MOANING and WORMS!

MOARNING & WORMS (This is NOT a political piece!)

Please allow me a few paragraphs to explain the title of this post.

I MOAN…yes, literally moan whether I am sitting in a pew, in a Bible class, in a personal Bible study, or on a train. The location is not important. It is the content of the conversation that makes a low growl escape from my throat. It is when, I believe, the Holy Spirit would groan as well, that I, in harmony with God, groan. It has been going on for some time now.

Many of us have fallen into the postmodern trap of exaggerating the need for “self-esteem”; i.e. expressing our “pride” in children, talents, accomplishments, nation, and actions of created beings rather than the Creator.

I wanted to draw closer to God and to relieve my internal groaning (I’ll explain why soon). Someone on a private blog suggested that we all read the Psalms, well, not just read them, but pray them. So I turned over to Psalms 1 and read the 2 verse about meditating day and night. I wanted to actually check the meaning of that word “meditate” and as you can see, it has a significant connotation to me with the idea of MOANING, GROANING, even GROWLING, yep! That’s what I have been doing!

THE BACK STORY

Several months ago I prepared some lessons for ladies in my home congregation as well as in Lithuania and Russia. The lessons dealt with being a Christ follower. Christ followers are:

• ·         TRANSFERRED (from darkness to light, grafted into the Vine),
• ·         in TRANSFORMATION (metamorphosis from self-centeredness into HIS image through the power of the Spirit), and
• ·         ever TRANSCENDING (rising above the rule of the flesh by the Spirit – being productive & fruit-bearing proactively prioritizing God’s Vision for His people.

In these lessons we learn that:

·         We are to “Acknowledge Him in ALL our ways.”

·         Glory belongs to the Lord ALONE

·         According to the latest research, postmodern folks are raising the most ***narcissistic generation ever recorded (over 80 years of research) who have their identities based on their own talents, looks, and abilities.

·         Narcissistic young adults, after leaving their parents, face depression, anxiety, anger, and between 19-24 year old become the highest risk for suicide. WATCH VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTV5fxQcTPs 

·         God called us to “catch fish” using a net (community on mission), not with a pole (for individual glory). Each person must do their part to plant the seed, to salt their conversations with grace and truth, to hold up their end of the net and God promises the increase. Those who claim to have “converted X number of people” are vain in their understanding, prideful, and in error as only the Holy Spirit converts men’s hearts to God.

·         We must be gracious, merciful, and patient, recognizing and appreciating the spiritual journey of all the diverse folks who are followers of Jesus. Celebrating each milestone with joy and praise to God alone. Disciples are multicolored, multifaceted and individualistic in their spiritual perceptiveness.  We are uniquely made in order to serve God’s purpose in the world. We learn that our place is to plant seed, sprinkle salt in our conversations and praise our Lord with our lips CONTINUOUSLY (1 Peter 2:9; 4:11)

·         We must open our mouths and bless those who are in our sphere of influence with all gentleness and wisdom, giving God the glory so as not to STEAL the glory from the Lamb of God. As disciples, we need to get our SHINE on!

·         We must express a bigger gospel than “be baptized, be nice, and wait to go to heaven when we die.” Christ, if He is lifted up will draw ALL (kinds) men unto Himself. The lonely, lame, poor, divorced, adulterer, murder, fornicator, homosexual, can be washed, can be cleaned, can be made holy through Christ’s glorious good news. (1 Cor 6)

·         We must become fluent in the language of faith-based testimony, telling our story as it aligns with God's story, the good news, while being appropriate, relevant, and authentic praise to God ALONE. (1 Cor 1:4-6)

What we cannot easily talk about, we really don’t KNOW. We have NOT taken ownership of it.

• Every teenager knows the lyrics to at least 100 pop songs by heart.
  Do they KNOW 100 scriptures by heart?

·         Paul gave us an example of living in the vision, mission, and values of Jesus Christ. (2 Tim 4:6-8) He finished his life on target because he focused on God’s vision for His people. Without clear vision, we may end our life’s journey confused in its meaningless minutia and details.  To actually, move forward in our journey of following Christ, we must see clearly our identity in Him and where He wants to lead us. (Col 3:2; Rom 8:14, Gal 2:20; 5:24; Luke 9:23)

PREMIERE EXAMPLES

God through the ages has given us premiere examples of how He feels about sin. A premiere example is ONE which shows the consequences of sin and God’s reaction to it. The following are premiere examples:

• Curse and mark on Cain. Not everyone who kills their brother receive this judgment
• The stoning of Aachen for stealing gold and hiding it in his tent. Not everyone who hides stolen treasures is stoned
• Israel and the golden calf. Not everyone who worships am idol is slain by the sword
• Nadab and Abihu. Not everyone who worships God as they please are struck dead
•  Ananias and Sapphira. Not everyone who lies to the Holy Spirit is killed by the Holy Spirit.

