Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19

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Brian Warren
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1 Nature abhors a vacuum. Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 Ephesians 3 (NIV) A Prayer for the Ephesians. 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Nature abhors a vacuum is credited to Aristotle and it is certainly true in my life Occasional table A wall hook.house Beautiful Desk Shop Bodegas

2 Self storage We get buried in stuff For me some of it is reaction formation Def. Grew up lacking resources Tools were precious I accumulate tools and materials because I have space and well it s Aristotle s fault. I enjoy the feeling of success at fixing something and having lots of broken crap around means I will never suffer from boredom...adhd (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) perhaps but never boredom. I can spend an afternoon taking two or three things that don t really work and rebuilding them together into one fully functional thing that I don t really need. Fortunately that s not always the case. I do accomplish many things of value to my family, friends, and community. But I do find myself walking into spaces and wondering what is all this stuff and where did it sneak in from? How many of us have moved and started out with a yard sale thinking Wow, I finally get to organize and streamline my life only to walk in six months later wondering what is all this stuff and where did it sneak in from? Our lives are full of useless stuff that we see as somehow valuable. So we don t want to throw it out. We want it to go to a good home somehow that feels better sometimes I walk into the palapa and find boxes of stuff and wonder???

3 Boy this is a piece of junk I ll donate it to the church. Too often we end up defining ourselves by our stuff. Things become symbols of who we used to be, who we are or think we are, and who we hope to be when in reality they are things I thought I needed, stuff I don t currently need, and crap I will probably never need. Our stuff gives us some sense of protection or security while actually granting very little of either. It gives a sense of preparation for things unknown and control over the uncontrollable. I sometimes become preoccupied with who I am, what I do, and what I have. We don t like to think about it but try this: Why did you choose the outfit you are wearing Why do choose you wear those shoes That purse which smartphone did you choose. We choose our stuff to tell a story to define ourselves and in doing so we choose to let our stuff define us. For me when I really think about it, it is a reflection of insecurity that I feel but don t actually have more of a habit than anything else I don t need a box full of broken tools when I have more than enough working tools and more than enough friends with tools to back me up. Ecclesiastes 1:8 puts it this way: All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. No matter how little or much we have we crave more.

4 Wanting more is so natural that when we meet a homeless person who is that way by choice we agree that he or she is crazy Search homeless by choice on Youtube... tiny houses crazy and it is imagine renouncing your job, your family, your home, your wardrobe, your entertainment system, your kitchen totally crazy and yet we come here and sing songs of worship and praise to one to a crazy homeless dude. I don t know what any of this means to you if or how God may speak to you. If you are too comfortable in your life it may bring you discomfort that s good If you lack comfort and need comfort I pray it brings you comfort that would be great For me I need to take some time and sort out more than a few things. I m not giving up my shop as it does serve my God and family and friends and community but some of this other junk?.. There are times that I set out to do something that has genuine meaning and value and end up getting distracted by well you know whatever junk I have great intentions of resolving clutter in my life but at this point the task is more than a bit daunting. Sorting out what has actual real value from junk takes time in my case a lot of time. Of course raising the bar of what matters from the rest can help.

5 What matters has to derive from how I can best serve my God, my family, my friends, and my community. This amounts to a plan of action. So is this really a sermon about hoarding, house cleaning, and storage? Yes kinda but no not really. Everything I ve been talking about applies to our spiritual life. Nature abhors a vacuum as does the human heart, human mind, and human soul. Humm what was it that crazy homeless dude Jesus said: Matthew 22:(NIV)37 Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Mark 12:30(NIV)30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Luke 10:27(NIV)27 He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind [a]; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Bible gives us 3 chances to get this one right. Why because you re gonna fill em up with something. We are in a culture war. 2 Tim 3 warns that in the final days: 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

6 But 2 Tim. doesn t mention that Madison Avenue, Televisa, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Dish, YouTube, Disney, Apple, Samsung, and the remaining players will be the final battleground for our hearts and minds and souls. All are competing for the limited bandwidth we each have as individuals. The only real choice we get to make is what we allow in and to what purpose. Paul s prayer in Ephesians 3 says: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Our prayer remains that we may know the love of Christ so we can be filled with all the fullness of God. You can t know someone s love if you are not in a loving relationship with them but once you are they fill you up. So if you choose to know the love of Christ that is to say; be in a loving relationship with him. The rest don t stand a chance. Nothing builds relationships better than working toward common goals. That s why team building is important A minute ago I said that the only real choice we get to make is what we allow in and to what purpose. When we allow Christ into our lives we take on his purposes and work together for His goals. What are His goals:

