask. It’s a gift to you, from God.

And it’s free.

Express Lane Repentance (10/15/2009)

2009-10-15T13:18:00.002-04:00

LORD, after I wandered away from you, I changed my heart and life. After I understood, I beat my breast with sorrow. I was ashamed and disgraced, because I suffered for the foolish things I did when I was young. (Jeremiah 31:19)

This is probably a loaded question, but let me ask all of you this…

Have you ever really disappointed someone? I mean, have you ever done something or failed to do something, where after you did that thing (or failed to do that thing), it made other people change their opinion of you?

I think we all have…maybe you got caught going too far with your boyfriend or girlfriend…maybe it had to do with something embarrassing in your locker at school, or on your cell phone…maybe you came home wasted after a party.

If you’ve ever had an experience like that, you know how you feel afterwards. The guilt. The distress. You walk around and it feels like you’re wearing shoes made of cement. And all you want to do is go back in time for a “do-over.” All you want is people to stop being disappointed in you, and return to the way things used to be.

Easier said than done.

Or is it?

You see, there’s this “churchy” word that you may have heard called “repentance.” Unfortunately, the word has been used, and unfortunately abused, to mean something that it really isn’t. What I’m trying to say is this – genuine repentance, as illustrated so clearly in God’s word, is simply this – the desire to get rid of your sin and start over so God will look at you with joy once again.

So, what does the instruction manual say for how we should repent? Well, one problem I think we all face is that more often than not, we do something stupid or just plain mean, and we go through what I call “Express Lane Repentance.” Express Lane Repentance is:

1) Offer a quick prayer of apology to God
2) Ask God to forgive us
3) Get on with our lives

The problem with “Express Lane Repentance” is that it offers no real repentance at all. Express Lane Repentance is like what it sounds – like you are just driving through a toll booth of apologies.

But here’s the deal – when you sin against and disappoint someone in or around your life, there may be times when a simple “I’m sorry” may be good enough for your buddy or Mom or Dad. But for God, sometimes we actually need to give ourselves the time to experience the grief of regret so we can fully understand God’s forgiveness.

So here’s my suggestion for the next time you need to repent – instead of just doing the thoughtless Express Lane Repentance, try spending some time thinking about what Jesus went through and did for you on the cross. About how much he loved you that day, and loves you today. Think about who Jesus is, and understand that when we do those stupid or mean things in this life, we are sinning against Jesus. Because the more we understand this, the more we will experience real repentance.

Still stuck? Then just ask God to show himself to you, and help you repent. God will answer your prayer.

The Leader in You (10/12/2009)

2009-10-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

Day after day, new men came to join David, and soon he had a large, powerful army. (1 Chronciles 12:22)

Do other people in or around your life often call you a leader, or consider you a leader because of something you may have done, the way you behave, or maybe the way to reacted to a certain situation.

Here’s a question for you – do YOU consider yourself a leader??

I was reading somewhere last week where most kids in high school would answer NO to that question. The article talked about how today’s teenagers would rather remain safe as part of the crowd and be followers rather than stick their neck out and draw attention to themselves by trying to take charge, or, try to be a leader. Now, a lot of people that get this devotional are teenagers that I know who are definitely not followers and rarely remain silent. You guys know who you are.

In 1 Chronicles 12:22, David finds out something pretty cool – that is, you can become a leader without even trying to take charge of a specific situation, or without trying to make stuff happen. What I am trying to say is this – if YOU commit yourself to following God, others will definitely notice and want to join you.

Maybe not right away.

Any maybe not in the way you expect.

You see, our culture tends to reach us that leadership somehow comes automatically with getting a position – like a supervisor at work, an elected politician, or even an “officer” or “leader” position in a club or group.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Because leadership has nothing to do with titles, or positions of authority.

Leadership is all about influence. And for those of us who are committed to following God, it’s all about getting people to do the right things in life.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “peer pressure” until you’re ready to scream! You know, how there’s no away to avoid it, how it ruins lives, that kind of thing. But, look at it this way – what if YOU were the person exerting the pressure, and NOT your peers. Can you imagine what would happen in people’s lives if YOU “pressured” people to not party or not pick on the weak or not blow off spiritual growth? Can you imagine how YOU could change people’s lives, starting TODAY, by encouraging them to help the weak, have fun in ways that honor God, or not feat to talk about what they believe?

Wow.

So, do you have what it takes to be a leader?

Guess what?

No matter what others or you think of you as a “leader,” you have what it takes. Because you have God’s Holy Spirit in you. And that’s all you need.

Now, are you ready to take advantage of the opportunities God gives you? You don’t have to be a jock, or the class President, or a leader in your youth group.

YOU can be a leader among your friends, or in your school, or a your job, or in your neighborhood, or even in your youth group, starting right now. All you have to do is have the desire to do what you know is right, do it what is right, and people will follow.

The Suitcase

2009-10-05T08:04:00.002-04:00

For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6)

Let’s imagine a situation you may have experienced. You have this elderly person in your neighborhood or on your street always, and everyone thinks that the guy is a little off. One day, you come home from school or work, and you find out that he died. As word of his death makes its rounds, you come to find out that before he died he had hid a suitcase full of money somewhere in the neighborhood. Rumors fly that there may be as much as a million dollars in the suitcase.

How would you react if you knew there was a bag of money in a nearby secret location, and there was nobody who could rightfully say it was theirs? If you what I would do, I have to be pretty honest – I would be one of the first people out there in the wee hours of the morning searching for any clues to lead me to the loot!

Now, let’s change the situation just a little bit. Let’s say that instead of a suitcase full of money, word gets around that something the elderly neighbor buried something more valuable than money – in fact, people find out that he buried a suitcase full of…wisdom. And, let’s say word gets around that he didn’t bury it in a secret location…in fact, he placed the suitcase full of wisdom in a known place, just waiting to be claimed by the first lucky person! The question today is – would you pursue the easily found suitcase full of wisdom as hard as you would pursue to secretly buried suitcase full of money?!

You have to admit; today’s culture teaches us that the search for the money is a lot more exciting than the easier search for wisdom. You and your family may think, “Wow, if I could only get my hands on that free money, how great life would be! No more bills! All the cool stuff we could ever want! A new car every year!”

But would all that money help you, or your family, or your friends, when you are struggling with doubts about your life? Doubts about how to live your life? Doubts about God? Could all that money give you direction in your life? Could a cool million bucks help you resist a temptation that could ruin your life?

The great thing about that suitcase of wisdom is that it can do all of those things! Wisdom can help you live your life better – today! Wisdom can bring you closer to God. And wisdom can change your role in the life of others looking for purpose and meaning.

You have a choice to make. If you choose the suitcase full of money, people will see you as shallow, as a gold-digger, as someone who values material things over everything else, including other people. But, if you choose the suitcase full of wisdom, people around you will start to notice immediately. People will see you as a mature believer, as someone to go to for advice and counsel, as someone who can even mentor others. Imagine being able to make a positive difference in someone’s life – today. Wow! And that’s what wisdom can do for you today.
Are you ready to start your search for wisdom? If you are, there is a great map where it shows clearly where that suitcase of wisdom is located.

It’s your bible.

And the starting point is the book of Proverbs.

The search will not always be easy, nor will it likely be a quick mission. In fact, it will probably take the rest of your life. But the reward will be great.

Have a great day today. And remember to love those in and around your life as Jesus loves you.

Your Payback (9/30/2009)

2009-09-30T08:26:00.002-04:00

When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. (Luke 12:48)

Looking back over your life, do you think you have been given much? Think about that for just a second.

Now, you may be thinking of all the great stuff your parents, or grandparents, your girlfriend or boyfriend may have given you – cell phones, Xbox’s, iPods, the latest jeans, jewelry, flowers. Even those of us who think they are “just getting by” can usually point to a drawer or closet at home full of “stuff.”

But I am not talking about the stuff we get for each other.

My question is – do you think you have been given much…by God? I mean, how much has God blessed you?

When we think about how much we have been given, we usually think of our drawers and closets and garages and basements and attics filled to the brim with all the stuff “we just had to have.”

But when we think about how much God has blessed each one of us, how easy is it for you to move beyond the “stuff”, and realize all the other cool things God does for you everyday?

Do you think about the natural skills you have, maybe in a sport, or in a hobby like music? Chalk that one up to God.

Do you think about your physical health? Chalk that one up to God.

Do you think about your family, your friends? Chalk that one up to God.

So when you take everything that you have into account, just where do you stand? My bet is that compared to most of the world’s population, you’re probably looking pretty good today!

But (oh you just knew there was a “but” coming) here’s the point – ask yourself this – based on what you’ve been given by God, what does he expect of you?

It’s really important to start changing the way you think not only about your piles of stuff, but EVERYTHING that makes you who you are. God has made you and given you what you have for a reason. He has a plan for just for you, a plan that is like no other. And my bet is that this plan includes you making some kind of difference in the world. This is what God expects in return for what He has given you – for you to make a difference in the world FOR HIM.

So, how can you start re-paying God’s generosity today by making a difference in the world? Have some spending money? Try doing something with what little cash you think you have for someone who needs it. In pretty good health? How can you assist someone who needs help?

Folks, the world is full of complacent people who just go through the motions everyday and shrug through shoulders when faced with opportunities to serve the one who made us and gave us everything we have. Be different, today! Step out in faith, today!

Start giving back to God, today!

The Teacher

2009-09-28T08:47:00.003-04:00

So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.
Exodus 18:24

Everyone in your life is a teacher, not just those people in your school today standing in front of the room with the title of "teacher" and armed with chalk, eraser, and gradebook.

Everyone in your life is a teacher…

…if you're willing to learn.

Think about it.

Each person you know has a unique set of life experiences.

Each person in your neighborhood has a unique body of knowledge.

Each person you pass in the hallway at school or work or the mall or the grocery store or on the street has a distinctive perspective on the world.

Each person on the planet has a one-of-a-kind set of opinions and creative ideas.

Each person in this world brings something new and different to the table.

Think of it as God's gift to you. Wow! When you think of the billions of nameless faces in the world, that is a pretty awesome gift. But it is also overwhelming.

Think of it again this way – God has surrounded you with hundreds of potential teachers. Some younger than you. Some the same age as you. Some just a little bit older than you. God has given you the opportunity to pick their brains, to learn from their experiences and mistakes.

Think I am kidding?

Just ask any one who has attended a youth group, a "snow camp", or a mid-week small group. My bet is that each one learned something from maybe the staff at the camp, the speaker at their youth group, from a small group leader, and most importantly, from each other.

But, there is the famous "but."

But…in order to take advantage of God's gift of bringing teachers of all shapes and sizes into your life, you have got to swallow your pride and admit that you can learn things from even the most unlikely people. Like your elderly neighbor. Like your older sister or brother. Like the weird exchange student at school. Or your youth leaders. Or even, gulp, your parents.

Moses was the established leader of thousands of Israelites. People came to him for advice. Yet, when his father-in-law spoke, Moses listened. And because he listened, Moses was rewarded with some valuable advice – words of wisdom that ended up making him a better leader.

Learn from Moses' example. Treat every conversation, no matter how silly you might think it may be, as a learning opportunity. Make it your goal to come away with a little more knowledge and wisdom than you had before the conversation started. In my few years in youth ministry, I have never ever come away from any conversation with a student or fellow leader without gaining something useful, or some great insight.

Do yourself a favor – develop a curious spirit. Learn to ask the right question at the right time. Instead of always thinking about what you're going to say next, think of what you can learn by listening. Take advantage of the gift of teachers that God has given you.

Have a wonderful day today…and make it wonderful for someone else by loving others around you as Jesus loves you.

Going Your Own Way (9/14/2009)

2009-09-14T09:08:00.001-04:00

Saul died because he was unfaithful and disobeyed the LORD. He even asked advice from a woman who talked to spirits of the dead, instead of asking the LORD. So the LORD had Saul killed and gave his kingdom to David, the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14)

"Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord." As epitaphs go, that's about as sad as it gets. What a waste.

At one time, Saul seemed to have it all. Saul had the honor of having been handpicked by God himself. Saul had immense popularity and respect as Israel's very first human king. Saul had entire armies to help him carry out God's plan. He had servants to make his life easier.

Here comes the "but."

But, Saul had a fatal flaw.

He couldn't stay faithful to God. Saul was always looking for something else. Something more exciting. Something more comforting. Something more dangerous. When God's way didn't suit him, Saul went his own way. Sadly, I can identify with Saul on this.

And because of always looking for something else, Saul paid the price. Saul learned the hard way that God does not tolerate unfaithfulness. God expects friends to be faithful to each other and not gossip about each other. God especially expects his people to be faithful to him.

Where do you rate on the "faithfulness scale?"

If you heard people making fun of your best friend, would you stand up for him or her, or would you keep your mouth shut? If your friend did something that made him seriously unpopular at school, would you stick by him (or her), or would you try to separate yourself for him.

But the big question for all of us is this- how faithful are we to God? If you heard a science teacher claim that God doesn't exist, would you stand up for God in a loving (not combative) way, or would you keep your mouth shut? If identifying yourself as a Christian could make you seriously unpopular with your "school crowd" (as opposed to your safe and comfortable "Christian crowd"), would you stick with God or would you try to hide your relationship with him?

The decision is yours. Will you commit yourself to God's ways? Or will you go your own way?

Bob's Message to the MHC Youth Group on Sep. 12, 2009

2009-09-12T21:17:00.001-04:00

We are so glad each and every one of you are here tonight...and if you don't hear anything else I talk about tonight, do me one favor and just remember the next thing I am about to tell you. That is this - that no matter what your background is, no matter what kind of family life you have, no matter how well you do or don't do in school, no matter if you are good in sports or are as clumsy as an ox, no matter if you are fat or skinny, no matter what you look like - each of you matter to me, to Billy, to Frank, and to everyone at MeetingHouse Church. Now you might be saying, "Oh sure you do Bob, I mean c'mon, you hardly know me and I really hardly know you." But the truth of the matter is this - that as followers of Jesus Christ, we want all of you to feel welcome and loved here- that youth group will be something that you not only look forward to every week, but is part of your life. A place where you feel welcome, you feel safe, and above all - above all - a place where you will feel the love of Jesus Christ. So we are super happy that you chose to be here tonight - very cool!

Every now and then someone will ask me, “Bob, if you weren’t youth leader, what would you want to do with your life? What would you do for a job?” Well even though I have a regular job in Boston, I often think that it would be pretty cool to be a professional inventor. Now I don’t even know if there’s a job for professional inventor. I don’t know how you’d get hired on as a professional inventor. But I think I’ve got some pretty good inventions.

Now as much as I love inventions, here’s one thing I wish somebody else would invent. I haven’t come up with an answer to this. I wish somebody would. I wish somebody would invent a better toothpaste tube. You know, a better way to get the toothpaste out.

Have you ever noticed how nasty the toothpaste gets? I hate the toothpaste tube. They’re very hard to control. They’ve tried things like the upright ones with the top. And they’ve tried ones that have a pump. But none of these inventions seem to work.

I have friend at work who has a fourth grade son and he has a toothpaste drawer. And seriously, it is literally a toothpaste drawer. You pull it open and there’s this toothpaste residue everywhere. Does anybody have a drawer or cabinet in their bathroom like that? He’s got toothpaste on old toothbrushes. He’s got like fifteen different toothpaste tubes. They’re all crusted over and nasty. There’s like this white film on the inside. From the outside that cabinet drawer looks nice and pretty. You pull it open and it’s this nasty toothpaste.

I wish somebody would invent the perfect way to get the toothpaste from the tube to the toothbrush. But we’ve got this toothpaste tube that’s very hard to manage, very hard to control.

So tonight we're going to look at the toothpaste tube. We’re going to figure out can we actually learn anything that might help us in life from the toothpaste tube. And to get us started we’re going to play a quick little game to get us thinking about toothpaste tubes.

Billy, come up here. What I want, as Billy comes up, is I need a girl who even though Billy is a pretty strong guy, I need a girl who says I don’t care what it is, whatever it is, I can take him. Arm wrestling? I can take him. Whatever it is.

Here’s the game. The game is when I say Go it’s who can squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube the quickest. On your mark! Get set! Go! Cheer them on!

Time! What’s interesting is we’ve got two different styles.

Billy did the classic squeeze from the bottom. Mom always taught you, right? I’d have thought he’d have gone for the roll.

Our female contestant went for the creative twist and squeeze kind of thing.

There’s another part of the race. Part two. Part two is, on go, I want to see who can get the most back in their tube. I’m kidding.

Let me read three Bible verses to you:

James 1:19 says “My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry.”

Proverbs 15:1 says this “A kind answer soothes angry feelings. But harsh words stir them up.”

Matthew 5:37 says this “Just let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes.' Let your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

You might be listening to those verses and go, “Wait a second!” Those verses have a lot more to do with my mouth than a toothpaste tube. I don’t get it.”

What we’re going to do tonight is talk about this idea that our mouths are a lot like toothpaste tubes.

How many of you have ever accidentally squirted too much toothpaste onto your toothbrush? Why do we do that? Think about this for a minute. Most of you in here who even bother to brush your teeth have been handling toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes probably since like you were six years old. Yet for some reason this toothpaste tube is so hard to control. I mean it’s just so easy to let too much toothpaste come out at once. When the toothpaste is brand new, it’s so full that you barely squeeze it and it all comes out. Then, as it’s getting towards the end, you’re squeezing so hard trying to get any and then all of a sudden too much comes out.

We don’t loose control of anything else like that. It’s not like you lose control of your fork at dinnertime. … get spaghetti sauce all over your face… When you’re at school you don’t lose control of your pencil. (“Sorry teacher. I know you only asked for one paragraph but I lost control and wrote fifty-two paragraphs!”) You don’t do that. We don’t lose control of that stuff.

Why is that? Why is it that the toothpaste tube – something so basic, something so easy – we have a hard time controlling what comes out of the toothpaste tube.

Think about this for a minute. It’s kind of the same way with our mouths. We should be able to control our mouths and yet we can’t. In fact there’s a verse in the Bible that talks about that. That talks about how tough it is for us to control what comes out of our mouths. The Bible says it’s easier to control a wild animal than to control what comes out of our mouths sometimes.

Go back to the top verse where it says “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” What that verse is saying is this: All of us could stand to probably talk a litle bit less and to listen a little bit more. Maybe that’s why God made us with two ears and one mouth- maybe God really did want us to listen through our ears twice as much as we talk through our mouths.

We don’t need to be so quick to offer our opinion. We don’t need to be so quick to make a promise that we can’t keep. We don’t need to be so quick to lash out in anger. We need to be willing to listen.

It’s sort of like we need to have big ears and a small mouth. That’s the picture God’s giving us.

I think what God’s saying is to listen a lot and speak a little. But if you are anything like me, it’s so easy to let too much come out. It’s so hard to control what we say. Just like toothpaste. Our mouths are like a toothpaste tube. It’s really hard to control. We want to make sure we don’t let too much come out at once. Because what comes out, can never be put back in. What comes out of our mouths, can never be put back in.

Like with the toothpaste contest. Did you see the response? As soon as I said to them, “Put the toothpaste back in the tube.” Both of them like What! Are you serious? It’s impossible. We can’t put toothpaste back in the tube.

In a real way you can’t put the words you say back in your mouth. Once they’re out there they’re out there.

I was at Mansfield Crossing last week, and I went over the LL Bean, you know, the outdoors sporting place. And there were all these canoes and boats in the window display. All of a sudden this family walked into the window and stopped right in front of me. It was like a mom and her mom and then two young kids. Maybe a four-year-old and a six-year-old – something like that. So it was Mom, Grandma, and the two little kids.

All of a sudden, I don’t know why - but all of a sudden Grandma, for what seemed like no real apparent reason, turns around. I couldn’t hear what she was saying because I am outside the store looking at the window full of boats, and the family is inside the store. But Grandma turns around and looks at this four-year-old kid and she goes off! She’s pointing and yelling. I couldn’t hear her but I could see her mouth. Then she goes over and grabs him by the shoulders and it’s like, “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” She’s yelling and she’s pointing and this little four-year-old kid is like freaking out.

But chances are the four-year old was just being a typical four-year-old. Maybe he had asked for ice cream at Coldstone’s three times and Grandma was getting frustrated. I don’t know. But once she said that, you can’t take back the words you say. That’s why God says be slow to speak. Be slow to speak.

Guys – please understand this - once you gossip about that classmate at school, you can’t take that back. Once you lash out in anger at your friend, or your brother or sister or Mom or Dad, you can’t take it back. Once you say yes to somebody but you shouldn’t because you’re too nice. They invite you to their birthday party. You don’t want to say no and be mean so you say yes. Then it’s like, I don’t really want to go. But it’s hard to take that back. How about swearing? Once you accidentally drop the worst cuss word at your mom or dad, you can’t take it back. The Bible says be slow to speak.

The Bible says “Let your yes be a yes. Let your no be a no.” In other words be honest. Speak truthfully. You don’t have to respond right away. You can think about it. You can say, “Let me get back to you.”

The best thing that grandma could have done when she felt herself starting to get mad over at LL Bean last week would have been to not say anything - right? It would have been better to just let the situation be, than to lash out in anger. Because once she started yelling, she couldn’t take it back.

Our mouths are like toothpaste tubes. You have to be careful not to let too much come out at one time. Because what comes out can never be put back in.

And once the bad stuff comes out, you have to clean up the mess. Once your words are out there and if they are words that you regret, you are gonna have a pretty good mess on your hands. You’ve got to apologize. You’ve got to call the person, “I know I said I’d come to your birthday party but I don’t really want to.” Most of the time you won’t be honest and you’ll have to come up with yet another way to clean up the mess. You’ll lie about that. “I can’t go to your birthday party because my mom told me I have to iron the pillowcases,” or whatever. You’ll come up with something weird. You start trying to clean up the mess and before you know it, you just created an even bigger mess.

Think about the grandma last week at LL Bean - screaming and yelling like a madwoman! Think about that for a second. I hope and I would imagine that grandma felt bad about that at some point. Maybe just a few minutes later she thought, “Why did I yell at little junior? All he wanted was an ice cream from Coldstone. What four year old kid doesn’t want ice cream?” Can she take back what she said? No. All she can do is try to clean up the mess, right?

Here’s the thing. Our mouths take work. What you have to decide tonight is where do you want to work. Here’s what I mean by that. Do you want to work on the front end by thinking, “How do I control my mouth? Should I think before I speak? Should I not over react? Should I not gossip?” That takes work, right? That takes work.

Or do you want to work on the back end? You are quick to speak. You don’t think about how what you say will make the other person feel. Now, you are at it again - cleaning up the mess. And saying you’re sorry. And apologizing. “I didn’t really mean it (even though I called you a big stupid idiot, I didn’t mean it.)”

Where are you going to work? You’re going to have to work one way or the other.

I would suggest to you that it’s easier – not always because it’s just not the way we do things – but it’s better to work on the front end and be slow to speak. Let our yes be a true yes. Let our no be a true no. Use a gentle word instead of a harsh word.

If you’re a Christian, if you’re a Christ follower, if you’re a young man/a young woman who says I want to live like Jesus want me to live, here’s the deal. Jesus wants us to clean up our mess when we make a mess. When our mouths gets us in trouble, He wants us to be willing to clean it up.

But here’s the secret - God would rather us think on the front end. And listen before we speak. And think about the words we’re using. Because God knows our mouths are like a toothpaste tube. We’ve got to be careful not to let too much out at once. Because once something goes out there, it can’t be put back in. And we’re going to have a mess to clean up. God realizes that. So He wants to protect us from ourselves when it comes to our mouths.

What’s interesting to me about the toothpaste tube is this: I’m not sure how long the toothpaste tube has been around. Let’s pretend they’ve been around a hundred years. Think about all the inventions we’ve had in the last hundred years. The automobile, the telephone, the credit card, the computer, the toaster oven. Playstation. Xbox. Cell Phones. All these crazy inventions. Guess what? The toothpaste tube hasn’t changed one bit in over 100 years. Something tells me that this for some reason is still the best way to get toothpaste on your toothbrush. They’ve tried everything but they’re not improving this very much. This is kind of what we’re stuck with. So because this is what we’re stuck with we need to learn to control it.

The same goes for our mouths. Our mouths were the invention that God came up with to help us communicate. And I doubt He’s gonna change that anytime soon.

God’s not reinventing us. Your kids aren’t going to be born with some really cool mouth filter system that only allows them to say the right thing at the right time. This is what we’ve got. This is what we have. So we need to learn to control what comes out. And to recognize that when something comes out it can’t go back in. And to recognize that we’re going to have to clean up the mess that our mouths make.

Here’s the thought for the week. Does my mouth make a mess?

Prayer:

God, thanks so much for us being together here tonight. Thanks for every guy and girl that came tonight. God, would You help us this week every time we find ourselves losing control I pray that You’d help us have a picture of the toothpaste tube. God, help us to control what comes out because it can’t be put back in and it can make a real mess. God, thank You for loving us and thank You for this great, great weekend You’ve given us. In Your name we pray. Amen.

True Forgiveness

2009-09-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.
1 John 1:9

God demands one thing from us when we sin.

Genuine repentance.

He wants us to recognize what we've done…how we've hurt our relationship with him and with anyone else who was affected by our sin. God wants us to feel genuine sorrow (not guilt!), and he wants us to come to him in prayer to make things right.

If we do that, we are forgiven.

But God doesn't just forgive us. He also purifies us.

Before you roll your eyes and say "there you go again with some blah blah blah," here me out on this…

He also purifies us…all that means is that God washes away the sins we confess. He scrubs our hearts clean. And he forgets the sin forever. F-O-R-E-V-E-R. That's his incredible promise to us.

Now here's a tip – If God forgets about a sin, you should forget about it too! Don't keep beating yourself up over something you have been forgiven for. Do what you need to do in order to make things right. Apologize to anyone who might have been hurt as a result of your actions. Ask people for forgiveness. Fix the situation the best you can. And when you're all done, put the whole messy incident behind you – for good – and move on with your life.

Keep one thing in mind though – "moving on" also means not allowing other people to keep you down because of something you have done in the past. What I am trying to say is that if someone refuses to forgive and forget and you've sincerely tried to make things right, that is now THEIR problem. That person who refuses to forgive will have to answer to God for their hardened heart. Moving on also means rejecting unfair reputations that people try to give you. Don't allow yourself to be defined by a past mistake!

Remember, if it comes down to a choice of believing what people say about you versus believing what God's Word says about you, always go with God's Word.

Who can you forgive today? Each one of us has something that has happened to us recently that really hurts inside. All of us. Who can you forgive today, as God has forgiven you?

2009-09-01T07:06:00.000-04:00

How do We Get to God?

2009-02-07T16:17:00.000-05:00

Thanks guys...I am so excited to be able to speak to you guys tonight...it's been about 2 months since I last had a chance to share a message with you, and for some of you that may be a blessing and you wish it would be another two months before I take the podium again. But tonight is kind of special for me, because tonight, I am going to be preaching on the biggest passage I think I’ve ever preached about at RISE708.

You know, when you talk to people about how they came to Christ, everybody has their own special and very different testimony, which is just a fancy shmancy churchy word for the word “story.” And some of this may sound strange to those of you here tonight that don't consider themselves Christians, or who don't consider themselves "born-again" Christians. But the fact is that when you do come to Christ, from God’s perspective, everyone’s testimony or story of their Christian faith is pretty much the same - That's simply because of this - simply because God chose certain people before this world we all live in ever existed, to be adopted as His children, and then when God decided it was time, not when we decided it was time, He draws them by His grace to Himself, and works out all the details so they can hear the gospel, and grants them repentance so that they are saved.
But from our perspective, sitting in this room tonight, we would say that some people come to Christ when they’re young, maybe in elementary school, maybe a little older, like when they are in high school or college, maybe a little older when they are middle aged, or maybe a lot older when they are, well, pretty old.
People have all different sorts of testimonies and descriptions and stories of what brought them to their faith. There are not two stories that are the same, not from the day Jesus was born. But, what’s wild is that when you talk to a lot of people and you ask them about their testimonies and their stores about becoming a Christian, it seems to me that most people came to Christ during some sort of crisis in their lives—some sort of tragedy, some trial, some sickness or sickness in their family, some sort of pain, some sort of misery, some sort of problem in a relationship, some sort of affliction, maybe even because of the death of a friend, or family member. Raise your hand if you came to Christ during some sort of painful time or crisis in your life. Go ahead, raise them up. See, I told you. Now, if I were to talk to you one-on-one and ask you “Is the pain that you go through good? Is misery you go through good? Is sickness you suffer from good?”, you would probably answer “No, no, no.”

But one of the miracles of being a Christian is that God uses that pain, God uses that misery, God uses that sickness, that death of a family member or friend, because about half the people in this room, tonight, have come to Christ through some sort of trial in their lives.

Don't get me wrong – I'm sure it's cool with God if we seek him out when we were healthy, and wealthy, and it seems that everything is going OK in our lives- things are going great with our boyfriend or girlfriend. I'm doing pretty well in school and teachers aren't giving me a hard time. My parents aren't on my case. My friends are being loyal and not gossiping about me behind my back. But the sad part is that we rarely do that. We hardly ever seek out God when things are going our way. We hardly, or never, pick up our bibles when thing seem to just be cruising along. And we probably never pray, or talk to God, when we "don't have to." But the problem is that we won’t have God during those times. Many of us trust ourselves and think “Why do I need God? Everything is so good, everything is so wonderful.”
So what God does is that He brings upon us trials, brings upon us afflictions, brings upon us sickness, brings upon us stuff that makes life tough - whatever it takes - to bring those He has chosen to repentance…to remember who He is. And, in that way, He does a good thing for us by a painful thing. He reminds us to keep God big in our lives, and ourselves small.

Imagine a situation where your best friend is sick. And I don't mean an upset stomach or sore throat. I mean really sick- something that needs immediate medical attention. And because your best friend's parents are away or at work, you drive your friend to the hospital. Maybe there isn’t an immediate cure at the hospital, but you know that at least there is help in that hospital. You know that there are trained medical people as well as tons of medicines to help with your best friend's worsening condition. But, because of all the one-way streets and medians and no u-turns allowed signs on the way to the hospital, you can’t actually get to the hospital. And all the time while driving endlessly through one-way streets and medians, you see your friend in the passenger seat of your car getting worse and worse and worse. Can you imagine the frustration, as you drive around and around the hospital? You are close to the hospital, you are no more than a hundred yards from the hospital emergency room door, but you can’t quite get there…get to a place where your friend’s life can be saved.

