January 2020
Take Away, 12 January 2020
12 01 20 Filed in: Sermons | A Fresh Start
Take Away (start doing)
Series—A Fresh Start
Series Big Idea: As we begin this new year/decade, it’s out with the old, in with the new.
Big Idea: There are many things we need to start doing in order to love God and others.
Several years ago I attended a conference. At the end, each person was given two Post-It Notes. We were instructed to use one to list one or two things that we wanted to leave behind. The other was used to list things we wanted to take away from the event.
Last Sunday we began a two-week series, A Fresh Start. We said that most of us have to-do lists, but few people take the time to create a stop-doing list. We need to leave behind some things from the past as we enter 2020. Maybe you want to leave behind those extra pounds you gained eating Christmas cookies! Perhaps you want to leave behind a bad habit such as biting your nails, smoking, or maxing out the credit card. In order to begin new habits or rhythms, we often have to let go of some things to make room in our lives for the things we want to start doing, which is our subject this morning.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do you want it to matter?
I think deep inside of us, we all want to make a difference. We want our lives to count. We want something on our tombstone besides, “He lived and died.” How will you live your dash…that space between your birth and death?
It all begins today! Well, not exactly…but today can be a new beginning. As I took time to reflect upon 2019, I thought about what I want to be said at the end of this year. What will I do? Where will I go? Who will I meet? Most of all, who will I become…and worship.
One of our scriptures from last Sunday says,
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)
We want to leave behind sin.
We want to leave behind all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and malice. Right?!
Paul continues,
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
We said last week it’s nearly impossible to just stop doing something cold turkey. You need to replace a behavior with a behavior. Paul’s saying stop treating others as enemies and then presents an alternative: be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. This sounds good, right? But how? The key is at the end of the verse. Do you see it? We can only be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to the extent that we have experienced the kindness, compassion, and forgiveness of Jesus.
You can’t share something you don’t possess. Have you experienced Jesus? Does your life reflect it?
We’re only twelve days into the new year. Now is a great time to start spiritual rhythms, to develop good habits (which often take 21 days), to cultivate our character. I want to offer a vision for what this might look like in your life. This may be familiar to many of you, but just imagine if you could look back at 2020 and say you have more of this:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We call that good fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, the result of doing life with God. Galatians chapter 5 provides us with this portrait of a mature follower of Jesus.
How do we get more of this fruit? We must let go and let God. We must surrender. We must follow Jesus. We must obey Jesus’ command to
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
We all love the idea of love. We certainly love the idea of people loving us. I think most of us would say would want to love God. Hating God is a dangerous proposition, though indifference is also risky. The fact that you’re here today shows some desire on your part to know God, to love God. But what does Jesus mean when he says to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength? It means to love God with everything.
The reason most people make new year’s resolutions is because they want to improve themselves. They want to look better. They want to feel better. They want to have more money, more time, or improved health. Right?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to improve yourself, but it should never be the primary goal of life. In his book SoulTalk, author Larry Crabb writes,
“…our first order of business is not to pursue satisfaction, but to identify what’s getting in the way of the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul.”
What is that? It's communion with God.
Too often we use God for our purposes. We give Him an hour on Sunday and otherwise ignore Him until we lose control. We seek His cooperation to improve our lives and a lifetime of blessings. If we do a few religious things, God owes us, right?
Anything that gets in the way of knowing, trusting, and following God is idolatry.
This includes church attendance, time with your family, serving those in need, giving money to charity, working on a degree, exercise, …anything!
To borrow Larry Crabb’s words, the world says, “I want to do something that will make my life better.” That’s good, but it’s secondary to the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul, which says, “I want to experience God through whatever means he provides and keep trusting him whether life gets better or not.”
Trust and obedience go hand in hand. I often say obedience is God’s love language. The number one command in the Bible is
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
If you can do this, I promise you it will be better than losing all of the weight, gaining all of the muscle, eliminating all of the debt, and whatever else you might resolve to do this year.
I want to suggest three practical ways to love God in 2020 and beyond. This is not about you and your pleasure, but you will be blessed. This might not produce the immediate results you might get from giving up sugar or working out an hour a day. But if you want to experience the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul, it begins with loving God with all of you.
1. Love God with your time. I know, you’re so busy. We all get the same 24 hours each day. The average person spends 30 minutes in the bathroom. If we spent 8 hours working, 8 hours sleeping, and 90 minutes eating, that leaves six hours to…
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in prayer? That’s less than ten minutes a day. Pour out your heart to God. You can journal your prayers. You can pray out loud in a car or closet. You can silently pray anywhere.
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in God’s Word? Read it. Listen to it. Study it. Let it feed your soul.
What if you devoted two hours a week to attending the Alpha Course on Thursdays to really explore what it means to know and follow Jesus? If you’ve already been through Christianity 101, how about being a helper on the Alpha Course and helping others know and follow Jesus?
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in solitude, listening to God, being still, slowing down, resting, being fully present?
By the way, being here matters. Really. Many people are too busy to be here today. I chuckle when people talk as if another church is our competition. If they love Jesus, we’re on the same team! Our competition is the pillow, the golf course, the Internet, Netflix.
Love God with your time. Show me your calendar and I’ll show you what you really love.
