A Roadmap for Change

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 6

“A Roadmap for Change”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

Why did you come to church today? Did you come because that is what you have been taught, or it’s a habit, or are you afraid you will reap some divine punished if you didn’t?

I think one of the reasons is we come here with some needs: the need to be different, to grow, to change. That’s one of the things all of us have in common, it’s the need to change. Let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel like you wish you could be different?

In this series we’ve been looking at some of the names of God in the Bible. This week we’re looking at the name Jehovah-M’Kiddish – Í am the God who sanctifies you.  “Sanctify” means “to change.”

This message is about our spiritual journey leading to Easter. It doesn’t matter where you are today on your journey because God wants to change you. God is at work. That’s the good news – that He’s not done with you yet.

A lot of people think they’re not good enough to be a Christian. None of us are. You don’t have to get your act together first. You come to God just like you are and He begins the change process. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” The old life is referring to life without relationship with Jesus Christ. The new life is a new supernatural relationship with God. It’s the process of being sanctified, of being changed.

The Apostle Paul summarizes by saying “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.” 

The big idea here is with this new life we’re on a new journey or process, God wants to change us. God wants to transform our character. 

There are some things in my life, my struggles, that I thought I would have to live with forever. Yet God has transformed many of those. I haven’t arrived. I’m not there. But I can see what He does. I used to say this: “That’s just the way that I am.” God doesn’t take that as an answer. God will not let you remain as you are. He will change you!

How does God change us? There are two extreme thoughts, neither of which are Biblical. One extreme is this that the change that takes place is all God. God does everything. Another extreme says that God saves me but then it’s all up to me to change. I’ve got to work and I’ve got to do to transform my behavior. NO! (That’s not the way it is with God’s plan).

What the Bible teaches about change – about biblical sanctification – is that there is a “God part” and there is an “our part.” God’s part is His power. Our part is our cooperation. God’s power through His Holy Spirit controls the process. We cooperate, God controls it. There are Four Action Steps, or ways in which we cooperate with this process.

  1. RECOGNIZE THAT YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE IS A JOURNEY.

God changing us is a process. It’s not an event. It’s a journey.  Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.”  If you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you’ve said, “Come into my life, forgive me of my sins,” It began! That is the sanctification. That is the process, the journey.

Some who come to church say, “Are we there yet?” “Come on God! I’m not seeing any change. You must not work.” They give up!  One of the reasons we have so much of a problem with this is we’re an instant gratification society. The reason that we have a problem changing is because we don’t understand God’s timing. It’s very different than ours. God’s not in a hurry. He’s doing His part. Our part is cooperating.

The good news of life as a journey is this: No, we’re not there yet. But we are not where we were! God’s not done with you yet. God’s roadmap to change starts with the understanding that change is a journey.

  1. SET OUR SIGHTS ON THE FINAL DESTINATION.

If you’re on a journey to be a Christian, the picture of your final destination is becoming like Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 “And what God wants is for us to be made holy.”  Leviticus 20 says “So set yourselves apart to be holy for I the Lord am your God who makes you holy.”  Be set apart – that’s what holiness is. It’s not set above everybody else, its set apart from the world’s way. The final destination is Jesus Christ, who is Holy.

People flip out on this holiness word. “What if I mess up?” You will. That’s part of the process. If you’re anything like me, you’ll mess up a lot. God is concerned with what’s on the inside. We are typically outer world people, concerned with how we look.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.”  Too many people in church want to become more religious. That’s not it. You want to become more like Jesus. Don’t confuse religion and Biblical knowledge with transformation of your heart. Biblical knowledge has to go hand in hand with the desire to submit your life to God, not just to know about Him. If you want a picture of a changed life, you look for the person who is humble, someone who hungers and thirsts after God. Someone looking ahead, outside us, is looking to be like Jesus!

  1. ASK GOD TO HELP WITH YOUR ROADBLOCKS.

Roadblocks are areas of life that slow down movement. Many people’s roadblocks are hidden and they’re silent. 2 Corinthians 7 “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence or awe for God.”  What are the things that contaminate your character? that stunts your spiritual growth? Is it – pride, anger, lust, stealing, unkindness, selfishness, What is that roadblocks in your life?

“Throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life. which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.” People know they have problems! They need help! That’s when you’ve got to ask for intervention by the hand of God to remove it from your life because you can’t do it on your own.

You can’t do it on your own. But God can, in Proverbs 28 “People who cover over their sins will not prosper but if they confess and forsake them they will receive mercy.” Do you want God’s mercy for an area of your life that you can’t control? Humble yourself and ask for it.

  1. LEARN HOW TO REFUEL.

We pass God by (we don’t take time to connect with God) even though we’re on empty and too busy to refuel. I need to be refueled every day. I think David understood the importance of being filled when he said “He [God] renews my strength.  He guides me along the right path.” I too need to be filled with God. We need to refuel. How do you do it? Is it coming to church once a week? That’s not enough. You’ve got to take time to get refueled every day. Pray and read the Word of God!

2 Peter 1 “As we know Jesus better His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. So make every effort to apply these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.” 

Don’t get the idea that this change that’s going on in your life is so you can stand back and say, “Look how spiritual I am.” The Bible says this change process is always expressed in the context of community – love for others, genuine love for others. That’s why God is changing us so we might love others. You are never more like Christ than when you express love.

How do you know if God is causing change in your life? A measuring stick is Galatians 5 “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” How do you know if there is change happening? You will act kinder in a situation than you did three months ago. You need to realize that your life is changing and that you’re just part of the change on this journey. God is the other part! You need both!

Where are you in this journey?

There’s no doubt about it, you’re on your way home to God. You’re not there yet! But you’re a long way from where you were when you came in this morning. God will do a miracle in your life if you will have faith and let Him!

I want to encourage you today, to let Him! Say, “God I want You to do a work in my life.” Just say, “God I want a new relationship with Jesus Christ.”  Lord come into my life and forgive me and give me that new life?

If you do, this is God’s promise: Ezekiel 36 “And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart.”  That’s God’s desire for us today.

How to Live a Joy Filled Life

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 5

“How to Live a Joy Filled Life”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

When you woke up this week and heard the news about the invasion of Russia into Ukraine, what did you feel? Shocked? Scared? Sad? We live in a time of unprecedented struggle and upheaval.

Lately, the world seems to be lurching from one crisis to another. We’ve been experiencing a global pandemic, battling political and social turmoil, natural disasters and now we face economic uncertainty from a war on European soil for the first time since WW2. How can you have joy in the midst of crises?

It is no wonder that the daily news kills the joy for many of us. The world is in desperate need of massive doses of joy.

You need joy in your life. You have a fundamental emotional need for joy in your life. Life without joy is overwhelming. overburdened, and oppressive. Studies have actually shown that the more joy we have in our lives, then we are more productive, more energetic, more creative, and the more Peace we have in our life!

For several weeks we’ve been in this series on “How to Make it Through Tough Times.” That includes your need for joy. In fact, one of the names for God in Psalms 43 in the Hebrew language is El Simchathgali which means “I am the God of exceeding joy.”

 

When you talk about joy, you have to go to the book of Philippians – it only has four chapters. But 16 times in four chapters, Paul says “Rejoice.”  The amazing thing is Paul didn’t write this book when he was on vacation. He was in prison in Rome waiting to be executed. In the darkest days of his life he writes the most positive book in the Bible. He gives us his six secrets to having joy.

To help you remember them I’ve put them in an acrostic J-O-Y-F-U-L. Six joy-builders. If you practice these six things in your life, you will find more joy.

J – JETTISON ALL REGRETS ABOUT MY PAST

“Jettison” means “to throw overboard, to abandon as worthless, to discard, to eliminate, to get rid of.”  Paul says if you want to enjoy life, there are some things you’ve got to get rid of because they are overburdening your life.

We all have regrets. Everybody’s got skeletons in the closet because nobody’s perfect. The only problem with regret is, you cannot change your past, it just makes you miserable. We get stuck in “if only….” Regretting is just a waste of time. So, What do you do? 

