What Good Are You?

Last week, we looked at Matthew 12: 22-30, where the talk title was “Clean your house”. If you would like to read that sermon, you can do it on my blog…

 It revolved around the cleaning out of those things in your physical house, as well as your body, being the temple of the Holy Spirit, of things that are not Godly or God honouring. Not Giving Satan a foothold in your life.

The point of the sermon based on Proverbs 3:33 which states:

“The Lord ’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”

I asked you if you wanted to be blessed or cursed? We all agreed that we want to be blessed!

Then that meant you needed to do two things:

1.     Do a spring clean of your physical house: Find anything that is not supposed to be there, and get rid of it.

2.      Do a spring clean of your spirit: Get rid of anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God.

That talk was the foundation that focuses on the relationship between you and God.

Today’s talk builds on that foundation and adds your relationship with others.

Title: “What good are you?”

This question can be explored from multiple angles:

·        From the outside – What are you good at.

·        From the inside – The goodness you contribute as a person.

This is the question that is asked of us almost everywhere we go.

People want to know what value we can add to them and what kind of a person you are.

Especially, in the business sector, when you sit for an interview… the interviewer asks you questions to determine if you have anything to offer their company. If they feel you are good enough, they will employ you. If not, then they won’t.

Do you remember the first few interviews you ever went for? They we nerve wrecking!

I remember the first few interviews I ever went for. Almost all of them asked, “Tell me about yourself. Why should we employ you?” umm… ahhh…. Ummm…Well, I like dogs…?

There is that saying which says, “Know thyself”. (Now, I don’t know if it’s in the Bible or not, but there is wisdom it).

Only if you know yourself, will you be able to honestly answer this question, “What good are you?”

There are three main categories:

1-  Very Low: So many people have a very low self-esteem and to answer that question raises up a whole lot of feelings of depression, sadness, anxiety, and low self-worth because they have been constantly told that they are of not good.

2-     Very High: And this is not helped by other people are so arrogant that they are oblivious to their own faults as they continue down the road of destruction in their own lives, whilst affecting the lives of others.

3-  The Middle: Then there is the middle ground – Humility – the people who are humble. The Bible tells us that walking in humility is walking with God. These people confidently know what good they are.

What sets humble people apart from the other two; is they quietly go about their business doing good for others, whilst the others hardly do anything.

We need to be on the middle ground.

In that light, let’s explore the answer to this question – “What good are you?”

Context: Jesus in a Synagogue and he is being questioned by the Pharisees. (It was as if he was on trial.)

Matthew 12 (last week’s text included for context).

22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then his house can be plundered.
30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

TODAY’S TEXT:

31 And so I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy. But blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 

·        If we look at these two verses we are told something very important:

o   We are sinners who blaspheme against Jesus, AND, we matter so much that we WILL be forgiven of those things. We are good enough to be forgiven.

o   BUT, we must not forget our place. We are not good enough to be above God, or play God.

o   Here, both, low self-esteem and arrogance are challenged.

§  Low self-esteem = encouraged to step up to the middle… because of the cross (forgiveness)

§  Arrogance = warned not think too highly of oneself but to step down to the middle… because of the cross (forgiveness)

o   Humility = The middle ground is where we should be.

·        Arrogance of the Pharisees blasphemed against the work of the Holy Spirit by claiming that the miracle Jesus performed was the work of Satan (v24), instead of the Holy Spirit.

·        The unforgivable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God’s power in Christ. It’s the knowledge of what Jesus has done on the cross for you, refuse to accept it and give God the middle finger, hardening your heart and telling God you don’t want anything to do with it. Then live like that until the day you die.

·        “Jesus said they will never be forgiven – not because their sin is worse than any other, but because they will never ask for forgiveness. Whoever rejects the prompting of the Holy Spirit removes themselves from the only force that can lead them to repentance and restoration to God.”[i]

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

35 Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in them, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in them.

36 But I tell you that people will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

This scene must have been electric!!!

Jesus tells the Pharisees, after listening to them, that they are a brood of vipers who are evil because they questioned the work of the Holy Spirit.

