Sunday, July 28, 2019

Who do you think would win a Sidney to Melbourne Ultramarathon? An ultramarathon is a race that is longer than a marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles.

How about cliff Young? In 1983, the 61-year-old potato farmer won the inaugural Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon, a distance of 875 kilometres (544 mi). The race was run between what were then Australia’s two largest Westfield shopping centres: Westfield Parramatta, in Sydney, and Westfield Doncaster, in Melbourne.^[4] He ran at a slow loping pace and trailed the leaders for most of the first day, but by running while the others slept, he took the lead the first night and maintained it for the remainder of the race, eventually winning by ten hours.

Before running the race, he told the press that he had previously run for two to three days straight rounding up sheep in gumboots.^[5] [these are like mud-boots.] He claimed afterwards that during the race, he imagined that he was running after sheep and trying to outrun a storm. The Westfield run took him five days, 15 hours and four minutes,^[1] almost two days faster than the previous record for any run between Sydney and Melbourne. All six competitors who finished the race broke the previous record. Despite attempting the event again in later years, Young was unable to repeat this performance or claim victory again.[1]

Imagine that? Wow?

Generally, when we are running it gets harder if we have more weight holding us down. In the early Olympic games they would train with weight and then run naked.

Who here as seen someone run a marathon in a suit and tie?

I once tried running with ankle weights, those make running difficult.

Over the last 7 years in many of my runs I am pushing Mercedes and Abigail and so I have extra weight to push while running.

Okay, enough about that. My point is in running we must get rid of extra stuff.

Today’s passage pictures the Christian life that way. We must get rid of the extra weight holding us back from serving the Lord.

My theme today:

We can trust God just like the Old Testament Saints trusted the Lord.

So, Eyes on Jesus, God is Faithful we can trust Him.

Let’s read: Hebrews 12:1-2:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1. First, this passage says we have a great cloud of witnesses.
   1. Now, why am I on this passage? I am glad you asked. Today, I am beginning a sermon series on the less known people of the Bible. Some of these people you may know by name and that is all. Some of the people you won’t even know by name. For example, who can tell me about Rehoboam? Who can tell me about Gehazi? What about Uzziah? After this sermon series is over you will know a few things about those men. I’ll also be preaching on people like Samuel and Abigail in the Old Testament. These people set great examples for us.
   2. This brings us to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 follows Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 11 lists many of the heroes of the Old Testament.
   3. In Hebrews 12:1 the author talks about the great cloud of witnesses but then in verse 2 he tells them to set their eyes on Jesus.
   4. This great cloud of witnesses are the people that have gone before us, mainly, and specifically, these heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.
   5. Listen, this great cloud of witnesses are NOT people in Heaven looking down on us. No, not at all. The great cloud of witnesses are the heroes of faith. If you look right here it says Hebrews 12:1, but in reality the chapters and verse numbers were added later and let me tell you, I am glad they were added because it would be quite difficult for me to stand up here and say, “Turn three fourths of the way through Hebrews and join me where it says, ‘Therefore.”’ That would be difficult. Chapters were added in the middle ages while a man on horseback rode to Paris. I am very thankful for these divisions, but sometimes they are at the wrong place. This is one of those times.
   6. Chapter 12 goes along with chapter 11.
   7. I believe we can make the case that each one of these people from the Old Testament heroes of faith would say, “God is faithful, we can trust Him.”
   8. Let’s think about the people listed in Hebrews 11. With a few exceptions (Abraham and maybe Abel) these are not the people we will be studying, but let’s think about them.
   9. Abel would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb 11:4).
   10. Enoch would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:5).
   11. Noah, who built the ark when people had never seen rain, would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:7).
   12. Abraham, father of our faith, would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:8-19).
   13. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb 11:20-22).
   14. Moses would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:23-29).
   15. Rahab would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:31).
   16. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:32 and the following verses).
   17. The prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah and the rest would say that God is faithful, we can trust Him (Heb. 11:32 and the following verses).
   18. These are all the witnesses that went before us. They were imperfect, they had flaws, but the pattern was that they trusted God in what God had called them to do.
   19. In context, the people that Hebrews was written to struggled with staying true to Christ. They were Jewish Christians considering backsliding. The author is reminding them by the examples of these Old Testament heroes to stay true to the faith. God is faithful.
2. Second, get rid of the distractions. This is the second major purpose in this passage.
   1. He says to throw off everything that hinders us. Remember the opening of my sermon about weight? Who runs with a bunch of weight? No, we lighten our load. Likewise, as a Christian we get rid of the weight keeping us from serving the Lord. This weight may be sin or just things keeping us from following Jesus fully.
   2. We could be dealing with two types of sins:
      1. Sins of commission: these are things we do that we should not do.
         1. Pride
         2. Envy
         3. Lust
         4. Lying
         5. Cheating
         6. Stealing
         7. Hate
         8. Jealousy
         9. Gossip