The Bible says forget it. How can you do that? You can forget it because God does. The Bible says that when we come to Christ and confess our sins, He takes those sins and throws them in the deepest parts of the oceans. The Bible says, “Their sins will I remember no more.”  If God can forget your mistakes and your sins, He can help you do it too. The starting point of joy is to let go of the past. Jettison all regrets – the grief, the grudges and the guilt.

O – OMIT ALL WORRIES ABOUT MY FUTURE

If you’re going to enjoy the present, you must omit all worries about your future. You cannot be joyful and worried at the same time. The more you worry about something, the bigger it gets in your mind. Worry is just as useless as regret. You can’t change the past. And, you can’t change the future.

Paul says in Philippians 3:13 “One thing I do is forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.  Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done.” 

Here’s his alternative: you can either worry or you can pray. If you are praying you don’t have to worry. So Paul says if you want to be filled with joy, forget the past and don’t worry about the future and just focus on right now. God has a plan for your life. Instead, pray.

Y – YIELD MYSELF TO GOD’S PURPOSE.

A third thing that kills joy in life is having no real purpose at all. We all need a cause greater than ourselves in which to live for. That is what brings us joy. Living for yourself does not bring joy. 

When Paul is writing this letter, he has literally lost everything. He’s living in a dungeon in Rome in chains. They’ve taken away everything from him, no ministry, no freedom. But there is one thing that they could not take away from Paul – his purpose in life. Paul says in Philippians 1:21 “For me to live is Christ.” I live for Christ. In 2 Timothy, he says “My only purpose in life is to please Him.”

If you want to have a joy-filled life, you need to get in line with God’s purpose for your life. Romans 6:13 “Give yourselves completely to God – every part of you – to be tools in the hand of God to be used for His good purpose.”  I dare you to pray the most dangerous prayer: “Use me.”  God is looking for people who will yield themselves to His purpose.

F – FOCUS ON WHAT’S GOOD

As you know, life is filled with ups and downs. We have mountains and valleys, good times and bad times. Of course you have a choice, which are you going to focus on. It is your choice every day. Even on your worse day, life is good. Even on your worse day, you have it better off than many people in this world. You can choose to focus on what is good.

Paul says in Philippians 4:8 “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”  Where do you get a list of things like that? Radio? TV? News? No. But there is one place you can count on – God’s word. The more you fill your mind with this book, the more positive and joyful you’re going to be. Fill your mind every day with God’s word.

Paul says if you want to have joy, the fourth joy builder is to focus on what is good. Paul practiced this himself. Even when he was in prison, he had every reason to be bitter and complain. He’s ill, old, in prison unjustly to be executed. Paul says, “I have yielded myself to God’s purpose. I’m focusing on what’s good.” It’s a choice. 

U – USE MY LIFE TO HELP OTHERS

Paul was joyful because he was unselfish. He invested his life in others. If you want to have continuous joy in your life, here is the secret. Give your life away in helping others. Stop focusing on your problems and aches and pains and start focusing on helping others. The more you give your life away, Jesus said, the more you find it. The more unselfish you become, the more joyful a person you’re going to be.

Philippians 4:1 he says “Dear brothers and sisters, I love you and I long to see you for you are my joy and the reward for my work.”  Paul’s joy was the people he had invested his life in. Paul’s joy were the people he cared about, that he’d led to Christ, that he’d helped grow.

In Philippians 3, Paul says, “For me, living means opportunity for Christ and dying, well, that’s better yet.  But if living will give me more opportunities to win people to Christ, then I really don’t know which is better, to live or to die. Sometimes I want to live and at other times I don’t, for I long to go and be with Christ. But the fact is, I can be of more help to you by staying.” 

How could death possibly be of benefit to Paul? Paul says, “Either way I win.  On earth, my purpose is to live for God.  When I die, I get to go be with God.”  He has a purpose for living and he has a purpose for dying. Do you? Paul’s last joy-builder…

L – LEARN TO BE CONTENT

Philippians 4:11 “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  It wasn’t natural; he had to learn it. Paul’s life was not easy. It was very difficult. 2 Corinthians 11 Paul tells us a little of his biography. He says, “I’ve … been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, three times … shipwrecked….I’ve been in constant danger. … often gone without sleep and food. …. In spite of all this, no matter what happens, rejoice. In all situations rejoice in the Lord.  Always rejoice.” He says “I’ve learned to be content.”  

Bottom line: Joy is a decision. You are as joyful as you choose to be. You can choose to be joyful because there are many things you can be joyful about. God is saying, if you learn to be content and you choose to make the right decision, you can be joyful. 

How can you be joyful when everything is wrong in my life?”

Two reasons: I can always be joyful no matter what happens because I know God is in control. Paul says “I’m going to keep on being glad for I know that … the Holy Spirit helps me, this is all going to turn out for my good.”  God’s in control of it all, God will use it for my good. God will give me the power that I need. So what am I worried about? Nothing!

Granted, this isn’t the way that Paul had planned it. He wanted to share God’s love with all the Roman Empire. Instead he has his hands and feet shackled, he’s in a dungeon for two years. Not only that, he did something else while he was in prison. He wrote most of the N.T. We wouldn’t have the N.T. If he’d gone out, traveling all over. Paul had a plan but God had a better plan. Paul said, I trust God’s plan better than my own. also know that God’s going to write the final chapter. “I am sure that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ comes back again.”  God has your best interest at heart. Therefore no matter what happens, you can be joyful. Because what He starts, He finishes.

 (The second reason you can always be joyful) You were made to know God. You were made to have a relationship with Him. You were made for His purpose and you were made to share the love of Christ with other people. Do that and you will have joy. That is the secret.

Where to get the Power You Need

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 4

“Where to get the Power You Need”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

If I ask you, “What’s wrong with the world today?” What would you say? Another Question! Would you say that now is the worst time in human history?

It’s easy to portray the world as being worse than ever, simply because we know much more now than we ever did before. But our perception is at odds with reality, with fact and statistics? We instinctively believe it’s worse than ever.

Nowadays, with the internet, there is no limit to how much information we can access. Whereas in the time before the internet and social media era, we were in the dark about what was going on.  Unfortunately, the bad things are the ones that always get into the forefront and this is by design.

We humans are wired to pay 10x more attention to negative news than positive news. Being able to pay attention to negative news has an advantage to keeping you alive. However, paying more attention to negative news is used against us. The news media knows this. They take advantage of it.

 And, despite all of the fear and scare, and contrary to popular (mis)conception, the world, statistically and factually speaking, has never been in better shape. Right now, we’re actually living in the safest and most prosperous time in all of human history.

So, why do so many people think the world is worse now than it was? While we live in a world of easy access to information and know more than ever before, we also live in the world of misinformation. Misinformation which is generally designed to manipulate us to think a certain way.

You may have been fooled many times before without evening knowing it. Ever heard of clickbait headlines? These are designed to spark fear and negative emotions in you but generally, have no factual basis, or at most, have greatly exaggerated factual basis behind them.

For example: Any time a plane crashes anywhere (that happens occasionally) you will hear about it over and over on the news. Yet, you won’t hear that over 3,000 people that die in car crashes each day. Yet, almost nobody fears driving in their car but many people have a fear of flying.

Or, look at terrorism and how scary it is. The coverage of this can make you sound like terrorists are lurking around every corner. Yet, you are statically more likely to die from being struck by lightning. Through the constant bombardment of these clickbait style headlines, it’s easy to get us to become misinformed and afraid of things, even when it makes no logical sense to be afraid.

Today’s message strikes right at the heart of our deep need for power – for strength to survive.  Where do we get the power to live in today’s confusing world, in a world where life seems to be in a constant struggle?

Today’s message is that you and I don’t have to live powerless lives. God has made us a promise. The promise is this: That you and I can experience God’s unlimited, supernatural power in our lives today and, when necessary, endure pain and hardship.

