#selfless week 1

We're launching a new series entitled #selfless I'm so excited to talk about this because this is the life of our example Jesus Christ.

I mentioned that we are going to celebrate with 30 days of #selfless! That is truly being thankful, that is gratefulness to the highest power.

1.      There is a better way.

1.      You're probably gonna hear that statement throughout this series.

1.      There is a better way.

1.      There is a better way to serve.

2.      There is a better way to love.

3.      There is a better way to give.

4.      There is a better way to minister.

5.      There is a better way to worship.

6.      There is a better way to study.

7.      There is a better way to parent.

8.      There is a better way to love, connect, and reinforce your commitment, respect, and honor unto your wife, family, community, and church.

2.      If you know anything about Christian culture you'll know that for hundreds and thousands of years, an altar is a place where things die.

1.      Believers would sacrifice something meaningful before God or lay something down before God at an altar.

1.      Self is referring to an ego, an ego is who we think we are, who we believe we are.

2.      A person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance.

2.      Essentially, some of us think too highly of ourselves; then on the other end of the spectrum; some think too lowly of ourselves.

1.      Laying down our self on an altar before God is one of the most difficult, #selfless things a person could ever do.

1.      We want to encourage you and inspire you to be what God thinks you to be.

2.      What God wants you to be, and what God envisioned, planned and destined you to be.

3.      We all need to sacrifice some things on the #selfless altar of God.

2.      Sacrifice our inadequacies.

1.      I don't know about you, but it's amazing to me how quickly I can feel incredibly insufficient. 

1.      Maybe by comparing myself with someones financial success, and I think, "What's wrong with me?"

2.      Maybe, driving by a really nice neighborhood or car and your like, "What do those people even do for a living? Why can't I have that?

3.      Or you visit someones home and everything is perfect, the place is perfect, the outdoor BBQ area is perfect, the smells are perfect, the vibe is perfect, the ambiance is...yeah...!

1.      The in home surround sound is the perfect volume, the perfect station and your like, what is this a cruise line over here?

4.      All of a sudden the insecurities overwhelm you with this nagging, uncontrollable, life sucking bite.

1.      How about when you get around "that Christian?" Give Example...

1.      I've always felt like I had to prove myself by trying to perform up to some standards because I never felt good enough myself. 

1.      Even with Pastoring.

1.      I've never been old enough, or looked old enough.

2.      I've never felt wise enough, powerful enough, prayerful enough, business minded enough, or trained enough.

3.      It can be relentlessly discouraging.

2.      Our problem is that we're comparing our life's behind the scenes with their life's highlight reels.

1.      And suddenly, self starts to tell us what we're not when God wants to tell us what we are.

Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at (Offrah) Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the LORD is with you! 13 "Sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, 'The LORD brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites." 14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!" 15 "But Lord," Gideon replied, "how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" 16 The LORD said to him, "I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man."

3.      Vs. 11 Anyone responsible threshes wheat out somewhere up high so that when they throw it up, the wind blows the chaff away and the purest of the wheat would be left. 

1.      Yet Gideon was in a wine press hiding because the he was afraid of his enemies, the Midianites.

1.      Very very afraid, trying to keep the wheat for himself.  Terrified of the enemy and this is what the angel says to him.

4.      Verse 12, "Mighty hero," He said, "the Lord is with you." 

1.      If I would have been there, I would have told him the truth. 

2.      I'd of said "the Lord is with you, Gertrude."

1.      Hiding. Why are you being a punk? 

2.      Let's go lacy panties God is with you!

3.      God saw something in Gideon that he didn't see in himself.

5.      Vs. 13 Self filled people say, "if?"

1.      If you knew all I had done.

2.      If you only knew how I really feel

2.      Self filled people say, "why?"

1.      Why would they ever choose me?

2.      Why don't they ever choose me?

3.      Self filled people say, "where?"

1.      Where are all the resources?

2.      Where is all the help?

4.      Self filled people say, "didn't they say?"

1.      Didn't they make some miraculous claims?

2.      Didn't they say God would show up?

3.      Didn't they say God forgives?

5.      Self filled people say, "but."

1.      But now that's the way it is.

2.      But that's what you get.

3.      But that's what they get.

6.      Self filled people complain instead of comply.

1.      #Selfless people step into their God purpose.

2.      We are so filled with self we can't allow God to use His creation for His purposes.

1.      Self-driven.

2.      Self-serving.

3.      Self-medicated.

4.      Selfie. Over 17 million selfie's uploaded to social media every week.

Illustrate here: Show funny selfies.

5.      Self-esteem.

6.      Self-employed.

7.      Self-pleasure.

8.      Self-determination.

9.      Self-cleaning.

10.Self-sufficient.

6.      Vs. 14 The messenger, the angel says, "Go in the strength you have."

1.      Wow, what more do we need to hear?

2.      What are we waiting on?

1.      Go, in the strength you have.

1.      I need one more confirmation.

2.      I need more worship encounter.

3.      I need more training.

1.      I need more...

1.      Go!

2.      You need to GO in the strength you have!

3.      Sacrifice our need for control.

1.      We all battle with these different urges to control things.

2.      Essentially it's a lack of faith and will only get you in trouble.

1.      Vs. 15 Gideon says, "but God."

1.      We see that whenever God calls you, empowers you, leads you to do something for Him, your external enemy tells you what you're not.