• Idolatry
• Adultery

1. Then there are sins of omission. These are things that you don’t do that you should do.
   1. Not loving God
   2. Not loving people
   3. Not spending time in the Word
   4. Not learning
2. Other things: there are other things that weight us down.
   1. These could be things that are not sins at all but are just weighting us down.
      1. This may be not serving our church.
      2. This could be not studying but watching TV too much.

• This could be some relationship that we are in that brings us down.

2. The race of the Christian life is marked out for us. We must run with aim, looking towards the finish line (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
3. The Christian life is marked out in God’s Word.

• Verse 2 tells us to keep our eyes on Jesus.
  1. All of those people in the Hall of Faith section failed. They all messed up, but One did not mess up and that is Jesus.
  2. We have our model; Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
  3. He endured the cross and the shame of the cross and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  4. We must run the Christian life as with aim. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus did it right. We must persevere and stay the course.
  5. We must get rid of things that are holding us back and stay focused.
  6. God wants to use all of us, but we have weights in our Christian life and we must release the weights and look at Jesus.

John Piper shares the following (Devotional excerpted from Future Grace, page 256):

What faith performs is sometimes unspeakably hard.

In his book Miracle on the River Kwai, Ernest Gordon tells the true story of a group of POWs working on the Burma Railway during World War II.

At the end of each day the tools were collected from the work party. On one occasion a Japanese guard shouted that a shovel was missing and demanded to know which man had taken it. He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. “All die! All die!” he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward and the guard clubbed him to death with his rifle while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again and no shovel was missing.

What can sustain the will to die for others, when you are innocent? Jesus was carried and sustained in his love for us by “the joy that was set before him.” He banked on a glorious future blessing and joy, and that carried and sustained him in love through his suffering.

Woe to us if we think we should or can be motivated and strengthened for radical, costly obedience by some higher motive than the joy that is set before us. When Jesus called for costly obedience that would require sacrifice in this life, he said in Luke 14:14, “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” In other words, be strengthened now in all your losses for Christ’s sake, because of the joy set before you.

Peter said that, when Jesus suffered without retaliating, he was leaving us an example to follow — and that includes Jesus’s confidence in the joy set before him. He handed his cause over to God (1 Peter 2:21) and did not try to settle accounts with retaliation. He banked his hope on the resurrection and all the joys of reunion with his Father and the redemption of his people. So should we.[2]

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Young_(athlete)

[2]https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/enduring-when-obeying-hurts?utm_campaign=Daily%20Email&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=74147953&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-96FJOM1TWkfYs_c8HoNeDzsTSumbfWwi7o35SkSuFL3qG3BcobsbsP-b8WqB17yZWpWA-MwhFfYLAgJIS8ZT5EqIe4gA&_hsmi=74147953

I read the following:

Why does God allow trouble to plague his people? How can it be considered loving for him to permit trials to run wild in our lives?

I gained fresh insight into these questions while watching a spellbinding four-minute video called “How Wolves Change Rivers.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

A slightly too exuberant, yet delightfully British narrator recounts the changes that resulted from the entrance of a pack of wolves into the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park. It turns out that deer overpopulation had left massive portions of the park barren. Constant grazing had turned valleys into wastelands. The lack of vegetation had caused soil erosion, which destabilized the banks of the river, slowing the flow of water. The lack of sufficient water and vegetation, in turn, forced wildlife to move on. In short, life was fading from the park.

Then a pack of wolves moved in.

Do you think it would be life-enhancing for a pack of predators to be released into a national park? I imagine your initial response would be, like mine, “No, that sounds terrible.” 

But it turns out that it was the best thing that could have happened.

Wolves and a World of Good

The wolves predictably killed a few deer, thinning out the population. However, that was not the most significant change. The remaining deer were forced to move to higher terrain and abandon the grasslands of the valleys.

“Difficulty brings blessing. Hardship brings joy. Wolves change rivers.”

