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Sunday 29 January 2012

‘Humility’ - The Call to Fall

(CFRA broadcast date: Sunday, January 29th, 2012 - #663)
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Broadcast Notes:
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Issues of Life Series…
‘Humility’ or, ‘The Call to Fall’

Last week we addressed the issue of ‘pride’
Pride…. a problem in all of us.

Pride

A turtle in Canada wanted to winter in Florida. Since it was too far to walk, he convinced two geese to tie a rope around their necks and fly south while he hung on with his vise-like jaws
clamped onto the rope.
As they crossed the river into Kentucky, some other geese joined the formation. impressed with the getup, one said,
Hey, who thought up that brilliant idea?”
The turtle immediately opened his mouth to say,
 “I did…” and fell to his death.

the old Mac Davis song

Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble
when you’re perfect in every way.
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
’cos I get better looking each day

to know me is to love me
I must be a really great man.
O Lord it’s hard to be humble
but I’m doing the best that I can.

Mirror Mirror on the wall.
Who’s the most humble of us all?

To know know know me
is to love love love me
and I do,
yes I do

The Call to Fall.

If My people who are called by My Name
·         Humble themselves
·         Pray
·         Seek my face
·         Turn from their wicked ways
Then
·         I will hear
·         Forgive
·         Heal

The Bible says:

·         ‘He guides the humble in what is right’ 
      Psalm 25:9

·         ‘Be completely humble and gentle’       
      Ephesians 4:2

·         ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord’
     James 4:10

1          Humility is a Proper Attitude of Dependence
           upon and submission to God

Re-Actions to that statement
·         Anger
·         Apathy
·         Acting
·         Acceptance
  
We must allow God to be in control
We must release the urge to believe that we are in control.
We must relinquish the illusion that we are in control.

We the ‘finite’ must come to terms with submitting and surrendering ourselves to the control of the ‘infinite’.

2          Humility is trusting Him

During the days when Mohammed Ali was a great boxer, he would go around in his arrogance and say, "I am the greatest."

Humility was never his strong suit.
One day, back in his prime, he was on an airplane and the plane was ready to take off and the flight attendant had repeatedly told him to put on his seat belt. He finally told her, "I’m superman and superman don’t need no seatbelt."

The flight attendant didn’t hesitate a minute but shot back with, "Superman don’t need no airplane either, now buckle up."

·         Humility is an exclusively Jewish virtue.
     The ancient philosophers admired self-reliance.

·         Humility was decidedly not on their list of virtues.

1    Humility is a proper Attitude of Dependence
      upon and submission to God

2   Humility is trusting Him

3   Humility is  a Discipline!

Aristotle
‘Humility is the middle ground between anger and indifference.’

Humility is:
More than an attitude
·         It’s an attitude in Action


If My People:

·         Humble themselves
·         Pray
·         Seek my face
·         Turn from their wicked ways

Then I will
·         Hear their prayer
·         Forgive their sins
·         Heal their land

In order to be:

Ø  Heard
Ø  Forgiven
Ø  Healed

We must be faithful consistent in:

Ø  Turning
Ø  Seeking
Ø  Praying

and the key is being humble.

Now….. let’s look at a proto-type of how not to be humble

The Five ‘I Wills’

·         I will ascend to heaven
·         I will raise my throne above the stars of God
·         I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain
·         I will ascend above the tops of the clouds
·         I will make myself like the Most High.


·         Model of perfection
·         Full of wisdom
·         Perfect in beauty
·         Blameless in your ways

·         Your heart became proud
     on account  of your beauty

·         you corrupted your wisdom
     because of your splendor

Lesson

 Be humble, it’s not about you
2   Beware of ‘wisdom – beauty’
3   Be careful


·         I will ascend to heaven
·         I will raise my throne above the stars of God
·         I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain
·         I will ascend above the tops of the clouds
·         I will make myself like the Most High.
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

Sunday 22 January 2012

'PRIDE'

(CFRA broadcast date: Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 - #662)
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http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/5728/good_news_662_jan22.mp3
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Broadcast Notes:
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Issues of Life Series…
‘Pride’

Proverbs 6:16-19

16 These six things the LORD hates,
      Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
       17 A proud look,
      A lying tongue,
      Hands that shed innocent blood,
       18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
      Feet that are swift in running to evil,
       19 A false witness who speaks lies,
      And one who sows discord among brethren.