He, pretty much gets up in their face and says, “Who do you think you are to question this!?”

Jesus answers the question for us. He says it depends on what is stored up in us, in our hearts: Good or Evil? (vs 35)

This text reveals three areas we must focus on:

What good am I to…

1.      Myself? - what do you say about yourself? Good things or Bad?

You are forgiven and God has saved you. You are worthy and you’re good enough. So check your attitude, maybe you’re being warned or encouraged towards humility.

2.      God? – What do you say about God?

How often are we like these Pharisees ourselves when we hear about the Holy Spirit doing something, in another church, and because it doesn’t fit with our understanding, and like the Pharisees, we question it?

Or question His work here because we don’t have the same things happen here like in the other churches?

3.      Those around me? – What do you say about others who are also forgiven by God? (people who are of a different race than you?)

Jesus tells us, on Judgement day, we will be held accountable to every word we speak. Our words will either acquit us or condemn us.

So we really need to mind what we say.

Every, Single, day, we have an opportunity to assess where our hearts are by simply what comes out of our mouths.

Vs. 34 “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Do you say good things or bad things?

Let me tell you a secret…

The success of a church is dependent on its members not on how well sermons are preached!

How we act and speak, either grows the Kingdom of God or we side with Satan and destroy it.

Which side are you?

What good are you?

The interview you face daily asks; if you will accept the work that Jesus did on the cross for you when He died in your place for you to receive the forgiveness of sins?

-  To ask for forgiveness and not live the unforgivable sin until the day you die.

If you have accepted that, then you have pasted the “interview”. Now you’re part of the Kingdom and God knows what good you are to help build His Kingdom.

You are in!

and here’s the cool part… NOW, the Holy Spirit, who worked with Jesus in our text almost two thousand years ago, is in YOU!

The Holy Spirit, in you, wants to do nothing other than good. There is goodness in you which needs to be poured out. The Holy Spirit craves to do good, with you, wherever He needs too. Not only within yourself, but also, through you to others.

YOU ARE LIKE A GOODNESS BOMB READY TO EXPLODE!

So as people who are part of the Kingdom we need to ask, “HOW GOOD IS YOUR CHURCH?”

You are the church! When people come here, will they experience goodness?

·        No, if no one helps…

·        Most definitely, if you do help…

What is coming out of us? Is it good or its it evil. We’re in this together. And I'm not talking only about BMC. I'm talking about the Church worldwide.

I have been here for 10 months now and I want to applaud YOU for being amazing people. I have heard, on a countless number of times, how BMC makes people feel like they belong here. You people make me proud! I am honoured to be your minister.

Today I am giving you an opportunity to, once again, show Kimberley how good you are, by taking this food bag and fill it, so that you are part of feeding the poor. Go filled those bags which the required goods listed and bring them back to church.

Also, to take this envelope and prepare it for the harvest intake on the 4 December 2011 (Money goes into mission).

What good are you?

You are priceless because you have the Spirit of God in your hearts!

How good are we as a church?

Jesus spoke about a tree the produces fruit. If we were the tree, what fruit are we producing together? Good or bad fruit?

God has got faith in us to produce good fruit. I believe we will!

Let us prove Him right!

Know thyself and walk humbly with God.

Turn to one another and say, “YOU matter to us”.

---

[i] (Tyndale and Zondervan, 1997 p. 1674)

Clean Your House

How many of you clean your house? Why?

It happens about once or twice a year.

People wash walls, clean windows, wipe cupboards, defrost the fridges, wash curtains, clean the carpets, sanitize the bathroom, clear out the rubbish, reorganize the cupboards,…

We’ve dubbed it spring cleaning (even though we do it in winter).

It’s a time where we get all out stuff together, we sort out our lives.

It’s often time consuming, dirty, hard and often draining.

But, once you’ve complete your cleaning session. You sit back and think; “From now on, I will NEVER let anything lie around again. I will NEVER let those drawers get filled with rubbish again. I will NEVER allow myself to mess up my cupboards again. I will definitely stop collection and hording just! Why? Because this, new and clean look, make me feel happy!”