7 Save the lost Give comfort to those suffering To forgive and love those who the self-righteous leaders of the day shunned To bear witness to the love and grace of God To bring glory to the Father by growing His Kingdom on Earth To pay the price for our sin If God is love and love is a relationship we have with people then God is a relationship that we have with other people So can t Jesus do these things without us absolutely So, except for paying the price for our sin, why doesn t He are we better at it than He is no we re all lame runners in a marathon when it comes to doing God s work I m like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. We are team building groups build trust reliance teach and learn We are team building God calls us alongside Him so that we can know and love Him and know and love ourselves better. We are not instructed to feed, clothe, shelter, and love others for the sake of God who can do all things according to His own will but rather for our relationship with Christ that we may be filled. God is all about filling up. If you search for the word filled depending on the version you get up to 285 occurrences of the word. God is the God of absolutes. It is mankind that has the fondness for grey areas. God is about absolutes. The Bible is a book of absolutes and not very welcomed in a world of meh

8 So, what s your feeling about apathy meh How does God feel about apathy? Matt 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. 44 They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? 45 He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. How does God feel about sin? How does God feel about sinners? How does God feel about religion? Be mindful the leaders of the religion of the day when Christ walked among us filled themselves with laws and religion to the exclusion of a relationship with God. In Matthew 23 Jesus says in verse 13 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Actually all of Matt 23 is a condemnation of the actions of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law of Moses so if you want a Not To Do list read Matthew 23. So if you want to reject or hate or kill or persecute anyone based on the Law of Moses you will still be team building just with the wrong team.

9 Nature abhors a vacuum. Aristotle of God. The Apostle Paul Be filled with all the fullness

10 Nature abhors a vacuum. Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 Ephesians 3 (NIV) A Prayer for the Ephesians. 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Nature abhors a vacuum is credited to Aristotle and it is certainly true in my life Occasional table A wall hook.house Beautiful Desk Shop Bodegas

11 Self storage We get buried in stuff For me some of it is reaction formation Def. Grew up lacking resources Tools were precious I accumulate tools and materials because I have space and well it s Aristotle s fault. I enjoy the feeling of success at fixing something and having lots of broken crap around means I will never suffer from boredom...adhd (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) perhaps but never boredom. I can spend an afternoon taking two or three things that don t really work and rebuilding them together into one fully functional thing that I don t really need. Fortunately that s not always the case. I do accomplish many things of value to my family, friends, and community. But I do find myself walking into spaces and wondering what is all this stuff and where did it sneak in from? How many of us have moved and started out with a yard sale thinking Wow, I finally get to organize and streamline my life only to walk in six months later wondering what is all this stuff and where did it sneak in from? Our lives are full of useless stuff that we see as somehow valuable. So we don t want to throw it out. We want it to go to a good home somehow that feels better sometimes I walk into the palapa and find boxes of stuff and wonder???

12 Boy this is a piece of junk I ll donate it to the church. Too often we end up defining ourselves by our stuff. Things become symbols of who we used to be, who we are or think we are, and who we hope to be when in reality they are things I thought I needed, stuff I don t currently need, and crap I will probably never need. Our stuff gives us some sense of protection or security while actually granting very little of either. It gives a sense of preparation for things unknown and control over the uncontrollable. I sometimes become preoccupied with who I am, what I do, and what I have. We don t like to think about it but try this: Why did you choose the outfit you are wearing Why do choose you wear those shoes That purse which smartphone did you choose. We choose our stuff to tell a story to define ourselves and in doing so we choose to let our stuff define us. For me when I really think about it, it is a reflection of insecurity that I feel but don t actually have more of a habit than anything else I don t need a box full of broken tools when I have more than enough working tools and more than enough friends with tools to back me up. Ecclesiastes 1:8 puts it this way: All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. No matter how little or much we have we crave more.

