'I CAN’T LIVE WITH MYSELF, LET ALONE LOVE MYSELF! HOW DO I MOVE FORWARD?'

By Rev. Juliet Schimpf   

Rev. Juliet Schimpf Rev. Juliet Schimpf  is the Minister of  First Baptist  Church in Perth, Ontario: http://www.perthareachurches.ca/baptist_perth_A.htm

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LINK to CFRA broadcast of Sunday, November 11^th, 2012)
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/9552/good_news_026_nov11.mp3

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘I can’t live with myself, let alone love myself! How do I move forward?’

We are ashamed….we don’t like ourselves….we say “Surely God can’t love me!”

WE THINK THAT OUR PAST DISQUALIFIES US.  WE CAN’T LIVE WITH OURSELVES.  IN REALITY, OUR PAST MISTAKES QUALIFY US FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

MATTHEW 5:  “YOU’RE BLESSED WHEN YOU’RE AT THE END OF YOUR ROPE; WITH LESS OF YOU, THERE CAN FINALLY BE MORE OF GOD!”

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A MAN

[for the person outside of the church]

3 HISTORICAL BOOKS:  MATT., MARK, LUKE 8

·         To the east of the sea of galilee were the pagans—people never really a part of God’s ministry

·         Jesus went there to confront the power of evil that existed in this world

·         The northern edge of the Decapolis (10 cities)

o    10 cities making up district of country founded by Greeks

o    Sophisticated cities—founded by pagan greeks—considered pig a sacred animal, worshipped fertility god….

o    To the jewish mind, the lake was seen to be the abyss…..

o    To the jewish mind:  this was an unclean area—they considered it a place of the devil; they felt that Beelzebub lived there

NRSV  LUKE 8

26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,* which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn* no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.

[GOSPEL OF MATTHEW RECORDS SHAKLES AND CHAINS WRENCHED APART]

28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? [demons have faith—just not saving faith] I beg you, do not torment me’—29for Jesus* had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains.

and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him.31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.  32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons* begged Jesus* to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.  34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes* asked Jesus* to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus* sent him away, saying, 39‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

GOD PURSUES US IN OUR FILTH!

15 MINUTES AGO MAN WAS DEMON-POSSESSED; NOW HE IS A MISSIONARY.

DON’T NEED A UNIVERSITY DEGREE….JUST TELL PEOPLE WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN YOUR LIFE!

Luke 8:40 “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.”—This was due to the testimony of the man who was delivered from the demon! 

A WOMAN 

[for the person who comes inside the church]

JOHN 8

^{2 “}At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  ⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.” “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

·         Jesus openly broke the law!

·         He was all about grace!

·         Instead of passing judgment on the woman, Jesus passed judgment on the judges!

Church:  we need to be a safe place for people!

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* BOTH MAN AND WOMAN PROBABLY COULD NOT LIVE WITH THEMSELVES-----------NOTICE:  GOD COULD LIVE WITH THEM!

What do both stories have in common????

1.       Life-changing interaction with Jesus.

2.      “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

3.      GIVE GOD YOUR PAST—HE WILL REDEEM IT!

4.      DID THEIR PAST DISQUALIFY THEM FROM  BEING CLEANSED BY JESUS?  NO!  IT QUALIFIED THEM!  

The next time you feel like God can't use you, just remember...

~ Noah was a drunk

~ Abraham was too old

~ Isaac was a daydreamer

~ Jacob was a liar

~ Leah was ugly

~ Joseph was abused

~ Moses had a stuttering problem

~ Gideon was afraid

~ Samson had long hair and was a womanizer

~ Rahab was a prostitute

~ Jeremiah and Timothy were too young

~ David was an adulterer and a murderer

~ Elijah was suicidal

~ Isaiah preached naked

~ Jonah ran from God

~ Naomi was a widow

~ Job went bankrupt

~ John the Baptist ate bugs

~ Peter denied Christ

~ The disciples fell asleep while praying

~ Martha worried about everything

~ The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once)

~ Zaccheus was too small

~ Paul was too religious

~ Timothy had an ulcer

~ Lazarus was dead!

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD?  COME TO JESUS!

Isaiah 61:³ “to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes”

Romans NIV 8 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^[a] free from the law of sin & death.”

NIV Psalm 103: 

4 who redeems your life from the pit                                                                 

       and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we come to you this hour. We come to you not just with our present, but with our past. And Lord, we give you our past right now in Jesus’ name, and we say “redeem it”. We say “forgive it”. We say “transform it”, for your glory.

We are truly sorry for the errors of our past. And we ask that you would have mercy on us this day and that you would redeem us; and God, we ask that you would lead us boldly into the future with a destiny in you, alone.

We pray this hour that the woman or the man who has been entangled in sin, or weighed down by their past, that right now they would be set free by Jesus Christ; and that they would realize that their past mistakes don’t disqualify them from following you, but rather, qualify them.

God, go ahead of us and take us into the future. Make all things new and give us beauty for our ashes; and receive all the glory, throughout.

We ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rev. Juliet Schimpf

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/9552/good_news_026_nov11.mp3