You feel like a new person! Everything looks, feels and smells better.

You start enjoying your living room again.

Bad smells no longer exist in your cupboards,

And you aren’t afraid of something biting you when you open the fridge!

It’s an awesome feeling!

Today, I want to talk to you just about Cleaning Your House.

When is the last time you cleaned your house?

Now, I'm not talking about what I described as the good ‘ol fashioned spring cleaning… I'm talking about the kind of cleaning that stops Satan from having a hold over you.

Let me give you an example:

Think about your house…

Have you borrowed something form someone and you haven’t returned it yet, for a looooooong time? (take a CD for example).

Technically, until you return it, you’ve stolen it. Making you a thief.

And no matter how much you try honour God in your house and want Him to bless you, He won’t because you are living in sin.

The 10 commandments states: “Thou shalt not STEAL”.

I’ve lost countless CD’s to friends who have borrowed them. Moreover, when I look for them, I can’t find them or remember who borrowed them.

In 2007, I went on MAJOR spiritual spring clean.

I found loads of items that I borrowed but never returned.

My options were:

Keep them or Take a full day and take everything back to their rightful owners.

I figured if I had to keep this stuff I would be no different that a common thief.

So, I took everything back.

Every delivery I made – I felt my soul get happier and i found myself smiling so much that my cheeks hurt! It was weird!

This week, when God gave me this subject to preach on, I reflected on that day.

And this is what I learned:

Proverbs 3:33 “The Lord ’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”

Righteousness = right standing with God!

Do I want to be cursed by God or do I want to be blessed by God?

Obviously I want to be blessed. We all do!

But It depends on how we run our house.

Let’s take our “permanently borrowed Item” again.

If you have not returned that item, which does not belong to you, you are allowing yourself to live in wickedness and, in turn, giving Satan a back door into you house.

Think about it…

If you do not want Satan in your house, then get rid of anything that will give him access into your house.

Holding something that’s not yours, over the reasonable borrowed time, is theft! That is Satan’s department – Not Gods.

So who are you pleasing in that situation?

Yourself? God? Satan?

You see how something as small as that plays a huge part in your spiritual life?

Matthew 12:22-30

Jesus in a Synagogue and he is being questioned by the Pharisees. (It was as if he was on trial.)

· Reading divided into two: other part Next Week.

22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. (Put this into your memory bank for the sermon).

26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then his house can be plundered. 
30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Jesus makes a statement:

“…every city or household divided against itself will not stand”

What could potentially divide your house between the Holy Spirit and Satan?

If we want the blessings of God to fill our households, then we need to find those things that prevent them and get rid of them.

Personal story: Mens health Magazine and FHM.

I asked God why he wasn’t blessing me finalcially? He answered me, “why must I bless you when you are sponsoring Satans Campaign of lust?”

Other examples: Show books…

What is in your house that needs to be cleaned out for you to live in the Blessing of God?

That’s all outside stuff… Clean your House!

Now, the inside stuff…

As I have illustrated earlier, what is in our houses is VERY often connected you our spiritual wellbeing. (Remember the “borrowed” CD = Thievery?)

Allow me to help you understand the meaning of the word house in this context:

Psalm 135:19,20

“19 House of Israel, praise the Lord; 
house of Aaron, praise the Lord; 
20 house of Levi, praise the Lord; 
you who fear him, praise the Lord.”

Explain: House = The nation of people whose founding father was… (Israel, Aaron, etc.), not a physical house.

When you become a Christian, you become the Children of God. God becomes your Father and you then have the privilege to house the Holy Spirit within you and your body becomes known as the…

1 Corinthians 6:19

19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Temple = Holy Living place (house) of God.

Your body is the house of God.

“House of God, Praise the Lord”.

The thing is… Satan wants to divide and destroy this house of God – Globally.

DO NOT SHOW HANDS this time: How many of you clean out your spiritual lives regularly?

Often, our spiritual lives, our souls are a mess!