Pride…. What a topic for discussion

A minister received a card with a note in it from a lady in his congregation. He said she was very complimentary about his preaching, and compared him with Billy Graham.

She finished by writing,
"I think you are one of the really great preachers of all time."

Later that day, when he showed the note to his wife, she asked, "Who is that woman?" He replied,
"She is a very intelligent woman in the congregation who loves great preaching."

He then asked his wife,
"How many great preachers do you suppose there really are in the world?"
She replied, "One less than you think."

Story has been told of a lion who was very proud and decided to take a walk one day to demonstrate his mastery over all the other creatures.

He strutted his way through the forest until he came across a bear, ‘WHO IS THE KING OF THE JUNGLE BEAR?  ‘Why of course you are mighty lion’.

He went on until he found the tiger, ‘WHO IS THE KING OF THE JUNGLE TIGER?’ ‘Why you are great lion’.

Next the lion found the elephant, ‘WHO IS THE KING OF THE JUNGLE FAT ELEPHANT?’

The elephant immediately grabbed the lion with his trunk and spun him around a few times and slammed him to the ground.
He then stepped on him a few times and picked him up and dunked him in the water and then threw him up against a tree.

The lion staggered to his feet and said, ‘LOOK, JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER IS NO REASON TO GET SO UPSET!’

Some people are so full of pride they don’t even realize it.

The master pets a dog, and the dog wags its tail and thinks, “He must be a god.”
But the master pets his cat, and the cat purrs, shuts its eyes and thinks to itself, “I must be a god.”
Though Jesus in grace reached down to us, there is still a perverse human tendency to think like the cat!

Perfectionist
Nobody can do it as well as me, so I need to make sure I am the one that does it.
Rebellious
I will do it my way and that is the only way.  Most of the people who are in authority over me are in the place I deserve to be in.
Insecure
I am not really comfortable with who I am, but if I fake it well enough, nobody will ever know..
Dissatisfied
No matter how good it may be, they feel they deserve it to be better.
Pride and dissatisfaction can lead to excessive debt and poor financial responsibility as well.
Egotistical
It has always got to be about me.
If I am not the center of attention,
I will do what is necessary to change that.

Pride says, “I don’t need you God”.
Pride says, "I am good enough just like I am."
Pride says, "I don’t need Jesus to get me to heaven."

The ultimate expression of pride is to think we can do without God.

All sins root themselves in Pride.
C.S Lewis says that compared to pride all others sins: unchasity, greed, drunkenness and the like are mere flea-bites. He says that every vice comes from pride and that pride is that anti-God state of mind.

1     We are totally dependent upon God for all we are.

Four Re-Actions to that statement:
·         Anger
·         Apathy
·         Acting
·         Acceptance

"Hypocrisy"  is mentioned 20 times in New Testament. 
Hypocrisy = Actor
·         A person who pretends to be what he is not.
So why would a person pretend as an actor?

Pride

2    Truths about Pride
·         None of us are completely free of pride
·         It’s seems to rear its ugly head over and over
·         Those who refuse to admit to having pride are often the very ones who fall because of it.

3    Categories of Pride
·         Social pride
·         Spiritual pride
·         Financial pride
·         Political pride
·         Cultural pride
·         Educational pride
·         Intellectual pride
·         Pedigree Pride
·         Denominational pride
The list could go on and on...

4     God Hates Pride
Proverbs 6:16-19

Six things God hates and one more that he
loathes with a passion. (the Message)

·         Haughty eyes (a proud look)
      Eyes that are arrogant

Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall”                                                                  
Leviticus 26:18-19 - God declares:
“If after all this you will not listen to me,
 I will punish you for your sins seven times over.
I will break down your stubborn pride...”