These areas that had been mown down for so long then began to regrow at an accelerated rate. Aspen trees quintupled in size in less than six years. This growth brought back birds to nest in the branches and beavers to eat the wood. The return of the beavers meant the return of beaver dams, which created pools that allowed for the repopulation of fish, otters, ducks, muskrats, reptiles, and amphibians. The wolves also cleared out some of the coyotes, which caused rabbits and mice to return. This change led to the return of hawks, weasels, foxes, and badgers. 

Yet the most amazing impact occurred in the river itself. Because grasses were allowed to regrow, the soil collapsed less, allowing for firmer riverbanks. Which gave the river flow greater direction, which reinforced the animal habitats.

In short, the entrance of a few wolves created a whole world of good in Yellowstone National Park, transforming wastelands into lush valleys teeming with life.

So, it turns out that the best thing to do to promote life was to release a few wolves into the valley.[1]

You may wonder why bad things happen?

We are completing the sermon series on Life’s Healing Choices, here are all the choices:

Celebrate Recovery’s Eight Recovery Principles

The Road to Recovery Based on the Beatitudes

1. Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. (Step 1 of the 12 step method)
2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover. (Step 2 of the 12 step method)
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. (Step 3 of the 12 step method)
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. (Steps 4 and 5 of the 12 step method)
5. Voluntarily submit to any and all changes God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. (Steps 6 and 7 of the 12 step method)
6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. (Steps 8 and 9 of the 12 step method)
7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. (Steps 10 and 11 of the 12 step method)
8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and my words. (Step 12 of the 12 step method)[2]

Today, is step 8 and my theme is:

Don’t waste your pain.

Share your testimony with others, including how God rescued you.

Let’s read 1 Peter 3:15:

but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…

1. Why does God allow pain? (Some of these points come from the book “Life’s Healing Choices”)
   1. God has given us free will.
   2. We notice that in the creation narrative in Gen. 2:15-17:¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ¹⁶ The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
   3. If we choose to be sexually promiscuous and get a sexually transmitted disease, we bear the consequences of our own bad choice. Do you see the dilemma? God will not overrule your will. God doesn’t send anybody to hell. We choose to go there by rejecting His will for us. God loves you and wants you to be a part of His family, but if you thumb your nose at God and walk away from Him, you can’t blame anyone but yourself. That is free will.[3]
   4. We are also effected by the free will of others.
   5. God uses the pain to get our attention. Look at 2 Cor. 7:9: I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
   6. Another example of pain getting our attention is Jonah. After he ran from God and was swallowed by the fish it says: Jonah 2:7: “While I was fainting away,I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.
   7. God uses pain to teach us to depend upon Him.
   8. God allows pain to give us a ministry to others.
      1. Gen 50:20 shows that God can use it for good.
      2. Who better to help an alcoholic than someone who has struggled with alcoholism? Who better to help someone dealing with the pain of abuse than one who also suffered abuse? Who can better help the person who lost a job and went bankrupt than somebody who’s experienced the same thing? Who can better help the parents of a teenager who’s going off the deep end than a couple who had a child who did the same? God wants to use and recycle the pain in your life to help others, but you’ve got to be open and honest about it. If you keep that hurt to yourself, you’re wasting it. God wants to recycle your hurts, your hang-ups, and your habits to help others.[4]
   9. How can you use your pain to help others?
      1. Share your story.
      2. This is simply about sharing your testimony.
      3. Remember 1 Peter 3:15? Always be ready to give an answer.
      4. Right now, I am talking about sharing how you came to know Christ. In that case we share:
         1. Our life before Christ.
            1. Share how Christ rescued you or has kept you from certain things.
            2. When we are rescued we share about it.
            3. Share how Christ helped you with anger, or anxiety, or alcohol, or anything else.
         2. How we came to know Christ.

• Our life after Christ.

1. We all have a testimony.

• Accept your mission
  1. We all have a mission: Matt 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
  2. Do you realize there are only two things you can’t do in heaven? One is sin; the other is share the Good News with people who have never heard it. Which of those do you think is the reason God is leaving you on earth? Obviously, sinning isn’t the reason.[5]
  3. Be humble
  4. Be real
  5. Don’t lecture
  6. Write about It
  7. Write your story out on paper.[6]

Don’t waste your pain. Allow God to use it for God.

We are never too old to be used of God.