God doesn’t want us to just talk about power. He wants us to access it. 1 Corinthians 4:20 “The kingdom of God is not just fancy talk. It is living by God’s power.” We access the truth of God’s power through one of His O.T. names: El Shaddai which means “I am your all powerful God.”  God says, “I’m the answer to your need. I am your all powerful God.” We can access that power. Psalm 68 “God is awesome.  He gives power and strength to His people….” 

Most of us in here, we don’t question God’s power. What you and I question is, Is God’s power available to us? And if so, How do I get it?  Those are the questions that we have. I want to take a look at four promises that God says, “I’ll give you power when…_________” There are more but these four are very relevant to us today.

When can I count on God’s power?

  1. WHEN I’M TIRED.

We are living in a third year of a Pandemic that’s made us tired. God makes us a promise. Isaiah 40 “The Lord is the everlasting God. He never grows tired or weary. He strengthens those who are weak and tired.  Those who trust the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; He offers strength to the weak.” That is a great verse. God’s power is unlimited. You need His power? It’s available.

  1. WHEN I’VE GOT NOTHING TO OFFER.

God says, “My power will show up when you’re weak.” Paul said to God, “I’ve got this affliction. Will You take it away from me?” God said no. “My power shows up best in weak people.” Paul says, “Now I’m glad to boast about how weak I am. I ‘m glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power instead of showing off my own power and abilities.” God makes a promise. When you feel inadequate. He wants to invade your life with His power. It’s available. 

  1. I can count on God’s power WHEN I’M IN PAIN.

Some of us are in pain in this room now and that is very hard. Some of us have bodily pain; some have lost loved ones, some are feeling financial pressures; some see family members and friends self-destructing. Pain is all around us. God promises us power in the midst of pain. Psalm 41 “The Lord nurses them when they’re sick and eases their pain.” When we access God’s power, it satisfies our soul. It’s available.

  1. I can count on God’s power WHEN I’M TEMPTED.

One of the reasons that some of the pain is in our life is because we haven’t had the power to say no to temptation. Paul understood this. Romans 7 “I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power.” Temptation is out there! You name the temptation – eating, internet pornography, gossip, cheating on your taxes – when you’re tempted, God gives you the power to say no. The promise is this: there’s always a way out. It’s available.

The bottom line to these four promises is that God’s saying, we don’t have to live powerless, weak lives.  Paul understood God’s power when he said, Philippians 4:13 “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.” God’s power is not automatic. God does the impossible – He provides us His power. But we do the possible. We do the possible with faith, that God will do the impossible. 

I want to give you some action steps of WHAT YOU AND I CAN DO TO RECEIVE GOD’S POWER. I listed them as A-B-C. It may not be as easy as ABC but it may be a little more memorable this way.

A – ADMIT YOU’RE WEAK

When we pretend to be self-sufficient –we short circuit God’s power for our lives. You drop to your knees and you admit that you’re weak. God hates pride. Pride says I don’t need God. Proverbs says, “Pride ends in humiliation. While humility brings honor.” If you want God’s power, in your life, you’ve got to let go of the steering wheel and say, “God, You take control.

B – BE CONNECTED TO THE SOURCE OF POWER

Do you know why you don’t have power? Because of ungodly choices where God is not going to bless what we’re doing. It wouldn’t make sense for God to supernaturally renew our strength so we could pursue something outside of God’s design for our life. Jesus said in John 15 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in Me and I in them, they will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” 

C – CHOOSE GOD’S WAY WITH FAITH THAT GOD’S POWER WILL SHOW UP

This is the toughest. The Bible makes it very, very clear that God’s power and my faith are connected. For me to get God’s power, I’ve got to step out in faith. “What is faith?…”  Hebrews 11:1 “… It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.”  You choose God’s way. You make godly choices.

I have to go through this A-B-C in my life every time I stand up to speak. I’ve got to step forward to what I feel like He’s called me to do and every time, God’s power shows up along the way. That’s my life. What about you? What do you do with this message? What do you do from here?

Isaiah 40:31 “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary.”  Here’s Pastor Jerry’s paraphrase, “Those who choose God’s way will find power. They will do what God has called them to do and not be weary.”  We do the possible with faith that God will do the impossible. That’s the way it works.

We Have a Desperate Need to be Loved

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 3

“We Have a Desperate Need to be Loved”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

In America, Valentine’s is a day of love, but what is love?

Today, I want to talk about our being loved and our misunderstanding about it. Some of you may think you don’t need it, but it is a deep need to be loved and especially to be loved by God. The misunderstanding is that to love requires that we need to let God show us how. Our ways are not God’s ways. 

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, my prayer for today’s message is that when you leave, you would not leave the same person. We’re spinning around in a love starved world.  And we desperately need love. You look for love in many places…but, it’s not what you are longing for…in those places it’s not what your heart and soul needs.

The Bible boldly proclaims there is only one love in the universe that has what it takes to meet this love-starved need. And it’s God’s love. Jeremiah 31 “The Lord said ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with a loving kindness.’”  Some of you wonder why you came to church today. It’s because God’s love is drawing you to Him.

I realize that with many of us here, we’re all in different stages of our spiritual journey. There are some trying to find out if God is real to you and you’re looking for answers. Some of you struggle in your Christian faith and don’t feel worthy enough to be loved. And, some are surrendered, totally given to Jesus Christ. That’s good, that’s what we all should be trying to be.

Because we so desperately want to be loved, we’re willing to do desperate things to get love.  That’s where God’s love is so different. You don’t have to do anything …except let God have your heart. The Bible tells us that “God is love.” 

That’s where God’s love is so different. God’s love says, There is no limit. Ephesians 3, Paul says, “I pray that you may be able to feel and understand how long, how wide, how deep and how high His love really is and to experience this love for yourself.”

My spiritual journey has been a long one. I’ve been a Christian since I was a teenager – over 50 years.  It took me many years of being a Christian before I experienced God’s love. I went to Bible College at Bridgewater, Seminary at Bethany, and learned from some of the best teachers in the Church of the Brethren about God’s love. After that I went into a church and I taught about God’s love.

But it was theory until some years ago when I experienced it in an unusual way. I died! I have a heart disease and my heart stopped beating. After that experience, I understood God’s love in a unique way. Everything I had studied, heard, taught, about God’s love  was now experienced and it was profound. Now I am able to understand this famous passage in Psalm 23 where it said “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Because at that moment I had no wants. I experienced how long, how wide, how deep and how high Jesus’ love really is.

In this series, we’re looking at names of God in the Old Testament. The one we’re looking at today is Jehova Roi which means “I am the God who shepherds you.”  God referred to Himself as a shepherd and because He cared for us we have no wants.

Jesus, in the New Testament, God in flesh also called Himself a shepherd. John 10:11”I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd is willing to die for the sheep.” A love that is willing to die, a love that leaves us with no wants, that’s the type of love that God has for us and He wants you and I to experience it. That He was willing to die for us and that we can live life with no wants.

When we get our arms around God’s love and we know that it’s personal and we know how much He loves us, we can live life with no wants.

  1. I can have no wants because GOD KNOWS ME AND HE STILL LOVES ME.

John 10, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd and I know My sheep.”  The fact that He knows me  means nothing is too petty for God. Matthew 10:30 says, “God even knows how many hairs are on my head.”  God‘s love for us is not based on whether we respond to it or not. God is love. It’s unconditional. God ways are not man’s ways.

1 Peter 5 “He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”  You might say, “So what? The “So what” is freedom!  You don’t have to run from Him or try to earn His love. God loves you. He knows you. He knows your pain, your past and your sin.  The “So what?” is stop hiding! Quit seeking love in all the wrong places. You don’t measure up to what God wants you to be, but God loves you anyway. Just as you are! God knows you and still loves you!

  1. I can have no wants because GOD ALSO PROTECTS ME.

He protects me just like a shepherd protects the sheep. God is in control. If I’m a child of God, I’ve got nothing to worry about. Some here are saying, “I’m about to sink!  But God wants to give you His power to get you out of situations, to help you live. God wants to protect us.

