Beginning
tonight, we’re starting a 10-week series:
It matters
how I live
Tonight we
want to begin by thinking about who has the authority to tell us what to
do. You and I have many people in our
lives who have authority over us. Can
you think of some:
·
parents
·
police/judges
·
teachers
·
many
adults
·
soldiers
What makes it
easy to obey someone in authority?
What makes it
hard?
Why?
·
I
believe they care about me
·
I
think they are asking me to do something good for me
·
I
trust them
·
they
have thought it through before asking me
Why not?
·
They
don’t care about me
·
They
have dumb rules
·
I
don’t trust them
·
they
are asking me to do something that is bad for me
It isn’t
always easy to obey people in authority, is it?
Sometimes we want to do what WE WANT to do!
I want you to
get out your Bibles and look at the very last book of the Bible -
Revelation. This book is about the end
of time - how God will finally destroy all things that are evil and God will
reign as King without any enemies.
Turn to
chapter 19:11-16
Now this is a
powerful word picture, isn’t it? What
things did you notice about the person on the horse?
·
faithful
·
true
·
righteous
judge
·
makes
war
·
eyes
on fire
·
crowned
·
word
of God
·
armies
following him
·
king
of king
·
lord
of lords
Now what does
it mean, king of kings, lord of Lords?
What kind of
a Lord is Jesus?
Faithful - he
never betrays or tricks you
He is true -
he never lies to you
he cares
about true and hates evil
he is
powerful
What would it
mean to have Jesus be Lord of your life?
What would
Jesus ask you to do?
Sometimes
we’re afraid that Jesus will ask us to do impossible things or that he will ask
us to do the very hardest thing we could imagine. Or that he will hurt us somehow. Let’s see what the Bible says about the plans
God has for you and me
Jeremiah
29:11
What kinds of
plans does God have?
For wholeness
and not for evil
to give you
future and a hope
Now let’s
imagine this circle is you. Let’s write
inside all the things that make you up:
sports/food/friends/etc.
Inside let’s
put a chair. Whoever sits in that chair
decides what to do with all the parts of your life. Let’s pretend this is me. And so I’ll write my name - “Mary” on the chair. Everybody who has ever been born sits in this
center place in their lives.
Now let’s
imagine that something new has happened to me.
I have understood that I have sinned against God and deserve His
punishment. I am sorry for all the wrong
things I have done. And I have asked God
to forgive me. I understand that God
sent Jesus into the world to take my punishment and give me His goodness. This is great news. And God will forgive me the next time I sin
and ask Him to forgive me.
But God wants
me to begin to change - and He wants to be Lord of me. Can I trust him? Will he want the best for me? Are his laws good? Yes.
(Erase Mary
and put God)
I hope you
understand that it is not easy to say “yes” to God in this way. The will to run our own lives is very, very
strong. But when we are on the seat, our
own plans are often not good at all for us.
It may be easy to say “yes” to God in one place, and harder in
another. You and I need to grow in our
trust that having God in control is the very best thing for us.
Are you
willing to do what Jesus wants? Who is
in control? Are you in the control
seat?
Psalm 119:37
Turn my eyes
from looking at worthless things;
and give me
life in your ways.
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