Swindoll, Laugh Again pages 92 and following:
I came across an article way back in 1967 that I still return to on occasion. Entitled “Advice to a (Bored) Young Man,” it communicates how much one person can contribute, if only—Many people reading this page are doing so with the aid of bifocals. Inventor? B. Franklin, age 79. The presses that printed this page were powered by electricity. One of the first harnessers? B. Franklin, age 40. Some are reading this on the campus of one of the Ivy League universities. Founder? B. Franklin, age 45. Some got their copy through the U.S. Mail. Its father? B. Franklin, age 31. Now, think fire. Who started the first fire department, invented the lightning rod, designed a heating stove still in use today? B. Franklin, ages 31, 43, 36. Wit. Conversationalist. Economist. Philosopher. Diplomat. Printer. Publisher. Linguist (spoke and wrote five languages). Advocate of paratroopers (from balloons) a century before the airplane was invented.
All this until age 84. And he had exactly two years of formal schooling. It’s a good bet that you already have more sheer knowledge than Franklin had when he was your age. Perhaps you think there’s no use trying to think of anything new, that everything’s been done. Wrong. The simple, agrarian America of Franklin’s day didn’t begin to need the answers we need today. Go do something about it.

Prayer

[1]https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/gods-surprising-plans-for-your-good

[2]https://www.celebraterecovery.com/resources/cr-tools/8principles

[3]Baker Jr., John F.. Life’s Healing Choices Revised and Updated: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits (pp. 272-273). Howard Books. Kindle Edition.

[4]Baker Jr., John F.. Life’s Healing Choices Revised and Updated: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits (pp. 275-276). Howard Books. Kindle Edition.

[5]Baker Jr., John F.. Life’s Healing Choices Revised and Updated: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits (pp. 277-278). Howard Books. Kindle Edition.

[6]Baker Jr., John F.. Life’s Healing Choices Revised and Updated: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits (pp. 281-282). Howard Books. Kindle Edition.

Life’s Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups and Their Healing Choices
Subtitle: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord. (Mark 1:35)
Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, July 14, 2019

We have been on this sermon series about Life’s Hurts, Habits and Hang-up and their Healing Choices. Today, we talk about Maintaining Momentum. In other words: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.

Let’s review the principles:

Celebrate Recovery’s Eight Recovery Principles
The Road to Recovery Based on the Beatitudes

1. Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. (Step 1 of the 12 step method)

2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover. (Step 2 of the 12 step method)

3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. (Step 3 of the 12 step method)

4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. (Steps 4 and 5 of the 12 step method)

5. Voluntarily submit to any and all changes God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. (Steps 6 and 7 of the 12 step method)

6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. (Steps 8 and 9 of the 12 step method)

7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. (Steps 10 and 11 of the 12 step method)

8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and my words. (Step 12 of the 12 step method)
We are now on step 7:
Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. (Steps 10 and 11 of the 12 step method)

My theme today is: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.

Focus on your relationship with the Lord, Swindoll shares:
I love the story of the man who had fretted for fifteen years over his work. He had built his business from nothing into a rather sizable operation. In fact, he had a large plant that covered several acres. With growth and success, however, came ever-increasing demands. Each new day brought a whole new list of responsibilities. Weary of the worry, the stress, and the fear, he finally decided to give it all over to God. With a smile of quiet contentment, he prayed, “Lord God, the business is Yours. All the worry, the stress, and the fears I release to You and Your sovereign will. From this day forward, Lord, You own this business.” That night he went to bed earlier than he had since he started the business. Finally . . . peace.

In the middle of the night the shrill ring of the phone awoke the man. The caller, in a panicked voice, yelled, “Fire! The entire place is going up in smoke!” The man calmly dressed, got into his car and drove to the plant. With his hands in his pockets he stood there and watched, smiling slightly. One of his employees hurried to his side and said, “What in the world are you smiling about? How can you be so calm? Everything’s on fire!” The man answered, “Yesterday afternoon I gave this business to God. I told Him it was His. If He wants to burn it up, that’s His business.”

Some of you read that and think, That’s insane! No, that is one of the greatest pieces of sound theology you can embrace. Firm confidence in God means that it is in His hands.

Let’s read Mark 1:35:

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

This sermon is about maintaining momentum. I am going to get into spiritual disciplines in a moment, but first let’s talk about why we lose momentum in battling our hurts, habits and hang-ups. Maybe you are doing very well battling your anxiety, depression, anger, pornography, chemical addiction, eating disorder or something else and then you backslide. Let’s talk about that. This first point and its sub-points comes from the book: “Life’s Healing Choices Revised and Updated: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits” as noted in the footnote. I have made minor changes or additions.

