Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thankful Hearts Pt. 2 (Sunday After Thanksgiving 2012)


[Slide #1]I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. (Ps 26.6-8)
(People were not able to enter God’s presence empty handed. It was how their guilt (punishment) was shifted to another creature. Praise is equally powerful (as a sacrifice) and we should NEVER be without it. Praise brings us into God’s presence!)
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[Slide #2] Sermon Title: Thankful Hearts
Sermon Text: Psalm 26/Exodus 11-13

  • Thanksgiving is important to God, because it tells that you know the story
    • You know the background
    • You know the outcome
    • You know your role
    • You understand and expect the Lord to be faithful to His role

C.S. Lewis “Therefore praise is not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him”

In other words, gratitude is its own reward!
******
[Slide #3]
  • Thanksgiving usually means that you see what others have refused to look into yet.

  • Thankfulness is twofold.
    • It acknowledges the strength of your recent victory...
    • And it prepares you by elevated your heart & vision to places where God shows your more of what is to come.

  • Thankfulness, therefore, is a connector of the soul!
    • It is the cord between where you have been and where you going
    • These two places (been/going) are more connected than what you think

******
☞Story of the Exodus (Exodus 12)

  • Thankfulness is an attitude, which shapes...
    • How you think
    • What you expect
    • What your first item of business is when you see victory
    • What your first item of business UNTIL you see victory
    • What your first item of business AFTER you see victory
      • Because...how you treat victory determines IF/HOW you’ll see continued victory.
    • Celebrating victory thru thanksgiving was so important that God did the following things:
      • Told Israel to celebrate
      • Told Israel when to celebrate
      • Told Israel how to celebrate

  • Thanksgiving was never to empty handed. 
    • Israel celebrated that God had spared their firstborn while killing Egypt’s first born...
    • However, God’s idea of celebrating is the dedicate to Him what he saved/spared.

[Slide #4] When Thanksgiving lacks a sacrifice...it communicates 3 things to the Lord:

1. You trust your own strength (not the Lord’s)...and you’re no different that Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar who challenged God. You become God’s opponent. God ALWAYS wins.

2. You miss WHY the Lord spares us.
  • He spared Israel’s firstborn & then asked them to become dedicated to God.

3. You miss the clearest reminders of God’s faithfulness, love and abiding presence.

******
*Webster says that to be grateful is to have a sense of benefits received. It means to be thankful. It is derived from an old English word that means thought. Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to this topic and I have realized the following things about gratitude:

  • It is hard to remain angry while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • It is hard to be selfish while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • It is hard to keep score on the times you’ve been wronged while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • And it is hard to be greedy and self-centered while being grateful, truly grateful.


[Slide #5] ☞Thanksgiving changes the make-up of the heart!

Proverbs 4:22-24 (AMP) 22 For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart makes you healthy. But a broken spirit dries you up
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
Proverbs 15:13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15:15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
******
Medicine /med·i·cine/ (med´ĭ-sin)
1. any drug or remedy.
2. the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.
  1. the treatment of disease by nonsurgical means.
  1. The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).

Peace/Joy:
  • Peace is a sense that wherever I am...God is present and shaping me through and with everything that looks like success or failure. This calm is ever with my soul.

  • Peace = absence of war. I’m not fighting with life because God is blocking for me...I can thrive wherever I am. I can relax and roll with punches life offers me or scale the walls that life presents me with.

  • Joy = rooted in the fact that that my life isn’t haphazard. God is not bothered nor surprised by whatever comes my way...everything leads me closer to God.

  • Peace rests and heals us. Joy fuels and energizes us.


[Slide #6] Challenge/Next Steps:
  • Tweet/text/FB/journal relentless statements about what you’re grateful for this week
  • Ask others what they are grateful for
  • Decide how and where will you schedule opportunities praise?
  • Ask God to help you to grow in thanksgiving and praisewww.folmadison.org

Saturday, November 24, 2012

What Can You Do About Stress? (This post accompanies the Thankful Heart sermon)


What can you do about stress?
The good news is that you can learn ways to manage stress. To get stress under control:
  • Find out what is causing stress in your life.
  • Look for ways to reduce the amount of stress in your life.
  • Learn healthy ways to relieve stress or reduce its harmful effects.

How can you avoid stress?
Stress is a fact of life for most people. You may not be able to get rid of stress, but you can look for ways to lower it.
You might try some of these ideas:
  • Learn better ways to manage your time. You may get more done with less stress if you make a schedule. Think about which things are most important, and do those first.
  • Find better ways to cope. Look at how you have been dealing with stress. Be honest about what works and what does not. Think about other things that might work better.
  • Take good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat well. Don't smoke. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
  • Try out new ways of thinking. When you find yourself starting to worry, try to stop the thoughts. Work on letting go of things you cannot change. Learn to say "no."
  • Speak up. Not being able to talk about your needs and concerns creates stress and can make negative feelings worse. Assertive communication can help you express how you feel in a thoughtful, tactful way.
  • Ask for help. People who have a strong network of family and friends manage stress better.

http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management-topic-overviewhttp://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management-topic-overview (link for stress management information)

