make your choce Matthew 7:13-14, 21-27 April 2nd

Life is defined by choices. The choices you make define and determine who you are, what you do, how you look, where you will live, who you will live with, how you will live, and almost every other question of life.
Some of the choices we make are no brainers. Will I eat today? What will I eat today? Some are harder like what should I wear? Okay easy one for guys, blue jeans and a shirt that doesn’t smell too bad. What am I going to do for a living? Who should I marry? Should I marry? Some of the choices are major choices. What you choose determines who you are.
Some of the choices we make are multiple choice others are yes no. Jesus has something to say about that in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-14, 21-27
What is immediately striking about these verses is the absolute nature of the choice before us. We want more choices than only one. But Jesus cuts across our easy-going religious philosophy. Easy wide road or hard narrow road, sandy foundation or solid?
There is plenty of room on the easy road for diversity of opinions and laxity of morals. It is the road of tolerance and permissiveness. It has no curbs, or boundaries of either thought or conduct. Travelers on this road follow their own inclinations, the desires of the fallen human heart. Superficiality, self-love, hypocrisy, mechanical religion, false ambition, critical attitude – these things do not have to be learned. Effort is needed to resist them. No effort is required to practice them. That is why the road is wide and easy. Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
The hard way on the other hand is narrow. Its boundaries are clearly marked. Its narrowness is due to something called divine revelation, which restricts us to the confines of what God has revealed in Scripture to be true and good.
Reality is this revealed truth imposes a limitation on what we may believe, and revealed goodness on how we may behave.
ILL: Marriage: I didn’t just choose her, at the same time I was also not choosing every other woman.
Jesus demands the same decision. Do you choose Him over others, or others over Him that’s the challenge of the two roads.
Saying I choose is not enough, I must do something about it. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. I must live out what I say. But then Jesus says, “Many will say did we not…” We did good works why not us? The choice we make is not just a doing choice it is first a being choice. The doing flows from being. The being is determined by the choice will I walk the narrow road or the wide road? Do I choose Jesus over all? Making the choice once is not the end do I continue to make the choice? It wasn’t enough to say I choose you Kelli once no I choose you always. I choose Jesus always, the other stuff well… It is more than daily it is moment by moment. Christianity is lived out in the momentary decisions I make. Being comes from choosing, doing comes from being. What do I choose? Being from the choice of Jesus over all results in doing what He desires; which is the building on the solid foundation. Doing, being or choosing any other way is the building on the sandy ground.
ILL: The “Leaning Tower of Pisa” was recently reopened to the public, after being closed for almost a dozen years. During that time, engineers completed a $25 million renovation project designed to stabilize the tower. They removed 110 tons of dirt, and reduced its famous lean by about 16 inches. Why was this necessary? The tower has been tilting away from vertical for hundreds of years, to the point that the top of the 185 foot tower was seventeen feet further south than the bottom, and authorities were concerned that if nothing was done it would collapse. What was the problem? Bad design; Poor workmanship; An inferior grade of marble? No! The problem was the foundation. The sandy soil of which the city of Pisa was built was not stable enough to support a monument of this size. The tower had no firm foundation.
Doing from being from choosing = solid
Doing hoping to be = shaky foundation
Do what you be, the choice you make of Jesus determines your being.
The question is not whether we say nice, orthodox, enthusiastic things to or about Jesus; nor whether we hear his words, listening, studying, and memorizing until our minds are filled with his teaching; but whether we do what we say and do what we know, in other words is the lordship of Jesus which we profess the major reality of our life.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a string of easy ethical rules, so much as a set of values and ideals which is entirely distinctive from the way of the world. He summons us to renounce the prevailing secular culture in favor of His culture. Which road will we travel and which foundation will we use? Choose to be to do.

