Sermon for April 3, 2016 BMZ Church Series: Myth Busted Text: Romans 12:2; Proverbs 14:12, 7:2-3, 3:5-6; II Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 2:1; Psalm 19:7-8; James 1:22; Title: Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide / Follow Your Heart Introduction: Good Morning BMZ! I m so glad you are with us today as we CONTINUE our WORSHIP SERIES called MYTH BUSTED! Today, I m going to get in some TROUBLE, because we are ACTUALLY going to go after what I call The DISNEY Factor! And, the reason I use that is Disney often uses the phrase, FOLLOW YOUR HEART Now, before I go any further, please HEAR what I am NOT SAYING! I am NOT SAYING that we should NOT have DREAMS and HOPES and IDEALS in our lives that MOVE us toward something BETTER! What I AM SAYING is that if we do NOT have something SUBSTANTIAL to hang on to in our LIVES a FOUNDATION a LAUNCHING PAD, our DREAMS are PROBABLY NOT going to be what we HOPED they would be EVEN IF THEY COME TRUE! Now, that I ve BURIED myself in WORDS, let me attempt to DIG OUT Today, we are going to look at one of the BIGGEST MYTHS that people BELIEVE IN and that is FOLLOW YOUR HEART and/or LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE! BUT, if you buy into that, it is going to really DAMAGE YOU, damage your RELATIONSHIPS with PEOPLE and your RELATIONSHIP with GOD! So, as we begin COMPASS How many of you would say that you have a GOOD Sense of DIRECTION?!? How many of you would ADMIT that you do NOT have a GOOD Sense of DIRECTION?! Well, let s find out on the COUNT of THREE, whatever building you are in, would you POINT NORTH?! Ready?? ONE TWO THREE If you have your Bible with you, turn with me to ROMANS 12 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 Connection 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 CONNECTION 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, hit the button for notes and for CONNECTION 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)! You know, some people TRULY have a GUT INSTINCT when it comes to DIRECTIONS! And, I would put myself in that category at times It might take me a FEW extra TURNS, but I can generally FIND MY WAY AROUND How about you?? Can you EVENTUALLY FIND your WAY?!? BUT, what about the BIG MORAL decisions in your life? Think about it like this what if you were out in the WILDERNESS?! What if you were in the ROCKY MOUNTAINS and it was STARTING to SNOW and you had to GET OUT FAST?!? Would you TRUST your GUT INSTINCTS or would you want one of these (COMPASS) with you?!?
2 You know, a lot of people have bought into this MYTH that we should let our CONSCIENCE be our GUIDE. I hear this over and over. "My conscience is clear. I'm just going to trust my gut. I'm just going to do what feels right. It just seems like something I ought to do." Let me tell you, YOUR CONSCIENCE will ALWAYS get you into TROUBLE! So, I want to CHALLENGE this MYTH. This may be new for some of you, this idea that I shouldn't trust my conscience. MANY PEOPLE say, "Just trust your GUT. Trust your CONSCIENCE." So, let me REMIND YOU of our KEY VERSE for this WHOLE WORSHIP SERIES Romans 12:2 = 2 Don t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 1 We THINK that we can TRUST OUR CONSCIENCE maybe we should let GOD CHANGE the way we THINK! INSTEAD of TRUSTING your CONSCIENCE and FOLLOWING your HEART, I want to give you something you can TRUST EVERY TIME! MANY of us have been TAUGHT that our CONSCIENCE is an internal indicator of right and wrong. Somehow or another, there's this LITTLE VOICE inside of our HEAD that tells us what is RIGHT. When we go to make a decision or we go to choose a path, if it just FEELS RIGHT, if we have peace about it, if it SEEMS RIGHT, it MUST BE RIGHT, right? WRONG! Look at what it says in Proverbs Proverbs 14:12 = 12 There is a path before each person that seems right (It SEEMS right it SEEMS like it should be NORTH it SEEMS like the BEST PATH for ME ), but it ends in death. 