WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED THIS YEAR?

 NR 12/30/12 Ready, Set, GROW!!

    So, here we are at the end of another year.  They go by faster and faster.  What did you expect at the beginning of 2012?  What happened that you didn’t expect?
    Let’s look for a moment at the thought of expectations.  Some people expect others must take care of their every desire.
Entitlement Mindset Produces Ingratitude
    The bigger our sense of entitlement, the smaller our sense of gratitude …. [Our entitlement mindset] has led to a proliferation of lawsuits: when we don’t get something we really want, we sue somebody.
    For example:
The San Francisco Giants were sued for passing out Father’s Day gifts to men only.
A psychology professor sued for sexual harassment because of the presence of mistletoe at a Christmas party.
A psychic was awarded $986,000 when a doctor’s CAT scan impaired her psychic abilities. You have to wonder about this third one: If she really was a psychic, shouldn’t she have known not to go to that doctor in the first place?
Dan Baker and Cameroun Stauth, What Happy People Know (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2004), page 161
    I assume this past week there were many fulfilled and unfulfilled expectations when it came to receiving gifts.
    Just for a smile:  Mother “Fails” Parenting Class
    When our daughter, Kathy, was participating in a parenting class at her church, she explained to her 6-year-old daughter, Kayla, that she was taking a course to help make her a better mommy. The next Sunday, after church, Kayla became upset and had a tantrum because she was not getting her way. Both parents tried to calm her. But with tears streaming down her face and in a loud voice, Kayla announced to her mother, “You told me you were taking a course to make you a better mommy. Well, it’s not working!”
Shirley Ratcliff, “Kids of the Kingdom,” Christian Reader (July/August 2003)
    The end of the year is a god time to look back. Let’s look back at message from January 1, 2012 (a few highlights)
Growing - GET READY TO GROW
Ready, Set, GROW!
Facts About the Redwood Tree
    Up to 350 feet in height, coast redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth. Commonly known as redwoods and officially known as Sequoia sempervirens, Latin for forever living.  Redwoods grow only on one narrow 450-mile strip of land that stretches from the northern coast of California into Oregon.
    Redwoods have an average life span of 500 to 700 years, but some trees have been known to live 2,000 years.
    Redwoods thrive in the moist climate of the Northern California region which often records more than 100 inches of rainfall a year. Scientists estimate that a large redwood can hold 34,000 pounds of water.
    Redwoods are evergreen conifers, trees that produce cones such as pines and spruces. Rather than leaves, they have green needles that they retain year round. Redwoods reproduce either from seeds similar in size to those found in a tomato, or from spouts that emerge from the forest’s complex root system. Known as one of the world’s the fastest growing trees, redwoods can gain five to seven feet in height each year.
    Redwoods can grow up to 22 feet in diameter. The cinnamon-colored bark that gives the trees their name is usually 12 inches thick, and protects redwoods from insects, birds and fungus. Their bark, which contains plenty of water-based sap, also protects the trees from forest fires. Although redwoods have no natural predators, they have a shallow root system that digs roughly 10 to 13 feet into the ground before spreading 60 to 80 feet outward. Those roots would normally put such tall trees in danger of being ripped free and toppled by high winds. However, each tree intertwines is roots with those of nearby trees, adding strength and stability to the group or grove.
http://www.ehow.com/about_6362654_redwood-tree.html  By Laura Scott, eHow Contributor
    Amazing growth is possible because of the Creator.  Anything that He says should grow will grow because of His power, creativity and provision.  That growth includes every one who is a believer in Jesus, anyone who wants to learn and apply the Biblical promises in their life.
Did you grow this year?
Did you think about growing?
Did you make any efforts to grow?
Do you know that the enemy will do all he can to keep you from growing?
    Note how the huge redwoods make it:  each tree intertwines is roots with those of nearby trees, adding strength and stability to the group or grove.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,   20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.
    This passage is commonly known as the Great Commission.  It is the challenge to the church to not just sit there, but to get out and do what it takes to reach people with the good news of Jesus.  Note the first word of the passage: Go.  The church is not to hide, but get out to where people are to tell them of Jesus.
    Make Disciples.  A disciple is a learner, a follower.  So, we are to do what it takes to see that we, and then others, become real followers of Jesus, following and applying what He taught.  Jesus said we are to teach people to observe all things He commanded.  So, we are to teach and apply what the Bible says.  That is our commission from Jesus.
    In order to do this, we must continually grow and mature spiritually.  Not be stagnant.
We must continue to:
learn more and apply it.
reach out to others with God’s Good News
show them how they can enjoy the blessings and privileges of what Jesus paid for when He came to this earth.
    This year we introduced a process of continual spiritual growth we call:  Connect2Life.  C2L is a daily Bible reading plan.  It challenges a person to read a chapter and then answer three questions.
1.  Write one or two key thoughts that come from today’s reading.
2.  What can I apply in my life from the reading?
3.  How can I help someone?
    As I have been doing this regularly it has caused me to really think about what I’m reading.  I can’t comment on everything in every chapter.  But, I am forced to think about what it is saying and dwell on the practical aspects of the Christian life.
**What does God want me to be doing?
**How does the Bible influence daily life?
**How does my Christian life impact other people?
    I know that some of you have been participating in Connect2Life.  The beginning of the year is a time when people often start a new Bible reading plan.  If you have not been following C2L I encourage you to jump in.  If you follow the plan, in one year you will have read the New Testament and have written something about every chapter.