1. I. Many times, what I might call a “backslide” is called “Relapse.”
   1. The pattern is as follows: Complacency- Confusion-Compromise-Catastrophe.
   2. We get complacent in our spiritual disciplines and complacent in taking our hurt, habit or hang-up seriously and this is the first step to our downfall.
   3. We get confused thinking we are okay and our hurt, habit or hang-up was not that severe.
   4. We compromise our values.
   5. We relapse, we backslide.
   6. The causes of relapse.
   7. We revert to our own willpower. We think we can live the Christian life on our own strength. Romans 7 and Gal. 3:3 are written about that.
   8. The Bible speaks to our foolish tendencies of trying to make it on our own: We got off to a good start:
      1. In Choice 1, we admitted that we are powerless to change on our own.
      2. In Choice 2, we agreed that only God has the power to help us change.
      3. In Choice 3, we made a commitment to turn our life and will over to Christ’s care and control.
      4. In the fourth choice, we examined ourselves openly and honestly and confessed our faults.
      5. In the fifth, we voluntarily submitted to the changes God wants to make in our lives.
      6. Then in the last choice, our sixth choice, we focused on repairing our relationships—offering forgiveness and making amends.
   9. We’ve submitted, trusted, and committed. We’ve made room for God to make major changes in our life. But now, if we’re not careful, we may start to think, “It’s me doing this; I’m making the changes. It’s my power.” We revert to relying on our own willpower; but the problem is, it didn’t work in the first place, and it’s not going to work now! We have a few successes, and suddenly we think we are all-powerful and all-knowing, and can handle everything on our own.
   10. Other reasons we backslide or relapse: We ignore one of the choices.
   11. We try to recover without support (Ecc. 4:9-10; Heb 10:25). We need community.
   12. We become prideful (Prov. 16:18; 1 Cor. 10:12).
   13. I repeat my theme: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.
   14. Jesus wants to give us peace, but this only happens through our relationship with Him. Swindoll shares in his book, “Laugh Again”: I came across a story in one of Tim Hansel’s books that points this out in an unforgettable way. It’s the true account of an eighty-two-year-old man who had served as a pastor for over fifty of those years. In his later years he struggled with skin cancer. It was so bad that he had already had fifteen skin operations. Tim writes:

Besides suffering from the pain, he was so embarrassed about how the cancer had scarred his appearance, that he wouldn’t go out. Then one day he was given You Gotta Keep Dancin’ in which I tell of my long struggle with the chronic, intense pain from a near-fatal climbing accident. In that book, I told of the day when I realized that the pain would be with me forever. At that moment, I made a pivotal decision. I knew that it was up to me to choose how I responded to it. So I chose joy. . . . After reading awhile, the elderly pastor said he put the book down, thinking, “He’s crazy. I can’t choose joy.”
So he gave up on the idea. Then later he read in John 15:11 that joy is a gift. Jesus says, “I want to give you my joy so that your joy may be complete.”

A gift! he thought. He didn’t know what to do, so he got down on his knees. Then he didn’t know what to say, so he said, “Well, then, Lord, give it to me. ”

And suddenly, as he described it, this incredible hunk of joy came from heaven and landed on him.

“I was overwhelmed,” he wrote. “It was like the joy talked about in Peter, a ‘ joy unspeakable and full of glory.’ I didn’t know what to say, so I said, ‘ Turn it on, Lord, turn it on!’” And before he knew it, he was dancing around the house. He felt so joyful that he actually felt born again—again. And this astonishing change happened at the age of 82.

He just had to get out. So much joy couldn’t stay cooped up.

So he went out to the local fast food restaurant and got a burger.

