Here's another opportunity for you to help me with some sermons. Pastor is going to be gone for 3 weeks so that means I have 6 sermons to do. Here's what I'm thinking.
Many Christians feel unfulfilled in their lives. They aren't happy and aren't living the lives that they are sure that God intends for them. I've been thinking about this and have come up with 6 reasons that I believe hinder us having the lives that we should. I've titled the series "Get a Life". John 10:10 says that Jesus came so that we "may have life to the full".
1. Sin. This sermon will talk about how we can't have a life without having new life. Besides salvation I will talk about how we hold onto our old lives.
2. God's love. "...how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...this love that surpasses knowledge" Ephesians 4:18-19 The more that we know that love the more our lives will be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God". The more we know God's love the more full our lives will be. I will include worry and lack of faith in this sermon. I will talk about how a loving God has our best interest in mind. This will include people who feel their life isn't complete because they do not have a love interest. Trusting God and that He wants what is best for you life is key to having a life.
3. Lack of passion, lack of being involved in something bigger than yourself. In Braveheart William Wallace says "Every man dies, not every man really lives." Too many Christians never get involved in anything bigger than themselves and their own family. God made us and the church specifically for us to DO things in the church. We have more of a life when we become emotionally and physically involved in our church.
4. Bitterness, lack of forgiveness, grudges. These things freeze us and make it so that we cannot continue with our lives. We become mired in the past.
5. Materialism, not being content. We try to look for lives in the wrong places. If I only had... I'd be happy.
6. Lack of Sabbath. We do not take breaks like God intended. We need hobbies and days off.
Can you think of any that I'm leaving out? Most honest people would admit that their lives have been less than fulfilling at some point or another. Do these 6 reasons sum up your experience or am I leaving some out?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Hey - this seems oddly like its about me! Oh well, I guess I should be happy you'll be able to get some use out of all my complaining about my job, etc. ...
These are the bones of an outline for a book! Letting ourselves get overtired (no Sabbath) is quite real. But sometimes sickness can rob our passion. Then we must just have the faith to continue on until God restores what the locust steals.
This isn't about you Dan. It's about all Christians. So I guess it is about you and about me and about tons of other people. We all have times when we lead lives that are less than fulfilling. The ideas that lead to this series came from some books (Carpe Diem by Tony Campolo, Life Wide Open by David Jeremiah, and The Pleasures of God by John Piper) and some other things that have been going on.
How's this sound for part of the intro to the book? So if it seems like it's about you then just come along for the ride and maybe we'll find some lives worth living.
Sounds good. So are you going to write this book? It could really help some people reconsider where their focus is in their lives.
Post a Comment