Through The Valley: 022013

I.                    Elijah

a.       Describe Mt. Carmel experience

b.      Read 1^st Kings 19:1-18

II.                 Depression

a.       Can strike anytime, even after a period when everything seems perfect

b.      Can drive us to a point of no hope, even to the point of suicide

c.       Can strike saved or unsaved

d.      Can strike those who everyone thinks have it all together or have it all

e.       Can be because of fear, feeling alone, or sometimes it isn’t explainable

f.        Isn’t something to be ashamed of

g.       Often we deal with it in bad ways (get alone, hide it, hurt ourselves, drive others away)

III.               Read Psalm 23

a.       Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

                                                               i.      You may be walking in that valley tonight, things your life have fallen apart, you feel depressed, alone, and hopeless.

b.      I will fear no evil, for you are with me

                                                               i.      But just because you are in the valley doesn’t mean you have to give in to that hopelessness and fear, not because you have the strength to escape it on your own but because God with you.

                                                             ii.      He hasn’t left your side, you might not feel him, you might not see him, but he has promised to remain their even in the darkest of times.

                                                            iii.      God has sent others into your life to be with you during these dark times

c.       Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me

                                                               i.      A rod was to club down wild animals, a staff to keep the sheep in control and guide them

                                                             ii.      You know he is there not because you feel or see him, but because he keeps tapping you with his staff to let you know where to go and that you aren’t alone.  My sermon tonight is one of those taps, to let you know that he is still there and cares about you.  He will protect you and he will guide you even through the darkest of valleys.

IV.              Application

a.       There are some of you tonight who are depressed and feeling like you are travelling through the valley.  Don’t be afraid, you will make it through, there is hope because God is standing next to you. 

b.      During our table application time I want to give you a chance tonight to be prayed for by those at your table.  Don’t be ashamed that you are depressed, it is time to come out and find strength and hope.

c.       The other thing I want you to do at your table time is to make a card for someone who is depressed or down.  Be heartfelt with it and encourage them.  You are meant to encourage those who are down, it is one of those things we should do, so this will hopefully give you a way to do so.

d.      Pray

Hypocrisy: 021313

I.                    How many of you are Christians?  By that I mean you have chosen Jesus as your God, asked Him for forgiveness of your sins, and are following Him and His commands.

II.                 Background

a.       During Jesus’ lifetime there was a few different Jewish religious groups that made up their religion.  One of the main groups was one called the Pharisees.  They were a group that wanted to serve God the best they could.  They believed in what we call The Old Testament, they did their best to follow the laws God established in it, but they also added more laws to make it so they were “more” holy.

b.      One of the problem was, they didn’t often live up to the standards they were trying to make others live up to. 

III.               Read Matthew 23:27-28 – ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

a.       Tombs were where the dead bodies/bones were kept.  They would pain them white to make sure people wouldn’t go near them and become unclean.  Because of this they would look beautiful from the outside, but on the inside it was a different story.  They were full of the rot and stench of the dead on the inside

b.      Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are just like those tombs, they look nice outwardly with all the laws they were following but when you look closer they were messed up, disgusting and wicked.  He tells them they are hypocrites.

IV.              Hypocrites

a.       Hypocrite was a Greek word that came from acting.  They would have someone hold a fake face in front of their own in order to show what emotion was supposed to match their words, but behind their fake face was the real one that didn’t match what was being said.

b.      We use the words “Two-faced.”  Someone who says one thing and does another.

c.       Illus: My beard

V.                 You Hypocrites

a.       Many of you raised your hand that you are a Christian.  So let me ask you this question:  What should a Christian be like?  Or if you want a different one to answer, what are some things a Christian wouldn’t do?

b.      Illus: Girl recruiting girls to give oral sex

c.       Many of you are thinking, “How dare she!  She is not a Christian!”  But what about you.  You might not be doing the same thing, but I am certain that many of you are hypocrites.  Many of you say you are Christian but don’t act that way.  You gossip, you fight, you lie, you steal, you lust, you disrespect, you disobey parents, you look at things you shouldn’t, you swear, you have sex, you drink, you do drugs, you overeat, you are lazy, you listen to music with horrible lyrics, you watch tv shows or movies with awful things in them, you bully, etc…

d.      You act one way at home, one way at church, one way at school, one way around your friends, one way around your family, one way around people you don’t like, one way around your boyfriend or girlfriend, and one way when you are alone

e.       You are a whitewashed tomb, saying you are a Christian but then full of evil in your life.