Psalm 40 “My only hope is Your love…” When it all boils down, my only hope is God’s love. It’s the only thing I’ve got going for me. “… for my problems are too big for me to solve and are piled over my head.”  God wants to protect us so that we’d have no wants.

The Scripture says, “God is your refuge and underneath you are His everlasting arms.”  God is protecting us. In the midst of fumbling around in our life and what we do or don’t do, God is watching over us. We can count on God’s protection. Romans 8 “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

  1. He loves us, He protects us and like a good shepherd GOD GUIDES US.

This week, many of us are going to be facing important decisions in our lives, and even if, we know that God loves us so much, do you know He will guide you. God wants to guide you in safe places. He knows that life is too difficult to be lived on its own and He wants to guide us in the right decisions and direction. Romans 8 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” If you are a Christian, God wants to guide you. You can count on His leadings to move you more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Do you sense His guidance? Do you feel His leadings? Do you hear His leadings? God wants to lead you. He has good plans for you. Plans that you might prosper, not to harm you. Good plans, as the scripture says. He’s always trying to lead us.  The question that faces us is are we listening?

God’s love is a gift. Non-believers say, “I’m not worthy of that type of love.” My response is “Exactly. And that’s why it’s called good news.” We didn’t deserve it and God sent Jesus to die for us. Romans 5:8 “God has shown us how much He loves us.  It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.” God does not say, “Clean up your act first and then come to Me.”  God says, “Come to Me Now! I’ll clean you up!” 

Some of us think we will wait until we can make God happier. We can’t. And God says to us “I love you because you’re my child.” There is no better time to come than Now!

This week when you feel tempted to pretend to be something so others will think more highly of you, would you pause and let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you as you are.” When you’re feeling a need for love and you think, “If I put on a big show my neighborhood will think I am special.” Would you just let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you as you are.” And if you’re feeling a little empty this week for love and you think, “If I could just go out and have some pleasure then I will feel good about myself….” Would you just let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you just as you are.”

There’s a God in heaven who loves you. Whether you know it or not, whether you deserve it or not, He’s crazy about you. Some of you may not want to admit it, you may think you don’t need it, but you have a deep need to be loved and especially the deep need to be loved by God.

How God Heals Your Hidden Wounds

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 2

“How God Heals Your Hidden Wounds”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

How many of you have ever had a broken bone? How many of you have ever had stitches? How many of you have ever had a knife wound or gunshot wound?

Today, I want to talk with you about How God Heals Your Wounds. Not the physical, but the hidden wounds. Hidden wounds are the memories of abandonment, of abuse, of ridicule, or hatred –  physical abuse, spiritual, sexual abuse, emotional abuse.

Where do you get the hidden wounds of life? From everywhere! You can certainly get them from family members. Those are the ones that hurt the most. You can get them in the work place, from school! They’re everywhere.

I’ve been a pastor for a long time and I’ve talked to people and I’ve learned two truths about life. One is everybody has a hidden wound. You may be masking it but everybody has a hidden wound. The other thing I’ve learned is that emotional scars take longer to heal than physical wounds. Bodies heal but sometimes it takes years to get over the emotional scars.

The good news is this: Jesus Christ wants to heal your hidden wounds.

In the Bible, God’s different Hebrew names describe who He is. One of those names is in Exodus 15, He says, “I am Jehovah Rapha,” which means “I am the God who heals.”  The Bible says this in Psalm 147 “God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”  Today we’re going to look at the steps in God’s healing process.

When you look at the life of Jesus, there are certain patterns and principles that come up in the way He dealt with people. You can find these four principles in God’s process of healing of memories.

  1. The first step begins when I REVEAL MY HURT.

You’re never going to get well until you face your feelings straight on. The Bible talks about the problem of stuffing it down inside and not talking about it. Psalm 39 “I kept very quiet but I became even more upset. I became very angry inside, and as I thought about it, my anger burned.” Pushing a hurt aside doesn’t get rid of it. It just makes it worse.

The Bible says this “When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me and I moaned all day long.”  He’s saying it’s emotionally draining. Because we feel guilty and don’t want anybody to know about it, we push it down. Step one is to be honest about your pain, your resentment and bitterness over what people did to you. You’ve got to start by revealing your hurts. You’re never going to get well until you reveal your hurts.

  1. Step two is to RELEASE THOSE WHO HAVE HURT ME.

You can’t get well as long as you harbor resentment.  For your own sake, you’ve got to let go of the right to get even. One of the most difficult decisions you’ve got to decide in life is “Do I want to get well or do I want to get even?” You can’t do both. You’re going to have to decide that.

(Secret:)  Getting even will not take away your pain. There is only one way to get rid of hurt in your heart, when somebody’s hurt you. Forgiveness.  You say, “But they don’t deserve to be forgiven!” You’re right. I’m not saying forgive them because they deserve it. I’m saying forgive them for your own sake. You can’t get on with your life as long as you’re stuck in the past.

Romans 12:17-19 “Never pay back evil for evil.  Never avenge yourself.  Leave that to God. For He has said that He will repay those that deserve it.”  It’s not your duty to settle the score.  God will settle the score. Trust God to balance the books.

Jesus certainly understands abuse. He was abused. I suggest you do what Jesus did.  “When Jesus suffered, He did not threaten to get even. He left His case in the hands of God.” Jesus had many wounds right before He died. But the deepest wounds in Jesus’ life were the hidden wounds. Because He was betrayed, rejected, hated. Jesus could have blown them all away in an instant. Instead, He stretched out His hands and said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”  You’ve got to stop the misery by Revealing your hurt and then by Releasing those who have hurt you.

  1. If you want to get well you have to REPLACE OLD TAPES WITH GOD’S TRUTHS. 

Your brain is like a tape recorder. It has recorded every single experience your five senses have experienced. Everything people have said. Your brain has recorded it all down – good and bad, right and wrong, true and false.

Here’s the problem: Your brain doesn’t distinguish between things that are true and things that are false. And if you believe them, you act on them. When you were kids, adults may have said things like “You’re stupid… You’re ugly… You’re never going to amount to anything … on and on.” Those went into that recorder– and you’re still acting on old tapes. You’ve got to replace those tapes with God’s truths. Romans 12:2 “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” How do you do that?

First, you pray, “God, would You heal my memories?” Second, you need to fill your mind with God’s word, the Bible. The third thing you do is you believe the truth about you. What is the truth about you anyway? “Through what Christ would do for us God decided to make us holy in His eyes, without a single fault we stand before Him covered with His love.”

That’s how God sees you once you step across the line and give your life to Christ.  Without a single fault. He takes everything you’ve ever done wrong – the guilt, the regrets, the shame, the hurts – and He erases it and says, “We’re going to start over.”  God sees you without a single fault. That’s the good news.

So, are you going to believe what somebody lied to you about, or what God says about you? It’s your choice. You have to replace old tapes with God’s truth. That takes a process but you need to start on it. Step four is…

  1. If you want to be healed from your hidden wounds you have to REFOCUS ON THE FUTURE.

Get your attention off your past and onto God’s plan for your future. There are three steps to refocusing on the future.  They’re all in Job 11 (from the Good News translation).  “Put your heart right, reach out to God and face the world again, firm and courageous.  Then all your troubles will fade from your memory like floods that are past and remembered no more.” 

First this says, “Put your heart right.”  That means give up your right to get even, release those who’ve hurt you.  Forgive them whether they deserve it or not.

Two it says, “reach out to God.”  You need to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and you need to ask Him to begin healing your hidden wounds. Stop focusing on your hurt and you start focusing on your Healer.

Then the third thing it says “Face the world again.”  Don’t withdraw.  Start looking ahead. If you do these steps, notice what happens “Then all your troubles will fade from your memory.  Like floods that are past and remembered no more.” 

 Wouldn’t you like that?  Then take these steps. The principle is: Forgetting is caused by refocusing. My past is not my future. Proverbs 4:25 says, “Look straight ahead with honest confidence.  Don’t hang your head in shame.”  You’re never going to get well by yourself. Give your life to Jesus Christ.  “He is the God who heals.”