matthew 7:7-11 prayer

Prayer! We know we should pray more. Preachers preach it teachers teach it and the Bible states it. But… It seems that there is a struggle to do it. No matter how much you pray you should always pray more guilt seems to weigh heavy in prayer. So in order to not feel guilty many of us don’t think about prayer. Then we feel guilty for not thinking about and praying more.
On the whole the average Christian doesn’t believe they pray enough. Why? Could it be we do not see enough answers to our prayers? Or maybe we have the wrong idea about prayer? Or maybe we have never learned what prayer is all about?
What does Jesus have to say?
Matthew 7:7-11
Jesus encourages us to pray.
Some have taken this encouragement to pray and created a false picture of God. People have implied that God either needs to be told what we lack or to be bullied into giving it. Some have attempted to make God a personal genie that if we rub the lamp of prayer God will arise from within the lamp to grant our wishes and desires. Some have made it sound like God is hesitant to answer our prayers until we pray enough that we prevail over Him so He must answer our prayers.

In this we make ourselves out to be God and God our puppet. We make God evil at worst and unconcerned at best. We have to alert Him to our need so we may gain His approval. We make prayer into a ritual to provide all our desires and wishes. Ask, Seek, Knock and God has to answer you. Is that what Jesus teaches from this passage?

Right idea about God from passage
God is good and desires to give what is good to those who ask Him! Vs. 11

If that is true, then why do we not get all of our prayers answered?

Is God our genie?
Listen to what the Word says. You first interpret the Bible in light of what the Bible says.
1 John 3:22, “whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 5:14-15 “This is the confidence which we have before Him that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us
Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is heaven.
Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
James 4:2-10 (Is it possible we are asking selfishly?)

Jesus said, Ask, Seek, knock which implies persistence. If the persistence He commands is not to get God to bend to our will; then what’s the point? Is it so He can hear from us more? (Wimpy)

God is not slow, lax, or malicious, He is good. The issue is not Him it is with us. God desires to give us the best. He says so, so it is true! What is the greatest gift He can give to His children? Not salvation we already have been given that gift. After salvation? God’s greatest gift is our complete surrender to Him. We think of prayer in terms of our prevailing on God. But the persistence God desires in us in prayer is so He may prevail over us. It is in the middle of persistent asking, seeking, knocking that God brings us to surrender. We prevail over ourselves, and He prevails over us. It is in surrender where God is able to provide the blessings He desires. God does not shower us with gifts whether we want them or not, whether we are ready for them or not. Instead He waits until we recognize our need and turn to him in humility. Prayer is God’s chosen way for us to express our conscious need of Him and our humble dependence on Him. When you think of prayer in these terms it eliminates the neat systematic God is a genie in a lamp ritualistic prayer. It puts God in the place He deserves as God and places us in the right place. We are not the master we are child.

Before we ask, we must know what to ask for and whether it meets with God’s will; we must believe God can grant it; and we must genuinely want to receive it. Then in surrender we are ready to receive the best gift God has to offer. The promises of Jesus come true at the point of surrender. Are you surrendered?

Judge Not? Matthew 7:1-6, 15-23

Do not judge so that you will not be judged! Shouts the angry teen girl after her parents have forbid her to date a boy they know is detrimental to her spiritual life.
A friend is in sin you know it, they know it, we all know it, and you lovingly challenge him on it. Do not judge so that you will not be judged, he says. How can you respond?
The pastor preaches on sin and God’s judgment against sin. Monday he receives a couple of phone calls with concern about his judgmental sermon. Do not judge so that you will not be judged pastor.
It is nice to have a verse like 7:1 in Matthew to prove what you already want to believe. Matthew 7:1 has been used to convey the idea, “You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But you don’t tell me how to live, and certainly don’t try to impose your standards of morality on me.
Is this what Jesus means by this? Are we supposed to be weak and wishy-washy when it comes to sin?

