Importance part 1 Outline
I get asked from time to time about the outline I preach from. I don’t tend to write out the whole sermon and just read it, but I do study this stuff to death before I try to wing it from the pulpit! That would be a sad day when a pastor just phones it in on a Sunday morning, wouldn’t it? So, we’ve been uploading as many Sunday sermons as we can — sometimes the recording doesn’t work, sometimes we can’t get to it as quickly as we’d like…you know: life.
But here’s the outline from this past Sunday’s service. Our services always start with worship songs TO God and ABOUT God. Then we had some announcements, and a time of greeting each other. After that I had everybody stand back up to honor the Word as we opened in Isaiah and prayed. After that everyone sat back down and I read from Max Lucado’s Tell Me The Secrets book.
Anyway, here’s what notes look like for this past Sunday.
Open:
Isa 44:1,2
Jacob – God set you apart for His service
Israel – God chose you and renames you His Prince, Champion
Vs 2: Jesurun:
Yeh Shur On – The one who is made right, delivered, saved, redeemed.
Yeh Shoo Wah – The anointed one who makes right, delivers, saves, redeems.
Not Where you have been.
Not Why you have done.
Not What your history is.
Not When you got a clue, and opened your heart to Jesus.
Not How you got here today.
Whose You Are!
Max Lucado story about Punchenello Puppet
Continue the Isaiah passage. End of chapter:
Isa 44:23, 24
Formed:
yâtsar
yaw-tsar’
Pressed through narrow qualifications, like squeezing into shape, breaking off everything that isn’t specific to you, to mould into a form, especially as a potter, assigned for a purpose.
Isa 49:5
Even if that purpose is not yet complete, You are glorious in the eyes of the Lord!
Jer 1:4-9
We have the Words of God.
The Bible.
We can prophecy – declare the word of the Lord – as we have His Word inside us.
Psalm 119:11 Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
John 10:27 Jesus said My children know my voice.
Close
Carpet and Doors and a Stage, Oh My!
There are seasons in life. One season might be when you work and work and work and don’t get to eat any fruit of your labors. That is totally natural if you think about it. When you plant an apple tree do you want to go up and eat off of it when there are only leaves and bark? Of course not!
Then another season might come. You have been working, and now it just buckets down raining on your labor. Bleh! Just dreary, soggy, and definitely not the kind of weather you go to Disneyland in! You just sit at your front window and watch it rain.
But sooner or later there comes a time when you work harder than ever before. When the doors need to get hung on the sanctuary doorways. When the floor has to get prepared and carpet glued down. When the midnight oil burns in order to finish putting the stage together so the carpet guys can come early the following day!
And why put sooooo much effort into a building? One big reason is Honor. We aren’t beautifying this church building to be prideful. We are making it beautiful because this is the House of the Lord! If we’re going to have a place of meeting, it should reflect a level of Honor and reverence that points to God. So we sweep, mop, scrub, dust and dust and dust.
There’s a second reason too. And the second reason is distraction. When someone who is part of Promise brings somebody who isn’t set yet in the Kingdom of God where they can grow and be filled and fulfilled, that person still uses their eyes more than their heart. (That’s the Bible talking there.) Okay. So I believe that we should not insist that somebody who hasn’t grown in their spiritual life to a place where they sense the presence of the Holy Spirit, but rather they judge with their eyes, looks on things the same way a mature Christian should see things. And let’s lay something else out there too: some people who think they’re mature Christians are using their eyes and their mouths more than their hearts anyway, huh? You just thought of somebody, didn’t you? 
So we should do things as excellently as we are able to do them. We aren’t perfect. We are being perfected. We haven’t arrived. But we’re on the right track. And this facility on Main Street isn’t completed, but they’re laying carpet while I’m typing this blog. And this Sunday is Easter. I hope we see many people come to a church service who would otherwise continued to turn their friend’s invitations down. I hope people say, “Okay, but don’t think I’m going to join some church or something.” Yeah. I know just how you feel.
I pray that we look enough like a church that a new person doesn’t even think about it. I pray we look just enough NOT like a church that a new person doesn’t even think about that either. All I care about is that we ARE the church, and we act like the Bride of Christ with dignity, honor, excellence, and in Spirit and in truth. If we continue to lift up Jesus, He will draw everybody to Himself, and that is what we’re really all about!
What Day Is It?
Okay, if you’re not up to date on the reading program, add together 31 days for January, then today is the 18th, so today is day 49. Why do I add it like that? Because there’s no benefit to saying, “If you were reading every day you wouldn’t have lost your place.” I’m personally reading everyday, but I’ve not been reading the Daily Reading chapters everyday. I’m doing my personal study. I’m doing my church-focused study preparing for the Sunday service. I’m doing my church-focused study preparing for Wednesday service. And I lost my place on my Read The Bible In A Year plan.