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Thanksful Hearts (Background scriptures re: Thanksgiving)

Scriptural references for thanksgiving:www.folmadison.org
  1. Nehemiah 12:46
    For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
  2. Psalm 26:7
    That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
  3. Psalm 50:14
    Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
  4. Psalm 69:30
    I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
  5. Psalm 95:2
    Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
  6. Psalm 100:4
    Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
  7. Psalm 107:22*
    And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
  8. Psalm 116:17*
    I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
  9. Psalm 147:7
    Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
  10. Isaiah 51:3
    For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
  11. Jeremiah 30:19
    And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
  12. Amos 4:5
    And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
  13. Jonah 2:9
    But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
  14. Philippians 4:6
    Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
  15. Colossians 2:7
    Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
  16. Colossians 4:2
    Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
  17. 1 Timothy 4:3
    Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Thankful Hearts (Sermon Notes)


I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. (Ps 26.6-8)
Sermon Title: Thankful Hearts
Sermon Text: Psalm 26/Exodus 11-13

  • Thanksgiving is important to God, because it tells that you know the story
    • You know the background
    • You know the outcome
    • You know your role
    • You understand and expect the Lord to be faithful to His role

C.S. Lewis “Therefore praise is not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him”

In other words, gratitude is its own reward!

  • Thanksgiving usually means that you see what others have refused to look into yet.

  • Thankfulness is twofold.
    • It acknowledges the strength of your recent victory...
    • And it prepares you by elevated your heart & vision to places where God shows your more of what is to come.

  • Thankfulness, therefore, is a connector of the soul!
    • It is the cord between where you have been and where you going
    • These two places (been/going) are more connected than what you think

Story of the Exodus (Exodus 12)

  • Thankfulness is an attitude, which shapes...
    • How you think
    • What you expect
    • What your first item of business is when you see victory
    • It is your first item of business UNTIL you see victory
    • It is your first item of business AFTER you see victory
      • Because...how you treat victory determines IF you’ll see continued victory.
    • Celebrating victory thru thanksgiving was some important that God did the following things:
      • Told Israel to celebrate
      • Told Israel when to celebrate
      • Told Israel how to celebrate
    • Thanksgiving was never to empty handed. 
      • Israel celebrated that God had spared their firstborn while killing Egypt’s first born...
      • However, God’s idea of celebrating is the dedicate to Him what he saved/spared.

When Thanksgiving lacks a sacrifice...it communicates 3 things to the Lord:

  • You trust your own strength (not the Lord’s)...and you’re no different that Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar who challenged God. You become God’s opponent. God ALWAYS wins.

  • You miss WHY the Lord spares us.
    • He spared Israel’s firstborn & then asked them to become dedicated to God.

  • You miss the clearest reminders of God’s faithfulness, love and abiding presence.

*Webster says that to be grateful is to have a sense of benefits received. It means to be thankful. It is derived from an old English word that means thought. Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to this topic and I have realized the following things about gratitude:

  • It is hard to remain angry while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • It is hard to be selfish while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • It is hard to keep score on the times you’ve been wronged while being grateful, truly grateful.
  • And it is hard to be greedy and self-centered while being grateful, truly grateful.

Challenge/Next Steps:
  • Tweet/text/FB/journal relentless statements about what you’re grateful for this week
  • Ask others what they are grateful for
  • Decide how and where will you schedule opportunities praise?
  • Ask God to help you to grow in thanksgiving and praisewww.folmadison.org

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Chosen!


Flow of 1st Peter:
  • Written to 5 Roman Provinces: Pontus, Bithynia, Asia Minor, Galatia, Cappadocia to encourage persecuted Christians
  • Peter tells them 3 things: 1. Find security in God; 2.Suffering comes with territory (1 Peter (Acts 5.29); 3. The highest call of God is to use our gifts to serve (1Peter 4 & 1 Peter 5 we’re told to shepherd the flock of God.)

The Truth About the Truth About You! [SLIDE #1]
Sermon Title: Chosen!
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2.9-10
Theme: God’s covenant is relational. We can’t miss that fact. 
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  • Scripture takes so much time telling us about the nature and qualities of God. (Understand qualities...and nature) [SLIDE #2]

nature: The *inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing : essence (*it Who you can’t help being)

essence: The permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being.
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  • ☛I believe that the Father’s intent in teaching us so much about Himself is that we’d then gain a greater knowledge about ourselves by understanding our True Source [SLIDE #3]

  • Because He’s great, only He can define us
  • Because He defines us, no one else can limit us
  • Because no one else can limit us, we soar and triumph
  • Because he finds pleasure in us...our enemies are His enemies.
  • Because He is Truth, we never have to doubt anything He promises.
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  • Just like my DNA is in my daughter...and I didn’t actually create the process that created her. I merely participated in a process.

  • God spends time articulating and then proving His nature so that in knowing Him more fully...we know more about ourselves.

  • God, knowing the trickiness of the enemy and the fickleness of our own souls, decided to establish our worth in His value-of-us rather than in our ability to proves ourselves valuable.
    • So that when our feelings sway...we’d remember...there’s no changing in God!