These examples are given to us to let us know EXACTLY how God feels about sin. Even though they are the first examples, and others do not receive such a swift judgment, these examples are given to us to let us know how sin can affect our relationship to the Creator. 

There is another premiere example that God has given us in His word. It is found in Acts 12:22-24. “The people kept crying out, (to Herod after his speech), “The voice of god and not a man!” 12 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

If we see this as a premiere example, then, when we steal the glory from God, we deserve to be eaten by worms.

The following videos expound on the idea that we must stop praising the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1; 2 Cor 3:5-6; 4:6; Matthew 5:16)

            

VIDEO: Olympic Divers:  praise Him in victory

VIDEO: NBA Player suffers loss of wife: Praise Him in crisis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-y2cdOA8P4

            

ARTICLE: GOD before GOLD - 24 Olympians – Acknowledge Him in ALL your ways

            Acknowledge Him – God gave us all our abilities

Isaiah 26:13 Lord our God…your name alone do we honor.

We, too often, drain the power from the cross when we do not acknowledge and praise our God. God dwells in the praises of His people. We sing praises and often pray praises, but our everyday speech lacks the grace and salt that we have been called to share. 

Here is how Paul handled a complement to Titus who served him well.

2 Corinthians 7:6 & 8:16 “But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus.”

Paul could have said, “Thanks be to Titus for…..” but, instead, he gave thanks to God for motivating and providing a good heart in Titus.  Do you see how as parents we can still give our children a positive outlook by tying their identity, abilities, talents, and physical prowess to our Lord.

Please watch this video: Video Acknowledge Him

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I have recorded some sentences that I have actually heard from the pulpit.  They make me MOAN as I think they also do the Holy Spirit. I use these as an exercise for Christ followers to re-word them so that they glorify the Creator rather than the creation.  Practice changing these sentences! Let’s get our faith-fluency up to speed so that we can be the salt and light in the dark places and so that we can express ourselves as ancient Christians did.

MAXIM: God dwells in the praises of His people! Help God to dwell with us.

The Gospel Bears Fruit in those who have Faith in the Grace of God and DARE to WALK in the footsteps of Jesus

WE have been TRANSFERRED to be TRANSFORMED and to TRANSCEND.

We are ALL ministers of Christ, supported by His power (2 Cor 5:18)

We must learn to graciously salt our conversations.

These practice sentences are the ones that have made me moan…. while thinking about being eaten by worms!

(1) This is a great congregation. If you are looking for a church home, you can do no better than to be with these great folks here at _______

(2) What a great sermon! You bring us wonderful lessons each time you speak. Isn’t great to have such a wonderful preacher? You don’t get any better than that!

(3) We are so proud of our youth director and our young people. They have worked so hard this week cleaning up the building for visitors.

(4) What a generous congregation! We have made our goal of $$$$$$$ so that we can support XXXXX.

(5) Great song leading! You are really talented brother ______. 

(6) I am so proud of my son who has completed his degree and found himself a really awesome job!

(7) My daughter is soooooooo beautiful.  She is planning on becoming a model one day.

(8) We are so excited about how many people attended our workshops this week. 

(9) Our missionaries in China have baptized six new converts. 

These are just a small sample of what I have moaned over recently. Can you change these sentences to praise God while sounding authentic, relevant, and appropriate?

The EASE by which we can witness/testify for Christ is a solid indicator of how strong our faith is.

The ability to lift up the eyes of those who are stuck focusing on the mud, muck, and chaos of this world is a blessing we can share with the world.

Dear Lord, may we become a people who point to you alone, praise you alone, and worship you continually with the fruit of our lips; May we reject the postmodern tendency to praise creation rather than the Creator. May we find our identity in you and may we glory in the cross alone. May we speak genuinely in a faith-based fluency that brings light to a dark world. May we learn to point to you and lift of Christ so that He can draw all men to the Cross. 

ADDITIONAL MEDIA:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-b7XalzMhk&sns=em 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu08hlYb6yg
• Audio We sing it, but do we mean it? : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_OXt7psO2lTLXpxNlNiRHRGM3M/view?usp=sharing  

***DEFINITION: Narcissism = Idolatry of Self – maintaining my “IMAGE” as my “god” - the opposite of a Christ follower, focused on self, self-importance, self-accomplishments and self-image resulting in the lack of compassion and caring for others.