A lady saw how happy he was, and asked, “How are you doing?” He said, “Oh, I’m wonderful!” “Is it your birthday?” she asked. “No, honey, it’s better than that!” “Your anniversary?” “Better than that!” “Well, what is it?” she asked excitedly. “It’s the joy of Jesus. Do you know what I’m talking about?” The lady shrugged and answered, “No, I have to work on Sundays.”
II. Spiritual Disciplines are the way to maintain momentum
a. John Baker writes: Developing new habits is not easy. New healthy habits are about making daily choices that put us in a place where God can begin His transformation work in us. Someone has accurately said that the most difficult thing about the Christian life is that it is so daily. Jesus knew about daily temptation, and He knew how to fight it: “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38).
b. Prayer and meditation are reverse worry. I like that, let me repeat, prayer and meditation are reverse worry. If you know how to worry then you know how to pray and meditate on the Scriptures. This is part of your spiritual disciplines. So, let’s talk about daily quiet time. Let’s talk about spiritual disciplines.
III. Quiet time is most important. We had read Mark 1:35, let’s come back to that: In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
a. Jesus could have had many other things to do, but He started with prayer.
b. In that same chapter Jesus was preaching, casting out demons and healing people.
c. Many people could have said that Jesus should be doing more preaching, not retreating to a quiet place with God.
d. Many people could have said Jesus should be casting out more demons, not retreating to a quiet place with God.
e. Many people could have said Jesus should be healing people, not retreating to a quiet place with God.
f. Preaching, casting out demons and healing were all important, but not the MOST important thing for Jesus.
g. It was most important to have a quiet time with God the Father.
h. I repeat my theme: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.
IV. Why do we have a daily quiet time?
a. Remember Mark 1:35, this is what Jesus did. If Jesus spent time with God, so should we.
b. We discover God’s will and receive power to deal with life’s trials through spending time with God. Let’s look at a few other passages.
c. Romans 12:1-2: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
d. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. How do we renew our mind? We let the Holy Spirit renew our mind through spending time with Him in prayer and Scripture reading.
e. This happens through our quiet time with God. Ephesians 3:16: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man…
f. How can we be strengthened with power through the Spirit?
g. This happens through spending time with Him in prayers and Scripture reading.
h. In John 6:63 Jesus said: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
i. So, in our quiet time we receive encouragement and life from our maker.
j. In John 10:27 Jesus said: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…
k. How do we know His voice?
l. By spending time with Him in prayer and Scripture reading.
m. I repeat my theme: We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.
n. I encourage you to have a daily appointment with God.
o. This could be every morning first thing, or it could be in the evening.
p. Try to find a quiet place.
q. Try to limit distractions.
r. How long?
i. Start short.
ii. 5 minutes to read a chapter of the Bible and pray. I would pray in the beginning and the end.
s. What:
t. Bible reading (full chapters). Begin in John.
u. Scripture applications.
v. Prayer; talk to Him as a best friend, He is.
w. Reflect:
i. Reflect on how you are doing. The Bible tells us to do this. See 2 Cor. 13:5 and Psalm 66:18. Repent of sins.
ii. Meet with your prayer/accountability partner regularly. We have individual spiritual disciplines, which this has mainly been about, and community spiritual disciplines. They are both critical.

To explain how Scripture meditation goes beyond hearing, reading, studying, and even memorizing as a means of taking in God’s Word, author Donald Whitney provides the analogy of a cup of tea:
In this analogy your mind is the cup of hot water and the tea bag represents your intake of Scripture. Hearing God’s Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea’s flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the bag. Reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word are like additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more permeating its effect. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown. Meditation on Scripture is letting the Bible brew in the brain. Thus we might say that as the tea colors the water, meditation likewise “colors” our thinking. When we meditate on Scripture it colors our thinking about God, about God’s ways and his world, and about ourselves.
We maintain momentum by maintaining our relationship with the Lord.
Prayer

download a PDF here:

maintaining momentum^JMark 1.35docx

Life’s Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups and Their Healing Choices

Subtitle: Repairing Relationships (Matt. 5:23-26; 6:12; 18:15-17; Acts 15:36-41)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on July 7

We are on the sixth message about Life’s Healing Choices: let’s go over the 8 principles:

Celebrate Recovery’s Eight Recovery Principles

The Road to Recovery Based on the Beatitudes

1. Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. (Step 1 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are those who know that they are spiritually poor.” Matthew 5:3a TEV.
2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover. (Step 2 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 TEV, NIV
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. (Step 3 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are the meek.” Matthew 5:5a TEV
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. (Steps 4 and 5 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are the pure in heart.” Matthew 5:8a TEV
5. Voluntarily submit to any and all changes God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. (Steps 6 and 7 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires” Matthew 5:6a TEV
6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. (Steps 8 and 9 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are the merciful.” Matthew 5:7a TEV; “Happy are the peacemakers” Matthew 5:9 TEV
7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. (Steps 10 and 11 of the 12 step method)
8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and my words. (Step 12 of the 12 step method)
   “Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.” Matthew 5:10 TEV[1]

Think about the divisions within the church. Actually, let’s be interactive. I remember sitting with my uncle at a family picnic when he said, “He had been hurt more by Christians than by non-Christians.” Now, why would he say that? Could it be true? Do Christians hurt each other? Why does the devil attack from within?

Raise your hand if…

If you have ever been hurt by something someone who claimed to be a Christian said– raise your hand.

