How can I invite God's Blessing in my life?

James 1:12, Hebrews 10:23-25, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Genesis 2:18-23 NLT

• Life Through Community
• We are better together
• We were made for community

As we come off of the Christmas season, we still have a few lingering ideas that are in our hearts. We have the joy of the time we shared together this season with so many people in so many places. We have the anticipation of the New Year that comes tomorrow. Somehow, there just seems to be a Thrill of Hope in the air.

Romans 8:20-25 NLT

Broken World - No bones about it… our world is messed up. It’s under a curse. Sin brought that curse on this world and I’m sorry to say that we will never escape it on this side of eternity. Life is hard, because the world is cursed. Relationships are hard, because the world is cursed.

Savory Sample - Verse 23 says that we have been given a “foretaste” of the Holy Spirit. This is the image that Paul was using for the Roman Church. He is saying, “you have the gift of the Holy Spirit, but it’s just a sample (or small portion) that points you to hunger for the entirety of him. It’s not enough to fully satisfy the “groanings/complaints” of this world. It’s just a sample. We have to then dig deeper and go further to surrender more and more of ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit so that we can become increasingly satisfied in this Broken World.

Romans 8:24-25 NLT

Self-Medicating - Here’s the greatest thief of our hope. We aren’t waiting patiently. We aren’t waiting confidently. We are running all over the place looking for hope and peace to be found in someone or something else. We have become convinced that the “next thing” will be “the thing” that finally gives us some hope and peace in our lives. We are self-medicating. We are using all the things of the world that we can find to dull the pain and give us momentary relief.

How the Grinch stole Christmas

The Battle you Cannot See. Everyone is fighting a battle you cannot see. We often look at hurtful people and dismiss them as the same. We don’t like the way the act or the way they treat other people. So, we try to avoid them. We might even go as far as to speak ill of them and their actions to others, propagating the idea of their innate meanness. Here’s the truth… mean and hurtful people were not born that way. There was something in their lives that forever changed the way they saw themselves and the rest of the world around them.

Romans 12:9-10,17-21 Quoting Proverbs 25:21-22

Real Love is Messy. When we try to love people who have been hurt, it doesn’t always go the way we thought it would.

Luke 6:32-34

Real Love Changes Lives. It won’t happen the first time. It might not happen the 5th or the 10th time. It may be a process where we have to get down in the muck and mud of someone else’s life and trauma. But, eventually, real love changes lives. Now, the most altruistic of us might be willing to undergo that journey for someone else. We will endure the pain. We will become the Mother Theresa of our time! We will allow others to abuse us or mistreat us in the name of truly loving. This is all good, but it misses a finer point. Real love doesn’t just change the lives of those around us… it changes us.

Philippians 2:5-8 [You MUST have the same attitude as Christ Jesus. Not you should, or we highly recommend. You must…]

ELF

There's so much to do. There’s a temptation in difficult times of struggle to say, “I’m ready for Jesus to come back.” While this is a simple statement that qualifies our personal security in knowing that Heaven sounds better that Earth, there is one thing that is missing. There’s so much to do before Jesus comes back. You might be ready for the return of Jesus, but is your family ready? Are you neighbors ready? Are you coworkers ready? Are the people of your community ready? These are the real questions that should come to our minds. Buddy seems to be the only one who is excited about Santa coming to town, but it’s because he is the only one who actually knows him. Everyone else just considers him to be an idea or a character.

1 Corinthians 7:29-32

A Throne of Lies. Here’s the truth… when you know the real deal, any imposter can be spotted a mile away and you’re not going to stand for it. We have a cultural disdain for anything fake, except for when it comes to spirituality. We somehow seem to be ok with it then. The fakest think that we will ever encounter in our lives is that of religion. God is not a religion. He is the creator of the universe, who sustains all things and who has offered the only means for salvation from our sin so that we don’t have to endure the penalty for our wickedness for eternity.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

You are the only one. As we draw close to Jesus and begin combatting the lies of this world, we find ourselves in an interesting spot. For a while it creates quite a struggle and hurdle that we have to overcome. We find that we no longer really fit in with the rest of the world, but we don’t really feel like we fulling fit in with God either. We’re not who we used to be but we aren’t perfect either.

1 Peter 4:2-10

Pastor Matt Robinson

[The Santa Claus movie with Tim Allen]

Acts 7:57-8:1; 9:26-31

The Messy Back Story- There is some character who has a sorted past or who has been hurt by someone in the past. Either way, there is reason for them to be the wrong person for the leading role in this storyline that is unfolding in front of us. Can you relate? Don’t’ we all come from that same kind of place in our relationship with God?