OK Bob, what does this have to do with RISE708, or Jesus, or God? It’s simply this- when it comes to relating to God, I bet there are many people in here tonight who feel like that person driving their dying friend around and around the hospital. They know God is there. They know God can do wonderful and miraculous things in their life. Though God may not give them everything they want, they know God has the power to help them with their lives. But, there is something in their life holding them back, and making them drive through all those one-way streets, all those medians, all those signs that say you can’t make a u-turn back to God. So the question I ask each and every one of you tonight is this- “How do you get to God and all He has for you?” That's what I want to talk about tonight- How do we get to God and all he has for us?

The answer is in this book…that’s one of the reasons why CCC is going through a one-year reading of the bible called “Got Life.” Why are we doing this- reading through the entire bible? Is it to give Pastor John something to talk about every Sunday? No. Is it because we just need something to do for flocks or small groups? No. Is it because we should be required to read the bible? Nope, not even that. It’s because of this- every question you have about life – every concern you have about life – every problem you have in your life – the answer is found in the Bible, God’s love letter to each of us.

Now I know the bible is not easy…it’s not easy reading some of the books in the bible, and sometimes the answer may not be easy to find. But hear me on this- God assures us that the answer is there. So, I am pretty sure that the bible answers my question of “How to get to God and all He has for me” in the book of Luke, chapter 8, verses 40-56. In Luke 8:40-56, Jesus encounters a man who is desperate for help. The bible says that:

When Jesus got back to Galilee, a crowd welcomed him, because everyone was waiting for him. A man named Jairus, who was the leader of the Jewish synagogue, came to Jesus and fell at his feet, begging him to come to his house because Jairus' only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying.

Now you might be saying, big deal. But this was a huge thing for Jairus to do. You see, this guy Jairus was not just some ordinary guy in the streets of Galilee- Jairus was the leader of the local Jewish synagogue, which gave him a pretty high social standing. Yet, here, in this story, Jairus puts this high social standing in jeopardy when he publicly throws himself at Jesus’ feet. Why would he take this risk? Why would he risk throwing away his pride, his job, his money, his social standing?

Two reasons – first, he was desperate. Imagine for a moment that you are the sick one in that car being driven around the hospital by your friend, or even your mom or dad. They drive and drive and drive but can’t get to the hospital. Personally, I would be freaking out. I would be panicking. I would be desperate.
The second reason Jairus is willing to throw everything he has away is because he believes Jesus can help him. He has faith in Jesus. So in response to his faith, Jesus heads back with Jairus to his house. But it’s not quite that simple- you see as Jesus and Jairus walk back to help his dying daughter, their walk is interrupted by someone in the crowd:

While Jesus was on his way to Jairus' house, the people were crowding all around him. A woman was in the crowd who had been bleeding for twelve years, but no one was able to heal her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and instantly her bleeding stopped. Then Jesus said, "Who touched me?"
When all the people said they had not touched him, Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you." But Jesus said, "Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out from me." When the woman saw she could not hide, she came forward, shaking, and fell down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told Jesus why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Jesus said to her, "Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace."

This woman has some things in common with Jairus. For one, she is desperate. She has suffered from bleeding and hemorrhaging for twelve years. Can you imagine that?! Today, with all of our medical technology we could never imagine someone bleeding for twelve years. The woman in this story has sold everything she has and has spent all her money on doctors and medicines and has not found a cure. So, she is at wit’s end. She is desperate. Just like Jairus.

But, also like Jairus, she also takes a risk. You see, during this time in history, woman like this were considered to be ceremonially unclean. They were social rejects - the absolute bottom of society. In fact, if noticed by someone who knew her, she would face certain rejection. Yet, like Jairus, she endures the risk because she believes – she has faith- that Jesus will be able to help her. And her faith is rewarded because as soon as she touches Jesus, her bleeding stops. Imagine that – twelve years of suffering, 12 years of doctors’ visits with no results, and with one touch- just one touch- everything is better. And for one reason and one reason only- she had faith. Jesus makes the issue clear. Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well.”

Why does Jesus call on her to make a public expression of her faith? First, he wants to do her a favor. He wants everybody to know that she is well. No longer is she a social outcast. No longer is she ceremonially unclean. She is well. She can live free. She can participate in public activities. She can go to the local Stop & Shop without fear. She can hang out with friends and family at the mall and no longer will she be spit upon, or made fun of. Now, because of her faith in Jesus, she can do what all of us take for granted today. She is no longer carries the social stigma of being “unclean.” But, more importantly, Jesus wants her to understand that it wasn’t her touch that led to her healing. It was her faith that led to her healing.
When we look at other Gospel accounts, this woman almost mixed superstition with her faith. She probably felt there was magic in touching Jesus. Jesus just wants to clear up this misunderstanding.

It is interesting to me that Jesus honors this imperfect expression of faith. This woman doesn’t have it all together. She has got some bad doctrine, that is, she is way off thinking that there is magic in touching Jesus. But you know what, Jesus honors her misguided faith.

Maybe you are here today and you don’t feel you have it all together. Maybe you have imperfect faith. Maybe you don’t know the Old Testament from the New Testament. But you are here tonight. And I really believe there is a reason why you are here tonight that is bigger than just hanging out with friends, because you could do that anywhere. And I want to assure you that God will honor your imperfect faith, tonight.

Clearly, everyone here at RISE708 wants to teach and learn all the right stuff. We want to live out our faith in accordance with God’s Word. But if we wait until we have it all figured out, we will never exercise our faith. Wherever you are in your journey with God, I urge you to put your faith in Jesus Christ.

This woman, who had suffered so long is finally healed. Twelve years and finally she is back in good standing in the community. God Himself has declared her well. And now she understands that is her faith which matters to God. Not some superstition. Not magic. Not good works. Not tithing or giving money.

But there is one person in our story who does not like any of this…Jairus. Because all the while this is going on with the bleeding woman, time is slipping away. Remember, all this stuff with the healing of the women takes place when Jesus is on his way to see the dying daughter of Jarius.

Can you imagine being Jarius. He must have been going out of his mind, kinda checking his watch and saying to himself, "uh, Jesus, can we get a move on this please. I mean, my daughter is dying and we’re out here wasting time with this unclean and disgusting woman."

Remember, Jarius had exercised his faith in Jesus. Jarius had put his standing as leader of the Jewish synagogue on the line with his faith in Jesus, and now it looked he was going to get burned. It looks like time is going to run out on his daughter. In fact, in verse 49, it appears time has run out:

While Jesus was still speaking, someone from Jarius’s house came and said to him, "Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher anymore." When Jesus heard this, he said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well."

This time we get a new and better word for faith from Jesus- believe. But the idea is the same, Jesus wants us to believe, to have faith, to trust. Jesus honors our faith.

My guess is that it was pretty hard for Jairus to have faith at this point. Jesus seemed to get distracted by helping the bleeding woman, with the clock ticking away on his daughter. Then, just when they are about to resume their journey, a messenger comes to Jarius and says, sorry man, it’s too late. She’s gone.
When Jesus went to the house, he let only Peter, John, James, and the girl's father and mother go inside with him. All the people were crying and feeling sad because the girl was dead, but Jesus said, "Stop crying. She is not dead, only asleep." The people laughed at Jesus because they knew the girl was dead.

When facing the saddened crowd, Jesus calls the people to believe. In effect he says, “stop crying, I’ll take care of this situation.” Again, remember that Jairus is the synagogue ruler. He runs with an enlightened, educated crowd. This ain’t no group of dummies. So the crowd responds with laughter as Jesus’ call for faith. So, Jesus leaves them all outside, and only takes the girl’s parents and Peter, James and John with him. Only people of faith will see this mighty work of God.

But Jesus took hold of her hand and called to her, "My child, stand up!" Her spirit came back into her, and she stood up at once. Then Jesus ordered that she be given something to eat. The girl's parents were amazed, but Jesus told them not to tell anyone what had happened.

So, in the end, Jairus’ faith is honored. With a simple touch this little girl is raised back to life.

So how do we access God’s power? Just like the bleeding woman and Jairus did – with our faith. We can say, “Faith gives us access to God’s sovereign power.” My belief gives me access to God’s sovereign power.

Something about our faith touches the heart of God. Something about our faith moves God to work on our behalf. Because our faith matters to God, we need to be aware of anything that would hurt or stop our faith, like fear.

When Jesus heard the messenger tell Jarius his daughter was dead and there was no reason to bother Jesus anymore, Jesus said this to Jarius: "Don't be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well."
Don’t be afraid. Just believe.

Often our fear restricts our ability to trust in God. Instead of saying “don’t be afraid, just believe,” our world tells us we need to be afraid because our faith is foolish. But, we need to reject fear if we are going to embrace faith.

I don't know about you guys, but I am one of those people that naturally gravitates toward fear. I mean one little thing goes wrong in my life and I just start losing it. Is anyone else like that? And I can think of so many times that I have suffered because I chose fear over faith.

There is a freedom that comes in choosing faith over faith. I am not over my natural inclination to fear, but if you talk to people who knew me 5 or 10 years ago, they will tell you I am a very different person. --far less stressed out, far less depressed. Why? Because of this - the realization that I can’t live in fear and faith at the same time. If you are living in fear, I invite you to make the same decision I make on a daily basis. Write out your fears. Confess them. Ask God to release you. Acknowledge that God can handle the things that most scare you. Tell Him you want to live by faith.

Something I find encouraging from this passage is that whatever faith we do have, no matter how little, God is committed to developing that faith. He is committed to growing that faith. In the bleeding woman’s case, we see where Jesus called her to a public expression of her faith, and Jesus took her smoldering wick of faith and fanned it into a flame of faith. However, with Jairus, Jesus took a different step in developing his faith. He made Jairus wait. He grew Jairus in the persistence of his faith. He taught Jairus that even when circumstances say otherwise, we need to keep believing in Jesus.

Often, Jairus’ test is our test. We have to wait. And circumstances don’t look very good. What do we do then? Think about being a part of that crowd that day. Jesus has just healed a woman who was sick for 12 years. Don’t you think that would cause the crowd to take a “wait and see’ attitude? But not this group. They thought they were too smart. They knew better. And they missed a mighty work of God.

We are often faced with the crowd’s choice. When God doesn’t answer our faith on our timetable, what is our response – do we continue our faith, or toss it away for some immediate satisfaction? We have God’s track record of faithfulness. Will you look to that track record? Or will you take the easy road and give into suspicion and doubt?
I understand some of you have been waiting a long time on God. You have prayed, like we encourage you to do, and nothing seems to change or get better in your life. And you feel like giving up on God.

So, what’s it gonna be? You have to make a choice. Having doubt, or having faith. Everyone on the youth team and Derek beg you not to give in to cynicism and doubt. Everyone on the youth team is willing to do anything so you don't give up on God.
I would personally and gladly lay my life down so you don’t. And I believe everyone on the youth team and Derek would do so as well without giving it a second thought.
Follow in Jairus’ footsteps and continue to believe, continue to trust God. Some of you here tonight have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin. I ask you to consider Jairus and the bleeding woman. One, Jairus, was at the top of the social ladder. He ran the synagogue. The other, the woman, was at the bottom of the social ladder. She couldn’t even step foot in the synagogue. But their social position didn’t matter to God. All they needed to do was to exercise their faith to access the power of God.

I don’t know where you are in life. I don’t know where you stand on the social ladder, and frankly, I don’t care what people think of you, if you’re from the right side of the tracks, or from the nice part of town, or the bad part of town, whatever that means. But I do know you need to exercise faith to access the power of God. If you will call out to Jesus, you will experience God’s power. God created you to live for Him. But like all of us, you have been born in sin, which means you live for yourself. If you call out to Jesus in faith, He will come into your life and forgive you. Not only that, but He will do something that you can’t do for yourself. He will begin to change the disposition of your heart so that you live for God rather than yourself. Jesus will allow you to live the way God created you to live. And how does this all happen? Like Jairus and like the bleeding woman, you approach Jesus with your imperfect faith and cry out to Him with your need for forgiveness and your need for a changed heart. If you have never made that decision, I invite you to make that decision as soon as I finish. Seek out a friend who has already made that decision, or see anyone on the youth team.

You know, when we finish up the message we almost always end by saying, “let's pray.” But tonight I am doing something a little different. Tonight, we will end in prayer, but this prayer was written by one of you, and when I read it, it was so genuine, it was so heart-felt, it was so real, that I knew as soon as I read it that I needed to use it. So I humbly as AL to come up and give the closing prayer:

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
AMEN!

What is Pray, Anyway?

2009-01-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

If you are anything like me (just don't admit it), probably one of the biggest areas of your Christian life that you think you may be struggling with is "prayer."

Let's face it, a lot of us have been brought up in faiths or churches that were pretty ritualistic when it came to pray...bow in this position, close your eyes, turn off the lights, turn in this direction, turn in that direction, clear your mind of everything else, and the list goes on and on.

None of that stuff ever rang true for me. In fact, Jesus was very clear on prayer...take a quick look at what he says in Matthew 6:5-

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.

Even growing up in a Jewish home and later as a Roman Catholic, I struggled with all the formal, ritualistic prayer styles. Because I always felt that if I had something to say to God, I would just...say it.

I am reading a great book by the late Mike Yaconelli called "Messy Spirituality." In Chapter 2 of the book, Yaconelli writes this:

"A couple of years ago, my wife and I sat across the table from a woman we highly respect, a deeply spiritual lady who had profoundly impacted our lives. This woman spent most of her life resisting the noise and activity of the world to seek God in silence and solitude...

We were talking about prayer. "It's embarrassing to be sitting with you," I blurted. "You spend days, weeks, even months in prayer. I'm lucky if I spend ten minutes. Compared to you, I'm not very spiritual, I'm afraid.

Her eyes flashed with anger, caught mine, and she fired back, "Oh Mike, knock it off. First of all, you don't spend everyday with me. You don't know me at all. You are comparing something you know about yourself to what you don't know about me."

The she said gently, "You think about God all the time, right?"

"Well, sort of," I said.

"Thinking about God is being with God. Being with God is spirituality. Thinking about God is praying. So shut up with this guilt stuff; you have been praying most of your life. You are a spiritual person!"

It never occurs to us that praying could include thinking or done standing or in the shower or driving to the store, or just while you may be hanging out.

Consider this as closure to your self-perceived problem of not praying enough or in the "right way." Jesus died to give us freedom from religious rules imposed by men who are no greater in God's eyes than you or I. God just wants all of you, all the time.

How to be a People-Builder

2008-12-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

We love to talk. There are talk shows everywhere on TV. Everybody seems to have something to say. I read recently where the average American has 30 conversations a day and you'll spend 1/5 of your life talking. In one year your conversations will fill 66 books of 800 pages per book. If you're a guy in high school, you speak an average of 7,000 words a day. And if you're a girl in high school, get this...you probaWly speak somewhere around 20,000 words a day.

A couple of weeks ago Derek started this mini-series on the power of those words, and he talked about the sheer power of words. So, guys, 7000 words a day! Girls- 20,000 words a day! Wow – I bet you’d think that somewhere in all those words there are gonna be a couple that are pretty powerful – that will have a huge impact on whoever is listening to you. So tonight, I want to talk a little about how the words we use everyday have the ability to show others around us if we love them or simply don’t love them or don’t care about them.

Last year we did a series on Love, and we talked about 1 Corinthians 13…about how Love is patient, about how love is kind, about how love does not envy, about how it does not boast, it is not proud, isn’t rude. The Cliffnotes or Sparknites version of 1 Corinthians 13 is basically about loving God, and loving others.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that the word “love” has no meaning anymore. I mean, in most popular books and magazines and television shows and movies and music, the term “lust” would be more fitting than the word “love.” I mean, today we rarely see the kind of love that Paul describes here – a love that is patient, kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not demanding, not irritable, always hopeful, always enduring, even under the worst circumstances. Surely, if we all loved the way Paul describes in the bible, it would revolutionize neighborhoods, churches, marriages, relationships, and families. This kind of love is God’s kind of love. Friends, this is the kind of love God wants you to show to everyone around you.

You see, love has very little to do with how we feel. For example, I can say I love chocolate chip ice cream, or I love the newest album from Flyleaf, or I love the smell of a new car. But if I am in a relationship with any of you, do you want me to love you like I love the smell of a car. I hope not. I hope you expect more than that. I know that God expects more than that. So love has less to do with our feelings- it has more to do with the decisions and choices we make everyday, and especially…especially the choices we make with the words we use.

In fact, the words we use may not only destroy the people around us...think about this...the words we use often destroy what each of us have.

Imagine a beautiful forest - tall beautiful trees everywhere. Now, imagine that in one minute, that beautiful forest, with those magnificent trees that seem to keep climbing into the sky that you can't even see their tops, the soft soil of the forest's ground, the wonder of the animals and birds and bugs that live in that beautiful forest - up in smoke, completely destroyed instantly with a little tiny match. It only takes a spark to get a fire going.

In 1983 in Australia, one fire overnight destroyed 600 miles of land, villages, and livestock. All from a single match. The bible in James says that your tongue can destroy like that. You can lose it all. A careless camper can destroy an entire national forest overnight. But, but - a careless word can destroy a life overnight. Thousands of lives. Gossip is like fire. It spreads quickly and it wrecks havoc. I wonder how many people in here tonight, because of a careless word have destroyed their relationships with what they thought were best friends, or girl friends, or boyfriends, sisters, brothers, parents – all because of a single word or sentence. Maybe destroyed their own reputation, or the reputation of another, or of their church. The tongue not only has the power to direct where you go, but it also has the power to destroy what you have if you don't learn to control it. Your tongue can be like that single, innocent match that destroyed 600 miles of land, villages, and livestock.

Have you ever met a verbal arsonist? We all know what an arsonist is- the people who set fires on purpose as a crime. But how about a verbal arsonist- the kind of person who uses words that are always inflammatory. How many of you know someone like that? I sure do. In the bible James says that words, like a fire, can burn people because you can burn people with what you say. We all know the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." You guys are in high school, so you probably think that that saying is just for babies. But, it does hurt. Fire and words under control can give tremendous warmth and light, but fire and words out of control can be devastating. It can destroy miles and miles of homes and lands and the lives of people around us.

Think of all the people you interact with each day- friends at school, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, school bus drivers, bosses, the people that work in the caf at school, people at RISE708. How can you show love to them? Can you be less irritable, more hopeful, willing to persist through the tough times, more patient, less jealous, more kind? It doesn’t come easy, but true love isn’t easy either.

A couple of weeks ago Derek talked about how powerful words can be. And tonight, I want to talk to you about how to be kind with your words. What does that mean? President Bush wanted a "kinder, gentler nation." But what does it mean to be kind? Kindness is love in action. Love looks for a way of improving somebody else's life. Love through kindness builds people up. So tonight, let’s talk about how to be a People Builder.

Romans 15:2 says "We should consider the good of our neighbor and build up his character." So the question is, How do I build up the people in my life?

This message tonight is for everybody. It doesn’t matter if your 16 or 60, a student or retired, live in a palace, or live on the streets. It’s for all of us – teachers, parents, wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, if you work with other people at a job, and especially, especially, if you go to high school. Because the fact is that all of us have people around us we'd like to build up, that we'd like to bring out the best in. That sounds great doesn’t it? Who here would not like eat lunch on Monday at school with someone who didn’t make you feel good to be around? But many times we just kinda shrug our shoulders because we just don’t know how to do it. So tonight we're going to look at four things you can give people that will build up the best in them. You build people up by kindness, not by criticism. Kindness is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Jesus gave people four things, the same four things you need to learn to give if you're going to be a people builder, if you're going to bring out the best in their life. And the one thing all four of these have in common is words - the words we use to communicate with each other, the words we use to express our love to others, and sadly, the words people around us use to destroy us.

1. GIVE THEM A PERSONAL CHALLENGE

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says "here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences."

In that scripture, Paul is urging people to make their life count. He's challenging them. He's saying don't waste your life. Be all that God made you to be. Make your life count. Why? Because we all need a cause, a project, a dream that calls forth the best in our lives. It strengthens us. If Paul was with us here tonight, he would tell you this- brothers and sisters, don’t sit around and waste your life text messaging each other, or using up your cell phone minutes, or sitting around playing video games, or making ungodly comments on facebook or myspace! No, do something that makes your life count, and glorifies God.

This weekend is a big weekend for the New England Patriots. They need to win to have a chance to make the playoffs this year. Now I realize that not everyone in here is a Patriots fan, or even a football fan. But the point is not about football. For many of you in here, you have been kind of spoiled the past few years with Boston’s sports teams. But if you follow the Red Sox, you know they have been in the playoffs 6 of the last 8 years, and have won the world series twice in the past 5 years. If you follow the Celtics, you know that they are the defending NBA champions. And if you follow hockey, you also know that finally, finally, the Bruins have turned it around and are one of the top teams in the NHL. And if you follow the Patriots, you know that they are one of the greatest football team in NFL history- they have won the Superbowl three times since 2001, they have been to the AFC championship game 6 times since 2001, and have won their division 7 times in the past 8 years. But it wasn’t always like that for the Patriots. From 1989 through 1993, the Patriots were the laughing stock of the NFL, and considered one of the worst run teams in all of professional sports.

They were so bad that they couldn’t sell enough tickets to their games at the old Sullivan stadium, which meant that their games were not even on television. That’s a pretty big change from today, when the Pats are on prime time much of the time. So for those five years the Patriots won only 24% of their games. By 1990 they were 1 – 15, kinda like the Detroit Lions this year. Terrible team. Then in 1993 along came a guy named Bill Parcells. He was tough, but he was a people builder. During his brief stay he completely turned the organization around, and in 1994 he was named Coach of the year and the Patriots made the playoffs for the first time since 1986. And two years later, the Patriots went to the super bowl. He turned a loser into a winner, a dynasty. Parcells was a people builder. Not many people know that, because they see him as some sort of football missionary that hops from team to team. But that’s why he continues to be hired- he knows how to bring out the best in people by issuing personal challenges to the players.

We all know that there is more to life than just living for yourself. There must be a cause, a reason, a purpose that I'm here. All of us need somebody in our lives who can inspire us to be what we could be. There are people in your life that God wants to use you to be a people builder for, to bring out their best, to inspire them to be what God knows they could be. Think about this for a minute- does anyone come to mind that is your personal people-builder. Someone that builds you up, no matter how bad things get? It may be a boyfriend or girlfriend, a regular friend, maybe a teacher, maybe a coach, maybe someone on the RISE708 youth team, maybe someone in this sanctuary tonight, and hopefully your parents.

You need people builders. I need people builders. Derek, everyone on the youth team need people builders in our lives. So rather than criticizing the worst in others, we need to start concentrating on how to bring out the best- and this is the best way to love with kindness.

2. GIVE THEM COMPLETE CONFIDENCE

Romans 15:2 says “We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.

We all need confidence. When somebody believes in you, doesn’t that feel good? Why? Because it brings out the best in you. It gives you the courage. "I know you can do it!" Jesus did this with Peter. Peter's name "Petros" meant pebble. Jesus said, "Pebble, you're going to be a rock. But I'm giving you a new name." When Jesus said that to Peter he was anything but a rock. He was Mr. Impulsive, Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. But Jesus said you're going to be a rock. Jesus didn't tell him what he was; He told him what he COULD be -- that's potential, that's building confidence. Whenever you label somebody you reinforce what they are. Folks, the world is full of people that will tell you, your friends and family what they are. You’re Lazy. You’re fat. You’re ugly. You’re dumb. You’re a disappointment. You’re a weirdo. You’re a failure. How about this one- you don’t apply yourself. Argggghhhhhhh!

But, I have great news for each and every one of you here tonight. The best news you could ever imagine. Starting tonight, each and every one of you have a second chance, a chance to break that chain around your neck, break that cycle- Don't tell people what they are, tell them what they could be. Build them up. Instead of catching people doing something wrong, catch someone doing something right, and tell them. Encourage each other. Build each other up- because if we can’t encourage and build each other up here at RISE708, who will. And you can do it with just six simple words- “I know you can do it.”

The fact is we all need encouragement. For the past year or so I have kept an Encouragement file. Every time anybody writes me a note, a card, a letter, an email, or a text message that’s encouraging, I keep it. Even if it's only mildly encouraging, like "Better luck next time!" or "You tried on that sermon, but you spoke way too long and I have no clue what you were getting at, but good try." Anything that's mildly encouraging, I keep it. And on those days when I'm discouraged or down on myself, I get out that Encouragement file and I read through all the letters and notes and emails and text messages over and over. You know why? Because it's encouraging to me to know that at some time in my life, my wife, my son, or Derek or someone on the youth team, or maybe one of you, thought I had some kind of value! We all need encouragement.

There’s this story of a kid who grew up in the projects in Boston. He had nothing. His family had nothing. Winter nights were cold, and there was little food on the table. Days and nights were consumed with thoughts of how to stay out of the cross fire of bullets from rival gangs, or being able to walk to school without being attacked. This kid had no one at home to encourage him. His father had left the home when he was 12. His mother worked two jobs just to be able to pay the rent and try to feed him and his two younger sisters. So it was nothing short of a miracle when he walked on the stage at his college graduation as the class valedictorian. He had performed spectacularly in college, and he gave all the credit to one of his teachers in high school. As he stood before the graduation day crown of over 5000 people, he recalled the the endless days and nights of despair in the housing projects of Boston. The future looked bleak, and he was ready to end it all. He tried to commit suicide several times. But that graduation day, he’s the top student at his college, with a job offer. Why? Because some teacher kept reinforcing his confidence. His voice cracked as he related the story, he said "All those years, I wanted to quit and didn't think I had a future, but someone believed in me more than I did in myself. She wanted me to succeed even more than I did."

Who can you say that about? That you believe in them more than they believe in themselves? That you want them to succeed more than they do? That you love them more than they love themselves? If you want to be a people builder you've got to give people a challenge and then you've got to say, "I know you can do it!" Whether you're working with other students on a class assignment, or you’re trying to support one of your friends going through a tough time, or even trying to encourage your mom or dad, those six words out of your mouth can do more than anything you could imagine - "I know you can do it."

Like I said, the world is addicted to pointing out the negative rather than glorifying the positive. Just watch the news at night. So, it’s not easy to give encouragement. It might feel weird, or embarrassing to do it. So here are some suggestions on giving encouragement:

1. When you encourage people it needs to be real, from the heart and not some kind of phony manipulation.

2. It needs to be regular. Don't be stingy with encouragement. Give it out all the time. Encourage everybody -- the waitress at Friendly’s or Dave’s Diner in Middleboro, your school bus driver, your teachers, your parents, your friends here at RISE708 or at school, maybe even us on the youth team. We stand here, but we need encouragement as much as anyone. I know it’s not easy. The world outside those front doors tells you it’s OK to be rude to others. The world out there tells you its OK to be indifferent, or uncaring. Who cares what that waitress thinks?! Who cares how that person behind the register at Walmart, or next door at Amaro’s feels. So ask yourself this...why can't I break that cycle tonight. The answer is so easy…you can, tonight.

When you look at Jesus, really understand what He was doing, you realize what a radical he was for his time. He was a complete revolutionary. And I know many of us like to think ourselves as being radical. But if you want to be a real radical- a real revolutionary tonight...then let me ask you this - when was the last time you wrote a love note or thank you note to your parents? You may not think too highly of one or both of your parents. But just think how you would make them feel if you wrote them a simple note- “Mom, Dad- I may not always show it, but I appreciate all you do for me.” That’s it. That simple note could be a life-changing experience for them. Teachers always hear about when they're doing a bad job. When was the last time you wrote a note of encouragement to a teacher that's doing a good job? I know you have teachers you feel that way about, a teacher that has encouraged you, or built you up. When was the last time you wrote a note to encourage a friend who's had a major impact in your life? I encourage you to write it down. A note says you took the time to care.

3. BE HONEST WITH OTHERS

We all need honest feedback. Since none of us is perfect, we need people in our lives that say, “get back in line!" We all need people who will lay it out for us, and be honest with us.

Proverbs 27 says: "People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron." We bring out the best in each other. "An honest answer is the sign of a true friendship." A real friend will tell you when you're making a mistake. A real friend will level with you. A real friend who loves you tells you that you are wrong when you are wrong. They care enough to confront you, to correct you. They'll lay it on the line. Even when it's painful, they'll tell you the truth. "I think you're off base here. You're wasting your life." They just don't let people waste their life in silence. Prov. 27:6 says "A friend means well even when he hurts you." He's doing it for your benefit.

4. LASTLY, GIVE OTHERS FULL CREDIT

If you want to be a people builder -- bring out the best in the people in your life -- give them full credit. Praise the growth and the changes you see in their lives. The Bible says "Let us have real, warm affection for each other and a willingness to let others have the credit." I have a sign in my office that says , "God can do great things through the person who doesn't care who gets the credit."

How do you guys do on that? How quickly do you share the credit? Usually we like to share the blame but keep the credit. God says the mark of maturity is to accept the blame and share the credit. The exact opposite. Just ask Tim Conrad about the work that goes in to making worship happen for four services every Saturday or Sunday. It takes about 20 different people, all with different responsibilities, to make it all happen. There’s sound, media, performers, worship leaders, child care, greeters, ushers, parking lot attendants, and of course a Pastor with a message. And when you get that many people involved going in so many different directions, negatives are bound to pop up. But if we can’t share the credit and take the blame in CCC’s worship ministry, where can we do it?

When you look at these four things on how to be a People Builder: Give Them a Personal Challenge, Give Them Complete Confidence, Give Them Honest Opinions, and Give them Full Credit – you’re probably saying- ya know Bob, that’s sounds just great, but man, that also sounds like a lot of work. And the answer is, yep, it sure is, and you won't always feel like doing it. Kindness always costs. There's a price tag for being a people builder. It requires time, it requires effort, it requires energy, it may require money, maybe a lack of privacy. It always costs to be kind. Most of all it costs unselfishness. It takes unselfishness to be a people builder. Usually we're so caught up in our own thing we don't have time to build anybody else up. We focus on me, myself, I. I don't care about anybody else; I'm focusing on me. It takes unselfishness. It costs to be kind. The question tonight is- are you willing the pay the price. I am – are you?

