Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Sit with me week 4 Which chair are you in?






*Sit with me video*
https://vimeo.com/139639707


A staggering statistic tells us that 84% of the students brought up in church will not attend regularly in their adulthood.
·     Even though having a relationship with God is your responsibility this makes Godly Leadership feel like failures.
o  Maybe they were/are trying to live off of the borrowed faith of their parents, grandparents or friends.
o  Maybe their parents abided by all the religious rules instead of living out and engaging in a growing, vibrant relationship in Christ.
o  It could be that they are treating God like a shop vac, something only to be pulled out when there is a terrible mess to clean up.
·     I absolutely hate this fact but person after person after person choose to walk away from God, His house, and His mission for their lives. 

Deuteronomy 6:10-13 10 "The LORD your God will soon bring you into the land He swore to give you when He made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. 11 The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, 12 be careful not to forget the LORD, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 13 You must fear the LORD your God and serve Him. When you take an oath, you must use only His name.”

1.Chair of Commitment.
a.Abraham the bible says built an altar and worshipped the Lord.
                                            i.     He built many altars but always to God never to anyone or anything else.

Genesis 12:7b “And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the LORD, and he worshiped the LORD.”
1.He picked out a place to honor God.
2.He chose a place to worship and serve God.
3.He secured a place to sacrifice and give to God.
a.He engaged personally experienced, encountered God for himself.
                                                                                                  i.     He lived in an “I KNOW God” lifestyle.
b.Altars were used in many religions, but for God’s people, altars are more than places of sacrifice.
                                            i.     For Christianity, altars symbolize communion, unity, and relationship with God; commemorating notable encounters with Him.
                                         ii.     They were places of testimony to the only true God in the midst of uncharted idolatry.
                                       iii.     They are reminders of God’s protection and promises.
                                      iv.     Continual reminders of God’s faithfulness, strength and healing power.
c. Abraham knew he couldn‘t survive spiritually without regularly renewing his love and loyalty to God.
                                            i.     Building an altar will help you remember that God is at the center of your life.
                                         ii.     Worship helps us remember God’s value to us.
                                       iii.     Finally, it motivates us to honor, love, trust and obey Him. 
d.Do you have a commitment to God?
e.Do you have a commitment to His house, His purposes?
f.   Do you allow Him to speak to you, change you, and guide you into His purpose for your life?
                                            i.     Are you sitting in this chair?

Judges 2:7 “And the Israelites served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel. 11 The Israelites did evil in the LORD's sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD.”

g.You have to dig your own spiritual wells!
                                            i.     We must engage this next generation.

Genesis 26:12-15 12 “When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him. 13 He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow. 14 He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. 15 So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac's wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.”

                                         ii.     This was a declaration and announcement of war!
h.Closing off a well, represented closing off one’s source of life.
                                            i.     God’s house, God’s Word and God’s Spirit is a well of life.
1.You come to the well and you can get all that you need, His well will never run dry.
                                         ii.     The Devil has come along and filled in the well of your life.
1.He’s filled it in with activities and confusion.
2.He’s filled it in with strife and doubt.
3.He’s filled it in with anxiety and financial stresses.
                                       iii.     The Devil’s a thief and a robber and desires to take life away from you in every possible way imaginable.
Genesis 26:18a “He reopened the wells his father had dug,”
i.   He dug again.
j.   We have to be willing to do the hard work and the consistent effort of commitment.

Illustrate here: You can count on the chair of commitment.

2.Chair of Casual Compromise.
a.Isaac also built altars and worshipped God but he found it is easier to compromise or lie to avoid confrontations.
                                            i.     Essentially building other altars and worshipping idols, instead of God alone.
                                         ii.     Even playing favorites between his sons and alienating his wife.

Mark 4:18 “The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God's word, 19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.”

b.I refuse to only have “generation before me stories.”
                                            i.     *Hearing it, not engaging it.*
c. The observed experience.
                                            i.     Well my parents we’re Christians and I was always in church.
1.I “think I know God.”
2.You’re as close to God as you want to be.
                                         ii.     I want to be a generation who knows God and am being guided by His Spirit all of my days.
d.Chair of casual compromise says, “Oh if I do this it won’t matter” mentality…
                                            i.     Just one drink.
                                         ii.     Just one look.
                                       iii.     Just one touch.
                                      iv.     Just one hit.
                                         v.     Just one lie.
                                      vi.     I’ll skip just this one service.
1.You are deeply missed when you are not present, by God and His people.
                                    vii.     Just one sexual encounter.
                                 viii.     Just one, just one, just one…
e.A lot of people live their lives in the Chair of casual compromise.
                                            i.     They compromise everything and then wonder why they end up miserable and left with nothing.
1.Negotiating with the enemy will destroy you.
Romans 12:1 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.”
f.   A living sacrifice.
                                            i.     Altars were used to sacrifice; we are to be living sacrifices.
                                         ii.     Living my life sacrificed to God, His purposes and His mission.
1.The thing about compromise is that it's easy to drift.
2.Drifting is actually first nature.
3.When we don't stand up or we let our standards down we compromise and we become something we wouldn't dare think we would.