    A key point to remember as we have been giving an emphasis this year to growing:  Growing spiritually comes as we put in the effort.  The effort includes faithful and consistent church attendance.  It takes advantage of all the opportunities we have: Sunday School, services, mid-week Bible study, etc.  The more effort we put in the more we will learn and grow.  It should be said of all of us that we are growing Christians.
    Discipleship is learning.  But, we must start with learning the basics.  We build on them, they are important.
Coach Wooden Started with Socks
    Players gathering for the first day of basketball practice at UCLA were full of anticipation. They wondered how their coach, John Wooden, would set the tone for the long season to come. They didn’t have to wait long.
    Veterans knew what was coming. But first year players were no doubt perplexed by the initial lesson imparted by their Hall of Fame coach: He taught them how to put on a pair of socks. He did not teach this lesson only once, but before every game and practice. Why?
    Wooden discovered many players didn’t properly smooth out wrinkles in the socks around their heels and little toes. If left uncorrected, these wrinkles could cause blisters that could hamper their performance at crucial times during games. Many players thought the practice odd and laughed about it then. Wooden knew some of them continued to laugh. But the coach would not compromise on this basic fundamental principle: “I stuck to it. I believed in that, and I insisted on it.”  John Wooden was one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game.
    In our desire to grow as Christians, we can easily forget about the fundamentals of our faith. If we do, we run the risk of developing painful spiritual blisters that can hurt us as we run our race.  Discipleship - Keep the focus on Jesus and what He taught.
Lee Dean, Griffith, Indiana; source: espn.go.com/page2/s/questions/wooden
    Are you really familiar with the teachings of Jesus, of the Bible?  It is full of wisdom and practical instructions.  I want to emphasize the importance of actually doing what you learn.  Christianity is not just a bunch of theory, but must be lived out.
    We are called to be servants of the Lord.  Jesus taught on the principle of being a servant.  He said we need to follow that principle.
John 13:12-17 NKJV
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?   13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.   14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.   15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.   16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.   17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
Servants Must Be Prepared for Home Owner’s Visits
    There was a fabulously wealthy American newspaper publisher named James Gordon Bennett. In 1835 Bennett started The New York Herald. He had two lavish apartments in Paris, plus a French country estate and a yacht harbored in Europe. He also had three homes in the U.S. even though he hadn’t lived in the country for over ten years. But the servants in each of his homes always needed to be prepared for Bennett’s unexpected arrival. Author Jill Jones wrote: “Each [house] was fully staffed, ready to serve Bennett should he stride in the front door unannounced—the wine cellars were kept stocked, fires roared in the grates, and sheets were turned down nightly.”
    Jesus calls us to be similarly ready for his sudden return.  He also calls us to be constantly ready to serve.  Jesus was always ready to serve when needed.  We must be ready as well.
Jill Jones, Eiffel's Tower (Viking Adult, 2009), p. 199
    Paul expressed the reality of Jesus’ servanthood in his letter to the church at Philippi.
Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,   6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,   7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.   8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.     It was not too big of a sacrifice for Jesus to leave heaven to come to earth.  He took a lowly position, the place of a servant.  He humbled himself and was obedient.
Servants look for something to do.
    Latin American theologian Rene Padilla remembers vividly one of his early encounters with Bible teacher John Stott.
    The previous night we had arrived in Bariloche, Argentina, in the middle of heavy rain. The street was muddy and, as a result, by the time we got to the room that had been assigned to us our shoes were covered with mud. In the morning, as I woke up, I heard the sound of a brush—John was busy, brushing my shoes. “John!,” I exclaimed full of surprise, “What are you doing?”
    “My dear René,” he responded, “Jesus taught us to wash each other’s feet. You do not need me to wash your feet, but I can brush your shoes.”
Tim Stafford, “John Stott Has Died,” Christianity Today (7-27-11)
Matthew 10:24-25 NKJV
24 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.   25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!
    Jesus went through a long list of extremely difficult situations.  He stuck with the purpose of His life.  He obeyed the will of the Father.  We are not above going through the battles of life to do the will of God.
    The Apostle Paul also understood the concept of being a servant, a bond-slave to Jesus.
Titus 1:1-2 NKJV
1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness,   2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,
    Again, the author calls himself a servant.
    Question: what’s the purpose of serving?  Give help, encouragement, promote the Master.  The servant does what the Master wants.
    Paul wrote about the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.  Our knowledge of the truth must go beyond gathering facts.  Disciples of Jesus, His servants, must have Godliness growing in their lives.  Godliness is the result of discipleship.
    Question for disciples:  Are they impacting the lives of others that they also are living Godly and following the truth of the Bible?
    Another question: Are you an admirer of Jesus?  Or a genuine follower?
    God expects action from His followers, His disciples.
No Excuses for Doing Nothing
    In response to those who make excuses why they cannot serve the Lord, Rick Warren writes:
    Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.
    That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you too if you stop making excuses.
Rick Warren, "The Purpose Driven Life," Zondervan (October 2002), p. 233
    LIFE APPLICATION: The Next Step.  Discuss and see how we can actually do the things we study.
LIFE APPLICATION: The Next Step
What are the key points of this message?
How can we apply this message?