2 Before you TURN the page, that verse might be talking about LITERAL DEATH, but I ve seen people TRUST their CONSCIENCE and it caused the DEATH of a CAREER or the unnecessary DEATH of a RELATIONSHIP. There are TOO MANY MARRIAGES that LOST OXYGEN because of one or both people TRUSTING their CONSCIENCE and/or FOLLOWED their HEART!! That gets us to our MYTH for this week MYTH: My conscience is a TRUSTED guide for my life. BUT, Pastor Stan, I know a lot of people who BELIEVE THAT! I know! AND, that BELIEF is extremely DANGEROUS! Do you know WHY? Because if your CONSCIENCE / HEART serves as your PRIMARY MORAL GUIDE, it will take us off of GOD S PATH and you will EXPERIENCE unnecessary HEARTACHE, CONFUSION and DISAPPOINTMENT! Here are some DANGERS to FOLLOWING your HEART or TRUSTING your CONSCIENCE: - My Conscience REFLECTS MY DESIRES Let s just ADMIT when I ANSWERED the QUESTION, What FEELS RIGHT? All I did was ANSWER what I WANTED! That INNER VOICE that you think is DIRECTING you into what is RIGHT ; is just YOUR INNER VOICE of what you WANT! It s NOT about what s BEST for YOU BECAUSE OFTEN what we WANT is NOT what is BEST for us. Another problem with MY DESIRES is that MY dreams are NOT GOD-SIZED DREAMS and they will never be enough our DESIRES are NEVER as GOOD and FULFILLING as what GOD DESIRES FOR US! Danger #2 = - My Conscience IS TIED TO MY SIN NATURE 1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ro 12:1 2). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Pr 14:12). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
3 We talk about this at BMZ BMZ is NOT a CONGREGATION of SAINTS, it is a HOSPITAL for SINNERS! We all need JESUS on a CROSS for our SINS. We are trying to GROW to be MORE LIFE Jesus. We are ALL MESSED UP and CORRUPTED by SIN. Just like the rest of our BEING has been DAMAGED and CONTROLLED by SIN so has our CONSCIENCE and our HEARTS. Like a COMPUTER we are only as good as the DATA we rely on! Garbage IN; Garbage Out Our CONSCIENCE cannot escape the REST of OUR BEING! Danger #3 = - My Conscience IS INCONSISTENT If my COMPASS says that NORTH is THIS way Today and THAT WAY Tomorrow, you wouldn t TRUST IT, would you?!? NO! Our Conscience / Our HEARTS are THAT WAY. Today, it will say that THAT is NOT OKAY! Tomorrow I might FEEL DIFFERENT about that or WANT IT MORE and what was NOT OKAY Yesterday, becomes OKAY TODAY! MANY PEOPLE have made DECISIONS that they LATER REGRETTED! That is our REMINDER that our CONSCIENCE and our HEARTS are INCONSISTENT! Danger #4 = - My Conscience IS CULTURALLY INFLUENCED Remember? Last week I said that WE VE ALL been BRAINWASHED? Culture does that EVERY DAY! And, what was NOT ACCEPTABLE 10-15-20 years ago, is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE TODAY! Think about it Leave it to Beaver to 50 Shades of Grey Do you want to TRUST THAT INCONSISTENCY to GUARD your HEART?? CULTURAL INFLUENCE brings into our lives, UNNECESSARY HEARTACHE! Let me just REMIND us of a COUPLE of things #1 = MISERY LOVES COMPANY Why wouldn t our CULTURE want to TEAR YOU DOWN TOO? And, #2 = MAJORITY does NOT EQUAL MORALITY! I sound like my Dad Just because EVERYONE ELSE is DOING it does NOT MEAN that it s GOOD! Look at our WORLD! It has been argued that IF you want to KNOW GOD S WILL in our society take an OPINION POLL, see what the MAJORITY wants to do, and THEN DO THE OPPOSITE! Our CULTURE has a DIFFERENT MORAL COMPASS than the ONE who CREATED US and wants what is BEST FOR US! That gets us to our MYTH BUSTED for TODAY MYTH BUSTED: GOD S WORD is the trusted guide for my life. Just like a COMPASS there is only ONE TRUE