MY STORY GREGG LAMM LEAD PASTOR-TEACHER 2 ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH SUNDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2006

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1 MY STORY GREGG LAMM LEAD PASTOR-TEACHER 2 ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH SUNDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2006 (This is just a bare-bones outline for the words I shared this Sunday. To really get this teaching, it s recommended that you get a hold of the CD from the 2 nd Street office) Man, it s so to be with you here this morning. It s been a crazy week, and I m thankful for the chance for you to get a glimpse of my heart in this service. I m glad to have the opportunity for you to see me as more than just the newpastor-teacher guy and begin to get a glimpse into who I am, what makes me tick, and why I believe God opened the door for me to come and live and minister among you. I m not going to teach out of FIRST PETER today we ll get back into that next week. And I ll tell you more about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of that in a little bit. Let s pray For me, God isn t trapped in a book Jesus isn t stuck in a manger or on a cross and faith isn t about duty or tradition. I believe with all my heart that God desperately wants to connect with us in the here and now in the day-to-day realities of life. So what I m about to share with you isn t just my testimony, and it isn t just my story of how I hooked up with Jesus it s me sharing my heart with you so that you ll have a better understanding of my heart for God and for you as the flock God has called me to shepherd. It s MY STORY and I m stickin to it. It s one of the best-known parts of the Bible. It s probably been read out loud more than any other part of the Bible. It s an old Hebrew song, but since we don t know what the original tune sounds like, it s had countless new tunes written for it. It s David s shepherd song, PSALM 23. I want to begin this morning by reading it to you, because I think that it will set the stage for telling you how Jesus became my shepherd and how I became one of His sheep. Read PSALM 23 from The Message Christian family one dad, one mom, three brothers Salem, Portland, Quincy, Eugene Newberg My earliest memory on High-Lo Road / leaving the shepherd and getting stuck it kind of became a metaphor for some important 1

2 chapters of my life. And what I see now is that no matter how much I tried to run away from God, He s always been right behind me, before me, above me and around me. And the minute my heart got nudged towards His, He was there to reconnect with me, give me another chance because God doesn t give up on people..ppt # 1 Repeat this with me and say it like you mean it GOD DOESN T GIVE UP ON PEOPLE. When I was around fourteen years old some disappointments led me to compartmentalize my faith and I became the imposter for about 7 years But after a while the masks became too difficult to juggle so I settled into being the person who I thought I really was I told myself I was just being my own person I was just stretching my wings I was just finding my way through life I was just being an individual. But really, what I was doing was trying to run away from My Shepherd. I did what everybody in this room has tried to do in one way or in a thousand ways I tried to do life my own way I wanted to make the rules and avoid the consequences. I tried talking myself into believing that I was the one person in the world whose life had come in just below God s radar that I wasn t on God s screen that God didn t know who I was that God didn t care about me and maybe most importantly, that The Shepherd really wouldn t mind if I wandered away from Him. But when I tried to do life my own way When I tried to write the rules for my life and pretend that God s plans either weren t real, or that if they were real they didn t matter during all that, God didn t give up on me I could give you a thousand examples of what this looked like, but let me narrow it down to one ILLUSTRATION THE HEARSE AND THE EAGLES 2

3 And each time I went my own way I seemed to get out of the holes I d dug by the skin of my teeth I thought I was golden untouchable a Superman without a cape, cleverly disguised as normal person. Finishing HS GFU I wanted go to college and then go to Law school but even though I had measurable plans and attainable goals, my day-to-day choices kept slowing me down and hanging me up Pennington First Floor / in and out of the window in and out of messes. ILLUSTRATION BETH AND THE BABY And when I tried to think only of myself when I joined Beth in making the most selfish decision of my life even then God didn t give up on me. Because each step of the way God saw me as I really was as that little, huddled up against the fence toddler, wanting to go my own way, but also wanting the safety of the shepherd my heart was divided. How did I know that God hadn t given up on me? Was I having Burning Bush connections with Him? Was God actually talking with me like He talked with Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty? Not that I remember. And I think I would have remembered that. Was God showing up to me when I was high or when I was lonely? Not that I recall but then my short-term memory isn t all that great. Gee, I wonder why? But what God was doing was connecting, reconnecting, reconnecting and reconnecting with me through people reminding me of His love for me through the love of others Gayle Beebe stayed a true friend an old friend I had some history with that included a God-component Gayle s non-judging presence in my life taught me a lot. Judging for observation and information, not for condemnation. Gayle and a new friend of mine an older man named Jack Willcuts and as God gave Gayle and Jack openings to speak into my life, they asked me hard questions questions like 1. Do you really believe God doesn t exist, or are you just ticked off at Him, or somehow disappointed with Him? 2. What s the difference between knowing you love God and knowing that God loves you? Summer 1978 / 29 th and Oak in Eugene, Oregon What happened that night 3

