The Divine Crash

This is by far one of the best sermons I have given. I really felt the spirit move as I was giving it. But of course, something went wrong with my recording. So you will have to read the notes and hopefully it will give the same effect. Enjoy!

Verses 26-31

• So, according to this verse, if you sin after hearing the gospel preached to you then you can only expect a “scary expectation of Judgement.”
  • Why would God this? What does it mean for us? what of I did sin? what if I sinned a lot.
  • God sacrificed his only Son so that the whole world could find eternal grace.
  • If you believe that and you still go out and sin more than you have made the sacrifice of God worthless. And said that God’s son doesn’t matter.
  • I don’t know about you and how you parent but if you say my son is worthless and his work doesn’t matter I will be less than impressed.  That is my son and everything he does is perfect, beautiful, amazing and absolutely genius. If you disregard my son, I will disregard you!
  • story about Sam at camp grandma and Sunday school.
    • So how much more would God, the creator of the universe who has been known to turn people to salt, destroy entire cities, and flood whole planets be angry with you if you disregard his son.
  • But this leads to a problem.
    • A recent study says that 61% of church people gossip. According to James 1:26 Gossip is a sin that deceives you into thinking you are religious when you really aren’t.
    • 47% of christians view pornography on a regular basis.  Matthew 5:28 says lust is a sin.
    • 12% of adults admit to lying on a regular basis. Proverbs 6:16-19 says God hates and finds detestable a lying tongue.
    • a sin is anything that puts an obstacle between us and god.
    • I think that covers everyone and has served to make you all feel guilty.
    • This is a problem. It means that every Christian even after professing faith in Christ has still sinned again. So are we all doomed?
  • I think the answer to this is found in verse 26. If we make the decision to sin.
    • It is this idea that says “I can sin as much as I want, Jesus will forgive me.” It is when we presume that we are entitled to God’s Grace.
    • Paul picks up on this idea in Romans 6 when he says “So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply? Absolutely not! all of us died to sin. How can we still live in it?”
    • The problem becomes when we are arrogant enough to look at sin and decide that it is okay to do because God’s grace will save us again.  As if we are entitled to God’s grace.
  • When we become that arrogant, God hates that.
    • Jesus did not come to save the arrogant, puffed up, self-righteous, holier-than-thou hypocrites.
    • Jesus came for those who were broken. On the margins, the humble, the hurting, and the lonely.
    • When we are arrogant about our faith and decide that we are entitled to salvation then God’s grace is not for us. Instead, we get judgement.
  • So then, when you call yourself a Christian and you mess up. What do we do? When we have not lived up to our name as a representative of Christ, then what?
    • Psalm 51:17 says that God loves a broken heart.
      • So don’t pretend you deserve grace. If you heart is broken that is a good thing.
        • This isn’t feeling guilty because you got caught. It is about knowing that you broke the heart of God by your actions.
    • Acts 3:19 Change your ways and turn back to God.
      • If you gossip, stop it.
      • If you lust, stop it.
      • If you lie, stop it.
      • Do whatever it takes to stop.
        • Maybe destroy your computer like this: Show video
        • Install some accountability software like X3Watch.
        • Maybe get new friends? If you only Gossip when you are around certain friends. Get rid of your friends.
        • If you only lie when you are at work, find a new job.
        • This stopping part is the hardest.  but Jesus says it is worth it.  It is worth giving up your friends so that you don’t miss out on eternity. It is worth not having Facebook so you don’t gossip.
        • friend of mine on business trips alone takes tv out of hotel room.
      • Stop, then turn back to God.
        • Turn back to the God who loves you. To the God who created you.
        • When you start filling your life with sin you empty it of God, so those times when you would gossip, don’t talk about other people. Talk about God. Those times when you would open certain websites, open websites that are about God. Instead of lying, talk about the truth of God.
        • Vs. 31 says it is scary to fall into the arms of a living God. This is scary stuff, to look at the creator of the universe and say “I hurt you, and I’m sorry.” is terrifying. but it is what we are called to do.
      • There is a big fancy church word. Repentance.
        • It is a definitive move to change your direction and go back to God.
        • It is always about definitive action and it is never once and done. Sometimes breaking these habits and hangups takes years of every day repenting and coming back to God with your broken and bruised heart and humbly asking to be forgiven. not because you deserve it but because without it you are absolutely doomed.

