Get Over Yourself!

What a great challenge from our pastor this week to move Beyond Ourselves and to love and share the good news about Jesus with the hurting and unlovely people that cross our paths.  How have you done?  Have you helped someone in pain? Have you been obedient to Jesus command to "Go and make disciples?" Maybe that seems a bit radical (by the way that's how Jesus lived), here's an easier question, have you even prayed this week for a non-believer in your life?

This week I was watching a video by Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love, the new book our Life Groups will begin reading.  In that video he referenced the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  The Samaritan man was traveling and came across a man who had been beaten up.  The story even tells us that two other guys, both religious men who knew the story of God's love, traveled separately ahead of the Samaritan.  These religious men passed by the wounded man because he was an outcast and it would have been socially unacceptable.  The Samaritan, not thinking of himself, stopped and gave aid to the man above and beyond what was simply needed or required.  Jesus uses this parable to teach us the answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?"

So who is your neighbor?  People in your path.

Jesus said "As you go make disciples." As you go on your path of life, Jesus has placed people on your path who need to experience and hear the love of Jesus.  Your path is full of people who are weak, hurting, mourning, angry, wounded, devastated, poor, odd, or socially awkward. You know people who are unloveable, unlikeable, unacceptable, and unloved.  You know kids who live in poverty, who don't have a dad, or long for a hug from a mom.  You know single parents who are hurting, marriages that are failing, or people who are abused.  They ARE on your path.  Do you see them?

Will you be like the religious men who passed by?  Will you be self focused?

or

Will you be like Jesus? Who loves people as they are. Will you love them, and shared with them the great mercies of his grace.

My prayer is that you will devote yourself to being obedient to King Jesus. Is there any other way to live?!

May God's Spirit empower you to love others this week,

Patrick

"A Call to Reform"

Well, here we are...the half-way point through our 40 Days of Purpose.  What's the purpose?   To see God transform the hearts and lives of our people in such  way, that we can look back and say, "Wow!  Only God could do that kind of work!!!"  As I revisit the sermon text from Sunday, and read the passages surrounding it, I'm more and more convinced that is exactly what Paul is presenting to the Ephesians and later to the Romans as well.  Reform!  The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines Reform as:

1.   to put or change into an improved form or condition

2.  to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses

Paul is pleading to these early Christians for reform.  The early church faced many struggles: heresy, persecution, pride, arrogance, dissension...interestingly many of the same things we still face today.  Perhaps we are in need of reform just as badly as the church at Ephesus.  In chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul is calling for unity among the brethren...

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  (3:14-19)

Essentially, Paul is saying, "Get over yourselves and try to conceive the big picture!" 

The time for reform is now!!!  This is a call to put a change into an improved form, or to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses.  

We spend so much time consuming ourselves with our own pride and narcissism that we end up missing the big picture.  Imagine if we were to have an entire culture or better yet an entire FBC Goldthwaite of every single person out of love telling each other, "Whatever you need, I'm here,"  putting aside any selfish ambition or desires completely.  What a reform, if we had an entire FBC Goldthwaite of people "...living a life worthy of the calling they had received...!" (Eph. 4:1)

My challenge is this, take some time this week to seek the LORD.  Are there any areas of your life that are keeping you from know how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is?  Is there anything in your life keeping you from living a life worthy of the calling your received?  

Will you join me in this Reform?

A God beyond all we could ever imagine...

Before getting into the thoughts and meditations from yesterday's sermon on worship, take a moment and watch the following videos.  They are a little long, they will definitely set the stage for the rest of our discussion this morning.  So, get comfortable, grab a cup of coffee, sit back and listen to these great words from Louie Giglio...

How incredible is that?!  I don't know about you, but when I try in my feeble efforts to wrap my mind around the vast magnitude and majesty that is God, it makes all my pride and selfishness feel somewhat petty.  How often we put our own gods before our Maker...how often we let things and petty selfishness get in the way of meeting and communing with God.

Here's a quick litmus test...what ever your mind dwells on or yearns for, that is your god.  

Martin Luther put it this way, "What your heart clings to and trust in, that is really your God."  John Calvin adds, “…just as waters boil up from a vast, full spring, so does an immense crown of gods flow from the human mind.” 

The bottom line is this...what are you worshipping?  If you find yourself more concerned with specifics of style and/or song choice, you may be missing the whole point.  Imagine sitting at a dinner table with our Redeemer and throughout the whole meal you are texting someone else because you don't like the color of napkins on the table...ignoring all the while your Gracious Host.

Take some time this week for a bit of self evaluation.  Ask God to reveal the things in your life you have put before Him.  It may be something as small as a particular T.V. program you enjoy watching.  Or, maybe you are putting yourself before God.  Do you find yourself using a lot of personal pronouns with regards to worship such as I, or me?  

We serve an amazing God that has created a universe that we will never comprehend this side of Glory.  Join God's creation in worship!  Join the whales and the stars in proclaiming the greatness of God!!!

IF YOU SKIPPED AHEAD, GO BACK AND WATCH THE VIDEOS!!!