Matthew 7:1-6, 15-23

Jesus is confronting an attitude that was prevalent in His day. It was an attitude of self-righteous hypocrisy in judgment. In Luke 18:11, Jesus gave the example of a Pharisee who judged in the wrong way. The Pharisee said, “God I thank you that I am not like all other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector.” In saying this, the Pharisee was judging the tax collector standing beside him. He was saying, I am good, you are no good.
This condemning, despising attitude toward others is wrong.
The Pharisees were used to judging others self-righteously. Jesus said stop it. That overly critical, nit-picking attitude that digs and searches for faults, and suspects the worst is wrong.
He is not talking about judging open and obvious sin, or false teachers. He is talking about hasty unloving, holier than thou, jumping to conclusions judging, which is at the heart of gossip and rumor.
There are two types of judgment: one is the judgment of a man’s actions and behavior, and the other is the judgment of the man himself. We are not to judge character, motive, thought, inner life or soul, but we are to judge action and behavior.
If we are to judge action and behavior how do, we judge correctly?
Verses 3-5
Remove the plank in your own eye the plank of a self-righteous, judging, condemning, and hypocritical spirit. Jesus says remove that sin, and any other from your life first. Then deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Once we have removed the plank from our eye we will be more humble, and sympathetic towards others. When we start judging ourselves, we stop judging others, not only that we are able to see clearly we can see others as God sees them, with love and mercy. We still see the speck, we want to help remove it, but the condemning spirit is gone.
Galatians 6:1-2 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
You who are spiritual not self-righteous help those who are struggling under the load sin, help them find freedom.

Don’t Judge, Deal with the log, and then Jesus says, make right judgments. Jesus acknowledges the need for making decisions concerning people and behavior that is detrimental to our Christian lives. Jesus doesn’t condemn all judgment, in fact He commands us to make some judgments. Pigs, Dogs, and False Prophets. Don’t justify sin. Sin is sin and must be dealt with in our lives. And sin is sin in others and when we are in a position to deal with it we must. How you deal with it is Jesus concern. Deal with it from the point of a clear conscious, a right heart, and love for the other. Listen to what’s being taught and judge based on what the word says. We can recognize false prophets by their fruit that is by their teaching and their work. False prophets teach only the easy and pleasant things of Christianity if they even teach Christianity at all. How does it line up with the Bible? False prophets will also show us through their actions a consistent lifestyle of sin that is not dealt with. In fact they will often justify their sin by their teaching. See it and leave it.

It settles here, love God, love people and believe great things happen when God and people get together. Love God, keep a clean heart and log free eyes. Love people to believe the best about them and deal with them in love. Believe great things happen when God and people get together, confront sin and bring God into the situation through your right heart and right dealing with the hurting friend.

Matthew 6:25-34 Dealing with Worry Sunday AM 3/11/06

Many modern thinkers call this the age of anxiety. Worry is now a national pastime and family adventure. We worry about security. We worry about health. We worry about global warming or cooling, war, terrorists, test, evaluations, performance, jobs, life. We are a worried people living in a time when worry and fear are used to sale us the news.
Worry and anxiety have disastrous effects ranging from ulcers and heart disease to chronic feelings of unhappiness. Psychological theories are constructed and therapeutic rituals formulated stop the tide of anxiety. Psychological terror reigns in our world. We are our own torturers.
The Lord states clearly that worry is a complete waste of energy and should not be indulged because God provides for our needs. Jesus asks us in Matthew 6 “Can your worry add a single hour to your life?”

Matthew 6:25-34

Why do we worry?

Is it possible we worry because we were not designed to handle the stress of life on our own? But that is exactly what we do attempt to handle the stress of life on our own?
When we worry what are we doing? We doubt God’s love. We imply by our worry that God is not concerned about us.
When we worry we doubt God’s wisdom. We imply God is not able to plan for His children, that He does not know what is best for us.
When we worry we doubt God’s power. We imply God your grace is not sufficient for my needs.
In other words we are saying what if God doesn’t come through? He is eliminated from the equation.
We worry about the future what might happen.
We worry about the present what we think should be happening.
We worry about the past over what did happen.
And we wonder was God in it? Is He in this? Will He be in it?
Is He truly good? Does He know what He is doing? Is He able?

The problem with worry is that it is not a little weakness we all give way to from time to time. Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.
It is why Jesus says to us, do not worry!
God’s response to worry is
I love you. (verses 25-26) Worry is unnecessary.
I am in complete control. (verses 28-30) Worry is blind.
I will meet your needs. (verses 31-32) Worry is a failure to trust.
Your worry is useless and without effect in the problems of life. (verses 27&34)

It is easy to say, “God is in control.” That is the reasoning why a Christian should not worry, but how does it translate to the emotional and behavioral level of life?

