a sermon on focus quickly became a series - 3 parter - just before we hold our official launch service we need a refocus
when things begin happening and we get busy in life, we sometimes switch to autopilot - that's scary because our inner autopilot is tied to our memory - it doesn't know the way to our dream (future) - it only knows the way back to where we came from
israel was on autopilot - 40 years in a wilderness - trying to get back to where they came from - except for joshua and caleb - not one other adult made it to the promise, God's dream for them - so...
1. we must protect the dream - or lose it - there will be others who come through our church who haven't yet 'caught' the dream - their autopilot will tell them to tell us we need to ease over to the left or turn hard to the right - but we have to protect the dream
the sunday after we had new carpet installed, i made sure nothing was on the platform that wasn't needed for that service - our keyboard was left in a back room - we don't need it until the keyboardist is here to play - among other items on the platform before the carpet was installed: 4 boxes of kleenex tissues (someone was obviously planning on doing a lot of crying), 4 bottles of oil, an old drum key, a speaker cable that was connected to nothing...well, you get the idea - i made sure none of those things went back on the platform, including the small, dusty, plastic greenery - i did put 2 boxes of tissue and 1 bottle of oil near the prayer area - after that i was standing guard (i raised my hands as if holding a baseball bat) in protecting the platform from useless things
the illustration concerned how we let useless things accumulate in our lives and our churches that first of all we don't need and secondly have nothing to do with our relationship with Jesus - things that get in our way of reaching God's dream - so every dream team member must get their baseball bat and stand guard to protect the dream!
2. remember where your dream is - life is not always roses - sometimes it is thorns - we go through a trying ordeal, or we get busy and back off our prayer and devotion life - sometimes we just flat out sin - then the inner autopilot kicks in and always pulls us back to the last place where we knew we were on course - sure, there may be some repenting to do - but going backwards is not the correct course
imagine you have lived in a spiritual limbo for 10 years - when they finally come to themselves the desire is to go 'back to the way things used to be' - problem is, things are not the same - bridges were burned - enemies have been made - some doors opened - others closed - a lot of capital (physical, emotional, relational) has been wasted - you've changed - so have those who were once closest to you - even your spiritual mentors and leaders - as well, God's purpose for your life today is not the same as it was 10 years ago - you are older - hopefully wiser - you may have been single but now maybe divorced with 6 kids
picture it this way: you were walking a straight line toward God's perfect dream for your life - when you lost step with Him, you veered off to the left - for 10 years you kept walking, growing, changing, just off course
so the correct course to correct your course (pun intended) is a 90-degree right turn, straight toward God and the course He laid out for you a long time ago - not back to a comfortable place from the past - because God is not there in your past waiting on you
your inner autopilot wants to turn around and revisit that peaceful place from the past - even remain there - but your future is not behind you - speak that out loud to yourself - don't worry - if anyone overhears you they'll just think you're deep - say "my future is not behind me" - reference Haggai 2:9, a favorite - "the glory of this latter temple will be greater than the former one" - your body is now His temple - so your future is not behind you!
stay focused on the awesome dream God has for you! it's a good dream, not an evil one - a dream to give you a future and a hope! (jeremiah 29:11)
3. the chore of serving God - the religious groups of Jesus' day could not accept Him - students of the law - prayed for hours upon hours - wearing their phylacteries (look it up - it's crazy!) - you'd think they'd be first to recognize Jesus - and worship Him - but He didn't look like what they had always imagined - He didn’t teach the restrictions of the law – He taught complete forgiveness through grace!
the ideas – the wrong ideas – they had held about who God was kept them from receiving God when He actually showed up in their town, in their lives!
how could that happen? how could followers of scripture miss the God of the scripture?! they had a religion of traditions - well acquainted with the things of God – they just didn’t know Him - and, blasphemy, He wanted them to give up their traditions! their traditions were so heavy, so labor-intensive, no one could really follow them
sometimes we create in church a structure that devours all of who we are - we're so busy doing church, we don't have time to do God - or family - or recreation - but God never meant serving Him to be a chore! God wants us to enjoy serving Him! we must stay focused on the reasons why we do the things that we call 'church' - and make sure they are drawing us closer to God, not keeping us away from Him!
when things begin happening and we get busy in life, we sometimes switch to autopilot - that's scary because our inner autopilot is tied to our memory - it doesn't know the way to our dream (future) - it only knows the way back to where we came from
israel was on autopilot - 40 years in a wilderness - trying to get back to where they came from - except for joshua and caleb - not one other adult made it to the promise, God's dream for them - so...
