Thoughts from Pastor Stan

PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST (POP)
When do you have the most joy (typically)
Waking-up or going to sleep?

Do you wake-up in the morning with Joy?

PUPPETS
JOANN: How are you?
CHUCK: Joyful
JOANN: Joyful?
CHUCK: Yep. I wake-up in the morning full of joy. How about you?
JOANN: I wake-up with one thing on my mind…COFFEE!
CHUCK: Coffee?
JOANN: Yes. The best part of waking up is Foldgers (or you can say, coffee, or any other coffee) in my cup.
CHUCK: How are you when you go to sleep?
JOANN: Oh, I am joyful. I just love each day. With each passing hour, more joy enters my life. So by the time I go to sleep, I am joyful! How are you when you go to sleep?
CHUCK: Joyless.
JOANN: Joyless?
CHUCK: Yep. Joyless. Lacking in joy. Nothing left. Spent it during the day
JOANN: Wait a minute. You wake-up with joy and then by the time the day is over, your joyless. No joy.
CHUCK: Yep. That’s me. Joyless.
JOANN: What happens to your joy
CHUCK: It just vanishes.
JOANN: How does joy vanish?
CHUCK: Everyday living just robs me of my joy.
JOANN: Well, I would agree there is a lot in each day that could rob us of our joy.
CHUCK: Yes. The demands of life just weigh heavy on me.
JOANN: I agree they are heavy, but also there are the beauties of life that give us joy, don’t forget those.
CHUCK: I don’t have time for the beauties of life, I am too busy. Bills to be paid, a to-do list a mile long, the drive to be successful. Well, by the end of the day, I am too exhausted to be joyful.
JOANN: Well, life does require choices. How we choose the next step impacts our direction for the following step.
CHUCK: Oh, I don’t walk. I drive.
JOANN: You walk to your car.
CHUCK:


SERMON NOTES
September 28, 2008
Walking With God
QUESTION: What brings you joy?
During the Passing of the Peace of Christ
We asked the question: Do you wake-up in the morning with joy?
If so, then what happens?
Which is more true for you: The passing of the day creates more joy or less joy?

INTRO STORY – Who Switched the Price Tags? Tony Campollo
Question: In your whole life, what percentage of your life are you really living?
And is really living - “joy”?
If so, is this the kind of joy you are seeking?
If not, what kind of joy are you seeking?

SERMON SERIES: Walking With God
Summary
We are created to be in relationship with God and others. Our relationship with God calls us to walk with God. Walking with God requires us to listen and talk to God.
LAST WEEK
This conversation with God transforms us. As seen in the concept that God is the potter and we are the clay. One of the questions last week, “what kind of pot is the potter making out of you?
Today’s Point
This week, our question is; “what’s in the pot?
Or; the more we walk with God, the more we are transformed and the more we grow in our relationship with God; which leads to more joy in our life.
Question: What is erodes away at your joy?
PUPPET MESSAGE
Does the stuff of life erode away at your joy?
Finances/relationships/employers/COMPUTERS CRASHING

Story – Devil’s Grass
I do not like devil’s grass (put a gallon of poison on it Friday)
Within 3 hours it was dead. Poison: vinegar
Did you know that vinegar kills grass and joy?
JOY ZAPPERS
We are all different. Different things will zap the joy out of our life
Victor Frankyl (Man’s Search for Meaning) (Triad in January):
we always have a choice on how we respond

IS JOY IMPORTANT
Do you know anyone who has given up on their pursuit of joy (happiness)?
Do you know anyone who just will be content with status quo and survival?
Do you know anyone who just will be content with a vapid life?
Do you know anyone who experiences life as a battlefield;
and at what stake is the joy in their life
(and life is eroding away at it through the stuff of life)?
Do you know anyone who has raised the white flag of surrender,
surrendering their joy and is just existing in survival mode?

QUESTION: Do you want more joy in your life?
INTRO TO JOHN
The gospel of John is where Jesus said (a couple of weeks ago); I am the good shepherd and then he talked about this purpose in life is so that we can have the abundant life or life to its fullest.
SCRIPTURE: John 15 (relationship: vine and the branches – God and us)
JN 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

QUESTION: What is fruit? Is the Greatest & 2nd Greatest Commandment; love?