2. Love God with your talents. We all have gifts and abilities.
What would happen if you spent one hour a week volunteering? You could serve in the nursery, prepare a meal for a family in need, listen to a shut-in tell their story, sing in the choir, or help at the Rosa Parks Teacher Pantry. One hour…out of 168. It would total 50 hours this year. Imagine how much impact 50 hours would have on the lives of others. It doesn’t have to be here on the campus of First Alliance Church, but we have so many ways for you to get connected, to bless others, …and nobody serves alone. One of the great things about joining a team at First Alliance is you get to serve alongside other people, making new friends. Each week the Connection Card is filled with opportunities ranging from ushering and greeting to leading a small group to serving on the kitchen committee to serving our students. We are always looking for artists, web designers, photographers, and digital storytellers. Our Trustees need help maintaining our beautiful campus buildings and grounds. What do you love to do? Do it for God! Love God with your talents.
3. Love God with your treasures.
This is where things really get interesting. Does your wallet or checkbook or online bank account reflect your love for God? Everything we have is a gift from God. Whether you have a penny to your name or a huge stock portfolio, all of our treasures are from God…on loan from God. He allows us to be stewards—overseers, managers—of stuff…money. The Bible never says we should give a certain dollar amount of money, but there is a concept in the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, known as the tithe. Tithe simply means ten percent. We have sales tax, which means 7.25 percent in Ohio.
Actually, the state sales tax is 5.75% but we pay 7.25% because of county and city taxes (Michigan’s sales tax rate is 6%).
Whether you’re at Dollar Tree or Macy’s, you have to pay taxes on most everything you buy. The tithe is not a tax. It’s not a max, either. It was something of a starting point for generosity before Jesus.
There’s a fascinating passage in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, in which God makes some incredible statements to the people of Israel. He says,
You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. (Malachi 3:9)
It’s one thing to think you’ve been cursed, but it’s quite another to have God tell you you’re under a curse! Imagine God came to you and said you are robbing Him. Wow! In the previous verse, the people ask God, “How are we robbing You? What do you mean?” God continues,
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (Malachi 3:10)
I think this is the only place in the Bible where God says, “Test Me.” The original Hebrew word, bahan, means “to test, try, probe, examine,” like seeing if a metal is pure.
Some tv preachers have manipulated this verse to say if you give them all of your money, God will make you rich. Actually, if you give them all of your money, you will make them rich! But that’s not the point.
God is saying be generous. Invest in eternal things. Support your church.
This does not mean if you put twenty dollars in the offering plate today you’ll find a twenty in your pants pocket tomorrow (though you might!). It does mean that you will be blessed when you bless God, when you surrender to God, when you love God with your treasures. The text continues,
I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:11-12)
My parents taught me to tithe when I was a young boy. I have given at least ten percent of my income to God my entire life. I love to do it! Over the years, that’s added up to quite a bit of cash, but I don’t view it as money I’ve lost or spent. It’s money I’ve invested…in God’s Kingdom. He has blessed me with jobs, health, friends, and most of all Jesus. I could never begin to repay Him for His goodness and faithfulness to me. That doesn’t mean I’ve always been happy, healthy, and wealthy, but I have tested God in this area and He has never let me down.
I don’t have access to what people give around here, but I’ve been told many of you don’t give a dime. I feel bad for you. Really. Never mind what you give McDonald’s or Starbucks or Amazon or Kroger. You give to Columbus every day! A percentage of your money is given to our government, and I’m grateful for our government. But you’re missing out on the blessing of giving to God. He says, “Test Me!” Test Him!
If you don’t have much, you don’t have to give much. The tithe is a percentage thing. If you’ve got ten bucks, put one in the plate. If you’ve got a thousand, drop a Franklin! You can give online. You can text to give. You can do bill pay with your bank. We accept cash, checks, and even alpacas! On our website you can donate stocks and real estate and baseball cards and anything of value. This isn’t a fundraising pitch for First Alliance Church, but it is a challenge to test God, to invest in what He’s doing here in Toledo and around the world. There are a lot of great organizations out there, but First Alliance Church serves you AND others.
When you give here, you support Dinner Church, Sports & Arts Camp, and Elevate Student Ministry. Lives are being changed. People are being healed. Hope is being delivered. Masterpieces are being restored.
In this new year, I want to challenge you to love God with your treasures. If you give, great! What would it look like to test God and increase your giving? It seems like every time I increase my giving, I get an increase in my income somehow. It’s amazing! Again, I’m not making a promise that God will refund your money tomorrow if you give today, but the older I get, the more I believe you can’t out-give God.
Giving is fun, too! Sometimes we’ll get extra money when Heather works extra hours or when we get a Christmas gift and I love giving extra money to God. It really is better to give than to receive, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, try it. Test God. Write a check. Give some cash. Invest in God’s work. I don’t know a better place to put your money.
I know some of you would love to give, but your finances are a wreck. We have a variety of resources to help you with finding a job, putting together a budget, and even saving money. You can call the office, send us an e-mail, or just write “Money Help” on your Connection Card.