Illustrate here: Meth pics.

g.The devils biggest lie is, just this one time. 
                                            i.     The enemy is crafty, creative yet totally predictable.  
                                         ii.     If you don’t set up some parameters and borders he’ll get yet you again with your go to sin.
John 8:34 “Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”
1.Sin fascinates, then it assassinates.
2.On the outside everything may look good but on the inside we know the condition of our heart is far from who we are to be.
3.We are lost or found, saved or unsaved, believers or non- believers there is no halfway in God’s Kingdom.  
h.With restoration comes great responsibility.
                                            i.     Make the purity of others a priority for us.
1.Sit with me is an invite to believe, an invite to be saved, an invite to connection with Christ.

Luke 5:16 “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”

2.You have to be intentional about growth.
a.Go to church.
b.Get a mentor.
c. Become a mentor.       
i.   Complacency and compromise is a nasty chair to live in.
Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” 
                                            i.     God’s call is bigger than my fall.
j.   The secret of Abraham’s faithful separation from the ungodly, unholy system of his day and to his God was in the fact that he kept his eyes on a “heavenly city.”  

Illustrate here: (Chill in a soft comfy chair.) Compromise is comfortable. Party, dude! Church, sweet! Godly things, dude!! Ungodly things, sweet!! God does not celebrate compromise, only people do.

3.Chair of Confusion. 
a.Jacob built an altar but only when he was in trouble.
                                            i.     Cynical Experience.
1.Pessimistic.
2.Skeptical.
3.Distrustful.
a.You don’t know for yourself.
b.The antonym for confusion would be, to understand.
                                            i.     People have no understanding of God, His purposes, His miracles, His divine plan, and His will for their lives or for mankind.
                                         ii.     Sometimes we go life on our own and forget about how He has led us this far, encouraged us, provided for us, carried us and guided us.
1.It’s like thanks God for the travel this far but I got it now.
2.Keep the blessings coming, keep me in good health, keep my career skyrocketing but I don’t need your advice/help any longer.

Illustrate here: Don't be a cheap imitation, be the real thing. Dr. Pepper has 129 imitations.
c. Dr. Aahh
d.Dr. Better
e.Dr. Buzz            
f.   Dr. CHEAPER
g.Dr. Cool
h.Dr. D
i.   Dr. DIABLO
j.   Dr. Enuf-One taste of that you’ll have had enough.
k.Dr. Flave
l.   DR. PHIZZ
m.               Dr. Pizzazz
n.Dr. RIFFIC
o.Dr. Schnee
p.Dr. Thunder
q.Dr. Tremor-probably gives you the tremors.
r.  Dr. WOW
s. DR. X
t.  Dr Zipp
                                            i.     It makes no difference what you decide to call it and how cool your campaign was or how much you spent on advertising every one knows there is only one Dr. Pepper!
1.Often imitated, never duplicated.
u.Regardless of which chair you might find your self in this morning I am here to help you examine the source of your faith and to encourage you to take ownership of your faith.
                                            i.     Like Abraham, we need to dig our own wells and build our own altars.
                                         ii.     Then, and only then will you have what it takes to go the distance and run the race God’s marked out for you.            
                                       iii.     So that when it feels like no one else is reading their bibles, they read their bibles.
                                      iv.     When it seems like no one else is worshipping, they worship.
                                         v.     When it seems like no one else is praying, they can be found in surrender to God.
                                      vi.     I desire to awaken that kind of passion for the Cause, the Kingdom, and the King.
1.God will not give up on you until He has all of you.
2.Serving others takes real leadership—the kind Jesus exemplified His whole life.
3.Jesus’ mission was to serve others and to give His life away.
4.You can start by modeling God’s acceptance, compassion, helping and loving others.
5.If you see something that needs to be done, don’t wait to be asked; take the initiative and do it like a faithful servant.
4.God never condemns us; He convicts us but never condemns us.
a.Condemns means to express an unfavorable or adverse judgment upon; indicate strong disapproval of.

John 3:16 16 "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”

b.Convicts means that the Spirit of God helps us to understand and connect to the fact that there is substantial evidence to convict.

1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”








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