But your concern may not be how much work it takes to love with kindness- your question may simply be “Why should I do it?” No one does it for me! Hey, doesn’t the bible talk about treating others as you would like to be treated? If that’s true, why don’t people in my life treat me with kindness, or love?

I don’t know what specific circumstance each of you has with girlfriends, boyfriends, regular friends, or with your parents or guardians at home. But if you are here tonight it tells me that you are willing to be a little different, and break the cycle of hatred and indifference. The bible says "In response to all God has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other." God's been kind to you, so you owe it to others! The Romans, back when the first Christians were forming after Jesus Christ came to earth, used to confuse the word "cristos" with "crestos". Cristos means Christ. Crestos, in Latin, means kindness. But what a great confusion! If anything ought to be synonymous it ought to be kindness and a Christian. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people in the work force. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people at school. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people at the mall. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people on the internet. And Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people to – other Christians. Let’s take a look:

=> VIDEO

So how do you rate as a people builder? How many people do you know would say that you do this to them? How many of you feel like the person in that video? Then I give you a challenge. I want to give you a new objective for life. Whether you live another year, five years, ten years or a hundred years - I want to challenge you to make as your primary objective of life to be a people builder, not a people-trasher. Someone who encourages, and doesn’t hurt others. Someone who picks up others, instead of beating them when they are already down.

I want everyone here to hear me on this…all of us here, no matter how old we are, how smart we are, how gifted we are, how successful we may think we are- all of us here are broken. Very few of us have had anybody ever build us up like we can start doing as soon as I finish up. But all of us crave to have somebody to help evaluate our life, say this is the direction you ought to go. That's what it means to be kind. You can be a home builder, bodybuilder, a money builder- but none of those things are going to last. But there is something that's going to last for eternity. There is no more worthwhile endeavor in life than to be a people builder.

Let’s pray together:

I don’t pretend to know what’s in your heart tonight. Maybe you have already made the commitment to accept Jesus in your life and know the unconditional love He has for you. Maybe you heard something tonight that’s pulling at your heart, and you’re thinking, yeah, that’s how I want my life to be- a life filled with love with patience, love with kindness.

Will you commit to bringing out the best in people that God has placed in your life and He will place in your life in the days or years ahead? Would you say in your heart, "God, I do want to become a people builder." God has placed people around you that He wants you to build up. Who do you need to write a note to, a note of encouragement?

Who do you need to give more credit to? The kindest thing you can do for somebody is to introduce them to Jesus Christ. Who could you invite to RISE708, which could start them on the road to becoming all they're meant to be. Some of you need to begin your own personal development process. We want to help you to become what God has shaped you to be. Some of you need to say, "Jesus Christ, come into my heart and help me to become what You made me to be." If you've never done that, do that now. Make that your starting decision. "Christ, come into my life and help me to discover what You made me for. I want to know You and follow You." If that’s your decision tonight, I urge you to grab Derek or someone from the youth team to talk about your decision. Do it today. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Flaw of Contemporary "Christian Accountability"

2008-11-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

I currently have and always have had a problem with how today's "evangelical" church focuses on "accountability." In the contemporary church setting, we most often hear the word "accountability" associated with having some fellow church member as a partner that we stay "accountable" to on a regular basis, and humbly confess all of our sinful nature to. To make this process more palatable to us, we then water it down to a "meeting for a cup of coffee every week at the local Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts to talk about our week."

Here comes the "but." But, I think this misses the point of what we today refer to as "Christian Accountability." We all tend to think like we are still in primary school when the teachers would consistently say something to the effect of "Well Johnny, if you insist on mis-behaving, it may go on your permanent record, and then you will have trouble getting into college or getting a job." What nonsense.

Today I was talking to a friend of mine that I ride the train with whose opinion I trust and respect immensely. So, at the risk of losing the point she was making, I thought I just mind as well just quote what she said to me:

"Well, the irony is that with God there is no permanent record. Yet, we humans keep a checklist all the time of one another's actions and faults. We say we want to be Christlike. We say we forgive. Then we say, wait a minute, now I remember. I think the 11th commandment should be "thou shalt not keep account." My whole Christian education and church rearing was riddled with the word accountability. It creates a mind set that I think is detrimental to being a Christian within a community of believers. People go around keeping track of everything everyone else does. It is unhealthy. I have eradicated the word from my Christian dictionary. If you break the word down, it means having the ability to account. That is one ability I do not want to have. I have replaced it with a more constructive word - availability....having the ability to avail. The questions that come from that word are great."

Nuf said.

If God is such a Good and Loving God, then why...

2008-11-19T21:49:00.000-05:00

You know, we are now in November and feels like the school year just started a couple of weeks ago. But since it’s November, everyone on the youth team has been discussing ways in which we can make Friday nights more meaningful to you. And I really think that last Friday was an awesome night- who was here last Friday night? Who thought it was like the best RISE708 in the past year? Who thought the youth band rocked the house? There is one thing you should all know- not a Friday night goes by when anyone on the youth team does not pray that it will be the best night of your life. And the one thing I pray is that when I have the honor of giving the message on a Friday night, is that I give you some stuff that you can use tonight, as soon as I’m done. And for those who know me, I hope by now that you realize that I like to talk about stuff that normally would be considered “untouchable” - untouchable within your family, and certainly untouchable at your school. But if you guys are thinking about it, I want to talk about it.

A couple of weeks ago I talked about death. No one likes talking about death. It’s depressing. It’s raw. It’s sensitive for a lot of people. But I knew that a good number of you were thinking about it that week. So we talked about it.

Tonight there is another untouchable - an untouchable that I know some of you have thought about, so I’m gonna talk about it. You may no think of it by name, but we all experience it, every day- we all experience and think about evil. Because maybe
the most often-asked question is this:

If God is such a good and loving God, why is there evil? Why do bad things happens? Why to bad things happen to good people? Every day is just filled with terrible news. So you might ask, If God is such a good and loving God, why do I get lousy grades even after I study. If God is such a good and loving God, how come my mom, or dad, or brother or sister is sick with cancer? If God is such a good and loving God, why do my friends turn their back on me? If God is such a good and loving God, why do my parents argue all the time? Why did my parents get divorce

Earlier today I was driving around just trying to get a couple of things done, and I tune on this AM News radio station. And I’m listening to this news station, and there motto is something like “You give us 22 minutes, we give you the world.” In that time after about three minutes in the car, I turned it off because I was just tired of hearing about murder, about rap about little kids being abducted, about lying and cheating and stealing. We live in a world where there is a lot of evil. What’s the deal? Where is God with all this?

So I have two big question- 1) Why is there so much suffering and evil in a world created by God; and 2) If God created the world and is so powerful, why doesn’t he just stop all the evil?

1. Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? Why didn’t God create it perfect?

The answer is that He did. God created a perfect world. I talked about this a month or so ago when I talked about Adam & Eve and the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us all about creation, what it was like in the beginning, that it was perfect. There was no smog, no bad drivers, no gossiping, no pain, no tragedy, no crowds, no suffering, no sadness, no evil. Just Adam and Eve in a perfect setting. But one of them told God basically to shove off. You might even ask, is God responsible for evil because He created us with a free will? God made us to love Him, but the only way it could be truly love, genuine love, is that if God gave us a choice. If I’m God and I created all these people to love me but I didn’t give them free choice, then it’s not love. All they would be would be robots.

A lot of you may think, and a lot of you may have friends that think God is up there in the sky somewhere, moving us. I’m just moving how God makes me move, like I am some sort of puppet, and it’s God’s fault. No, God says I’m going to give you free choice. Many of us have been turning our back on God for our whole lives. God says for love to be real, there has to be free choice.

I didn’t really understand this when I first became a Christian about five years ago. When I was preparing this message I came on to a story of a guy who became a Christian when he was in 10th grade. His name was Jeremy, and during the summer between his 9th and 10th grade, the people across the street from where he lived, the Chandlers, went on vacation. The Chandlers were the only people in Jeremy’s neighborhood that had a pool table. When they were on vacation, they asked me Jeremy to take care of their dog, a big German shepherd by the name of Max. To me, Max is just the perfect name for a German shepherd. Max lived in the house and in the back yard, and the Chandlers had one of those big doggie doors where Max can go back and forth between the house and back yard. As a ninth-grader, Jeremy weighed about 105 pounds and could fit through that big doggie door. But Jeremy was only supposed to take care of Max the dog when Max was in the back yard. But Jeremy got into their house because they had a pool table. And one day that summer Jeremy got into the Chandler’s house and was playing pool. It was a great summer day – he was in the Chandler’s house. And Jeremy was playing like his third game of pool. And Jeremy goes to break, and as he did, he hit the cue ball and then lifted his hand in the air. And right over the pool table was this huge Budweiser lamp. Like a stained glass window lamp. And when Jeremy lifted his hand in the air his pool cue hit that lamp, and it shattered all over the table.

Big trouble! Jeremy runs out the big doggie door and Max is chasing him barking, and Jeremy finally makes it home. And doesn’t tell anyone what happened.

You know when you’ve done something wrong and feel incredibly guilty? Every time somebody looks at you, you look down. Well, the more Jeremy lived with it, the more he thought, The Chandlers are going to come home next week. They’re going to know it was me. They’re not going to think their German Shepherd Max was playing pool even though The Chandlers had one of those velvet paintings of dogs playing pool. So Jeremy confessed, and got in a lot of trouble. One of the consequences was that Jeremy had to go to the church and visit the youth pastor.

So Jeremy’s youth pastor asked him, “How do you feel about this?” Jeremy said, “I feel bad. I broke the Budweiser lamp.” Jeremy’s youth pastor talked to him about his spiritual life. “Are you a Christian?” asked the youth pastor. “I am,” said Jeremy. “I became a Christian this year. Then Jeremy says to the youth pastor, “If God loves me so much, why did He let that happen to me? All you guys at church always talk about God’s love, then why did He let me break the Budweiser lamp? It’s kind of God’s fault, isn’t it?”

Jeremy learned there for the first time how much God really loves him. Because his youth pastor explained, in very simple terms that in God’s ultimate love for us, God says, “Jeremy, or Emily, or Abe, or Kyle Buchanan, or Mollie, or Jordan…I love you so much I’m going to give you a choice. You can either love Me, or you can turn your back on Me.”&;nbsp; Because if God forced Jeremy from our story, or Emily, or Abe or Kyle or Mollie or Jordan or Shari to love Him, it wouldn’t be ultimate love.

So why is there evil in the world? Because God created a perfect world, and in that perfect world, He gave us choice. And with that choice, bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people.

Last week, there were three deaths of people who went to the church I used to go to. A motorcycle accident, a grandparent, and a 22-year-old who grew up in that church’s youth ministry, who sat in a chair every Friday at youth group like the ones you’re sitting in, who overdosed on drugs. Bad things happen. Evil is in this world. Is it God’s fault? No, God created a perfect world, and in that perfect world, He gave us choice.

There is evil within us, lurking, and it’s just ready to come out at any time. God created a world where evil can exist and we sometimes choose evil over good. But God didn’t cause the evil. So the answer to that question is, No. God didn’t cause the evil.

For love to be real, there must be choice- a choice to love or not to love. And for that choice to be real, there must be a consequence, a result if you choose not to love. If you can understand that and get your arms around that, you’ll better understand this whole idea of evil.

But the big question is not really why is there so much evil in the world, and didn’t God create a perfect world. No. The big question I hear over and over and over again and the question I struggle with everyday is this…Why doesn’t God put a final stop to it? Why don’t you, God, just stop it? Stop causing abuse. Stop causing tornados and hurricanes. Stop murder and stop rape and stop the lying and the cheating and the stealing. Stop cancer and abortions. God, please stop death!

But, the Bible says that God restrains evil all the time. There’s no telling how many times in your life, in unseen ways, that God has kept you from the evil of others.

Now you might be saying that’s great, but why doesn’t He put a stop to it finally? The comment I hear over and over again from people who don’t believe in God is this- if God is so powerful, so mighty, so loving, why doesn’t he just stop the evil right now, at this moment. Here’s the answer- The Bible says that He will. And just because He hasn’t yet doesn’t mean He won’t soon.

Proverbs 11:21 says, “Evil people will surely be punished, but the children of the godly will go free..”

Proverbs 24 says “The evil have no future, and their light will be snuffed out.”

But still the question, why doesn’t God put a final stop to evil? Here’s a reality check for you…Some of us in here tonight just may be the reason He doesn’t. Could it be that God hasn’t put a stop to evil because He’s waiting. He’s waiting for you to turn from the world’s way and have a relationship with Him. Could it be that He’s waiting for you to quit playing games and just stop going to church because it’s part of your religion or just because everybody goes to Christ Community Church or Muellin Hill or First Baptist. I thing God is waiting for you to say, “The world doesn’t offer life. Jesus offers me life.” I think the reason He doesn’t put a final screeching halt to all the hurt and evil is because He wants for some of you to change. Look around you. Have you changed? Does your life honor God, or honor yourself. Do you dig God, or just dig yourself. Are you keeping God big in your life, and trying to make a deal with him that sounds something like this…I know I have all these issues and problems in my life God…but if you could just take care of about 30% of it, I can aboslutely take care of the remainign 70%.&;nbsp; Sorry folk, God just ain’t interested in making any deals with you.

That’s not Bob’s opinion. That’s not Derek’s opinion. Or Tim’s or Matt’s or Amy’s or Jess’s or anybody else on the youth team. That’s what the Bible says. 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.” God, in His patience, in His mercy and in His love, wants to give some of you in here, now, in this room, a little more time. I think that’s why God doesn’t put a final stop to evil. He will. It’s just not right now.

Those are two questions most asked about evil…1) Why is there so much suffering in the world, and 2) Why doesn’t God just put an end to the suffering. That leads us to two huge Big Time principles regarding evil.

Number one -People are inconsistent in their HATRED OVER EVIL.

This is important for us to understand. You and I, many of us in here, are inconsistent when it comes to evil. We might say, “God, would you just stop all the murderers? Put an end to all the murders,” but where we’re inconsistent is we don’t want to stop gossiping, which murders relationships. Or we say, “God, would you put an end to drunk drivers? Drunk drivers kill people. Put an end to all that evil.” But where we’re inconsistent is we don’t want Him to stop drunkenness because that’s kind of a cool thing to do on Friday or Saturday night. We’re inconsistent. We say, “God, would you put an end to this terrorism thing? Would you get rid of all the evil that is out there with terrorism?” But where we’re inconsistent is we don’t want Him to put an end to the prejudice against other people at our school or our hatred of other types of groups or skin colors or ethnic backgrounds. We’re inconsistent. Many times, we are the hypocrites we accuse others, like our parents, of being in our lives.

Here’s the bottom line: We all cheat and accept a little bit of evil here and little bit of evil over there. A matter of fact, some of us really like a little bit of evil. That’s where the inconsistency comes in. But a little bit of evil can affect a big part of your life, can affect your relationships, can affect the world.

You see the inconsistency. We are so open to a just a little bit of evil in our lives. I think that’s a big thing for us to understand tonight. A lot of us are inconsistent. When we are hurt or suffering or there’s evil, we do this with God, “Why me?” But we don’t do that when good things happen in our life. When you win a championship game in soccer or football or basketball or volleyball, or you get date with the person you wanted for a long time or someone gives you some money, you don’t say, “God, why me? Why did I have to win that game?” We don’t do that. I think that’s important for us to think about as we hate the evil in the world or in others, but we don’t hate it in ourselves.

The second principle I want you to see is this - It’s okay to have questions ABOUT GOD .

It’s all right. It’s okay for Kyle Whitty to say, “God, I don’t understand. Why do some people live a long life and my sister didn’t?” Ashleigh Whitty suffered for so much of her life. She was in and out of hospitals all the time. We, as friends of Kyle or Ashleigh may say we have questions about God. That’s okay. It’s okay to say, “Why do some people get miracles in their life, and Ashleigh didn’t?” “Why is it that bad things happen?” It’s okay to have questions. There’s a lot we don’t understand.

I want to challenge you in this way – and I challenge you because I and everyone on the youth team cares deeply about each of you and care about your spiritual journey – just because you don’t understand God, don’t dismiss Him. That’s inconsistent too. The reality is there are a lot of elements of life that we don’t understand, but we don’t dismiss it.

Think about a steak, a good, juicy, great steak. Most of us in here will eat that steak, but we don’t fully understand where it came from. It came from a cow, but you don’t know all that the cow ate. You don’t know what the cow was injected with. You don’t know where the cow lived. You don’t know the process that cow went through to get that steak. But what do you do? You don’t dismiss the steak because you don’t understand the process.

I want to encourage you. Just because you don’t fully understand God, don’t dismiss Him. If we could possibly understand everything about being God, He would be a very small God.

It would be like explaining Albert Einstein to a first-grader. They’re not going to get it. It would be like even explaining square roots. A first-grader just ain’t gonna get it. But it doesn’t mean there’s not an answer and that the answer isn’t true. That first grader might be able to tell me how many Chicklets she could cram in her nose, but she couldn’t tell me the square root of six. But there’s still an answer, and that answer is true.

God said this in Isaiah 55- God said this- “’My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.’”

Friends, I’ve said this a million times - our mind is a finite mind, and God is an infinite God. I don’t want to worship a God that I can fully understand, that’s small enough to fit in my pocket. I’m not saying God is mysterious and, because He can’t be fully understood, don’t even try. That would be wrong. That’s a cop out. And that’s what most people outside those doors do. I’m saying that on this side of heaven, we’re probably not going to have a full understanding of everything. Including evil.

But I do want to say this to you…the suffering and the evil that you’re either experiencing or that you and I are around is not going to last forever. As a matter of fact, it’s a really short term in the big scheme of life.

Imagine it’s January 2nd, the first day of school, you had a terrible day. It was an incredibly bad day. You were walking to school, and somebody came by and drove in the gutter, and the water and all that dirty slush splashed on you. You had your favorite clothes on, and you’ve got to go to school anyway. You go to school ,and somebody trips you. You skin your knees and rip your pants. Then you walk into your first period class, and somebody opens the door, and it bashes your face, and you break your nose. They take you to the hospital, and instead of operating on your nose, they pull your wisdom teeth out. You’re drugged out on Novocain anyway, so you don’t know what’s going on. You’re driving home, and you get in an accident. Your mom was driving your car, so now your car is totalled. You walk in your house, and your cat’s dead. It was playing on the piano, and the lid fell on it. It’s dead. Then you go upstairs to your room, and your little brother has taken all of your CDs and played Frisbee with them. They’re all scratched and ruined. A friend calls you on the phone and says, “I’m dating your boyfriend/girlfriend.” You just have a terrible, terrible day. Nobody would like that day.

But then imagine the next day. You get a phone call. You have just been nominated Teenager of the Year by Time magazine and you’ve been given a ten million dollar grant to spend any way you want. You walk outside, and there’s a new car in the driveway for you. Every day, something like that happens. You’re allowed to play golf with Tiger Woods, and you beat him. Life is going well. You walk through the hallways of your high school and people stop and applaud when you walk by. That happens for every day for the rest of 2009, like 363 days or so.

Now fast forward to January 2, 2010- thei first school day of 2010. And somebody at school stops you in the hallway and says, “How was last year?” What do you think you’re going to focus on? That one day when your cat died? Of course not! You’re going to say, “It was great! Incredible! I’m a millionaire, I got a new car, people applaud me when I walk down the halls of my school. And to top it al off, I am indeed a stud or studdette.”  You’re not going to talk about that one day you tripped and you skinned your knees and your wisdom teeth are gone. You’re going to focus on all the great stuff.

A few years ago I was at an office Christmas party and met one of my co-worker’s relatives who’s 102 years old. She was incredible to talk to. The woman looked pretty healthy. And we’re talking about her life. And I said, “Let me ask you a question. One hundred and two. Has it gone by fast?” She said, “It really has. I really can’t believe I’ve lived over a hundred years.”

That helped me understand. What if you lived to be a hundred years? It’s going to seem like a very short time.

That’s the point I’m trying to make. Worst case scenario: let’s say you lived to be as old as that woman. You’re 102 years old, and every day of your life has been a bad day. Every day of your life has been filled with pain or suffering or confrontation with evil. But then, because you place your trust in Christ and you go to heaven, let’s imagine fifteen million years later, and after having experienced fifteen million years of God’s love and joy and grace and peace and forgiveness of sin and peace of mind, never a tear, never a time when you’re crying or suffering or in pain. Fifteen million years of pure joy and happiness, and somebody comes up to you in heaven and asks, “How has it all been?” You’d say it’s been great. But the other person would press you and ask, “didn’t you have 102 years pretty bad? 102 years full of problems, full of conflict, full of disease, full of disappointments, full of heartaches and depression, 102 years full of evil” But, if you place your trust in Christ, you would say this, “Yeah, I gotta admit that there were alot of tough times during those 102 years on earth, but fifteen million years in heaven compared to 102 on earth? There’s no comparison. Over all, taking it all into account it’s been great because of what God’s done in my life.”

So, where does all this bring us. Like I said when I began, I always want to try and give you guys something you can use tonight. I may not always be successful, but I want to try tonight. So here goes- there are three big decisions that I want to challenge each of you to make tonight.

Decision No. 1 - You must decide to deal with the evil WITHIN YOU.

We all have evil in us. I have evil in me. You have evil in you. We might as well just admit it. We don’t admit it freely to other people out loud. But haven’t you had some awfully dark thoughts and wondered, Where did that come from? I get in traffic; I want to hit my horn. I want to give the universal sign of displeasure. Just ask Stephen. That goes through my mind. Where does that come from? That energy to do something that I know is wrong? It’s the evil within me. There’s evil within me, and it’s within you.

Have you ever been tempted to cheat at school? You know you shouldn’t cheat, but you want to look. Where does that come from?

I want it my way. I want what’s best for me. I’m not thinking about anything else. That selfish, sinister side. It’s in you. And it’s in me.

The Bible tells us about it. In Romans 7 it says,

“I need something more, for if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help. I realize I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it. I decide not to do bad, and then I do it anyway. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. I’ve tried everything, and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Thank God, Jesus Christ can and does.”

The problem with evil within you and the problem with evil within me, the reason it’s a problem, is you’re not strong enough and I’m not strong enough – we are not strong enough to take care of it by ourselves. We need God’s help.

That’s why Jesus died on a cross for you. When Jesus died on the cross, He faced all the pain, all the evil, all the suffering of the world. He took it on Himself, and He died. He took the hurt you fell when your girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with you. He took the hurt you feel when your parents fight and they blame you. He took the hurt when you worked so hard on that school project, and you got a lousy grade. He took the hurt when your friend or family member died or got sick. But the Bible says He didn’t stay dead. Three days later He came back to life, proving that He’s God’s Son. That means He has the power to help with evil. He overcame it. He proved that, and if you ask Him to help you with the evil within you, help you live the life you were created to live, He says He’ll help you do that. But you’ve got to make that decision. It’s your call. A friend can’t do it for you. Your parents can’t do it for you. Derek can’t do it for you. None of us in the youth team can do it for you. You have to decide. “I want God’s help in my life through His Son Jesus.”

There’s a second decision that you need to make. You must choose to Defeat evil WHERE YOU CAN.

Pretty much anybody could donate blood or help Mario next week prepare Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless. But as Christians, we can go and we can begin telling people that there’s help for the evil in their life. There’s help for the evil in this world. It’s through God’s Son Jesus Christ. We can operate not just on the physical realm like what are you going to do to help the homeless or where you can give your mooney to help put missionaries in some far-away place in the world that you never have to see or touch. That’s important. But we can help people in the spiritual part of who they are. We can help them deal with their own issues and their dark side. We can help them because Jesus helped us. We can start bringing to those evil situations a lot of hope and a lot of good, and good will overcome evil.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 3, “Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you. No exceptions, no retaliation, no sharp-tongued criticism. Instead bless. That’s your job, to bless. Here’s what you do. Say nothing evil or hurtful. Snub evil and cultivate good. Run after peace for all you’re worth. God looks on all this with approval, but He turns His back on those who do evil things.”

We’re being challenged to overcome evil wherever we find it. Because each of you carry a very important message. You may not have ever thought about it, but every person sitting here right now, this very moment in this room carries a very important message to the world outside those front doors- That God loves this world and He proved it through His Son Jesus. In the places where’s there’s pain and suffering and evil, we can bring some good into that situation. That’s why the whole youth team, challenges you, as students, to be available to your friends and to be available to your family members when they suffer, when they’re dealing with their own evil, or when evil has impacted them in a painful way. Because you can carry the hope of God and the power of God and the love of God into what would have been just a totally bad situation.

There’s one more decision you have to make; you must decide to Depend on God even WHEN IT HURTS.

Paul was a guy in the Bible who wrote several books of the Bible. He really had a hard life. He wrote, “We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized. We’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do. We’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side. We’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.”

Folks, we have to decide to trust God even when life hurts. There was a guy in the Bible whose name was Job. Job suffered in ways that most of us never will. The Bible says that all Job’s children were killed in a single day. His whole family killed in a day. He had a lot of kids. Imagine that. The Bible says that his source of income, his farming businesses, were all wiped out in a day. Totally taken away. Then the Bible says his health started to deteriorate in very painful ways. He started getting open boils and sores all over his body. This guy was suffering. His children had died. His money was gone. His health was gone. He asked God –&;nbsp;what is happening? At his lowest point, Job went after God pretty hard. “Explain Yourself to me.” he told God.

God could have done several things at that point. God could have just smacked Job and said, “How dare you ask me that question!” but that’s not what God did. Or, God could have just stayed silent: “I’m not giving you any explanation!” But that’s not what God did.

God didn’t explain to Job why it was all happening. But He spent several chapters in the Bible reminding Job how powerful He was as God. God said, “Job, I want to remind you, I created the world. Job, I want to remind you how strong and powerful I really am.” Why didn’t God just explain the suffering to Job? Why did God spend that much time telling about His own power?

I’ll tell you why. Job didn’t need answers to his questions. That’s not what really would have helped him. Because even if God had answered the questions Job had, Job would still have been in suffering. What Job needed at that point was to know that there was a God strong enough that he could depend on. What Job needed at that point was the ability to believe that God had not left the throne, that God was still king of this whole universe, that God was still powerful enough to trust. Here’s the one thing God wanted from Job. He wanted Job to trust Him even when Job was hurting.

Can we do that? Can we trust God even when there doesn’t seem to be light at the end of the tunnel? Can we trust God even when we’re going through a hard day, a hard month, a hard year? Bad family situation? Bad school situation? Bad girlfirend or boyfriend situation? Can you trust God even then?

Yes. We can. But we have to decide to do that. God will prove Himself dependable.

Let’s pray together.

I’m going to say a prayer that kind of sums up how I feel about this, and as I say these words, you might discover, “You’re saying how I feel.” This could become your prayer to God as well. You don’t have to say it out loud, but you could just say to God, “Yes, that says what I want, too, God.”

Here’s my prayer:

God, I’ll admit it. I don’t understand it all. I don’t believe I can understand it all because I’m not God. That’s why I need You in my life. I need your help to deal with the evil within me. I need forgiveness for evil in my life. I want to live the life that You created me to live. I know there’s going to be stuff I don’t understand. I know I’m going to suffer in life. Everybody does. But I’m deciding today to trust You. I’m deciding today as much as I know how to put my life and to put my future in your hands. Amen.

Chasing Butterflies in Fields of Gold

2008-10-20T09:14:00.001-04:00

There are a lot of things in life that I think we all think about, but we don't talk about a lot. Stuff that our culture says that maybe we have to accept, or ignore, and should not be spoken about, especially in public. And usually, these are about things that are pretty controversial, like prejudice, like homosexuality, like politics, and our own faith in Christ. Tonight I want to talk with you guys about another one of the subjects I bet we all think about at least once a week. Tonight I want to talk about death.

This has not been my favorite week to prepare a message. It's been an emotional roller-coaster for a lot of us...Lauren Olson leaving us last week, and the passing of Ashleigh Whitty, Kyle's older sister. But the weird thing is that God uses these sad circumstances to bring us closer to each other, and to Him. And, the even weirder part is that I was preparing a message on death before I even knew that Ashleigh was in the hospital.

After Ashleigh passed away last Friday night, I thought, you know, maybe I shouldn't do a message on death. It might be too soon. It might be too sensitive. The wounds may be too raw. But then I thought, if I don't do the message on death, I would be a bigger hypocrite than I already know I am. Because I have said to you guys many times that God isn't interested in coming into our lives only when it's convenient for us to invite Him in. He's not interested coming into our lives only when it’s comfortable for us. He's not interested into coming into our lives only for things we need for Him. No. God wants all of us... all the time. And God wants to wrap us in his arms more than ever when things in our lives get tough. And He wraps his arms around us even tighter when lives around us are taken.

While it’s weird to talk about death, I’m not all that uncomfortable with it. We see death all around us all the time. The internet, the news, popular TV shows, music videos, and popular music are all drunk with images or stories of death. So much so that a lot of times we see death around us so matter of factly that we become so saturated with it that we become insensitive to it. Someone died in a car accident on Route 44 last night? There are car accidents on that road every night. Somebody was killed in a drug deal gone bad in downtown Taunton last weekend. Oh well, it was probably bound to happen, and maybe they deserved it. Ashleigh Whitty died last Friday night at 8pm while we were all singing and worshiping God. Oh well, I didn't know her, so what's the big deal?

Well, it is a big deal. Not because of same unnamed driver who dies in a car accident, not because of some drug dealer we didn't know. And not because the older sister of Kyle Whitty is no longer here with us. It's a big deal for us as Christians because it shows, again, that we worship a big God, a God that loves us, a God who often does things in his infinite nature that our finite minds cannot begin to understand, a God that has arms so big and mighty that He can wrap all of us in them when someone we know has died.

