West Cobb Sermon Blog

Thankful; Gratitude in Your Hearts. Those are the words that jumped out at me today. I talk about Defiant Gratitude all the time; but today, I don’t need defiance to be grateful.

Today is our last Rooted reading and I’m grateful for all that’s happened during this study. You’ve taken this study seriously. Thank you! You’ve had fun with it. Thank you! Our Connection Group Leaders have worked hard at facilitating their lessons and leading by example. Thank you! Several of you have memorized scripture. Thank you! Chris Sanders has led a team of prayer warriors. Thank you! Our Pipeline & Kids Rock leaders have given us engaging family devotions. Thank you! Our Creative Arts team has engaged our hearts, eyes, and ears. Thank you! The staff did an awesome job planning and implementing Rooted (this is all homegrown – even the graphics). Thank you! The bloggers have hung in there, allowing God to use them in ways they don’t even know. Thank you! Our West Cobb Wednesday teams are amazing. Thank you! Our men’s and women’s groups are seeing exciting life change. Thank you! You took time out of your busy schedules to complete the Rooted survey (hint, hint, hint). Thank you! You have embraced this study more than I could hope. Thank you!

As a pastor, it’s exciting to have a church that’s serious about Growing with God. Several of you have mentioned that we should continue with the format. So, we’re going to try your suggestion – on a smaller scale. Here’s what we’ll do…

• I’m going to blog at least once a week, maybe more. The first blog will post by Monday morning. In that blog, I’ll give you the topic for next Sunday’s sermon and five passages that you can read throughout the week.

• I’ll give a verse of scripture from the week’s reading that you can memorize.

• I’ll also write lessons for our ABS Groups that will mirror the Sunday sermon. We’ll continue this format through the next series. Then I’ll take May – July off, allowing the groups to explore their own topics.

If you’re going to follow the blog, I HIGHLY recommend that you ’subscribe’ to it. If you don’t know what it means to subscribe, we’ll have an explanation on the HELP Page by Monday.

In the meantime, you’ll find the Rooted survey by clicking HERE.

In Today’s Comments, I’d like for you to share how God has shaped you through Rooted…

THANK YOU!

I love Colossians, chapter 2. It’s helped me survive ministry, especially verses 18 and 23. Here’s what those verses say in The Message:

Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with (spiritual things) and seek out visions like they do. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ… They sound impressive (especially when they talk) in a deep voice. They even give the illusion of being pious, humble and (spiritual). But it’s just another way of showing off, making (themselves) look important.

Some people sound so spiritual. They’re even respected by many in their church, but they’re really “a lot of hot air.” I prefer people who are honest with themselves and God. Take Trey Fraser, for example:

Last night, Trey (age eight) found me at church and told me that he was raising money for the American Heart Association. He had his pledge form in hand and wanted me to contribute. Trey said, “I want to be truthful with you. I am raising money for people who have heart problems, but I really want to raise alot of money so I can win the big prizes.”

I love someone who’s honest like that! After hearing Trey’s pitch, I gave him an extra dollar…

How do you feel when you talk to someone who’s a bunch of hot air? What’s God teaching you through Colossians 2?

P.S. We don’t have anyone in our church (that I know of) who’s full of hot air. I think it’s because we like to pop their balloons.

There’s someone in our church that I’ve been missing lately.  We’ll call her Jan.  I emailed Jan and asked how she was doing.  She’s struggling.  Depression, loneliness, and feelings of abandonment by God.  Now, Jan’s a remarkable lady.  Everyone who knows her loves her.  I’m telling you, she’s really amazing, but she’s had a tough life… really tough.  And she wants so desperately to feel loved by God, but right now she feels nothing.

Since I’m an exceptionally wise and intelligent pastor, I offered Jan a few thoughts – some might call them suggestions – on her difficulties.  Her response?  “I just can’t buy them right now.” The platitudes that usually sound so good (never doubt in the dark what God taught you in the light; just hang in there; or perseverance produces character) just don’t work in Jan’s case.  She has already ‘hung in there’ longer than I ever would.  She has endured more heartache in any ten year period of her life than I want to experience in my entire life.

