What a fascinating way to develop our spiritual journey.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a kind of sherpa, if you will, to accompany us on our own pilgrimage through this life.
“You can be anything you want to be.” …..”If you can dream it you can do it.”
While it sounds so great and inspirational, it’s actually could be a a lie.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics.
There were three simple steps to accomplishing my goal.
That’s not my gift set. You would laugh watching me try out for the NBA. If I would have seriously pursued that dream, I would be lost wondering why life didn’t work out. God had something better in mind for me than I did for me.
We can’t be anything we want to be because we can only be who God made us to be. Our dreams are important, but God’s desires for us are even greater.
Adopting His vision for our lives sets us free to be who He wants us to be, rather than who we think we should be.
Replace the lies we’ve been telling ourselves about who we should be by being honest about our obstacles and opportunities.
Our lies wear us out by pursuing goals that God never meant us to chase. A pipe-dream life. Unreal and unattainable. Both are not us. The lies have to die so you can finally live.
God’s miraculous plan – STOP AT 3:46 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYuVx2LU5QM
“Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.”
If yes, these are your opportunities. You were created exactly the way you are for a reason and have a great purpose in being here on this planet. God has put something incredible in your grasp.
Here are the talking points to this message.
Rite of passage is a celebration of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group or season to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society.
What a fascinating way to develop our spiritual journey.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a kind of sherpa, if you will, to accompany us on our own pilgrimage through this life.
Philippians is the eleventh book in the New Testament. Paul and Timothy first visited Philippi, in Greece, during Paul’s second missionary journey, which occurred between approximately 49 and 51 AD. and it is written from a jail in Rome.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, becamehuman! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
God humbles us for our own good : Deuteronomy 8:16
God hears the prayers of the humble : 2 Chronicles 7:14
God saves those who are humble : Psalm 18:27
God preserves the lives of humble people : Psalm 147:6
Those who are humble become wise : Proverbs 11:2
God cares for the humble : Isaiah 66:2
God will exalt the humble : Luke 18:4
We must be humble in dealing with others : Philippians 2:1-11
We should humble ourselves before God : James 4:10
Communion
Rite of passage is a celebration of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society.
Philippians 1:1-6
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the Bishops and deacons
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us. — Acts 16:14-15 World English Bible
2. Paul and Silas in Prison because of a teenage demon possessed girl. – Acts 16:16
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
3. Jail house rock.
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So here we have Two families (households) that have come to Christ.
One by a river and the other in a jail.
Now fast forward about 10 – 15 years….Paul is in another Prison, this time in Rome writing back to the Church he started at Philippi.
Philippians 1:1-6
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the Bishops and deacons[a]:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
We have “rites of Passage’ but have we ever thought about the RITES OF PASSAGE FOR GOD?
NOT JUST WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR US TO GET TO GOD….BUT WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR GOD TO GET TO US?
RITES OF PASSAGE OF JESUS TO GET TO LYDIA AND THE PHILIPPIAN JAILER?
1. It took a DREAM.
2. It took a RIVER.
3. It took some JAIL TIME.
4. It took some PRAISE and PRAYER.
5. It took an EARTHQUAKE.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
Paul saw him about to destroy himself and shouted, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (Acts 16:28). The jailer called for a light and came in trembling before Paul and Silas and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul responded, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE RIGHTS OF PASSAGE FOR GOD?
1. TO GET TO US HE HAD TO BECOME LIKE US.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
2. TO GET TO US HE HAD TO LIVE LIKE US.
“ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” – Hebrews 4:15
” Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” – Hebrews 2:18
3. TO GIVE US LIFE HE HAD TO GIVE UP HIS.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. – 1 John 15:13
“who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” – Galatians 1:4
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. ” – 1 John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
Jesus went through the RITES OF PASSAGE to get to you. He suffered, obeyed, gave up, sacrificed and loved even when we did not love him back.
The RIGHTS OF PASSAGE OF GOD to get to you.
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”
Diving into this tonight at the suggestion of a friend.
The only problem with me reading this book is now I know I will need to do this.
Here is the review on the Jacket cover.
“Carrying only basic camping equipment and a collection of the world’s great spiritual writings, Belden C. Lane embarks on solitary spiritual treks through the Ozarks and across the American Southwest. For companions, he has only such teachers as Rumi, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Thomas Merton, and as he walks, he engages their writings with the natural wonders he encounters–Bell Mountain Wilderness with Søren Kierkegaard, Moonshine Hollow with Thich Nhat Hanh–demonstrating how being alone in the wild opens a rare view onto one’s interior landscape, and how the saints’ writings reveal the divine in nature.
The discipline of backpacking, Lane shows, is a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Just as the wilderness offered revelations to the early Desert Christians, backpacking hones crucial spiritual skills: paying attention, traveling light, practicing silence, and exercising wonder. Lane engages the practice not only with a wide range of spiritual writings–Celtic, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi Muslim–but with the fascination of other lovers of the backcountry, from John Muir and Ed Abbey to Bill Plotkin and Cheryl Strayed. In this intimate and down-to-earth narrative, backpacking is shown to be a spiritual practice that allows the discovery of God amidst the beauty and unexpected terrors of nature. Adoration, Lane suggests, is the most appropriate human response to what we cannot explain, but have nonetheless learned to love.
An enchanting narrative for Christians of all denominations, Backpacking with the Saints is an inspiring exploration of how solitude, simplicity, and mindfulness are illuminated and encouraged by the discipline of backcountry wandering, and of how the wilderness itself becomes a way of knowing-an ecology of the soul.”
