The Kingdom: A Spreading Fire, 04/26/15

Sermon 4-26-15 kingdom – what is your passion?        Luke 18:18-30

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’^[a]”²¹ “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ²³ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”²⁸ Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” ²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Series on the kingdom

Is this your favorite scripture?

It challenges us

Where would X-ity be if we had chosen to hang our salvation hats here?

The rich young ruler loved his stuff

He did all the religious things, but loved his stuff

We are uncomfortable with this story because we like our stuff too

This story asks us, what do we love, where is our passion

What we are Passionate about

Cars, music, softball, food, royals, isis, clothes, status, prestige, power

Pokemon cards.  Tamagachi.  Yo yo. Hula hoops

My pleasure - My comfort - My feelings - My health

And on and on we go…..

Using your passion for God – oil change ministry.

God invites us to love others.

It is what the Christian faith is about

1 cor 13

All the other religious things are trappings unless we are a person of love

I once overheard a person telling off the server at a restaurant

The voice sounded familiar.

It was a member of our church.

If your family, if your friends, if the servers, if the stranger will not testify to your heart of love, then it is probably time for our passion to change

For us to learn to love in a greater way

But why does god invite us to love?  Because God is love 1 jn 4

When we love we are like him and that is good.

But there is another reason….

For this we were created

Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The big story of God is not yet finished.  The next chapter is being written by the church. We are change agents for God’s kingdom. - Unfinished

Sharing Christ’s love is what we’re made for

Just as God created birds to fly and fish to swim, he created us to live as citizens in His emerging kingdom and to invite others to join us.

When we love others we get  connected with the sheer joy of living missionally – an authentic – form of Christianity

Sending us on mission is one of the greatest gifts God could give us.

What  a great privilege he gives us to go about doing good in his name.

So How does God do it?  How does he try to reach us?

The holy spirit is tugging, wooing, pulling,

inviting us to change our assumptions about living

The rich young ruler went away sorrowfully

It doesn’t have to end that way

Bob Buford’s book [tom woodward]          Half time

Are you finally ready to do something with your life?

Story of reading this on the airplane

Holy Discontent – Bill Hybels

You become a force for good where powered by Holy discontent

Injustice of slavery in Egypt motivated Moses

Popeye – ive had all I can stand and I cant stand anymore

Maybe you cant get fired up about feeding the poor.  Or caring about people.  Sometimes gods work gets started in a person when they look in the mirror and get fired up about their  living.  Have you ever gotten disgusted with your own selfishness?

“Accepting the world as it is.

Denying our ability to see something better.

Denying our ability to be something better.

suit up and get in the game.”

What is your passion – time to seize upon it

Story- Floating in the pontoon on Lakewood lake

None of this is our of obligation. When a persons heart catches fire for the love of others, We find fulfillment

The kingdom started a fire in the soul of Ashley Allison.  As we talked about crime in the urban core of KC, Ashley realized that, if that was happening in her neighborhood, she would be doing something about it.  The urban core is only 20 minutes away, but many times, we approach it as if it is worlds away.  Ashley Allison wrote the following after week 2 of KE ‘Blessed are those who mourn’:  “This week, I decided to reach out to the families of the children killed in shooting in Kc in the last few months. I donated to goFundme for Angela hooper, a 6 year old shot while buying bubble gum at a 7eleven. I sent a note and small donation to the families of jaquail mansaw (a 7 month old killed In a driveby shooting), Machole Stewart (a 10 year old girl killed in a driveby shooting) and Khalif Hampton (16 year old boy killed in driveby shooting). This is something I have wanted to do but needed a push!”  As a result of this, Jill Parsons & Ashley felt called to do more.  They reached out to an organization called Mothers in Charge and met with the director of the organization, who lost a son to murder several years ago.  They heard about her desire to educate children at a young age about the dangers of guns and to teach them healthier life choices. Jill & Ashley wanted to help.  They are now partnering with Ingels Elementary in the Hickman Mills School District to host a safety fair.  The school administration (including Deb Meisenheimer from WCC) had been wanting to do something, but didn’t have the staff or time to pull off such a big event.  Jill & Ashley have done that.  The community festival will be held May 9 and will teach violence prevention and constructive youth activities in an area (Hickman Mills) that has been directly affected by violence against children

Coffee for soldiers story                                    I will call for the PICTURE

Once a man asked, “what did you gain by giving your life to God? ‘The man replied, ‘nothing… but let me tell you what I lost: Anger, ego, greed, depression, insecurity, and fear of death.

‘Sometimes, the answer to our prayers is not gaining but losing;  which ultimately is the gain.”

the blessings of God are too good to keep for ourselves; if you want to find your life, you have to give it away

Take the initiative

The pastor didn’t ask us to go to a different service so we come to 10:10

In the Kingdom we don’t wait for the pastor to invite us

Most people think of life in terms of how it impacts them instead of thinking of how they can impact life.