➣Today’s lesson gives you a peek into God’s true feelings about the Church and how He sees us: [SLIDE #4]


Definition of CHOSEN
: one who is the object of choice or of divine favor : an elect person

But you are a chosen (chosen by who?) people, a royal priesthood (Who choses priests? A priest to Whom? Priests have access to God...as granted by God), a holy nation (Who qualified us as Holy?), God’s special possession (God’s special possession as defined by God),(V) that you (Here is why all of this has been accomplished) may declare the praises (Salvation is a call to service) of him who called you out of darkness (If He calls us out...who can call us back into darkness? We did not bring ourselves out of darkness.) into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Pet 2.9-10)
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  • God does not affirm human beings so that they can have healthy self-esteem. Nor does God really care that individuals feel good about themselves. God wants humans to know their purpose through Him and importance to Him. God is careful that humans not flaunt their innate goodness since it does not exist. Our esteem should be firmly rooted in the fact that we are loved because God IS love and has chosen to adore us, unconditionally. Our joy in life SHOULD NOT BE that we were good and have won a spot in God’s heart as a result. Our joy should be that when we were most unloveable...God overwhelmed us with His love and amazing acceptance. 
    • Our response to this lavish love is a daily “Yes, Lord!” to the Father.
  • This in exemplified in the notion that Christ is a living Stone...and we are living stones (due to our connection with Him!)

☛In this metaphorical description of Jesus Christ, he is called a stone:
  • Invincible strength and everlasting duration
  • He is their protection and security, 
  •     The foundation on which they are built
  •     And a rock of offense to all their enemies.
  •     He is the living stone, having eternal life in himself, and being the           Prince of life to all his people. 
  • Rejected by his own countrymen the Jews
  • But chosen of God,  

Challenges/Next Steps: [SLIDE #5]

  • Ask God to show you what your life would look like if you were to live like a true “lively stone.”
  • God’s desire, via scripture, is that you’d learn about YOURSELF as Truth about His love and attributes are revealed. Commit to putting in the effort to study scripture in order to develop a God-centered “esteem” rather than one that is merit-based.
  • Make the life-altering decision today that scripture STUDY is going to be a part of your successful living strategy. (Successful as defined by an alignment with God’s BEST plans, motivation and outcomes.)
****
Leviticus 26:11-13 (CEV) [SLIDE #6]
11 I will live among you and never again look on you with disgust. 12 I will walk with you—I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, and I rescued you from Egypt, so that you would never again be slaves. I have set you free; now walk with your heads held high.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Here's To A New Us!



Book of Isaiah 66 chapters (1-39 & 40-66)
  • 1/2 of book talks about punishment & 1/2 talks about redemption via a Messiah


Sermon Title: Here’s To A New Us! (Slide #1)
Text: Is. 52:13-53:12

Grace: God’s undeserved kindness

Examples of sacrifice: (Slide #2)
#1: You give up something so that someone else can have it
#2 You take on something that you don’t really want, so that someone else will not have to bear it. (Even greater sacrifice)

(Slide #3)
  • The Beauty of Eden was the fellowship
  • The uniqueness of Christian faith as taught in Scripture is relationships
  • Religion anywhere is about appeasing an angry and unreasonable God with costly sacrifices. (The gods are usually fickle, insecure and angry.)
  • The Story of Scripture is about faith in Jesus Who was God among us, Who died a substitutionary death in order to restore order in our relationship with the Father, completely!!!


In Christ, we have peace (absence of wartime) with God: Acts 13.38; Rom 5.1; 6.23


John 17.3

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Suffering Servant passage begins in Isaiah 52 (Is. 52:13-53:12)

Is 53:4 We thought God punished him!

Isaiah 53.5 It was my sins that sentenced Him....

  • Wounded and crushed for my sins
  • By taking my punishment, I am healed
  • We wandered like lost sheep and he gave us home in His Father
  • The Lord laid on him the punishment of us all
  • He was painfully abused but didn't’ complain (through us under the bus)
  • He was silent like a lamb that was being led quietly to the butcher
  • v. 9 He wasn’t sinful, but he died a sinner’s death...mine...and yours.
  • v. 10 The Lord decided that his servant would die to take away sin and guilt of others
  • v. 12 Others thought he was a sinner, but he suffered for others. Us!


Is 53.6 Jesus is our substitute: (Slide #4)


2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Is 53.7-8 Voluntarily accepts our guilt (Slide #5)
 John 10:11
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Isaiah 53.10-11 He’d save those who believe in him (Slide #6)


John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Acts 16:31
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 
What does all of this mean for God? For us? For the world?

KJV (Is 53.10) (Slide #7)

10 Yet it pleased* the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Message (Is 53.11-12) (Slide #8)

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
    he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
    will make many “righteous ones,”
    as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
    the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
    because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
    he took up the cause of all the black sheep.


Challenges/Next Steps: (Slide #9)

  • Commit to learning scripture regarding God’s view of you
  • Identify new directions you’d take in life if you believed you had a fresh start with God
  • Who would you be if you The Creator of the Universe agreed to embrace you, never bring up your past; dream with you and walk with you in full support?
  • Join me in committing time and energy to understanding the relationship that God desperately wants to have with His children.