https://youtu.be/gcDw_TWKTE4
Great stories are not just written they are written, and then re-written… Great stories are carefully edited to tell the story the author wants to tell. We need to craft our life… we need to edit our life… there are parts of our life that need a re-write… in order to tell the story that we want to tell. So as we begin to craft our story I want to ask you... Are you writing a story worth telling?
WRITE YOUR STORY
Welcome to Redemption Church everyone. I am Chris Fluitt and I am glad to be
bringing you the Word of God today. Greetings to everyone watching and
listening online. We appreciate you
stopping by!
Today we are kicking off a new sermon series called Write
Your Story.
Everyone loves a good story. Your favorite books, movies, tv
shows, and stage plays likely all have one thing in common – They have a great
story.
We believe that your life ought to be a great story. In this WRITE YOUR STORY series we are going
to challenge you to – Make your life a story worth telling.
Make your life a story worth telling.
There are great stories that are told and re-told time and
again. These stories are remembered. Stories so great that they seem to jump of
the page as you read them. Stories that
sparked imagination, entertained, and taught lessons. …stories that are so good that when you when
you realize someone you know has not been exposed to the story you say…
“What!? You need to know this story!”
We believe your life… YOUR LIFE… ought to be a story just
like this. We want you to make your life
a story worth telling.
As we begin this quest of a great story, we need to know how
great stories are written. Great stories
are not written, but crafted.
Great stories are not written, but crafted
Stories are not just a series of words that fall out of a
pen upon a page. Great stories don’t
just happen. Great stories are crafted…
they are carefully conceived & constructed. Great stories are not just
written they are written, and then re-written… Great stories are carefully
edited to tell the story the author wants to tell.
We need to craft our life… we need to edit our life… there
are parts of our life that need a re-write… in order to tell the story that we
want to tell.
So as we begin to craft our story I want to ask you...
How will your story end?
Every great story has a great ending. Don’t you agree?
We have all experienced stories that started great but ended
poorly. We don’t call these stories
great, but instead we usually morn the fact that the story had such potential
but fell short.
We have also experienced stories that had a week start, but
the ending was strong. We usually forget the weak beginning and are powerfully
moved by the conclusion. The ending is
this important.
This is your life.
This is your story. You are the
one who gets to craft the ending. Do you
know how you want your story to end?
It’s not where you begin but where you end that makes
the story great.
We have no control on how our life begins. None of us decide
our family, our location, our genetics and race, our skills and
appearance… We do not get to decide where we begin, but we all get to decide our
end.
Are we focused on crafting our end? Are we more focused on
the past & the present than the end?
We cannot influence our past or our present, but we can influence our
future.
You may have been born into poverty or an abusive home, but
that is only your past! It does not have
to be how your story ends. You have the power to create a new future.
Maybe in the present you just lost your job, or received a
bad diagnosis for your doctor, or are living with a dark depression or
struggle. This does not have to be how
your story ends.
You have the power to craft your own story’s end. What has been, does not have to
continue. What is now, does not have to
stick around. You have the power to
change your story.
"Your most important work is always ahead of you, never
behind you."
The well-known leadership author, Stephen Covey wrote a
great book called “7 habits of highly effective people.” His second habit is this – Begin with the
end in mind.
Begin with the end in mind – Stephen Covey
The ending of your story is so important that you should
begin with the ending.
A lot of authors do this.
J.K. Rowling always knew that her series of books would end
with Harry Potter facing the evil Voldemort and overcoming his foe.
J. R. Tolkien from the beginning of his classic, “The Lord
of the Rings,” already decided that Frodo would succeed in destroying the ring.
George Lucas, before day one of shooting “Star Wars Episode
IV: A New Hope” had decided the redemptive end of an entire trilogy.
No good author gets to the end of their story and writes the
ending. Good authors start with the
ending in mind and then start their story toward that end.
The time to start thinking
about the ending of your story is not as you are drawing your final
breaths.The time to start contemplating
your end is not after you retire at an older age.The time to start crafting
your final act is not during your final act.
The younger you are, the more important it may be that you
hear me today. Many have destroyed their
life by procrastinating the crafting of their story.
“I’ll work on that later…”
“I’ll worry about that when I’m older…”
“No need to be concerned with that now…” These phrases have ruined many
a life.
How will your story end?
Do you know how your story will end? Have you crafted your ending?
Knowing how you want your story to end is not depressing as
it may sound. Some might find that a little dark to think about the end of your
life… to think about your death may seem a little macabre. It is exactly the opposite!
Knowing how you want
your story to end allows you to live each moment fully devoted towards the best
end. However if you have not defined a proper end to your story, you will
drift & meander towards the conclusion.
Picturing the end before it arrives requires imagination.
Imagination
Beginning with the end in mind requires imagination--the
ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes.
You have a very creative imagination. Some of you don’t feel
like you are creative, but let me present to you that you are twice as creative
than you realize. Everything you have
ever created you have actually created twice. First there is a mental creation,
and second there is a physical creation. The physical creation follows the
mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. So in a very real way you have
created everything twice – you are twice as creative as you realize.
If you don't make a conscious effort to IMAGINE… to
visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people
and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.
We understood this as children when we all answered this
question.
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
When you were young, how did you answer that question?
You would imagine inside yourself, then you would speak out
that answer, and then you would proceed to become who you wanted to be.
If you wanted to be a basketball player you went out shot
baskets. If you wanted to be a fireman
or police officer you went out pretended to save lives. If you wanted to be an
astronaut you would learn everything you could about traveling to space.
Little me and little you understood this so well. We imagined it and then we made it happen.
Who do you want to be when you grow up? You should still ask yourself this question.
You should still imagine great things for yourself and then go make them
happen.
You create things twice… but you will never create in the
physical what you have not created within your mind.
Great stories are not written, but crafted
So far this sermon has read like a self-help book. I haven’t shot any scriptures at you or Bible
stories, but have simply approached you logically with some good advice. I don’t knock or degrade self-help books,
because a lot of times they are helpful… and usually they get their ideas
straight from God.
You know who began with the end in mind?
God began with the end in mind.
Before God created the world he stepped back and thought it
about what He wanted to create. Do you know the verse I am talking about? You know this verse… but do you really
understand that it says this?
John 1:1 (NIV2011) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning was the WORD. In the Greek the Word is Logos. It is where
we get the word Logic. In the beginning
was the cognitive thoughts and plans of God. In the beginning God was
imagining… Before He said “let there be light…”
He was imagining.
And God did not just imagine the first few days of
creation. He imagined everything… and He
imagined you.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV2011) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Do you understand that God imagined you. Do you understand that God imagined good
works for you to accomplish. God has
good works that He has prepared advance for you to do?
We have these to do lists. We have to run errands after
work, go to the store, clean the house, and do laundry. But do we ever give
thought to God’s to do list? God help me to accomplish your to do list of the
good works you have prepared in advance.
BEFORE HE CREATED THE WORLD He imagined you doing these good works.
Lord help us to understand these good works you have
prepared for us. Before we leave today, reveal these things that have come
straight from your imagination.
I told you that you create things twice. So I want you to understand that God created
...
