Sermon for June 15, 2014

Transcription

1 Sermon for June 15, 2014 BMZ Church Series: UNshakable For Message: Matthew 7:24-25; John 16:33; James 4:8; Philippians 4:6-7, 13; Hebrews 4:14-16; Exodus 17:12; Galatians 6:2; Mark 2:5 Message Title: Living With Unshakable Faith Introduction: How we doing, BMZ?!? Glad you are with us today as we WRAP UP this series called UNSHAKABLE. The idea is HOW can we have UNSHAKABLE FAITH in the FACE of LIFE S STORMS?!? You know who we need to be UNSHAKABLE?!? Listen, Christian Churches are decreasing in attendance, in faith and in number of churches while at the same time, there is an increase in interest in SPIRITUALITY! Do you wonder why that is?? One of the reasons is that there are fewer and fewer REAL MEN who are in attendance in WORSHIP. I believe that one way of turning around the trends of CHURCHES is to have more REAL MEN attending. REAL MEN WARRIORS for the sake of THE KINGDOM. Men of integrity and FAITH Men who are willing to STAND for what they BELIEVE Men who are willing to SERVE in partnership with GOD to stand in the GAP between ETERNAL LIFE and ETERNAL DEATH Men who STAND for their FAITH with their FAMILIES and guide them toward the things that REALLY MATTER Men who LEAD their CHILDREN toward a FAITH in JESUS by their WORDS and ACTIONS PRAY FOR FATHERS!!! If you have your Bible with you, turn with me to Matthew 7 (Stories of Jesus Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 2/3 of the way through your Bible) if you don t; no worries. All of our Scriptures for today will be up on the screen and much of what we are doing is in your program. If you don t own a Bible and would like one, please stop by Java Jct/Blessed Bean and someone will get you set up with your own Bible. Speaking of which If you haven t already, I invite you to take out your message notes and merge card... On one side you will see our Scripture for today and on the other you will find a brief outline walking us through our Scripture. You will see that there are blanks to fill in Please take the time to do so. Grab a pen and write down whatever else you think is important to you and your faith journey. After worship, drop off your MERGE CARD and take your notes home and refrigerate them. Please Re-read the Scripture and the notes to keep growing and learning. For those of you watching on-line, you can hit the button for notes and for MERGE CARD and stick with us. If you are watching/listening later, or IPODing; you can download the outline off of our website so you too can take notes. Let s pray and then we will press on with where we are going today LET S PRAY (turn off marked lights during prayer)! Since Easter, we have been talking about the things that are REAL that SHAKE our FAITH the things of LIFE. In you NOTES, you will see that I ve listed a few of those things here s what I want you to do: Please think about which ONE or ONES of these things are SHAKING your LIFE TODAY Before we do that, I want us to read, one more time, the Scripture that this SERIES is based off of Matthew 7:24-25 = 24 Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 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. 1 1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Mt 7:24 25). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

2 Alright, so what is it that is SHAKING YOUR FAITH TODAY?? Look at the LIST in your NOTES, PLEASE What Shakes My Faith? - Uncertainty = EASTER = we used the Resurrection Story to help us understand what God offers when things get SHAKY! We talked about when we are hit with UNCERTAINTY, we probably need a NEW PLAN and GOD offers us a PLAN. - Failure = The next Sunday we talked about FAILURE We used Peter s DENIAL of JESUS as an example for when we FAIL. Will we PULL AWAY from GOD when we FAIL, or will we ALLOW that FAILURE to actually help us GROW in our FAITH?? - Death = On Memorial Day Weekend, we talked about having UNSHAKABLE FAITH in the face of DEATH our OWN or the death of a LOVED ONE. One of the things we learned was that we need to ALLOW ourselves to MOURN and part of that is UNDERSTANDING the STAGES of GRIEF - Doubt = At the beginning of June, we learned that the KEY to Overcoming Doubt is PRAYER! Remember the Perfect Imperfect Prayer? I BELIEVE, BUT HELP ME IN MY UNBELIEF! If we