Building Your Life on Values That Empower Building Your Life with Outreach (Part 1)

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1 Mailing Address: PO Box 797 Molalla, OR Phone: Fax: Pastor Dale Satrum Building Your Life on Values That Empower Building Your Life with Outreach (Part 1) Intro: You know age is creeping up on me. What do I mean? I ve come to understand that if I want to feel good, then I have to choose to live a certain way. When I was in my 20 s, I could get by with not eating well; minimal sleep; exercise was optional. Now, at 44, I have to give priority to all three. All I have to do in order to feel lousy is go have a McDonalds Big Mac / Fries and a coke Not sleep very well skip the exercise or the combination of all 3! I ve come to embrace that if I want to feel strong and healthy, I have to embrace this lifestyle. It works this way spiritually as well. If we want to be strong and healthy spiritually, there are certain values and lifestyle that we are going to have to embrace. God wants to empower our lives but so often we live in a way that diminishes His power rather than magnifies it. Today we begin a new series about Building Your Life on Values that Empower There are 5 key values (POWER) Core values of this church / BUT they need to be the values of our lives! There is a way to live that will make us spiritually weak and vulnerable or there is a way to live that will make us strong and enduring. Jesus illustrated the difference between the two when He said Matt. 7:24-27 Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. (NLT) The storms of life come to everyone. The difference is that some people are empowered to overcome the storms while others are devastated by them. WHY? The key difference is that some people choose to live Jesus way while others do not. Jesus said that following His way will empower your life. Following your own way will not! It is critical to understand that God will NOT empower our lives to live independently of Him. God is not going to empower your thing. He only empowers His thing / His agenda / His values. Eph. 6:10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (NLT) Page 1

2 Experiencing His mighty power is possible. Why would He command something that was unattainable? Impossible? No, experiencing His power is the norm. Today, we re going to start with the value of outreach. Building your life with the value of outreach is understanding that God wants to use your life to impact the lives of other people. It is God s will to use every believer in Christ this way. God will empower your life as you allow Him to use your life to reach out to others. Let me give you 4 ways you can build your life on the value of outreach. I. I Must Embrace A New Identity Matt. 5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth You are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (NLT) II Cor. 5:20 So we are Christ s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us (NLT) A. My new identity is connected with outreach 1. Notice the three you are statements. Salt of the earth / Light of the world / Christ s Ambassadors. When we gave our live to Christ, our identities were altered. Who we were changed! AND, our new identity is connected with outreach. 2. Salt was a preservative in the ancient world. This is who we are as believers in Christ. We are here to preserve! Light illuminates the darkness. We are here to help people see the light of truth. An ambassador represents the King s interests in another country. We are here to represent Christ s interests here on earth. We are preservers / illuminators / representatives in this world. This is our identity! Do you see how our identity is connected to reaching out? 3. Why is this so significant? Because what we believe about ourselves controls our lives. We can t live beyond what we believe!!! You act like a husband because you believe you are one (father / mother / employee / pastor / 4. So many followers of Christ today have themselves convinced they are nothing and can do nothing of significance for God. This is an absolute lie! It is time we embrace who we really are. It is not your circumstances that determine who you are it is the word of God! It s not the opinion of others it is God s opinion of you! 5. Let s say it together. SLIDE: I am the salt of the earth I am the light of the world I am an ambassador for Christ! B. My new identity compels new behavior 1. Once I start believing who I am, now I m compelled to live in a way that is consistent with my identity. I d better start preserving / illuminating / representing. This is who I am and this is what God empowers! 2. God empowers us to live in a way that is consistent with our new identity. This is Page 2

3 why you don t have to worry about whether or not you can do this. The answer is you can because He will give you the strength to do it years ago when we started Foothills, I remember telling God, I don t think I can do this? I was afraid / didn t feel qualified / didn t have the experience / I had all kinds of reasons why it wouldn t work. I told the Lord, I ll do this as long as you give me all I need as we go. 4. This is exactly what the Lord has done over the years. He just continues to give His provision for whatever the journey requires. He empowers us to live a life of outreach. 5. You were created in Christ to reach out. What are you waiting for? God wants to use your life to impact others. He s ready to empower you to do this? The ways we can reach out to others is as varied as the people involved. (feeding the hungry / nursery / kingdom servants / inviting people to church / home group / kids church 6. Outreach is not wearing the sandwich board sign that says, The end is near, repent! (Slide) It s about understanding how God would have you love people. Loving people is preserving / illuminating / representing. Begin by asking: Lord, what would you have me do? II. I Must Embrace A New Attitude Phil. 2:3-5 Don t be selfish; don t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (NLT) With a new identity there comes a new attitude. A. My new attitude is selfless not selfish 1. As we reach out to others, we must have the proper attitude. It is the same attitude Jesus had. It is one of humility / one where we have a genuine interests in others / not just ourselves. It is selfless. 2. Outreach without humility has no power. God doesn t empower arrogance / self interests / personal agendas / self-centered people. God empowers people who chose to be selfless / who embrace humility. That s where the real power is. 3. Being truly humble and selfless is being willing to meet the needs of another without expecting anything in return. It s not; I ll scratch your back if you ll scratch mine kind of thing. No, it s I ll meet your need and expect nothing! 4. Story of Restaurant back East Monday world news Every day opened up for free lunch. People deserve to have a good meal. Everyone treated the same. (Explain people work / pay extra / - There is such power in genuine humility. 5. Humility is a Kingdom principal that empowers. Selfless outreach is transforming! When was the last time you did something for someone else and expected nothing in return? That s where the power is! B. My new attitude allows me to see the needs of others Page 3