Okay, I do not want to have you raise your hand for anymore of these because we hopefully have visitors:

Just think: Do not raise your hand:

Have you ever hurt someone with your words being a Christian yourself?

Have you ever left church in tears because of gossip or rumors?

Have you ever been angered at church because of something wrongfully said about you?

Have you wrongfully said something about someone else at church?

Have you spread the gossip or the rumor?

Have you been unloving?

Have others been unloving to you? I know this is broad.

The church is a place for sinners. The church is a place for people who do wrong things and I am one of them. But the church is also a place where once we commit to Christ we commit to grow and change and not get worse but get better.

Several years ago, actually five years ago, I was with my then three year old, Mercedes, she wanted to build a sand castle with gravel on the driveway. She did not know that that little bit of gravel on the driveway would not build a sand castle. She did not know how much better the sand on the beach will be. Likewise, we come to know Jesus and we are sinners, we are sinners our whole life, but as we grow in Christ we grow out of certain sins. This means that we realize that life is different. Before we were playing trying to build sandcastles with gravel on a driveway, but Jesus wants us to grow into Christ followers who are not wrestling daily with the same old stuff. Jesus wants us to have a renewed perspective and then we are building sandcastles on the beach by the ocean. Then we will still offend people and still sin, but hopefully not the same old stuff and not as much. Hopefully then we make things right. So, let’s talk about that.

I hope we can talk about that now. Let’s look at a passage where the Apostle Paul had a difference with Barnabas. They part ways, but I want to make the case that though they part ways, they do so agreeably. I want to talk about Biblical restoration. I want to challenge you to Biblical restoration.

My theme today:

Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. (Steps 8 and 9 of the 12 step method)

Read Acts 15:36-41 with me:

³⁶ After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. ³⁸ But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. ⁴⁰ But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

1. Let’s start with Paul and Barnabas, they are an example of forgiveness and reconciliation. Notice that Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement.
   1. This disagreement is in verse 37. Barnabas was an encourager, he wants to give John Mark a second chance. Now, what happened with John Mark? In Acts 13:13 Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey and John Mark went home to Jerusalem. There may have been several reasons for this: NIV text note of Acts 13:13: “homesicknesss to get back to Jerusalem, an illness of Paul necessitating a change in plans and a trip to Galatia, and a change in leadership from Barnabas to Paul have all been suggested as reasons for John Mark’s return.” (to Jerusalem). Either way, now Barnabas is saying, “Let’s give him a second chance.” Paul says, “No way.”
   2. Verse 39 says that they had a “Sharp” disagreement.”
   3. Have you ever had a “Sharp” disagreement? What do you do? How do you handle it?
   4. I was once listening to a counseling program and a couple had little snicker bars all over the house and someone asked, “Why are there snicker bars all over the house?” The couple said that was to give them a timeout. You see when they are in the heat of an argument and they are in a sharp disagreement and they need a timeout, but you know we don’t want to take a timeout, do we? So, what they do is grab a little snickers bar, the little ones. Then they think and resume.
   5. It is recommended that people need timeouts, but they are hard to take.
   6. I think Paul, the Apostle needed a timeout.
   7. Paul is a “Driven” personality. We all “fight” or “flight,” Paul fights.”
   8. They had a sharp disagreement. Paul and Barnabas were partners and sometimes we like to take this passage and say even the best of Christians have massive arguments. I read one source that said that sometimes we take this passage too far. We take it and make it look like they had a “knockdown, drag out, fight.” We don’t know that. We know they disagreed, we know they disagreed strongly, sharply, we know they needed a “timeout” or a snickers bar and there were none around. But you know what else we know; it appears there were no hurt feelings. Look at these verses: 2 Tim. 4:11: Only Luke is with me. Get [John] Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.Also: Col. 4:10: My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) Philemon 24: And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. 1 Cor. 9:6: Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
   9. So, it does appear that Paul and John Mark were okay later on, and even with each other later on. It appears that Paul and Barnabas were okay later on.
   10. What else happens in this passage? Sometimes we are stuck making sandcastles in a driveway with a little bit of gravel. Step back.
   11. In verses 39-41 two missionary journeys happened instead of one. Barnabas took John Mark and Paul took Silas. God spread the Great Commission more this way. Isn’t that awesome!
   12. Secondly, Paul chose Silas and Silas was a Roman citizen and we will hear more about that in chapter 16:37.
2. Point of application: who do you have to reconcile with?
   1. Matthew 5:23-26: Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. ²⁵ Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
   2. This passage is telling us that restoration is more important than an offering.
   3. Relationships are important.
   4. Let’s look at one other passage of Scripture: Matthew 18:15-17: “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
   5. Conflict resolution begins with a small circle.
   6. You go and talk to the person who has offended you. Then, if there is no resolution you bring another person in. Then two people in and then the church leadership.
   7. Remember: What did Jesus say? You leave your offering and go and bring restoration and then come back to worship. Restoration is more important than giving! Those commands come from God’s Word.