So what do I do???   That’s where Philippians helped me.  “Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.” I’m not sure what acts of kindness Paul is referring to in that verse, but I do get the sense that the church at Philippi cared for Paul – and showed it.  And that’s all I can do for Jan, care for her and show it.  God will have to take care of the rest.  He did for Paul and He will for Jan.

Have you ever had someone reach out to you when you were in an awful place?  How did it help?

What’s God teaching you through Philippians 4?

Perspective.  It really is everything.  Amy talked about it yesterday in her post .  She mentioned how our perspective changes when we return from a mission trip; how big issues become minuscule with a simple change in perspective.  That’s true for me, too.  Before I leave for a mission trip to Belarus, I’m overwhelmed with all I have to do to keep the church going.  Then on the trip, I interact with people who have a simple dependence on God.  They know that they cannot grow the church or live without God.  They have no alternative, but to trust Him to do what they cannot.

Frankly, I can’t even tell you how that truth relates to today’s passage.    But I read Amy’s post, then read today’s verses, and I was left with an overwhelming feeling that I carry too much of the load myself.  Maybe that’s part of what Paul’s talking about when he says, “let us live up to what we’ve already attained” I already have a life of joy, love, peace, and purpose in Christ.  I just need a new perspective, so I can enjoy that life, rather than work hard to recreate it.

Has there ever been a time in your life when your perspective changed and big issues shrunk in their importance?

What’s God teaching you through Philippians 3?

Let’s get back to “sex or  a massage”.  On my first few trips to Belarus, I got a phone call in the middle of night, asking me if I wanted “sex or a massage”.  (Okay, it wasn’t the middle of the night.  It was 11 pm, but for me… that’s the middle of the night.) Still, it was always weird getting those calls.

Robin Sosebee, one of our members, has been to Belarus several times, too.  Robin has also learned Russian.  (It’s amazing how quickly he picked up the language.)  One night, he got a similar “sex or massage” phone call.  He told the girl, in Russian, that he was not interested.  She showed up at his door a few minutes later.  Obviously, Robin needed to work on his Russian some more.

Today’s passage says, “do everything without complaining or arguing.”   Griping, complaining, and arguing aren’t part of God’s vocabulary.  So when we gripe or complain, we’re like Robin, decent intentions but wrong word choice.  No matter how good our stated intentions, when we criticize, people can’t see God through us.  The opposite is also true, when we do everything without complaining and arguing, people see God as clearly as stars on a cloudless night.  Amazing, huh?

Btw… when the Belorussian lady showed up at Robin’s door, he apologized for mis-communicating and talked to her about the love of God.  When we live a life without arguing and complaining, God uses us the same way.  It’s a language worth mastering.

What tips do you have to control your complaints?  What is God saying to you through this passage?

It’s good to be back home.  (Before I go much farther, I want to pause and thank Nate for taking the lead on the blog while I was in Belarus.  Good blogs take a great deal of time to write and Nate did a wonderful job.  Thanks Nate!)

Now, where was I??? Oh yeh… It’s good to be back home.  There’s just nothing like it, is there?  When I’m in Belarus, I stay in the same hotel, The Victoria. It took me several trips before I discovered The Victoria, but it’s the best – affordable rates, comfortable mattresses, DSL internet, non-smoking floors, roach-free rooms, and best of all… no phone calls in the middle of the night asking me if I want “sex or a massage.”  (Seriously.)  I even used the fitness room on this last trip.  It’s no LA Fitness, but it’s better than nothing.  Since I discovered The Victoria, I haven’t stayed anywhere else.  It’s my home away from home in Belarus.

Funny thing, though.  No matter how many nights I stay in The Victoria, I still sleep the best when I come home.  There’s something about the comfort, security, and love of home that gives me the best rest I can possibly experience… anywhere.

When Jesus was “humbling himself, becoming obedient to death,” He knew this wasn’t His home.  In fact, that knowledge is how He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2).  Jesus kept His eyes on heaven – His home – and that got Him through life on this sinful planet.

I started counting the times I think of heaven during the day.  It’s not much.  But I’m starting to realize that perspective on life is everything.  We live in The Victoria, complaining that the nights are lonely and there’s no room service, when we really should be focused on our home.

