Overdose

 

Overdose, you may be surprised is a church term. We might not use the exact word to define clearly what we are really saying but it is a church expression none the less.

•             I wouldn't do this it's wrong, it's dangerous, it's destructive.

•    We say things like don't do that it's bad for you, rules, rules, rules. 

•    Follow the rules.

•             Although it's good to follow the rules, sometimes you have to take a route of your own when it comes to your relationship in God.

•    Chart a course no one else is taking.

Overdose-excessive, lethal or toxic amount

•             A lot of people don't even follow the rules when it comes to growing in God, which defines them as rebels.

•    Well we need some rebels who will go out of their way to rebel right.

Romans 15:13 "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

1. The source of hope.

•             We've all seen overdose through movies, television, internet or life experiences, where people we’re hurt through alcohol, pills, needles, blood, and suffering.

•    There wasn't just a physical destruction, but a deep emotional pain, the look of deception and sorrow was all over their faces.

•    The look of regret, remorse, rejection.

•             As humans we get this feeling as if you want to help, but their pain was self inflicted and you were far removed from their situation.

•             Their sin of choice, their overdose of decision.

Job 20:12-14 NLT "[12] "They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness, letting it melt under their tongue. [13] They savored it, holding it long in their mouths. [14] But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach."

•             The bible is teaching us that sin has this sweet, savoring taste, but will immediately turn poison in our system.

•    Why because sin=death.

•    Sin+unbelief in Christ=eternal death.

•             Hiding it, keeping it under the tongue, denotes concealment of our treasured lust, and pleasure therein.

•             God knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it.

•    Sin is turned into gall, poison, a bitter drug in which nothing is more destructive.

•             Jesus is hope.

•    The source of all hope.

•             A feeling of expectation and desire that a certain thing is going to happen, hope.

•    We hope in a great life, hope in a great future, hope in great relationships, careers, financial statuses, health, and happiness.

•             Well believe this or not God is the maker, creator, designer of all hope!

1 Corinthians 15:34 NLT "Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don't know God at all."

•             Knowing God personally births a hatred toward sin.

•    You don't want to sin you don't want to hurt God, hurt His plan, or destroy His mission through sin.

•             Sin is missing the mark.

•             Whether by a mile or 1 million miles we all have missed the mark.

•    Seeing that, connecting to that is humility.

Romans 12:1-2 "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. [2] Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

•             Instead of wasting our time destroying our lives with alcohol, drugs, gossip, lies, and addictions that will cause us nothing but harm, why don't we overdose in Christ!

•    If you have never been full of the Holy Spirit then you are missing out on something beyond amazing.

•             Christ is the ultimate high, His love, His passion for us, offering His rescuing power to the world, and we should all get our daily fixes on Him.

•    He’s addictive, once you get a taste of what its like to be in and on His presence, you’ll always want more.

•             What God does for me, what He has done for others in the bible, He can do for you.

•    Be His vessel, allow hope to work through you.

•             Don’t turn to addictions for relief, or hopelessness turn to God.

•    Stop thinking, living, and operating in that your problems are too big for God and recognize God is so much bigger than your problems.

2. Fill you completely.

Psalm 62:6 "He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken."

•             Why would anyone want to set their confidence on something that is not solid?

Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear."

•             So if everything that we have and rely on will pass away, why don’t we set our trust on the only thing that wont? Jesus is the only way.

Illustrate here: jar rocks, gravel, sand, water.

•    Would you agree that the jar is full?

•             Continue until full.

•             I promise you there is a deeper depth, a higher height, and wider plane than you have ever experienced with God, engage Him.

•    We need to overdose our moments with Him.

Overdose-excessive, lethal or toxic amount

•    Overdose our prayer lives, overdose our bible reading, overdose our fasting regiment, overdose our worship of Christ.

•             What do you need to do to get filled, what do I need to do are the questions we need to be asking.

3. Overflow with the Spirit.

•             We as Christians need to be exhausting our every efforts to move closer to God making Him that daily fix that you’ll go through all extents to get.

•             Beg, steal, and borrow to get to Him, to get more of Him.

•    Overdose on Jesus because He’s the only drug that can give you an eternal high.

•             Take a look at those trying to obtain a toxic amount of Jesus in the bible.

•    David killed a lion, a bear, a giant.

•    God shut the mouths of lions for Daniel and silenced his enemies through death.

•    God used Phillip, Jonah, Joseph, Abraham, Moses, the disciples, to save nations through preaching the word.

•             After being filled with the Spirit of God the disciples then and since have been used to opened blinded eyes, deaf ears, heal lame legs, and diseases of every kind.

•             They share the Gospel of Jesus Christ boldly, and with authority because they believe it, see and feel the effects of it's life altering power.