can Overcome Doubt, we can become STRONG FOLLOWERS of JESUS! - Illness = As we talked about STANDING STRONG in the face of ILLNESS, we used MOSES talking to GOD and asking, Who should I tell the people sent me? And God answered I AM. God is INFINITE and in all of our needs of ILLNESS, God can supply ALL of our NEEDS and we learned some of the different NAMES of GOD and we talked about OBEDIENCE to God TITHING CHALLENGE? - = Notice the last one is BLANK. It s not because I M going to give you an answer to FILL IN it s because I want you to think about what is it in your life RIGHT NOW that is SHAKING your FAITH!?! Think about it and FILL in that BLANK. If you don t want to write it PHYSICALLY, at least write it MENTALLY please. If you will take time to FILL in that BLANK, it will make what we are talking about today more PERSONAL and maybe help you through a LIFE STORM make it personal! Missed any of these?? Watch, listen or read TODAY WILL BE A RE-CAP of UNSHAKABLE I thought what I would do today is share ONE THING that is on MY LIST of LIFE HAPPENINGS that has the POTENTIAL to SHAKE MY FAITH. As most of you know, in THREE WEEKS, BMZ CHURCH is going to EXPAND. We are going to take under the BMZ CHURCH UMBRELLA SIX MORE CHURCHES / COMMUNITIES. As of July 1 st, there will be 8 total CHURCHES / CAMPUSES as part of the BMZ CHURCH Family. Let me start with where I m at and some reality about 10 years ago (or more), I knew, because of watching statistics for Wisconsin UMC, that something was going to give. I didn t know what, but the writing was on the wall that MINISTRY in GENERAL was going to CHANGE! Hear me on this Churches and Ministry will NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN! Here is the TRENDING: Diminishing Attendance in Churches = less money and fewer workers in those churches. That means that churches cannot afford to pay pastors and they yoke with other churches to SURVIVE. Then, those groups of churches cannot afford a pastor fulltime or part-time. Because of this TRENDING, many churches have CLOSED and many are on the VERGE of CLOSING. 2

3 3 Now, here s why we care Jesus said in Matthew 16 Matthew 16:18 = 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means rock ),* and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell* will not conquer it. 2 TWO THINGS: 1) It s JESUS CHURCH, and 2) Jesus says that He will BUILD IT / GROW IT I care deeply about those two things! So, we are taking on, not only those 6 Churches, but we are taking on those 6 COMMUNITIES. There are people in those communities, like our communities, that are currently headed to HELL. That matters! We should CARE! Here s how we are starting Record Sermon during the week and send DVDs out to the 6 Surrounding Churches. They will be trained in using MERGE CARDS and ENVELOPES and HOSPITALITY, etc. We are inviting those churches to use some things that have worked for us here at Boscobel and Mt. Zion Campuses for Growth Same SERMON, BULLETIN / PROGRAM All of that will be coming out of our office. We have met with leadership from each of the churches and will continue to meet with them for training and encouragement, and to build TRUST and UNITY! We have had some serious PUSHBACK, but we ve also been encouraged by many of the leaders We have hired on Mary Ann Floerke to be the SITE COORDINATOR for the Southern Region (Bloomington, Beetown and Patch Grove) and Wayne Goplin to be the SITE COORDINATOR for the Northern Region (Soldier s Grove, Gays Mills and North Clayton). They will meet with me EACH WEEK to make sure we are all on the SAME PAGE. They will take care of PASTORAL CARE and other duties on behalf of BMZ. What s it going to cost us? EVERYTHING! Jesus gave His LIFE and you re FOLLOWING HIM what did you expect?!? More specifically nothing more at this time Our BUDGET is not changing in We are asking that each of the Churches be invested in making this work. We have changed our STAFFING. As you know, Pastor Eileen is taking the Lead as Pastor of LaFarge and Dell Churches. We are not bringing on an Associate Pastor per se. We are hiring a couple of people FULL TIME from our current staff and upping some hours for other staff to make this work. With bringing on a Full-Time TECH person (Lori) and a Full-Time Marketing and Communications