NORTH! When it comes to MORALITY RIGHT and WRONG GOOD for us and BAD for us there is ONLY ONE SOURCE of WISDOM and IT DOES NOT CHANGE with the LATEST FAD / CRAZE! We can TRUST our BIBLES to lead us to GOOD STUFF and AWAY from unnecessary HEARTACHE EVERY DAY! Here are our MEMORY VERSES for TODAY From Paul s 2 nd Letter to Timothy 2 Timothy 3:16-17 = 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 3 You've got to CHOOSE today, from here on out, WHO are you going to TRUST? Are you going to trust YOUR CONSCIENCE / HEART that's CORRUPTED, CULTURALLY INFLUENCED and part of your SIN NATURE OR, are you going to TRUST GOD? Look, I know this is new teaching for some of you. Some of you, right now, you don't believe me just yet, but I want to ask you just to keep an OPEN MIND for the rest of this message. 3 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (2 Ti 3:16 17). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
Okay LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE Do you know where that comes from? A little movie that came out in 1940 called, PINOCCHIO! There is a SONG in the movie called, Give A Little Whistle where Jiminy Cricket is giving Pinocchio ADVICE on how to KNOW RIGHT from WRONG and he says (PICTURE), ALWAYS LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE Now, I m asking are you going to listen to Jiminy Cricket or God on this stuff? My suggestion TODAY is that we LISTEN to GOD through GOD S WORD! HOW? I. HEAR GOD S WORD If you were with us last week for EASTER, you remember that I said that we need to LISTEN for GOD S VOICE AND, the #1 WAY that we HEAR GOD S VOICE is through GOD S WORD!! Today, we have FREEDOM to have God s Word WRITTEN down! They are called, BIBLES! The STARTING PLACE for letting the BIBLE GUIDE my life is for me to HEAR it REGULARLY! That s why we READ some of our BIBLE verses together on Sunday! IT S IMPORTANT to BE HERE on Sunday and HEAR God s Word SPOKEN and TAUGHT. I do not take it lightly! Here s what I know I know that GOD SPEAKS DIRECTLY in to people s lives EVERY WEEK! I wish I could share ALL of our CONNECTION CARDS. People are taking NEXT STEPS in their FAITH JOURNEY. People are GROWING in their FAITH! People are COMING to a SAVING FAITH in JESUS! Some of that is going to SHOW UP here in a few weeks. We have a BELIEVER S BAPTISM coming up soon and if you are a NEW BELIEVER, you need to get signed up for that or ASK questions about that. As people GROW in their FAITH, it s important to become part of a LOCAL CHURCH Membership Class coming up, etc. Anyway, I m amazed at how GOD SPEAKS to us when we come together to WORSHIP. I m amazed at how I think I was saying ONE THING and GOD is SPEAKING to YOU something else. That s OKAY! Just LISTEN to GOD! Unfortunately, we have people who get INCONSISTENT in their WORSHIP Attendance and then STOP HEARING God s Word God s VOICE becomes WEAKER and WEAKER to them and they start to FALL BACK on Letting their CONSCIENCE be their GUIDE and life goes bad. Have you ever had your ARM or your FOOT fall ASLEEP? IT goes NUMB. It s a weird feeling, but it is also kind of SCARY! Because if I CAN T FEEL what is happening to my ARM or my FOOT How will I know when it is HURT?!? I have that fear that I m going to have my ARM fall asleep while I m SLEEPING ROLL OVER awkwardly, and like, BREAK IT BUT, I won t feel it until it s TOO LATE! You know what? That is EXACTLY what happens to PEOPLE MORALLY! When we STOP listening to GOD, over time, our HEARTS become HARD! They FALL ASLEEP! It becomes DEADENED / NUMB to God s VOICE! God may be trying to SPEAK and DIRECT you, but you are COMPLETELY NUMB and that is DANGEROUS! Many of us have EXPERIENCED this think back to something that you felt GUILTY about the 1 st TIME you did it, but then you KEPT DOING IT and the GUILT started to go away. See, that s what happens in our LIVES and in our CULTURE when we LISTEN to our CONSCIENCE Over time people with HARD / NUMB HEARTS toward GOD, can do SINFUL THINGS and still say, My CONSCIENCE is CLEAR! 4