I have a friend who is interested in ministry but they told me that nothing was going on in their life right now……

Did you get up this morning?

We are going to close with the beatitudes again, from the message bible.  They are the principles of the kingdom.  Lets say them together.

·         ³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

·         ⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

·         ⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

·         ⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

·         ⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

·         ⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

·         ⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

·         ¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

I am doing the Kingdom Experiment a second time, trying to make them a little more personal.  I struggled with Blessed are those who mourn, I am not a very good mourner.  I have a hard time with my heart breaking for the things that breaks Jesus' heart.  I experience a lot of anxiety and probably some ADHD as my brain never wants to shut off.  I have learned to funnel a lot of that stuff into journaling about everything I am thinking.  I tend to learn a lot about myself when I journal and I found an area to mourn that I never thought about before and of course I wrote about it.

Thanks for preaching about these Beatitudes, I think about them all the time now and they are taking on a new meaning through this study and your preaching. 

In my crusade to bring meaning to Blessed are those who mourn ... I have realized there are so many areas of life I have no idea how to mourn for.  Take our servicemen for example, I have never experienced the front lines of war, seeing things that were so horrendous that I would never be able to speak of them again, ever.  Do they mourn the death of fellow service members, mourn those they maybe have killed or mourn how their life will never be the same?

I have come to the conclusion that the hard I choose to ignore is the hard I hope to never have to face in my own life.  Therefore, I make the mourning, with or for others, impossible for myself.  Out of sight, out of mind.  

So I delve into reading about the wars going on right now and my mind instantly strays inward.  If it were one of my own family members, my heart would be aching beyond belief.  I would be mourning and so seeking God's comfort and peace in the situation and of them being safely returned home.  For me, it's more difficult to pray intentional and daily for someone I don't personally know.  If it's not written down, how easily I forget them after that initial prayer. 

A friend told me about a website.  You purchase a cup of coffee for $2, write a note, and it is delivered to a service member by email. The freshly brewed cups of coffee are served at Green Beans Coffee cafes on the bases where they are deployed.

So below is the note I attached to the 15 cups of coffee I purchased along with some responses I received back this week.  Now I feel a little more connected to "mourn" alongside my fellow service members as they continue to make my freedom possible as I sit back home and enjoy my numerous cups of coffee each morning in my safe, comfortable surroundings.  

  Words cannot begin to express my thanks for your spirit of service to our great country.  I am embarrassed at my complacency of freedom I take for granted on most days.  What if you were my son, my daughter, my grandson or my granddaughter serving across the ocean?  I am sure my need of God and extended prayer life would be off the charts by now.  So I am going to pretend you are one of my own, my beloved child whom I worry about, cry about, pray about and want to come back home safely to me sooner than yesterday.  As you drink your Cup of Joe, I hope you feel the love of God that drives out all fear.  In Him you are:
    blessed, chosen, anointed, gifted, able, strong, courageous and of immeasurable value
We are blessed to be a blessing, so now it's your turn to bless another! 

Have a great day.

serving at Al-Dhafra AFB in United Arab Emirates: 

Ms. Bass, Thank you so much for the Cup of Joe. Thank you for thinking about me and my fellow service members and keeping us in your prayers.

Thank you for your kind words, prayers and the cup of joe. I hope you and your family are safe and well.

Cheers, Melissa

Dear blank Thank you so much for your thoughtful, kind and very much appreciated message (as well as the cup of joe!). Your support and graciousness brought a large smile to my face today. Thank you so much for the words and prayers! 

 --Maj Tatum, USAF

serving at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar:

Your words and thoughts humble me, God Bless and Thank You.

--Dave

Thanks for the joe it's appreciated greatly.

Thank you for your kind words and generosity!

Thank you so much for that very encouraging message. It means more than you know. I will in turn bless others as you have me. Thank you for the Cup of Joe!

~MSgt T. Sanders

Serving at Undisclosed Location In The Middle East in Jordan:

Thank you for your kind words and inspiration. This is why I volunteered my service to this great nation. People like you that will help another. Thank you for your support. God Bless!

The Kingdom: On Earth As It Is In Heaven, 4/12/15

Sermon 4-12-15 kingdom- on earth as it is in heaven Acts 1:1-9

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with^[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.” ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Starting a new series on the kingdom

Who is theolophilus?  Friend of God – great title

Jesus in scripture announces the kingdom over and over

When his ministry began……Jesus came to declare the Kingdom of God is at hand - Luke 4:18-19¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners  and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^[f]

When he taught his prayer-Lord’s Prayer:  Bringing Heaven here on earth - Matthew 6:9-13  

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done,    on earth as it is in heaven.

