Harmony Christian Church

FACEBOOK COPY: Who are we letting close enough to carry our armor? 💔🤝 This week, Kent dives into betrayal, trust, and building real heart-and-soul friendships.

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OPENING:

When I was in my early 30’s I had developed a friendship with a guy in our church.  I shared deeply intimate things with this guy about my weaknesses, my pain, my dreams, my inadequacies.  Do you guys have someone like that?  Like someone I could sing the golden girls theme song with: A “Confidant” [start singing the golden girls theme]…

We hung out all the time, he influenced lots of stuff I did and I kept bringing him in closer and closer into my circle.  Until eventually I invited him to be a part of the leadership of the church I was at.

You ever have something just 100% blind side you?  This guy blind sided me.  We were in one of our leadership meetings and he said, “I don’t think Kent should be leading…”  my stomach dropped, I was like, “what in the world is going on”  He proceeded to tell them all the things I had shared with him as insecurities that I had told him as a friend.  It was gut wrenching.  As a young man who felt in over his head, this guy was throwing me under the bus - I found out later he just wanted to gain control of the church for himself, thankfully the other leaders at the time saw through it and it didn’t happen.

But something it made me realize is

Who we let into our closest circle of friends matters more than we know.

b

The temptation, after a betrayal is to “never let anyone get close to me again…”  Ever felt that?

Honestly, there are lots of people living that life…

They are completely alone on purpose

-a family member betrayed them and left them hurting

-a pastor who they looked up to failed and they decided they’d never let themselves be hurt like that again

-Friend after friend abandoned you so you decided a wall was better than a door…

You can make it through life like that, but you were created for deep meaningful relationships with others.

the first thing God ever said wasn’t good in the creation story was not spiders, it wasn’t the duck billed platypus, it wasn’t the smell of sulfur, listen to what it was.

Genesis 2:18

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.

You were created for community.  It’s all through the scriptures, even to the point that when Jesus left the earth what He left you other people.

People are the only thing from this reality that will continue to the next.

So, especially for those of you who have convinced yourself you can’t have a good relationship or for those of you who have resigned to just never

OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

Back in 1997 in Taipei they decided, as part of a celebration to do a massive game of tug of war.  Let me ask you, how many of you were the kid that would let go of the rope when playing tug of war…  Ha, just about every guy I know has done that.  The people should have let go of the rope…  That day they had 1,600 people join in the tug of rope.  I can’t even imagine that many people and how long the rope had to have been.  Here’s what I do know, that many people, tugging on one rope exerted 176,369 lbs of force on the rope… Here was the problem, no one thought to check how much force the rope 2” thick rope could actually handle, which was only 57,320 lbs.  What happened was crazy.  When all 1600 people began tugging all at once the rope severed and as it did, two men has their arms ripped from their bodies… It’s not clear if the rope snapped back and severed the arms or if they were literally ripped off their bodies.  Can you imagine standing there looking down at the ground and being like, “someone lost an arm” and then realizing it was you…  

Oh man, that’s crazy!

This morning we are going to begin to explore the tension that’s created when we follow God by looking at the life and story of Abraham from scripture.

I heard someone say once that 

Tension is not something you can typically get rid of, rather it’s something you manage.

my hope is to help you learn to manage the tension

SCRIPTURE:

Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,

    and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

    and you will be a blessing.[a]

3 I will bless those who bless you,

    and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

    will be blessed through you.”[b]

It would be easy for me to preach an inspirational sermon about hearing God, believing God, and following God.  I could preach and get yall fired up and talking about how Abraham didn’t hesitate, he just followed God and how through Abe God will bless all peoples, some day Jesus will come through his lineage and you will sit in this room today because this guy thousands of years ago left everything.  

And while that sermon would be good and true, it would miss something.

Did you notice what Abe was going to have to leave behind to follow the call of God?

b

His country, his people, and his family

If you’ve

Tune in as we hear a fresh perspective from Griff Ray from Crossroads Church!

Tune in as we hear a fresh perspective from Ken Idleman from The Solomon Foundation!

Tune in as we hear a fresh perspective from Mike McCormick from Calvary Christian Church!

Tune in today as we hear a fresh perspective from Scott Taube of The Solomon Foundation!

OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

The very first night we brought our oldest baby home from the hospital I was changing his diaper and I can remember exactly where I was because in the hospital when I changed his diaper I remember having this thought.  “it doesn’t smell!  Maybe if you’re the dad it doesn’t smell to you…”  Lol, I wasn’t that sharp.  What I didn’t know is that it didn’t smell because what I was changing was a substance called Meconium.  I didn’t know that Meconium is not the same thing as what would normally meet my faculties as I changed a diaper.  It was that day, in the basement of my grandmas house in a blue bedroom - i’m telling you, this is seared into my memory that as I changed that diaper I was like, “Nope, Nope, I can smell it…”  Ha

It was unmistakable…. lol

Some of you are like, “Kent, you’re the worst talking about this in church,” ha!

Here’s what I learned that day…

What goes in affects what comes out…

Look, we’re in this series “thinking Biblically” and I want to introduce you to a topic that I think matters so much if you are going to make in this world, this isn’t even just a Christian thing, this is life thing…

Paul says the “what goes in affects what comes out” thing by using a metaphor from agriculture:

Galatians 6:7-8

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

b

What Does Paul mean by “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked?”

ILLUSTRATION:

I was watching a reel the other day of this lady a “Karen”, does anyone else feel bad for actual Karen’s?  Lol, this lady was up in these teens faces yelling at them about getting her food wrong - one of the other employees came up and spilled something on the lady to defuse the situation.  As the lady walked out they all started laughing and high fiving each other.  

When Paul says “don’t be deceived, God can’t be mocked” He’s saying, 

God isn’t some Karen for you to get a clip of and put your nose up at…  In other words, God isn’t a joke, and the things God calls people to is not a joke…

A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

b

Paul is saying that whatever you put into your life (sow) will affect what comes out of it (reap).

b

What does it mean to “sow to please the flesh”?

b

The flesh is the Bible way to talk about the part of you that is comfortable doing life without God.

Paul describes it in Galatians 5:

Galatians 5:19-21

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, imp