***RESEARCH RESOURCES:

• Listen to Podcast: http://goo.gl/6oiOzA
• Dr Twenge: http://goo.gl/DWgRwT
• “Missing at the heart of narcissistic people” https://goo.gl/ILHmrQ
• https://goo.gl/q4PDrz
• http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/aboutbook.html

INTRO: Christ Follower

INTRODUCTION TO BECOMING A CHRIST FOLLOWER

Lesson 6: Embracing Discipleship

Lesson 5 – Embracing Discipleship FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/W.E.LCubed First Steps in Making Disciples-->Become One! https://youtu.be/D13B2uGgklA …..Community on Mission-OIKOS What is the Gospel? Can you articulate a bigger gospel – one that touches every part of life and is truly good news--something bigger than, “if you die, you get to go to Heaven?”   What can you fluently & graciously relate to others in the way of good news for any and all occasions? What does following Christ entail? Take up your cross and die daily to Self. Definitions: Belief: Even the demons believed, but their faith did not save them. What kind of faith is required of us in order to be pleasing to God? (Heb 11:1 Obedient, Expectant, Actionable, Sightless, etc.) To Truly Repent means to surrender self and turn to follow Christ. “Self” is who we have grown to please, since the fall in the garden, and as a result we have sinned against God. In order to truly repent, we turn our hearts, minds, and souls over to the sovereignty of Christ (1 Peter 3:15).  Repentance does mean that we acknowledge our sinful state, but it requires MORE than for us to just be sorry for our sins. Remember: Judas was sorry for his betrayal of Christ but we don’t read where he was ever reconciled to God (Mat 27:3). The Scripture refers to him as the “betrayer”. Repentance bears fruit (Luke 3:8). A change in lifestyle, actions, thoughts, priorities, etc should be evident in a repentant heart. Baptism can be seen as both an event and a process. Let’s look at the event. What is it? What is the motive for Baptism? What does man do? What does God Do? Too many times children and even adults will say they want to be baptized so they can go to heaven when they die!  Is this a biblical motive for baptism? FYI: A dear friend of mine had a great idea…It is exactly what Paul did…he wrote down his story. Before someone is baptized, especially children, have them write down in a journal why they are being baptized. After many years, we often forget our motive and are confused about what we thought or expected in our baptism. This is a fabulous way to assure ourselves of our mindset at the time we first came to Christ.  Exactly why did/do  we participate in baptism? Because our peers did? Because we wanted our "go-to-heaven card punched"? Because it pleased our parents, spouse, or teacher?  Young folks will often say, “I want to be baptized so that I can go to Heaven when I die”  or “I’m afraid if I died tonight, because I would probably go to hell.” Is this a biblical motive for being baptized? Let's examine a few cases of the biblical motives for baptism. Romans 6:3-11 tells us that we are Being Baptized è immersed into a death, we identify with Christ in our death and rebirth. We relinquish being the captain of our own ship just as Christ relinquished the glory of Heaven and died in submission to the Father. Suffering death, He continually prayed to God, He let go of all the betrayal, mistreatment, and abuse against him, He delivered His soul to God...He gave up His own will and placed His trust and faith in the Father to raise Him from the dead.  If we are to be buried as Christ was buried, then we must let go of all our anger, mistreatment, and abuse and commit to loving our enemies, giving up our own will, serving the Lord and placing all our faith and trust in His purpose.  MOTIVES FOR BAPTISM – the Event What was the motive in Act 2? This message was to Jews. God had been planting the seeds of the gospel throughout Jewish history beginning in Genesis, then with Abraham, with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel , Joel, Malachi, etc. Peter watered that seed on Pentecost and out of ~1.5 million people, God brought the increase by opening the hearts of 3000 souls. What was their motive for being baptized in Acts 2? They realized they had slain the Messiah, the Promised One, the one they had longed to see. They realized He was now Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. They realized they needed a Savior. They realized their sin. Motive for baptism - forgiveness of sins and Gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).  In Acts 4, Peter preached about the resurrection of the dead, because that is what baptism is...5000 responded... Again Jews who were looking for a Messiah responded to the gospel message of being given a “new life” in Christ. 4:10 Peter preached Jesus the Christ whom they crucified and whom God raised from the dead. This is the Gospel...knowing who Christ is and what our sins have done to Him and how God made victory out of that horrible death through Christ's resurrection from the dead was the motive for baptism.  Acts 5: 20 when Peter & all were released from prison the angel told them to go speak what in the temple? Words of Life found ONLY in Christ. So they preached 5:30-32 Christ and Him crucified by the very hands of those who heard them. Motive for baptism was forgiveness of sins and partakers of new life. Motive for preaching - Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. Motive for response, forgiveness of sins and gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 5:42 Motive for preaching - Jesus Christ and His story.  