Top 5: Into Every Person's World, 5/22/16

Sermon 5-22-16 favorites.  Psalm 23  make 3x5 cards

Favorite passages - Favorite songs

The passage that I was going to pick from acts…….. paul on mars hill acts 17

Amazing grace- blessed assurance Jesus is mine

Jeremy camp – everywhere I go you’re not far away

What a wonderful world

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever

This is a psalm of confidence………

We all have or need to have “go to people”

The lord is my shepherd……He is my shepherd

Kings were referred to in this manner.  Supposed to care for their people

I shall not want……….i will get everything I want

Or I will learn to stop wanting

Christianity asks us to change- to be transformed

The story is this: One commander of a battalion of Roman soldiers was caught up in a battle that took him into the territory that the mapmakers had represented with their monsters and dragons. Not knowing whether to forge ahead into the unknown, or turn back into the known, which would also be a retreat, he dispatched a messenger to Rome with this urgent request: "Please send new orders. We have marched off the map."

I shall not want. 

All great religions teach this

Desire is the source of all suffering.

          When we stop wanting things, we stop worrying

          When we get to the place that we only want God, we stop worrying about everything else

He makes me lie down in green pastures

We want the green pastures

We covet them

We can make them for others

We want the still waters

We covet the still waters

You can help others waters be still

When you look at the needy what do you see

I don’t see them at all, they are invisible
- something worth saving
- something worth restoring
- something worth the price of redemption and the cost of crucifixion.

The horse whisperer. Robert redford, 1998

We live here and we think that this is our life, but if we are all connected, then we are responsible for them as well.  We cant fix everything, but we can fix some things.

Maybe because we live here, we are more responsible….

But for the grace of god go I

Yea tho I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death

What is the time that you were the most afraid, the most alone?

·        Driving across the salt flats in 1977

·        Death of your parents

·        Loneliness

·        Dryness of the soul

Not if I might, but I will, we all will one day walk in the valley

          Of the shadow of death- times of sorrow

I will not fear.  I choose something different

I can do this because you are with me

He leadeth me beside the still waters restores my soul……….

Water in a desert area…….. flash floods, very dangerous

Then there are oasis, wells.   Lots of wells in the bible.  Jacobs well.

Shake the bottle of water

This is how life feels sometimes

And we get completely lost in it……….. lisa mcclean story

Conclusion………

Shake the bottle…….do you think of some person or thing that is disrupting your life?

We get so lost in it

How can we stop this…………..

1.   Notice it, see it, name it.

2.   Observe it, watch it, think about what you know about it.

3.   Don’t assign a value to it, as good or bad, just see it.  Like it is someone elses, not yours

4.   How long has it been like this?  Will it be like this forever?

5.   It is likely not forever, but you are, and our shepherd is

6.   Get your eyes off of the thing that is temporal, and onto the one that is eternal

My true self is in him, not in this turbulence

True prayer is not me trying to get my problems solved, but distancing myself from my problems so that instead of the problems, I begin to see and focus on god.

Is there anything that you need to step away from?

Is there anything that you need to invite god into

Rabbi issac of Krakow had a dream.  In his dream he saw a treasure that was buried at the foot of a bridge in a distant city.  He travelled to that city and began to stake out the bridge so he could determine how to claim the treasure.  A policeman who guarded the bridge noticed him and asked him what he was doing there.  Rabbi issac told him about the dream he had had about the treasure.  The policeman said, oh, do you believe in such dreams?  If I did, I would have to travel to some city named Krakow, find a rabbi named issac and tell him that there is treasure buried under his bed.

The answer is not somewhere else, and it is not based on circumstance

The treasure you seek is right here….. because you are not alone

Christ in me, the hope of glory

This is a psalm of confidence………

The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.