IS CHRISTMAS IMPORTANT?

12/16/12 Ready, Set, GROW!!

    Is Christmas important?
    Sports fans have heard of Roone Arledge.  He was president of ABC Sports and then as president and chairman of ABC News.  He was an important behind-the-scenes figure in the television coverage of the major events of the last half century, from the Olympics to the boxing matches of Muhammad Ali in the 1960s to the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-80.
Here is a very interesting statement:
    The late Roone Arledge, after a stab at expanding into entertainment with a variety show starring Howard Cosell failed in 1975, told The Daily News in the fall of 1976, “I would much rather have it on my tombstone that I did something important.”
Bill Carter, “Roone Arledge, a Force in TV Sports and News, Dies at 71,”New York Times (12-6-02)
    I know that celebrating Christmas is traditional.  Families have events they have done for years and it wouldn’t seem like Christmas if they didn’t do them.  There are foods they simply must have.  There are things that bring emotions and nostalgia.  People say “that’s what Christmas is all about”.  So, is it chestnuts roasting on an open fire and a white Christmas that makes it all important?
    Is Christmas important?
    And, if so, what makes it important?
    Let’s start out with this: Yes, Christmas matters.
    The story is amazing!  There is nothing routine about the story and all the details of His birth.  The facts and what Jesus accomplished are what makes this whole time important.
**Think about the fact that Jesus was born without a human father.
**An angel came and brought assurance to a heartbroken Joseph when he found out his beloved wife-to-be was pregnant and he knew for sure he was NOT the father.
**Wise men followed the star over a long distance and period of time to worship Jesus.
**Herod tried to deceive the wise men so he could kill Jesus.
** God taking on a human form, God becoming flesh.
    There is nothing boring about this story.  We have become very familiar with it and allowed it to become routine.  Yet, we must proclaim the awesome message.  Salvation from sin is the result of Christ’s coming.
    Think about this.  What if it could be proven that a young woman somewhere today was really a virgin, and with no medical procedures, no human intervention of any kind – what if it she became pregnant and gave birth to a child??  That would be a world-wide story.
    Just because we have heard the story over and over, let’s keep the excitement and amazement that God used Mary to give birth to the baby Jesus.  Remember the response of the shepherds when they heard and saw.
Luke 2
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
    There is nothing routine about this amazing story.  Because here is the foundation for our faith.  It is the foundation for our life and eternity.  Because Jesus came, because He accomplished the full plan of salvation, we can live.
    What did you have before really knowing Jesus?  What did you have with simply a religious routine to follow?  What do the billions of people who only have some kind of religion that rejects Jesus have?
    The world is filled with misery, poverty, pain, rejection, loneliness and failure.  Jesus turns lives around and makes life new.
    Because Jesus came, salvation came to the human race.  This is our time to celebrate the greatest gift, the greatest victory the universe will ever see.
    The birth of Jesus celebrates the solution to the greatest battle ever fought.  It is the battle for eternal souls.
People must recognize their need for salvation.
Genesis 3:7 NKJV
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, . . .
Sin brings shame and a desire to hide it.
Genesis 3:8 NKJV
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Sin tries to blame someone else.
Genesis 3:12-13 NKJV
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Sin brought separation from God and pain, struggle.
Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:23 NKJV
therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
God revealed His plan to restore the relationship with mankind.
Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
God paid the price Himself.
Isaiah 53:6 NKJV
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
We are invited to receive the gift.
Isaiah 55:6-7 NKJV
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
John 1:11-12 NKJV
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Acts 4:12 NKJV
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Romans 10:9-10, 13 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
    This is why Christmas is awesome.  Jesus came and provided life to all who will admit their need and accept Him personally.  We must thank God that He has given us this amazing salvation.  The Gospel of Jesus is the message of hope for the world.  It can never be commonplace.  We must never lose passion for living and telling this awesome story.
    I want to read a story, a modern parable made famous by Paul Harvey.
The Man and the Birds by Paul Harvey
    The man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man.
    “I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite. That he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.
    Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound…Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud…At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.
    Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.
    Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them…He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms…Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.
    And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me…That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
    “If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm…to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”
    At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – Adeste Fidelis – listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas.
    And he sank to his knees in the snow.

    Jesus became flesh. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us - and we beheld His glory.  He came to this world and provided a path to eternal life.
    We are going to take time to pray for God to speak to hearts, for God to open doors of opportunity for us to show people the path to life and light, Jesus.  That is an awesome way to celebrate Christmas.  Think of specific people you can pray for.