What is the kingdom like in heaven?  Jesus wants us to bring that here

Here the disciples ask about the kingdom and are told to wait for the spirit to fall.

Signs of the spirit……..kingdom living

Learning to live outside of yourself

Lets talk about church and the kingdom.

Lets deconstruct the notion of church

I go to church –

This one, that one

The church is a building.  A group of people

A fellowship.

Jn 2:19 Jesus said I will tear this temple down….. building is not necessary

Kingdom of heaven

Kingdom of God

Kingdom is both here and now – and god wants to do something

Overarching idea…….we are citizens of gods kingdom

Back to the church

We need a kingdom-shaped view of the church, not a church-shaped view of the kingdom. 

Lets talk about the idea of a kingdom? 

Roman empire.  British empire.

What is God’s kingdom?

Who are his subjects.  Not just Americans.  Not just Christians.

Not just people like us.

Everyone is in his purveyance. 

Is 66:1-2  “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?   Where will my resting place be?

Psalm 2 ¹ Why do the nations conspire^[a] and the peoples plot in vain?² The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together  against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,³ “Let us break their chains  and throw off their shackles.”⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

The king in charge makes the rules.

Examples

And of course I have rules for my life………

But I don’t really have a kingdom do I

We have a choice in life, to accept the rule of god or reject it

Kingdoms rise and fall.  Not the k of God

Where is it

We like boundaries

God has little or no interest in boundaries.

We live in a certain state, a certain county.  Does jesus recognize when he crosses over from Missouri to Kansas?

He doesn’t care about ku/mu rivalry.

These are made up boundaries to him

The story of the Russian winters-I recall a farmer whose large property was on the Russian-Finnish border. He had to decide whether he wanted his farm to be in Finland or Russia. He chose Finland. The Russian officials set out to inquire why he didn’t want to remain in Russia. He said, “Look, all my life I’ve wanted to live in our Mother Russia, but now at my age, frankly, I don’t think I could endure another Russian winter!”

What does this mean for us?

He has claims upon us

Not a guilt based list of things to do, but the chance to be on the journey of discovery about what truly brings joy in life

All that jesus began to do and to teach.  He started something.  He wants us to continue it

There is a new class at wcc

A story to share from the KE class

Week 1:  on earth as it is in heaven

We are sent to the ends of the earth to be witnesses and to build God’s kingdom here on earth.  The kingdom life is uncomfortable and challenging. 

In my younger years I spent much time in studies related to spiritual gifts.  The goal was to find the specific one you were created for and use it for His glory.  But as I have "grown up" in the Lord, I realized how compartmentalized I became in my thinking and serving and how much I was missing out on in trying to stay within the boundaries of those gifts I was assigned.  It has been freeing to break out of my element, face some unknown territory and find I don't need to specifically have the talent to experience God.  So yesterday I participated in a Habitat for Humanity Women Build.  A few good men taught us nine women use a jack hammer, power saw and air powered staple gun so we could work on the outside of the house.  We also hauled cement and rock up and down basement stairs and old lumber to a dumpster.  Had I known beforehand what the job entailed, I would have immediately said, "I can't do that stuff, I'm out.  How about I just bring lunch, that is within my comfort zone, I can easily share my gift of hospitality without fear." 

I didn't need any information, but we were told the owner of the home, Matrika, is a single mother working in the Raytown school district and has a young daughter.  It was a tiny little house, but you can just imagine all the love, sweat and free man hours that will be wrapped up into this endeavor by the time it is finished.  It is just about the motion of mercy, telling God I'm in without knowing the details and maximizing my gifting for His glory.  I wonder what our Habitat leader thought when these nine women exited their vehicles laughing, whining about the cold and wanting their picture taken together?  I believe he was pleasantly surprised at the end of the day with our strength, abilities, and enthusiasm.  I always narrow everything down to two choices in my life, so today I say:  Do I lie dormant or do I hear His kingdom calling?

Our lives are so much about us

In the kingdom, our lives are aobut everyone, expecially those who are in need

The KE class invites you to do some The experiments

·         Fast from food for a time to remind yourself that food is not god

·         Grocery shop … donate all of it to food pantry

·         Pay for someone behind you @ drive-in

·         Sleep on floor … identify w/ those who don’t have beds

·         Shower w/o hot water  for a week

·         Ride a bicycle for a week……

·         Give away something valuable … don’t replace it

·         Use candles for a week … read books instead of watch TV

·         Donate to electric company’s poverty fund

·         Kiva – micro loan to someone in a developing country

Do you live as though you are the king of your life

Or do you live as if jesus is king of your life?

The beatitudes are the Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount Mt 5:3-10 [the message]  These are the principles of the kingdom

³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. ⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. ⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. ⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. ⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. ⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. ⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. ¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

Lead to holy communion