VI.              Conclusion

a.       I am not saying this to condemn you or to say I am better than you.  I am a hypocrite too.  But I am saying this to challenge you. 

b.      If you are saying you are a Christian it is time to start actually living like a Christ-follower.  Stop living a double life!

c.       Are there any of you that this is resonating with tonight?  That would say, yep I am living a double life and I want to stop being a hypocrite. Raise your hand.  Let us pray together and ask God for forgiveness and promise to start living better starting tonight.

d.      Pray

e.       Tonight is Ash Wednesday, the start of a special 40 day period leading up to Easter, the day we celebrate Jesus raising from the dead.  During this period, called Lent, Christians often fast, or give up something.  We use this time to give up something but then replace it with something good, so that we can grow closer to God.

f.        During our application time, you have a sheet in your tub to fill out that is a promise of what you want to give up during lent and what virtue you want to replace it with.  So maybe tonight while we were talking about hypocrisy you thought of an area in your life that needs to change.  So you could say, for the next 40 days I am replacing what I have been listening to and instead going to listen to music that has lyrics that honor God.

He Guides Me: 020613

I.                   Read Psalm 23

a.       Over the next few weeks we are going to continue to work through this Psalm as a guide for us on how to survive and thrive in the middle.

b.      That is how to hold onto your faith in God and live in a way that changes you and your world for the better.

II.                Ilus: Guy at NIKO

III.             Reread Psalm 23:3b – “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.”

a.       We find another way that God gives us to survive and thrive in the middle in this verse. 

b.      This one is easy to remember: In order to survive and thrive you have to follow your guide.

IV.             Who Should Be Your Guide?

a.       There are a lot of options out there of who could guide you ,but only one that will guide you correctly: Jesus

V.                Why Can We Trust the Guide?

a.       We can trust Him to be the best guide and the guide we should follow because:

                                                              i.      He leads us in order to bring glory to His name, it is His reputation at stake, so he is going to do his very best to guide us

                                                            ii.      He can see the whole picture, when all we see is a small bit.

VI.             How Do We Know Where the Guide is Leading?

a.       This verse tells us he will guide us down paths of righteousness, or the right way.  So the first part of this answer is that we know he is leading us to doing right thing, not wrong.  If someone or something tells us you to do the wrong thing, it isn’t from God

b.      Second, we can know by reading the Bible, it tells us what is right and what is wrong.

c.       Third, we get to know the character of Jesus, and that will help us know how we are supposed to be.  (loving, holy, kind, just, etc…)

VII.          Benefits of Following the Guide?

a.       Avoid unneeded hardship

b.      The best life possible (not the perfect life)

c.       Contentment

d.      Being near to him brings encouragement

e.       Guides us to our destiny

VIII.       Application

a.       Go back to Guy story

b.      Maybe you have strayed from the path and feel like you have been drifting around and need to get back on the path, following God as your guide.

c.       Tonight I want to be Guy for you, whispering in your ear, do you hear the river, because God is right over there and you can reconnect.

d.      I want to invite you to come up front tonight for a time of prayer if you have strayed from the path

e.       I will play a song and if you come up front I want to invite you to do AAA

                                                              i.      Admit you are wrong

                                                            ii.      Ask for forgiveness

                                                          iii.      Agree to a new direction

f.       Invite leaders to come up, and then students.