1. we must protect the dream - or lose it - there will be others who come through our church who haven't yet 'caught' the dream - their autopilot will tell them to tell us we need to ease over to the left or turn hard to the right - but we have to protect the dream
the sunday after we had new carpet installed, i made sure nothing was on the platform that wasn't needed for that service - our keyboard was left in a back room - we don't need it until the keyboardist is here to play - among other items on the platform before the carpet was installed: 4 boxes of kleenex tissues (someone was obviously planning on doing a lot of crying), 4 bottles of oil, an old drum key, a speaker cable that was connected to nothing...well, you get the idea - i made sure none of those things went back on the platform, including the small, dusty, plastic greenery - i did put 2 boxes of tissue and 1 bottle of oil near the prayer area - after that i was standing guard (i raised my hands as if holding a baseball bat) in protecting the platform from useless things
the illustration concerned how we let useless things accumulate in our lives and our churches that first of all we don't need and secondly have nothing to do with our relationship with Jesus - things that get in our way of reaching God's dream - so every dream team member must get their baseball bat and stand guard to protect the dream!
2. remember where your dream is - life is not always roses - sometimes it is thorns - we go through a trying ordeal, or we get busy and back off our prayer and devotion life - sometimes we just flat out sin - then the inner autopilot kicks in and always pulls us back to the last place where we knew we were on course - sure, there may be some repenting to do - but going backwards is not the correct course
imagine you have lived in a spiritual limbo for 10 years - when they finally come to themselves the desire is to go 'back to the way things used to be' - problem is, things are not the same - bridges were burned - enemies have been made - some doors opened - others closed - a lot of capital (physical, emotional, relational) has been wasted - you've changed - so have those who were once closest to you - even your spiritual mentors and leaders - as well, God's purpose for your life today is not the same as it was 10 years ago - you are older - hopefully wiser - you may have been single but now maybe divorced with 6 kids
picture it this way: you were walking a straight line toward God's perfect dream for your life - when you lost step with Him, you veered off to the left - for 10 years you kept walking, growing, changing, just off course
so the correct course to correct your course (pun intended) is a 90-degree right turn, straight toward God and the course He laid out for you a long time ago - not back to a comfortable place from the past - because God is not there in your past waiting on you
your inner autopilot wants to turn around and revisit that peaceful place from the past - even remain there - but your future is not behind you - speak that out loud to yourself - don't worry - if anyone overhears you they'll just think you're deep - say "my future is not behind me" - reference Haggai 2:9, a favorite - "the glory of this latter temple will be greater than the former one" - your body is now His temple - so your future is not behind you!
stay focused on the awesome dream God has for you! it's a good dream, not an evil one - a dream to give you a future and a hope! (jeremiah 29:11)
3. the chore of serving God - the religious groups of Jesus' day could not accept Him - students of the law - prayed for hours upon hours - wearing their phylacteries (look it up - it's crazy!) - you'd think they'd be first to recognize Jesus - and worship Him - but He didn't look like what they had always imagined - He didn’t teach the restrictions of the law – He taught complete forgiveness through grace!
the ideas – the wrong ideas – they had held about who God was kept them from receiving God when He actually showed up in their town, in their lives!
how could that happen? how could followers of scripture miss the God of the scripture?! they had a religion of traditions - well acquainted with the things of God – they just didn’t know Him - and, blasphemy, He wanted them to give up their traditions! their traditions were so heavy, so labor-intensive, no one could really follow them
sometimes we create in church a structure that devours all of who we are - we're so busy doing church, we don't have time to do God - or family - or recreation - but God never meant serving Him to be a chore! God wants us to enjoy serving Him! we must stay focused on the reasons why we do the things that we call 'church' - and make sure they are drawing us closer to God, not keeping us away from Him!
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