•             Samson destroyed his enemies.

•             Joshua conquered 31 kings.

•             Mary, a virgin, gave birth to the Son of God.

•             Esther rescues her people.

•             Tabitha brought back to life because she lived her life doing kind things for others.

•             Peter walked on water, preached and 5000 men not counting women and children were saved at one time.

•    I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, by choice.

•             You are the same, if you so choose.

Mark 15:22-32 NLT "[22] And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means "Place of the Skull"). [23] They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. [24] Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. [25] It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. [26] A sign was fastened to the cross, announcing the charge against him. It read, "The King of the Jews." [27-28] Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. [29] The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "Ha! Look at you now!" they yelled at him. "You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. [30] Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!" [31] The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself! [32] Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!" Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him."

•             Jesus was overdosed with ridicule, judgement, hatred, disbelief, mockery, punishment, torture, in His mind and in His body.

•    The place of the skull (Golgotha) because most of our battles are in the mind.

•    I believe God was saying I have overcome the mind.

•             No matter what you have been through, what you're going through or what you will ever endure, Jesus has already overcome. 

•    Search for Him, engage Him, ask Him, choose to allow Him to be your overdose. 

Uncaged Christianity sharing freedom

Talk about how awkward it is when someone gives you a prolonged hug.

1.Wanting freedom.

•      We all know what it is like when you get one of those long, awkward hugs.

•      Or how about a hug from some Grandma/Aunt/family member who just won’t let you go?

•                  You are dying for that freedom.

•                  In your head you are thinking please just let me go!

•      Many times our sin is like that, even in your head your quietly thinking man I wish this didn't have such a caging effect on me.

Proverbs 5:21-23 (NLT) "For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. [22] An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. [23] He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness."

•                  The cage is that secret that you pray no one finds out about; maybe because your enjoying it or maybe because you are ashamed.

•      For you to walk in freedom you must expose your cage.

•                  Not to the world, but to God, and to another Christian.

•                  Be trustworthy Christians, if you tell me something in secret I'll die with it, that is the way to should be.

Illustrate here white board: List some areas that the enemy tries to cage student’s lives with?

•                  Gossip

•                  Insecurity

•                  Peer pressure I believe your generation calls it average. Doing what everyone else does instead of standing out.

2. Living in freedom.

•      We have to make sure that we stay out of the cage of the enemy.

Illustrate here: Use the cage to show a trap, use white board to draw a trap. 

Uncaged from the ultimatum.

Proverbs 11:8,19,23 (NLT) "The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead. [19] Godly people find life; evil people find death. [23] The godly can look forward to a reward, while the wicked can expect only judgment."

•                  We can learn to do that by breaking every area of compromise that we have in our lives.

•                  I can believe bigger than I am currently believing!

•      If God, the Creator of the universe, created us on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose, then why in the world would we be willing to settle for anything less?

•                  Two thousand years ago Jesus was raised from the dead, proving that this world has no power over Him.

John 16:33 (NLT)

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

•                  The world, the flesh, and the Devil gave their best shot at holding Him down, but three days later He was Uncaged from the power of the grave.

•      One of the most fascinating and hard-to-believe things about Christianity is that Jesus lives in us.

•      If the resurrected Son of God lives inside us, that means we, too, can be Uncaged from everything that threatens to hold us back from who God wants us to be.

•      Jesus has made it possible for us to live an Uncaged life.

•                  Whether we realize it or not, Jesus made the first move, He is waiting on us to make the next one.

3. Sharing freedom.

Illustrate here:

•                  I love dancing.

•      I secretly think everyone does, but I never actually dance. Ever.

•      I talk about dancing.

•      I think about dancing.

•      I watch other people dancing.

•      Quite a few times I almost had the courage to walk onto the dance floor and try dancing.

•                  But I don't. I'm one of those guys who is always at the dance but never dances.

•                  When I take an honest look at my own life and the lives of the people around me, I have to wonder: are we doing the same thing when it comes to following Christ?

•      Maybe we think about doing something radical for God.

•      Maybe we even dream that one day we’ll be more than we are today.

•                  But we end up merely standing against the wall, never experiencing the dance.

•                  We don’t embrace His promise of a life that is beyond our imagination.

•                  When I read the Bible, I am consistently amazed by the words of Jesus.

•      When it comes to the kind of life He wants us to live, He made some pretty bold, impossible sounding promises:

John 10:10 "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

John 14:12 (NLT)

"I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father."

Matthew 21:21-22 (NLT)

Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. [22] You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it."

•                  God promised us an abundant life, not a dull one.

•      He said we would do greater things than He did, which is pretty remarkable when we consider that He walked on water, made the lame to walk, the elements of the earth listened to Him and responded when He spoke, healed a blind guy using mud, and saliva, deaf hear, fed more than five thousand people with just a little boy’s lunch, then raised the dead.