So 49th day says to read Numbers 16 and 17. Numbers 16 is a HUGE picture of today’s church! I know, I know. It’s Old Testament, and we’re under a New Covenant. Yeah, and Jesus is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever. See, God really does choose to put some into spiritual authority to help cover others. He really does, in his sovereign and infinite righteous wisdom, tap somebody and say, “You are now an overseer because I say you are.”
But then the children of Israel — God’s people — had some that griped about not being part of the big-whigs who got to make decisions over the whole congregation. “Hey! We’re just as righteous as anybody else! We can help make decisions about what God says we should be doing!”
Lucifer wanted to be a decision maker too. But God doesn’t share that responsibility with those who exalt themselves. He chooses to bring up people who submit to Him in public and private. Mostly in private. Okay, it’s in private where the real work of the ministry takes place anyway!
I’ve seen times when somebody starts a bible study. That sounds pretty good, huh? I would LOVE to see a ton of bible studies get going and growing. I imagine that would be pleasing to God too. But look at this Bible example in Numbers 16 for a minute. They said, “Hey! We can stand in big-shot authority just as much as you can.” See the difference in heart? What if the person who started that bible study did it because they felt they could do it just as good as the church’s authority does it…maybe better. What if they really COULD teach and lead as good as the church’s authority does it? That bible study I’m thinking of became a We’re Doing It Right As Opposed To Our Church kind of meeting. I watched it go down, down, down, even as the attendance went up!
The leader of that group was confident that God was blessing it because his numbers went up, and after all — growth is the will of God.
Yeah, and the people in Numbers 16 learned that one pretty well too, huh? Want me to tell you what happened? I’m not going to! Read the chapters! I will show that in chapter 17 God made it plain that He is the one who chooses who He puts in spiritual authority over the congregation.
I find myself praying, “God, please remove those people who should not be in our church, and bring in all the ones who should be here!” I want growth. I want to fulfill the will of God in my life. And I want to see God’s will fulfilled at Promise. And if God weeds out those who would stand against His choice in leadership….you know what? Nobody should ever try to be a leader in the body of Christ unless God make him. Honest! It’s just setting yourself up to get shot at! If you put yourself into leadership, you have to keep yourself in leadership. But if God does it, then God keeps it!
Psalm 127:1 says that if God’s not the One building a house, those who labor do it in vain.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t start a bible study. If you know me, you know I’m not threatened or resistant to that at all! Just the opposite! But I will point to Numbers 16 and remind anyone, everyone, that if there’s an attitude of, “I could do it just as good as he does,” then you’re setting yourself up for an epic fail.
God’s plan is all about the heart. No matter what you do, it needs to begin with a right heart. Not with a heart that says, “Well, I am just as good as that other person is, so I’ll do it right.” Nope. Skills aren’t what makes a Godly leader. They really aren’t. It all begins and ends with the heart.
Purpose in your heart that you will focus on your heart! Beg God to show you something else in your heart that needs to be changed to be more like His heart. He has things in His hand, and He can take care of His plan. Be part of it by leading with your heart.
http://www.promise.pro/assets/2012_Bible.pdf and tomorrow is day 50. Karen and I love you. Stay faithful.
Last Evening Of Our 21-Day Fast
It’s a little before 10pm. Today was just juice and water again; no vegetables or solid anything. I wanted to go stringent again here at the last because this is not just about food! I want to discipline my body to remember that I’m in charge of it, not the other way around. I want to hear from the Lord and not just have one more fast under my belt. I want more than anything to have a surety of my connection with Jesus being stronger than ever. I want to hear from God.
I read that when a rescue boat goes out to pick up survivors of shipwrecks, the most dangerous time is the period between when the victim sees the rescuers, and when the rescuers actually can pick them up. The victims tend to relax and stop trying so hard, relieved that somebody else is going to rescue them. Can you imagine giving up right before the rescue?
I’ve also seen an Olympic swimmer who was ahead of the competition for an easy win swing his arms for one last stroke and glide to the finishing touch at the end of the pool, only to look up and see that somebody else was hungrier for the win, and stole that gold medal right from him because that other person swam with all his might ALL the way to the finish. No gliding. Can you imagine? Silver medal because he coasted in the end.
I am going to finish this fast well. I’m going to eat tomorrow night with thanksgiving, but until then, I’m still going to fast well. I’m going to pray like God is going to answer, because He does. I’m going to pray like it’s up to me to pray, because it is. I’m going to believe like it will make all the difference, because it does.