4 In all my meager successes and in all my astounding lows, I felt empty I knew I loved God and that I wanted to partner with God in life so I went over to the house of a buy named Bob Mardock. Back to college / new beginning same struggles but I had the Holy Spirit of Christ living inside me and that only made all the difference. Living with the Millages NFC / Richard Foster A small group great big love great pastor and Bible teacher great teaching, accountability, friendship, and encouragement What was happening, was that God was using His influence ad people in my life to make the difference and I was beginning to change to become more like Jesus and less like the old me I was starting to listen to The Shepherd instead of running away from Him. I was beginning to let Him tend me, lead me, correct me and heal me. And as God was putting the pieces of my life back together My thoughts, words, some of my actions, some of my priorities these things started being shaped by the character of Jesus Christ, and for the first time in my life I began to actively, intentionally, consistently doing the will of God. I don t believe for a minute that everything in my life changed all at once. That night at 29 th and Oak Street and then over at Bob Mardock s house I started a journey of change. The apostle Paul wrote to his friends in the town of Corinth that when we connect with Jesus Christ we become a new creation that the old things pass away and we become brand new. This is true, but it s true in our spirit, not in our soul. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit, but it takes time for our soul (our mind, our will and our emotions) to begin taking on the character of Jesus Christ. In our mind / what we think In our will / what we decide and In our emotions / what we feel I was not in a relationship with Jesus Christ and then I was in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I was unrighteous and then I started moving toward holiness toward the character of Jesus Christ and the will of God. And these changes take a lifetime to flesh out and become real. That s where the day-to-day choice to be a Christ-follower makes all the difference. 4

5 And so I started listening to God about my life, about my future, about my vocation about my relationships I loved Jesus, but I was still making some extremely self-centered, foolish decisions. Politely asked to not come back to GFU Spring semester my Sr. year. U of O / Eugene Bible College Saved enough money to go to South America for three months When I wanted to hang onto my last ounce of control Jesus Christ didn t give up on me Peru/Bolivia Electrocution Sew the ear back on? / goat eyeball / the nursing sheep / up on the roof / Randy Morse God was speaking hard things to me but things I needed to hear STAY TEACHABLE Seminary Studying the WORD / smoking pot Loving God / struggling with sin Wanting to serve God with my heart, soul, mind / a war going on The end of pot / my friend Craig his wife Joan right now.ppt # FIRST TIMOTHY 1:12-14 / NASB, JB Phillips and The Message.PPT # 5 Don Green / giving me ministry experiences / letting me try things I never thought I d be able to do Reedwood Church / Reed College, IVCF Stay flexible in ministry Keep focused on Jesus as my priority Let discernment and compassion work hand-in-hand Met Teresa married, three sons, KF, YL, GFU Pictures for sale 5

6 Just in case you ever begin to ask yourself who started all this! God says the same thing to me Gregg, I love you and I know you love me. I started all this at the cross and you came to me that day in 1978 in Eugene. Let me be your shepherd. Be my sheep. Let me lead you. GOD WON T GIVE UP ON ME Klamath Falls Friends Church and Young Life campus pastor, director of campus ministries at George Fox University. June 05-Dec 05 Dec 05-July 06 July 06 now unemployed Interim pastor-teacher Ogden Church, Adrian, MI Here with you. What are my spiritual gifts and passions pastor-teacher, meeting with people for spiritual direction to discern what God is up to, and then seeking through Him the courage to join Him in what He s doing And I love walking alongside people to do this because I know that we can trust God, and that God calls us into this way of life for our maturing, for our healing, for our pruning, and for our instruction so that we might begin to grow up in Him before we grow old. Besides FIRST TIMOTHY 1:12-14 three other verses that connect strongly with who I am, how I am wired and what I m committed to.ppt # 6 EZRA 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel..PPT # 7 ACTS 6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word..PPT # 8 PROVERBS 27:23 Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds..ppt # 9 JOHN 15:5, PHILIPPIANS 4:13 6

7 Apart from Me [Christ], I can do nothing. I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me. How do I know that God is real? How has He been strengthening me recently? This past week I can move out of FIRST PETER because of who you are you re not going to judge me I can just come here and be here with you and among you and share my heart with you about what s going on in my life and in the life of my family Ryan the last six years the last six months, the last six days, the last six hours the next twelve hours, the next twelve months The Disneyland trip, the bus ride, the run, the breakdown, the phone call, the break through, the trip to NYC God was at work And through it all I know in my knower that.ppt # 1O ONE PURE AND HOLY PASSION PLAY THE MP3 One Pure And Holy Passion Mark Altrogge Give me one pure and holy passion Give me one magnificent obsession Give me one glorious ambition for my life To know and follow hard after You To know and follow hard after You To grow as Your disciple in the truth This world is empty, pale and poor Compared to knowing You, my Lord Lead me on and I will run after You Lead me on and I will run after You.PPT # 11 You and me we re no different PRAYER BLESSING 7