Acts 19:11-12 (NLT) "God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. [12] When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled."

Illustrate here: Take a second to participate with me in an experiment.

•                  Choose a number in your head—any number you want.

•                  Go!

•      What number did you pick?

•                  Why would we pick a number between one and one hundred when we have the option of choosing any number in the world?

•      Why would we not pick 2,400,002?

•                  For many of us, it’s a simple and sad answer: we’ve been programmed to focus on the small and the manageable.

•      We do the same thing with spiritual matters.

•                  We focus on what’s normal when God has promised "He is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

•      We all want our lives to count, to matter—and the good news is that God wants that for each one of us as well.

•                  Uncaging the life God wants for us is understanding that there is so much more in store for us than what we are currently experiencing.

•      Most of us haven’t grasped the reality that the resurrected Son of God is dwelling inside us, and therefore we think too small when it comes to the potential God has placed within us.

Illustrate here: Duke & Titan, bring in a huge Great Dane(Duke) and a tiny Boston Terrier dog(Titan)

•                  But if we refuse to believe God has something greater in store for us, our chances of becoming Uncaged and moving beyond normal are slim to none.

•      Titan is tiny, but he thinks he is bigger than he is, Duke thinks he is smaller than he is.

•                  Never think yourself smaller or larger than you are, especially in the eyes of others.

•      Secondly, never think yourself smaller than the way God sees you.

•      Thirdly, never think yourself the way the Devil sees you, weak, inept, unable, too timid, too quiet, too addicted, realize you have been freed to free others.

•                  If our view of God is small, manageable and normal then we will have a small view of what He wants to do in and through us.

•      But if the opposite is true if we really grasp that God’s plan for us is so much bigger and so much more powerful than anything we can imagine then we will begin to realize the truth in what the bible promises in Philippians 4:13 “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

•                  As we read about Jesus, one thing is clear: He always meets people where they are and then brings them to where they need to be.

•      He never dives into someone’s life and immediately starts making religious demands.

•      When He called Peter, James, and John to follow Him, He didn’t give them a list of things they needed to start doing and things they needed to stop.

•                  He simply invited them to lay down what your doing and follow Him.

•                  When He called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him, He didn’t lecture him on the evils of taxation and then tell him he needed a career change.

•      He simply said, “Follow Me,” and they responded to the call.

•                  Yes, our actions and habits change after we start following Christ, but that’s not the starting point.

•      It’s as Jesus walks with us that He shows us who He is and what He wants.

•                  What are you waiting on to make an eternal difference?

•      A platform?

•      A title?

•      A bigger group of people?

•                  If you don't lead the one into a relationship with Christ how will you ever lead the masses?

•      Relationship, relationship, relationship, ministry is about relationship.

•      If you wait until there are pick any random number, 100, students/people before you get serious about leading someone into worship then you'll push back to another excuse when the 100 shows up!

•                  If you're waiting on someone else to go first before you enter a life altering, God honoring, worship encounter with the creator of the entire universe that desires a bright future and a hope for your life, you'll never get there.

•                  God is looking for the bold, God is looking for the brave, God is looking for someone to be audacious enough to "believe in Him."

•      Why wait, they aren't your God, they aren't your experience, they aren't planning, providing, or encouraging your future, trust me when I tell you, and I sat this as respectful as I possibly can, "they are not worth waiting on!"

•                  Making a difference in the lives of people will cost you one thing, for sure, relationship!

•      If you need a title to "do ministry" you have missed the point.

•      If you need more "attendees" to make a difference you have been caged into a  "performance" mindset.

•      If you need to be asked, prodded, need continual back patting, need hand holding, need 24 hour accountability to keep you from "falling" into sin, then you're not ready.

•      God's "Uncaged" take initiative, take action, take hell by storm.

•                  They refuse to wait around for the "right moment," or sit quietly by for the "right opportunity," they engage, they make their move, they break the chains of the enemies restraint, they chew the leash off and go for it!

•      Titan when Uncaged is a maniac.

•                  Sort of like the Tasmanian Devil.

Illustrate here Video: Tasmanian Devil

http://youtu.be/c54SvkgQ04A

Maggie a boxer that was given to us. Maggie was Uncaged. There was no trapping her, holding her, restraining her nor caging her. This dog was restrain less. 

•                  She was gonna be free, we need a generation of Christian like that.

•      The only thing you need to do ministry with is FREEDOM! Freedom from sin, freedom from performance, freedom from ridicule, freedom in Jesus Christ.

•                  Are you caging the gospel or releasing it into the lives of others? 

Join us next month as we launch a new series entitled "Overdose."