Right Now Media has some great, free financial resources you can watch today on your phone, tablet, or tv. We can send you a free subscription if you request one on a Connection Card. Our sister church, Westgate Chapel, has invited us to their Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course beginning this Wednesday. You can find details on our Facebook page.
You say you love God? Prove it! Loving God is more than just having positive thoughts in our mind. Love requires action. Show me your time, talents, and treasures and I’ll show you what you love. It might be your girlfriend, movies, pizza, work, football, or Jesus, but your calendar and checkbook will show what you really love.
My prayer for you—and me—in this new year is that we would go beyond good intentions and be intentional. We need to leave some things behind, stop doing them. We need to develop some new practices and start doing some healthy habits. Here are a few suggestions:
Generosity. Grace. Kindness. Exercise. Love. Healthy eating. Honesty. Forgiveness. Volunteering. Listening.
These don’t all directly show our love for God, but when we love others as we love ourselves, we declare our love for God. I want to close with one of the most important passages in the Bible, written by Jesus’ close friend John.
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
Do you know what this means, family? Treat one another the way you want to be treated. It’s not rocket science, but it requires thought, action, and effort. This next section seems a little extreme, to be honest. I hope this doesn’t apply to anyone in this room!
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 John 3:12-15)
Those are strong worlds. I know none of you would ever say, “I hate so-and-so,” right? But do we really love one another?
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)
Many people know John 3:16. This is 1 John 3:16. It sounds good, right? Love one another. But love is more than a feeling.
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)
Here’s what I want you to take away today: love with actions. Love God with actions—your time, talents, and treasures. Love others with actions—your generosity, your kindness, your listening ear, your undivided attention.
What’s your next step? What’s one thing you can do this week—and each week this year—that will show your love for God and others?
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series—A Fresh Start
Series Big Idea: As we begin this new year/decade, it’s out with the old, in with the new.
Big Idea: There are many things we need to start doing in order to love God and others.
Several years ago I attended a conference. At the end, each person was given two Post-It Notes. We were instructed to use one to list one or two things that we wanted to leave behind. The other was used to list things we wanted to take away from the event.
Last Sunday we began a two-week series, A Fresh Start. We said that most of us have to-do lists, but few people take the time to create a stop-doing list. We need to leave behind some things from the past as we enter 2020. Maybe you want to leave behind those extra pounds you gained eating Christmas cookies! Perhaps you want to leave behind a bad habit such as biting your nails, smoking, or maxing out the credit card. In order to begin new habits or rhythms, we often have to let go of some things to make room in our lives for the things we want to start doing, which is our subject this morning.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do you want it to matter?
I think deep inside of us, we all want to make a difference. We want our lives to count. We want something on our tombstone besides, “He lived and died.” How will you live your dash…that space between your birth and death?
It all begins today! Well, not exactly…but today can be a new beginning. As I took time to reflect upon 2019, I thought about what I want to be said at the end of this year. What will I do? Where will I go? Who will I meet? Most of all, who will I become…and worship.
One of our scriptures from last Sunday says,
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)
We want to leave behind sin.
We want to leave behind all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and malice. Right?!
Paul continues,
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
We said last week it’s nearly impossible to just stop doing something cold turkey. You need to replace a behavior with a behavior. Paul’s saying stop treating others as enemies and then presents an alternative: be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. This sounds good, right? But how? The key is at the end of the verse. Do you see it? We can only be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to the extent that we have experienced the kindness, compassion, and forgiveness of Jesus.
You can’t share something you don’t possess. Have you experienced Jesus? Does your life reflect it?
We’re only twelve days into the new year. Now is a great time to start spiritual rhythms, to develop good habits (which often take 21 days), to cultivate our character. I want to offer a vision for what this might look like in your life. This may be familiar to many of you, but just imagine if you could look back at 2020 and say you have more of this:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We call that good fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, the result of doing life with God. Galatians chapter 5 provides us with this portrait of a mature follower of Jesus.
How do we get more of this fruit? We must let go and let God. We must surrender. We must follow Jesus. We must obey Jesus’ command to
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
We all love the idea of love. We certainly love the idea of people loving us. I think most of us would say would want to love God. Hating God is a dangerous proposition, though indifference is also risky. The fact that you’re here today shows some desire on your part to know God, to love God. But what does Jesus mean when he says to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength? It means to love God with everything.
The reason most people make new year’s resolutions is because they want to improve themselves. They want to look better. They want to feel better. They want to have more money, more time, or improved health. Right?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to improve yourself, but it should never be the primary goal of life. In his book SoulTalk, author Larry Crabb writes,
“…our first order of business is not to pursue satisfaction, but to identify what’s getting in the way of the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul.”
What is that? It's communion with God.
Too often we use God for our purposes. We give Him an hour on Sunday and otherwise ignore Him until we lose control. We seek His cooperation to improve our lives and a lifetime of blessings. If we do a few religious things, God owes us, right?
Anything that gets in the way of knowing, trusting, and following God is idolatry.
This includes church attendance, time with your family, serving those in need, giving money to charity, working on a degree, exercise, …anything!
To borrow Larry Crabb’s words, the world says, “I want to do something that will make my life better.” That’s good, but it’s secondary to the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul, which says, “I want to experience God through whatever means he provides and keep trusting him whether life gets better or not.”