person (Dawn) and upping the hours of other staff, we needed OFFICE SPACE for PRODUCTIVITY. Our OFFICES will be moved in JULY to 107 Oak Street (across from the PIG former State Farm Building). That will also open up MORE SPACE for WNSS and YOUTH Classrooms here in the building. Again, our BUDGET will NOT be CHANGING for this ministry in 2014! What I hope WILL CHANGE our PRAYER LIVES! Please PRAY it could Change HOW we do CHURCH in many areas of our country!! This hasn t been done before, and even though we feel like we have systems and people and technology and some know-how from lessons we ve learned, we NEED GOD to SHOW UP! We are doing this MINISTRY ADVENTURE by FAITH! And, I admit, I ve been on my KNEES in front of our GOD and BEGGED GOD to SHOW UP! Because THIS ENDEAVOR MIGHT SHAKE MY FAITH BUT, as we go through this WRAP-UP to being UNSHAKABLE think about what SHAKES YOU. What do you need to be CONSIDERING as we talk about our FAITH being SHAKEN?!? 5 THINGS to DO when our FAITH is SHAKEN: 2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Mt 16:18). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

4 4 WHEN MY FAITH IS SHAKEN: #1 = DON T BE SURPRISED!! I. Don t Be Surprised I don t know if you ve noticed, but our WORLD is NOT PERFECT! Have you watched any NEWS recently?? Have you picked up a newspaper? It s not pretty! There are NATURAL DISASTERS and HUMAN MADE DISASTERS out there We have Tornadoes and Forest Fires and Flooding We have 12 Year Old Girls attempting to kill a classmate. There are countries at war with OTHER countries and at war with THEMSELVES. There are young boys and girls being KIDNAPPED so they can be SOLD into slavery and the sex trade. Human trafficking makes my BLOOD BOIL! BUT, why are we SURPRISED!? God has SHOWED us throughout Scripture that when PEOPLE are DISOBEDIENT to GOD, CULTURE FALLS APART! We shouldn t be surprised know why not?? Jesus warned us! He told us that this world was going to be trouble John 16:33 = 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. Can I get an Amen? But take heart, because I have overcome the world. 3 Jesus never promised us that life would be TROUBLE-FREE. What God did PROMISE was that HE would be WITH US through whatever TROUBLES came our way! Jesus said that He would be WITH US no matter what. Remember what I said a few weeks back? That if you have trouble and it s followed by trouble and then there is some more trouble before the next trouble remember what that is called?? LIFE! We don t need to be SURPRISED by FAITH-SHAKING events, BUT, when they come, we can know what to DO. That takes us to the 2 nd thing to DO when our FAITH is SHAKEN #2 = Turn IMMEDIATELY to GOD! II. Turn Immediately to God So, what is it that you filled in that BLANK with at the beginning of our NOTES? What is it that you need to TURN IMMEDIATELY to God for?!? Why is it that our natural reaction as humans is to turn away from the primary source of help and strength when problems come our way? We talk to EVERYBODY ELSE friends, family, etc. We will update our status on Facebook, but we won t take time to pray and talk to God, the very person who can help. So here s a question: when trouble comes your way, ask this question how can I move toward God as I go through this trouble? How can I move toward God as I go through this problem? How can I MOVE TOWARD GOD as I go through these difficult circumstances? And when you move toward God, He moves toward you. Here s how James wrote it James 4:8a = 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. 4 When we KNOW that GOD wants us to come to GOD, GOD waits for us it s up to us as FOLLOWERS of JESUS to make the 1 st MOVE! So, why is it that so often we make GOD our LAST RESORT?!? We will try everything and everyone else FIRST and then if all else fails we plead with GOD to HELP! Wouldn t it be better if we made GOD our FIRST MOVE instead of our LAST RESORT?!? Here s something that might help us MATURE in our FAITH When something happens that SHAKES us, ASK WHAT, not WHY. I understand that our tendency is to ask, WHY ME GOD?!? And we can ask and ask and ask, but it s impossible for us to UNDERSTAND the WHY and GOD doesn t OWE YOU enough to TELL you WHY! 3 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Jn 16:33). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 4 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Jas 4:8). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