Even if I, or Derek, or Pastor John, or any of the youth leaders had all the answers about life and death, there would be nothing as soothing as having that person who had died be back alive. Until we’re in the presence of God Himself, many of us in here, we’re going to be left with more questions that we have answers for. But I am confident of one answer. Although I did not know Ashleigh much more than to say hello and goodbye to at Wal-Mart, I know this much- she loved Jesus. And this much I also know- Jesus loved and loves her now. So much, that there can be no doubt that Jesus took her home, allowed her to rise out of that wheelchair, and my guess is that right now she is running like the wind, chasing butterflies in fields of gold, and Jesus is cheering her on...run Ashleigh, run.

I really believe that there are some things that you and I can learn together tonight...I’ve already learned a lot this week in thinking about it and praying about it and searching the scriptures.

The Bible says a lot about death. During the week I must have gone through hundreds of verses that I pulled out of the Bible that have to do with death and dying. As I read every single one of these and thought about how I use just one of these in speaking tonight to all of you guys...people I care about and who I love and I want to live their life to the fullest. There are some things that I really believe that you and I can learn about life and love and the future.

Psalm 89:48 says, “No one can live forever; all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave.”

Everyone is going to die. Death is 100%. It hits everyone. I heard a story about a preacher who was trying to tell people about the difference between heaven and hell and he said, “How many of you want to go to heaven? Raise your hand.” All of the people raised their hand except a little boy in the front row. He wasn’t raising his hand. The preacher thought that’s kind of weird. He asked again. “How many of you want to go to heaven? Raise your hand.” Again, everybody raised their hand except the little boy. This confused the preacher. So the preacher stops his message and says to the little boy, “You don’t want to go to heaven when you die?” The kid goes, “Oh! When I die! I thought you were trying to get a bunch of us to volunteer to go right now!”

We love living and we fear dying. But the truth is no one can escape the power of the grave.

Ecclesiastes 7:4 “A wise person thinks about death, but a fool thinks only about having a good time.”

If I was to ask you, one on one, just you and me, “Do you want to be wise or do you want to be a fool?” Chances are you would say if you’re outside the company of your friends you would say, “I want to be wise.” The Bible says if you want to be wise then think about death. If you want to be a fool pretend it doesn’t exist. Just go looking for the next party.

But I believe you got out of bed today and came here tonight and not to a party or the mall or a movie because you want to be wise, you want to be different. So let’s be wise. Let’s take a look at some things we might be able to do as we think about death and what it can teach us about love, life and the future.

1. Recognize the UNCERTAINTY of life

None of us in here is guaranteed tomorrow. Isn’t that kind of a weird thought, that nobody in here is guaranteed that they will be alive tomorrow? I bet if you asked some of your teachers in school who have been teaching for a long time that there were students who were sitting at their desks on Friday afternoon, and then were missing on Monday morning because they had died. Maybe killed by a drunk driver or something like that. You don’t think about that at times but life is uncertain. You’re not guaranteed tomorrow. As a matter of fact, you’re not guaranteed – nor am I guaranteed – the rest of tonight.

The Bible pictures life’s uncertainty. James 4 says, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away.”

The interesting thing about being a teenager today just like it was for me is that for most of you, you might say, “I’ve got so much life left to live.” You never really think about death. You think death happens to old people. Death is just something that happens to other people, out there somewhere.

But then I think of that high school football player that died a few weeks ago. There he is, playing football, probably one of the passions of his life…he is healthy, running, and then, BOOM. Life is cut short. Friends, hear me on this - life is uncertain. There are NO guarantees. You want to be wise. You need to think about death- not dwell on it and let it consume your life- but think about it as a reality check for all us.

In John 14:2, Jesus says it so simply and completely-

“In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

But I love the next verse-

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Folks, I believe every word in the Bible. Every story. Every conflict. Every tragedy. Every battle. Every loss. And because of that, I believe that Jesus prepared a room for Ashleigh. A room with no wheelchair. A room with no special medicine or medical equipment to keep her going or living what we so arrogantly think is a “normal life.” And I believe that Jesus prepared a room for Ashleigh, where when she looked at the ceiling, the saw butterflies in a golden field.

Some of you may have been at CCC’s regular worship last Sunday where Pastor John said that one of the most incredible things anyone has ever said to him was when Kyle Whitty, less than 48 hours after losing his older sister, said to Pastor John, “I know that Ashleigh is running to Jesus.” Wow. But my pray is this- that she caught Jesus, they embraced, and Ashleigh is now one of his angels, chasing butterflies in a field of gold.

Friends, I’m not telling this to you to depress you. But most of us in here are a little freaked out and afraid to talk about death. The average life span of an American is about 75 years. So for most of us we think we’ve got at least that long to go. But the truth is nobody’s promised tomorrow. Life is uncertain.

It’s not just out there on the Internet where we hear about people dying. It’s in our neighborhoods. It’s in our schools. It’s on our block. For some it’s in our home. Life is uncertain. You want to be wise, you want to be aware of death and understand death. The church is in a series called “Got Life?” We should also add, “Death happens.”

I haven't been to many funerals in my life, but the one thing I hear at every one of them is people saying this - If only I had known. If only I had known that my mom or dad wouldn't be coming home from work that night. If I only had known that my boyfriend was going to be drinking and driving with his friends. If only I had known that Jim Whittemore wouldn’t be coming back from that road-side job. If only I had known that Ashleigh wouldn't be coming home from the hospital last Friday.

They live with deep regret. If only I had known he was going to die I would have said this. I would have done this. If only I we had known she was going to die I would have been a better friend. I wouldn't have gossiped about them. I wouldn't have let them down. I wouldn't have been such a jerk to them at school, or here at RISE708. I would have said this. I would have done that. Take note. Life is uncertain.

The Bible says in Psalm 39:

“My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to You oh God...And so, Lord, my only hope is in You.”

Because of that I say to you. Enjoy times with your family. Enjoy Friday nights at RISE708 with Derek, and the leaders, and every student that has the guts to walk through those front doors at 7pm. Don’t go to bed all ticked off. Reconcile with your friends and the people you’re around. Life is too short not to live life to its fullest.

I love Psalm 146, and I would bet the house that Ashleigh was thinking something like this last Friday night at the same moment Tim began to sing:

“I will praise the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God even with my dying breath.”

The second thing we should do is this -

2. Don’t RUN from death

Death is weird. It’s strange. It’s difficult for everybody. It doesn’t make you feel comfortable. I’ve been to enough funerals that I realize that some people after the funeral will spend more time talking about how good the cheese dip was at the party after the funeral rather than talking about their feelings or their thoughts or what they felt about the person or what was said or what they experienced. Don’t run from death.

Some of your friends when they come back to school after a death experience with family or relatives or somebody like that they need to be around you. They need to talk to you, they need your support.
But our first reaction is to run. We want to say, “They don’t need to be bothered now. Don’t worry about them. I’m just going to give them some time to be by themselves.”
I used to think that way as well. Until last Sunday. When I saw the courage of Kyle Whitty to come to church, just like any other Sunday. But this time Kyle KNEW he would facing his friends who would all want to know the same thing- how you doing, man? And when I saw him last Sunday, I changed my thinking on giving others “space”.

When people lose someone they love, they need to be around you. They need to share stories about the friend and the family member that they lost. They need to process their pain. They need a shoulder to cry on. You don’t have to worry about what you have to say. They don’t want your little mini lectures on theology. They don’t need the diverse opinions about life and death. They need silence. They need tears. They need love. They need your presence.

How many people in here went to Ashleigh’s wake earlier this week. I was talking to Derek about the sheer size of the crowd that waited in line for hours just to say goodbye. Derek tells me that about 2000 people went to that wake, and it didn’t end until after 11pm. Wow. But it was crushing for me to finally make it into the funeral home hallway, and get my first glimpse of Ashleigh’s Mom and Dad and Kyle, all standing through shell-shocked and shaking hands and hugging person after person. And as I saw this I prayed, “Oh God, give me something beautiful to say, something that will make things all better.” Wow. How arrogant of me. And when my turn finally came, I hugged Ashleigh’s Mom, and said nothing. And I shook hands and higged Ashleigh’s Dad. And said nothing. And I hugged Kyle. And said nothing.

How many people in here have had to put down a pet? I have. Twice. I love big dogs, and that’s why I always tell Derek that I am the big dog. But seriously, since we love big dogs, we also know that their life span is much shorter than those of a small dog. That’s just the way God created them. But the first time I had to make that painful decision that it was time, I wasn’t a Christian. But I sought out the advise of a friend who would eventually help lead me to Christ. His simple answer was this…you will know. And both times, I did know. And, at least in my life, there is nothing worse than that drive to the vet’s office with your long-time pal in the back seat, hurting, looking at you through the rear-view mirror with those big brown eyes saying, Bob, why are you home from work today. Why am I getting a ride in the car with you and Margie. That never happens. What’s up?

You know what’s an even longer, lonlier ride? The ride on the train to work after you have left the vet’s office with your pal. And by the time you get the train, rush hour is pretty much over and you are like the only person on the train. Lonely. In grief. With no one to listen to you grieving. No shoulder to cry on.

So here’s what I tell people when they say, I don’t know what to do. Here’s my advice – be there. Just be there. For Kyle, I knew Cam Bartlett would just be…Cam Bartlett. I knew that Brad would just be…Brad. I knew Jake Zakarian would just be…Jake Zakarian. No more. No less.

For those of you who have been around death before and you have grieved the death of somebody you love, you are even much more important to be there because you know how to comfort. You know what you needed.

2 Corinthians 1 says:

“God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.”

Please guys, don’t run from death. I realize it sounds weird. Everybody thinks it’s weird not to run from death. But don’t run from it. We’re not running from it here at RISE708. That’s why we’re talking about it. That’s why we’re teaching on it. As a matter of fact, we’re not running from it and I would like to share a story about two teenagers- brothers and sisters, who go to a youth group just like ours in California:

There names are Casey and Lindsey- Casey was a freshman at the local high school and Lindsey was his older sister who was a junior that year. Their mother was diagnosed with lung cancer 1997. Fortunately, the doctor caught it in an early stage and their Mother immediately went into surgery. They were able to take out all of the cancer along with one third of her lung. For two years her health was good. She didn’t have to go through radiation, chemo or any other treatments. But then in 1999 the doctors found that she had cancer in her hipbone. This time they couldn’t do surgery to get it out. She had to start going through radiation and then through chemo. Her health started getting worse. She had to go from using a cane to a walker and finally a wheelchair. Of course Casey and Lindsey were freaked out that their mom had cancer and during this time their faith in God was really tested. In fact, Casey knew that God would heal her and never thought that God would disappoint him.

The news of their mother’s bone cancer was obviously a disappointment to Lindsey and Casey. But instead of getting depressed about it, both Casey & Lindsey had an extremely positive outlook on the situation and used this time to grow in their faith and develop a closer relationship with God. Though their mother’s health had gotten worse, none of it hindered their faith that she would be healed. Their family was constantly surrounded by people who lifted them up and who were constantly praying for healing.

Like Casey, Lindsey absolutely believed that God would heal their mother there was no reason to believe that anything bad would happen. And slowly but surely their mother’s health started to get better. And every day is was a day closer to her remission.

However in September of 2001, their mother started to constantly get headaches. Soon after this their parents called Lindsey and Casey into their room where they revealed to them that the doctors found that their mom had a brain tumor. Lindsey said that although she was obviously disheartened, all she could remember thinking was, She’ll only have a better testimony to share when God heals her.

During this time, Casey still looked at the bright side. He told his mother that whatever happened it’d be ok. If she died she’d be in heaven with her own mom and if she didn’t die then she’d stay here with us. Through the next several weeks after discovering the brain tumor, their mom had to go through intense radiation and chemotherapy. She soon had hospice care, which is where a hospital bed was placed in her room along with some of the necessary equipment. And nurses came into their house to take care of her. But is was to no avail. Their mom’s health dropped at an incredible rate.

But even as Casey & Lindsey watched their loving, energetic mom lie there helpless, bedridden in an almost comatose state, their family’s faith endured.

The next month, in October 2001, their mom had to be admitted into the hospital for what they thought was a slight case of pneumonia which is a huge threat when someone is in the state their mother was in.

The next day Lindsey was sitting in class when the teacher told her to grab her things and go to the office. Lindsey immediately knew what had happened. But she also knew something else as she made that long walk through the quite halls of her high school, past all those lockers, all those closed classroom doors with students behind them that weren’t going through what she was going through. Lindsey knew she couldn’t suddenly abandon her faith in her mother’s healing. In fact, Lindsey made herself believe that she had gotten an early dismissal because the day had come when the doctors finally announced her mom’s complete recovery from cancer.

Lindsey finally made her way to the school office. And when she got up to the office she saw her Dad there waiting for her, sitting on a bench outside the office, his head buried in his hands. And her mom wasn’t there alongside him, perfectly healthy, back to her normal happy state with her hair grown back and all the signs of cancer gone. Instead my dad looked up to me, his eyes swollen from tears, and he gently broke the news to Lindsey- “Your mom finally went home to heaven today.”

Lindsey was in disbelief. She had never let myself believe that death was in the near future for her mom. Though she immediately broke down in tears, she also felt an indescribably peace knowing that she also had the hope of seeing her mom again in heaven. Their family was also reassured by the fact that their mom indeed was in complete remission – in heaven – and never again would she had to experience the pains of this earth because she was now made perfect.

Lindsey did not come out with her story just because she knew that her mom was now in heaven and because God has stayed alongside her through this whole time that she wasn’t sad about what happened. Of course, she didn’t understand why she would no longer have a mom to have girl talk with or a mom to go shopping with or why now she was stuck living with two boys or why most girls are going to have their mom helping them get ready on their wedding days and Lindsey wouldn’t. But, Lindsey did know one this- that God has a reason for everything He does and she was never mad at God for one second for taking her mom away from her. Lindsey and Casey knew that without the amazing grace of God there is no way they could have ever gone through this situation.

Lindsay told her youth group that none of us really ever see death coming although we all know it’s inevitable. Death is a hard thing to understand and she doubted if any of us will fully understand it. But Lindsey did know that as Christians, we have an amazing hope and a great comforter. God’s words are true where He says in Proverbs 14:

“In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed, but even at death the innocent have faith”.

Lindsey and Casey believe that this is true and also believe that one day they will be reunited with our mom again.

Why were Lindsey and Casey able to share such a personal and tragic story that stirred up all of their emotions again? I mean, that was big. It’s because they’re not running from death. Don’t run from it. Face it. It is inevitable. Embrace it. Help other people through it. Allow God to do something big in your life. Don’t run from it.

One more thing we can learn tonight, and then we’re done…

3. Consider how ETERNITY gives you hope for TODAY

Did you hear the words that Lindsay said? Peace. Hope. How was she able to say those words? How can these guys talk about their mom whom they loved so much who they just lost and they feel this sense of peace? Because they understand eternity. They understand that death is not depressing. Death is depressing if you believe that life ends at the grave. But the Bible speaks with such confidence that there is a life beyond death. And eternal life takes the sting out of death.

2 Corinthians 4:17 says:

“We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not only on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” FOREVER.

John 3:16 – Most of you have this memorized. If you don’t I encourage you to memorize it. “God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” ETERNAL.

John 11:25, Jesus speaking, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me will have life even if they die.’” LIFE.

Look at the three words I just emphasized- Forever, eternal, life. That’s what the Bible teaches that if you have a relationship with God you will have forever eternal life. If you embrace God’s plan for all of humanity – here’s His plan in a nutshell: God created you, He wants a relationship with you, that when you die you’re going to be either with Him for eternity or separated from Him for eternity.

Forever eternal life. When you have a relationship here’s what He does:
• He forgives you of your past, every thing you’ve ever done.
• He gives you a plan for living today.
• And He gives you hope for a future.

That’s how eternity can give you hope for today. What does the future look like? I don’t know. What does heaven look like? I have no idea. But I do know what the Bible says. There’s going to be no pain. There’s going to be no tears.

A lot of us in here we think, “Heaven’s for sissies! It’s just a bunch of fairies running around on clouds playing harps. That type of thing.”

But listen to me on this - the same God that made earth also made heaven. Just look around earth. You see colors and shapes and tastes and smells and varieties. You see an ocean and the beauty of a sunset and rainbows and mountains. All those things that give us pleasure. The same God that made those on earth, heaven is going to be even greater than that. I tell people, you dream about your greatest day you’ve ever had on earth and heaven is going to be better than that every single day.

I was speaking with someone last night online who had some of the same questions about heaven that I think all of us do. Regardless of the mystery, let me tell you some of the things the Bible says about heaven. It says it’s a place where God dwells. A place of righteousness where you can worship God there. There’s no hunger, no thirst, no tears, no death, no pain, no hard labor, and no sadness.

God has reserved that place in eternity for His children. Everybody is a creation of God but only those who say yes to Him and develop a relationship to Him the Bible teaches are children of God.

You just ask Him to come into your life. You invite Him in to be the Lord and Savior of your life. He promises forgiveness for your past, a plan for today, and hope for the future. It’s a gift. It’s a gift you can’t earn. It’s a gift you don’t deserve. It’s a gift that will never go out of style. It’s a gift that doesn’t need batteries. It’s a gift that won’t shrink. It’s a gift that doesn’t get rusty. It’s a free gift.

If you’re here today and you’ve never received that free gift you can do so very simply with a prayer. Just ask Him.

If you’re a Christian, today is a good day. Good news. Celebrate. Eternal life forever. Celebrate with Casey and Lindsay and their dad that their mom is in a much better place - in the presence of God. Celebrate with Kyle Whitty that Ashleigh is chasing butterflies in golden fields in heaven.

But if you haven’t started that relationship, if you’re living out on your own, my encouragement to you is to settle that account. Prepare yourself for eternity.

That’s a lot to think about. Tonight’s kind of a heavy night. But thanks for listening. Thanks for caring about your life. Thanks for being wise and thinking about death because your life will be better because of it.

Let’s Pray:

As you bow your heads, I want to read you this last verse. Jesus is speaking. Just close your eyes and imagine Him saying this to you. “Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in Me. There are many rooms in My Father's house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me so that you may be where I am.”

If you want to be where God is when your life comes to an end I encourage you to prepare for that now. Be wise. I’m going to say a little prayer. You can just repeat it after me in the silence of your heart if you’ve never done that:
“There have been many wrong things that I’ve done in my life that have kept me from having a relationship with You, God. I realize I can’t live on my own. Instead I need You to come into my life and forgive me of my sins and control my life. Because of that, I invite You to do that right now. Come in and cleanse me. And, God, please don’t stop there. I need Your help today and tomorrow and for the rest of my days. Thank You for coming into my life. Thank You for teaching me about life through death.”

God, thanks for hearing our prayers. Thanks for loving us. May we be different people because we’re been here tonight. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Temptation - Putting on God's Garments of Grace

2008-09-30T08:46:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

My name is Bob.

And I am a sinner.

How do I know that? Because the Bible tells me I am. But more importantly, the Bible tell me why. It tells me what got me caught up in it. And thank God it also tells me the way out. And Genesis 3 is an incredible chapter of scripture. Genesis 3 gives us a lot of news, and tonight, I hope to give you some news that you can use.

I don't know about you, but I want news I can use. I’ve watched the news but there’s not a whole lot in there that I can use. There’s a lot of negative stuff that I can’t use. There’s a lot of stuff about poodles and porpoises that I can’t use. And there is a lot of the tragedies at the beginning of the news, and that’s not useful. It’s depressing.

But what I am going to speak about tonight is news that you can use immediately, tonight.

Genesis 3 is an incredible chapter. I know it is in the Old Testament, and a lot of people just yawn when they here the words "Old Testament" - But Genesis 3 has a lot to say about what happened back then, thousands of years ago, and how it relates to my life and your life today. This is important, because it has been said that Genesis 3 in many ways is the most important piece of information ever conveyed to man. Because if you ignore the teaching of this chapter in history, the story of humanity becomes impossible to understand. And if you miss Genesis 3, you really cannot fully understand what Derek talked about last week with Noah and the flood. Because the most important thing about this Genesis 3 is that we find ourselves in this chapter.

Genesis 3 is about Adam & Eve, our original biological mother and father. You don’t have to be a Christian to have heard about Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam & Eve and the Garden have been perverted by our society into almost everything that is not biblical- from silly cartoon characters to the brand name of a Cranberry Juice. And as we take a look at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, I’ve heard people say, “If only somehow we could get back to the Garden of Eden. If only somehow we could return to the beauty of that Garden, the water that was in that Garden. There’s something about that Garden that would make things perfect.”

Well, the Garden of Eden isn’t there any more. But hear me on this - Our need is not to find the Garden of Eden. Our need is to learn from what happened in the Garden of Eden so we can find the God who was there in the Garden of Eden. That’s what we want to find. Because Genesis 3 is the story of how sin first came into the human family.

Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, "Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

The woman answered the snake, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God told us, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.' "

But the snake said to the woman, "You will not die. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!"

The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.

You can think of any tragedy that you want. Maybe a tragedy in your own life. Some of you in here tonight have lost a friend or family member to disease, or an accident. Some of you in here knew Jim Whittemore, a high school sports star that was killed in July 2007. Some of you knew, or have friends that knew that football player that died in a football game a couple of weeks ago. And there are dozens of stories in here tonight of people with friends and family and family of friends who are battling cancer. And it rips our hearts apart. And then there are the tragedies we watch on TV and the internet all day everyday- people losing everything to hurricanes and tornadoes, families losing everything they have because companies are shutting down.

But Genesis 3 talks about the greatest tragedy in human history. We all know that. We all know it not just because we read it in a book. We all know it because of what we’ve seen in our lives. You and I can look at this tragedy and learn from it. It shows us very clearly what leads to sin. It hasn’t changed. Satan doesn’t need any new tricks because the same old tricks keep working again and again with every new generation. Your generation is no different from Derek’s generation, which is no different from my generation, which is no different from the generation before me. It's the same pattern that has been repeating itself in all of our lives since Adam & Eve were in the Garden of Eden. It’s the pattern of the “Big D” -

The first part of the pattern is

1. Doubt

Satan starts with doubt. He comes to Eve and says, “Did God really say…?” And you might be thinking, a serpent? A snake? “How in the world could Eve be tempted by a snake?”

I don’t know how Satan did it. I don’t know if he appeared in the form of an animal, if he took over an animal. We don’t know the answer to that. But somehow he came appearing as a part of God’s creation and he planted a seed of doubt in her head. “Did God really say…” She began to battle with him. She began to talk with him.

But she didn’t realize what we need to learn tonight- We need to realize that on our own, we’re no match for Satan. There is not one of us in this room tonight that’s a match for Satan. Some of you guys in here who think you’re tough might think so. You may think, well Bob, I work out, I’m a star athlete in school, I can handle some snake. Others of you in here tonight may be thinking- Bob, c’mon- I’m smart…I get good grades, I understand things pretty quickly- I can handle this devil stuff. Or maybe you’re in here tonight and have a different kind of smart- you think you are street smart, cool, can handle it all. But my bet is that if you are in any of those categories, and there was a match between you and Satan, you would lose. Because there is only person who ever did beat Satan, and who can continue to beat him everytime. And his name is Jesus Christ.

Because of His victory, Jesus’ victory over satan, you and I can have victory over Satan. But none of us should try to battle him on our own. Martin Luther, the guy we saw in that movie a month ago, said of Satan, “No man is able to outwit the devil.” He’s been at this for thousands of years. He knows all the tricks. He knows all our thoughts. Don’t try to outwit him on your own. We look at God’s word. We ask for Christ’s help. That’s where the power is. That’s where the ability to do it is.

I'm not trying to depress you and say it’s impossible to win. I'm trying to encourage you and say we can’t win on our own, but we have someone who can win for us.

So satan comes and he plants this doubt. Did God really say? Did God really say not to eat from any tree? And satan plants the same seeds of doubt in each of us here tonight. Do you really think you can play on a varsity sport? Are you sure you can pass that test in English? Are you sure your friends are being loyal to you? Are you certain that your parents love you? Satan – planting seeds of doubt. There’s a huge question here, an important question. Why did God let this happen? Here’s the Garden of Eden. Everything’s perfect. Why did God let there be a tree in the middle of the Garden that if Adam or Eve ate of it, they’d die? Why did God do that? Why did He let satan in to tempt them to eat of that tree? Why did God let Satan in?

The answer to that awaits in heaven – most of it. But as you read the Bible – here in Genesis, Isaiah, Revelation – you get this indication that there was a great spiritual battle, one that we don't know all the details to. A battle between good and evil...between God and satan.

But the real key is not what Satan said but what we did. We made a choice to take the fruit of the tree and eat it. Why did God put that tree in the middle of the Garden? Why didn’t He just leave it out of the Garden so we could just live forever and everything would be perfect?

It's simply this- it's because of the kind of relationship God wanted to have with us. God did not want to have a relationship with us like He had with everything else He created...God created us in His image. How many times have you heard that statement or read it in Genesis. He created us to be in His image. What does that mean?

Being “in His image” means you and I have a choice and the tree in the middle of the garden provided the choice. It’s very important to understand what that choice was. We call it the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The choice wasn’t between good and evil. That’s not really the choice that Adam and Eve were making when they took of that fruit and ate it. The temptation was to become like God. The temptation was to say, “Maybe I have limits as a human being but maybe there’s a way I can overcome those limits and I can become God myself. Yeah- I like the sound of that...I'll be God!

Adam and Eve were a lot smarter than we think they were. A lot of times we think since they were innocent and ran around with fig leaves on and just listened to satan that they were dumb. But they had perfect brains. We use maybe 5% of our brain – maybe. I probably use a lot less than that. But Adam & Eve had 100% going for them. They were super intelligent. They knew the issues. The issue was, “Am I going to be satisfied to be God’s creation and worship Him and depend on Him, or am I going to step outside of that circle and try to do it on my own?” That has always been the issue when it comes to sin. That’s why we talk about it so much here at RISE708- do I do things God’s way, or my way? Do I want God big in my life, or do I want to be God?

Satan begins with a question. “Did God really say…?” Do you know what he’s trying to do? It’s what he tries to do in my life and your life everyday. He’s messin’ with your head. He’s was trying to change how Eve thought of God. He’s trying to make God appear to be something that He isn’t in her mind. Satan is trying to make God look like a miser. Someone who’s keeping something good from them. Has Satan ever sent that kind of temptation into your mind? Of course he has. How many times have you been tempted to do something you know is against God’s will, but satan keeps telling you its Ok…it’s OK to do drugs…it’s OK to drink alcohol…it’s OK to have sex before you are married…it’s OK to be addicted to porn…see how good all that stuff makes you feel. So satan tries to trick us – trick us into believing that God is trying to take things away from us that would make us feel good. Satan is trying to make you doubt.

So Eve began to doubt. That led to the next D-

2. Deception

So now satan has Eve reeling a little bit – she’s doubting. Then Satan comes and tells a bold faced lie. Satan is the father of lies. He doesn’t care about lying. It doesn’t hurt him to lie. It doesn’t hurt him to lie to hurt us, to lie to your boyfriends or girlfriends, to lie to your teachers, your parents, the leaders here at RISE7078, anybody. He lies. He says, go ahead and eat from the tree - “You will not die.”

That was a lie. Because they would die spiritually. They would die physically. They’d watch one of their sons be murdered. All because of this sin that came into their lives.

I know that God has brought some of you here tonight because you’re struggling with some temptations right now. That’s why you thought you’d come tonight. You may not realize it right this moment. You may not realize it until next week, or next year, or when you are 60 years old. But there is a reason you are here tonight. You may be feeling cheated or deprived or limited right now. You’re feeling like, “God’s holding out on me!” or “I'm being cheated of something that life really owes me.” That’s the same feelings that Satan was trying to bring up in Eve’s heart and life. We all have them sometimes. If you’re feeling that way, you’re here tonight to read this chapter and to know whose voice it is that’s saying that. It’s the same tempter, saying the same things thousands of years later. He’s the one who wants to make us feel like we’re not getting out of life what life owes us when God has poured His grace upon us. He deceives her. That deception leads straight into the D of…

3. DESIRE

Eve saw three things. She looked and she saw this fruit that was on the tree and said, “It’s good for food! It’s pleasing to the eye. It’s desirable for gaining wisdom.” All those three sins are right here at the very beginning. The desire for pleasure, the desire for possession, the desire for power – God’s kind of power. So the desire grew into our 4th D-

4. DECISION

You know what it’s like to be tempted. You know what it’s like to get to the point of temptation where you’ve allowed the desire to grow to the point where it seems you just can’t say no. To a place where you make a thousand excuses of why its OK to do this bad thing- it’s only once, I promise, then I’ll never do it again. And besides, who am I hurting? No one will know. Sound familiar? If I smoke that joint, if I drink that beer, if I go on that porno web site, if I sleep with that guy or girl- just this one time. Eve was at that point. She had allowed the desire to grow so strongly that she felt like she couldn’t say no.

When I read this story there’s a difficult confession I have to make and I hope you can make. That is, if I were there in the Garden of Eden I would have done the same thing. I’d like to say that’s not true. I’d like to say that I would have loved God enough to say no to Satan. But Adam and Eve were there as representatives of us all. They were showing us what any of us would have done in any situation. So we can’t blame them for our sin. We can see in them the cause of our sin. And it led to the always ultimate result of sin…our final D-

5. DEATH

Satan says, “You won’t die!” and they take a bite. I don’t know about you, but if I was there that day in the Garden, I would have thought “If I take that bite am I going to fall over dead? What’s going to happen here?” But they didn’t just fall over dead. The died. Spiritually they died. All of a sudden a separation came between them and God. And they were going to face physical death like they wouldn’t have before. So immediately death came.

Romans 5:12 says:

Sin came into the world because of what one man did, and with sin came death. This is why everyone must die—because everyone sinned.

Not only would they die but all their children and their children’s children and their children’s children’s children would die. I look at this story and I see with some humility here that I would have done the same thing. But I also want to learn from this story. How could they have said no? How can you and I say no to the temptations that come into our lives? Because I am here to tell each and every one of you, without a shadow of a doubt, that without the power of Christ, it’s impossible to say no- but because you and I have the power of Christ we can learn from this story about how to say no.

How can we say no to temptation? It’s more than willpower. Kind of like me looking at that piece of chocolate cake and trying to use MY willpower to say no. The way that I respond to doubt and deception determines whether or not I will create a desire that provokes a decision that leads to death. That’s the process. The question is when do you handle temptation? You don’t try to handle it at the point of desire. If there are two kids parked in a car in the middle of nowhere, and then they decide to pray “Lead us not into temptation.” That may not be the right time to pray. It’s probably too late.