JN 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

NOTICE THE THEME THAT FOLLOWS THE DISCUSSION OF FRUIT IS ABOUT…

JN 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

QUESTION: What is complete joy?
“complete/full” (GK) means to fill a vessel or hollow place.

How do we have “complete joy”?
Obey the command to love (implication: complete joy is in relationship)

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

POINT – “complete joy” is contingent on being connected to the “vine” and the “fruit” of love

QUESTION: How does one remain connected to the vine and produce the fruit of love?

DIFFERENCE OF INDIVIDUAL (Many ways)

(for me) SCRIPTURE: Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God”
In the stillness, God speaks to me about what is important in life
and how joy can be experienced by choosing correctly.
One of the reminders in the stillness, when God speaks to me,
is that we are called to be love driven.
Most of us fall into a trap that we think we are one way,
but through close examination; we discover something else drives us;
for example; self-preservation
note: John 15:13 talks about love driven is not self preservation driven)

JOHN ELDERIDGE – Walking With God (p. 30)
1. Start with a simple question
2. “Be still” (Psalm 46:10; I Kings 19: 11 – 12))
3. “Ponder” the question with God (experience God’s presence)
4. Repeat the question (to remain focus)
5. Personal posture before God
(am I willing to hear whatever it is God wants me to hear?)
Or, (Does it not coincide with my presuppositions, trump car,
of what drives me?
Am I willing to be in a posture of quiet surrender before God?
(i.e. we are called to be believers and followers of God)

CHALLENGE

This week; be still and ask God what drives you?
(if you would like some help in pursuing this, let’s dialogue)

PASSING OF THE PEACE
ISA 64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

QUESTION If we are Clay, and God is the potter, what kind of pot or ceramic piece is God making out of you?




CALL TO WORSHIP (Matthew 11:28f)
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Come, all who are wear and burden.
Let us take the yoke of the Lord upon us.
Opening Hymn #64 Holy, Holy, Holy

OPENING PRAYER
Lord, we gather this morning knowing that you are Emmanuel, God with us. You are the God who knows us. You listen to our hearts. You know us before we even utter the words. We thank you for the opportunity to walk with you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
PRAYER # 395 TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY
CLOSING # 528 NEARER MY GOD TO THEE
11 am
Open the Eyes of My Heart

IMAGERY: Living Water
THEOLOGICAL ISSUE: Eternal Life
THEME: Transformation
GREEK WORD: Metamorphous


Sermon Notes
September 21, 2008
Walking With God: Transformation



During the PASSING OF THE PEACE
Question: If we are clay, what kind of pot is God making out of you?

A love driven pot?
QUESTION: Do you think God is shaping us into the image of Jesus
POINT: Walking with God requires transformation
We as the clay are transformed by God’s impressions upon us.
Sometimes tht requires us to be (ps 46:10) be still and know that I am God.
Sometimes that requires us to listen to music ( ) and let God change us through music.
…mountains
….seas
…friends
…even the golf course…NOT!
BUT IT DOES REQUIRE A CONVERSATION, A LISTENING AND TALKING CONVERSATION.


INTRO (Walking With God, John Elderedge, p. 18)
QUESTION: Have you ever been ready to send a blistering e-mail and changed your mind? Was it the still voice of God saying “no” that caused you to “delete”?
Have you ever hit the delete key, have you ever not and wished you did?
God is transforming us to be better listeners to the voice of God
Do you think god is shaping us into the image of Jesus? How?
How would your life look differently if you were fully transformed (perfectionism)?

There are many ways God shapes us.
One way is when we are still (Ps 46:10)
God can shape us





SCRIPTURE: Matthew 11: 28 – 29
MT 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

YOKE sounds like a burden. But the correct yoke is someone who pulls alongside of you and gives you a helping hand.
The yoke of the Pharisees, is a yoke of burden (law) (a checklist of what it is to be religious)
Christians do this today as well, this is not an exclusively left to the pharisee, there are Christian Pharisees, do this “I’d rather burnout for Jesus than rust.’
We avoid burnout, when we are yoke with Christ. We are energized when we are yoked with Christ. We are involved in things that we have a passion for with Christ. We are love driven when we are yoked with Christ.
QUESTION: Who’s yoke?
The yoke of God is easy (grace and love)
The yoke of the Pharissess (hard) it is driven to be in obedience to the law
It is a to do list, it is time management:

ISSUE: The way we live our lives
God requires tous to be tgransformed
7th day of rest.
Ps 46:10 helps us not to run out of gas when we are running the race of life.