There are things in our everyday lives that we really need to be careful of so that the sly snake of Satan doesn’t get in a ruin us.

We need to be vigilant as to what we allow into our spiritual lives… our houses!

List a few: (books, astrology, lotto, symbols, other beliefs,…) = people put their faith into these things and not God.

When that happens, we divide our souls. Our House is divided between the Holy Spirit and other rubbish.

ANYTHING YOU PLACE BEFORE GOD BECOMES THE IDOL YOU WORSHIP…

Astrology: Deuteronomy 4:19 – “And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. (NIV)

We need to be smart and do things which encourage our growth with Jesus and the Body – not divide it.

Here is the crux:

Speak about Satan’s Gateways = Backdoors he uses to get in. A foothold. A foot in the door. (Any metaphor you like) – To get into your physical house as well as you spiritual house (your body).

Why?

To prevent God’s blessing upon your life.

To hold you captive.

We all need a spring cleaning… SO…

Conclusion:

Two things I want you to do:

1. Do a spring clean of your physical house: Find anything that is not supposed to be there, and get rid of it.

2. Do a spring clean of your spirit: Get rid of anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God.

You WILL be amazingly blessed by God when you do this…

Remember:

Proverbs 3:33 “The Lord ’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”

You feel like a new person! Everything looks, feels and smells better.

You start enjoying your living room again.

Bad smells no longer exist in your cupboards,

And you aren’t afraid of something biting you when you open the fridge!

21 October = The World Ends?

So I'm sure you heard about the dude who threw the world into a frenzy when he 'predicted' the Judgement day to be the 21st May 2011 (which I'm totally happy that it wasn't else I would missed my birthday 5 days later) and the... dum dum dummmmm.... END OF THE WORLD on the 21st October 2011!

Well, he was wrong! Duh! Or else I've, and you who are reading this, has been left behind.

Well, now he has a whole new spin on his 'prediction'. Now he says its all going down on the 21st October 2011. And get this... Its going to be super uneventful and (ssshhhh, in an Alme Fudd voice) vewy vewy qwiet!

Read the link below and tell me what you think in the comment section... (Its a mobile link)

http://sowhat.mobi/pl/svt/si/ttcrux/po/thumbtribe/dk/thumbtribe2.10-05-2011.5635p0000/sc/cruxfaithbasedh/ms/5nmVivLXI6/r/1317881354/pa/205263

Shhhh, be vewy vewy qwiet!!!

Keep the SON in your eyes!

Sermon: Who’s the Boss?

I read a story of a Pastor who, one day, brought a Golden retriever onto the stage as a sermon illustration. This was not his dog. This is what the pastor did:

· He threw a ball across the stage and told the dog to fetch it – The Dog stayed sitting. It didn’t budge for a religious leader.

· He called up a large body builder who told the dog to fetch – the dog stayed sitting. It didn’t budge for power.

· Then a banker came up and flashed money, telling the dog it would get a reward for fetching. The dog stayed sitting. It didn’t budge for money.

· After that was a peer pressure attempt. The whole congregation shouted “fetch, fetch” – the dog didn’t budge for peer pressure.

· The two models came up, One male and one female, who seductively, told the do to fetch – Dog didn’t move. I didn’t budge for lust.

· Until the Pastor called up the dogs master. The master gave the command, “Fetch” and the dog shot across the stage and fetched the ball.

This dog didn’t fetch until its master spoke to it.

Whom are you fetching for? (power, money, lust, status…)

Who is your boss?

Romans 6:16 - Tells us that we have a choice as to who, or what, we follow.

16) Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey-either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Every one of us has a master, and that master determines our behaviour and our actions.

If you’re master is:

· Money = then everything you do is centred on money.

· Power = your life is centred on trying to obtain that power.

Having free will gives us the freedom to choose what we want in the centre of our lives. But if it’s not God then we will be bitterly disappointed. Because that centre spot is made for God alone!

In the end, we will find out that we need God and that God is ultimately the one in charge. Saying that, you don’t want to turn around one day and have that ‘oops’ moment (oops, I should’ve put God in charge). It could mean where you spend your eternity.