Not Quite Right- It’s funny when we see it through this character (Scott Calvin) that he is “kind of” embracing the roll he is supposed to be filling. He doesn’t have a good attitude about it. He’s not really doing it right. He still has a lot of selfishness and arrogant rudeness inside of him. He’s going through the motions, but it’s “not quite right.”

The New Identity- Our new identity is that of a person who no longer lives for self, but who is dead to selfish desires. Instead, we are reborn and made alive in Christ with a new purpose and a new identity. We live to see people reconciled to God. In the movie, Santa says that “there are a lot of people depending on him.” This is a reality with which we must all learn to identify. There are a lot of people depending on this new identity that Christ has given us.

EPH. 5:4b- This verse is the hinge-point for a much larger section. It goes from Eph. 4:17-5:20. In this section, Paul is instructing the church in Ephesus about what it means to live in the light. We talked about this last week. We are the Church, those who have been called out of darkness and into the light. Paul’s instruction as “Children of the Light” is so important for us. It a major factor in our spiritual growth. What are we trading? What are we getting? How do we get there?

What am I trading?

• Wandering in hopeless confusion and darkness
• A hard-heart that has no sense of shame
• A sinful nature that is corrupted by lust and deception
• Lying and anger which give a foothold to the devil
• Stealing, abusive language, bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscene stories, foolish talk and coarse joking

EPH. 5:1-2,6-9

What am I getting?

• Freedom from being a slave to sin
• Renewed thoughts and attitudes
• True righteousness and holiness
• A heart of generosity that helps others in need
• A good, helpful and encouraging voice
• Kindness, tenderness, love, and a forgiving nature.
• A wisdom that makes the most of every opportunity
• The infilling of the Holy Spirit

EPH. 5:15-20, Hebrews 13:12-16

Jesse Comrie, Global Renewal

Global Renewal exists to change the world through boldly proclaiming the Gospel, planting new churches, and bringing freedom to those who are in bondage.

The Apostles-

- Bartholomew (Nathanael): martyred in India.

- Phillip: martyred in Egypt.

- John: marooned on Patmos Island until death.

- James (lesser): martyred in Rome.

- Andrew: martyred in Greece.

- Peter: martyred in Rome.

- Thomas (twin): martyred in India.

- Matthew (Levi): martyred in Ethiopia.

- James (greater): martyred in Rome.

- Judas (Thaddeus): martyred in Beirut.

- Simon (the zealot): martyred in England.

- Judas Iscariot: betrayed Jesus, committed suicide.

Matthew 28:18-20

The Conspiracy

"Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand, there is no way the 11 apostles, who were with Jesus at the time of the resurrection, could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus' resurrection unless it were true." -Chuck Colson, former White House Special Counsel, indicted on charges in connection to the Watergate scandal. In regards to the unraveling of his own conspiracy/coverup, he said, "Here were the 10 most powerful men in the United States," he said, referring to the Watergate cover-up attempt. "With all that power, and we couldn't contain a lie for two weeks."

Paul- Acts 26:13-18 NLT

- Born in Tarsus, Roman citizen (acts 22:3 & 28)

- School of Gamaliel (acts 22:3)

- Persecuted the early Church (acts 8:1-3)

- Converted by Jesus (acts 9:1-9)

- Rough start in ministry (acts 9:26-29)

- 3 Missionary Journeys, 10k+ miles (acts 11-21)

- Shipwrecked on Malta Island (acts 28:2-10)

- House arrest for 2 years in Rome (acts 28:30-31)

- Martyred in Rome for refusing to keep quiet about the truth of Jesus.

The Church- 1 Peter 2:9-12

The Greek word for church is ekklesia. It is the combination of the word ek, which means out from and derived from kaleo which means to call. So the word is built upon the notion of people who are being “called out from.” This is exactly what Peter writes to “God’s Chosen People.” This to is an interesting concept and phrase. This phrase had been utilized in description of the Jews and was not inclusive of anyone else. Yet, throughout the New Testament, we see this new concept arising. We have been grafted in to the family of God as his children. We are now part of God’s chosen people. We are those who have been called out of darkness and into the light. We are those who used to not be a people, but now we are the people of God. As the people of God, what is our response? What is our responsibility? We are called to carry the message of salvation through Jesus to the world around us. We are called to do so in conjunction with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.