And that is why we are going further and farther than we’ve ever gone before. The person I used to be was not willing or even able to go the distances I can go today. That’s one reason I didn’t receive the blessings back then that God gives me today.
Take inventory of yourself, and keep swimming! Don’t give up! God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! Be diligent and He will reward!!
Reading Over The Past Week
Over the last week or so I’ve had a ton on my plate. The tyranny of the urgent! That’s what it’s called. This blog is important, just like watering the lawn, weeding it, and reseeding it for the coming spring are all important. But when you’re putting out fires, it’s a battle between the important and the urgent. Some things you can delegate, and some things require my personal attention. Pray for your pastors!
In the last few days, our reading has been a lot…a WHOLE lot of what God gave to Moses to lay down as laws for the Children of Israel as they wandered around in the wilderness.
First, they missed their opportunity to trust in God and take the Promised Land. Side note here: Isn’t that awful that one People could just go where they wanted and take land by force? They would just wash right in, fight a war, kill all the inhabitants, and take over their land. That’s the way things were back then. It’s just the way things were. Anybody who buys into that whole, “These others were here first so they have the right to have it all back,” needs to look at the USA. Apache, Navajo, and all the tribes of Native America were here in their home, and settling immigrants took it by force. I’m here because of a violent taking of California. Can we please, please change our thinking to a place where we are where we are and let’s do as much good as we can! Okay, enough politics.
So they didn’t trust God enough to take the land promised to them. So God would have to march them around the wilderness for 40 years to allow a generation to pass away, and bring up a new generation that wasn’t stuck in the old way of thinking. That’s a key. Let’s let God change our way of thinking so He doesn’t have to wait on the next generation to do something He would like to do through you. Believe He can do a miracle, and bless your work.
While they’re traveling in circles for decades, I love the way the Bible takes a bunch of chapters and shows us all the rules God gave Moses. One reason is this. Lawlessness has always been shown in a godless environment. God gave 613 mitzvot, or laws, that would keep the children of Israel safely in His plan. And they would show anybody was out of line and not healthy for His children to associate with.
There are things ranging from how to prepare food to how to mete out judgment to how to live morally…it’s all in there! I’m not as hung up on WHAT those Old Testament laws were, as I am interested in HOW much God is interested in the tiny littlest things in life. For me. Today! He really does care how we present ourselves in private and public. Ex 23:4 says if you meet your enemy’s ox while you’re going about your business, take it back to your enemy. He’s talking about enemies INSIDE the family!? Day by day, finding a dollar that was dropped by somebody who owes me big time is not an answer to prayer. It’s a test to see if I’m honorable enough to return what is not mine.
See how the rule is the same for morality and Godly life, but not a stumbling-block that says, “You broke a law now you die!”
We don’t live under the Old Testement, we are living in the New Testament. We have a sweet liberty that is incredible! That’s why it’s so important to actually read the Bible. Knowing the voice of God through the Bible is the best…I said BEST way to recognize when something we haven’t read in the Bible comes our way. “Hmmm. That sounds like a great idea, and if it were in the Bible, it would agree with the rest of the book!” That, my friends, is exactly what we are looking for in life!
So enjoy reading the history of the children of Israel. Get to know the voice of the Father as He instructed them, guided them, and brought them through some incredible circumstances. I encourage you to try and take a template from their experience and layer that onto your own life. That doesn’t mean if somebody get’s gored by your ox, you have to go shoot the ox. (Okay, if somebody gets hit by your car you don’t have to take it out on the car.) But it does mean that when something happens to somebody else and it’s connected to you somehow, get involved in trying to make it right!
Keep reading. It’s the BEST way to get familiar with God’s voice in your own life. These last 2 days of this 21-day fast are the time to pray like never before. Pray!
What Have You Been Reading?
Karen and I have been in church all our lives. On the surface that sounds like a blessing, and it is a great blessing! But it’s come with a cost. We’ve heard soooo many different opinions placed forward as if they were the Word from on high! We’ve seen soooo many things in the church that it could cause us to make some decisions that would have kept us from filling our role in history.
I heard a minister on TV crying to the camera, “I’m the only one bringing the true Gospel through the airwaves, and if I don’t have your support…” You know the drill. Then I tune in a couple hours later and there’s a minister preaching the very pure truth of the Gospel, and not crying about needing more funds.
So which one would you listen to? Truth is: they’re both men, and they’re fallible.
Then hear a minister who says, “We have a bunch of books in our church bookstore, and I don’t want anybody just running down to the local Bible book store to buy things willy-nilly. Don’t buy things there because we haven’t screened them. You just buy the things we’ve approved.”