4 1. Without humility, it is impossible to see and care about the needs of others. Selfishness keeps the focus of our lives on ourselves / our issues / our concerns / our needs. We are incapable of putting ourselves in the shoes of another. 2. Without embracing humility, we have no compassion for others. Our self-centered focus shuts our hearts off from the needs of others. 3. Sometimes we can get so obsessed with our own needs / hurts / pain / stresses that all we can see is our own stuff. Our vision can t get past ourselves. Now, I m not saying that these needs and stresses aren t real. BUT, there s no power in living this way. When our focus is on ourselves, we will live powerless lives! 4. It is pride that says, Why should I care about the needs of others? I have my own issues to worry about! As followers of Christ, we are not called to reach out to others only when we have an abundance or when things go well. This is our identity. This is what we do regardless. 5. As an example of this: We have a new ministry for people suffering from chronic pain called Soft Hugs. Here is a person who struggle with chronic pain herself. She could become completely self-focused on her own issues, or allow God to use her to reach out to others. 6. As we embrace our new attitude that goes with our new identity there is power! III. I Must Embrace A New Lifestyle Mark 8:34-36 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. (NLT) Here Jesus calls His followers to a radically different lifestyle. A. This new lifestyle requires us to embrace a paradox 1. What is a paradox? It is an apparent contradiction that proves to be true. Jesus says that if we try to save our lives we will lose them. If we give up our lives we will save them. WHAT? 2. We cannot live a life of outreach without embracing this spiritual paradox. Many believers are afraid of giving up their lives to follow Christ and reach out to others. live a life of service. They don t understand this is how to experience life not lose it. It is just a fact of life that whatever we try to control we end up destroying. (another person / your spouse / ministry / church / but it s also true with our lives. 3. As long as we keep a firm grip on our lives / live our agendas / follow our own path / and only make Jesus a part of our lives / we will have no power and according to Jesus, less life. There is a life He wants you to experience that you will forfeit if you keep doing your own thing if you keep your hands on your life. 4. BUT, if we are willing to give up our own thing / life / agenda / direction / for whatever He wants us to do, we will experience a life unlike any other. That s the Page 4

5 deal. We give up our lives and in return, He gives us His one that s empowered. 5. As long as you hang on to your life, you get the life that only you can produce. If we are willing to give that life up, we can experience the life that God can produce. Which are you experiencing? Are you embracing the paradox? If you are B. This new lifestyle requires us to make lifestyle changes 1. We simply can t follow Jesus effectively unless we are willing to make some lifestyle changes. WHY? Because to embrace a life of following Jesus by reaching out to others requires time the very thing we all say we have none of. Once again we want to follow Jesus on our terms rather than His. This is why we have no power in our lives. 2. So here s the crazy thing to me Here is Jesus making each of us an offer to follow Him and experience life / experience His resources / His power / seeing Him use our lives to make a difference in the lives of others and we say NO! 3. This was the crisis of my faith that God brought me to a number of years ago. God brought me to the brink where these claims are either all the way true or all the way false. I can t keep calling myself a follower of Christ if I keep refusing to follow! 4. I made a choice years ago to embrace a new lifestyle. I m going to live my life in a way that Jesus said I m going to live to serve others. I m going to build my life on the value of outreach. I m going to live out my identity! 5. What I have discovered is that it s all true! My life has never been the same. You can begin a new lifestyle by plugging into a ministry here at Foothills (Ministry List) 6. If we say we are just too busy to be involved reaching out to others and serve people, what we re really saying is that we re just too busy to follow Christ. Why? Because this is where He s at! This is where He travels. This is where He calls us to go! If you re willing to embrace this Identity / Attitude / Lifestyle IV. I Will Experience A New Power II Cor. 4:16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. (NLT) (The power of renewal every day can be experienced.) II Cor. 4:7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. (NLT) Fragile physical bodies with great power inside! This is how we can live! A. God s power is the norm not the exception 1. It is not God s desire to bless a few select individuals with more power than others. God doesn t play favorites. His power is available to all and it is His desire for all to experience it. 2. He wants you to have an empowered life! Phil. 4:13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (NLT) Well, if that s the case, why do so few people experience it? Page 5

6 B. God s power is conditional 1. If we are willing to build our lives on His values, then we reap the benefits of living His way. If we build our lives on the value of outreach, He promises to empower our lives to do whatever the task is. We will see supernatural results in our lives and in our service. 2. I end as I started. God empowers His thing, not our thing! So which thing are you building your life with? Are we willing to build our lives on values that will empower us for Kingdom purposes? Will you finally embrace who you really are? (Salt / Light / Ambassador) Will you embrace a selfless Christ-like attitude? (I ask God for this all the time. WHY? Because I know how selfish I am.) Will you embrace a new lifestyle? Live to serve / to reach out to others / allow God to use my life to impact others. Is it time to get off the bench and into the game? Page 6