Psalm 10:4
“In his pride the wicked does not seek God;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

We live in a "me-ism" world...where we might have:
·         A tongue that lies
·         Hands that shed innocent blood                                                
·         Hands that murder the innocent; (one might think about abortion)
·         A heart that devises wicked schemes
A heart that hatches evil plots
·         Feet that are quick to rush into evil
Feet that race down a wicked track
·         A false witness who pours out lies
A mouth that lies under oath
·         A man who stirs up dissension
among the brothers (church)
A troublemaker in the family

Acceptance
Hymn writers John Newton and William Cowper were
close friends.  One morning, reflecting upon the words
‘by the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor. 15:10)
John Newton looked across the kitchen table and said to William Cowper
‘I’m not what I ought to be.
I’m not what I want to be.
I’m not what I hope to be.
But thank God I’m not what I used to be’

"There is no limit to how far a person can go as long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit for it."  -A plaque on Pres. Ronald Regan’s Desk.

 Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century
postulated that the earth was the center of the universe, that the earth was still, that other planets orbited and other planets rotated, but the earth not. The universe revolved around the earth. It made sense, and people believed it. For 1400 years.

In the 16th century came a man named Nicklaus Copernicus.
He started poking around and asking questions:

"Why do some stars appear in the day and others at night?"
"What causes the seasons to change?"
"Does anyone know exactly how far ships can sail before falling off the edge of the earth?"

Copernicus had figured out that not only did the earth itself rotate, it also revolved around the sun.

The world doesn’t revolve around US?
This was hard for people to accept.
Galileo came along saying the same things –
and for advocating these beliefs the church
kicked him out and the state put him under
house arrest.
Copernicus and Galileo pointed to the sun and said –
"The center of the universe"

Max Lucado in his book It’s Not About Me writes: "What Copernicus did for the earth, God does for our souls. Tapping the collective shoulder of humanity, he points to the Son - his Son - and says
"Behold the center of it all."
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

Sunday 15 January 2012

"Do You Know How to Love God?"

(CFRA Broadcast date: January 15st , 2012)
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 http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/5659/good_news_661_jan15.mp3
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Podcast Notes:
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Issues of Life Series…
‘Do You Know How to Love God?’

My Message today is entitled:
Do you know how to love God?

Do you know how to love?
Do you love God?
Do you know how to love God?
Do you know how to love God the way He wants to be loved?

Rod Stewart sang about 10 years ago.

It goes like this:
"Have I told you lately that I love you?
Have I told you, there’s no one else above you?
You fill my heart with gladness.
Take away all my sadness.
Ease my troubles.
That’s what you do."

Do you know how to love God?

Here’s the truth!

God created you to love Him in four ways:

·         Heart       -  with our affections/emotions
·         Soul          -  with our personality
·         Mind         -  with our thoughts (on hpw to please God)
·         Strength   -  with our resources

Schema

Do you know how to love God the way He wants to be loved?

Gary Chapman….. wrote about the 5 Love Languages

·         Time
·         Word of affirmation/praise
·         Acts of service
·         Touch
·         Gifts

Love

God loves you.
God loves you with completely.
There is nothing that you can do to make God love you more.

The Invitation            Matthew 11:29, 30
‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

Yoked

·         Both are trained to respond
·         to the same commands
·         in the same manner
·         at the same moment

so when they are joined together  they are a team.

Do you see it?

That’s a picture of being yoked together with Christ in love.
That’s a picture of being yoked together with your spouse


Yoke Pictures Three Things:  Connection - Direction - Cooperation

1.   Connection        “Be with Me.”

Yokes are made for two, not one.
We were not meant to go through life living apart from God.

His yoke fits well and is lighter than the one we’ve been pulling by ourselves.

2.   Direction             “Follow Me.”

The idea of a yoke pictures the forward motion of two connected together.

You cannot be yoked to Jesus and go your own way anymore.
We follow Him and His direction for our life.


3.   Cooperation      “Work with Me.”

To be yoked together means that we co-operate with His work.

Before we come to Him, we were living for this side of eternity.

Now we are joined to His work and discover that our lives make an eternal impact.  We experience only when we obey:

The famous atheist Frederick Nietzsche, who coined the phrase “God is dead,” once said, “Assert yourself.”