And then I heard a minister trying his best to say that the things God tells him are as inspired and infallible as the words the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible writers to record, and that they’re just as legitimate for edification, correction, and instruction.
Ummm…wait just a minute!
There really is one Bible. The 66 books in what we call The Holy Bible are the Word of God. Apologetics is an entire study on how and why the books we have in the Bible are really the Word, and that study is a whole library by itself! But when somebody, anybody promotes his own words to the level of God’s word, that’s the same spirit that got Lucifer kicked out of heaven. And although I like the idea of a minister reading and previewing healthy materials and offering the to the congregation, I am a little skittish about telling people, “Only buy what I tell you.”
When I was teaching at the Bible school at Southhills, one day I brought out a genuine $2 bill and a high quality photo copy of one. (Relax, I destroyed the fake afterwards…I’m not a counterfeiter!) The whole exercise was to show that you can really tell a fake when you know the real thing very well.
I think that’s what I’m trying to say here. Get to know the real thing so well that anything that’s not, no matter how good it looks, can’t convince you it is the real thing. If you know what the real thing looks like and even feels like, you can spot a fake no matter how good it is.
Read the Bible. First, and most, read the Bible! When somebody prints a book about their life and what they’ve learned, you can tell if it lines up with what God says because you know what God says! For me, even when I haven’t had a black-and-white example in scripture, I can tell if something is of the same kind as scripture is. You know: it’s like I’ve said a ton of times. The Bible doesn’t say anything about bicycles or the Internet, but it says everything about the people using them.
Oh, and that minister who said his words are on par with James, Peter, and Paul? He’s still out there. Still stumping his wares. And you know what? He’s got a lot of fruit in his ministry that shows he is moving the cause of Christ forward. I’ll let God deal with him on His terms.
Meanwhile, you and I need to read the Word, get to know God’s voice, get more time spent with His Holy Spirit speaking into our spirit, and grow closer to God. That way He can whisper into our spiritual ear and tell us, “This is what I’m saying to you, and here’s how it applies to you, and here’s how I want you to tell it to others too.”
Exodus 25 – 27
Today is Day 26 on our plan to read the bible in a year.
At the risk of summing this up TOO completely, I love these 3 chapters. Why? Because it’s a beautiful example of how God wants His house built. He told Moses to take up a love offering. It’s not Tithes. It’s not the sin offering, or the heave offering, or the wave offering, or an oblation or anything else that was not only needed, it was commanded.
Nope. This time God says to have people give as much as they can give with a willing heart. On the outside it looks like God is asking for money. But think about that one and you’ll realize how silly that sounds. So why would God want PEOPLE to give to something that He could have just provided for — say, like they’re stomping around the wilderness and a goat falls into a canyon cracked open by a quake that reveals a huge gold vein…you know, something like that — but He says no, He wants everybody who is willing to participate, to jump in and do it.
Then there are a couple chapters about how excellent He wants the job done.
So here I am, just a willing pastor with a building program going on. Hahaha. Here’s God showing me in His word that I’m not the first minister in history with a calling to build a sacred place for His Presence, and need to pull some money together to do it. I wonder if Moses looked around for a gold-filled canyon?
The real reason I think God wants them to give is so they can have the legal right to be blessed! You have to sow before you get to reap. Period.
There’s a truth in history: if you want Bible results, you need to do Bible things. Dig deep, find the depth of your willing heart, and give! We are going to finish the job God has put before us, and wouldn’t you like to be part of a great thing He has done? From the Biblical example, I see that is His plan.
It’s Thursday
Last night during Bible Study, we saw that the Apostle Paul teaches us this:
Use whatever reason you can find to send you to prayer!
Like that time I bought flowers for Karen because it was Wednesday. Or the time you called that friend because you saw a flock of seagulls and it reminded you of a concert where you saw somebody who reminded you of them. It doesn’t matter what the reason is, as long as you use it as a reason to go to God like it matters!
So….it’s Thursday. What are you going to do? I know what I’m doing.
Quoting a GREAT Comment!
Hey! Did everybody see how Stacy ended her last post?
“I have made a conscious choice after today to no longer allow Flesh people to have a voice in my life. ”
That is the smartest thing anybody could say!!
None of us are alone. All of us need each other. See you in the morning for the Word and Worship!
Bible Reading Plan for Promise Church
I’ve been putting this link into posts from time to time this year, but HERE is the Reading Plan we’re doing for 2012. We got it directly from Pastor Jentezen Franklin’s website. It’s a really good one, so jump in and start reading! Today is Day 17 of the Plan.
In case that link doesn’t work above, cut and paste this into your browser:
http://www.promise.pro/assets/2012_Bible.pdf
The Word of God is full of life folks! Read it everyday!