2.      And your internal inner self, plays the negative messages that your ego has been conditioned to approve.

1.      I'm not that talented.

2.      I'm not that creative.

3.      I'm not that patient.

4.      I'm not that kind.

5.      I'm not that bright.

6.      I'm not as Godly.

1.      And all of these #selfless messages collaborate to tell you why you can't do what God already said you could do.

4.      Sacrifice our right to be offended.

1.      We live in a culture where people feel like it's their right to be offended, and people search for reasons to be offended.

2.      We want to be upset because our ego needs that feeling of strength.

1.      Remember that God's view of you is different than you think.

1.      I promise you that God sees more in you than you see in yourself.

1.      Someone told you, you can't, or you won't, or your self said, "Here's all the reasons why I can't do what I believe God is calling me to do."

2.      Might I remind you that God's view of you is massively different than you can dream, think, or imagine.

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."

3.      Do you realize that long before you were even born, God had a "to-do" list just for you? 

4.      God created you, fully equipped you, it came standard, manufactured within you, to do everything that He called you to do.

3.      When everybody else looked at Rahab they saw a prostitute; they saw used goods.

1.      God saw someone who's heart would be turned toward him, He saw divine potential.

2.      Who would one day marry a Godly man named Salmon, get pregnant, give birth and through generations of her genealogy, would come Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. 

1.      From harlot to hero.

3.      Others looked on David as a child, they saw a little shepherd boy.

1.      God saw a fearless warrior, able to stand up to a lion, a bear, and a giant.

2.      Whenever David sinned everyone saw an adulterer. 

1.      What did God see? 

2.      A man who sought after the heart of God more than anything else.

3.      From faithful shepherd to fearless king.

4.      When Peter messed up again, and again, and again, and couldn't seem to get it right.

1.      He wept bitterly because He betrayed the Savior of the World.

2.      Jesus saw a rock, Jesus saw someone who would one day be the guest speaker at Pentecost.

3.      From denial to driven.

1.      God sees more.

2.      God's view of you is different than you think. 

3.      God has put more in you than you realize.

4.      God has given you more than you think.

1.      God says to Gideon, "Go take a class and get ready for this calling."  

2.      "Go enroll in Vo-tech so you can be prepared." 

3.      "Go read this best selling book." 

1.      No, no, and no.

1.      God says, "Go in the strength you have." 

2.      Go in the strength I've already given you.

3.      Withdrawal what I have already deposited in you.

5.      Sacrifice our longing for approval.

1.      So many of us, we are so driven by what other people think.

1.      And we know the quickest way to forget what God thinks about us is to become obsessed with what people think about us.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me."

1.      God has put in me some things I didn't even know were there.   

1.      They came standard equipment.

2.      God has put more inside of you than you realize.

2.      I love what scripture says; this is so powerful:

2 Peter 1:3 "By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence."

3.      God's divine power has given you what?

1.      Every thing we need!

4.      Has God held anything back from you?

1.      No.

1.      Giving us everything we need for life and godliness. 

1.      Don't you dare believe what somebody else said about you.

2.      Don't you dare buy in to those negative messages that your self continues to sell.

3.      Let us never insult God by complaining about what we don't have. 

4.      God has given us everything we need to do everything that God wants us to do.

2.      It's less about you than you think.

1.      This is what the Lord said to Gideon, in Vs.16, "I will be with you."

1.      It was less about Gideon and more about God's power.

2.      When God calls you to do something, it's more about the presence of God than it is about your own power. 

3.      It's about His strength. 

4.      It's less about you than you think.

1.      That's why as a Christ follower I step out of Michael Koelling into the calling of God.

2.      And when I step into His calling, I step into His strength, His power, His goodness, His grace, and His resource.

3.      Because it's less about me and it's all about Him, that's how we can do what He calls us to do.

1.      This is why God's love is so amazing, that God loves us still. 

2.      Though we don't deserve it, God loves us.

3.      And His love for us is so incredible that He became one of us in the person of His Son Jesus, who was without sin, but became sin for us on the cross.

4.      Became #selfless as He laid down His life, #selfless as He shed His blood.

5.      Surrendered to #selfless as He died, and rose again so that we who are sinners, we who are inadequate, we who are far from God, when we call on Him, all our sins will be forgiven.

1.      He became #selfless so we could be become brand new.

Psalm 139:16 "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!"

5.      Altar response-We deeply desire you to engage the next 30 days like you have never engaged any thing in your life.

1.      I truly believe with all my heart that Christ is calling us to be #selfless.

1.      Do it with passion, do it with diligence, do it with focus and watch God do the miraculous!

2.      Find ways to serve people, random people.

1.      Give examples.

3.      People you love, people who love you, people who you respect, people who you just made friends with, even serve your enemies.

1.      Serve others with a #selfless mindset and experience God making an eternal difference.

2.      If 80 of us all commit to making a difference in the lives of someone else every day for 30 days we will have ministered to 2,400 in just 30 days.

3.      Power of vision, power of community, power of unity is uncharted.

    Thanks for reading! Connect with us online or listen to this sermon at www.cwcukiah.com cwcukiah.com