Care for nothing except yourself.
The only vice is weakness and the only virtue is strength.
Be strong. Be a superman. The world is yours if you work hard enough for it!”

In contrast Jesus said,
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”
Matthew 5:5

Two very different ideas.
Although the first words are from an atheist, and the last quote from the teaching of Jesus, it often seems that Christians go by Nietzsche’s philosophy rather than Jesus’ teaching. Many Christians live as though the only virtue is strength.

Two very different ideas. Although the first words are from an atheist, and the last quote from the teaching of Jesus, it often seems that Christians go by Nietzsche’s philosophy rather than Jesus’ teaching. Many Christians live as though the only virtue is strength. Jesus never talked about strength, but he often spoke of meekness.

‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

The promise is that there will be rest for the stressed.
Time magazine noted that back in the 60’s, expert testimony was given to a Senate sub-committee on time management. They predicted that advances in technology would radically change how many hours a week people worked.

They forecasted that the average N. American would be working 22 hours a week within 20 years.

“The great challenge,” the experts said,
“would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.”

Over 40 years later, after major advances in technology –
how many of us are wondering what to do with all the excess time on our hands?

 Our world has become the world of the Red Queen of Alice and Wonderland.
She said:
“Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

There is “Rest For The Stressed”
when we are ‘yoked’ with Jesus Christ’

The Bible teaches us that there are Four Factors that we need to know when it comes to Loving God, the way God wants to be loved.

1   Loving God means:  Obeying God

·         Duty based Obedience
·         Fear based Obedience
·         Affection based Obedience

If you love me, you will obey what I command     John 14:15

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one
who loves me..  John 14:21

If anyone loves me, he will  obey my teaching.  John 14:23

Obedience is better then sacrifice         1 Samuel 15:22

2   Loving God involves  Trusting God

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You
because he trust in you.  Trust in the Lord forever    Isaiah 26:3

Trust in the Lord with all your heart                          Proverbs 3:5

3   Loving God requires our loyalty to Truth.

·         Your Word is Truth                              John 17:17

·         The Truth will set you free.                John 8:32

·         The reason I was born
The reason I came into the world was to testify to the Truth.
John 18:37

4   Loving God includes a consuming desire to live for Him
    
·         A lovesick abandonment to God.

1   Four Words of Love

Storge            =   safe/secure
Phileo             =   friend
Epithamia      =   non sexual intimacy
Agapeop        =   unconditional loyalty

2    Four spheres of Love

·         Loving God means:                    Obeying God

·         Loving God involves                   Trusting God

·         Loving God requires our             Loyalty to Truth.
John 18:37

·         Loving God includes  a              Consuming desire

3   Five Love Languages

Saint Augustine gave interesting advice concerning ‘loving God’ when he said,
“Love God, then do as you please.”
 
·         Time
·         Words of affirmation
·         Service
·         Touch
·         Gifts

4    Why is it important to Love God?

·         Dr. Carl Zimmerman  "Family and Civilization"

Dr. Carl Zimmerman wrote a very important book called, "Family and Civilization"

The book was a result of research he had done on 3000 years of family life. This Harvard Professor made a powerful case for traditional family structure.
The conclusion of his book could be summed up like this:

As go the children so goes the culture;
as goes the family so goes society!

Carl Zimmerman gives 7 indicators that a culture is in decline. According to history, culture that have gone into decline are characterized by:

  An increased in the rate of divorce.

2    Lack of commitment to the permanence of marriage.

3   Redefining the meaning of family as a solution                   
     to social problems.

 Lack of respect for parental authority.

5   Promotion of co-habitation over marriage.

6   Lack of inhibition concerning adultery.

7   Acceptance of all forms of sexuality.

It is interesting to know that Dr. Zimmerman was a secular historian and that he never confessed to be a Christian. And again, it is interesting as well to note that he published his research in 1947.

There’s an old saying,
"If a person doesn’t stand for something, they’ll fall for anything."

"Core Values,"
Ø  Truth
Ø  Love
Ø  Hope

These ‘Core Values’ must be delivered consistently with ‘honesty’ and ‘integrity’.
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
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