In Acts 7, Steven preaches the sermon reminding Jews of how God had planted the seed of the Gospel with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the prophets. His attempt to water that seed was met with hard hearts and they stoned Him. His final words -- His motive for sharing was to declare Christ as Lord..."Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" were his last words as a witness (martyr) for Christ. Acts 8 Phillip preached Christ and His Kingdom ...those that believed were baptized. Motive for baptism-- Christ as Lord - relationship to His Kingdom.  Phillip and the Eunuch. Reading Isaiah about the Lamb of God. Phillip Preached Jesus and tied that to His death, burial & resurrection so that when they came upon water, the Eunuch saw an opportunity to be united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection through the watery grave of baptism. Motive for baptism, being united with Christ, the Lamb of God, the offering for sin and believing  & confessing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Acts 9 Saul/Paul’s conversion: motive for baptism --to receive the Holy Spirit. In Acts 22:16, we see more of Paul’s story and find that again...Saul’s motive for baptism included “washing away of his sins” without delay.  Acts 10 Cornelius a devout believer, praying for the Messiah…motive for baptism, relationship with the Lord....finding out that the Messiah had come and accepting His gospel.  Acts 11: 20 – the saints were scattered abroad to preach Jesus as Lord. Motive for preaching – believing in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Acts 13 - Paul once again reminds Israel of the seeds God planted with their fathers and prophets and then declares Christ crucified and raised from the dead 13:30-38 Paul ties this event to the "forgiveness of sins" . Motive for preaching - Christ glorified, hope in the resurrection from the dead and the forgiveness of sins.  Versus 46-47 add the promise of everlasting life & salvation.  Acts 16:14 - God opens the heart of Lydia to receive the gospel and to be baptized. Motive for baptism, faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.   Here are the biblical conclusions: (1) God places people in our path to deliver the Good News. It is by grace that we hear of LIFE & LIGHT (ex: Pentecost, Cornelius, Eunuch, Lydia) 2 Cor 4:7 We are earthen vessels through which the power of God & His mercy are made known. (2) God opens the heart to receive the Word (if you have a submissive heart.) It is to grace that our hearts respond when exposed to the good news. (3) The Holy Spirit works on our hearts to convict us of sin (John 16:8) so that we are motivated to repent. It is by grace that God works on a willing heart. (4) Repentance means to turn away from selfish control and to give it ALL to the One who makes all things NEW & ALIVE through the grace of Christ. (5) Confession results from the enlightenment of the heart and soul that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Good Confession is continuous in the life of a Christ follower.  If we acknowledge Christ and is work in our daily lives, our confession becomes a part of our witness that sheds Light in a dark world. This is our calling in Christ, to bear witness to His glorious gospel. Confession = praise. We give him glory in ALL things. We do NOT believe in “luck”, we believe in the hand of God in our lives, step by step. Confession is the agreement with God about who Christ is and what He has done for mankind. The definition & use of Confession in the New Testament is tied to witnessing, martyrdom, acknowledgment, with continuous praise and adoration. It is not a “one time” event. Confession (witnessing) is having your speech “seasoned with salt”. Our very conversations in all aspects of our lives declare the good news. Our personal stories are seasoned with salt. Witness in Tragedy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-y2cdOA8P4 Paul says he made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, over many events, with many different types of listeners. Have we done the same? BTW: What is the GOOD Confession? 1 Tim 6:12-13 (6) Baptism becomes a prayer to the Father, Son & Holy Spirit for: ·         God to do his work (Colossians 2:12) ·         Son to cover our sins with His blood, and ·         The Holy Spirit to come live within us.  Baptism places us INTO Christ: Romans 6:3-11, Galatians 3:27 when we have FAITH in the Working of God. (Col 2:12) _______________________________________________________________ BAPTISM might even been seen as a Process (Small Groups) What work does God do in baptism? Eph 1 What work do we do in baptism? We surrender! Someone else must lay us into our watery grave. Someone else baptizes us just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father, so we are raised from the dead by the hands of another to remind us…IT IS NOT A WORK that we do. It is a time to surrender and die. If we die, then we are raised to walk a new life. Notice the all important “IF” statements. Col 2:20, 3:1-17, Romans 6:8, 8:11, 2 Tim 2:11 In baptism we move from darkness to light by faith in the working of God. We must believe that He gives us ALL Spiritual Blessings (Eph 1:3) --a new position as adopted children, new hope, new promises, new name, new purpose, new mission, new Bridegroom, new Spirit, new approach to life by receiving the indwelling of His Spirit.  