Now to make plans of my own.
My saints will be:
Frank Boreham, John Muir, Ed Abby, Henry David Thoreau, a little Leonard Sweet and some good maps.
Thanks Eric N for the tip on this one.
“there are those who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” – Aldo Leopold- A Sand County Almanac
Steve
This group is filled with all sorts of ideas. It’s “the way we like it” category of opinions and ideas. Music styles, Bible versions, carpet colors, ministry models, and so much more offer different approaches baed on what I personally enjoy most. And yet, while these are the lowest group on the conviction scale, they are often the largest source of conflict. You see, many of us (especially when we’ve taken our eyes off of God’s harvest) simply want things to be the way we like them.
Now, having preferences surely isn’t wrong. You can prefer certain styles of worship expression or decide that you like the New King James Version better than the old one, but when personal preferences aren’t kept personal, problems arise. Any time these start climbing the ladder into the other categories, trouble will soon erupt.
If I insist that my preferences are really my convictions, I will find myself easily offended. If try to make my Convictions into Community Standards, I will become demanding and difficult for others to work with. And if we try turning our Community Standards into Biblical Absolutes, we end up treating our ways and traditions as equal with the Bible.
WHERE YOU STAND DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE!
Intro: One day, six blind men decided to go to the zoo. They hired a guide to tell them about all the exotic animals they couldn’t see. When they came to the elephants, the zoo keeper wanted them to have more than a verbal description, so he allowed them each to feel the elephant.
Since the elephant was large, and since the zoo keeper had limited time, he let each man touch one part of the giant mammal.
The first blind man reached out and his hand grabbed the elephant’s tail. “Aha,” he exclaimed, “the elephant is like a big rope.”
The next man felt a massive elephant leg. He looked strange, no rope was that big. “No, the elephant is like a large log or tree.” He was sure of this.
The third blind man walked forward and ran straight into the elephant’s side, whereupon he pronounced that, “The elephant is really a big wall.”
Next, another of the blind men reached out and took hold of one of the elephant’s ears. It must have tickled, because the elephant wiggled the large ear, causing the fourth man to exclaim, “Oh, see this, the elephant is like a big fan.”
The fifth blind man decided that the first four were all slightly daft and they couldn’t be describing the same creature, so he carefully walked up and put out his hand, the elephant raised his trunk to the man who felt it and grinned in wonder. “My friends, it is obvious the elephant is like a huge snake.”
The final man was totally confused, he walked forward and reached out, hoping to find the truth, and encountered a tusk. He paused and brightened, “I understand, the true nature of the elephant is this, he is a sword.”
The zoo keeper and guide smiled at one another, knowing that none had seen the big, elephantine, picture.
Sometimes we don’t see the whole picture – we just see parts of it – We see our situation from the wrong vantage point.
WHERE YOU STAND DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE!
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints Ephesians 1:18 (niv)
Ephesians is has a two part theme:
1. Who we are in Christ Chapters 1-3 – DOCTRINAL chapters
2. How we should live Chapters 4-6 – PRACTICAL chapters
‘Who are you, Lord?’ … “‘What do you want me to do, Lord?’ I asked Acts 22::8-10
The Threefold postures of the Christ life
1. Our Status – SIT
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2:6
2. Our Service – WALK
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light Ephesians 5:8
3. Our Strategy – STAND
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13
The Greek verb to “STAND” means to “HOLD YOUR GROUND”
We don’t fight FOR victory …..we fight FROM victory
“They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.“Rev – 12:11
SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO TAKE A STAND!
Yes you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything
1. STAND UP – Nehemiah. 9:5
“Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.”
The first priority in a spiritual battle is to stand up and praise the lord.
Why ? Because it announces to everyone that you are on God’s side and God is on your side.
Romans 12:1,2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
DON’T CONFORM IN THE BATTLE
3. STAND IN –
1 Corinthians. 2:5 your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers Psalm 1:1
Luke 1:19 The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
4. STAND STILL –
Exodus. 14:13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Numbers 9:8 – stand still and see what the Lord says.
Message notes and outline for Sunday January 10, 2016
Glacier Point – Yosemite, Ca.
Ephesians is divided into two sections:
1. Who we are in Christ Chapters 1-3 – DOCTRINAL chapters
2. How we should live Chapters 4-6 – PRACTICAL chapters
Paul gives us a great look at how we can understand how the Christian life works.
PEOPLE WHO TOOK A SEAT
1. Those PROVIDED FOR. – for the Hungry
“Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” John 6:10
2. Those DELIVERED FROM. – for the Desperate
“they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” – Luke 8:35
3. Those RESTED IN. – for those who Desire God’s presence
“Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught” – Luke 10:39
SEATED OR DEFEATED
This was God’s way of doing things from the beginning.
In the creation God worked from the first day to the sixth day and rested on the seventh.For the first six days God was very busy – but on the seventh day he rested – THE SABBATH is a day of rest. – In the days of creation we can see that in all the work Adam was created on the 6th day.
On the sixth day …God said, “Let us make man in our image.”- Genesis 1:26
Principle is this: God’s 7th day was Adam’s 1st day.
God worked the first 6 days so Adam could rest on his 1st day.
God set up the order of priorities like this – God works and then rest – we are to rest and then work.
At the cross Jesus 7th set of words were “IT IS FINISHED” – HE WORKS on behalf of our salvation so that we can rest in his WORK not our own.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” – Eph 2:8
Let’s seek God’s face, not just His hand!
stevelummer.com 