"Be Careful What You Ask For" - YouTube Snowmass Chapel

Sermon by Dr. Robert de Wetter Senior Pastor, Snowmass Chapel Sunday, June 07, 2015 Sermon Notes: Be Careful What You Ask For 1. To be human is to want. Many of us want all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons, some good, others perhaps not so beneficial. 2. Are there things in your life you want? Have there been things in your life you have wanted, but when you look back you are grateful you did not get? 3. Sometimes we want something that is more than ok to want. Like a cure, the healing of a relationship, a job, clear direction on what to do with the next chapter in life, or relief from burdening debt, along with a whole host of other possibilities. 4. Sometimes what we want is coming from the right place. Yet at other times, what we want has nothing to do with what we really need. 5. Scripture is full of stories of want. A. Exodus chapter 16. We want meat! B. Mark chapter 10. We want power, status, and prestige! 6. 1 Samuel Chapter 8. A. Occurs at the period of transition from Judges to a Monarchy. B. The people demand a king. Samuel, after praying to God, outlines the consequences of their want. 7. Lessons for all of us. A. To be human is to want. i. It is healthy to want. Often we want what we really need. Sometimes what we want is a good thing and in alignment with our walk with Jesus. ii. Jeremiah 29:11 iii. Philippians 4:6-7 iv. Ecclesiastes 3:13 v. God wants for us to want the right things and to receive the blessings and joy and gratitude that come from them. B. Freedom. i. Samuel’s story highlights, as does all of scripture, that freedom, is a God-given thing. In fact, any movement, grouping, or supposed faith tradition that takes away freedom is not from God. ii. Freedom is a God thing and there are countless upsides to this reality. But liberty used well and in ways that reflect our walk with Jesus, requires responsibility, maturity, wisdom, selflessness, and management of what we want. a. The people who asked Samuel for a king did not use their freedom well. They used their freedom as the launching point to try and live without God, even deny God, and to ignore the One whom had given them life and freedom to begin with. C. Taking personal responsibility. i. Key caveat. a. Tough things happen to all of us during the course of life. Sometimes we have absolutely nothing to do with why these things happen. Regardless of the choices we have made, we encounter hard and painful things. b. There is a lot of suffering out there over which people have little control. There are real victims. Sometimes the odds against a person are just stacked up too high. And as Christ followers it is our responsibility to do everything we can wherever we find ourselves to help. ii. Sometimes people want things and make choices based on those wants that lead to consequences they neither like nor want to accept responsibility for. iii. In story of people wanting a king, instead of acknowledging their responsibility for the consequences that followed the choices they made, they continued to seek the wrong things. iv. Sometimes people do not own up and take responsibility for the consequences that follow their wants. v. Sometimes consequences are not our doing. There are real victims and there is suffering in which the person suffering is not responsible for its causes. At other times, however, consequences flow directly from our wants. And the way out of such bad consequences is to take responsibility for having the wants that led to the upsetting results to begin with. vi. The goal of taking responsibility is not guilt, self-flagellation, or self-degradation, but change, growth, and movement forward. Part of our faith journey is to accept God’s call to take responsibility for our wants and the consequences that follow. D. Examine priorities and what we are after in life. i. Often our wants come from what we are after. If we want to get a clear idea on what we are after in life, just take a look at what we generally want. a. This truth is an invitation for each of us to do something and that is to take a close look at ourselves, our priorities, and the decisions we make based on the wants that come from those priorities. 8. Self-examination. A. It is likely that many of us have wanted both the right things and wrong things in our lives. We likely have had to deal with some consequences both good and bad that have come from our wants. B. We are human beings. Let’s cut ourselves some slack and respond to ourselves with some tenderness and love, just as Jesus does. C. Explore what your wants are in life. Where they are coming from? What your priorities are and how your wants stem from them? Ponder the extent to which your priorities and the wants that follow are in alignment with our walk with Jesus. Which ones might not be all that good for us? Which ones will enhance our lives and relationships?

"Be Careful What You Ask For" - YouTube
0 Likes	0 Dislikes
36 views views	555 followers
People & Blogs	Upload TimePublished on 10 Jun 2015