Trust and obedience go hand in hand. I often say obedience is God’s love language. The number one command in the Bible is
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
If you can do this, I promise you it will be better than losing all of the weight, gaining all of the muscle, eliminating all of the debt, and whatever else you might resolve to do this year.
I want to suggest three practical ways to love God in 2020 and beyond. This is not about you and your pleasure, but you will be blessed. This might not produce the immediate results you might get from giving up sugar or working out an hour a day. But if you want to experience the deepest satisfaction available to the human soul, it begins with loving God with all of you.
1. Love God with your time. I know, you’re so busy. We all get the same 24 hours each day. The average person spends 30 minutes in the bathroom. If we spent 8 hours working, 8 hours sleeping, and 90 minutes eating, that leaves six hours to…
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in prayer? That’s less than ten minutes a day. Pour out your heart to God. You can journal your prayers. You can pray out loud in a car or closet. You can silently pray anywhere.
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in God’s Word? Read it. Listen to it. Study it. Let it feed your soul.
What if you devoted two hours a week to attending the Alpha Course on Thursdays to really explore what it means to know and follow Jesus? If you’ve already been through Christianity 101, how about being a helper on the Alpha Course and helping others know and follow Jesus?
What would happen if you spent one hour—or one additional hour—a week in solitude, listening to God, being still, slowing down, resting, being fully present?
By the way, being here matters. Really. Many people are too busy to be here today. I chuckle when people talk as if another church is our competition. If they love Jesus, we’re on the same team! Our competition is the pillow, the golf course, the Internet, Netflix.
Love God with your time. Show me your calendar and I’ll show you what you really love.
2. Love God with your talents. We all have gifts and abilities.
What would happen if you spent one hour a week volunteering? You could serve in the nursery, prepare a meal for a family in need, listen to a shut-in tell their story, sing in the choir, or help at the Rosa Parks Teacher Pantry. One hour…out of 168. It would total 50 hours this year. Imagine how much impact 50 hours would have on the lives of others. It doesn’t have to be here on the campus of First Alliance Church, but we have so many ways for you to get connected, to bless others, …and nobody serves alone. One of the great things about joining a team at First Alliance is you get to serve alongside other people, making new friends. Each week the Connection Card is filled with opportunities ranging from ushering and greeting to leading a small group to serving on the kitchen committee to serving our students. We are always looking for artists, web designers, photographers, and digital storytellers. Our Trustees need help maintaining our beautiful campus buildings and grounds. What do you love to do? Do it for God! Love God with your talents.
3. Love God with your treasures.
This is where things really get interesting. Does your wallet or checkbook or online bank account reflect your love for God? Everything we have is a gift from God. Whether you have a penny to your name or a huge stock portfolio, all of our treasures are from God…on loan from God. He allows us to be stewards—overseers, managers—of stuff…money. The Bible never says we should give a certain dollar amount of money, but there is a concept in the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, known as the tithe. Tithe simply means ten percent. We have sales tax, which means 7.25 percent in Ohio.
Actually, the state sales tax is 5.75% but we pay 7.25% because of county and city taxes (Michigan’s sales tax rate is 6%).
Whether you’re at Dollar Tree or Macy’s, you have to pay taxes on most everything you buy. The tithe is not a tax. It’s not a max, either. It was something of a starting point for generosity before Jesus.
There’s a fascinating passage in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, in which God makes some incredible statements to the people of Israel. He says,
You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. (Malachi 3:9)
It’s one thing to think you’ve been cursed, but it’s quite another to have God tell you you’re under a curse! Imagine God came to you and said you are robbing Him. Wow! In the previous verse, the people ask God, “How are we robbing You? What do you mean?” God continues,
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (Malachi 3:10)
I think this is the only place in the Bible where God says, “Test Me.” The original Hebrew word, bahan, means “to test, try, probe, examine,” like seeing if a metal is pure.
Some tv preachers have manipulated this verse to say if you give them all of your money, God will make you rich. Actually, if you give them all of your money, you will make them rich! But that’s not the point.
God is saying be generous. Invest in eternal things. Support your church.
This does not mean if you put twenty dollars in the offering plate today you’ll find a twenty in your pants pocket tomorrow (though you might!). It does mean that you will be blessed when you bless God, when you surrender to God, when you love God with your treasures. The text continues,
I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:11-12)
My parents taught me to tithe when I was a young boy. I have given at least ten percent of my income to God my entire life. I love to do it! Over the years, that’s added up to quite a bit of cash, but I don’t view it as money I’ve lost or spent. It’s money I’ve invested…in God’s Kingdom. He has blessed me with jobs, health, friends, and most of all Jesus. I could never begin to repay Him for His goodness and faithfulness to me. That doesn’t mean I’ve always been happy, healthy, and wealthy, but I have tested God in this area and He has never let me down.
I don’t have access to what people give around here, but I’ve been told many of you don’t give a dime. I feel bad for you. Really. Never mind what you give McDonald’s or Starbucks or Amazon or Kroger. You give to Columbus every day! A percentage of your money is given to our government, and I’m grateful for our government. But you’re missing out on the blessing of giving to God. He says, “Test Me!” Test Him!
