Life Center

God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content, and generous.

Transcript

October 12-13, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Overwhelmed!

#2—Generosity instead of Greed

The Big Idea: God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content and generous.

Opening:

True confession: there are some foods that I don’t have an “off-button” for.  My wife’s homemade lasagna.  More, more!  Tillamook Mudslide ice cream.  More, more!  Just about any kind of chips—Laina teases me that I always have 4 or 5 bags of chips open.  More, more!  Anybody else have some foods you just can’t say no to? 

But it goes deeper than food.  We have the “more” disease, the inability to say “enough” in other areas too: clothes, cars, vacations, toys.  More, more!  Is there a way to keep from being overwhelmed by consumerism and greed?  Yep!  I’m going to tell you today!

Introduction:

ILL: Let’s start with a story.  A little boy who was visiting friends with his parents managed to get his hand stuck in a very expensive Asian vase, worth hundreds of dollars.  His embarrassed parents and their hosts tried everything to free the tearful boy’s hand.  They tugged and twisted, even lathered him up with soap and then with Vaseline.  All to no avail.  Finally, the awful decision was made, and the vase was broken. That’s when they discovered that the little guy couldn’t get his hand out because he had it balled up in a fist, curled around a penny he had seen in the bottom of the vase.

Greed is like that.  We grasp a penny and lose something much greater. 

Do you believe that God has something bigger and better than a penny for you?  Me too.  Instead of being overwhelmed by greed, God wants to overwhelm you with His generosity!  God wants to bless you.  He wants to give you life to the full!  He wants you to thrive and flourish!  And when you are overwhelmed by His generosity, you can let go of the penny! 

The Big Idea: God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content and generous.

1. Overwhelmed by my greed.

Do you think of yourself as greedy?  Yeah, me neither.  Most of us don’t think of ourselves as greedy—I sure don’t.  So maybe we need to define greed.  Webster defines greed as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.”  And the Greek word that is translated “greed” in your Bibles means “a desire to have more, irrespective of need.” 

“Greed is a selfish and excessive desire.”  Of course, that implies that not all desires are wrong; not all desires are selfish or excessive.  It’s not wrong to desire to have your needs met.  You’re hungry; it’s not wrong to desire food.  You’re thirsty; it’s not wrong to desire drink.  It’s getting cold; it’s not wrong to desire warm clothes or shelter.  It’s also not wrong to desire to thrive, to flourish, to do well.  I believe it’s what God wants for us.  Jesus came to bring us life, life to the full.  He wants you to thrive and flourish!  We should desire that for ourselves and for others. So, I want to emphasize that not all desire is wrong.  There is healthy ambition.  There is a healthy desire to thrive and succeed.  So when does right desire go wrong and become greed?  When it becomes a selfish and excessive desire for more.

“Greed is a selfish and excessive desire for more.”  That word “more” is key.  Greed cries, “More, more!”  It is never satisfied.  No matter how much you have, it’s never enough.  Greed always wants more, more, more.  The Romans had a proverb that said that money was like sea-water: the more a man drank, the thirstier he became.

ILL: In her book, My Father’s Daughter, Tina Sinatra, recalls her famous father’s unceasing drive to make money even when his health was at risk:

“His health was in tatters, but my father (Frank Sinatra) refused to stop giving concerts. “I’ve just got to earn more money,” he said. His performances became more and more uneven. After seeing one too many of th

Identify the roots of guilt to embrace the freedom of grace.

Jesus expects us to be for people just like He is for them. Let your light shine!

TRANSCRIPTION

We are in this series called “I Am For You,” and this is the last week we’re talking about God designed us for other people, that He made us to be for them, to live for them. He said that you are the light of the world, and what He means is that we are supposed to be so loving, so bright, that people would come to us so they could come to Jesus. That we’re supposed to be bright with the light of Jesus. He said we’re supposed to be so loving that we’re even supposed to love our enemies. Whoa, Jesus. Time out. Do you know what that person did to me? Do you know their character, God? And He’s like, “Yeah, I do. Love them.” This is what He asks us to do. It defies logic that we would love our enemies, because what we usually do to our enemies is we do what they did to us. We reciprocate back what they’ve done to us. But Jesus asks us to do the opposite. He asks us to love them.

Think about this. God put you in your neighborhood for the people around you. Literally, the people around you, God put you there for them. God put you in your work for the people around you so that you could give His love to them. God put you in your dysfunctional, crazy, messed up family so you could be for them. There’s a lot of like, “Ooh, I don’t know about that right now.” God put you there for them. The love of God, the life of God, the joy of God, and the peace of God are to come to the world through you. That’s what God designed for you and me to be His love, to be His light.

