Easter Week - Wednesday

It's Wednesday morning and if you are one of the disciples you can't seem to get the stories that Jesus told last night out of your head.

He told stories about wise and evil slaves; bridesmaids and wedding guest; servants entrusted with talents (money); sheep and goats, all things that are familiar to you.

But, "what is He trying to tell me?"

You start replaying the conversations in your head and you are reminded how the conversation got started, someone asked about the coming of the end.

What do all these have to do with that?

You start putting the pieces together, almost like a puzzle one piece at a time.

"Be ready."
"Keep looking with anticipation for His return."
"Many will miss it because they weren't ready."
"Am I faithful?"
"What did I do with what I have been given?"
"I've got to be about His business!"

The pieces are fitting together, you start to see the picture in the puzzle; it's Him in all His splendor, He's coming back!

Do you live with that kind of anticipation, as a bride anxiously awaiting her wedding day? Or, is it something you rarely, if ever think about?

Are you more about your "bucket list" or the return of our King?

There's a change coming, don't miss it!

One

Our prayers today should be focused on what Jesus prayed for - unity:

²⁰"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
²⁴"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
John 17:20-24

Do we seek unity, to be one, with other churches who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?

Or, are we promoting ourselves at the expense of what God is doing in another church?

In James 4:7 it says "Resist the devil…" devil, Diablo, means to throw over, to divide, to split.

By our words and actions are we bringing division instead of unity to the body of Christ?

Pray that we may be one!

Forgiveness

Today our prayers will be about forgiveness.

"Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" Col 3:13

Not sure, what stuck out for you when you read that verse; was it dealing with your own forgiveness or having to forgive someone else?

Here's the deal. Until you've experienced forgiveness it's really hard to give forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift; it's not something you can give yourself.

But what about forgiving myself?

It doesn't start there, not sure it ever gets there.

¹ God, be merciful to me
       because you are loving.
    Because you are always ready to be merciful,
       wipe out all my wrongs.
 ² Wash away all my guilt
       and make me clean again.
 ³ I know about my wrongs,
       and I can't forget my sin.
 ⁴ You are the only one I have sinned against;
       I have done what you say is wrong. Psalm 51

The first thing we have to understand is that our wrongs, our sin, is against God and God alone. The second thing is that He is offering to forgive us, to wipe out all my wrongs, to wash me clean and that is a gift. There is nothing I can do to earn that, it is totally a gift, a gift I accept or reject.

If we reject it we will be like David and say "I can not forget my sin", "I cannot forgive myself".

Have you accepted the gift?

Pray:

"Forgive us our debts. Forgive us for our failures to keep honest accounts with our neighbors. Forgive us for refusing the gifts that are given and stealing what is not ours to have. Forgive us for using the gift of language to deceive. Forgive us for using the gift of sexuality to seduce. Forgive us for using the gift of strength to abuse and murder. Forgive us for using the gift of plenty to impoverish another."
(Eugene Peterson)

Change me

This past weekend we looked at the Lord's Prayer and the parable that followed. I talked about how the verbs come, give, forgive, bring not, lend, ask, seek, knock are asked by one person to another, connecting people in away that things get changed. Prayer is action, not giving in to the way things are, it is a conversation that changes things.

Think about your request for change; is it more about changing the circumstances you are in or changing other people who are around you?

Today I would like us to focus on "personal renewal", about changing our own hearts.

I'm asking you to join me in praying what can be one of the scariest prayers in the Bible.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
      test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
      and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139

How many of us want God to test us, know our thoughts, to show us the evil that is in us?

That is a very hard prayer to pray if you are not seeking one thing.

¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:1-3

Where is your focus: on the things above or here on earth?

Do you see this time as preparation for the next?

God test me, show me, change ME!

Silence

Yesterday we talked about prayer being an intimate conversation. Think about a conversation you might have had recently where someone went on, and on, and on, and on…you get the picture. We would say that person is "babbling". Interesting thing, we get that word from when a people wanted to be their own gods and built a tower with their own hands. They didn't want or think they needed God.

If it is to be a conversation there needs to be pauses, commas, breaks, points of silence, otherwise it is just a monologue. That seems to be our primary method of prayer, we speak and God does all the listening.

I think we should start the week there; just by being silent and listening. Silence is a non-negotiable in prayer; Jesus did it by withdrawing, going somewhere, getting alone.

What about you?

How will you "be still and know that he is God"?

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, Deut 8:12-14

I’m not going to kill them?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? ² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

Look at the highlighted words in those verses.

What is the first thing that comes to mind?

War, murder, fights, quarrels; strong language, huh?

Maybe you're thinking those verses don't apply to me because "I'm just having a disagreement, not sure you would even call it an argument; I'm certainly not going to kill them."

But, have you set a spark that might burn down a great forest; is the little leading to the big?

Wars don't just happen over night; they start little and grow.

Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch says there are 8 stages that lead to genocide.

• Distinguish – There is a division that happens. Is your desire to win the argument causing a divide in your relationship? Is it becoming "us against them"?
  
• Classify - Is there enough of a divide that you've given them a name? You know, you refer to them as a "_________" to describe the division.
  
• Dehumanize – Then we start to describe them in terms that are not human – a plaque, cancer, dog, anything that might equate them with animals, vermin, insects or diseases.
  
• Organize – We form our support groups against them. Think of how many people you are trying to get to see your side of the argument.
  
• Polarize – The argument might have started over a minor issue, but now you start focusing on the extreme elements of your division.
  
• Preparation – Battle plans are drawn. We are going to "war".
  
• Extermination – You destroy the others. The world is better off!
  
• Denial – You deny that it ever happened, that they existed.
  

Does that change you perspective on the situation? Where are you headed, to war?

Jesus said "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,…"

James' point: you need to get a "new heart"!

The issue is not the issue

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Who are you arguing with and what's the issue?

The issue is not the issue.

It's not about the issue when it escalates into a war; it's about your heart and your selfish desires.

Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?"

James says that the cause of arguments is conflicting desires.

When my desires/wants conflict with your desires/wants chances are I'm going to say something with my tongue that will cause sparks to fly and burn a great forest down!

"You want what you don't have ... you long for what others have ..."

Have you ever fought that battle inside, you know, the one where you see something and you can't get it off your mind? I've got to have it!

If I just had it, my world would be great!

Things are not bad in themselves, God created things to be used and to enjoy. But when we start loving things over people we end up using people -- manipulating them, controlling them, and moving them around to get what we want because things become more important.

Why do you think people argue about money in marriage?

Money is not the issue; the issue is conflicting desires over what we want.

"... you want only what will give you pleasure"

If you're like me, you want to feel good, be comfortable, to have your senses satisfied, right? Is that wrong?

It's not wrong to enjoy life. 1 Timothy 6:17 "God made everything for our enjoyment."

But when pleasure
becomes the ^#1 goal -- you're asking for conflict.

When I'm more interested in my
comfort than yours and all I think about is what makes me feel good, there's going to be a fight!

Why do you think people argue about sex in marriage?

The desire for pleasure is strong.

When it is thwarted, resentment builds up and sooner or later there's going to be an explosion!

So, What causes fights and quarrels among you?