His solution is. (verse 33)
Dealing with worry as a Christian is about relationship not technique. It is a process rooted in a relationship with the Spirit. Living in relationship with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit God defends and protects us against worry. God proves He is trustworthy and we can continue to grow in faith and belief in Him.

Jesus gives us direction of what to put in place of worry and a contingency is added that tells us the only way to guarantee our needs will be met. Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

His Kingdom = Desire what God desires. Lost people and relationship with people are God’s desire. Value what He values.
His Righteousness = Living how God desires you to life. A life surrendered to relationship with Him.

The world is full of opportunities to question God and His work. Your kids will disappoint you, spouses will do stuff, bosses will get on to you, health problems will arise, an unexpected bill will come in, will you trust Him anyway? Is He big enough, smart enough and caring enough to take care of you? It is a question you have to answer. The answer is relationship with God.

Sunday Sermon March 5th 2006 (Materialism)

If George Washington never told a lie, why is his picture on a bill that isn’t even worth a dollar?
As little Jimmy’s uncle was about to leave after a visit, he placed a crisp new dollar bill in his nephew’s hand, saying, “Be careful how you spend this, Jimmy. You know the old proverb, a fool and his money are soon parted.” To this the lad replied, I’ll remember what you said, Uncle Bill. But thanks anyway for parting with it!
When it comes to money and how we treat it in the church often times you can’t win. If you run after money you are materialistic. If you don’t get it you’re a loser. If you get it and keep it you are a miser. If you don’t try to get it, you lack ambition. If you get it and spend it, you are a spendthrift. If you still have it after a lifetime of work, you are a fool who never got any fun out of life. If you died with no money then you are someone who did not care for your family. Face it you can’t win.
A man’s treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character how he makes it and how he spends it.
Matthew 6:19-24
The Problem is materialism. Materialism = devotion to material wealth and possessions at the expense of spiritual or intellectual values.
The world’s most successful door to door salesman was interviewed about what made him a success. He said it is all in the approach. When I approach a door and the lady of the house answers I say, “Madam, let me show you a little item your neighbors said you couldn’t afford…”
What Jesus says is where your treasure is there your heart will be also. The heart always follows what it treasures. What is most important to you is where your heart will go.
Materialism is enticing, but not satisfying. Mick Jaggar said it well when he crooned “I can’t get no satisfaction.”
Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 “Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth—except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers!”
1 Timothy 6:9-11, “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”
Hebrews 13:5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you”
The deadly part of materialism is that we are being controlled by something usually inanimate. Jesus is not against material possessions, but He is against you being controlled by material possessions. He is against the sum of your life, being measured by what you have.
Steps to deal with materialism
1.) Confess: Admit you have been materialistic. Then deal with it. Invite God to be the controlling influence of your life.
How do I know if I have been materialistic? Ask yourself what fills your dreams? What controls your financial decisions, faith for financial facts? How much do you give away? Is there any possession you are not willing to part with? Getting the picture? Confess it deal with it repent and invite God in to be the controlling influence in your life.
2.) To overcome materialism become generous.
Generosity is the one sure cure for materialism. Generosity shows that God has freedom to be in charge of your financial life. Generosity says anything at anytime can be given back to God because He gave it to me first.
Generosity for the Christian starts with tithing. George Barna states that only 1 of 8 of those who call themselves born-again believers tithe. On average he says born-again believers give an average of 2.5% of their income. The percentage of income Christians give has been declining for over 30 years. And dollar for dollar, people gave more in the great depression than today.
Any wonder why materialism has run amuck? God says, “prove out your trust in Me through the faithful giving of your tithe.” You overcome materialism by placing God first in your finances through tithes and generosity.
3.) Set a plan. A plan for increased generosity in your life.
A plan for managing your finances, rather than your finances managing you. And hold a regular check up in your financial life with God. God am I being materialistic? God is there something in my life I am holding too tightly?
One way they trap monkeys for the zoo is to place a shining metallic object in a long-necked jar tied to a tree. As monkeys swing through the trees, their eyes catch the reflection of the sun on the shining object. They reach into the jar grab the item easily enough, but when they try to bring their closed fists through the narrow openings, they can’t make it. To gain freedom, all the monkeys need to do is to let go of the worthless object. Instead, the monkeys sit by the jar holding onto the object until their captors arrive.
Perhaps there is something in your hand that is keeping from freedom. It is time to let it go. Don’t allow an inanimate object to be in the living, loving God of all Creation’s place in your life.