 

Where to Find the Hope You Need

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Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 1

“Where to Find the Hope You Need”

Pastor Jerry

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

One of the fundamental questions being asked today about life in our Pandemic world is this: Is there hope? Will things get better? “Is there hope” is being asked everyday by thousands of people in thousands of different ways. “Is there hope?” 

You can go without food water a couple of days. But you can’t go a single minute without hope. Hope is one of the essentials of life. You need hope to live.

Dr. Harold Wolfe who is a professor at Cornell University in the medical school did a study on 25,000 prisoners of war to see what hope did to them and what difference it made. He discovered that there was one group on whom the experience of being a POW had no effect at all, in spite of the inhumane abuse. They didn’t get ill. They just handled it and went on with their life. The one common denominator was an extraordinary high level of Hope. Hope is essential for handling the crises of life.

Today we’re beginning a new series – “How to Make it Through Tough Times.”  We’re going to begin by looking at—Where do you go to find the help and the hope that you need to excel in life? Because if you don’t get hope none of the other things we talk about are going to make sense. Where do you find true hope?

The Bible tells us that you find it in God. God is the source – the source of hope. 

Romans 15:13 “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him.”  In other words as you put your faith in God, He gives you strength, peace, joy and hope. Specifically, God says if you want to put your hope in Me, you need to put it in My name. What does that mean? How do you put hope in a name?

In ancient cultures, they would choose a name for a person because of what it meant, because your name was usually the definition of your character. God has a lot of different names in the Bible. Each one of those names is a description of His character.

In the book of Ezekiel, God gives one of His names: “I am Jehovah Shammah.” In Hebrew that means, “I am the God who is always there.” There is no place that God is not. He is everywhere.

This has profound implications on where you find hope. If God is truly with me all the time, whether I feel it or not, if He’s truly with me, then that means there are three sources of hope that I can count on. There are three anchors of the soul as the Bible calls them – three things that I can count on so that no matter what happens. The first thing I know about God is…

  1. HIS PRESENCE IS …WATCHING OVER ME.

The older I get the more I realize how much of my life that I cannot control. Isaiah 41:10 “’Don’t worry because I am with you,’ says God.  ‘Don’t be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and I will help you. I will support you.’”  The good news is regardless of what happens; you and I don’t have to go through it alone. There is a God who will be with us. When I hold onto that certainty, I have hope.

There are a lot of uncertainties in life. One of the sad uncertainties of life is that people that you love will become ill and won’t be themselves any more. There will be people that you love that will die. The sad truth of life is people leave us.

But the certainty of life is God will never leave you. As a pastor, at  funerals, I’ve heard many times the words, “I don’t know how I’m going to make it.” …The answer is this: God will be with you. 

Not only is He with us but the Bible says He watches over us. Psalm 32:8 “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and will watch over you.” God can control the future. He’s willing to show us the way. There’s great hope in that.  I just have to trust the God who has it all figured out.

Lamentations 3 “I have hope when I think of this:  the Lord’s love never ends.  His mercies never stop.  They are new every morning.” Nothing can ever make God stop loving me once I put my hand in His hand. The Bible says that God gives us a new fresh start every morning. I need that. That God gives me a new start and a new day to live a new hope that He wants to give. The first thing that gives me hope is that God is watching over me! The second source of hope is this..

  1. HIS PURPOSE IS …WORKING IN ME.

No matter what’s happening in my life – good, bad, or ugly – God’s purpose is working in me. When you see a purpose behind your problem it gives you enormous hope. It also gives you enormous power to endure it.

Romans 8:28 “We know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”  Notice, it doesn’t say, “All things work out the way you want them to.”  And, it does not say, “All things have a happy ending on earth.” We know that’s not true.

What it says is, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good.”

Everything fits into God’s plan. The good, the bad, the indifferent. Notice:  It doesn’t say, “all things are good.” And it does not say God causes all things. God does not. But it does say that “God causes all things to work together for good.” They work together.

Notice the qualifier of this great promise. It is not for everybody. It says “… those who love God…” All things do not work together for good for everybody. It’s a promise for those who love God and want to have a relationship with Him and who are trying to live according to His purpose.

If you are facing a difficult situation, the next verse is for you. Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” You may think that what God is doing in your life right now is painful and is to no avail but God says, “My plan is good.  You just don’t see it. You need to trust Me.”

 If you have walked away from God. And you think, “I was close to God at one time but I can’t get back to Him,” then the next verse is for you.  Philippians 1:6 “God began doing a good work in you and I am sure He will continue it until it is finished…” God starts something in your life and what He starts He finishes. You may say you’re too far beyond hope. You’re not.

How do I learn about God’s plan for my life?  Through the Bible. The Bible tells us in Romans 15 that everything that was written in this book was written for our encouragement and our hope. The more you get into God’s word, the Bible – the more hopeful a person you’re going to be. The first thing I know about God is…He’s watching over me, and second, His Purpose is working for me, and there’s a third source of hope…

GOD’S PLACE IS… WAITING FOR ME.  When things get unbearable in your life you remember that our ultimate hope is heaven. Paul says it like this, If all our hope is just on this earth, we should be pitied. But there’s more to life than just here and now. We do have an ultimate destination. And God is preparing a place in heaven.

Notice what Jesus said. John 14 “Don’t be troubled. You trust in God, now trust in Me. I am going to prepare a place for you.” Jesus Christ says that heaven is a place, not a state of mind. Heaven is a place of relief and release. The Bible says this “He will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever.”  That gives us a reason for hope. Anybody can have great faith when things are going great. But how do you handle things when things are going bad?

Where does Hope come from? There’s only one place you can get that. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When you get that kind of relationship, you know that God is watching over you, His purpose is working in you, His place is waiting for you and you then can have true hope.

If you are feeling hopeless this morning about something in your life, you have forgotten how much God cares about you. The Bible says in Isaiah 46 “Listen.  I have upheld you since you were conceived and I have taken care of you from your birth.  Even when you are old, I will be the same.  Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you.  I made you and I will take care of you.  I will carry you and save you…”  What a God we have! If you’ve just been barely hanging on you need to remember who God is….Jehovah Shammah – “I am the God who is always there.” You will never go through anything alone. No matter what happens, God’s presence will always be watching over you, God’s purpose will always be working in you and God’s place is always waiting for you. 

Sharing Love

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Series: “Longing for Christmas”

Part 4

“Sharing Love”

Pastor Jerry

John 1:1-14

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

Have you given anyone your love today? 

Have you received love from anyone today?

Giving and receiving love is the most precious experience you will have today. The desire to share our life with someone is the expression of our soul.

 Have you ever tried to share your love with someone, but they would not accept it? Or, has someone ever tried to share their love with you, but you didn’t allow it? Well…Christmas is about sharing love… it’s about God sharing His love with us…and if you have not received Jesus into your life …you have not accepted God’s love for you!

People get all messed up about getting ready for Christmas. A kindly 90-year-old grandmother found buying presents for family and friends a bit much one Christmas, so she wrote out checks for all of them to put in their Christmas cards. In each card she carefully wrote, “Buy your own present” and then sent them off. But she sent them without the checks! That’s a Christmas they will long remember!

Giving gifts at Christmas is a way of sharing love. Giving and receiving love is the most precious gift and experience you will have this Christmas. Today, I want to talk about our desperate need here to be loved and our misunderstanding about it. Desperately inside, we are screaming out “Love me.” Some of you may not want to admit it. We have a deep need to be loved by God. We need to let God show us how. Our ways are not God’s ways. 

We’re all in different stages of our spiritual journey. There are trying to find out if God is real, some of you don’t feel worthy enough to be love, and, some of you are totally committed to Jesus Christ. That’s good, that’s what we all should be trying to be.

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, my prayer for today’s message is that when you leave, you would not leave the same person. We’re spinning around in a love starved world.  And we desperately need love. You look for love in many places…but, it’s not what your heart and soul needs.

“What does your heart and soul need?” 