I’m going to make a conscious effort today to think more about heaven – especially when I’m frustrated.  The Victoria has its pluses, but there’s no place like home.

How do you make it through the humbling times of life?  What’s God teaching you?

Is there noise in the quiet?

That’s the question that weighs on my heart this morning after reading our passage. Even though there may be stillness in the world I see, what war is being waged in the world I don’t see? We have a struggle and a battle against unseen forces, forces that are constantly at work to distract and ultimately destroy us. Now, I have a hard time believing there is a demon under every rock and that every little distraction comes from the enemy. But I definitely believe that our unseen enemy is using every weapon he can in his scheme to keep us from living fully for God.

I think that’s why the word stand jumped out at me today. All of the armor, all of the prayer, all of the courage that comes from today’s passage is devoted to one thing: giving us the strength to stand. God knows that we need to be outfitted with these weapons in order to stand in a world where the enemy is always trying to cause us to stumble. Here’s the cool part…when we begin to withstand the attacks, we take steps forward for God. Nothing makes our hearts sing louder to God than taking a step closer to him. May that song be the noise in our quiet today.

What stood out to you today from this passage?

I don’t know about you, but I always love the thought of God being able to do immeasurably more that I can ask or imagine. I also like to stop in the middle of verse 20. I usually stop to imagine all the cool stuff I can, and then I try to imagine what would be immeasurably more. Today, the rest of the verse jumped out at me.

God is able to do more than we could ask or imagine “according to his power that is at work within us”. I have always imagined God showing up and doing something big, but it usually happens outside of me. I have never imagined that God would start that immeasurable work within me and let it overflow into the rest of the world. Granted I have always believed God’s work starts in our hearts and moves into our relationships, but I never connected the dots that this immeasurable work started within us.

Truth be told, I am actually kind of scared of what it would look like for God to let loose some immeasurable power within me. What would have to change that I don’t want to change? What would have to grow that I don’t want to grow? It makes me nervous mainly because, well, I can’t imagine it. I’m not in control of it. It’s more than I asked for…but isn’t that the point? God wants to make me immeasurably better than I could ask or imagine, and a life like that takes power immeasurably beyond mine.

What was God working on within you through today’s passage?

“Against such things there is no law.”

That is a terribly profound statement. It seems like we always want to do the thing we can’t. It’s like putting a middle school student alone in a room with a big red button that says, “Don’t Push”. We are drawn to what we’re told not to approach. I think that’s why Paul puts forth such a crazy list in Galatians 5:19-21. You know, a list where envy stands next to witchcraft, a list where we can all find a little bit of ourselves.

But in that profound statement, Paul points out the obvious in such a poignant way. You are free to live out the fruit of the Spirit all day long. No one is going to reprimand you; it’s likely you won’t be put in jail for any of those qualities. The big question is whether I am free enough to do those things, whether I have been loosened enough from the chains of my sinful desires, whether I have tasted the delicacy of obedience. None of which is forbidden by any of God’s laws. So what is holding us back?

Maybe we need a big green button that says, “PUSH!” Push love. Push joy. Push peace. Push patience. Push kindness. Push goodness. Push faithfulness. Push self-control. Each button you push opens a door to freedom.

What pushed your buttons from today’s passage?

Check out today’s passage in the Message version if you have a chance. I enjoyed the change of pace that the paraphrase brought to these verses.

I carry a rock in my pocket most days. It’s a reminder for me. That rock is a symbol for my faith, a reminder of one of the most pivotal moments in our beliefs. It is a reminder of the stone that was rolled from the Jesus’ grave. It’s also a reminder of my future…someday my grave will be unable to contain what God will do to me. There will be a day that this limited, fallen, imperfect body of mine will become all that God meant for it to be, and I will echo with all creation:

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

Paul calls us to action based on the promise of resurrection in verse 58 today, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” That adds just a little more meaning to my rock today. The same God that has the power to raise me from the dead is at work when I seek to honor him with my actions today.

I think I need a bigger rock.

What life did God bring through your reading today?