Gal 5:22-25 If we have truly died and have been raised with Him, we surrender to the Lordship of Christ by being on Mission with Him, for Him and because of Him Col 3:1-5, 1 Peter 3:15 This is our Heavenly calling. If we follow Christ into the burial of baptism, we become immersed into His purpose, His priorities, His reality, covered in His righteousness, submerged in His work. A true Christ follower takes up the mission of the Master. SUBMISSION, SUBMERSION & SURRENDER are part of the Life-Long Process of SANCTIFICATION (The perfecting of the saints by the Holy Spirit) When we submit in baptism, we submit to walk with Christ as Lord over all aspects of our lives. We surrender all or nothing. The Christian walk sheds Light in a life of surrender & submission – “Thy will, not mine, be done.” We continue to GROW and to BEAR FRUIT as followers of Christ (2 Peter 1:3-11) As disciples, we disciple others. It is sad to say that far too few have actually died with Christ in baptism as evidenced by the fact that the Spirit does not transform them from the inside out. The Christian life is a life of change (transformation) & growth, a maturing process in knowledge, wisdom, love & service to our Lord. We are clothed in Christ, hidden in Christ, continually cleansed in Christ for the purpose of being the vessels through which the gospel is shared with the world. What does it look like to love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul? _______________________________________________________________ Let’s begin to pray for God to fill each one of us. Let’s agree to surrender time every day in meditation on His word and deep thought about what He really says, asking God to give us all wisdom and a clear vision of His will for our lives  (7) Walking in the Light is the new path through which Christ followers grow in respect to their salvation: keeping the faithful vision of Christ, their “first love” as priority, purpose for acting, sharing, loving, caring, and serving. Walking in the Light refers to being a true Christ follower…. in tune with the Spirit. Can we be a disciple without “walking with the Spirit”, adjusting each step of our lives to be in step with Christ and His mission? (1 John 1:7) Can we be a disciple without testifying continuously about what Christ has accomplished in our lives? Can we be a disciple without making disciples? Can we be a disciple without making a difference in our sphere of influence? What pattern for disciple-making did Christ leave for us to follow, command us to follow? What does it look like? (8) Ministry of Reconciliation – Matthew 28:18-20 & 2 Cor 5: 17f 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. It is, therefore, our responsibility as Christ Followers to be in ministry. We are committed to the word of reconciliation, helping others, through our sharing and caring, to be reconciled to God through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. RESOURCE HANDOUT: Salvation Scriptures (Highlight in Yellow) HOMEWORK: (1) Read and Reflect on HOMEWORK handout (2) Listen to Followship #2 (again) Begin thinking of: (A) how you can present the good news in any situation in life? How can you tie the good news to your story? AND (B) who is your Person of Peace? (Luke 10:3-6). Someone who is not a Christian.  Someone who: 1.      Is already in your sphere of influence 2.     Welcomes you 3.     Receives your lifestyle (and probably without realizing it at first, receives Jesus in you) 4.     Serves you 5.     Who you have already intentionally invested in through hobbies, events, activities. They often operate as a gatekeeper, opening relational doorways into their network of relationships Are you willing to cross the line and risk the scorn of the world to recognize & share with Persons of Peace and thus join Jesus in the restoration and healing of people’s lives? Closing: - How To Have Real Community (3) It is important that we learn to actually become fluent in sharing the Good News, helping others see the blessings we receive in this life as followers of Christ. Our gospel fluency must reach those who are hurting: from loss of a child or loved one, enslaved in addictive behaviors, divorcing, failing in life, lonely. It must reach those who have no hope and/or no peace. How do we hone our fluency in a gracious gospel? Here is an exercise I would like you to participate in. The graphic below is an example of literature that was often handed out in the 1950s and 1960s (and perhaps still today). It demonstrates “The 5 Steps to Salvation.” This is just an example. There were and still are many other info-graphics out there, including those from other denominations that have erroneous and false information about salvation. But for this exercise we are going to ask you to determine….WHAT is Wrong with this Picture? AND to find a better graphic you would be willing to share.

I like to draw when I share. I often have a pen and paper in my hand to make graphics so I can share my thoughts and others can see what I’m talking about. There is nothing wrong with using a graphic. Jesus used an enormous amount of visual aids as He taught.

However, some graphics misinform. This one does in about 7 different ways.

Think of a better way to explain your salvation or find a graphic that you think is better….and bring it to class or share on our Facebook page.

When does God Adopt you as a Child, make you Holy & Blameless, Forgive your Sins?

Meditate on Matthew 28:18-19. Think about the phrase, “…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”  At this point, WHAT had Christ commanded people to do?