Your greatest need is not money, it is not more time, and it is not another partner. Your greatest need is to be loved. You need God’s love. The Bible boldly proclaims there is only one love in the universe that has what it takes to meet this love-starved need. And it’s God’s love. That’s why Christmas came! I pray that today the love of Christmas will become real to you.

 And because we so desperately want to be loved, we’re willing to do desperate things to get love.  That’s where God’s love is so different. You don’t have to do anything …except let God have your heart. Have you experienced God’s love? Have you experienced that God loves you on your good days? And God loves you on your bad days? Why? Because “God is love.” 

Have you ever had a misunderstanding of God’s love for you. And therefore when God came to offer you His wonderful love…you turned it away? God loves you…like no one else can.

I remember before I had kids that I said my kid is not going to be like some of those children I saw at that time. Oh no. my kid is not going to act like that. I remember being invited over to some friend’s house for dinner and they sat me next to a one-year-old. And it was by far the grossest experience of my life. Here I was trying to eat and the kid has got ten pounds of yams coming out his ears. And then the parents give him Jell-O. He’s got Jell-O everywhere. Then he puts his hands toward me and I whisper to him, “You touch me and I know I’ll drop dead!” (That’s before I had kids my own).

Then it wasn’t too long after I was married that I was in a delivery room. I was right there. I wasn’t in the lobby, Then the baby came and there were four of us in the room. And you go crazy. I run out of the room to call my wife to tell her what happened! (She wasn’t home!) 

 When my child was born it was at that moment I started crying at the miracle. I experienced the love of the universe. Then the doctor said, “Do you want to hold him?” I thought, “No, he looks slippery.” But I took him. And as he grabbed my pinkie it was as if God reached into my soul and grabbed me and said, “Jerry, the love that you’re feeling right now, you multiply that times infinity and that’s how much more I love you.” 

I can’t explain it but at that moment I experienced God’s love. Everything I had studied, everything I had heard, everything I knew seemed insignificant now, because it was here in God’s presence that I experienced His love and it was unbelievable. That’s just a reflection of the joy and miracle and love of the birth of Christ at Christmas!

When we get our arms around God’s love and we know that it’s personal, we live again, we live anew. I can live because God knows everything about me and He still loves me. His love for us is not based on whether we respond to it or not. God is love. It’s unconditional. No strings attached. The big idea is that God would love us as if there were only one of us to love.

I challenge you this Christmas. Share love with someone. When you give true love away, you get a little bit of the glimpse of God’s love for you. 

A recent story during the pandemic reads like a made for the movie story. It’s about a young woman who catches the Covid virus which causes heart damage. She is beating the virus but she can’t live much longer without a heart transplant. A second young woman who is happily married is involved in a car accident and fatally injured. Her heart is salvaged and placed in the body of the first young woman with the damaged heart because of the Coronavirus.

Eventually, the grieving husband begins to move back into life. One day he served by a waitress who happens to be the recipient of his dead wife’s heart. Their eyes meet and fall in love. He invites her to dinner in his home. She finds the “thank you” letter she wrote to the donor of her new heart. She is living because his wife died. The man falls back into grief.

The shock is too great. He cannot bear that this woman is living while his beloved wife is dead. She has to disappear…she runs away. Working through his grief he admits his love. He pursues her and they’re reunited. From the mixture of pain and joy they’re granted a gift of new life. It’s a love because of sacrifice.

The gift of a new heart comes at Christmas and we hold it in our hands. We never completely own it. We only receive it and use it. God blesses us at Christmas with that Gift! God blesses us with the gift of Jesus. That gift can give us a new life.

The words of Jesus come ringing down from heaven, “I have come that you might have life….” I Love you! That is God’s gift at Christmas. Will you make room in your heart for God’s love? Will you let Jesus love you? Christmas is about God sharing His love with us.

God loves you and He wants to share His love with you right now.  That why we are celebrating Christmas. Would you just pause right now …open your heart …and let Jesus love you!

Experiencing Joy

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Series: “Longing for Christmas”

Part 3

“Experiencing Joy”

Pastor Jerry

Matthew 11:2-6

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

“Are you ready for Christmas?” Giving gifts at Christmastime is a beautiful tradition, there is something special about expressing our love with a special holiday gift. However, the real meaning of Christmas is not giving, right? Actually, no. Christmas is so much more than that.

So then, the real meaning of Christmas is about the people in your life that you love – right?

As much as I feel the importance of loved ones every Christmas, no, that’s not the real meaning of Christmas. Many people love their friends and family, but who do not celebrate Christmas.

Okay, so what is the real meaning of Christmas? Well, the real meaning of Christmas is something higher and infinitely better than giving and being with loved ones. But I am going to wait a bit latter to give you my answer to that question.

So, I must ask you again, “Are you ready for Christmas?” People are getting their gifts together to give away at Christmas. You know, however, that the greatest gifts of all at Christmas are the gifts that God gives to us: Hope, Peace, Joy…Love! Today we’re going to take a look together at God’s Gift of Joy and how God wants to give you and me an incredible Joy that we can live our lives with.

Do you have this “Joy” today that God wants to give to you? You know it is easy to write off joy as something that’s just not possible for our lives. We look at a verse like 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Always be joyful.” If you’ve had a particularly tough week, when you hear a verse like that doesn’t it bug you? Maybe you came in today feeling bad. You don’t have any joy. 

We sang “Joy to the World” as our opening song this morning. That means everyone and everywhere. Is that really possible (with the pandemic, with the cost of living sky rocketing, with gun violence)—joy in this world? There are a couple of things that keep us from feeling like that’s a possibility. Things that you and I face on a daily basis…

  1. The bad that shouldn’t happen.

A lot of the bad things that happen in our lives, we bring them on ourselves. But there are bad things that happen to us and in this world that just shouldn’t happen. We didn’t bring it on ourselves. Because of that we wonder, “Can joy really be mine in this world?”

  1. The good that doesn’t happen.

The good things that we want to happen that don’t happen in our lives. The dream that we’ve had that doesn’t seem to be able to come true. The prayer that we pray that doesn’t seem to get answered, at least not the way we wanted it to get answered.

The other day when I was searching for a Christmas card, I saw a card that I thought Vonda might buy me. (We’re always teasing each other). On the outside it read: “Sweetheart, you’re the answer to my prayers.”  Then inside, it said this: “You’re not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you’re the answer.”

John the Baptist had been praying for the Messiah his whole life. John’s idea of Jesus was someone who would, preach fire and brimstone. John was confused. Jesus wasn’t like he thought He would be. He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one to come. Jesus wasn’t exactly what John had prayed for. We sometimes have a hard time seeing Jesus for whom He really is. Because we have our own ideas of whom Jesus should be. We might need Jesus to answer that question for us today too, “Are you the One?”

The message of Christmas is, because of Jesus you can choose to be a joyful person. It’s a choice. It’s something that must be chosen in our lives. But, “How?” You don’t automatically become joyful because you read the Bible more. How does it happen? How do you choose joy? We’ve got to focus on what only God can do, the joy that He can bring. Then, you will see how you can move from where you are to genuine joy in this world.

We’re going to let the Bible show us how to get from here to there today, let some guys who were part of the first Christmas – the shepherds. God brought them a message of joy. They made some choices, some of the same kind of choices that you and I can make today that bring joy into our lives. Three choices that result in joy…

  1. CHOOSE TO HEAR THE GOOD NEWS.

Have you ever been really down and the phone rings and you answer it and it’s some good news?  All of a sudden, your spirits are lifted. That’s the power that good news has to bring joy into our lives. It’s the kind of thing that happened to these shepherds the first Christmas. Luke 2:10 says, “But the angel said to them…‘I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’”  Not just for the shepherds but for all who hear. God wants to bring you today that message of joy. What’s the good news? That Jesus has come.

The Good News is that Jesus Christ came to tell us that God loves us, offers forgiveness and to make a difference in the direction of our life. That is the Good News that Jesus Christ came to bring.