If you don’t have much, you don’t have to give much. The tithe is a percentage thing. If you’ve got ten bucks, put one in the plate. If you’ve got a thousand, drop a Franklin! You can give online. You can text to give. You can do bill pay with your bank. We accept cash, checks, and even alpacas! On our website you can donate stocks and real estate and baseball cards and anything of value. This isn’t a fundraising pitch for First Alliance Church, but it is a challenge to test God, to invest in what He’s doing here in Toledo and around the world. There are a lot of great organizations out there, but First Alliance Church serves you AND others.
When you give here, you support Dinner Church, Sports & Arts Camp, and Elevate Student Ministry. Lives are being changed. People are being healed. Hope is being delivered. Masterpieces are being restored.
In this new year, I want to challenge you to love God with your treasures. If you give, great! What would it look like to test God and increase your giving? It seems like every time I increase my giving, I get an increase in my income somehow. It’s amazing! Again, I’m not making a promise that God will refund your money tomorrow if you give today, but the older I get, the more I believe you can’t out-give God.
Giving is fun, too! Sometimes we’ll get extra money when Heather works extra hours or when we get a Christmas gift and I love giving extra money to God. It really is better to give than to receive, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, try it. Test God. Write a check. Give some cash. Invest in God’s work. I don’t know a better place to put your money.
I know some of you would love to give, but your finances are a wreck. We have a variety of resources to help you with finding a job, putting together a budget, and even saving money. You can call the office, send us an e-mail, or just write “Money Help” on your Connection Card.
Right Now Media has some great, free financial resources you can watch today on your phone, tablet, or tv. We can send you a free subscription if you request one on a Connection Card. Our sister church, Westgate Chapel, has invited us to their Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course beginning this Wednesday. You can find details on our Facebook page.
You say you love God? Prove it! Loving God is more than just having positive thoughts in our mind. Love requires action. Show me your time, talents, and treasures and I’ll show you what you love. It might be your girlfriend, movies, pizza, work, football, or Jesus, but your calendar and checkbook will show what you really love.
My prayer for you—and me—in this new year is that we would go beyond good intentions and be intentional. We need to leave some things behind, stop doing them. We need to develop some new practices and start doing some healthy habits. Here are a few suggestions:
Generosity. Grace. Kindness. Exercise. Love. Healthy eating. Honesty. Forgiveness. Volunteering. Listening.
These don’t all directly show our love for God, but when we love others as we love ourselves, we declare our love for God. I want to close with one of the most important passages in the Bible, written by Jesus’ close friend John.
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
Do you know what this means, family? Treat one another the way you want to be treated. It’s not rocket science, but it requires thought, action, and effort. This next section seems a little extreme, to be honest. I hope this doesn’t apply to anyone in this room!
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 John 3:12-15)
Those are strong worlds. I know none of you would ever say, “I hate so-and-so,” right? But do we really love one another?
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)
Many people know John 3:16. This is 1 John 3:16. It sounds good, right? Love one another. But love is more than a feeling.
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)
Here’s what I want you to take away today: love with actions. Love God with actions—your time, talents, and treasures. Love others with actions—your generosity, your kindness, your listening ear, your undivided attention.
What’s your next step? What’s one thing you can do this week—and each week this year—that will show your love for God and others?
Leave Behind, 5 January 2020
05 01 20 Filed in: Sermons | A Fresh Start
Leave Behind (stop doing)
Series—A Fresh Start
Series Big Idea: As we begin this new year/decade, it’s out with the old, in with the new.
Big Idea: There are many things we need to stop doing in order to love God and others.
Welcome to Sunday. Welcome to 2020. Welcome to the Roaring 20’s!
A new year is a time for new beginnings, whether it’s a new diet, exercise plan, or goal. Who’s still going on their new year’s resolutions?!
If you’re like me, you’ve spent some time these past few days reflecting upon the past and pondering the future.
Dave Ramsey encourages entrepreneurs to work in their business, but also work on their business. Do you see the difference? Working in my business might mean making coffee, selling shoes, or repairing cars. Working on my business might involve creating a website, meeting with my accountant, or brainstorming ideas for a new product. The problem many in business have is they’re so busy dealing with the day-to-day operations of working in their business, they forget to step back and assess the big picture. They’re too busy to reflect, dream, think, or even pray.
The same can be said with life. We are so busy and distracted that if we don’t stop, we’ll find our lives only becoming more chaotic. So today I want to offer you a challenge: develop a stop doing list.
How many of you have a to-do list? How many of you have a stop doing list?
I got this idea from best-selling author Jim Collins. He says since we are finite humans, if we add things to our lives, we must also remove them. For example, he decided on day to stop watching television and was thrilled at the time it created for reading and thinking. Before we talk about new year’s resolutions and goals, I want to challenge you to develop a stop doing list.
Author Bob Goff often talks about how he quits something every Thursday. I’m not sure I could do that, but he claims it has changed his life.
Sure, we could just say, “Stop sinning” and be done! But think for a moment about what you’d like to stop doing. What do you want to leave behind as you begin 2020?
I must confess it’s easier for me to add things to my to-do list than it is to delete. One of the most rewarding things in the past year and a half for me has been the Alliance Life on Life retreats. I’m not terribly good at slowing down, listening, solitude, silence, or even prayer. I know they’re important, but if I don’t get results in the first five seconds, I begin to wonder if I’m wasting my time.