Identity Theft (Men's Ministry Breakfast Message)

Who are Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah?
Are they Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego or are they Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah?

1st challenge is to steal your identity.
It started with Adam and Eve. You are not all God created you to be so you should eat this fruit. You can be more than you are if you will eat it. Identity theft. In the moment they ate the fruit their identity was change. The image of God in them was marred.
Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah face the same temptation. Are they now Babylonian servants or God's servants? Are they Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah or Shad, Mesh, and Abed?
Jesus faces the same struggle with the temptation in the wilderness in Matthew 4. The last thing Jesus heard before heading into the wilderness was You are My Son. The first temptation, if you are the son of God. Can I question and change your identity?
We face the same things. Our identity is attacked.
Are you who you are or who the world says you are? Are you, you or someone else? If you are not you who will be you?
Think about how we are created as men.
We have testosterone. We are by nature dangerous, risky and aggressive. Think about it who created football, hockey, boxing, wrestling, cage fighting and action movies? Men! We have a warrior spirit within us. It is how God created us. But what has the world done in the midst of the church? It has tried to create a bunch of nice guys, a group of mamby pamby wimps who make George McFly look tough.
Where is the warrior spirit? Where are the spiritual warriors who tear dowstrongholdds and set captives free? Where are the spiritual assassins for Jesus? What has happened is we have put away who we are in spiritual life so we can be nice, safe people. But outside of church we are who we are. The world sees some of it, but are more McFly in spiritual service than we are ever Rambo. Why? Identity theft!
God has created you to be a warrior. Men we are supposed to be the prayer warriors tearing down spiritual strongholdds in people's lives. We are to be the great Bible readers studying God's word and preparing for battle with spiritual forces. Ready to swing the sword of the spirit splitting demonic powers. We are supposed to be the ones mixed up in the lives of kids, teens and adults loving them through being their spiritual bodyguards. We should be in there teaching and leading them with a warrior spirit tear down the lies of the enemy and establishing a strongholds for Jesus. The lost people of Tulare should be won by guys like us, because we see it for what it is. That is the enemy of mankind blinding and trapping them. We are sent by God on a mission to set them free. Evangelism is not a nice thing, it is a dangerous battle for the soul of the person we are sharing with. Men we are built to enter that battle. Let's attack!
Think about Jesus. He was no wimp. He was not a sissified little wuss walking around spouting platitudes. He called roughians and hooligans to follow Him. Zealots and fishermen aren't going to follow a wuss. They want action and manliness. What did Jesus do when he came upon the demon possessed? He attacked the demonic and liberated the captive. What did He do when He came upon the moneychangers abusing His people? He tossed tables. He created a ruckus and was such a fury that even the fierce Romans would not venture into the temple to deal with the riot. In 1 John 3:8 says, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." He had a warrior spirit. He desires to give us that same warrior spirit in our spiritual life. Where sin has set itself up we are to stand up and say no more!

The world will set up an image to be worshipped.
Are you who you are or we say you are?If you are not who you are you will bow! What happens if you don't bow? HMA didn't bow!
Do you have the guts and the testosterone to stand up for Jesus when everyone else is bowing to the world? 1 John 3:9 "No one who is born of God practices sin because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."
The devil wants to create an image in the church of a bunch of wimpy men who can't do anything. God's image is a group of guys who will not bow, but will stand up for God and do what it takes to make war against the evil forces of the world.

Jesus will meet us in the heat of the struggle.
Why?It is for His glory! Daniel 3:28-30
Are you willing to stand up for Jesus and fight for His glory?