Sermon nuggets Tues July 15, 2008
Theme- Making Plans
Verses: John 11:45-48 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.
48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
Defining your Purpose.
We read in verse 45 the Jews had come to Bethany to help comfort Mary in the loss of their brother. But they saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. From that time many put their faith in Him. They were now convinced He was the Messiah. They came to believe He is the one sent from God. Their new purpose was to commit themselves to God by placing their faith in the one whom He sent. Christ gives purpose to our lives.
What good is living for power and money when you have not embraced the very purpose for which you were created?
One of the most inspiring mission’s stories I have read was by Bruce Olson, the missionary that was captured by the Colombian rebels and kept tied up for 9 months in the jungles. In his book Bruchko, Bruce relates his conversion experience when a teenager. He believed God was out to looking at all the bad things he did and judged him for them. He believed being saved meant trying to live as good a live as possible. He lived under fear that he was not good enough. One night as he was reading in his Bible, "If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved."
He thought saved was the opposite of lost. Was that all? Just believe? Shouldn't one have to do some great things? Shouldn't one have to live a perfect life? He thought of all the things in his life that he didn't like his temper, his bad thoughts, his relationship with his parents. Could Jesus change these things he wondered? He thought about the people in the Bible who were changed. He felt drawn to pray to Jesus.
He prayed, "Oh Jesus, I've read about how everyone around You was changed. Now I want to be changed. I want peace and fulfillment like Paul and John and James and the others disciples. I want to be delivered from all my fears and..." At that moment he felt a presence in the room, like a stillness. He continued, "You know I don't even like myself. Everything is messed up around me. And it's messed up in me, too. But please, God I want to change. I can't do it myself. And I don't understand how you can do anything within me. But Jesus if you could change all those people in the Bible, I guess you can change me. Please, Jesus, let me know you. Make me new."
He relates that he had an unusual peace come over him. He felt alive to God and alive to the world. He knew that Jesus was personal and He had just met Him and talked with Him. He felt a new sense of the presence with him.
Bruce Olson felt like most Christians do who have experienced God in their lives with such assuredness. He was excited and wanted all his friends to know Jesus. At church he tried to explain what had happened. The other high school boys accused him of getting super spiritual. They looked at him like he was an animal in a zoo. He told his pastor. The pastor’s response was, "Well that's wonderful, that's fine, Bruce. I'm happy to hear that you've had such a fulfilling experience. But don't forget that you were confirmed in the church right here in this building and at that moment of confirmation you dedicated yourself to Christ. The Christian life began for you even before that, however, when you were baptized and given your name."
He told the pastor that he walked home after confirmation thinking is that all there is to it? He had hoped there was something more. His pastor said, "Olson, I prayed over each of you boys when you were confirmed. Are you telling me that my prayers meant nothing? You've got to believe in your confirmation vows, that they were real and meaningful" "Well, I believe in them now. Jesus is real to me now. I've been changed. I've begun to feel for people when I never did before." Jesus isi n my life now, If he was before I never knew it." After Pastor Peterson rebuked him, he thought How could something so good, so basically simple, make people so upset?
There was purpose to Bruce Olson's life now. Before religion was just a ritual. Now there was a vital relationship like the Jews who for the first time no longer followed traditions, there was the Christ they could believe in. It was a relationship that is exciting. But others do not always understand.
Pastor Dale