I want to look at a few passages of scripture which talk about stopping, quitting, leaving behind. Jesus’ half-brother, James, is quite clear when he writes,
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (James 1:19-21)
We could easily camp out on this for the rest of the morning.
Quick to listen. Stop distractions.
If I could master this, I’d be thrilled. So would you! It’s sometimes hard for me to listen, especially if someone is speaking slowly. I listen to most podcasts at double-speed and love it. I’m trying to maximize, but it can backfire, especially if I’m trying to consume too much at once and I miss important nuggets. Listening means I am fully present. I give you my undivided attention. I look you in the eye. I feel like this is a rare art form in our culture, yet we have the power to make it common again.
Slow to speak. Stop talking.
I only want wholesome words coming out of my mouth. “Umm” doesn’t count! Recently I caught a few minutes of Jerry Seinfeld when he was at the Stranahan. He was talking about one of his pet peeve phrases: “it is what it is.” I say that all the time, yet does it really add any value to the conversation?
I’ve often been the one to fill silence just to avoid the awkwardness that often comes with silence, unaware that some relish every moment of the quiet it offers.
Slow to become angry. Stop (sinful) anger.
This is easier said than done, right? Just stop it (to quote Bob Newhart). Why do you get angry? When do you get angry?
Anger is not a sin, but it often expresses itself as a sin. We should be angry about injustice such as sex trafficking, but how we deal with it is the issue. Jesus got angry when he realized the sacred Temple had been turned into a flea market (Matthew 21, Mark 11, John 2), but he never sinned. Note he wasn’t particularly “nice,” either! Paul wrote,
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, (Ephesians 4:26)
Jesus managed to deal with the sin of others without sinning himself.
Get rid of all moral filth. Stop evil.
The Greek word for filth means pollution. We don’t hear the word filth much anymore. Maybe it’s not politically correct to call something trash. Get rid of filth…porn, gossip, grumbling, violence, profanity, racism, pride, arrogance, pride…!
The passage ends with something for the to-do list!
Humbly accept the word (Bible).
Read it. Listen to it. Study it. Mission119.org is a great, free tool to assist you.
So What?
There are many things from the past we need to stop doing. Debt. Bitterness. Striving. Addictions. Regret. Worry. Fear. Many times, we dismiss them because they’re so common.
For example, can you imagine going a week without worrying…yet it’s clearly a sin! It might be considered an acceptable sin—unlike adultery—but it’s still a sin. I’ll prove it to you. When is the last time worry added value and energy to your life? Jesus repeatedly said, “Don’t worry.”
“Great,” you say, “how do I leave it behind? How do I stop doing X? How do I stop sinning?”
First,
Realize you can’t stop sinning…on your own!
There’s only one human who has never sinned. Jesus. The rest of us turn to sin as a temporary relief from anxiety. Temptation isn’t sin, but we often succumb to it. Apart from God’s power, we are hopeless. We need the Holy Spirit to overcome our sin addiction. Take responsibility for your sin. Don’t play the blame game.
Receive God’s grace and forgiveness
When you fail, confess—admit it—and repent—turn away.
I almost surprised myself last week during Dinner Church with this simple statement: Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to say yes to God. We have to trust Jesus as not only our Savior but our LORD.
Spend time with God
You are your friends. Choose wisely. When we cease striving and meditate on God, our attitudes and thoughts will shift. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard to sin in the middle of a Bible study. This is why scripture says to cease striving (Psalm 46:10). The NIV translation reads:
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
Dwell on the LORD. Worship Him. Praise Him. Declare His goodness and faithfulness. Be fully present.
Put on the Armor
Ephesians 6 tells us about the armor we can wear to fight the enemy and his lies.
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:13)
Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:13-17)
Belt of truth
Boots of peace
Shield of faith
Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit
Pray
Ephesians 6 continues,
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6:18)
Ask God for strength. Jesus taught us to pray for God to deliver us from the evil one. The Holy Spirit can enable us to let go and let God.
Know your weaknesses
I’m a fan of the acronym HALT. I am must vulnerable to sin when I am hungry, angry (together they make hangry!), lonely, or tired. I am also the most grumpy!
Phone a friend
Let someone know your struggle. Invite them to challenge you, to hold you accountable.
Just do (stop) it!
It’s nearly impossible to quit a habit cold turkey. You need to replace it with something. Recovering alcoholics often smoke. Recovering smokers often chew gum. Recovering gum chewers often…
When I was a kid, there was a movement to burn rock and roll record albums because people said rock music was created by the devil. By the way, satan does not have the power to create anything! He can only mess up the good things God has created. Many people in the 1980’s burned their music only to later buy it all back again! For many, it was Led Zeppelin or Lawrence Welk! Instead, they could’ve replaced their rock music with Christian rock…similar sounds which glorify God.
If you want to quit worry, begin a journal of gratitude.
If you want to quit judging others, start listing your own sins.
If you want to quit debt, focus on the material blessings you already own.
If you want to quit hurry, set your alarm for 5 minutes and be still. Then increase it.
Press On
When the enemy reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!