5 Your Conscience might be CLEAR, but you STILL TOOK the WRONG PATH and you are going to get HURT and people you LOVE are going to get HURT! So, I want to APPLAUD you being here today! For reading these VERSES of Scripture and taking NOTES. Studies show that we RETAIN 4 times what we HEAR when we take NOTES! That s why we give you MESSAGE NOTES each week. And, don t just TOSS them when you LEAVE put them in a BINDER so we can KEEP on HEARING God s WORD! Hebrews 2:1 = So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 4 Keep your NOTES! Read your BIBLE! That gets us to the 2 nd way to USE God s WORD as our LIFE GUIDE II. STUDY GOD S WORD Some of you have noticed that I carry around this BIG BIBLE. It s become HABIT! I use it for PREACHING and it sits on my DESK every DAY! It s BIG, NOT so I look more HOLY It s BIG because it s a STUDY BIBLE! I use it SO, when I m READING, I have, on the BOTTOM half of the page, it s COMMENTARY on what certain WORDS MEAN and what certain PASSAGES MEAN and what is the CULTURAL CONTEXT for what is going on, etc. I don t want to just READ GOD S WORD; I want to KNOW GOD S WORD! What did it mean THEN and what does it MEAN for me NOW!?! If you want information on a good STUDY BIBLE, just LET ME KNOW I use the New Living Translation which is updated language and very COMPLETE in its translation. I use the LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE Write that down in your notes. Also, it s hard to STUDY God s Word if we don t READ our BIBLES! Do you have a BIBLE READING PROGRAM that you are USING? Are you READING every DAY? If not, again this week, WRITE that in the SPACE on the back of your CONNECTION CARD and I ll get a COUPLE of my favorites SENT OUT to you! I ll also send you a LINK to a BUNCH of Bible Reading Programs to CHOOSE from! And, if we are going to STUDY God s Word, that is what we do in our GROWTH GROUPS weekly SMALL GROUPS SIGN UPS coming in MAY for the SUMMER SEMESTER. Don t MISS IT! Maybe you are still asking WHY! Why HEAR God s Word? Why STUDY God s Word? Here s why Psalm 19:7-8 = 7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. 5 Anyone need anything TRUSTWORTHY in their LIVES? Anyone need any more WISDOM? JOY? INSIGHT for your life? Honestly, in THIS WORLD, The BIBLE is really the ONLY TRUSTWORTHY GUIDE we have for our LIVES. The world keeps TESTING everything else How s that going? People keep making DECISIONS that SEEM RIGHT, but they are in the OPPOSITE direction that GOD would LEAD and they are DAMAGING themselves, the people around them and our whole CULTURE! You know what God wants us to do? Hear God s Word. Study God s Word. And, #3 III. MEMORIZE GOD S WORD We do a MEMORY VERSE here EVERY WEEK! And, TODAY S is not easy it s MEMORY VERSES! BUT, it s worth it! If we start to get GOD S WORD into our BRAINS, we will STRUGGLE LESS when the time of DECISION comes. We have a SITUATION in front of 4 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Heb 2:1). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 5 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ps 19:7 8). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