Romans 1:16 tells us how good this good news really is when it says, “I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is God’s powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven.  Now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way.” The Good News is that God has invited you to have a new relationship with Him. That’s what Christmas is saying. God is calling you. He called to tell you “I love you…I want to forgive you and help you in your life.”

But you may look at your life and say, “My life is full of problems. Where is there any good news in that?” James 1:2-3 “Dear brothers and sisters whenever trouble comes your way let it be an opportunity for joy for when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow.”  Joy isn’t in the troubles. The joy is in the fact that God can work even through the struggles of life as I put my faith in Jesus. That’s the good news. Joy is not having perfect circumstances. Otherwise none of us could have joy. The truth is that God is working even in the midst of the problems. The shepherds teach us that. They also teach us a second thing about where joy comes from. It starts when you listen to the good news…

  1. JOY CONTINUES WHEN YOU CHOOSE TO DO WHAT GOD SAYS.

These shepherds heard God tell them to go and find a baby, laying in a manger. They did. And when they did, they found joy. Luke 2:15 says, “When the angel had left them and went into heaven the shepherds said to one another ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.’”  Why did they go? Because they believed what God said! They trusted what God had said.

Yet, there are a lot of us that have not trusted what God has said. You hear God say to you “Trust Me with your life.”  But you don’t.  I’m here to tell you this morning that it’s never too late to trust Him. Today may be your day to trust Him again. Christmas is the time that joy can happen in our lives.  John 16:24 “Until now you’ve not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete.”  The key is “ask.” What do you need to ask God for this Christmas?  Joy happens in our lives when you and I decide to do what God has said to do.

Joy comes when you hear the good news. Joy comes when you do what God says to do. Then there’s a third thing these shepherds remind us of.

III.  JOY COMES WHEN YOU CHOOSE TO TELL SOMEONE ELSE.

We can bring joy into the life of another by the things that we do and the words that we say.

Good News is not to be hidden. It needs to be shared. These shepherds immediately shared the good news about what God is doing.  Luke 2:17 “When they’d seen Him (the baby Jesus) they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.”  They went out and immediately told everybody else.

It’s what you and I need to do. With joy we need to tell what God is doing in our lives. Tell someone in your family, at work, at school. If you care about them, you want them to know and to experience the same good news that God wants for you.

Invite a family member or friend to come to church with you this Christmas. People want to be asked. They want to be in church at Christmas. Luke 15 tells us why there’s such a burst of joy when we tell the good news to other people. “I tell you there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his heart and life than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to change.”  The joy of telling the good news is the joy of telling someone everything can change. Not every circumstance, but everything about you can change.

Okay, I told you I would tell you what is the real meaning of Christmas? Earlier, I said the real meaning of Christmas is something higher and infinitely better than giving and being with those we love.

Christmas is about totally unconditional, inconceivably awesome, self-denying …TRUE LOVE. The apostle John said the word gospel means Good News. He wrote: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God’s greatest gift is: the blessing of Joy that came with the birth of His son. Christmas is about Christ! The center of all that we do this Christmas season should go all the way back to the manger and the birth of Jesus. There will be no gift that we can ever give or receive that will touch what God gave to all of us.  Jesus… is the real meaning of Christmas and it fills our hearts and our lives and the world with real joy!

Finding Peace

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Series: “Longing for Christmas”

Part 2

“Finding Peace”

Pastor Jerry

Mark 4:35-41

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Since the beginning of recorded history, the world has been entirely at peace only 8% of the time. In other words, only 286 years in over 3,100 years, have we been without war. And what about personal peace? In the midst of shootings, and personal turmoil, and the continued Covid pandemic, can the hope of Christmas still deliver peace?

Have you ever wondered if anyone else feels this way? The truth is that you are not alone. Everyone is on this same path, seeking answers to the uncertainty that afflict the world. Seldom in all history has mankind had to cope with so much fear and doubt. We desperately want peace, yet feel hopeless that we will ever find it.

Peace of mind is one of the top goals everyone wants to achieve. Like most people, we want some inner peace in our life. Many people will try to profit off of your state of mind by guaranteeing that they have the key to what you are looking for. I saw an ad for a perfume this week called a “Scent of Peace.” The tag line says, “Wear it to have an uplifting feeling”

Now, folks, if it were all that easy– just put a little perfume on and you’ll have peace of mind. Peace of mind is such an important concept in life that people will do almost anything to find it. They will travel to exotic places, do crazy thing like using brain-destroying drugs. They will experiment with bizarre rituals. They will try all kinds of things.

 I am convinced that there is a great hunger of mind and thirst of soul on the part of the average person for peace! All humanity is seeking the answer to the confusion, the moral sickness, the spiritual emptiness that oppresses the world. All mankind is crying out for peace. But the truth is very few people are at peace with themselves. Most people carry a high degree of stress, of anxiety, of tension in their lives.

The world has grown in power and in knowledge…we have access to just about anything we’d ever want to know, right at our fingertips. And yet….our hearts remain empty, our lives are anything but peaceful, and nothing seems to satisfy. Why are we still empty? Let’s find out what it is and how to gain it.

As a pastor, I have noticed that there are three things that steal the peace of mind that God intends for us to have.

  1. When circumstances are uncontrollable we often lose our peace. As you know much of life is beyond your control. You get frustrated because you get sick and there’s nothing you can do about it. You are told of a strange virus and you don’t know how to combat it safely. We visit the malls and don’t know if it will be safe to do so today. Lots of things just end up being out of your control. When that happens we lose our peace of mind.

Another thing that steals the peace of mind that God intends for us to have:

  1. When people are unchangeable we tend to lose our peace. People naturally resist change. And they resent it when you try to change them. Have you ever tried to convince someone to get vaccinated? But they just don’t cooperate and you can’t figure out why. They resist it and they resent you. The quickest way to lose your peace of mind is to try to change somebody else because most people are just not going to change. So we lose our peace.

A third thing that steals our peace of mind

  1. When problems are unexplainable. We know that life is not fair. Not everybody has a happy ending and live happily ever after. What makes it more difficult is that you are not always going to know why. And when you don’t know why things don’t happen in your life you tend to get anxious, nervous, stressed. And you lose your peace.

God has promised peace of mind because it’s a fundamental need of your life. That’s the promise of Christmas: the gift of the “Prince of Peace.” One of the Hebrew names of God – is Jehovah Shalom. Shalom means peace. Jehovah Shalom means, “I am the God of peace.” The most used greeting in the New Testament between Christians is “Grace” and “Peace.” We are to live peaceful lives. Jesus says in John 14:27,“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid.” 

If God says “I’m offering you a gift of peace,” He means it. It’s not something you work for.  It is simply a gift: a gift of Christmas… Then why don’t we have it?  Today we’re going to talk about that. We’re going to look at The Path to Finding Peace’

I need to say right up front that peace has nothing to do with problem-free living. If you have to wait until all your problems are solved to be at peace, you’re never going to be at peace. Because Jesus said, “In the world you will have problems.” Much of your life you’re going to have conflict. But you can have peace of mind in the conflict? 

Peace of mind is the result of three important decisions you need to make. And when you choose these things it will produce peace in your life. It is the choice for acceptance, the choice for trust, the choice for surrender.

  1. ACCEPT WHAT CANNOT BE CHANGED

Worrying about what cannot be changed certainly won’t give you peace. Becoming resentful or bitter, feeling guilty about things that cannot be changed, will not give you peace. There is only one thing that will bring peace in your life and that is acceptance. Acceptance of what cannot be changed. In the Bible, in the book of 2 Samuel 12, there’s the story of King David who had a young baby that was dying and David did everything he could to keep that baby from dying. But the baby died. God did not give the answer that David prayed for. I don’t know why. Someday we’ll learn why He did not answer that prayer the way David wanted it, but God had a plan and purpose in it.

When David’s advisers heard this they were were afraid to tell him. But David heard them whispering and he said, “Has the child died?” They said yes. And David got up. He went and took a bath. He put on clean clothes. He ate a big meal. And he went back to work.