See, the world is craving the flavor of Jesus and we are the salt that can provide that flavor of Jesus in their lives. This is who Jesus has designed us to be. He’s designed us to be light, He’s designed us to be salt. But it’s hard, isn’t it? Has anyone honked at you recently? How about have you honked at anyone recently? Hopefully not in the parking lot, right? So, you know there’s a whole language behind honking, right? We all understand the language of honking. If you give a little meep-meep, that means, “Hi, I’m not angry, but I just want to let you know you may proceed.” If you give a meep-meep, that means, “Bro, you just cut me off, I’m not happy,” right? But if you give a meep, that means, “What are you thinking?” So we all know there’s a language behind honking, correct? We get that.

So two years ago, it was right around Christmas time, and my wife was going to visit a friend. She had taken our one year old son, Paxton. She had gotten some take out. She was taking it over to their house. It was going to be this awesome, fun night that they were going to have together, and she called me on the way there and she’s crying and she says, “My car broke down.” Her car broke down right on the hill on Alberta, so it’s icy. It’s sleeting, it’s dark. When she calls, she’s crying, but not only is she crying, our son is crying. He’s wailing in the background. So I drive there, and when I get there, it’s true. She’s got her flashers on. She’s stuck in the middle of Alberta, this busy road, right on this hill, and cars are having to go around her and she’s just weeping and my son is wailing and it’s sleeting and it’s dark. This is not where you want to be in Christmas time, right?

I’m hooking up the jumper cables, because I think it’s an alternator, so I just need to get the battery charged so I can move the car. So I’m hooking up the jumper cables, and while I’m coming around … so I just hooked up the jumper cables, I’m coming around the side of the car. Someone flies by us and gives me the meep. So in a flash of anger, I responded like you would think your pastor should. I reciprocated his rude h

What would your life be like if you saw God cheering you on, coaching you, assisting you, and empowering you through-out the day?

The truth is, GOD IS for you and we’re going to explore powerful facets of a life lived like God is for you, because He is!

Usually, we think of what God wants from us rather than what He wants for us. So… what does God want for you?

Transcript

September 7-8, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Fall Kickoff

What God Wants For You

Introduction and offering:

ILL: In the winter of 2004, I was actively looking for a motorcycle. Pastor Noel, my father-in-law, lived with us and would often ask me how my search was going. I’d walk by his room and he’d call out, “Found a bike yet?” If I told him I had something I was interested in, he’d ask me to show him pictures, and had lots of questions. This went on for weeks. I was puzzled why Noel was so interested.

When I finally found one, Noel asked all about it. Then he asked eagerly, “Are you going to get it?” I hesitated—it was a great deal: a two year old bike with only 3900 miles, fully dressed; new cost $18,000, I’m getting it for $7200. But it was still a lot of money for me, so I was dragging my feet. “Go for it,” he told me. Then he handed me a check for half of it—$3600. It turns out that all those questions, all that interest was because Noel wanted to help me. He wanted something for me, not from me.

By the way, 15 years later, I’m still riding and loving that bike—it has 72,000 miles on it now! Thank you Noel!

Noel is a lot like God our Father. God keeps asking things of us, things He wants us to do, or know, or believe. It turns out that all that interest, all those questions and commands are because He wants something for us, more than from us!

What does God want for you?

When we think and talk about God’s will for our lives, it’s usually more about what God wants us to do. Does God want me to do this career, or move to this place, or marry this person? What does God want me to do? Nothing wrong with that…

But, have you ever thought of God’s will in terms of what He wants for you rather than from you? What does God want for you?

So…what does God want for you? I’m going to tell you right after the offering.

Offering (pass out Bibles)

What does God want for you?

 

God wants you to live Life to the full.

I capitalized Life on purpose. Jesus wants you to live Life with a capital L. Life to the full! Jesus says this in one of my favorite verses: (read aloud)

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Let’s take a look at that verse in it’s context.

John 10:7–11 (p. 922)

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In this passage, Jesus uses two metaphors about Himself. He is both the good shepherd and the gate to the sheepfold.

Jesus is the gate: all who enter through the gate will be saved or kept safe, secure and healthy. The Greek word for “saved” is sozo which can mean “to rescue, to make safe; to heal or make healthy or whole.” Jesus is the gate—He is the way to salvation and wholeness.

Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. When thieves or wolves attack, the good shepherd gives his life to save the sheep. Notice the contrast between Jesus and the thieves in verse 10. They come to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it to the full. The thieves came to take something from us; Jesus comes to bring something for us: life to the full.

