Have you ever been a devoted fan or collector of something? Postage stamps or coins perhaps?
Maybe you have followed the career of a particular famous sportsperson, pop star or actor and have collected all sorts of memorabilia that honours and celebrates their achievements. Whatever the object of devotion, when people are devoted to something or someone, you can usually tell how devoted they are by how invested they are in it.
However, our whole hearted love and devotion towards Jesus comes more naturally when we recognise his wholehearted devotion to us. Jesus was so invested in redeeming us from sin and death that he invested everything, even his life, so that we could be his. It's that wholehearted devotion that sparks our devotion in response and that's what we're going to talk about this week.
Final week of our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
In the worlds of professional wrestling or mixed martial arts, 'submission' is the response you hope to elicit from your opponent. When they 'submit' they give up the fight and recognise that they have been beaten by a superior fighter.
We might not recognise the daily battle we have with God about control over our own lives, but you can rest assured it's there. Each day we acknowledge him as Lord and then spend an awfully large amount of time and energy, trying to find ways that we can justify wrestling control back from God and doing things our own way. Unlike a Pro Wrestler or an MMA fighter, God does not beat us into submission. However, he does invite us to trust him and to give up the fight; to let him take his rightful place at the controls of our lives and our hearts. Wholehearted submission to the will of God releases us from the constant struggle of having to prove to ourselves, to others, or to God that we have things under control, and that, for most of us is a greater freedom that we might ever have imagined.
#5 in our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
"Conviction"...it's a funny word in the English language. To have a conviction can mean to have a strongly held belief or opinion, but it can also mean to have a criminal record.
In both cases, our convictions define and identify us. I can be a convicted criminal, but just as easily I can be a convicted and dedicated activist for any cause you might like to name.
People had convictions about Jesus too. Some wanted to convict him as a criminal, a rebel, and a heretic. Others were convinced that his claims to be the Messiah were true. So this week we ask the question, 'What are your convictions about Jesus and how are they shaping you? What “Jesus” are you ready to be identified with?’ So join us as we explore the idea of wholehearted conviction.
#4 in our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
In Mathematics, things that are a dead certainty are said to have a probability of 1, while things that have no chance of happening have a probability of 0.
But what is there in life that is actually completely certain? What event, what outcome can you ever really guarantee one hundred percent? Much of our time and energy is often spent on trying to 'bend the odds' in our favour. We make decisions based on what might move the likelihood of certain positive circumstances towards one and what might move the needle on the scale for unpleasant events closer to zero. If instead of playing the odds, trying to create some certainty and assurances for yourself, you wholeheartedly pursued the one thing that is certain in this life, the love and provision of your Heavenly Father - what would change? That's what we'll look at this week as we explore Wholehearted Assurance.
#3 in our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
Have you ever apologised to someone only to be given the response, "Well how are you going to make it up to me?"
Our natural response to injustice is to seek compensation in one form or another. We expect the person who has wronged us to 'do something' to fix the problem or the hurt that they have caused. This is the fundamental principle on which our justice system is built. People are either forced to repay the cost of the damage they have caused or, when no sufficient financial cost can be determined, to be removed from society until something approximating a 'fair' time of imprisonment has been completed. However, reconciliation is not the same as justice. Reconciliation really begins when we practice forgiveness which, at it's heart, is setting aside our claim to seek justice and instead handing justice and judgement over to God and resting in the assurance of His forgiveness.
#2 in our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
When Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment was to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind", he wasn't just kidding around. Nothing less that wholehearted devotion to God, wholehearted trust and faith in Jesus His son as your saviour and wholehearted transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit can bring us the fullness of life that Jesus died in order to make available to us. That process of transformation begins with wholehearted repentance. Ash Wednesday is traditionally a time for us to reflect on our brokenness and our complete dependence on God for grace, forgiveness and life itself. And yet, repentance is so much more than confessing our wrong doing and admitting our sins to God. It's a commitment to turn from our old way of living, thinking and being, and to walk in the new life which Christ won for us on the cross. The new life that Christ invites us into as we begin the season of Lent and the journey with Christ, through the cross and into the resurrected life..
#1 in our Lent series: "Wholehearted"
Why me! We all ask this question at certain times and for various reasons. Why did this terrible thing happen to me? Why do I have to be the one to fix this? Why is everyone looking to me for an answer?
Don't worry, you are in good company. Moses asked God the same question. People questioned God when he chose David, the scrawny youngest son of Jesse to be the next king of Israel. All throughout the Bible we find people asking, "Why me?" or, "Why them?" Growing in acceptance is about changing the question from "why" to "how". Don't ask why God has called you or why he's given you a certain task. Instead, accept that you have a part to play in the Body of Christ and ask How he wants you to get it done. How has God equipped and prepared you to serve his purpose and his plan.
#5 in our vision series: "Growing Pains"
Ask your friends what you are passionate about and I'm sure they will be quick to answer.
Maybe it's your love of a particular football team or a particular sport. Maybe its cars, surfing, knitting, fishing, cooking or some other hobby that people would identify first. Maybe it would be your friends and family, your relationships, that people would know are most important to you. Whatever it is that get's your blood pumping and gets you excited and passionate, it's usually not hard for people to see it. We want to talk about those things we love, we want to share them and clear out schedules to make space for them in our lives. So why is it often different when it comes to Jesus and his invitation to experience fulness of life in him? We're going to explore this week as we talk about 'Growing in passion'.
#4 in our vision series: "Growing Pains"
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and 'they' are kind of right.
Many people know the ten commandments and the laws given to Moses by God, but many of those same people mistakenly use those laws as a means of criticising and belittling others and elevating their own status, rather than using them as the means by which God intended humans to flourish in community with himself and with one another. True wisdom, comes not only from knowing the laws of God and his decrees, but in knowing the God who made the decrees in the first place. Wisdom comes through lived experience together with academic knowledge and formal learning. It is only as we live in relationship with God and in obedience to him, that we really begin to understand the wisdom of his ways, and that's what we'll explore today.
#3 in our vision series: "Growing Pains"