WALKINGN WITH GOD REQUIRES: Transformation

SETTING THE SCENE
Previous chapter, John 3 (new birth), John 2 (transforming water into wine)
In this chapter, Jesus will confront a Samaritan Woman

History of Samaria (why there is a disagreement) wanna be Jews
Sometimes we don’t get along with those closer to us than those who are further from us


SCRIPTURE: John 4: 1 - ??
N 4:1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

JN 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

JN 4:7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

JN 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )

Question: “Who is your ‘Samaritan’”?



JN 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

JN 4:11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

JN 4:13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

WATER
QUESTION: What “water” do you drink that never quenches (addiction)

AUGUSTINE
Each person is created with a God shape hole and only God can fill that shape, but the problem is that we attempt to fill it with other things when only God can fill and fully satisifies that need.

But we will find other things to fill that need.
(list of addictions, is sometime an attempt to fill that need)


JN 4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."


LAST WEEK (PSALM 139: 1 – 4)
God knows us,
This week, Jesus knows the Samaritan woman


JN 4:16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

JN 4:17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

JN 4:19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

JN 4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

JN 4:25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

JN 4:26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Is this an “I am” statement?


JN 4:27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

JN 4:28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.

POINT: God knows us (Psalm 139)

Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.


THIS WOMAN WAS CHANGED (TRANSFORMED)
Notice: she left what she came for, water.
That is what happens when we are encountered by God, we leave behind what we think is important and leave with something more important.

“COME, SEE A MAN…”
At the very least this woman has been transformed into an evangelist


JN 4:31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

JN 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

JN 4:33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

JN 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, `Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying `One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

JN 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

JN 4:42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

JN 4:43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

JN 4:46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

JN 4:48 "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

JN 4:49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

JN 4:50 Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

JN 4:53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

JN 4:54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

JN 5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

WALKING WITH GOD
We have a choice, we can walk with God and grow in our spirituality. We can move from a mediocre faith, to a faith that is love driven that walks with the God who calls us to love god and others.

TRIADS
SELF EXAMINATION - know thyself
JOURNAL
OPPORTUNITES (from the church): Mission, equipping, etc.


,

PUPPETS
Bob: What ya doin’ Julie?
Julie: I am thinking about butterflies.
Bob: Butterflies are cool.
Julie: My teacher says they go through a metamorphosis
Bob: Cool!...What’s a me-ta-mor-phosis?
Julie: Well, according to Wikipedia, Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal’s form or structure through cell growth and differentiation.
Bob: Huh?
Julie: Don’t you get it?
Bob: Those were some mighty big words Julie.
Julie: Yes, I am pretty much multisyllabic, if I don’t say so myself.
Bob: Well, I am Methodist and I don’t know what that all means?
Julie: I have no idea. But, I think I’ll ask my parents.
Bob: You do that Julie.
Julie: If I were to guess what it means, I think it has something to do with a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Bob: Oh.
Julie: It also said in Wikipedia that Metamorphosis is derived from two Greek words: Meta, meaning “from;” and morphsis, meaning “change” and both words combined mean transformation.
Bob: Well it’s all Greek to me.
Julie: Multisyllabic Bob, Multisyllabic.
Bob: There you go with those big words again.
Julie: Let me explain it to you Bob.
Bob: I am all ears Julie.
Julie: you know how you can take a clump of clay and mold it into a pot.
Bob: Yeah. I’ve made stuff out of clay before.
Julie: Well, life is like that. God is the potter and he takes this clump of clay, which is you.
Bob: Hey wait a minute Julie! Are you saying I am mud?
Julie: Clay, Bob. Clay. Not mud.
Bob: Okay, that’s better. If I thought you thought I was mud and not clay, I might have to come up with my own multisyllabic word for you Julie.
Julie: Now, let’s see where was I.
Bob: I am a clump of clay.
Julie: Your words Bob. Okay. You’re a clump of clay, God is the potter. God molds the clay into a pot.
Bob: a pot?
Julie: What would you like to be?
Bob: a bowl of cherries.
Julie: Okay, God molds you into a bowl of cherries out of clay. That’s transformation. That’s metamorphosis.
Bob: Wow. that’s cool. God changes us.
Julie: Into something better.
Bob: Yeah, a bowl of cherries.