5 5 Instead of WHY, ask WHAT? In other words, as part of our SPIRITUAL MATURITY process, we learn that GOD is in CONTROL and HIS THOUGHTS are not OUR THOUGHTS and we stop asking WHY? Why me? Why my Mom? Why my brother? and we start to ask, God, WHAT is it you want me to LEARN from this situation? When we MATURE enough to stop asking WHY and start asking WHAT that only happens because of WHO! WHO is speaking into your life? GOD! Here s what we are challenged to do by God through PAUL as he writes to the Philippian Church Philippians 4:6-7 = 6 Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 5 (NEXT STEPS = MEMORY VERSE) Now, would you UNDERLINE the phrase in that last sentence that says, guard your hearts and minds please? When we turn FIRST to GOD, Jesus gets to care for the FEAR that strikes our HEARTS and all of the WORRIES and DOUBTS that enter our MINDS! We need to turn FIRST to GOD when life gets SHAKY! #3 = Embrace the EMOTIONS of the Situation III. Embrace the Emotions Listen, if we will allow GOD to GUARD our HEARTS and MINDS, then we can start asking God, WHAT S GOING ON IN THERE?!? Why do I feel like this? What is it that causes me to HURT and be SAD, etc? You know sometimes our emotions GRAB US and we are not sure where they came from or what they mean. In those times, we need to hear that GOD UNDERSTANDS what we FEEL and THINK when things go wrong. Remember, The Bible tells us that Jesus was not only FULLY GOD, but FULLY HUMAN as well. The author of Hebrews reminds us Hebrews 4:14-16 = 14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. 6 We find GRACE to HELP us when we NEED it MOST when do we NEED it MOST? Probably when we are going through some hard times and dealing with the EMOTIONS of whatever has happened or been said A couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about having UNSHAKABLE FAITH in the face of DEATH, I walked through the basic STAGES of GRIEF. In Ecclesiastes, our BIBLES say that there is a time to CRY and a time to LAUGH, a time to GRIEVE and a time to DANCE. God GETS IT. God understands that we were CREATED to have EMOTIONS. MEN Remember that when the women in your life have those moments. God created them that way. MEN, WE were created that way too! I m not sure why we struggle showing it sometimes You look around a theater during the emotional part and you see all the men trying to HIDE their TEARS, right?!? An act of TRUE LOVE She s not FROZEN ANYMORE! #4 = We NEED EACH OTHER!! IV. Lean on the Faith of Others Throughout Scripture, the Bible says that we can borrow the faith of others when our faith is empty. God has a way of putting people full of faith around us when we feel like our faith 5 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Php 4:6 7). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 6 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Heb 4:14 16). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

6 6 is EMPTY. It s kind of like a gas tank. Sometimes our gas tank runs empty but at just the right moment, God brings other people around us who have full tanks and then we can siphon from them to make it through. The Bible teaches it is important to be around other people, because we are never going to be able to make it through life on our own strength. Still the best illustration of this is that story of MOSES in Exodus 17. Moses is older and he and the Israelite people have been in the wilderness for YEARS. As the Hebrew people go into battle with one of their enemies, God kind of strikes a deal with MOSES. Moses tells Joshua to fight the Amalekites and he (Moses) will go up on a hill overlooking the battle and hold up GOD S STAFF. Joshua goes into battle and Moses, Aaron and Hur climb the mountain. Sure enough; as long as Moses holds the staff up, the Hebrew people are winning. If the staff drops, they start losing! Moses gets tired Aaron and Hur find a ROCK for Moses to SIT on and Aaron and Hur stand on either side of Moses and hold up his arms. By sunset, Joshua and the Hebrews defeat the Amalekites. Isn t that great?!? God not only made sure that Moses PARTNERED with GOD for the VICTORY, but GOD