So, Be honest with yourself…

Who is the boss of your life?

Our reading, helps us reflect on this question…

Jeremiah 18

1. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2. “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”

3. So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

4. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5. Then the word of the Lord came to me.

6. He said, “Can I not do with you, house of Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

7. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,

8. and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

9. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

10. and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

11. “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’

When God told Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house, the Israelites where living in time of spiritual crisis.

This chosen nation who belonged to God, who were blessed by God – Had turned from God and forgotten God. Who was there Boss?

They were chasing after things for their own pleasure. They turned from God to do and live however they pleased.

God sent Jeremiah to tell them to turn away from their evil ways and to turn back to God.

God says:

if they turn to Him, He will not inflict disaster.

If they don’t, he will reconsider the good he planned for them.

This was their response…

JEREMIAH 18: 12,18

12. But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’ ”

18. They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

In this reading we learn two invaluable insights…

1) People don’t like being controlled when things are going their way and are asked to give them up. We literally turn against the church, God’s messengers, and invariably, we turn away from God when we are told to change – WE REBEL.

2) God doesn’t take rubbish. Either we are with Him, putting Him first in our lives and, spiritually, we will flourish. Or, we are against him by being the master of our lives, do our own thing and invariably, destroy ourselves spiritually.

We forget that, although part Jesus’ work on the cross saves us from God’s wrath to our sin, God is not going to tolerate our evil behaviour. We must not forget that God is still the ALMIGHTY GOD – who hates evil! He is the Boss!

So, in short…

1) Turn back to God, put God first, make God the boss and Flourish.

Or…

2) Put yourself first, be your own boss and be destroyed.

Deut 30 – Same message from Moses (Choose life (God) or death (yourselves)).

The Choice is yours…

Who is your boss?

So why is God so serious about this?

That’s because God is a Jealous God. Not a bad kind of negative jealousy, but one where God will do what it takes to get you into realising that He is the God of salvation and He will do anything to get you into Heaven with Him.

God’s jealousy is so righteous and profound, that He made sure He didn’t and doesn’t share you with Satan. The way He proved that was by hanging Jesus on the Cross to rip us out of the clutches of Satan. Not for anything else but to save you!

God is the potter, we are the clay.

He formed, created, moulded us to be His, and when we wander from that, God has every right to be jealous. So when Israel was wandering from God, God didn’t stand back and say, “Oh, that’s okay…have a good time.” No, He sought to bring them back. God wanted them back to Himself.

vs. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

We live in a marred world. Just look at the headlines from this week. There are wars, famine, strife, you name it and we got it. This world is not the way God made it, it is marred.

And humankind is the same way. We try hide it but no one here is perfect.

But did you notice that something AWESOME happened!...

The Pot the potter was shaping collapsed and it was ruined. But the potter didn’t fling the clay into the dustbin and start with a new batch…

He took the same broken down, ruined piece of clay and continues shaping it from scratch, giving it its perfect and stronger form.

When we mess up and fall apart, God message remains the same. You are in my hands and I will remake you into something better.

You may have messed up (royally), been disobedient but God can still turn it all around for you. He can give your life form, shape and strength.

The only way is to make Him the ultimate Boss in your life – in EVERYTHING!

Ask God to rule in your life and stop being the boss.

Story: John Newton is a good example.

His life was falling apart. He was a drunkard and a slave trader (he got so drunk once that he fell off the ship and his shipmates had to harpoon him to bring him back on board.)

We would say what a waste, but not God. God would give John Newton another chance, and one day when fearing his life while at going through a storm at sea, John Newton gave his heart to Christ, and later this slave trader turned preacher would write the words of his life in a hymn, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.”

God has a purpose for your life.

Following Jesus has been the best and greatest decision I have ever made. The times I've let Him direct my path, have been the greatest adventures and growth points in my life. It hasn’t been easy – BUT it has been so worth it! I would never changing it for the world! Jesus is the Boss!

How do you make God the Boss? Where do you start?

Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

I said earlier…

Every one of us has a master... Who is yours?