Sermon Notes
September 14, 2008
Walking with God: TALKING with FRIENDS
PASSING OF THE PEACE - Who knows you best?
DOES ANYONE KNOW YOU SO WELL THAT:
A. Know your actions (v2)
B. Know your thoughts, even though they’re not around (v2)
C. Know you ways (to the point there are no surprises) (v3)
D. Know what you are going to say, before you speak (v4)

QUESTION: Does anyone know you that well?
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139: 1 – 18
PS 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and you KNOW ME.

PS 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

PS 139:3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

PS 139:4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

POINT: God Knows Us!

Question: Does anyone know you as well as God?

POINT: We are in a relationship with God.

TO KNOW SOMEONE (BETTER)
QUESTION: How does someone know you? (better)?
PUPPET MESSAGE
Friends talk to each other. That’s how they get to know each other.
LAST WEEK
PUPPET MESSAGE
Are you a better listener or talker?
During the Passing of the Peace
How often do you listen to God?

During the Sermon:
FOCUS: Relationship & Listening
POINT: Walking with God (& others) requires: LISTENING
TODAY: Walking with God (relationship) (& others) requires: TALKING
QUESTION: Are we made to talk with God?
Is God interested in hearing from us?
PRESUPPOSITION: God has created us for intimate FRIENDSHIP with God and others.
Thus we are called to TALK
SCRIPTURE (LAST WEEK): Genesis 2
God created us for relationship with God and others
CHALLENGE TO THE PRESUPPOSITION:
Question: Does God want to be intimate with us?
Many good responses throughout history:
A. Deist: Clockmaker
God winds up creation to tick and is not interested in what kind of time the clock keeps.
B. God is too busy to have time to spend with us and our trivia.

(unfair) QUESTIONS:
In the last 7 days how many times have you talked to God (& listened to God).
In the last 7 days how many people have you spoke to more often than you talked to God?
How many people do you know better than you know God?
Who do you have a better relationship with God or (fill in the blank)?

OLD TESTAMENT

Setting the scene: God is talking to Moses

SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 29:43 - 46
43 there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory.

EX 29:44 "So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting (portable temple, until Solomon: Temple) and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

NOTE: God is entering into a relationship more now than previously. This is not at the level of friendship, but at the level of relationship (God is worthy of worship).
Setting the Scene: This is speaking about relationship with God that is different
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 33: 11a
The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.

Note: It is not the whole faith community, but just Moses who speaks to God as a FRIEND. In the Old Testament, the friendship of God is through a representative (priests & prophets)
NEW TESTAMENT
NOTE: In the New Testament, the friendship of God is transformed through the mediator Jesus and the veil of the temple (symbolic division) is torn down and we individually have access to God (Acts 2:3).
SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 2: 14 – 18
EPH 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

NOTE: we no longer require the priest to access God.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10: 19 – 22
HEB 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
FOCUS: A new relationship with God (direct access)
POINT: Jesus as high priest death on the cross brings us closer to God
NOTE (v19): The only day the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the presence of God, is on the Day of Atonement. As Christians, we enter the presence of God, not through the priest, but direct access to God through Jesus, Emmanuel (God is with us) through the priestly sacrifice of Jesus, his own death.

NOTE (v20): “NEW” because Jesus has created a completely new relationship for us with God.

NOTE: (v20): “CURTIN” (or “veil”) – was a three foot curtain separating the people from God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. This veil was torn when Jesus died on the cross (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; and Luke 23:45).

NOTE (v21): “GREAT PRIEST” is a literal rendering of the Hebrew title “High Priest”

NOTE (v22) “LET US DRAW NEAR” is an exhortation that God wants us in a relationship "with a sincere heart." “sprinkled to cleanse” is imagery of the High Priest “sprinkling” within the Holy of Holies (Exodus 29:21 and Leviticus 8:30). “Bodies washed with pure water” is a reference to baptism. This cleansing is an outward sign of an inward cleansing.

OUR PURPOSE IS TO HAVE INTIMACY (RELATIONSHIP) WITH God (as seen last week).
SCRIPTURE (Last Week): John 10: 3 - 10
3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

JN 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

JN 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheEP.
SCRIPTURE: John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

SCRIPTURE: John 15:14
You are my friends if you do what I command….
QUESTION: What does Jesus command us to do?
SCRIPTURE: John 15: 17
This is my command, LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
CONCLUSION: WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS.
POINT: Jesus calls us friend.
Jesus calls us to love in our friendship



Point: We have a friend in God,
Like the Good Shepherd of last week,

The more we grow in our relationship with God, the more we will
Know the voice of God and follow after God;


POINT: Jesus laid down his life for us because we are his friend.