also made sure that MOSES needed OTHER PEOPLE to ACCOMPLISH what God wanted to HAPPEN!! I wonder if Aaron and Hur thought I really hope that TODAY I get to HOLD up MOSES ARMS!! Or, if they were just willing to DO WHATEVER IT TOOK for GOD to GET THE GLORY?!? In order for BMZ CHURCH to CARRY 8 Churches, we need a BUNCH of people willing to DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to make sure that GOD GETS GLORY in SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN! What is it in your life maybe what you wrote in the blank earlier what is it that you have that is SHAKING YOU, that you could use the FAITH of OTHERS for?!? Here s what Paul wrote to the Church in GALATIA Galatians 6:2-3 = 2 Share each other s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. 7 God CALLS US to BE THER for EACH OTHER When you lose a loved one, you need someone who CARES to LEAN ON someone to REMIND you that GOD DOES STILL LOVE YOU and YOUR FAMILY. When you lose a JOB, you NEED SOMEONE who cares and has FAITH that you can LEAN ON that can tell you that GOD STILL LOVES YOU and HAS A PLAN. We were CREATED BY GOD to NEED in our LIVES OTHER PEOPLE who were CREATED by GOD! Finally, as we think about OTHER PEOPLE here s what we can do when the STORMS of LIFE HIT OUR SHORES #5 = BE A WITNESS V. Allow My Faith to Be A Witness to Others As we go from SHAKEN to UNSHAKABLE in our FAITH, not only will that do something in us, and grow us closer to God, but it will also do something for those around us. Listen, everybody is going to be shaken from time to time, but when we, as Christians, who have faith in God, and we are able to stand strong, then OTHER PEOPLE will TAKE NOTICE. When we stand strong in God, other people want to know about God. It causes our FRIENDS and FAMILY and CO-WORKERS to ask questions. Think about it When everyone else is being blown away by the winds of difficulties, but you stand strong, people want that kind of faith. What is it that you have that I don t have? 7 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Ga 6:2 3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

7 7 When everyone else asks WHY are things going wrong, but you are asking WHAT, and point them to WHO, they want to know about that. Our FAITH becomes a witness to other people. It s a way to draw people closer to Jesus. There are people all around you who are being blown away by the storms of life, difficult circumstances, disease, illness, uncertainty, and your faith and my faith can be a witness to them. And when they look at us and say What is it that you have? We can then point them to Jesus, and they can find that kind of faith, too. You understand that is our JOB as CHURCH, right?!? Pointing PEOPLE WHO DON T KNOW JESUS, TO JESUS you get that that is our job?? Boscobel Campus = WE DON T HAVE ENOUGH ROOM we have PLATEAUED in our ATTENDANCE over the past 4-5 years we CANNOT do our JOB according to SCRIPTURE! Please understand; UNSHAKABLE FAITH is not about how strong WE are. None of us on our own are strong enough to stand in the midst of the storms of life. BUT, with God s strength, we can be UNSHAKABLE! Let s read our last Scripture out of Philippians together Philippians 4:13 = 13 For I can do everything through Christ,* who gives me strength. 8 (REPEAT?) Again, having UNSHAKABLE FAITH or being UNSHAKABLE in LIFE S STORMS isn t about OUR STRENGTH. We are NOT STRONG ENOUGH to handle all that comes at us in this LIFE. The ONLY WAY to handle well LIFE S STORMS is to STAND on JESUS TEACHINGS Let s TOGETHER BUILD a STRONG FOUNDATION or God s WORD! We need each other I m praying for you to be more and more UNSHAKABLE! Please pray for ME! NEXT SUNDAY: A short series starts and some big announcements coming! Let s PRAY Together! Next Steps: I will memorize Philippians 4:6-7 I will ask God to give me UNSHAKABLE Faith! I will sign up for Summer Growth Group: I Will Start a Bible Reading Program off of Truth without Grace is Fundamentalism (Brutality). Grace without Truth is Sentimentalism (Hypocrisy). Special thanks to Andy Stanley, Nelson Searcy, R.A. Pegram, Mike Slaughter and Perry Noble for outlines and ideas for this worship series. 8 Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Php 4:13). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.