If you’re anything like me, you are probably sick and tired of desire coming into your life as a believer that you feel like you can’t say no to. You think, “How can I stop it? How can I have enough will power to say no?”

The teaching of God’s word is to start early. Start at the point of doubt. Start at the point of deception. Don’t go to those places where you know you’re going to be tempted. Don’t go to that party where people will be drinking and doing drugs. Don’t go on that date that may result in you making a bad decision. Don’t go in that car where the driver has been drinking. Don’t allow those thoughts to spin out of control in your mind. Talk to somebody about it. Talk to a trusted friend. Talk to any leader here tonight.

That’s not the end of the story. In Genesis 3:7-13 we see that sin leads to something. They do three things right away:

1. They sew fig leaves

2. They hide in the bushes when they hear God coming

3. They start pointing fingers at other people.

Same kind of things we do today, everyday. We sew fig leaves – we cover up. We hide in the bushes – we hide out. We point fingers at one another – we put down. That’s how we handle sin, how we deal with sin.

We sew fig leaves, cover up. That’s shame. That’s one of the human responses to sin. Shame.

We hide in the bushes, we hide out because of our fear. Fear is the second human response to sin.

We point fingers, we put others down. That is blame.

Shame, fear and blame. That’s what happens when we sin in our lives. Shame – nakedness. They noticed that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves for themselves and they covered themselves up. They were ashamed of their own nakedness. For the first time in their lives they were self-conscious. For the first time in their lives they were worried about what God thought of them. Shame had come into their lives.

They had fear. First they made fear by their sin and then fear began to make them. It began to make them act in certain ways and respond in certain ways and move in certain directions. It became their master.

Then came blame. This famous story of Adam and Eve and Eve and the serpent. God comes and says, “Adam, what happened?” and Adam says, “God, I'm going to be real honest with You. She made me do it!” It goes right down the line, “Eve, what happened?” “God, it was the serpent who made me do it. It was his fault.”

It’s so easy to blame someone else for my sin. Isn’t that true for you? It’s so easy to blame somebody else. It’s my boyfriend’s fault. It’s my girlfriend’s fault. It’s my teacher’s fault. It’s my parent’s fault. It’s my sister’s fault. It’s my brother’s fault. It’s Derek’s fault. It’s Bob’s fault. It’s Matt’s fault. It’s Pastor John’s fault. It’s Barak Obama’s fault. It’s President Bush’s fault. And somebody else may have contributed someway to the sin that’s in your life but it’s there because you chose it. No matter who invited you to do it, no matter who hurt you and made you do it, the truth is you and I just have to face up to it – “I chose to do it.” Even though I live in this terrible world, it was my choice. We need to get past the blame.

And, in the end, God’s relationship with Adam and Eve changes. God comes into the garden in the midst of this shame and blame and fear that’s going on and God calls out to the man.

“The man and his wife heard the sound of God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?"

It’s the first question of our faith. Most other religions besides Christianity – which isn’t a religion by the way- it’s a relationship – begin with the questions, “How can I find God?” but Christianity begins with God coming and looking for us. That’s our faith - that God came to this earth to look for us and He started in the Garden of Eden. He calls out “Where are you?” and their relationship immediately begins to change.

Then God did an amazing thing…

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and He clothed them.”

At first you might be thinking, well, of course God made them garments Bob- they only had fig leaves for goodness sakes. But I don’t think that’s why he made them garments. I think God made them garments because they were ashamed. Ashamed because they had sinned. So God comes and He makes them garments to cover them up and the only reason they needed those garments was because they’d sinned.

Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to forgive my sins. That’s grace. That’s Jesus making garments of grace for me. I don’t deserve it but He makes them for me everyday, anyway.

To some of you, God is ready to come to you, right now, with those garments of grace and say, “Here. I know you’re embarrassed. I know you’re ashamed. I know you gave in to temptation. But’s OK. I love you. Take these garments, and cover yourselves up. I made them for you because I love you and I don't want you to fell ashamed.”

But you’re saying, “God, it was my fault. It was my fault that I did it. You don’t have to do anything for me. Just keep the garments. I’ll work this out by myself.” Even some of you who are believers. Maybe you’ve been believers for a long time but you’re rejecting God’s garments of grace because you feel too ashamed to take them, that you’re not worthy. Of course you’re not worthy and neither am I. But grace is all about being able to let God love you despite the fact that you’re a sinner.

Tonight some of you just need to hear this. Take the grace that God wants to show to you. Put those garments on and live the rest of your life with a sense of God’s love and a gratefulness for His grace that could only come because He has given something to you that you could have never earned by yourself.

Two things I would ask that you do next week and then we're done-

1. I encourage you each day this week to pray, “Lord, lead me not into temptation.” Many times we wait until we get into temptation and then we pray, “Lord, lead me out of temptations.” But Jesus taught us to pray in a different way – “Lead me not into temptation.” You’re never going to outgrow temptation as a believer. Jesus was tempted and He was perfect. We will never outgrow temptation. It’s impossible. But we can begin to have daily victories over temptation. Start each day of this week praying, “Lord, lead me not into temptation.”

2. Put on God’s garments of grace. Stop holding yourself accountable for something Jesus forgave you for when He died on the cross. Stop playing God. The garments that He sewed for Adam and Eve from the very beginning was to show grace to us in our sin. The cross is the clearest symbol, the most powerful symbol that God could have ever given. When God forgave you of your sin, He took that sin and put it as far away as east is from west. The Bible tells us that he threw it in the deepest part of the ocean and it sank. It’s to be remembered no more. God has forgotten it. And although you may remember it, I encourage you each time you remember it, put on God’s garments of grace again. The way you do that as a believer today is picture the cross and you recognize that Jesus died for this sin. You may have to picture the cross 1000 times tomorrow if there is a sin you’ve been struggling with for a long time in your life. It maybe 900 times the next day, then 700, 500, then once a week, once a year. That’s the way you begin to put on God’s garments of grace.

Prayer:

Some of you right now just take a deep breath and say, “Jesus, I don’t deserve it but I accept it. I am forgiven. I can never make up for my sin. That’s why You went to the cross. Lord, tonight, I'm deciding to stop being God and to receive Your forgiveness. Thank You for Your grace.”

Then together, Lord, every one of us wants to pray this prayer. We look to You in our hearts and say, “Jesus, as You taught us to pray lead us not into temptation.” Thank You for Your grace God. In Your name we pray. Amen

Love Tells the Truth

2008-02-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

We’ve been spending a lot of time on 1 Corinthians 13 over the past month or so, and for good reason. Because God sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, so we could have a personal relationship with Him. And there is no way we can have a true, enduring relationship with anybody unless we love them as Jesus loved us. So that’s why we are spending so much time on love- because our world- that world right outside those front doors- has perverted the love that God promised us. The love the world tells you about is not love at all- it is greed, it is selfishness, it is lust. But 1 Corinthians 13 talks about true Christian love. Like how:

-love is patient
-love is kind
-love does not envy
-love does not boast
-love is not proud
-love is not selfish
-love is not easily angered
-love does not keep record of right or wrong

And tonight I am really blessed to talk about something I am passionate about:

-love tells the truth

Over 30 years ago, Time magazine did a cover story called "Lying, Everybody's Doing It". It starts off like this: "Lies, lies, lies. The current political campaign is erupting into a series of charges and counter charges of dishonesty and deception. All of which raises the question: Is anyone around here telling the truth?" Seems like not much has changed in the past 30 years does it? Did any of you see highlights of the Roger Clemens thing with Congress earlier this week. Someone was telling the truth. Someone wasn’t.

A recent survey of Americans said 66% of Americans say it's not wrong to tell lies. Only 31% agreed with the statement, "Honesty is the best policy." That means that every two out of three people do not believe that honesty is always the best policy. That is unbelievable- is what these people saying that “dishonesty is the best policy?”

So how can we be honest in a dishonest world? How do I tell the truth?

As I said a few months ago in one of my messages, I am a truth seeker. If you ask people where I work about me, those that care to admit they know me will tell you one thing- I tell it REAL and I tell what I hope is the truth. No wishy-washy, politically correct nonsense. The truth. And if you go to my myspace page, you will see that the word “truth” is the focal point.

So, when I am given this great privilege to address you guys, I treat it like it’s my last day on earth- that talking to you is the most important thing I could have ever done with my life. But I would be cheating you and sinning against each one of you unless I told you the truth- not only when I give a message, but also when we talk one on one. Now my style of getting in your face and telling it like it is has gotten me in trouble more times than I would like to admit. Because it seems like our culture these days doesn’t like the truth- it seems that our society encourages us to kinda dance around the edges, don’t take a stand, be tolerant of things even as you in high school would normally consider outrageous, be politically correct, don’t rock the boat. Why- because society now has confused what is right and what is just plain wrong.

But I know someone who knew what was right and what was wrong. His name was Jesus Christ. If you study His life, you’d find that sometimes Jesus avoided conflict, sometimes He resolved conflict and sometimes Jesus actually created conflict. He provoked it. He induced it. He caused it. In your life, all three of those responses are sometimes going to be right- Sometimes you need to avoid conflict. Sometimes you need to resolve conflict. But sometimes you need to create conflict.

I don’t know about you, but my view on things is that most people we connect with every day- whether it be teachers, girlfriends, boyfriends, plain old friends, parents- they don’t like it real. In fact, most people have a misunderstanding that keeping the peace means avoiding confrontation at all costs. They want you to swallow your hurts, hide your feelings, ignore problems in your life, pretend that everything is OK. Their response to so many things are two words that every time I hear them its like nails across a chalkboard- instead of telling the truth, they say just shrug their shoulders and say “well, whatever.”

But the Bible says that living in the world of “well, whatever” causes even more problems. The Bible says that hiding the truth rather than dealing with the truth causes trouble.

Proverbs 10:10 says, “An evasive eye is a sign of trouble ahead, but an open, face-to-face meeting results in peace.”

I think if I asked each of you if you agreed that honesty is the best policy, you would probably agree, despite that survey that said two out of every three people do not agree with that. But in real life, there are a lot of times when we don’t think honesty is such a good idea, where speaking the truth is not such a positive thought.

For some of you, you may be thinking, “If I told my father or mother the truth about him, they’d never speak to me again.” “If I told my boyfriend what I don’t like about him, he’d leave me.” “If I told my teacher that I was having trouble understanding chapter 6 of my biology book, they would accuse me of not studying hard enough, or not applying myself.” “If I confronted my friend and told him he needed counseling, he’d never see me again.” Do any of those things sound like something anyone of you have gone through?

We have been talking so much about love this year, and I know that sometimes because we talk about it so much, it starts to lose is effect. We tell each other in here that we love each other. And sometimes it seems that we are saying we love each other out of habit, and it starts sounding fake. I know some of you probably think that there are people in here who think it’s cool to say they love me in youth group on Fridays, but when I see them on Monday in school, they act like they don’t even know me. That sucks. But Love is not always easy. Love is not always fun. Love sometimes takes courage. Love sometimes is tough. And love sometimes includes a confrontation.

The message for tonight is 1 Corinthians 13:6, “Love takes no pleasure in evil- it rejoices with the truth.” Ephesians 4:15 tells us, “Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ.”

So, what’s this have to do with each of us? Tonight we’re going to talk about a skill that almost no one is good at. I’m certainly not good at it. And I doubt of any of you here are really good at it. Because it’s a skill we were never taught. It’s not taught at BP, or Taunton High, or Middleboro High, or at Apponequet. Nobody ever sat us down and showed us the steps to doing it right.

It is how to confront someone you love with the truth in a loving way.

You may be asking, why is this important…no one seems to care when they confront me- not my parents, not my friends, not my teachers. You might be saying that most of the time when people confront me, all they do is hurt me. But like I said a couple of weeks ago- are you willing to break that cycle? Are you willing to break out of the chains society has wrapped you up in, and tricked you into being part of the world where we deal with others by just shrugging our shoulders and saying, “well whatever”? I hope not. Because you will never ever be in a true relationship with someone else unless you are honest with them and tell them the truth.

So how do you do that? How do you confront someone you love, with love? If you want to have a better relationship, if you want to help other people, if you want to be a people builder and not a people trasher, sometimes you are going to have to say tough things that others don’t want to hear, but need to hear. And you, in love, need to share it.

The good news is that we have two great models of how to do this. Jesus and Paul. Paul had started a church in Corinth, had eventually moved on, and in the bible he was writing back to friends who had major problems in their lives- people who had really messed up. He wrote two very tough letters. And in those letters he was brutally honest. Almost every chapter of 1 and 2 Corinthians is about a different problem. He says, You’re blowing it here, you need help here, you need to work on this… He had to deal with one issue after another in brutal honesty, but always speaking the truth in love. From these two tough letters that Paul wrote, we learn the four keys to speaking the truth in love. Four keys in confronting someone in love that I pray you will be able to use tonight, tomorrow, for the rest of your lives.
1. Why we confront
2. How we confront
3. Affirming (or encouraging) others when we confront
4. Risking rejection when we confront

1. Before you ever confront anybody in love, you need to double check your reason for confronting.

Check your motivation. Why do I want to confront this person? You might be sitting at home thinking and sulking about your girlfriend or boyfriend, and convince yourself that they are a screw-up, and they need to be confronted. Or, you might want to confront somebody just because you’re jealous of what they have because you want it. You might want to confront a friend because you’re irritated by them, frustrated by them, annoyed by them, angry with them. You might want to confront somebody just to get even with them. You might want to point out something wrong in their life just to make you feel better than them.

This week I asked a number of people in the church and at work to write me examples of what that I could use tonight of a time in their life when somebody spoke the truth in love to them. Times when people they loved didn’t want to hear it, but they needed to hear it. I hope you guys can relate to one of them.

The first one says, “About 6 months ago, I had to confront my boyfriend about his addiction to pain killers after he had a couple of injuries playing football. The amazing thing is I was also addicted to drugs, but refused to admit it. He started attending Celebrate Recovery on Monday nights, and although I didn’t think I personally needed it, I went along to support him. Then one night a man at Celebrate Recovery had the courage to point out my hypocrisy. He was right, and I thanked him for having the courage to be honest with me. Now I’m growing and changing, too. Without that guy’s guts to tell me the truth, I’d still be wallowing in my own self-pity.”

Someone else wrote this:
“I grew up in a home where dad corrected us with his fists and degrading harsh words. From that, I developed a big mouth constantly cussing, criticizing and destroying other people with my words. Then one day a friend pulled me aside and gently, firmly told me the truth about my big mouth. My first reaction was to rebel. He was being a prude. Who made him the judge of my life? But then he pointed out that my words were doing a lot of damage. I didn’t change immediately but that encounter kept replaying in my mind until one day I humbled myself and I admitted he was right. Fifteen years later I still remember that life-changing confrontation. This past Thanksgiving my dad stayed with us. He pointed out that my gentle but honest words used in our home were far better than the words he used to raise me. But I would have never changed without being told the truth in love.”

Another guy wrote, “I was a Christian, but I was living like a non-believer. I was working in an electronics store when an acquaintance walked by and said, ‘I heard you were at a Bible study the other day. Is that right?’ I looked around the store and said, ‘Shhhh. Don’t blow my cover. But yes, I was there.’ The guy said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ I replied, “Well, yeah, I am.” The guy then says this: ‘Let me get this straight. You say you’re a Christian. But you’re doing drugs and you’re living a wild life. How does this all fit together?’ I said, ‘Well you see, I’m a cool Christian.’ The guy said, ‘I see. There’s another name for that. Hypocrite.’ That simple truth stung me, and I got really mad and accused the guy of being judgmental, but that conversation haunted me. I realized the guy was just speaking the truth. And that he cared enough to confront me in love. Over the next couple of days my anger turned to reflection, turned to repentance. Just a few days later I fully committed my life to Christ. I thank God for his courage.”

But some of you here tonight might be thinking, hey, nice stories with living happily ever after endings, but didn’t Jesus say, “Judge not lest you be judged.” Yep, He sure does. And that is probably the most misused and misunderstood verse in the Bible. When Jesus said don’t judge, He was not saying ignore problems in a friend’s life. He was not saying tolerate sin. He was not saying be a doormat, set your brain on cruise control and let anything go on around you, never make any observations or corrections about it. He was not saying allow evil to exist. People want to say, “Judge not lest you be judged” means just let anybody do what they want to do. But that’s not at all what He was saying.

When Jesus said, “Don’t judge,” He was saying don’t be a hypocrite- don’t condemn in other people the very thing that you do. That’s what He’s talking about. He’s saying you don’t build yourself up by tearing other people down when you’re doing the exact same thing.

Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a sincere friend
are better than many kisses from an enemy.” In life, there are two kinds of relationships. On one side you have shallow, superficial relationships. That’s what most of the people in the world have – relationships that are fake and indifferent.

On the other side, you have meaningful, deep, significant, intimate relationships. Soul-to-soul bonding and connection.

So how do you get from superficial relationship to intimacy whether in a friendship, a marriage, a partnership, whatever? How do you get from superficial to a deep, close, intimate connection with another person?

There’s only one way. That is to go down through the tunnel of truth. In the tunnel of truth, you deal with all the issues of the relationship you really don’t want to deal with. The world says “Let’s push that problem of yours aside... Let’s not talk about that issue that is eating you up inside... Let’s just have lollipops, happy smiles, and rainbows…if there’s a problem, just shrug your shoulders and say, “well whatever.” But in the tunnel of truth, you will have chaos, you will have conflict and you will have confrontation. And it may not be fun. When you leave a shallow relationship and say, “We’re going to take this relationship to a new level,” and you go into that tunnel of truth, it’s going to scare you to death. It’s dark, it’s dank, it’s scary. Sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it can get a little loud. Everything in your body in the middle of the conversation says, “Let’s just back out of this tunnel, go back to the shallow end of the pool where its safe and comfortable. That way is a whole lot easier.

But if you will stay in that tunnel of truth and deal with those issues, deal with that parent that always seems to be on your back, that friend that seems to be using you, that girlfriend or boyfriend who is not treating you right or honoring you, you will eventually come up on the other side into genuine intimacy and true Christian love.

2. Plan how you will confront.

Think through what you’re going to say before you say it. I admit I stink at this…I’ve put my foot in my mouth more times than I can remember, but Proverbs 16:23 says, “Intelligent people think before they speak. What they say then is more persuasive.” If you want to be persuasive, you must think through what you’re going to say in advance.

Paul did this when he had some painful truths to present to his friends in Corinth. He says this in 2 Corinthians 2:

At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.

Paul says, I had some tough things I had to write to you about. But this wasn’t impulsive. Paul didn’t just sit down and blast off an e-mail or text message. How many of you have discovered how dangerous an e-mail, text message, or myspace post can be? You can vent real quickly, hit the button and it’s gone. And then you wish you could pull it back. Can anyone in here connect with that?

Paul says this, “No, I didn’t get out my laptop and send you a nasty message on AIM. I didn’t leave you a mean and cruel voicemail, like a coward. No. I sat down and thought about this. I agonized. I cried. That’s how much I care about you. I have some tough things to say that you probably don’t want to hear, but you really need to hear because your life is messed up, I really thought about it. I planned, I grieved, I agonized.”

Paul spoke it in a loving way. Because you should never use truth as a club. Because you should never beat people up with the truth. You say it in a loving way. And how do you know if you’re saying it in a loving way? Simply this- is what you are saying for their benefit, or yours. If you feel good in saying it, you’re probably saying it for your own benefit.

The next thing you do is…

3. You give them affirmation.

The Bible says that the truth will set you free. When you go through that tunnel of truth, it does free you to the deeper level relationship. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable. If I were to come to you today and say, “======, let’s go have some coffee. I want to point out several areas of your life that need changing,” you would not be thanking me for that invitation. You’d be going, “Who do you think you are?”, probably in stronger words than that. But the point is you’d probably be resentful, rebellious, resistant, stubborn. You wouldn’t be going, “This is great! Tell me all the areas in my life I suck at. Go ahead Bob! Get in line behind all the other people in my life who tell me where I mess up…get behind my parents, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, teachers at school, my school bus driver, my boss at work. Go ahead Bob- take a number cause I just don’t care anymore

But that’s why it is so important in relationships to add encouragement to the truth. The truth by itself is like a sandwich filling without any bread…you need a slice of encouragement on the top and a slice of encouragement on the bottom. Without the encouragement, all you have is peanut butter and jelly, and it’s a complete mess without the bread to hold it together. So when you are having a speaking-the-truth-in-love session with somebody, you want to affirm three things- let’s make this a triple decker sandwich- three slices of bread:

1. TOP SLICE OF BREAD- You want to affirm that you deeply love and care for them.
2. MIDDLE SLICE OF BREAD- You want to affirm that you will pray for them and help them.
3. BOTTOM SLICE OF BREAD- You want to affirm that you believe they can change.

Lastly…
4. Risk their rejection.

Paul did this in 2 Corinthians 7, when he said:

“I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I'm glad—not that you were upset, but that you were shaken up enough to turn things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.”

It’s scary to speak the truth in love. I get scared all the time. But I think the reason why we stuff our emotions and stuff our feelings and we don’t speak the truth and hide the issues in our relationship that we’re bugged about but we don’t want to bring up is because we fear the possible consequences. Being a coward keeps us from speaking the truth in love. We let fear become greater than our love. The truth is, it’s scary to tell others the truth. We don’t know how they’re going to react. Your boyfriend may get mad. Your girlfriend may walk out. Parents or teachers may misjudge your motivation. They may attack you. You don’t know what’s going to happen. So it’s scary, and you’re taking a great risk.

And because we don’t want to take that risk, we settle for superficial, shallow relationships. Some of you in here may have relationships like that at home, at school, maybe even here on Friday nights. Maybe you repress the truth, maybe you hide your feelings, maybe you ignore issues, maybe you try to sweep everything under the carpet so you can keep that shallow, lousy relationship alive. Maybe you sweep it under the carpet and sweep it under the carpet and sweep it under the carpet and that mound under the carpet kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until one day it just explodes!

You must be willing to risk rejection because you love that person. You must be willing to take a hit of initial anger because you love that person. It takes enormous courage.

I know a lot of you in here, and believe me, I want to get to know more of you better…that’s a mission of mine this year. But for the ones I do know, I know that many of you have not felt loving toward a loved one, or loved from someone who should love you one for days, weeks, months, or maybe even years. You have a parent, a brother or sister or some relative, a friend, but you don’t love them and you don’t feel any love from them. Because you’re stuffing your feelings. You’re stuffing the truth. You’re pushing it down. You’re not speaking the truth in love, you’re not dealing with it and you are killing the relationship. I am doing that right now with my family in Delaware. And I’m scared too. Scared of failure. Scared of being humiliated. Scared of rejection. I know because I’m just like each of you.

Margaret Becker wrote a song called Honesty. Part of it goes like this,

“Tonight by the glow of the fire light you found the courage to speak your mind
and tear down the walls you’ve been hiding behind.
So many of us spend so much of our time smoothing things over
and pretending they’re fine.”

VIDEO =è

Who do you need to speak the truth in love to, today? Who do you need to have an honest conversation with, today? Who do you need to share the love of Christ with, today? Somebody in your neighborhood? Somebody in your small group? Somebody at school? Somebody at home? Somebody here tonight? Do you see a friend heading down the wrong direction, getting involved in things they have no business getting involved in and you know that their parents aren’t going to do anything about it. Will you? Will you care enough to speak the truth in love? Do you care enough to speak with them before its too late, like Alex failed to do with her brother in the video. Are you willing to be used by God?

Proverbs 24:26 says this, “An honest answer is the sign of a true friendship.” Real friends speak the truth. They tell their friends what they need to hear not what they’d like to hear. Sometimes love must be tough. Sometimes love hurts. It hurt Jesus to die. That’s the kind of love Jesus had to die for you. HE died for the truth.

Let’s Pray:
Do you know somebody maybe in your extended family who’s overbearing and controlling and nobody’s ever spoken the truth to them about it? Do you know somebody who’s wasting their life and they’ve never been confronted? Is there someone you love, you care about, who’s flirting with temptation. Are you going to just sit there silently and let it get worse? Do you have a friend who is a gossiper and a divider and is divisive and they love to spread rumors, but nobody’s ever had the courage to say, “Stop it! You’re hurting people with your gossip! Or do you feel a need to be truthful with yourself, and love yourself, and invite Christ into your heart, tonight.

If you want to move to the highest level of loving, I invite you to pray this prayer: “Dear God, this is scary. You know how much I fear speaking or even thinking the truth sometimes. I hate conflict. I don’t like rocking the boat. But I see what is going on, and I know it’s not right. Please, give me the courage I need to talk to that person. Help me to check my motives first. Help me to find the right words and the right time to say it. Help me to be positive and wrap the truth in love and encouragement and affirmation. I am willing to risk rejection in an attempt to save this relationship. I’m willing to face the pain or anger because I love this person and I really do want what’s best for them. I ask You to use me in this most difficult expression of genuine love. Help us as we go through the tunnel of truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Love is Kind

2008-01-20T06:54:00.001-05:00

Usually when I have the opportunity to talk to you guys I like to use polls and surveys that were taken from people on the street. So tonight I'd like to take a survey. Just raise your hand if any of my questions apply to you. How many of you have ever taken some type of music lessons? How many have taken any swimming lessons? How about golf lessons? How many have ever taken dance lessons? Cooking lessons? Horseback riding? Tennis? Public speaking lessons? Scuba diving? Underwater basket weaving?

You get the idea. Our world believes in continuing education, which basically means any kind of education outside of high school or being home-schooled. In fact, our area has a bunch of community colleges that offer all sorts of courses and lessons in everything from remedial math to- you guessed it, underwater basket weaving. And while all of these lessons are very good, there's one area that most of us have never had any training in. Yet it's the most important area of all. It’s more important than any lesson, any class or any degree we need for success in business, or winning a dance recital, or jamming in a band. That area is Relationships. We all need lessons on relationships. All of us. We all need lessons on loving. So that's what we're doing in this series on 1 Corinthians 13- we are basically learning how to love.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13 talks basically about loving God, ad loving others. But it seems to me that the word “love” has a meaning anymore. I mean, in most popular books, television shows, movies, and music, the term “lust” would be more appropriate than “love.” Rarely do we see the kind of love that Paul describes here- patient, kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not demanding, not irritable, always hopeful, always enduring, even under the worst circumstances. Surely, if we all loved the way Paul describes in the bible, it would revolutionize neighborhoods, churches, marriages, relationships, and families. This kind of love is God’s kind of love. This is the kind of love God wants you to show to everyone around you. You see, love has very little to do with how we feel- I can say I love chocolate chip ice cream, or I love the newest album from Jeremy Camp, or I love the smell of a new car. But if I am in a relationship with any of you, do you want me to love you like I love the smell of a car. I hope not. I hope you expect more than that. I know that God expects more than that. So love has less to do with our feelings- it has more to do with the decisions and choices we make everyday. Think of all the people you interact with each day- friends at school, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, school bus drivers, bosses, people at RISE708. How can you show love to them?

Last Friday Derek covered the first part- Love is patient. Tonight, I want to talk to you about the second part- "Love is kind." But what does it mean to be kind? Kindness is love in action. Love looks for a way of improving somebody else's life. Love through kindness builds people up. So tonight, let’s talk about how to be a People Builder.

Romans 15:2 says "We should consider the good of our neighbor and build up his character." So the question is, How do I build up the people in my life?

This message tonight is for everybody. It doesn’t matter if your 16 or 60, a student or retired, live in a palace, or live on the streets. It’s for all of us – teachers, parents, wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, if you work with other people at a job, and especially, especially, if you go to school. Because the fact is that all of us have people around us we'd like to build up, that we'd like to bring out the best in. So tonight we're going to look at some ways you can build people up.

1. Give people a personal challenge because a challenge always brings out the best in us.

2. Give people complete confidence. We not only need a challenge, but the confidence to do it.

3. Give it to people straight- be honest. Sometimes you need to level with people in order to bring out the best in them. Tell them the truth - don’t give them a bunch of fluff.
4. Give people the credit they deserve.

1. GIVE THEM A PERSONAL CHALLENGE
In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says "here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences."

In that scripture, Paul is urging people to make their life count. He's challenging them. He's saying don't waste your life. Be all that God made you to be. Make your life count. Why? Because we all need a cause, a project, a dream that calls forth the best in our lives. It strengthens us. If Paul was with us here tonight, he would tell you this- brothers and sisters, don’t sit around and waste your life text messaging each other, or using up your cell phone minutes, or sitting around playing video games, or making ungodly comments on facebook or myspace! No, do something that makes your life count, and glorifies God.

This weekend is a big weekend for the New England Patriots. On Sunday they play the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship game. Now I realize that not everyone in here is a Patriots fan, or even a football fan. But the point is not about football. For many of you in here, you have been kind of spoiled the past few years with Boston’s sports teams, unless of course you are a Bruins fan. But if you follow the Red Sox, you know they have been in the playoffs 5 of the last 7 years, and have won the world series twice in the past 4 years. If you follow the Patriots, you know that they are on the brink of becoming the greatest football team in NFL history- they have won the Superbowl three times since 2001, they have been to the AFC championship game 5 times since 2001, and have won their division 6 times in the past 7 years. But it wasn’t always like that for the Patriots. From 1989 through 1993, the Patriots were the laughing stock of the NFL, and considered one of the worst run teams in all of professional sports. Take a look at these records:
1989- won 5 lost 11
1990- won 1 lost 15
1991- won 6 lost 10
1992- won 2 lost 14
1993- won 5 lost 11

They were so bad that they couldn’t sell enough tickets to their games at the old Sullivan stadium, which meant that their games were not even on television. That’s a pretty big change from today, when the Pats are on prime time much of the time. So for those five years the Patriots won only 24% of their games. By 1990 they were 1 – 15, just like the Miami Dolphins this year. Terrible team. Then in 1993 along came a guy named Bill Parcells. He was tough, but he was a people builder. During his brief stay he completely turned the organization around, and in 1994 he was named Coach of the year and the Patriots made the playoffs for the first time since 1986. And two years later, the Patriots went to the super bowl. He turned a loser team into a winner, a dynasty. Parcells was a people builder. Not many people know that, because they see him as some sort of football mercenary that hops from team to team. But that’s why he continues to be hired- he knows how to bring out the best in people by issuing personal challenges to the players. How many people in here remember how he challenged Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn? Yeah, those are two pretty well known examples, but his record over the past 30 years or so speaks for itself.

