Sermon by Dr. Robert de Wetter Senior Pastor, Snowmass Chapel Sunday, July 20, 2014 Sermon Notes - Thrive -- Part 2 I. God reveals Himself in many ways, including through creation. We learn a lot about who God is by spending time in God's creation. II. Nature does not reveal everything about God. We learn the most about God through scripture, Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and through active participation in Christian communities. III. The story of Engelmann oaks in Southern California. A. Well established roots and reached up toward the sky. B. God want us to have deep roots, reach out and thrive. IV. Brief review of Part 1. V. How do we thrive as individuals? What are some things to keep in mind when it comes to thriving? What are key ingredients? A. Develop the right foundation. The foundation of God. i. Is God only a room in your house or the foundation? ii. One way to get a glimpse of what our foundation is, is to think about to what or whom do we consistently turn when things are hard. Similarly, to what or whom do we turn when things are good? iii. Jesus was clear. He said over and over, "Make me the foundation of your life." B. Reach out beyond yourself. i. Jesus taught his followers about the centrality of being attentive and vigilant about what is happening with the people right around us. About how we are created by God to serve other people, to let go of our egos, to move away from being self-centered and primarily seeking to meet our own needs, and to spend our lives sacrificially loving others through our actions. ii. Gospel of John, Jesus said, "I came so you can have real and eternal life, more and better life than you ever dreamed of." And Jesus makes it clear that having a life better than we ever dreamed of, comes in part, by reaching out. C. Pay attention to words and images you pay attention to. i. All kinds of voices. Some destructive, damaging, judgmental, and critical. There are false teachers and evil. All of these things can become the source of voices we listen to instead of to the voice of God. ii. God's voice is consistent with what God says in scripture. God's voice is never one that says, "Be afraid and worried." God's voice doesn't say things that tear us down, make us feel terrible about ourselves at our core, make us feel guilty, shameful, worthless or hopeless. iii. "Be careful what you think, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful what you say, for your words become your actions. Be careful what you do, for your actions become your habits. Be careful what becomes habitual, for your habits become your destiny." iv. There is a lot out there, movies, video games, and more that works against what it means to thrive. Bad images affect our lives like pollution affects the growth of a tree. Want to thrive? Manage the images you subject yourself to. D. Get in touch with passion and purpose. i. A central theme of scripture, is that every one of us is given gifts by God which lie at the heart of our purpose in life. Without purpose, there will be no passion, and no thriving. ii. See Joel 2:28-30. 1 Corinthians 12:4-14. Romans 12:4-5. Ephesians 4:11-16. Matthew 25:16-30 (Parable of the Talents). E. Be careful how we define success and expectations for life. i. On the last day of your life, if you were to look back over your life, what percentage of your life would have to have been good for it to have been a good life? If 50 percent of your life was good and 50 percent hard, would that be a reasonable expectation? How about a 60/40 split or 70/30? ii. Sometimes we can work against our own sense of thriving if we expect the good times to roll more than is reasonable for any human being. If we have a reasonable expectation that there will be both good and the challenging, what is hard is less likely to throw us off track. iii. To what degree are things that are ultimately ephemeral part of your definition of wealth and riches? iv. If we want to thrive, we need to assess whether or expectations and definitions are in alignment with God's. F. Integrity. i. Comes from a word that means whole or wholeness. Being whole is part of what it means to thrive. It also conveys not being divided. A person with integrity is the same in the public as he or she is in private. G. Other components key to thriving. i. Physical Health. ii. Embrace and accept everything changes. iii. Engage in Spiritual Disciplines, e.g., worship, prayer, immersion in scripture, participation in Christian community. H. Story of pool and pH test. i. Many pH believers. ii. God is love as scripture says. Love is the fulfillment of all of the rules, as Jesus said. We are alive to do two things. To love God and to love others. It is that simple and that complex. Litmus tests get in the way of this. iii. When we love God and love others not so much through emotion but through action, many of the other details in life tend to fall into place and we thrive.
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