Jesus came to bring us life, life to the full. Not just life, but life to the full. Not just existing, but Life with a capital L. Abundant life! Overflowing life! Extraordinary life!

The Greek word for full or abundant is perissos. It’s a really cool word! It refers to something “extraordinary or remarka

Aim your life at Jesus and live after him with all you are.

What happens if a seed stays on the surface of the soil? NOTHING! A seed needs to be planted in order to grow. When we plant Jesus in our life, we develop strong roots that produce incredible fruit!

Jesus does wonderful things—He heals the sick, forgives the sinner, frees the captive, and fiercely loves!

Transcript

August 17-18, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Summer Bible Series

What I love about Jesus!

Luke 13:10-17 (p. 896)

Opening:

Today, we are going to read a really cool story about Jesus breaking the rules to heal a crippled lady. Jesus valued people over protocol. I love that about Jesus! In fact, there’s a lot in this story that I love about Jesus. That’s what we’re going to talk about. And, we’re going to kick off Love Week! Let’s start by standing and singing; we’re going to use some songs to tell Jesus we love Him!

 

Introduction and offering:

ILL: Eileen wanted nothing to do with God. In fact, when her daughter told her that someone at school had been talking to her about God, Eileen was so upset that she couldn’t sleep that night.

At midnight she went downstairs and picked up a Bible. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been to a church, nor had she ever opened a Bible on her own. When she opened it now, she noticed it was divided into an “old” part and a “new” part. She decided to start with the “new” part, figuring the book may have been updated.

So in the still of the night she sat on her living room floor and began to read the gospel of Matthew. By 3 a.m. she was in the middle of John’s gospel and found, as she puts it, that she had fallen in love with the person of Jesus. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she prayed to God, “but I know you are what I want.”

Jesus has that effect on people. He’s amazing. Today we are continuing our Summer Bible Series in the gospel of Luke with a story about Jesus that just makes me love Him more. Here it is:

Luke 13:10–17 (p. 896)

10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Here are five things from this story that I love about Jesus.

Offering:

Jesus’ habit of weekly worship.

The story opens on a Sabbath with Jesus teaching in a synagogue. It’s easy to read right over this because it’s so ordinary: Jesus was always in a synagogue on the Sabbath. It’s where you’d find Him every Sabbath.

Luke 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.

Different translations render this, “on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue as usual, or as he always did, or as was his custom or habit.” What did Jesus do on the Sabbath? He went to worship at the synagogue. Why did He do this?

First, Jesus was an observant Jew, one who followed God’s Law. Of course, the Sabbath was #4 of the Ten Commandments. Every 7th day on the Sabbath, God’s people were to stop working, rest, remember and worship God. Jesus honored God by obeying His law—including the Sabbath.

But what was the purpose of the Sabbath law? On another occasion Jesus was being accused of violating the Sabbath because he allowed His hungry disciples to pluck some heads of grain. Jesus answered his accusers:

Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was made for

Why do bad things happen to good people? Jesus had a surprising answer to that question.

Transcript

August 10-11, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Summer Bible Series

Repent!

Luke 13:1-5 (p. 896)

Opening:

ILL: When I ride my motorcycle, the bike tends to go where I’m looking.  If I’m staring at a beautiful scene off to my right, the bike drifts right.  If I’m looking at an obstacle in the road, I’m more likely to hit it. You look where you want to go.  The bike follows your eyes.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to correct after looking away.  Steering my bike is a constant series of small corrections. Occasionally, a U-turn is required—I’m going the wrong way!  But most of the time its hundreds of small corrections to stay on the road.

Following Jesus is like this: it’s a life of repentance, of making changes, large and small.  Today we’re going to talk about what it means to repent. It’s good!

Introduction and offering:

This Mission Interview

What is This Mission? What is your mission? 

Tell us about this summer, what did you guys do? 

How did you guys get started in This Mission?

What are some of the trips you have funded or some stories from them?

Tell us how we could get involved/support you

This is the Summer Bible Series and we’re working our way through the gospel of Luke.  Let’s dive in.

Luke 13:1–5 (p. 896)

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” 

Someone asks Jesus about a current event: Pilate had recently killed some Galileans while they were in Jerusalem worshiping, mixing their blood with their sacrifices.  We don’t have any other information about this event—no other historians mention it. But we do know that Pilate did not get along with his Jewish subjects, and on more than one occasion reacted with unnecessary force and bloodshed, and was removed by Roman authorities in 36 AD.  