All of us need somebody in our lives who can inspire us to be what we could be. I am here to tell you that God wants to use you to be a people builder for the people in your life, to bring out their best, to inspire them to be what God knows they could be. Think about this for a minute- does anyone come to mind that is your personal people-builder. Someone that builds you up, no matter how bad things get? It may be a boyfriend or girlfriend, a regular friend, maybe a teacher, maybe a coach, maybe someone on the RISE708 youth team, maybe someone in this sanctuary tonight, and hopefully your parents.

So if you're going to be a people builder, to bring out the best in the people around you, give them a personal challenge, just like Bill Parcells did to the 1996 Patriots.

2. GIVE THEM COMPLETE CONFIDENCE
Romans 15:2 says “ Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." We all need confidence. When somebody believes in you, doesn’t that feel good? Why? Because it brings out the best in you. It gives you the courage. "I know you can do it!" Jesus did this with Peter. Peter's name in Greek was "Petros", which means pebble. Jesus said, "Pebble, you're going to be a rock. But I'm giving you a new name." When Jesus said that to Peter he was anything but a rock. He was Mr. Impulsive, Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. But Jesus said you're going to be a rock. Jesus didn't tell him what he was; He told him what he COULD be -- that's potential, that's building confidence. Whenever you label somebody you reinforce what they are. Folks, the world is full of people that will tell you, your friends and family what they are. You’re Lazy. You’re dumb. You’re a disappointment. You’re a failure. How about this one- you don’t apply yourself. Argggghhhhhhh!

But starting tonight, each and every one of you have a chance, a chance to break that chain around your neck, break that cycle- Don't tell people what they are, tell them what they could be. Build them up. Instead of catching people doing something wrong, catch someone doing something right, and tell them. Enourage each other. Build each other up- because if we can’t encourage and build each other up here at RISE708, who will. Just six words- “I know you can do it.”

We all need encouragement. For the past year or so I have kept an Encouragement File. Every time anybody writes me a note, a card, a letter, an email, I file it. Even if it's mildly encouraging, like "Better luck next time!" or "You tried on that sermon, I didn’t quite get it, but good try." Anything that's mildly encouraging I file it. On those days when I'm discouraged and down and tired, I get out that Encouragement File and I read through all the letters and notes and emails over and over. You know why? Because it's encouraging to me to know that at some time in my life, my wife, my son, or Derek or someone on the youth team, or maybe one of you, thought I had some kind of value! We all need encouragement.

There’s this story of a kid who grew up in the projects in Boston. He had nothing. His family had nothing. Winter nights were cold, and there was little food on the table. Days and nights were consumed with thoughts of how to stay out of the cross fire of bullets from rival gangs, or being able to walk to school without being attacked. This kid had no one at home to encourage him. His father had left the home when he was 12. His mother worked two jobs just to be able to pay the rent and try to feed him and his two younger sisters. So it was nothing short of a iracle when he walked on the stage at his college graduation as the class valedictorian. He had performed spectacularly in college, and he gave all the credit to one of his teachers in high school. As he stood before the graduation day crown of over 5000 people, he recalled the the endless days and nights of despair in the housing projects of Boston. The future looked bleak, and he was ready to end it all. He tried to commit suicide several times. But that graduation day, he’s the top student at his college, with a job offer. Why? Because some teacher kept reinforcing his confidence. His voice cracked as he related the story, he said "All those years, I wanted to quit and didn't think I had a future, but someone believed in me more than I did in myself. She wanted me to succeed even more than I did."

Who can you say that about? That you believe in them more than they believe in themself? That you want them to succeed more than they do? That you love them more than they love themself? If you want to be a people builder you've got to give people a challenge and then you've got to say, "I know you can do it!" Whether you're working with other students on a class assignment, or you’re trying to support one of your friends, or even trying to encourage your mom or dad, those six words out of your mouth can do more than any thing you could imagine - "I know you can do it."

Like I said, the world is addicted to pointing out the negative rather than glorifying the positive. Just watch the news at night. So, it’s not easy to give encouragement. It might feel weird, or embarrassing to do it. So here are some suggestions on giving encouragement:

1. When you encourage people it needs to be real, from the heart and not some kind of phony manipulation.
2. It needs to be regular. Don't be stingy with encouragement. Give it out all the time. Encourage everybody -- the waitress at Friendly’s or Dave’s Diner in Middleboro, your school bus driver who gets you to school through snow and icey streets, your teachers, your parents, your friends here at RISE708 or at school, maybe even us on the youth team. I know it’s not easy. The world outside those front doors tells you its OK to be rude to others. The world out there tells you its OK to be indifferent, or uncaring. Who cares what that waitress thinks?! Who cares how the cafeteria ladies at school feel, or the person behind the register next door at Amaro’s feels. Break that cycle tonight.

If you are like me, you may feel a little weird saying that to somebody face-to-face. That’s OK- most of us feel that way. But if that’s the case, send them a note or email. Who here was at regular CCC worship last weekend? (give message about sending mary and Cheryl email as to how they made me feel).

When was the last time you wrote a love note or thank you note to your parents? You may not think too highly of one or both of your parents. But just think how you would make them feel if you wrote them a simple note- Mom, Dad- I may not always show it, but I appreciate all you do for me. That simple note could be a life-changing experience for them. Teachers always hear about when they're doing a bad job. When was the last time you wrote a note of encouragement to a teacher that's doing a good job? I know you have teachers you feel that way about, a teacher that has encouraged you, or built you up. When was the last time you wrote a note to encourage a friend who's had a major impact in your life?

3. BE HONEST WITH OTHERS
We all need honest feedback. Since none of us is perfect, and we need people in our lives that say, “get back in line!" We all need people who will lay it out for us, and be honest with us.

Proverbs 27 says: "People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron." We bring out the best in each other. "An honest answer is the sign of a true friendship." A real friend will tell you when you're making a mistake. A real friend will level with you. They'll lay it on the line. Even when it's painful, they'll tell you the truth. Prov. 27:6 says "A friend means well even when he hurts you."

4. LASTLY, GIVE OTHERS FULL CREDIT
If you want to be a people builder -- bring out the best in the people in your life -- give them full credit. Praise the growth and the changes you see in their lives. The Bible says "Let us have real, warm affection for each other and a willingness to let others have the credit." I have a sign in my office that says , "God can do great things through the person who doesn't care who gets the credit."

How do you do on that? How quickly do you share the credit? Usually we like to share the blame but keep the credit. God says the mark of maturity is to accept the blame and share the credit. The exact opposite. Just ask me or Tim about the work that goes in to making worship happen for four services every Saturday or Sunday. It takes about 20 different people, all with different responsibilities, to make it all happen. There’s sound, media, performers, worship leaders, child care, greeters, ushers, parking lot attendants, and of course a Pastor with a message. And when you get that many people involved going in so many different directions, negatives are bound to pop up. But if we can’t share the credit and take the blame in CCC’s worship ministry, where can we do it?

When you look at these four things on how to be a People Builder: Give Them a Personal Challenge, Give Them Complete Confidence, Give Them Honest Opinions, and Give them Full Credit – you’re probably saying- hey’s that’s a lot of work. Yes, and you won't always feel like doing it. There's a price tag for being a people builder. It requires time, effort, money, energy, lack of privacy. It always costs to be kind. Usually we're so caught up in our own thing we don't have time to build anybody else up. We focus on me, myself, I. I don't care about anybody else; I'm focusing on me. It takes unselfishness. It costs to be kind. The question tonight is- are you willing the pay the price. I am – are you?

But your concern may not be how much work it takes to love with kindness- your question may simply be “Why should I do it?” No one does it for me! Hey, doesn’t the bible talk about treating others as you would like to be treated? If that’s true, why don’t people in my life treat me with kindness, or love?

I don’t know what specific circumstance each of you has with girlfriends, boyfriends, regular friends, or with your parents or guardians at home. But if you are here tonight it tells me that you are willing to be a little different, to step across the line and break the cycle of hatred and indifference. The bible says "In response to all God has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other." God's been kind to you, so you owe it to others! The Romans, back when the first Christians were forming after Jesus Christ came to earth, used to confuse the word "cristos" with "crestos". Cristos means Christ. Crestos, in Latin, means kindness. But what a great confusion! If anything ought to be synonymous it ought to be kindness and a Christian. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people in the work force. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people at school. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people at the mall. Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people on the internet. And Christians ought to be the most kind and loving people to – other Christians. Let’s take a look:

=> VIDEO

So how do you rate as a people builder? How many people do you know would say that you do this to them? How many of you feel like the person in that video? Then I give you a challenge. I want to give you a new objective for life. Whether you live another year, five years, ten years or a hundred years - I want to challenge you to make as your primary objective of life to be a people builder, not a people-trasher. Someone who encourages, and doesn’t hurt others. Someone who picks up others, instead of beating them when they are already down? Who is willing to do that? Who here has the guts to be willing to commit themselves for the rest of their life to being a people builder." Then stand-up and be counted-Let’s make this public- repeat after me:
Starting tonight, I'm going to commit the rest of my life, no matter how much it costs me personally,
to bringing out the best in people that I come in contact with.
I'm going to dedicate my life to looking for constructive ways to building people up."
I’m going to dedicate my life to stop the cycle of trashing others
I’m committing to loving others like Jesus loves me.

I want everyone here to hear me on this…all of us here, no matter how old we are, how smart we are, how gifted we are, how successful we may think we are- all of us here are broken. Very few of us have had anybody ever build us up like we can start doing as soon as I finish up. You can be a home builder, bodybuilder, a money builder- but none of those things are going to last. But there is something that's going to last for eternity. There is no more worthwhile endeavor in life than to be a people builder.

If you do that, Proverbs 11:17 says "You do yourself a favor when you're kind." The New International Version says, "The kind man benefits himself." When you help other people succeed, you succeed. When you help other people win, you win. And if you love others, they become loving, and they will love you back, with kindness.

Let’s pray together:
I don’t pretend to know what’s in your heart tonight. Maybe you have already made the commitment to accept Jesus in your life and know the unconditional love He has for you. Maybe you heard something tonight that’s pulling at your heart, and you’re thinking, yeah, that’s how I want my life to be- a life filled with love with patience, love with kindness.
Will you commit to bringing out the best in people that God has placed in your life and He will place in your life in the days or years ahead? Would you say in your heart, "God, I do want to become a people builder." God has placed people around you that He wants you to build up. Who do you need to write a note to, a note of encouragement?

Who do you need to give more credit to? The kindest thing you can do for somebody is to introduce them to Jesus Christ. Who could you invite to RISE708, which could start them on the road to becoming all they're meant to be. Some of you need to begin your own personal development process. We want to help you to become what God has shaped you to be. Some of you need to say, "Jesus Christ, come into my heart and help me to become what You made me to be." If you've never done that, do that now. Make that your starting decision. "Christ, come into my life and help me to discover what You made me for. I want to know You and follow You." If that’s your decision tonight, I urge you to grab Derek or someone from the youth team to talk about your decision. Do it today. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.
In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Purpose of Christmas

2007-12-23T15:39:00.000-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Welcome to the RISE Christmas party. But more importantly, welcome to the week where we and the world are, or least should be focused on an event that happened two thousand years ago in a little town in the Middle East. But today, two thousand years later, it can still stop traffic. How is that? What’s so special about Christmas? Why is it that it’s the most celebrated holiday on the planet? Why is it that, next week, billions of people will shut down work, shut down their schools, go to a service, attend parties, and gather in their homes to celebrate Christmas. What makes Christmas special?

Although tonight is the RISE Christmas party, tonight I want to try to get us to focus on why we celebrate it.

At the very first Christmas, at the birth of Jesus, an angel announced three things:

1. Christmas is a time for celebration.
2. Christmas is a time for salvation.
3. Christmas is a time for reconciliation.

For those of you that attended worship at CCC a couple of weeks ago, Pastor John talked about the Charlie Brown Christmas where Charlie Brown asks the question that today everyone seems to have forgotten- that is, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Let’s take a look. (VIDEO).

I remember watching that as a kid, and it means more to me today than it ever has. And, I’m going to tell you why. Because over the past 18 months or so that I have had this great privilege to worship God with all of you, and grow in my faith with all of you, I have met some pretty great people in here that I am proud to know. I know some of you better than others, but I truly and sincerely consider all of you my brothers or sisters in Christ. But I wouldn’t be a true brother or sister in Christ with you unless I shared my personal life with you, and why Christmas means more to me than giving gifts to people who don’t need gifts, more than lights and wreaths, more than candy canes and really, really bad fruitcakes. So here goes-

I was born a Jew. As a kid in elementary school, junior high and high school I don’t remember my faith having any particular importance in my life. It seemed like more than anything that being a Jew was just something I was called, rather than who I was. For those of you who may be familiar with American Judaism, Jews in America fall for the most part into three groups- Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform. Our family was part of the “Reform” movement, which looking back, just meant to me that if you didn’t want to be “religious,” you could just do what you want and be called a Reform Jew. My family really didn’t celebrate any of the Jewish holidays- oh, don’t get me wrong, my family took full advantage of skipping work or school if a Jewish holiday fell on a work or school day. But those days were usually filled with extreme and exhausting boredom, where myself and my brothers just kinda watched my dad read the newspaper and smoke his cigars. I knew when I was 15 that there had to be something more to “God” than this! But God had plans for me, and it just took Him a while to put me in a place where I would cross paths with the RISE. Now, fast forward to last week, when my Mother, who lives in Delaware, called to say hello and kind of check in. Well, after the obligatory discussion about the weather that seemed to go on forever, my Mother asked if we had finished all of our Christmas shopping. And, in the nicest way possible, I tried to tell her that our focus was not on buying lots of stuff. Sorry Stephen. I mean, I tried to convey to her that we just weren’t obsessed with buying lots of useless gifts, that that’s not what the season means to us. She wanted to know what it did mean. Now understand, I’ve been dancing on the sidelines with my family about my faith for the past couple of years. But, it was time- it was time for me to be proud to be called a Christian, and tell her the simple truth- that Christmas is a time where we celebrate to birth of Jesus Christ. You would have thought I told her that I had committed to most heinous crime imaginable. She yelled and screamed and told me how bad it was for me to tell her that, that I was born a Jew. Oh, the shrill of hatred of Christ and my conversion she has. And she hung up on me.

Was I upset? Of course I was. Would it be easier if my family would accept my decision for Christ? Of course it would. But like the guy who helped bring me to Christ said, I am Jewish, in fact I am a “complete Jew”, which is a term used for a Jewish person who has received Christ. All of Judaism hinges on the coming Messiah and the prophecy surrounding that event. I just realize that it happened 2000 years ago, and that He is alive today and loves me and all who believe in Him. He even loves my Mother.

So when I see that clip from Charlie Brown tonight, it means more to me than a funny cartoon- it is a major reason why we are all here tonight!

In Luke 2, the Bible says –“And there were shepherds out in the field nearby keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terrified. [I would be too if I saw an angel!] But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news. I bring you good news of great joy. I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people.’”

So the first purpose of Christmas is CELEBRATION. It’s a party. The bible says “I bring you good news of great joy.” Actually, it’s a birthday party.

At Christmas, we have more parties than any other time of the year. Yet, it’s ironic that, often, the guest of honor is totally left out of the party. Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus. It’s why we say “Merry Christmas.” I don’t want to shock you, but God really likes parties. God is into parties. God likes to party. In fact, the Bible says that the angels hold a party every time a person turns away from their self-centeredness and turns to Him.

I read an article where a Pastor went out in the streets of Boston last week and asked people, “What are you going to be celebrating this Christmas?” This is what they said.

“This Christmas, what am I celebrating? Not a lot this Christmas.”

“The blessings that we’ve had in our family this year.”

“Just the Christmas spirit.”

“Being home and not being on the road for the holidays.”

“Family.”

“This Christmas? I’m celebrating the birth of Christ.”

“ Nothing. I just want to get through it.”

A lot of people feel that way about the Christmas season. “I’m not celebrating anything. I just want to get through it.” Some of you feel that way about my message tonight – “Man, I just want to get through it.”

The bottom line is this, Christmas is a party! We’re supposed to celebrate, but sometimes we’re so busy preparing, getting ready, buying presents, planning, we don’t have time to celebrate. We lose the joy of what the moment is all about.

This week, I was out Christmas shopping. I’m at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro and I’m just standing in the middle of mall watching thousands of people, and nobody looked happy. They all looked pressured and stressed. They all looked a little cranky and it started wearing off on me. Just shows how easily we can lose the joy.

The good news of Christmas is three things. When God sent Jesus Christ to Earth, He was saying three things. One, God loves us. Two, God is with us. Three, God is for us. If that isn’t worth celebrating, nothing is.

First, God loves us.

The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, says – “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” That’s the good news. God loved the world. That’s why He sent Jesus. He was sent on a message of love.

Christmas is saying to you, God says, “I love you.” The Bible says God is love. And God created the entire universe, just so He could create this planet, just so He could create the human race, just so He could create you, just so He could love you.

And He loves you on your good days as much as your bad days. And He loves you when you feel it, and He loves you when you don’t feel it. He loves you when you think you deserve it, and He loves you when you think you don’t deserve it. Because His love isn’t based on what you do. His love is based on who He is. None of us will never fully comprehend how much God loves you. It’s like an ant trying to understand the Internet. None of us have the brain capacity to understand how much God loves you.

But not only does God love you, but He’s with you.

You may not feel it, but it has nothing to do with your feelings. He’s with you all the time. The Bible says Jesus’ name was to be called Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.” God says in the Bible, “I will never leave you, and I will never abandon you.”

How many of you have been abandoned in life? Abandoned by friends. Abandoned by your teachers. Abandoned by your parents. I know some of you in here have. In fact, some refer to your generation as the “Abandoned Generation.” And I am sorry for that. It crushes me, it crushes Derek, and it crushes the entire youth team to know that some of you in here have been abandoned. By anything or anyone. But, if there is anything you can take from tonight, take this- God will NEVER EVER abandon you. You may not feel it. That may sound kind of weird to you.

The good news is this – God says, “I not only love you. I’m with you all the time, you just need to be aware of it.” It means you don’t have to face anything in 2008 by yourself. You can, but you don’t have to. Because God says, “I will be with you.” When God is near, it removes your fear. You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to sweat it. You don’t have to be anxious about what’s going to happen. Because when God is near, you lose your fear. God says, “I’m going to give you hope.” If you’re lonely this Christmas, I urge you to give Jesus Christ a chance and sense that relationship in your heart.

He’s not only loving you, and He’s not only with you, but the Bible says God is for you.
He’s on your side. He wants you to win. He wants you to succeed in school. He wants you to succeed at work. He wants you to succeed in having great relationships with your friends. In fact, Jesus said this – “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” So many people are afraid of God. You may be afraid of God. Maybe you get nervous when people start talking about God. You know why? It’s guilt. Guilt separates us from God. You think, “If I get close to God, He’s going to scold me. He’s going to remind me of all the things I’ve done wrong. He’s going to tell me the bad stuff.” That’s what I thought when I went to see my dentist earlier this fall. I thought, oh man, this guy is going to scold me and yell at me because I lost a couple of teeth because I didn’t care for them like he said I should.

But God said, “I didn’t come to scold you. I came to save you. That’s the good news. I’m not only with you. I not only love you. I am for you.” And if God is for us, who can be against us?

Jesus came to save us, not to scare us. That’s why the very first words of the angel was “Don’t be afraid.” You don’t need to be afraid. Because He says, “I love you, I’m with you, and I’m for you.” And that’s why we celebrate at Christmas.

The second purpose of Christmas is salvation.

That’s the second thing that the angels mention when they announce the birth of Jesus. The bible says, “Today, in the town of Bethlehem, a savior [there’s the salvation part] has been born to you, and He is Christ the Lord.”

Let me just make a point here. God never wastes any energy. He doesn’t do stuff that isn’t needed. So if you didn’t need a savior, believe me, He wouldn’t have gone to all the effort and trouble to send one. Does that make sense? God does not waste energy on things you don’t need. But the fact that He sent a savior to Earth means you need one. Whether you realize it or not, you need a savior.

A lot of people have trouble understanding salvation. I bet there are a lot of people you may have spoken to that know you are a Christian or attend youth ministry on Friday nights that may ask, “saved from what?” What does it mean to be saved? People say, “He was saved!” Was he drowning or something? But “saved” is just a another word for rescued, set free, or released.

How many times have you said that in your life, “Oh, God, I messed up- please get me out of this?” When you say that, you need a savior. Every time you go, “God, I need Your help,” you need a savior. “God, get me out of this.”

So what are you saved from?

First you’re saved from sin. That’s what Jesus’ name means. “Jesus” means “to save people from their sin.” In fact, Joseph was told in a dream these words “Give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sin.” That’s what “Jesus” means.

What in the world is sin anyway? What’s sin? Everybody’s got their list. I used to have a list. Don’t drink, don’t cuss, don’t smoke, don’t run around with girls who do. The fact is, everybody’s got their list. You’ve got your list of what you think is sin, and I’ve got my list.

But you know what sin really is- sin is an attitude. It’s not something you do. It’s an attitude. It’s, “I want to be my own boss. I don’t need God. It’s saying “God, You do Your thing and I’ll do my thing.” Sin is saying, “God, I know what will make me happy more than You do.

The Bible says that every one of us has had that attitude at times in our life when we’ve said, “I’m just going to do what I want to do. Forget God. We usually think that way when we’re frustrated, or when we’re angry, or when we’re hurt. But that attitude causes us to be separated from God. That’s why when you pray, you may feel like your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, because they do. There’s a separation between you and God. That’s why He sent Jesus as a savior.

Every one of your problems is caused by sin, that separation from God. Every single one of them. Sin causes confusion in your life. Sin causes guilt in your life. Sin causes shame in your life. It causes regret. It causes bitterness, resentment, and grudges. It causes worry. It causes fear. It causes anxiety. Sin causes depression. It causes discouragement. It causes emptiness. It causes despair. It causes conflict between you and other people. Every single one of your problems is caused because you’re not connected to God. If sin causes all of that, why go on sinning?

As a result of that, Jesus said, “I want to set you free. I want to release you. I want to save you.” Jesus said I want to save you from the burden of guilt. Jesus wants to set you free from the pain of bitterness. He wants to set you free from the fear of death. He wants to set you free from the burden of worry. And anxiety and stress. God doesn’t want you wandering around with all the unhappiness sin causes in your life. He wants to set you free.”

Maybe you’ve never really realized that you need a savior. Maybe some of you here tonight have never even thought about it, or have thought about it and just ignored it, thinking your sin will just go away like a cold or cut on your finger.

I know it doesn’t look like it today, but I was a lifeguard at a summer camp during college. And every lifeguard knows that one of the rules of life guarding is that you cannot save somebody as long as they’re trying to save themselves. When you swim out to somebody who is drowning in the ocean, and they’re just flailing around in panic trying to save themselves, any wise lifeguard knows, just stay back for a few seconds, tread water, and wait until they give up. Because if you try to save them while they’re trying to save themselves, they will pull you under with them. So you just tread water until finally they give up, they relax.

God wants to save you because you too are drowning, slowly. Jesus Christ wants to save you from your hurts. He wants to save you from your habits. He wants to save you from your hang-ups. But you’ve got to quit trying to do it yourself. You’ve got to relax. Just take a deep breath right now. Just relax. You need to let go and let God be God.

The first purpose of Christmas is celebration – “I bring you good news of great joy and it’s for everybody.”

The second purpose this Christmas is salvation – “For unto you is born this day a savior and He’s Christ the Lord.”

Here’s the third purpose of Christmas – Reconciliation.

Here’s the third thing the angel said at the very first Christmas. “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace good will toward men.” The third announcement was, “Let there be peace on Earth and good will toward men.” That’s called reconciliation.

What is reconciliation? It’s when a broken relationship is restored. When a boyfriend and girlfriend get back together. Or a husband and wife get back together, there’s reconciliation. When a father and son reconcile. They restore harmony, they restore peace between each other.

Where do you need peace in your life this Christmas? That’s what Christmas is all about. Peace on Earth, good will toward men.

In that poll I just talked about, people were also asked “Where do you need peace?” Here’s what some of them said:

Where would you like to see peace?

“Peace? Everywhere I guess. I’d like to see peace everywhere.”

“I’d like to see peace in the broken families.”

“I’d love to see peace in politics.”

“With each other.”

“In my heart.”

“I’d like to see it at home.”

“I’d like to see peace in my life.”

“Peace? Right in this country of ours.”

“Between my parents!”

“Between me and my parents!”

Have you made peace with God? If you haven’t, I am here to tell you that you need to. And soon. Because one day, you will face Him. You need to make peace with God.

How do you do it? You don’t do it by promising to be a good person. You don’t do it by being perfect. You don’t do it by coming to church every Sunday. You can’t do it based on how much money you give to the Church. You don’t do it by never sinning. No- You make peace by faith. Faith in God’s grace. That’s how you get it.

Jesus said it like this – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” If you’re really a child of God, if you really know Christ, the Prince of peace, you’re going to be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker, at work. You’re going to be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker, at home or at school. You’re going to build people up, not tear them down. You’re going to compliment more than you criticize. You’re going to love people the way Jesus loves people.

Christmas is the perfect time to show grace to other people. So let me ask you a very frank question: Who do you need to rebuild a relationship with this Christmas? Who do you need to restore a broken relationship with this Christmas? Who do you need to reconcile with, to make peace with? I need to reconcile with my Mother. That’s the spirit of Christmas. Peace on Earth, good will toward men.

You may say, that’s easy for you to say Bob, but I just can’t do it. When families get together at Christmas time, it raises up a whole lot of bad memories a lot of times. And past hurts and a lot of dysfunction and a lot of things that you just haven’t let go of. So you say, “I can’t let go of it. They hurt me too bad. I can’t forgive them.”

And you know what? You’re right. You can’t forgive or reconcile…on your own. That’s why you need Jesus. You don’t have it in you to let it go. But in order to let it go, you’re going to have to let Jesus Christ fill you with His love so you can love other people the way He does.

You know, I absolutely believe without a shadow of a doubt that you’re not here by accident. God knew, before you were born, that you would be here at the RISE tonight. In fact, before God created the universe, God already knew that He was going to create you. And before you were even born, He knew that on December 21st, 2007 in the sanctuary at Christ Community Church in East Taunton, Massachusetts, you would be sitting here. And pointing to this moment so He could get your attention for just a few seconds so He could say this to you: “I’ve seen every hurt in your life. And I never stopped loving you. You matter to Me. I love you, no matter what you have done, or thought, or said, or felt. I love you more than you will ever know. I’ve been watching and waiting for you to love Me back. You’re not here just by accident. But I want you to know Me. I want the rest of your life to be the best of your life. I love you. I’m with you. And I’m for you. I want to save you from your past. If you’ll let Me do that, I will give you peace with Me, peace of Me, and peace with other people. But You’ve got to open the door. You’ve got to receive the Christmas gift.”

The Bible says this, “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from. If you want God, and you’re ready to do as He says, the door is open.” Let me say it again. I don’t really care what your religious background is. You may be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, Baptist, Hindu, or nothing – no religion. But, this is not about religion. God did not send Jesus to give religion. He sent Jesus so you could have a personal relationship with God.

I’m going to pray a prayer right now that I prayed a few years ago on the train home from Boston when I stepped across the line and became a friend of God’s. It’s a pretty simple prayer. As I pray in just a minute – I’m going to ask you to bow your heads – and if these words express the desire in your heart, you just say in your mind, “Me too, God. Me too. I’m in. I’m stepping across the line.” Are you man enough to have the courage to do that? Are you a woman with enough sense to do that? If you are, please see one of the team leaders after the prayer. We can help you move across the line, and close the deal. And accept this free Christmas gift from God.

Let’s Pray:
Dear God, I’m scared. But I want to get to know You. I don’t understand it all. But I thank You that You love me. I thank You that You’re with me even when I didn’t recognize it. I thank You that You’re for me. That You didn’t send Jesus to condemn me, but to save me. I admit I never even realized I needed a savior. But today I want to receive Your Christmas gift of Your Son. I ask You to save me from my past, from my regrets, from my mistakes, from my sins, from my habits and my hurts and my hang ups that mess up my life. Save me from myself. I ask You to save me for Your purpose. I want to know why You put me on this planet. And I want to be what You want me to be. I want to fulfill what You made me to do. I want to learn to love You and to trust You and have a relationship with You. I need peace with You, God. And I need You to put the peace of God in my heart. To take away that stress and to fill me with Your self and Your love. Help me to be a peacemaker. To help others find the peace with You and with each other. In Your name I pray. Amen.

(thanks to Rick Warren for making the skeleton of this message available)

RR4TRW ("Road Rules for the Real World") : How to Deal with STRESS

2007-11-12T08:55:00.000-05:00

Dealing With Stress
Bob Hewitt

I like the truth. Who here knows who Paul Pierce is? Anyone know his nickname? That’s right- The Truth. Now don’t get me mistaken for a star basketball player like Paul Pierce- I mean, c’mon- I just about kept up you guys during dodge ball at one of this summer’s cookouts. But I will tell you this- if you ask people where I work about me, those that care to admit they know me will tell you one thing- I tell it REAL and I tell what I hope is the truth. No wishy-washy, politically correct nonsense. The truth. And if you go to my myspace page, you will see that the word “truth” is the focal point.

So, when I am given this great privilege to address you guys, I treat it like it’s my last day on earth- that talking to you is the most important thing I could have ever done with my life. And I can tell you truthfully, that’s how Tim feels when he sings and leads worship, how Derek feels when he gives his message, or when Lauren or Matt meet and talk with anyone of you here. That’s why I like to title my messages “Road Rules 4 the Real World.” I like to talk about real life stuff, and maybe give you something you can use today.

So today I want to be real and talk about a real life issue for all us- about dealing with stress. As I say this, some of you say, “Where were you six months ago when I was in the middle of a heavy second semester and finals and all the stuff going on. But, I could talk about this any week and it would be relevant to where you and I live.