• Forgiveness is critical, let go
  1. We must confess sin.
  2. Matthew 6:12: ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  3. I want to say a few words about the passage itself:
  4. This is the Lord’s prayer and notice that this request implies that we have forgiven others. Richard Foster says that we always must give in order to be able to receive. He says, “It is simply that by the very nature of the created order we must give in order to receive. I cannot, for instance, receive love if I do not give love. People may try to offer me love, but if resentment and vindictiveness fill my heart, their offers will roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If my fists are clenched and my arms folded tightly around myself, I cannot hold anything.”[2]
  5. So, we forgive others and we receive God’s forgiveness.
  6. Forgive others: Okay, but the second part of this petition is that we forgive others, why and how?
  7. Jesus said to forgive repeatedly (Matthew 18:21-25).
  8. Withholding forgiveness leads to actual hate and that builds up inside. I was in a pastoral counseling class where I heard a process which helped me understand forgiveness better:

Below from Dr. Stratton, Asbury Theological Seminary

1. Remember the hurt: you don’t have to forget

“When we are hurt, we often try to protect ourselves by denying it.  But if unforgiveness keeps intruding into your thoughts and feelings, consider forgiving. Recall the hurt as objectivelyas possible. Don’t rail against the person who hurt you, waste time wishing for an apology that will never be offered, or dwell on your victimization. Instead, admit that a wrong was done to you and set your sights on its repair.” (from class notes powerpoint: PC510 Asbury)

2. Empathize

Empathy involves seeing things from another person’s point of view and identifying with the pressures that made the person hurt you.

How would he or she explain the harmful acts? Forgiveness is facilitated when we can look at the transgression from multiple perspectives. The harmful act is seen more objectively when we can step outside of the victim role.  We have a chance to view what happened from a bigger perspective – one that includes the human and the divine.  (from class notes powerpoint: PC510 Asbury)

3. Altruistic gift: selfless gift

Empathy can prepare you for forgiving, but to give that gift of forgiveness, consider yourself. Have you ever harmed or offended a friend, a parent, or a partner who later forgave you? Think about your guilt. Then consider the way you felt when you were forgiven. Most people say, “I felt free. The chains were broken.” By recalling your own guilt and the gratitudeover being forgiven, you can develop the desire to give that gift of freedom to the person who hurt you. (from class notes powerpoint: PC510 Asbury)

4. Commitment: you will have to stay committed

When you forgive, you can eventually doubt that you have forgiven. When people remember a previous injury or offense, they often interpret it as evidence that they must not have forgiven. If you make your forgiveness tangible, you are less likely to doubt it later. Tell a friend, partner, or counselor that you have forgiven the person who hurt you. Write a “certificate of forgiveness,” stating that you have, as of today, forgiven. (from class notes powerpoint: PC510 Asbury)

5. Hold on

When you doubt that you’ve forgiven, remind yourself of the Pyramid, refer to your certificate of forgiveness, and tell yourself that a painful memory does not disqualify the hard work of forgiving that you have done. Instead of trying to stop unforgiving thoughts, think realistically about the forgiveness you have experienced. If you continue to doubt your forgiveness, work back through these steps to REACH forgiveness. (from class notes powerpoint: PC510 Asbury)

Conclusion:

So, have you been offended? Have you offended someone else? Maybe it is time to make things right. Maybe it is time to apologize. Ask for forgiveness. Yes, we are all sinners. We are all sinners, we are all making sand castles on a driveway not on a beach, but as we grow in Christ God wants us to be more like Him and less like the world and that means that God wants us to be more loving. God wants us to be reconciled. God wants us to step back and see the beach some day. God wants us to realize that you cannot make a sand castle on a driveway, but you can on a beach. Likewise, we really cannot have a holistic body until we are reconciled and we deal with those things that entangle us. Please, I urge you, in love, approach each other this week. Just one on one. Pray first. We see that the Apostle Paul, Barnabas and John Mark’s disagreement did not separate them.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1]https://www.celebraterecovery.com/resources/cr-tools/8principles

[2]Richard Foster’s book on Prayer page 186-187