13 Wanting more is so natural that when we meet a homeless person who is that way by choice we agree that he or she is crazy Search homeless by choice on Youtube... tiny houses crazy and it is imagine renouncing your job, your family, your home, your wardrobe, your entertainment system, your kitchen totally crazy and yet we come here and sing songs of worship and praise to one to a crazy homeless dude. I don t know what any of this means to you if or how God may speak to you. If you are too comfortable in your life it may bring you discomfort that s good If you lack comfort and need comfort I pray it brings you comfort that would be great For me I need to take some time and sort out more than a few things. I m not giving up my shop as it does serve my God and family and friends and community but some of this other junk?.. There are times that I set out to do something that has genuine meaning and value and end up getting distracted by well you know whatever junk I have great intentions of resolving clutter in my life but at this point the task is more than a bit daunting. Sorting out what has actual real value from junk takes time in my case a lot of time. Of course raising the bar of what matters from the rest can help.

14 What matters has to derive from how I can best serve my God, my family, my friends, and my community. This amounts to a plan of action. So is this really a sermon about hoarding, house cleaning, and storage? Yes kinda but no not really. Everything I ve been talking about applies to our spiritual life. Nature abhors a vacuum as does the human heart, human mind, and human soul. Humm what was it that crazy homeless dude Jesus said: Matthew 22:(NIV)37 Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Mark 12:30(NIV)30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Luke 10:27(NIV)27 He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind [a]; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Bible gives us 3 chances to get this one right. Why because you re gonna fill em up with something. We are in a culture war. 2 Tim 3 warns that in the final days: 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

15 But 2 Tim. doesn t mention that Madison Avenue, Televisa, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Dish, YouTube, Disney, Apple, Samsung, and the remaining players will be the final battleground for our hearts and minds and souls. All are competing for the limited bandwidth we each have as individuals. The only real choice we get to make is what we allow in and to what purpose. Paul s prayer in Ephesians 3 says: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Our prayer remains that we may know the love of Christ so we can be filled with all the fullness of God. You can t know someone s love if you are not in a loving relationship with them but once you are they fill you up. So if you choose to know the love of Christ that is to say; be in a loving relationship with him. The rest don t stand a chance. Nothing builds relationships better than working toward common goals. That s why team building is important A minute ago I said that the only real choice we get to make is what we allow in and to what purpose. When we allow Christ into our lives we take on his purposes and work together for His goals. What are His goals:

16 Save the lost Give comfort to those suffering To forgive and love those who the self-righteous leaders of the day shunned To bear witness to the love and grace of God To bring glory to the Father by growing His Kingdom on Earth To pay the price for our sin If God is love and love is a relationship we have with people then God is a relationship that we have with other people So can t Jesus do these things without us absolutely So, except for paying the price for our sin, why doesn t He are we better at it than He is no we re all lame runners in a marathon when it comes to doing God s work I m like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. We are team building groups build trust reliance teach and learn We are team building God calls us alongside Him so that we can know and love Him and know and love ourselves better. We are not instructed to feed, clothe, shelter, and love others for the sake of God who can do all things according to His own will but rather for our relationship with Christ that we may be filled. God is all about filling up. If you search for the word filled depending on the version you get up to 285 occurrences of the word. God is the God of absolutes. It is mankind that has the fondness for grey areas. God is about absolutes. The Bible is a book of absolutes and not very welcomed in a world of meh

17 So, what s your feeling about apathy meh How does God feel about apathy? Matt 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. 44 They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? 45 He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. How does God feel about sin? How does God feel about sinners? How does God feel about religion? Be mindful the leaders of the religion of the day when Christ walked among us filled themselves with laws and religion to the exclusion of a relationship with God. In Matthew 23 Jesus says in verse 13 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Actually all of Matt 23 is a condemnation of the actions of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law of Moses so if you want a Not To Do list read Matthew 23. So if you want to reject or hate or kill or persecute anyone based on the Law of Moses you will still be team building just with the wrong team.

18 Nature abhors a vacuum. Aristotle of God. The Apostle Paul Be filled with all the fullness

INTEGRITY. The Tongue

INTEGRITY. The Tongue INTEGRITY The Tongue The tongue can create or destroy life. James 3:10 says, Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. Turning the tongue in the right direction is more than just trying to control