On Sunday I was doing media for Celebration Sunday and was talking to a couple of students who don’t come to RISE very often and told them to come tonight because we were going to talk about stress and what the Bible has to say about stress. School’s just been in two months and they go, “My calendar is already full!

Once a year or so, we as a family like to get away. We are blessed to be able to do this every year or so. So, we take the dog to the kennel, stop the mail for a few days, pack up our bags, and go. Just the three of us for about a week or so. Nothing extravagant or fancy- just a chance to get away, rest, kind of recharge our batteries. No agenda. Just to be together. It is always great, even if it rains on us. It is great…until…until we are driving back from the airport….and slowly back into our driveway…and I know what’s behind the front door when I unlock it- about 400 emails, dozens of phone calls, mail stacked high, issues and problems at work where everybody needed something from me, no matter how stupid it was. All of a sudden after about a week or so of rest, there we are- back at it like we never left- spinning out of control with all of the stuff we though we left behind when we boarded our flight to “just get away.”

But in the middle of running to the computer to check emails, to the mailbox to get that stack of mail, to the kennel to go retrieve our retriever, I also know something in the back of my mind- that is, I also know that God understands our stress because He wired us up and He created this playground for us to live in. He knows how to deal with it best. No me.

Here’s some things that stress does to you and me:

1. Stress causes me to be SELF-CENTERED.

Stress forces us just to think about ourselves. We maybe driving along this road called life nice and smoothly, and boom- something hits us when we’re not looking and it throws us off the road. And all we can think of is this- how do I get back on the road? How do I make myself feel better. How do I help myself. This is the epitome of self-centeredness.

Pastor John puts it pretty simply…all of us, now matter how old we are, no matter how much is going on in our lives, no matter how important we think the things we are doing are…as we go through life, we are either just getting out of a crisis, are in a crisis, or about to enter into a crisis.

2. Another result of stress is you have AVERAGE relationships.

Now, we have been talking a lot at RISE and in the flocks about relationships as we just finished up the 40 Days of Community. But when we are stressed out, your ability to care for other people is diminished. You love less and the result is just average relationships.

3. Stress also causes us to look for quick FIXES.

If I cheat here I can take care of this. If I lie here I can take care of this. If I steal this it will solve this problem. We compromise. We look for quick fixes.

But, the biggest thing that stress does, whether you know it or not, is this….

4. Stress causes us to put God ON HOLD.

Some of you in here will make a very conscious choice to go through four years of high school and never do anything for God. You’ll never serve him in any way. If you’re a Christian (and I realize not everybody in here is) God has gifted you, given you a very specific gift to serve the world and to serve the church. Some of you here may say “I'm too busy! I'm too busy for a small group. I'm too busy to do a ministry. I'm too busy to get involved.” But, if that’s your thinking, if that’s your attitude, then I can assure you of one thing- you’ve missed out on one of the greatest blessings in your life. You put God on hold. Stress causes us to do that.

So here are some truths about stress:

In the Real world I will HAVE STRESS.

I am not going to stand up before you and tell you that you can live a life without stress. That’s a lie. You will have stress. As a high school student, as a teenager today you are the most stressed out generation of any other generation in the history of the world.

Do you want to know why your generation is being hit with more stress than any generation before it? Why it’s hitting you more than it hit me, more than it hit my parents or their parents? It’s because the more progressive a society is, the more stressful that society is. We are a very progressive society- what I mean by that is that the world today is consumed with the thought of consuming- what can I have, and how soon can I have it. You guys have things today that puts my generation to shame. Some of that is good, some of that is bad. Teens today have no idea of life without a cell phone. Teens today have no idea of life without text messaging. Teens today have no idea of life without 24/7 internet access. Many teens today have no idea of life without an unlimited credit card, or their own car. Don’t get me wrong- I am not here to chastise you for having these things. It’s everywhere. But, the more progressive you are, the more you have, the more you need to gratify yourself with stuff, the more stressed you are.

If you don’t believe me, talk to any of the students or folks that have gone on the mission trips to Peru. You really want to know the truth behind this…take some time to talk to John Kinsley when he gets back from the Ukraine working with abandoned teens in that country. You can even talk to Tim about what he saw when he went with Kinsley on a missions trip.

These places are not not very progressive and you’re going to see kickback people. When you go to Peru, you’re also going to see famine. You’re going to see yellow hair because of lack of proper nutrition. You’re going to see blown up, emaciated bodies. But when CCC goes to these places, they will also see these little kids in these villages who don’t have toys. They don’t have Xbox and Guitar Hero 3. They don’t have musical instruments. Children are playing games with rocks and sticks, and teens like you are playing soccer with a tin can, and they couldn’t be happier. No video game console to show the red ring of death- no video games for $59.99. No cell phones that have run out of minutes. No second hand cars that have run out of gas, or life.

So here are some action steps to turn stress into peace…Three things to take out of here today. Things to think about. I encourage you to try to apply these to your life so that you don’t waste your time and I don’t waste my breath. I don’t think any of these action steps are easy, to be honest. Peace is not easy. The world outside those front doors does not want you to have peace, especially the internal peace that faith in Jesus Christ will definitely give you.

TAKING ACTION

1. BECOME who God created you to be.

Think about this. I'm not going to spend much time on this but this is a biggie for most high school students.

In Philippians 4 – Paul wrote this from prison “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Here’s a dude not writing from the Hilton by a pool but writing from a jail saying, “I’ve learned to be content.” Why did he have peace? Because he knew whose he was, and he knew who Jesus was. He was a Christian.

Compromise increases stress. Some of you in here, if you haven’t done it already, have been tempted this year in school to compromise to fit in. “If I lower my standards I can fit in with this group.” Most of us spend our entire life trying to be a carbon copy when God created us to be an original masterpiece. God created you to be an original masterpiece. There’s nobody like you. And you spend all this energy and money and time and stress trying to carbon copy other people. You compromise who you are. You compromise your standard. You compromise your values to fit in. You want less stress? Learn to become what God created you to be. What’s more stressful- being who you really are, or all the energy you need to fake who you are. It’s stressful being a phony.

Some of you in here may say “OK, what happens if I don't compromise? Will God still be in control?” I can assure you that God accepts total responsibility for the life that is totally surrendered to him. You don’t have to worry. God cares more about your life than you do. God cares more about your success than you do. God cares more about your future than you do. God cares more about your happiness than you do. God cares more about your relationships than you do. God cares more about your parents than you do. God cares more about your life than you do. And when you learn (and I use the word “learn” because it doesn’t happen over night) to become the person God created you to be your stress is going to go down.

2. Give up control THROUGH PRAYER.

2 Corinthians 1:9: In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

So, here are your two options when it comes to something that’s stressing you out.

One, I will handle it myself. I can barely dress myself let alone handle the stressors in life. If I do handle it myself what happens. I Worry which results in panic. I don't think I'm alone on that.

The second option is this: God handles it. I don't worry. I replace worry with prayer. I pray and the result of that is peace.

Philippians 4:6-7 says: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Do a little homework this week. Trust me in this. Just try to pray every morning – I'm not going to say for an hour, or for 30 minutes but for three minutes – 21 minutes all week. Start your day by praying. Say, “God, here are some of the things that are stressing me out.” Offer them up to God.

Some of you are thinking, I’ve done that. I’ve prayed and nothing happened. I prayed about my parents divorce and they still got divorced. I prayed that I wouldn’t get abused, and I got abused. I prayed that I wouldn’t a bad grade, and I got a bad grade. I prayed that my girlfriend or boyfriend wouldn’t break up with my, and they broke up with me the very next day. So what’s up with that?!

I want you to know that God heard your prayer. God hears prayer about no more war, about helping little kids who can’t walk because they have MS, about helping family members with cancer, about helping friends and family that have lost their jobs, about people in this room who have prayed, please, don’t let me lose my boyfriend or girlfriend. And I know that there are people in this room that are worried right now about friends and family in harm’s way… I think of xxxxxxxxxx, and all that he has been through with his mom’s health, but how his prayer, and the prayer of his Brothers and Sisters in Christ in this room have hopefully helped him maybe just a little in going through what he has to see. I think of xxxxxxxxxxx, and all the stuff he goes through, and how God has answered his prayers for a life of stability, for a life of true happiness, for a life where he can honor God. I think of xxxxxx, and how tough it must be for xxxxx, but how God continues to bless her with boundless grace. Her strength in facing the unknown truly amazes me. But I know one thing- just ask her, and she will tell you that there is no way on earth she could get through her week knowing her fiancé is in a dangerous place without knowing that Jesus was leading her, not the other way around.

But some of us here don’t think of God in that way. They may think of God as some magic genie that you say, “God, this is what I want,” and He says, “Okay. Let me give that to you!”

In my house when I am alone, I sometimes get on my knees and pray. For me it’s a picture of humility. I say, “God, here’s my day and I'm stressed out with all the things I’ve got to do and all these people that want something from me. There’s not enough time. And would you help me with this situation? And here’s a concern I have and here’s a need I have.” Here’s the key to prayer, and this is the most important thing I can tell you tonight-

When I pray, my situation or my circumstances may not change immediately, BUT I CHANGE. Let me repeat that- When I pray, my situation or my circumstances may not change immediately, BUT I CHANGE.

That’s the miracle of prayer in your life. Not that your girlfriend or boyfriend won’t break up with you. Not that a family member who is sick will get better. Not that all of the sudden there is no more war, and those of us who have family and friends in Iraq or Afganistan will magically re-appear next to us, where they belong. No- the power of prayer is that you change. That’s why in the midst of cruising through life, you and I can have peace far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

Here’s the last action step:

3. You obey GOD’S WAY.

Some of you are saying, “I would expect you to say that!” Maybe you are saying, what else would a church say? But let me tell you something…When you don’t live the way God intended you to live, you will have unnecessary stress.

For example. If I go outside after tonight and I kill someone, God does not want me to live that way. It’s one of the guidelines He set up in the Bible. If I kill that person, I disobey God’s way and what happens? All of a sudden there is stress. I'm stressed out, then the cops come and throw handcuffs on me and I go to jail and I never see my family, ever. That is a consequence.

Not every consequence is that intense. Last Sunday I did the media for Celebration Sunday. All of us who worked for that great worship experience got to Taunton High at around 7am, unloaded all the equipment, set-up the instruments, the sound, the videos stuff, the powerpoint slides. Everything was going along pretty smoothly. Until we had to get the projectors to work for the screens. James can attest to this, cause without him, there would have been no video testimonies, no lyrics, stuff like that. But there we are, five minutes until worship starts, and we have screens that say “Dell.” No powerpoint. No video. Nada. And I’m at the soundboard in the back freaking out, because I know there are five different worship bands on stage, including Pastor John, who are relying on those lyrics, the sermon outline, all that stuff so that people can meet with God for that hour of worship. So, right at 10am, all systems are go- everything appears to be going smoothly. The laptop is running the projectors, and everything is OK. Until a minute later, when someone must have tripped over one of the power lines, and everything goes black. And then a power surge hits my laptop and it goes down. I can tell you that that was one mightly lonely experience…I have like five people staring at me back at the soundboard- telling me hey, there’s no picture on the screen. And I’m sitting there thinking, Oh really, thank you Captain Obvious. And I’m sweating, I’m shaking, and getting really stressed out. But, at that moment, I realized I was not living life in God’s Way, but my way. So, instead of continuing to freak out and give in, I actually stopped while worship continued around me. I actually prayed with the worship going on around me and without the media. And by God’s grace alone, everything came back up. It was a miracle, a mini one, but a miracle at that.

Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Let’s say Whitty is blind. If I let Whitty just wander around the stage tonight, what’s he going to do? He’s going to trip over the monitors, step on Tim’s guitar and get the tar beat out of him later, fall off stage and hurt himself. But what if all I did was just hang out with Whitty, and say “You’re going in the right direction, and Watch out and Step up.” I'm guiding him through and I am all over him and I am directing him. This type of relationship, this type of guidance is keeping Whitty safe. I am reducing the stress in his life. God says “I want to be that for you. I’ll give you perfect peace if you keep your mind on me.”

It’s like being a train on a track. I am the little engine that could. In fact, I'm the bald engine missing two front teeth that could. I'm on this track. And as I'm cruising through life as the little engine that could and I think to myself, “These tracks are so confining. I wish I could jump the track and go into that river.” But the truth is it’s not confining. It’s leading in the right direction. It’s leading to life in Christ!

You know, I would become a Christian even if I didn’t believe in heaven. I would become a Christian just so I could be forgiven, to have a clear conscious. I do believe there is a heaven and my journey of being a Christian for the past few years is a journey to try to live God’s way. I’ve blown it countless times, including today. I have not always been obedient. But I do know if you want to reduce the stress you start here. You obey God.

Today’s November 9, and Target and Walmart are already reminding us that there are “only” about 49 shopping days until Christmas. I can’t stand that. As a new believer, I can tell you that all the commercials and newspapers inserts about buying all this crap because it is Christmas just really aggravates me. Christmas- the birthday of our Risen Lord- reduced to a sale on nerf guns, bad cologne, and disgusting fruit cakes. But, here’s a chance for you- just a month and a half before we celebrate the birth of Christ- 49 days out…would you close the deal with God? Maybe you have been a seeker for years, maybe a month, maybe just tonight. Close the deal. Right now say “God, I want a relationship with you. Would you forgive me of my sins? Let’s get this guilt over with and start living life the way life was intended to be lived.” So, obey God’s way.

If you’re sitting there and you’ve never said yes before, maybe just say in the best way you know how, “God, I want a relationship with you. I'm not looking for religion. I'm looking for a relationship. As much as I understand that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and to forgive me of my past and to secure a place for me in heaven. I want that. Forgive me, God. I want a relationship with you.” That’s all it takes. He stands at your heart’s door and knocks. He’s not going to barge his way in. You have to invite him in. Let Him in, and never feel the same way again.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, would you help us to realize that peace is not the absence of conflict, it’s not having everything go our way, it’s not having no deadlines or pressures. Peace is found in you. When we are obedient to your way, you give us a peace we can’t even understand. Some of us have seen this peace in other people. We’ve wondered why in the midst of a crisis they’re able to live of life of peace. Maybe now it becomes a little more clear. God, as these students go to school each day and stress and turmoil and crisis and relationships and conflicts enter in, may some of us in here put these action steps to work in our life that we might obey your way, not the world’s way, not our way.

Thanks God that you love us and you don’t want us to live in a stressed out way, that you do have some answers. Thanks for your love - that you love us not for what we look like or how we dress. That you love us because you created each of us as an original masterpiece, and you want us to call you “Father” and be your children. For that we’re thankful. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

RR4TRW ("Road Rules for the Real World") : LIVING IT UP

2007-10-22T07:15:00.000-04:00

Tonight I want to talk a little about how all this talk the last couple of weeks about 40 Days of Community, friendships, relationships, and that sort of stuff can help each of every one of you to live life to its fullest.

How do you really live it up? If you and I could spend some one-on-one time together, maybe after church, we’d go to Wendy’s or Dunkin Donuts, and I’d ask you “What do you want to get out of life?” Most people would say, in whatever words they would choose to use, “I want to live it up!”, or some other words, like “I want to have a great life” or “I just want to be liked.” Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “Boy, I really hope my life sucks today.” You just don’t do that. If you’re breathing and you’re alive, you want to live it up. You want to live life to the fullest. But, alot of times, what the world says is this: the way for you to live it up is if you drink it up, if you party it up, if you smoke it up, if you sex it up, if you buy it up. People try to do all that stuff, and what happens is, after they’ve done it all, they feel a little empty- maybe a lot empty. That wasn’t the answer to living it up…no, I’m here to tell you tonight that there is a key I want to give you about living a maximum life, and it is all about what the flocks have been reading about this past week – growing together and connecting into deep relationships.

What am I saying? What I am saying is that if you want to live it up, you’ve got to connect in deep relationships. I’m not talking about a friendship- sure, a friendship is a relationship, but often not a very deep one. In fact, most of our friendships are really like the relationships Derek talked about when CCC first started the 40 Days of Community a few weeks ago- that is, if you look closely and are honest with yourself, most of our “friendships” are pretty superficial- which is a five dollar word for shallow, phony, not real. Don’t get me wrong- I don’t want you to leave here tonight and tell all your friends you don’t want to be their friend anymore and accuse them of being phony or shallow. That’s not the point.

But, a friendship is when you put yourself at the center. You say, “I don’t want to be lonely this Friday night, so I need a friend.” “I don’t want to walk to school by myself, so I need a friend.” It’s more “I”- centered. It’s when yourself is at the center – that’s a friendship. Anybody can do that- ever noticed just how easy it is to put yourself first, front and center?

But there is a deeper level of friendship. At some point, maybe Christ is the common bond between the friends. Johnny has a relationship with Christ, and his friend Tommy also has a relationship with Christ- now, Johnny and Tommy have a relationship that’s deeper than a friendship- they have a relationship called “fellowship.”

Fellowship is another word you have probably heard thrown around a lot…Fellowship is a little churchy, Bible word. It means that I might love another person as I love myself, a deeper, I-want-to-care-for-you friendship. What I’m suggesting, if you really want to live it up in life, is that you’ve got to connect with at least a couple of other people at a deeper level.

Now, you may be asking Why? Is that a big deal? Why is a deep, connecting relationship a big deal? I have tons of friends and people I know at school, at work, even here at church. But I want to ask you- could you honestly rely on them if you had a problem, and more importantly, could they rely on you if they had a problem? Would you really listen to them with a soft, caring heart, or would you be a stone-faced sounding board, quickly bored with their problem, and looking for someone to come by, or for your cell phone to ring so you could get out of the discussion?

The first reason you need this deeper, meaning relationship is that many of us in here are lonely. We won’t admit it to the people that are sitting to your left or to your right. And it doesn’t matter if you are a girl or a guy. We disguise it under the appearance of being cool, like Derek said last week. But many of us in here are lonely. It’s not something that’s the first thing out of your mouth – “By the way Whitty, I’m lonely!” We usually don’t do that. But we all have the emptiness. There are some of you in here, no matter how cool you look, how cool you talk, how cool the stuff you have- you’re screaming out, “Could somebody just like me for who I am? Do I have to be in ‘this’ clique to be liked? Do I have to smoke ‘this’ to be liked? Do I have to drink alcohol to be liked? Do I have to have pre-marital sex to be liked? Do I have to party to be liked? Do I have to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to be liked? Good God Can’t you just like me for who I am?!”

Let me read you a letter a 16-year-old girl recently write to her youth pastor in a town in the mid west: She writes, “I am 16. I spend time at both my mom and my dad’s house. I feel like I’m an inconvenience to both of them. At my mom’s house, I don’t have a room. My mom isn’t there for me when I need her because she always has something more important to do. At least that’s how it feels to me. I’m having trouble with my so-called ‘friends.’ Everyone seems so fake. There’s no depth in our conversation. It’s all about gossip, tearing each other and others down, and lies. It’s hard to know who true my friends are. I used to think I wanted popularity. Now I’ve got it, and it’s not what I want. What I really want is one friend – just one friend, who is real, accepting, and loving. And if this isn’t possible, I’m not sure my life is worth living.”

This may or may not describe you. My guess is that if you re-read this letter, many of you could have easily wrote it. And that’s why my claim is that if you don’t have a deep, connecting friendship, you will have this hollowness or emptiness or loneliness about you. On the flip side, when you do have some vibrant friendships, some deep friendships, some friendships that break the surface level, that are not fake like that girl wrote in her letter, or superficial like Derek talked about a few weeks ago, you will feel full in your soul. You’ll live life differently. You’ll actually live it up. It’s one of the key ingredients. What’s gets to me, in a world of cell phones, wireless communication, instant messengers, myspace pages, pagers, video phones, is that we have all this technology to help us connect, and yet we’re lonelier than we’ve ever been. Our cell phones are connected. Our Comcast internet access is connected. Then why do I feel so disconnected?! And people, let me clue you in on a little secret- it’s not just one or all of you at the RISE tonight that may feel disconnected…no, I confess in front of all you, that often, I feel disconnected. So you are not alone. Feeling lonely or disconnected is not a kid thing, not a student thing, not a youth thing. It’s a human thing. And God knew this would be a problem from the beginning of time, from the Garden of Eden, when he said in Genesis 1:18- “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make him a helper who is right for him.” And, with God’s grace, we were never intended to be alone again- we were formed to be in a deep, meaningful relationship.

But, the more important reason why deep, meaningful relationships are important is because God created us to be in relationships. Maybe some of you don’t believe this. You believe that you evolved from some ooze millions and millions of years ago. Okay. If that’s the case, then there’s really no reason for connecting in relationships, there’s no reason for the flocks, and there is no reason for the RISE.

The Bible says He created us in His image and we can have a personal relationship with Him, and because of that, we can have relationships with one another. Here’s a pretty cool way to think about it- people are most happy when they have this vertical relationship with God and a horizontal, deep, connecting relationship with other people, especially other beleivers. It’s like the cross- a vertical relationship with God, and a horizontal deep connecting relationship with others (make sign of cross).

Sometimes when I say that, that Our God is a personal God, some of you get a little confused. And let me tell you, when I say that to people in my family from Delaware, or to people at work, you would think I just landed from Mars! A personal God? You mean like God’s a little genie in a lamp, and I just rub it, and He does whatever I want? Or God is a divine puppet that I can control, a cosmic bellhop. You ring a bell, and He’ll come running. No, that’s not our God. Our God isn’t subject to your imagination.

When I say He’s a personal God, what I mean by that is He’s not IMpersonal. He’s not a lifeless energy force that just set the world spinning, like some people believe, and then He took off. God is very relational. He created you to have a relationship with Him and with other people.

What’s amazing is people function better, people feel better, food tastes better, the air smells fresher, all when we have deep, connecting relationships. There’s something about how God has wired us that we do better with other people. We are indeed better together.

I haven’t done all the research on this so excuse me if I sound a little off on this. But I recently heard about something a little bizarre. It’s called Kangaroo Therapy. Kangaroo Therapy is this new type of relational therapy. When babies are born after a full 9-month pregnancy, the average baby is somewhere between seven and nine pounds. But, there’s another type of baby that is born early. They call it a premature baby. Maybe you’ve heard of “preemies.” Some of you are pretty familiar with this- you may have been a preemie, had one in your family, or a friend’s family. Preemies are born anywhere from 1.5 – 2 pounds to 4 or 5 pounds. They’re just born early, and they’re very, very small. This baby can’t go home with the parents so they are put it in a little incubator. When it’s in the incubator, it will gain about an ounce a day. So if my math is right, it’ll take about sixteen days for it to gain a pound.

What they’re finding with Kangaroo Therapy is that, if the parents come in and hold the baby up against themselves like a baby is held by a Kangaroo parent, the baby can gain up to ten ounces a day.

Is there a connection here? You bet there is. In isolation, in that incubator, the preemie baby doesn’t grow as much. In relationship or in connection to another person, the baby flourishes and grows. The reason I tell you this is it’s a great picture of how God has wired us and designed us. We work best when we’re connected in a deep, meaningful relationship to somebody else, even if it’s a baby that cannot speak.

As a matter of fact, there is something equally as fascinating- if you take Christianity all the way back to its roots, what do you find? Relationships.

Here’s a snapshot: Jesus, two thousand years ago, walked the earth – God in flesh. He lived a perfect life to die for our sins. The last three years of His life, from years 30 – 33, he began what is known as His public ministry, where He began to teach about God. Everything you need to know about God isn’t about these rules and regulations that you must follow about what you must wear and must eat, and how or when to pray, or how much money you should give the church. It’s about a relationship with God.

One of His followers was named Peter. Sometimes, when I read the life of Peter, it describes me. His spiritual journey has all kinds of ups and downs. He’s loud, obnoxious, and impulsive. He got a little wild one time when they came to arrest Jesus, and he pulls out his sword and goes to strike the dude and cuts off his ear. Jesus said, “Whoa. Time out. That’s not what we’re about.” But after Jesus was crucified on the cross and arose from the dead and ascended to heaven, the beginning of Christianity started with just these believers in Jesus. I don’t know how many, but not a lot.

In Acts 2:38, Peter gives a message: ’Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.’ Then those people who accepted what Peter said were baptized. About three thousand people were added to the number of believers that day.”

If you read the book of Acts, that’s where it started. One message, people believed, and they were added to the church.

In the beginning of the church, notice what they did. “They joined with other believers then devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s supper and in prayer…and all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need.”

“They were joined with those of like mind.” It wasn’t people who dressed like them, or came from the same type of homes. It was people who were like-minded in the faith. They believed that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, the Son of God who died on the cross for the payment of our sins. They were joined with like-minded people.

They were committed to grow and learn. They said, “We’re going to learn more about this God that loves us and wants a relationship with us.” They were passionate about meeting needs. at’s the early church. That’s the roots of Christianity. They were joined together, they grew and learned, and they met needs. Some of us wouldn’t give our friends five bucks. But these guys sold everything they had to make sure people were taken care of. That’s more than a casual friendship- that’s the love Christ wants us to show each other in a true fellowship.

You might say, “So what?” Well, let me show you the results. Peter continues by saying “The believers met together in the Temple every day. They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. They praised God and were liked by all the people. Every day the Lord added those who were being saved to the group of believers.”

They praised God; they enjoyed relationships with each other. And on a daily basis, people were being saved. Why were people being saved? Because they were looking around and saying, “If this is Christianity, I want in. If this is how you treat each other, I want a part of it. If I can have a relationship with a personal God, I want in!”

So what I’m saying to you is, if you want to live it up, if you want to live life to its fullest, pursue those deep, meaningful, connecting relationships. Those are the relationships that changed the world 2 thousand years ago, and they will change your world as well.

So how do you do this? How can I have something better than a superficial or shallow friendship with people who are probably uninterested in me. Let me give you some action steps and some things to think about.

1. Recognizing your role in the body. No, not your body, but The body of Christ. What does that mean? Romans 12:5 says “We are all parts of His one body, and each of us has different work to do. Since we’re all one body in Christ, we belong to each other. And each of us needs all the others.” [Needs each other- not needs myself- needs each OTHER].

Bob Hewitt has needs. Derek Jones has needs. Lauren Ferris has needs. Tim Conrad has needs. Firdaus Jones has needs. Matt Medeiros has needs. Kyle Whitty has needs. Mark Grinham has needs……..And those needs simply can’t be met by going to the ATM, getting some cash, and buying it- no, those needs are met by the fact that we belong to other people like-minded in the faith. I have needs that I belong to a body.

So what is your role? Your role is to belong to the body of Christ. When you are not connected to another person in the body of Christ, you’re not complete. You’re not fully alive.

Ephesians 4 says, “Under God’s direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. Each part does its own special work and helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

So the first step is to burn the following thought in your mind and never forget it until the day you die: “I belong to the body of Christ.”

Step 2 - Take a step of faith to get connected.

I already suggested that each of us is lonely, but God created us to be in relationship. You’ve already done this to a degree. Just the fact that you walked into this sanctuary, maybe for your first time, it took a step of faith. A couple of weeks ago at Reality Check:Desperation, we had about 300 high school students come into this very sanctuary. It took faith for a lot of them to enter those doors, even if they only came for a chance to win an XBox. Some of you here- whether you have been coming for a long time or this is your first time at RISE, were invited by a friend: “Church? Dude! No way!” But, Hallelujah you get here, and it doesn’t feel like church. We have hung some murals on the wall, have some pretty cool lighting, a great youth band, not the typical church setting. And you may be saying, “Where’s the steeple? I don’t get it.” But you took a step of faith to come in here.

Who here went to Reality Check:Desperation? You know looking back at that great event, I am pretty sure there were at least 600 students from the surrounding area that knew that the event was taking place. Now, of the 300 or so students that went to Reality Check, there were probably another 300 that did not come because they didn’t have that faith. Even coming to an event like Reality Check may have been too scary for them. I understand that. I really do. But you have already taken that step of faith to be here tonight. I want to say to you, “One more step! Take that step to get connected.” Over the past few weeks we have been encouraging each of every one of you to sign up for a flock. And it’s never too late to join a flock, because it’s never, ever too late to establish a deep, meaningful relationship that you may enjoy for the rest of your life. I know first-hand. Before I came to RISE last September just to help out with powerpoint, I never really knew what a true, meaningful relationship was with someone outside of my marriage. And let me tell you, my marriage means everything to me- I have been married for 21 years, and my wife is still my best friend and supporter. But since coming to RISE last fall, I now have some true, meaningful relationships with others. I look at Derek and Firdaus, Matt, Lauren, and Tim, and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that they mean the world to me. I don’t see them as often as I would like, because we all have this life and work stuff all week. And I am not scared to tell them publicly that I love them, and would do anything I could for them. So, Derek, Firdaus, Matt, Lauren, Tim- I love you, and would do anything I could for you. I say the same thing to the guys in my flock, and I am not bashful or embarrassed to say it- Mark, Abe, Zach, Billy, Iverson- I love you guys, and would do anything I could for you.
Here’s a HUGE challenge- everyone stand up - could anyone of you here tonight say the same thing, honestly and with a straight face, to someone here who means to you what the guys in my flock or the youth leaders mean to me, that you love them? How many- raise your hands! Why wait? I challenge you to do this now! (okay, thanks, sit for just a few more minutes)

Saying I lover you or being part of a flock is real risky- I understand that. Especially for guys. Guys, I understand. We THINK we’ve got to be a little cooler. And the thought of being in a small group and talking about life issues and some hurts and needs, that’s a little scary, and on the surface, does not sound cool at all. And talking about loving each other- forget about it, right?

You know, this is one of the questions I have for God when we get to heaven – how He wired males and females differently. Remember last year when sometimes we would have small groups, and sometimes the small groups were broken into guy groups and girl groups. For the guy groups, we would get through the questions in about 7 minutes, and then we’re like “What else is there to talk about? So we talk about the usual stuff- sports, video games, cars, whatever. But Girls? C’mon now- they could come out of a small group like an hour later, and they are crying and telling each other “You’re my best friend! I love you. I know I just met you tonight!” Please don’t get me wrong- I’m not making fun of that. It’s just that as a guy, it’s hard to understand. So, another life lesson I need when I get to heaven about how we’re wired.