If you think you’ve done some bad things, consider Paul. He supervised the murder of Christians! Years later, he wrote,
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
When you fall, get up! Keep running to Jesus. He’s not angry with you. He’s just hoping next time you’ll go even further without falling, much like a loving parent with a baby beginning to walk. His arms are outstretched to love you, to encourage you, never to celebrate your sin, but to offer forgiveness and hope and encouragement.
It’s my prayer for all of us that we would leave behind sin in this new year. We can’t sorta stop! We can’t simply sin less. We need to leave it behind, leave it in 2019.
I pray we would leave behind shame from our past. I pray we would leave behind bitterness and unforgiveness. I pray we would leave behind bad habits which lead to debt and poor health, instead developing new positive habits which we’ll talk about next Sunday.
Family, I love you. I want to see you thrive in this new year, not only for your personal peace and satisfaction but also for God’s glory. We’re all been commissioned by Him to go and make disciples, to love Him, and to love others as we love ourselves.
We cannot think like everyone else!
We cannot live like everyone else!
We re-present Jesus every day! People are watching us. They want to know if Jesus is real, if he really is the answer, if we live lives worth living and following, if Jesus makes any real difference.
We can’t do that well if we’re burdened by guilt and greed, debt and defeat, selfishness and sin, distractions and discouragement. Obviously none of us is perfect, but we must be intentional. We’re saved by faith, yes, but as Dallas Willard once remarked,
“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.”
We need to make the effort to
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)
Finally,
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
Someday we’re going to leave this world behind, so we might as well leave behind the desires of this world…to make room for greater things (which we’ll talk about next Sunday).
Recommended Resource(s): Overcomer by David Jeremiah.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series—A Fresh Start
Series Big Idea: As we begin this new year/decade, it’s out with the old, in with the new.
Big Idea: There are many things we need to stop doing in order to love God and others.
Welcome to Sunday. Welcome to 2020. Welcome to the Roaring 20’s!
A new year is a time for new beginnings, whether it’s a new diet, exercise plan, or goal. Who’s still going on their new year’s resolutions?!
If you’re like me, you’ve spent some time these past few days reflecting upon the past and pondering the future.
Dave Ramsey encourages entrepreneurs to work in their business, but also work on their business. Do you see the difference? Working in my business might mean making coffee, selling shoes, or repairing cars. Working on my business might involve creating a website, meeting with my accountant, or brainstorming ideas for a new product. The problem many in business have is they’re so busy dealing with the day-to-day operations of working in their business, they forget to step back and assess the big picture. They’re too busy to reflect, dream, think, or even pray.
The same can be said with life. We are so busy and distracted that if we don’t stop, we’ll find our lives only becoming more chaotic. So today I want to offer you a challenge: develop a stop doing list.
How many of you have a to-do list? How many of you have a stop doing list?
I got this idea from best-selling author Jim Collins. He says since we are finite humans, if we add things to our lives, we must also remove them. For example, he decided on day to stop watching television and was thrilled at the time it created for reading and thinking. Before we talk about new year’s resolutions and goals, I want to challenge you to develop a stop doing list.
Author Bob Goff often talks about how he quits something every Thursday. I’m not sure I could do that, but he claims it has changed his life.
Sure, we could just say, “Stop sinning” and be done! But think for a moment about what you’d like to stop doing. What do you want to leave behind as you begin 2020?
I must confess it’s easier for me to add things to my to-do list than it is to delete. One of the most rewarding things in the past year and a half for me has been the Alliance Life on Life retreats. I’m not terribly good at slowing down, listening, solitude, silence, or even prayer. I know they’re important, but if I don’t get results in the first five seconds, I begin to wonder if I’m wasting my time.
I want to look at a few passages of scripture which talk about stopping, quitting, leaving behind. Jesus’ half-brother, James, is quite clear when he writes,
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (James 1:19-21)
We could easily camp out on this for the rest of the morning.
Quick to listen. Stop distractions.
If I could master this, I’d be thrilled. So would you! It’s sometimes hard for me to listen, especially if someone is speaking slowly. I listen to most podcasts at double-speed and love it. I’m trying to maximize, but it can backfire, especially if I’m trying to consume too much at once and I miss important nuggets. Listening means I am fully present. I give you my undivided attention. I look you in the eye. I feel like this is a rare art form in our culture, yet we have the power to make it common again.
Slow to speak. Stop talking.
I only want wholesome words coming out of my mouth. “Umm” doesn’t count! Recently I caught a few minutes of Jerry Seinfeld when he was at the Stranahan. He was talking about one of his pet peeve phrases: “it is what it is.” I say that all the time, yet does it really add any value to the conversation?
I’ve often been the one to fill silence just to avoid the awkwardness that often comes with silence, unaware that some relish every moment of the quiet it offers.
Slow to become angry. Stop (sinful) anger.
This is easier said than done, right? Just stop it (to quote Bob Newhart). Why do you get angry? When do you get angry?
Anger is not a sin, but it often expresses itself as a sin. We should be angry about injustice such as sex trafficking, but how we deal with it is the issue. Jesus got angry when he realized the sacred Temple had been turned into a flea market (Matthew 21, Mark 11, John 2), but he never sinned. Note he wasn’t particularly “nice,” either! Paul wrote,
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, (Ephesians 4:26)
Jesus managed to deal with the sin of others without sinning himself.