Which brings us to Verses 32-39

• This is Hebrews giving a big giant HANG IN THERE!
• I know it’s hard. I know it is difficult. I know but hang in there.
• Look how far you have already come. Since you started you put up with ridicule, hate, jealousy, and all sorts of persecution but hang in there!!
• When you ditch your friends who gossip all the time, they will gossip about you and it will hurt.
• When you stop lying, people will lie about you.
• When you stop looking a porn, it will suddenly show up everywhere.
• but look how far you have already come since you started. So just hang in there a little bit long. I know the temptation to give in is so strong but just one more day, one more hour, just give it one more minute and soon, God himself will show up and will be happy that you have hung in there under such great pressure.
• I know it hurts, I know it is easy to give in. but Jesus endured the cross to set you free, so hang in there just a little bit longer.

You cannot do this alone. You cannot hang in there by yourself. You will eventually grow weary of the fighting so find a friend, join a cell group, and start working through this idea of repentance. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says that you can’t fight alone. but 2 will win.

So then, for the sake of salvation if you are willingly sinning in any way you must stop. You must change your ways and turn your heart back to God. It isn’t once and done, it is a battle for your soul and you can’t fight alone. You need a friend to walk with you and help you.  I know it is hard but hang in there it will be worth it in the end.

Today’s sermon was the last in our truth series.  I have a few other ideas for the next few weeks before Lent but this sermon went well.  Enjoy listening at the bottom and feel free to leave a comment on here or on iTunes.

Scripture: Matthew 9:9-12

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This was not the snake and that is not me but yesterday a similar snake was in my house.  Last night my wife walked into the kitchen to get some water and came out screaming!  I chased the snake out of the house with a shovel.  I hate snakes and so does my wife.  Turns out there are only a few ways to keep a snake out of houses, and both of them are free and easy. (more…)

This was my last sermon at Tanoma UMC.  Next week I am taking a vacation week and the following week will be my first week preaching as the pastor of Eldersville UMC in Burgettstown, PA.  As a result today was bittersweet and a little difficult.  You can listen to the audio at the end of this post or you can download the podcast on iTunes. At about the 12 minute mark I walked away from the recorder and it picked up what I said but you will have to turn up your speakers to hear it.

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Today’s sermon is done, I’m exhausted, people seemed touched.  But most of all God was glorified.  You can listen to it at the bottom of this page or on my iTunes podcast.

Today’s scripture was 2 Kings 2:19-22 when Elisha went to Jericho and put salt in water that was “bad and making the land unproductive.” Suddenly the water is fine and it stays that way forever.

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Less than three months ago my family bought a brand new Kia, this car was my first ever brand new car.  It only had 7 miles on it before we bought it and now it has 2007 miles and it has its first scratch.  It isn’t a big scratch, it is right by the door and it isn’t that noticeable so I just pretend it isn’t there.  However, if I don’t get the scratch fixed it could cause rust and ruin the car. (more…)

Today my son and I were running errands and listening to Air1 radio in the car when a news story came on about a 70 year old woman who was robbed at gun point in her home and she faked a heart attack. (more…)

The other day I was reading Psalm 1 and I was thinking about what it meant for me today.

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

I was reminded of what it means to be with people at an amusement park. When I take youth group trips to an amusement park we always tell them to go in a group of at least three, for safety.  However, we will later see the pictures of what these three did on Facebook or MySpace.  Usually they are pictures of them waiting in line with the obligatory “Hold the camera as far as your arm will allow and squish your faces together.

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