6 us and we are thinking What would Jiminy Cricket do?!? NO! Wait! I remember what God s Word says! I m amazed at how many people say, I can t memorize anything I don t have a good memory. BUT, it s that person who can still sing ALL of the LYRICS from their Favorite BAND from High School! AND, there are people who say they don t have a good memory, BUT, they can tell you a WHOLE BUNCH of BASEBALL STATS and FOOTBALL STATS! If we will memorize the VERSES that we do here EVERY WEEK, you would have 52 VERSES Memorized in a YEAR! Even if you just did ONE a MONTH, that s 12 VERSES that s MORE than you have right now, RIGHT!?! AND, even if you FORGET the EXACT wording, you have the IDEA behind the Scripture in your HEAD! And, here is the THING: You will be AMAZED, when we start to INTENTIONALLY MEMORIZE Scripture Verses, how many times that you will USE THAT at just the RIGHT MOMENT! God s Holy Spirit is GOOD like that Here is our verse from Proverbs to REMIND us that MEMORIZING is IMPORTANT Proverbs 7:2-3 = 2 Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.* 3 Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. 6 Listen, the THINGS of this WORLD are going to RUST and ROT and DECOMPOSE, but GOD S WORD Let s WRITE that DEEP within our HEARTS! That will STAY with us longer than our CAR or our HOUSE or the Family Dog and we NEED IT in order for GOD to BLESS US the way GOD WANTS TO! Avoid UNNECESSARY HEARTACHE in this life there is plenty we CAN T AVOID. Let s avoid what we can STOP FOLLOWING your HEART! That gets us to #4 Hear / Study / Memorize and FINALLY IV. I APPLY GOD S WORD This is where the RUBBER MEETS the ROAD! This is where you are taking what you are LEARNING, STUDYING and MEMORIZING and it becomes MORE than just WORDS we start to APPLY it to our LIVES! Not just when the EMERGENCY comes up. We APPLY it to our EVERY DAY LIVES. We allow God s Word to give DAILY DIRECTION to become more FULLY DEVELOPING FOLLOWERS of JESUS! To be a FOLLOWER of JESUS is to be a FOLLOWER of GOD S WORD! They do not SEPARATE. This is where it NO LONGER MATTERS what SEEMS RIGHT to YOU. Because as MATURE Christians and MATURE people we start to FIGURE out that our CONSCIENCE and our HEARTS as GOOD as we think they are will still TAKE US to some BAD PLACES! They will take us to HURT and DAMAGE and DESTRUCTION. We start to RECOGNIZE that MY FEELINGS are NOT nearly as IMPORTANT as GOD S WORD! We start to be TRANSFORMED from the INSIDE OUT starting with CHANGING the way we THINK! Brainwashed Here s James James 1:22 = 22 But don t just listen to God s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 7 Listen, we can all HAVE a BETTER COMPASS, but if we DON T USE IT, we are still LOST! When we CHOOSE to follow GOD S WORD over our CONSCIENCE and our HEART, what we are really saying is: GOD, I TRUST YOU! And that is our KEY IDEA for TODAY would you fill in the BLANKS here KEY IDEA: Don t just trust God s Word, trust the AUTHOR of God s Word. 6 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Pr 7:2 3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 7 Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Jas 1:22). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
7 Alright, are you going to TRUST GOD or are you going to TRUST JIMINY CRICKET? It s your CHOICE One last Scripture to consider MEMORIZING Proverbs 3:5-6 = 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. 8 Here might be something you say to God today Say, "God, I trust You. You made me. You know me. You love me. You sent Jesus to die for my sins. When I believe in You, I will spend eternity with You. God, I'm going to look to Your word in this life for guidance. I'm going to look to Your word, so that I can know You more." This life is SHORT and PAINFUL ENOUGH Let s TRUST GOD to be our GUIDE Let s Pray!! Next Steps: Memorize 2 Timothy 2:16-17 Commit (recommit) to God s Word as a trusted guide for my life. RSVP for Newcomer s Reception (?) I m interested in Membership at BMZ Church / Believer s Baptism (?) 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. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Pr 3:5 6). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.