Get rid of all moral filth. Stop evil.
The Greek word for filth means pollution. We don’t hear the word filth much anymore. Maybe it’s not politically correct to call something trash. Get rid of filth…porn, gossip, grumbling, violence, profanity, racism, pride, arrogance, pride…!
The passage ends with something for the to-do list!
Humbly accept the word (Bible).
Read it. Listen to it. Study it. Mission119.org is a great, free tool to assist you.
So What?
There are many things from the past we need to stop doing. Debt. Bitterness. Striving. Addictions. Regret. Worry. Fear. Many times, we dismiss them because they’re so common.
For example, can you imagine going a week without worrying…yet it’s clearly a sin! It might be considered an acceptable sin—unlike adultery—but it’s still a sin. I’ll prove it to you. When is the last time worry added value and energy to your life? Jesus repeatedly said, “Don’t worry.”
“Great,” you say, “how do I leave it behind? How do I stop doing X? How do I stop sinning?”
First,
Realize you can’t stop sinning…on your own!
There’s only one human who has never sinned. Jesus. The rest of us turn to sin as a temporary relief from anxiety. Temptation isn’t sin, but we often succumb to it. Apart from God’s power, we are hopeless. We need the Holy Spirit to overcome our sin addiction. Take responsibility for your sin. Don’t play the blame game.
Receive God’s grace and forgiveness
When you fail, confess—admit it—and repent—turn away.
I almost surprised myself last week during Dinner Church with this simple statement: Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to say yes to God. We have to trust Jesus as not only our Savior but our LORD.
Spend time with God
You are your friends. Choose wisely. When we cease striving and meditate on God, our attitudes and thoughts will shift. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard to sin in the middle of a Bible study. This is why scripture says to cease striving (Psalm 46:10). The NIV translation reads:
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
Dwell on the LORD. Worship Him. Praise Him. Declare His goodness and faithfulness. Be fully present.
Put on the Armor
Ephesians 6 tells us about the armor we can wear to fight the enemy and his lies.
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:13)
Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:13-17)
Belt of truth
Boots of peace
Shield of faith
Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit
Pray
Ephesians 6 continues,
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6:18)
Ask God for strength. Jesus taught us to pray for God to deliver us from the evil one. The Holy Spirit can enable us to let go and let God.
Know your weaknesses
I’m a fan of the acronym HALT. I am must vulnerable to sin when I am hungry, angry (together they make hangry!), lonely, or tired. I am also the most grumpy!
Phone a friend
Let someone know your struggle. Invite them to challenge you, to hold you accountable.
Just do (stop) it!
It’s nearly impossible to quit a habit cold turkey. You need to replace it with something. Recovering alcoholics often smoke. Recovering smokers often chew gum. Recovering gum chewers often…
When I was a kid, there was a movement to burn rock and roll record albums because people said rock music was created by the devil. By the way, satan does not have the power to create anything! He can only mess up the good things God has created. Many people in the 1980’s burned their music only to later buy it all back again! For many, it was Led Zeppelin or Lawrence Welk! Instead, they could’ve replaced their rock music with Christian rock…similar sounds which glorify God.
If you want to quit worry, begin a journal of gratitude.
If you want to quit judging others, start listing your own sins.
If you want to quit debt, focus on the material blessings you already own.
If you want to quit hurry, set your alarm for 5 minutes and be still. Then increase it.
Press On
When the enemy reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!
If you think you’ve done some bad things, consider Paul. He supervised the murder of Christians! Years later, he wrote,
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
When you fall, get up! Keep running to Jesus. He’s not angry with you. He’s just hoping next time you’ll go even further without falling, much like a loving parent with a baby beginning to walk. His arms are outstretched to love you, to encourage you, never to celebrate your sin, but to offer forgiveness and hope and encouragement.
It’s my prayer for all of us that we would leave behind sin in this new year. We can’t sorta stop! We can’t simply sin less. We need to leave it behind, leave it in 2019.
I pray we would leave behind shame from our past. I pray we would leave behind bitterness and unforgiveness. I pray we would leave behind bad habits which lead to debt and poor health, instead developing new positive habits which we’ll talk about next Sunday.
Family, I love you. I want to see you thrive in this new year, not only for your personal peace and satisfaction but also for God’s glory. We’re all been commissioned by Him to go and make disciples, to love Him, and to love others as we love ourselves.
We cannot think like everyone else!
We cannot live like everyone else!
We re-present Jesus every day! People are watching us. They want to know if Jesus is real, if he really is the answer, if we live lives worth living and following, if Jesus makes any real difference.
We can’t do that well if we’re burdened by guilt and greed, debt and defeat, selfishness and sin, distractions and discouragement. Obviously none of us is perfect, but we must be intentional. We’re saved by faith, yes, but as Dallas Willard once remarked,
“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.”
We need to make the effort to
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)
Finally,
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
Someday we’re going to leave this world behind, so we might as well leave behind the desires of this world…to make room for greater things (which we’ll talk about next Sunday).
Recommended Resource(s): Overcomer by David Jeremiah.