This event was an outrage—what did Jesus think of it?  In His answer, Jesus brings up a second current event. A tower had recently collapsed and killed 18 people.  One a political tragedy, the other an accidental tragedy.  

Jesus responds to these tragedies by making two points.  First, these people didn’t die because they were worse sinners than others—Jesus was challenging the prevalent theology of suffering.  Second, you need to repent or you will perish too—Jesus insisted that everyone must repent because everyone sins. We’re going to talk about those two things—points 1 and 2 on your outline.  We won’t get to 3 and 4 today.  

Offering

A theology of suffering.

First, Jesus corrects the prevalent theology of suffering. The prevalent theology in Jesus’ day (and it’s still popular today) was that you got what you deserved.  

If you were suffering, you must have done something bad to deserve it.  

If you were doing well, you must have done something good to deserve it.

If you were rich, you must be righteous and God was blessing you.  

If you were poor, you were being punished for your sins.  

If you were sick, you had done something to bring it on yourself.  

For example, look at:

John 9:1–3 (p. 921)

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Jesus’ disciples assumed that the man had been born blind because of sin—either his sin or his parents’ sin—although one has to wonder what sin he could have

Jesus didn’t promise us that following Him would be easy—instead, Jesus promised that “we would be absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble.”

Transcript

August 3-4, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Summer Bible Series

Make the Right Decision!

Luke 12:49-59 (p. 895-6)

Opening:

It’s camp weekend! We just finished 3 camps—kids, middle school and high school involving about 1500 students and hundreds of volunteers—and they were amazing! Today our camp worship team is going to lead us in some rocking worship, and we’re going to celebrate with XX people who are being baptized this weekend!

After worship and prayer, we’re going to look at some difficult sayings of Jesus in Luke 12, and think about making the right decision even when it’s hard and others oppose us. Jesus didn’t promise us that following Him would be easy—instead, Jesus promised that “we would be absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble.”

That’s where we’re headed—let’s celebrate!

Introduction and offering:

Life is a series of choices, and those choices often have long-range unintended consequences, good and bad. Our life is shaped by those choices.

ILL: Don Smith (3 pics with comment) was the first pastor to hire me and give me a job as a pastor. Don’s wife, Judy, passed away about 18 months ago. Just a few weeks ago, I told Laina that I wanted to visit Don, now 85 years old, and tell him how much he meant to me. Then while I was on my recent motorcycle adventure, I received a text informing me that Don had just been diagnosed with widespread terminal cancer and had days or weeks to live. I received that text on the day we were riding up the Oregon coast, and I knew that at one point, I’d be only 45 miles away from McMinnville where Don lived. So I left my riding buddies at that point, and took the detour to visit Don. I was there for a couple hours and had a delightful time talking and praying with this godly man who had such a huge impact on me.

Don hired me when I was 19 to be the youth pastor at his church—a very risky decision. He pastored a conservative Church of Christ, and I was a flaming charismatic with crazy, out-of-the-box ideas about youth ministry. From the start, I was in constant trouble, and Don had my back.

Three weeks in, I got tired of being a glorified baby sitter, and I told the students, “If you just want to fart around, do me a favor and stay home. If you want to learn how to pray and follow Jesus, come back next week and I’ll teach you.” An elder and his wife were there to see what the new youth pastor was up to; they rushed up and said, “You just killed our youth group.” The other adult there put his arm around me and said, “Good job—let’s do this!” His name was Noel.

Noel became my father-in-law and my lifetime mentor. Had Don not hired me, I may not have known Noel and married Laina. Don’s risky decision changed my life. Did I mention that decisions have consequences—often unintended?

When I dropped that bomb at our youth group, there were about 25 students. That elder wanted to fire me; Don had my back. A week later, we didn’t have 25 students—we had 40—and six weeks later we had 100. It turned out those students were as bored as I was and just wanted someone to raise the bar and challenge them.

Over the next 3 years, Don repeatedly had my back when the elders wanted to fire me. And I made a ton of rookie mistakes—but Don was always patient and encouraging.

At the nine-month mark, we planned a June retreat at a Church of Christ campground on the coast. I made a flier and we mimeographed it and kids started passing them out everywhere. We didn’t do registration—just show up and pay $5 at the gate. Incredibly stupid! We had no way of knowing how many students were coming—but there was a buzz about this event. The day before we were to leave, Don asked me who was cooking. I hadn’t thought of that. “Do you have a menu? Food?” I hadn’t thought of that either. Don put me in his station wagon, we drove to Pay ’N Pa