You’ve already taken a little bit of risk to come here, to come to a church, to come to a youth group on a Friday night when you could be somewhere else making some pretty dumb life choices, and hear about how much God loves you. That took risk. Risk of being outcast by your friends. Risk of being outcast by your family. Now I’m suggesting to you, if you really want to live it up, take a risk to be involved in a flock, to get connected in some deep, meaningful relationships.

While RISE calls these permanent small groups flocks, I did a little research. Like Derek said, there aren’t many Christian youth ministries that do anything like flocks- but there are a couple that may refer to them as something different- like small groups or cells. But I found an article about a similar church in California that has a flock-like system. This article was about the testimony of a 15 year-old girl named Brianna where God has used a small group of girlfriends to help her through some difficult times of life. And I’m going to have Lauren read what Briana told her youth group:

Briana: I’m going to tell you a little bit of how God has changed my life over the past fifteen years and all about the people God has brought into my life. Growing up was very hard for me. When I was young, my parents went through a very tough divorce. My dad was a drug addict who was never really around. He was in and out of recovery homes and even jail. He used all of our family’s money for drugs, causing the rest of my family to struggle to make house payments and even cover basic food expenses. I was so certain I was the only one like me, that no one else could relate to me or my situation. Feeling so alone, I kept all the pain bottled up inside.

The year of and the years that followed my parent’s divorce were the worst years of my life. I was lost and alone. With nowhere to turn, I found the one person who was always with me, hour after hour, day after day, year after year. This person was Jesus Christ. This is the first time in my life that I began to understand what a relationship with God was all about. I had always said I was a Christian but never really understood what that meant. And I definitely didn’t understand how God was always with me. In time, my family was able to restore trust with my father and recover the money that was lost to my dad’s drug addiction. Times were difficult, but together with God, we were able to make it.

Even though the struggle was pretty much over, the pain and hurt inside my heart wasn’t gone. In the meantime, my family started this local church. I was so aching for a friend and searching for the right path, the life that I wanted to live. I rededicated my life to Christ at summer camp in 7th grade. Immediately, I knew that I had found what I was missing. Jesus had been there all along. Through every moment of my pain, He was waiting for me to ask Him for help and for guidance. In rededicating my life to Jesus, it became clear that God had intended for me to make the life-long friendships that I have been looking for. The aching in my heart for connecting with others was slowly being dealt with. I found a great group of girls in my small group, especially my best friend, Brittany. I realized I could tell her anything. I found the life I wanted to live, and I wanted to live it with Jesus.

I guess I never really knew how great friendships could be. All three of my best friends go to my church. Brittany, Nicki, and Heather all play a special part in my life. We learn more and more from each other each day. I know I could trust them with anything and everything. With them, I finally felt free to talk about my problems and pain from the hurtful years with my dad. I now know that the friendships I have were put in my life for a reason. For this, I will always be grateful. There was a time where I tried to hide my secret pain. I was alone and empty. I needed the people in my life that cared about me. Now I have found the quality friendships I have been looking for. I don’t ever want to walk alone again.

I look back on all those hard, horrible situations, but all I can do is think positive about it all. I now know that I won’t make the same decisions my dad did with drugs because I saw how much it hurt me and what it did to him, his kids, his family, and his friend’s life. If all the stuff wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have the friends I have now, and I wouldn’t be here speaking to you. Whenever I’m in a problem or hard situation, there’s a verse Jeremiah 29:11: “I say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” I remember that God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us. He has a reason for everything He does, and His plans are going to help us, prosper us. They won’t harm us.

I’m sure some of you out there are having a hard time with something, struggling with something. You may think that you’re the different one or that you have no one to turn to. Make the church you are sitting in right now your home like I did at my youth group. A relationship with Jesus will change your life for the best. We can’t do it alone. We need each other to help us do life. Scripture says, “I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.” Through connecting with other people who care about me, God has changed my life in millions of ways, and I know He can change yours, too.

You know, I talk pretty loosely about risks all the time, but it took a lot of guts for Briana to share her story about how God works in the midst of all her pain with her youth group. It also takes a step of faith to get connected. I encourage you to do that.

Step 3 - Enjoy the benefits of belonging to others who care about you.

Once you realize you’re all in the body of Christ, you can take a risk to get connected. What are the benefits of belonging? It’s that you don’t have to go through life alone ever again. Let me repeat that. It means that you don’t have to worry about going through life alone again.
D Jones- do I ever have to worry about going through life alone again? Can I call you when I succeed or fail, can I call you when I hurt, or when something great happens? Mark, Abe, Zach, Billy, Iverson- you have the Revolution Man flock- if you make the effort to make it work, you will never ever have to face life’s problems alone again. That’s what flocks are about. The benefit of belonging is to know that, when you get in a time of hurt or trouble, people aren’t going to turn on you. If you live your life the world’s way, I guarantee you this. When you get in trouble, the world’s going to turn on you.

You can just blow off what I am saying, and just think what does Bob or any of these team leaders know about my life, and that’s fine. But just watch. When you live your life the world’s way and you get in trouble, those so-called friends will turn on you like a dime and will be nowhere to be found. The benefit of belonging and being a part of the body of Christ is the church isn’t going to turn on you. Those deep, meaningful friendships you’ve built centered around Jesus Christ, they won’t turn on you. They’ll be there for you. Some days it may not seem that way. Some days our friends from the body of Christ may seem like they don’t love you anymore. It’s not always all lollipops, rainbows, and good times. I can tell you that Derek and I do not always see eye to eye on everything. Does that mean I don’t love Derek anymore. No. It’s just the opposite. It means I love him more, because the backbone of our relationship is not superficial- it’s real.

I read something on Discoverychannel.com. I’m not totally into animals, not a veternologist – a veterinarian and zoologist merged together – I’m not one of those. But as I started poking around on this website, I read something fascinating. The wildebeest is this big, ugly nasty-looking animal. They look like they’re really strong. The females, when they crank out a wildebaby, when they give birth, what they do is try to get it up and walking immediately. But, the survival of the wildebeest is going down because of a certain animal – the hyena. The hyena comes around – one or two or three will circle a wildebeest and distract the mother and then eat the baby.

What’s fascinating about this is, just a few feet away, are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of wildebeests that could go there and help out that baby wildbeeste. But they don’t. Two or three hyenas will surround one of those Wildebeestes and take it on and eat their baby while all these other wildebeests are out doing their own thing. If one wildebeest would just go, “Hey, friends! Come over here. Let’s circle the hyenas and tromp on them!” But what are they doing? They’re out there kind of living their own life. Doing their own thing. Making THEMselves feel good. No Flocks. No Small Groups. No Youth Ministry. No deep, meaningful relationships. Just each wildbeeste looking out for themselves. Sounds a lot like what goes on outside the doors of this sanctuary every day. Maybe some of you feel isolated, lonely, defenseless, like that baby wildbeeste. But if you do, I have some terrific news for you. What that baby wildbeeste had to go through does not happen in the body of Christ, and hopefully the RISE and the flocks. When you’re in trouble, you’re not going to be alone. You enjoy the benefits of being deeply connected with other people because fellowship is not just “do you want to hang out at the mall?” – it’s “I love you as much as you love me.” It’s not surface. It’s not shallow. It’s not phony. It’s real, and it’s one of the keys to living it up.

The Bible says in Romans 1:12, “I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I always want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to one another.”

I love that Briana used that in her testimony. You help my faith; I help yours. That’s what the body of Christ does; we connect in deep and meaningful relationships.

Romans 12:16 says, “Live in harmony with each other. Don’t try to act important.” Don’t try to act important like you don’t need anybody. Don’t try to act important like you can live life on your own. You can’t. “Enjoy the company of ordinary people.” That’s one of the many things I love about this church, and especially about RISE.
If you want to live at the superficial level where you wonder who your friends really are, that’s your choice. If you want to live it up, live life to its fullest, take a risk to take it to the next level and have some deep, meaningful relationships. That’s one of the keys to living life to its fullest.

I thank you for giving me the time to talk about this tonight, and I hope it gives you something to think about. I hope that you would pray about it this week and come back next week to take the challenge and talk to Derek about joining a flock. Why go through life alone when God provides a new community to be a part of? Don’t miss this life-changing opportunity to journey with significant others. It all goes back to our creed from Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and God will give it to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you.” That’s it- right there- just knock, and see what happens when the door is opened for you.

Let’s Prayer:
God, thanks that You are personal and You want a relationship with each one of us and You give us the power and the depth to have relationships with others. God, give us the courage, those of us in here that are scared to get connected, to take that step. Help us to recognize our role in the body, that we need each other, and we have a role. Thank You that You allow us to be a part of other people’s lives to make their lives better and our life better. God, we pray that we might be different people as we leave here tonight. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

2007-07-25T10:42:00.000-04:00

Ever noticed have we throw the word "Love" around these days? Most of the world is clueless as to what real love is, and really confuses the word with "lust." As Christians, we know that love does not equal lust.

I like the way Rick Warren (from Purpose Driven Life fame) puts it in his workbook titled "Better Together" for the 40 Days of Community. Warren states that "Real love is placing the needs of others before your own. It is making your problem, my problem. It is giving to another without any guarantee of getting anything back. It is giving others what they need, not what they deserve. Although love can create intense feelings, love is not a feeling. It is a choice, an action, a way of behaving, a commitment. Love is sacrificing for others."

NO FEAR LIVING

2007-07-15T19:01:00.001-04:00

"NO FEAR LIVING"
Bob Hewitt
July 13, 2007

There was a famous newspaper advice columnist named Ann Landers. People would write her letters every week about all kinds of stuff, like how do you set the table, and what do you do when you have conflict in your family- All kinds of things. She received over 10,000 letters a week. When she was asked, "What is the most common problem that you're asked to deal with?" she said, "Without a doubt it's fear."

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we were all at the Gailey's for the bonfire, and Derek asked us to throw something into the fire that keeps you from living life to its fullest? Some people brought stuff that kept them from God, but most of us wrote something that kept us from a relationship with Jesus on a piece of paper and threw it in the fire and when everyone had finished throwing their stuff or papers in the fire, some of you had to courage to testify what you had written down, or why you had thrown stuff into the fire. Did you realize that a majority of the things that were written down or talked about were fears – fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being found out, fear of people knowing who I really am and yet still liking me. Or maybe it was fear of standing in front off that fire and sharing yourself with others, and fearing what people would think about you, or say about you, or gossip about you.

Fear is a big part of our lives. No- check that- fear is a huge part of out lives. I saw a TV news report recently that said that twenty years ago, elementary school age kids were surveyed and asked, "What are your top five fears?" Twenty years ago kids said, "Animals, dark rooms, strangers, high places, and loud noises." Twenty years later today's elementary age kids are afraid their parents will get divorced, that they will see their parents fighting or hitting each other, they they will be hit by their parents, nuclear war, terrorism, getting cancer, pollution and getting molested or raped, or hooked on and killed by drugs. That's a big change in fears in twenty years!

As we talk about fear there may be some of you in here that are the tough guy or tough girl type. You know the type of person I'm talking about- all puffed up and say "I'm not afraid of nothing!" If you are one of those people, let me tell you what you are afraid of. You're afraid of reality if you're saying that to yourself. The truth is every one of us in here has fears about something. You call them whatever you want. You can call it worry, you can call it tension, you can call it being stressed out or being uptight. But it's all about fears.

That's why today I want to talk about the good news about overcoming fear- and that good news comes right from this book, and it will let each of you live a life of "No Fear Living" - if you just believe.

The Bible has a lot to say about fear. There's more in the Bible about fear than there is about heaven. There's more in the Bible about fear than there is about hell. The first words of Jesus when He resurrected and appeared to his friends were "Do not be afraid."

All throughout the Bible we are told that we are not to live in fear. Psalm 34 says "I prayed to the Lord and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears." The good news is that God says you can break free from your fear.

Imagine if I could point a video camera right at any one of you here, and your picture would go up on the screen, and without me asking you or you having a chance to hide your fears, all of your fears would be listed under your name like the stats under a players name on ESPN. So those of you who think you're tough people, that you have no fears- you have fears. What are they? Maybe the fear is going to church. Maybe it's a fear of coming tonight to RISE, or maybe it's a fear that you will feel on the spot in the small groups. Maybe the fear is that somebody's going to think you're religious. Maybe your fear is that your parents are going through a tough time and you fear they're getting a divorce. Maybe you fear the relationship that you're in is not going to last. Maybe you have fears about your future. Maybe you have fears about losing a friend that's headed in the wrong direction. Maybe some of you have fears about being caught for something you did.

But you are not alone – everyone of us has fears. I am just like you- I have a lot of fears- some stupid- some not. Hey, when Derek asked me to speak tonight, I was fearful of not being ready, or tripping over my words, fearful of not making sense. I am still fearful right now. I was fearful at the campfire, and I was one of the people who feared what people would think of me if I told them what I wrote down. So fear is not a kid thing, is not a teen thing, and is not an adult thing. It's a human thing that has been with us since Adam told God in the Garden of Eden- "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

Every one of us, no matter how old you are, how young you are, how tough you are, how popular you are, how insecure you are, have fears. Some people even say that fear is good- that it keeps you alert and motivated. What garbage! If fear were so good for you, we would embrace it, enjoy it, look for more of it. But one of the few things I know since becoming a born-again Christian a few years ago and reading the bible is that God doesn't want us to live with fear, and He gives us a cure for fear.

On page 331 of the pew bibles is the story of Joshua- one of Moses' servants:

Joshua 1:1-9:
"After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

In that passage alone, God encourages us to be strong and courageous three times, and not to be scared discouraged one time. I think He was on to something that He knew would shadow man forever- fear.

So What Does Fear Do?

FEAR slows down your POTENTIAL

Some of you in here, you're not living life to its fullest because of some fears that limit you. It causes you to miss great opportunities. When we become afraid, it keeps us from doing things in our lives and it feels like we're wearing cement shoes. Some of you in here have had dreams of doing stuff and you've said, "I'm going to do that before I graduate high school. Now you're going into your senior year and your fears have trapped you. Sometimes I look at some of you and go, "You can do so much greatness in your life if you weren't afraid." If you weren't afraid of failure, afraid of rejection or whatever it is. I look in your lives and see this incredible road that you could go down but you're surrounded by these false dragons of fears that line the road.

Look at some of our Myspace pages- we spend all this time trying to look good on the outside through cool pages and cool music and cool pictures and cool messages- but on the inside we have these fears and we're living our life in a web of lies that hides who we really are, and limits our potential and keeps us from doing what God wants us to do. It acts like a brake on our lives.

FEAR hurts RELATIONSHIPS

I mentioned that Fear was in the first book of the bible- just look at Genesis Chapter 3- Adam and Eve were formed in the perfection of the Garden of Eden. One day God was looking for Adam and Eve, and you know what Adam said to God? He said "I was afraid and I hid from you." In relationships that's what we do. We hide. Fear causes us to cover up. Fear causes us to put on masks. Fear causes us to pretend that we're somebody that we're not. Fear causes us to lie. And the greatest block in any relationship, in taking that relationship to the next level, is fear.

The reason we're afraid is we say this, "Why should I tell you who I really am because if I tell you who I really am, what if you don't like me? And if you don't like me for who I really am- that's all I've got."

Some of you are totally depressed in your life right now because you wear this mask. On the inside you're one person but on the outside you try to give off this persona that you're somebody else and it limits and it scars relationships.

FEAR stops HAPPINESS.

Fear is like a prison, and I don't need to have an experience in prison to know that prison is not a good place to be. Prison is a bad place, with little rooms to confine your movement. And that's what life is like when you live with fear. It's like this emotional prison. Think about this, those of you who maybe know a little bit about the Bible - Jesus said, "I'm going to be unjustly crucified on a cross. I'm going to be killed. Three days later I'm going to rise from the dead." He told his followers that. And as soon as He was killed on the cross his followers went and hid. They were afraid. They locked themselves up in their own prisons. But when you open up your life and you let Jesus come in and you have a relationship with him, then He can conquer some of those fears and the party can begin, the celebration of life can begin. That's how God wants us to live. Life to its fullest- Jesus said, "I didn't come to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you might have life." - life without those things that cause fear that we threw into the fire at the Gailey's.

I read something this week about fear that was pretty interesting- When you and I were babies, when we were born, we only had two fears. One was the fear of falling and the other was the fear of loud noises. That's it- just two fears (look how many we have now!) Watch the next time you're around a baby. Make a loud noise. You'll see what they do. They can be drooling, their heads bobbing – but you make a loud noise and their eyes pop out of their sockets- it's a fear of loud noises.

But every other fear we've learned- and I think we can all agree that we have more than the fear of falling or loud noises. And the good news about that is that if you've learned a fear, you can unlearn that fear. That's the good news. What I want to do is give you four things to think about as you leave here. I want to give you some things to set you on the right journey. To set you on a journey that maybe you could begin to conquer some of these fears, starting now, starting tonight. Not on your own, because you can't do it on your own. If you could have, you would have. But with God's help. And it spells the word FEAR, and we'll put it up on the web site so you can look at it whenever you need it:

F – FIND TRUTH

A lot of what you learned in life simply wasn't true. What you have learned in life, maybe we've learned from our parents or teachers or friends or we picked up in a movie or song or tv show or something like that, and it's simply not true. And because it's not true and you and I have believed it, it has led to some fears.

The biggest life lesson we have learned that is bull is that Love equals sex. You've seen it on TV, on the internet, in movies- maybe you've heard it from people that if you really love somebody you've got to have sex with them. That's just not true. And because that's not true but we believe it's true, it's created all these fears inside of us. Fear of being accepted. What happens if the person dumps me? Or what if I'm not sure I know what I'm doing? All these fears because of something that's untrue.

How about another one- Money is power. You believe that if you have money you have power and happiness. That is so not true. But because we believe that money equals power and happiness, we look around and we fear our future. Will I get the right job, so I get lots of money? What if my SATs aren't good enough, and I can't get into a good college so I can make a lot of money? Should I go to college? Maybe I end up doing something I really don't like to do because my parents say I need to have money because money's power and leads to happiness and the good life. All that stuff. Many of us we live with this fear that just isn't true. How many of you know John Doe? Does he seem to be a happy guy? I think he is. And I can tell you he is happy because he has Jesus in his heart, not money in his wallet!

Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." There's that word "free" again. Fear is like a prison and you need to be set free. Some of these beliefs need to be challenged. What do we challenge them with? We challenge them with God's truth- the Bible. When you know the truth, it will set you free. Fear always distorts our perceptions, but the Bible is like putting on a pair of glasses and being able to see again!

Fear distorts everything, and makes the movies we play in our heads repeat over and over and over again with lies and garbage. Find truth.

Get this, get this-

-Forty percent of all fears are about the future and they never happen.
-Thirty percent of all the fears that you have are about the past and they can't be changed anyway.
–Twelve percent are needless fears about your health – like spiders infesting your brain and things like that.
–Ten percent are petty fears that aren't worth worrying about. What's a petty fear? It's like when your mom says change your underwear because you might get in a car accident. How those two go together I'm not exactly sure.
-That leaves only eight percent of your fears are legitimate fears and those can be dealt with by taking appropriate steps of action.

Remember as a little kid, you're lying in bed and all of a sudden you see something move on the wall. And no matter what your parents have said about the boogey man you feel like the boogey man is in your room because you just saw something move, and you hear those stupid creaking noises and you know in the back of your mind that it's just the house settling or the wind hitting the house or something stupid like that. But no. And now you look in your closet. Your closet is open a little bit and all of a sudden your clothes are beginning to take shape and you want to go so badly to turn on the light but you're scared to set your foot on the floor because you know there's somebody's under your bed and going to grab your foot and suck you in under the bed into hell dungeon. So you're lying on the bed, and you're so scared- It's a horrible experience.

Then you've decide to get up and jump for the light switch…and you flip on the light switch and all of a sudden the lights are on and the monsters go away. You just turned on the truth.

What I'm suggesting is that some of you in here need to turn on the truth. When you live in the light of God's truth it changes many of the things that you fear. I used to fear death. I used to be afraid to die until I realized what God's light said, and that actually death has no sting for those who are Christians. So I keep my eyes on the prize and know that death will mean eternity with God. When you learn the truth it takes away your fears. So find truth.

E – EXPERIENCE and EXPRESS God's love

You know what your deepest need is right now? It's not to have a snack in the back. It's not to get out of here. It's not to have a conversation, or to gossip with a friend. It's not to go and lay out by the pool. You're deepest need right now is to be absolutely totally unconditionally and completely loved - not for something you could be, not for something you should be, but loved just as you are. And not some phoney baloney Hollywood-style love, or sinful sexual love. Until you and I experience God's love, we're going to keep being filled up with fear. There's this emptiness here that only God can fill up. And when you don't experience God's love you fill it with other things to take its place- like the things we threw into the fire. God loves you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year. There's never been a time when God has stopped loving you, and there won't be anytime in the future that God will not love you, so long as you believe in Him.

Some of you will get defensive and say, "You don't know what I've done." Or "You don't know what I need!" Or "You don't know who I am." And you're right, I don't know those things.

All I know is that there's nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of God. God has never stopped loving you. That doesn't mean that He approves of everything that you have done. He doesn't approve of everything you've done. But He never stops loving you. 1 John 4:18 says "Where God's love is there is no fear because God's perfect love drives out fear." Man, that's awesome. He must have been thinking of me. The opposite of love is fear.

So how do you experience God's love? You have to know about God's love. Here's the problem. A lot of you in here, you already know about God's love. That's great, but not enough- you've got to accept God's love. You can't just know about it. You must accept it.

Then you need to express love to others. The reason you express love to others is because when you do express love to others, you get love back. Love is a lot stronger than fear. Why can a lady go into a burning building and come out with a baby? Is she afraid to go into the building? Of course. But she loves that kid more than she's afraid. So love is stronger than fear. When you express love to other people you experience God's love and it gets rid of fear. That's why I come to RISE every week- because the love of Christ permeates every corner of this place, and the love between us true and unbeatable.

Love is the answer to fear because the root of a lot of the fear that you and I have is self-centeredness. It's a preoccupation with ourselves – I don't want to get hurt, I don't want to be a failure, I don't want to look bad, I don't want to get messed up in this situation. Love, when you express it, it gets you to focus off yourself and onto others. So the more than I'm filled with love the less I'll be filled with fear.

A – ACTIVATE YOUR FAITH

Faith is more than just believing. A lot of people believe in God. Ninety percent of America believes in God. That doesn't mean anything. I believe Hitler existed, but I'm not a Nazi. I believe in Ronald McDonald but I'm not a Big Mac. I believe in God but what makes me a Christian is when I put my faith in God's way, not in the world's way. That's what I mean by activating your faith. It's like if you sit in a chair; you believe it can hold your weight. But a lot of us, that's what we do with God. I believe in God but I don't want to give my life to him. I just want to kinda kick the tires and call on God when I need him for something.

But when you sit down you've moved from belief to faith. When you activate your faith you expect the best in a situation. Fear expects the worse. Faith expects the best. Psalm 56 says, "When I'm afraid I put my trust in you." It doesn't say trust in a mathematical formula or in a friend or in yourself.

R – REVEAL YOUR FEARS TO OTHERS

What's hidden has the power to hurt. If I just hide my fears and keep them to myself they have the power to hurt me, to keep me in my prison, to keep me from experiencing life to its fullest - the way God wants it to be lived.

And if you're not sharing your fears you're hurting yourself. Because what's hidden has the power to hurt, what's spoken has power to heal and change.

The Bible says in James 5:16 "Confess your sins to each other…" and then run around school and gossip like crazy! No, it doesn't say that! It says "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." I can't explain it. I don't know what it is but God's people influence and help God's people. It's a truth of life. I know that some of my Christian friends when I spend time with them, when I share things with them they can help me take away my fears.

So here's the plan

F- Find truth
E- Experience God's love
A- Activate your faith
R- Reveal your fears to others.

God loves you so much that He wants to have a personal and meaningful relationship with you. Don't allow the incredible potential of the journey be sabotaged by living a life filled with fear. God wants you to be set free.

Let's Pray:

God, I know that I don't want to be the same person when I walk out of here that I was when I came in. I know that I won't be because I heard your word. Some of us in here are so fearful because we believed lies. And we believed that the world's way of living life and doing things is the right way and it's not. For some of us in here God, we need to experience your love. We believed in you but we've never accepted your love for us. We've never received that gift. We've never moved from belief to action. And for some of us in here we've never spoken up, shared anything with a friend. Thanks, God, for your love. That you love us whether we do anything at all or not. And that your love for us isn't based on what we look like. You love us because you created us and want a relationship with us. For that we're thankful. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

2007-07-02T08:10:00.001-04:00

You have to admit that we live in a pretty vain society- all of us are overly proud of something, or even pretty conceited about something. Most of the time, its about how we look. Just look at all the television, internet, and magazine advertisements you see in one single day to see the importance our culture places on our physical appearance. This is NOT what God intended.

Consider Rebekah in the Old Testament. She was the daughter of Bethuel, and became the wife of Issac (Abraham's son). Rebekah had physical beauty, but Abraham's servant was looking for a wife for Isaac who had INNER beauty.

Let's be real- our appearance is important to us- that's why we spend so much money on needless clothes, make-up, jewelery, or anything else that sends a message to people who see our "shell." But God only cares about our inner beauty- things like patience, kindness, joy, humbleness, and most importantly, love for one another.

So the next time you are tempted to buy the latest fad in clothing, make-up, jewelery, or whatever, ask yourself this simple question- am I trying to beautify my shell, or please God.

Liar Liar

2007-06-27T09:01:00.000-04:00

Why do we lie? I mean, God knows the truth, so who are we trying to kid?

Take a look at Genesis 18:10-15 where Sarah lied about laughing when she heard God's promise that she would have a son when she was like 90 years old. Man, that's like your grand-mother having her first kid when you're about to get your driver's license. Yikes. I wonder if Sarah was just afraid she would look stupid if she was caught in the lie. In our lives, we probably lie to cover up something we did which we know was wrong.

But no matter how many times we lie, we know that lying always causes more problems than just telling the truth that we are trying to cover up. So why keep lying? If we believe that God knows the truth, shouldn't we stop the craziness and tell it like it is? Has anything good ever come from living a lie? I dare you to name one.

Family Feud

2007-06-21T12:01:00.001-04:00

I confess that I do not always practice what I preach. Just ask anyone who knows my past. And one of my worst offenses is the continuing gap in my relationship with my parents and brothers who live 6 hours to the south.

I took a look at Genesis 13:5-9 today, and read about Abraham (then known as Abram), and his nephew Lot, and how Abraham was forced out of Egypt by Pharaoh.

The story goes on about how Abram, his wife Sarah, and Lot travel from Egypt to Negev to Bethel, where they pitched their tents. Remember that Abraham and Lot had both become pretty rich with lots of sheep, goats, and cattle. But the land of Bethel could not support both of them and their flocks of animals so closely together, causing fights to break out between the herdsman of Abraham and Lot. So Abraham offered Lot his choice- Lot could either go east and choose the well-watered valley of Jordan, or west to the land of Canaan. Lot decided to settle in the valley near Sodom, and Abraham went the other way to Canaan.

Abraham knew that a family feud was simmering and ready to explode. But instead of ignoring the problem, or waiting for someone else to step in and help, he took the initiative in settling the dispute. When Abraham offered Lot the first choice in land, he knew he risked being cheated out of the better place. But by making the first move, Abraham taught us what we know we should do but never do- 1) take the initiative in resolving problems with friends, family or co-workers 2) be humble, and let others have the first choice, even when you know it means you will get the short end of the stick, and 3) put family peace and unity above your own personal desires.

I need to practice what are just preached, so I'm off to call my brothers who I haven't talked to in about five years. Pray for me.

Tower of Pride

2007-06-19T10:38:00.000-04:00

I was reading Genesis 11:1-9 today, and it finally hit me what this meant. The folks in Babylon wanted to make themselves famous by building a tower that reached into the sky. And being thousands of years before the birth of Christ, this was no small accomplishment. So what's the problem? I mean, we see skyscrapers being built all over the place all the time.

Remember, there weren't any towing hotels, office buildings or apartment buildings in this time of human history, so they weren't just trying to play "catch-up" with the folks in the next desert plain over. The problem was that the Babylonians built the tower as a tribute to themselves rather than God.

So, how does that apply to me?

Answer => do you build monuments to yourself? Maybe you don't build a tower, but do you glorify yourself with a closet full of the latest and most expensive clothes. Or, do you download every possible song you can? How about trophies from sports or other contests? There is nothing wrong with the newest pair of jeans, the latest album from your favorite band, or a trophy you earned from working hard at your craft. But, when we DEPEND on the stuff we have for our own self worth and how we are seen by friends and family, we are letting STUFF take the place of God in our lives.

What are the "towers" in your life?

What does God expect from me? Do I have to be perfect to please Him?

2007-06-16T08:09:00.000-04:00

I have often wondered if we have to be perfect in order to please God. Some people view God as an impossible taskmaster with impossibly high expectations. I admit that at times that's how I feel.

But here's the deal: like any loving parent, God expects his kids (us) to act in a certain way. Some Christians may tell you about God's expectations based on where THEY are in THEIR walk with Him. However, lots of advise often contributes to the confusion, and to the wrong belief that God just expects too much, so why bother. So, if you are feeling overwhelmed by how you may or may not be pleasing God, you may be listening to other people's expectations, rather than God's.

So, how do we please God? The story of Cain and Abel in Genesis gives a pretty good idea of how this all fits together. Both of these guys brought something valuable to God, yet only Abel's sacrifice of a first-born from his flock of lambs pleased God, not Cain's crops. Why? Maybe it's because Cain's heart was not really into his offering, and he tried to please god out of an obligation instead of love.

The first step in pleasing God is to really look at ourselves, and be honest about our motivation to please Him. Do we really want to please Him, or are we just going through the motions because someone told us we should??

Obedience is also important in pleasing God. Not the kind of obedience demanded from our parents like keeping our room clean, doing our homework, or obeying curfew. Obedience to God means loving Him enough to listen to what He says, then following through on what we know He told us to do.

Through the Holy Spirit, God speaks to us as we come to Him with willing hearts. God gently shows us areas of our lives that we need to examine and change according to His timetable, not someone else's.
(source: Student's Life Application Study Bible-Tyndale)