The Real You, Phillipians 4:8-9, 10/27/13

Dan and Joni Horn visited twice on this day…..if you're visiting

Next week, new series on gratitude

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Halloween, a time for masks……….

A time for pretend…….

Always remember trick or treating as a kid

McGee to Wornall, 96^th to 103^rd

Pillow case.  First run.  Second run.  Dad ate the Hershey bars

Have fun on Halloween.  Pretend to be something if you like.

The Christian life - doesn’t work well when we pretend

In fact the Christian life is an invitation to be authentic

·        To be who you really are.  

·        To be loved by God as you are

·        To be the same, inside and out

Jesus told the story of the cup.  Clean on the outside, dirty on the inside

Paul is inviting the Philippians to put it into practice

Over the last few weeks we have talked about the joy of a generous life and that our church is indeed a very special place. 

Today we simply ask the question…….who are you?  Who am I?  what is the real me?

What defines your life?  Is it wealth?  Belongings?  Are you focused on self-gratification? 

Or is your faith the defining thing?

Bible promises both God’s blessings and joy for those who choose to live another way

Who are you?

Who are you?

Do you give God your first and your finest?

Or do you only give him your leftovers? 

Do you give God the time leftover after you have done everything that really mattered to you? 

The money left over after you have paid for everything you wanted?  

When we give our first and our finest to God and his children,

then we learn to love God as the highest, holiest thing in our life. 

Living generously is about living with a heart so full of love for God that it overflows to others with the best of all we have. 

Jesus invites us, paul invites us

Our church invites us to live a congruent life

Living a congruent life                                                                     SLIDE

What does that mean?

con·gru·ent

1. agreeing; accordant;

2. Geometry . coinciding at all points when superimposed: congruent triangles.

Examples of not

I want to keep my car clean.  But I don’t

I want to lose weight, but I don’t

I want to go back to school, but I don’t

I want to read more, but I don’t

I want to give more to the church, but I don’t

I want to visit my dad, but I don’t

But don’t we usually do that which we really want to do?

As a man thinks in his heart so is he- not always true…….. prov 23:7

                I think of myself as a fine example, but am I

                Oh, I really know that I am not, so maybe its true

There is sometimes, a tension between What you think in your head and heart vs how we actually live.

There is sometimes a tension between What you think in your head and heart vs how we actually live.

Living with the tension of an incongruent life is very painful

                My moms dream of the shower curtain coming down

I believe it is better to let someone see your warts and deal with the real you then to pretend that all is well when you know it is not.

Shakespeare wrote, hamlet said

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And then it must follow, as the night follows the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Intention – making an intentional effort                                          VIDEO

Make your life different

Jesus knew who he was and he had a plan

He was not worried that the Pharisees did not like him

He healed on the Sabbath

He accepted everyone.  He ran with the broken

He didn’t pretend

He just did it.

Maybe Jesus is like NIKE – just do it

Jesus- just did it

We are repulsed, discard those who say, oh I really want to do something, but never do

We are attracted to those whom we know are tried and true, thru and thur living what they believe

There is a great joy in being the same inside and out

We all want the peace and joy in this life………we don’t always find it

There might be a reason for that…

put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Stewardship drive at the Presbyterian church

Stewardship drive at the Presbyterian church

All in

Poker games in general, there is an all in.

Playing softball

Appointment in Princeton

Is this your place?

Is this your home?

Do you tell people that this is your church

Today we are inviting you to go all in

All in for Jesus, all in for woods chapel umc

Time, talents and finances.

That is where we will find the joy

Prayer

Lord, I commit myself to you afresh this day, I acknowledge that everything I have and everything I am is a gift from you.  I pray that you will grant me wisdom and strength in the coming year, that I might use my time talent and money in ways that are a blessing to you and to your children. Thank you for so many things that we take for granted.  You have been so good to us.  Thank you.  Amen.