The advisors were astounded.  You were in agony when he was near death. Now that he’s died, you’re ok. What’s happened?” David said, “The child has gone to heaven. And one day I will die and I will be reunited and go to heaven with that child. In the meantime there’s nothing else I can do. I’ve got to get back to work.”

He accepted what could not be changed.  Notice several things: First, acceptance is a learned experience and you learn it from going through tough times. It is a choice and it is only possible by supernatural power. You’re never going to learn to really accept the things of life without God’s power in your life. What comforts us is the presence of God in our life. 

Millions of people pray the edited version of the Serenity Prayer. But there are eight more lines to the Serenity Prayer that you may never have heard. That’s where all the power is.  The power of peace is in the part that they’ve cut out. 

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.

        Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is not as I would have it, Trusting that You, God, will make all things right if I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

All of the power is in the second part of the prayer. It’s through the acceptance, the trust, the surrender that you find the path to peace. God says this is the starting point to peace –accepting what can’t be changed.

Another important decisions you need to make in order to have Peace of mind is… 

  1. TRUST IN GOD’S LOVING CARE

Isaiah 26:3 “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on You because they trust in You.”  God gives peace to those who trust in Him because they depend on Him.  Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” You’ve got to learn to have peace in the middle of your problems or you’re never going to have peace. 

 Regardless of why you have the problem that you have that’s unsolvable, regardless of the source from where, you still need the same response every time –- trust in the loving care of God.

Then, you need to take the third step in the path to peace.  The third important decision…

  1. SURRENDER TO GOD’S LOVING CONTROL

Christmas time is an announcement of peace. Peace can only come into your heart when Jesus comes into your heart. Why? He is the Prince of Peace. When the Prince of Peace comes in, He brings peace. A cleansing of sins will come and that is the beginning of peace. Beloved the real peace did not start till Jesus came.

The Bible tells us “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Rom.5:1).Peace was in the mind of God. Peace came before the foundation of the world, because the lamb was slain then, but peace was enforced in our lives after Jesus rose from the dead. Peace starts for us when we were born again, and when Jesus came into our lives and washed away all our sins. Unless sin is removed, there is no peace in the heart.

Many people have an outward form of peace, but it is not real. Many people have sleepless nights, their hearts are restless? The real reason is because they’re fighting against God. You have a decision to make: who’s going to be in control of my life? Me or God? You think you know better. The more you take control yourself, the more miserable you become and the more out of control your life becomes. Because it doesn’t work. You are at war with the real God when you try to play God.

If you want to have deep, personal, satisfying peace of mind in heart and soul, you’ve got to surrender control of your life totally to God. 

Today, you can have the peace of God in your life. But first you’ve got to make peace with God. You can’t have the peace of God until you first make peace with God. How do you do that? By surrendering your life in faith to Jesus Christ. “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”  Do you want to have the peace of God in your heart this Christmas? I know that there is only one way to find peace. Through acceptance, trust and surrender.

Living Hope

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Series: “Longing for Christmas”

Part 1

“Living Hope”

Pastor Jerry

Jeremiah 29:11-13

————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-

Are you excited this year about Christmas? Christmas is coming! That is the message of Advent. The word Advent means “coming.” In the four Sundays of Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ at Christmas, we get ready!

However, getting ready for Christmas often means shopping and buying presents and decorating and baking. With all of this it is easy to get so busy that we find that – we miss the true meaning of Christmas – that of longing for Jesus. Many, many people celebrate Christmas without Christ. We have to be careful.

We’re going to talk today about how to get ready for Christmas by living with hope. We are going to talk about how God takes the problems in our lives and uses them in ways that we never expect. Hope can change anything that we face in life.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” This verse promises us God’s hope.

I have to admit I’m a little disappointed with the word “hope.” Not hope itself but with the word.  The way we use it today has nothing to do with the way the bible uses the word. We use the word today to mean, “I wish.” But the Bible doesn’t use it that way. When the Bible uses Hope, it’s a confidence. It’s not “I hope so…” It’s, I hope. That’s the kind of gift God wants to give us this Christmas – HOPE. You can’t live without it. 

A lot of people mistake hope and optimism. An optimist sees the glass as half full and the pessimist sees the glass as half empty. A person of hope doesn’t see how much or how little is in the glass but sees that the glass is firmly held in the hand of God. Even in a world where things aren’t perfect, God is still in control. He still holds things in His hands. Why is it so hard to let God be God and let us be human (and not the other way around).

The definition of Hope is when I realize that God is in control. That’s what hope is. When I realize that God’s plan will always prevail, I have hope. 

We are all in need of hope. Just look around. The world is full of people in need of hope! We are living in a day in which people are having a general feeling of hopelessness regarding the future. Many people even look forward with a sense of dread. Cases of depression are on the rise and suicide is a leading cause of death in our country. We’re desperately in need of hope. We’re living longer, we have more. But, never in human history have so many had so much for so long and been so depressed about it! Why? Because we have no hope.

 We need hope. We need the kind of hope that God gives at Christmas which gives us real life!

Let’s talk about what happens at Christmas when we have hope and how God brings that hope into our lives, gives us living Hope! What happens if I have hope?

If I have hope…

  1. I can get started over again.

I know there are people who look great on the outside, but are all locked up on the inside and not able to live or move forward. Many things can look great on the outside, but when some problem, ever so small, is locked on the inside, there is a big problem.

Life is like that sometimes. You wake up one morning and you can’t move on. You need hope. You need hope in God, and if you let Him, He will fix that broken heart, fix that broken relationship, and fix that broken spirit. You can have a new start. Christmas is all about that hope which can fix what is broken!

Isaiah 40 “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” Hope in God at Christmas helps you get started again when life is locked and broken.

If I have hope…

  1. I can go on.

Life is difficult. But with hope you can live with whatever burden is in your life right now. You can make it through. It is hope that enables us to handle tremendous pressure.  The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1 talking about the persecution that he faced in his life. “We had great burdens that were beyond our own strength.  We even gave up the hope of living. But this happened so we would trust not in ourselves but in God.” He could live with anything because of the hope that trusting in God gave him.

When I have hope, I can get unlocked, get started again & I can go on in the midst of troubles.

If I have hope…

  1. I can slow down.

Hope is what gives me the ability to slow down this busy life. With life, it gets out of balance when too much becomes too important. We think sometimes we don’t need God’s help; we act as if we can get by on our own but pretty soon you feel so burdened down that you realize that you’re not going to make it; that your life is falling apart.

Without hope, we’re always in a hurry. We don’t know where we’re headed but we think we had better hurry up and get somewhere before it’s too late. Christmas should enable us to slow down just a little bit, to help us realize we don’t have to rush so fast.

Psalm 62:5 “I find rest in God. Only He gives me hope.” Hope and rest go together. Without hope you’ll find you’re very rest-less. But with hope, you have the power to be rested. With Hope I can get started again, I can go on, I can slow down. A final thing that hope does.

If I have hope…

  1. It gives me the power to say no to the temptations of life.

Hope is the foundation of integrity. If I have no hope for the future, if I think there’s nothing out there for me, then truthfully there is no logical reason to be moral. Because it doesn’t really matter.

1 John 3:3 “Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure just as Christ is pure.”  That’s the power of hope in our lives.

The bottom line is this…are you ready for Christmas?  Not are you ready because you have done your shopping, or baking, or decorations… but are you ready because you have hope! “You are ready because you are longing for Jesus to come into your life in a new way?  That’s what Christmas is all about – waiting …longing for God to come to you.

God says, “I want you to have Hope this Christmas!”  My Hope! That’s why I sent Jesus at Christmas.

Jesus is our HOPE!

Are you “Longing for Christmas”…or…. do you need Hope for a new start? Living Hope!  Are you “Longing for Christmas”… or… do you need Hope for strength to face an ongoing struggle in your life? Do you need Hope to slow down and see where you’re headed?  Do you need Hope to overcome some temptation in your life?

Get Ready for Christmas…Come to God today …that is our only HOPE! Our Living Hope!