RECAP: Questions about “who knows you best”?
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 138: 1 – 8
PS 138:1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise.

PS 138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name
for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

NOTICE: the relationship between humanity and God. It is not one where God is purely interested in us worshipping (reverence) and bowing down (respect), but also a relationship that includes love.

Think of those parent/child relationships where the child only respects the parent and does not love, because love was not given by the parent.

What’s the greatest commandment: Love God
God wants a relationship and not just homage

PS 138:3 When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.

PS 138:4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth.

PS 138:5 May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

PS 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.

PS 138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.

NOTICE: The two way street, God in this relationship is not passive, but active in our lives, active through love. Acts of love.

PS 138:8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever--
do not abandon the works of your hands.

What “endures forever? Love

POINT: God loves you
I john
I Corinthians 13:13, and the greatest of these is love John 3:17 “KNOW” (GK WORD)
Psalm 139: Yahweh Knows Me!




QUESTIONS
In an ordinary week, how often do you ask God for guidance?







CHALLENGE
Journal
We’re all different
For some of us Journaling is a way to walk closer with God
If you have never tried Journaling, perhaps this is a time to begin.

IF Journaling is new to you are not your cup of tea, if you go to our website, there is an Amazon link of the book, and there is “A Personal Guide to Walking with God: Workbook for individual or Small Group Study.” Some of the questions we are using at

POLLYANNA
ALTAR TABLE: A half filled glass of water
PASSING THE PEACE
QUESTION; Is the glass half full or empty?
NEXT WEEK (August 31st):
MOVIE: Pollyanna
QUESTION: Is the glass half empty or half full?
SCRIPTURE: I Peter 3:15
POINT: How we view the world impacts others
CALL TO WORSHIP
All people bring joy
Some bring joy when they enter the room, others when they leave the room
OPENING PRAYER (I Corinthians 13:12)
Open our eyes Lord to how we bring joy into the world. Let us see the world as you intend us to see it. Let us see the beauty of creation. Let us smell the roses. Let us hear the symphonies. Let us experience the abundant life. Let us live in hope. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
COMPLAINT FREE WORLD (WILL BOWEN)









Sermon Notes
August 31, 2008
Pollyanna
INTRO
LAST WEEK – The Matrix
Focus: Perception of Reality
THIS WEEK – Pollyanna
FOCUS: Perception of Reality and how to respond to reality
INTRO TO POLLYANNA
Starring: Hailey Mills, Jane Wyman, Agnes Moorehead, & Karl Malden
POLLYANNA
Clip (not shown) (35:50) - Sour Stomach Sunday (people around here hate Sundays)
CLIP (not shown) (36:12) - Death Comes Unexpectedly (4x)
“God Jehovah will bring judgment…
QUESTION: Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists” (p. 4).
QUESTION: Do we have a moral obligation to be happy (p. 3f)?
CLIP (not shown) (43:00) - Glad Game
“What did I tell you”?
“I hate Sundays”
“What is all this Glad business you talk about?”
“A game my father taught me…it helps sometime
When things aren’t going so well sometimes
(Find something good about the situation)
NOTE: The Glad Game is not denial, but a refocusing on what is good in life (Life is Good).
POINT: Pollyanna brings joy into the lives of so many folks in her town, not by introducing denial, but by introducing hope and a new perception on reality.
Question: Who is it that brings joy into your life?
Who is it that you bring joy into their life?

SETTING THE SCENE
Mrs. Snow (Agnes Moorehead) is in despair and angst for no reason, but is certain that she is on the path to death. In this scene Mrs. Snow is meeting with the town undertaker to discuss her coffin. The decision making process is interrupted by the unexpected Pollyanna. Pollyanna came to Mrs. Snow for the purpose of recruiting her into sewing patchwork squares into a quilt. The quilt will be sold at the bizarre to help raise funds to build a new orphanage.
Clip # 1 - 1:17:45 - 1:24:03
“…A person shouldn’t be thinking about dying so much…A person should think about living.”
Pollyanna tells the father and the doll (crutches) story
Pollyanna was rather disappointed, so her father made up the Glad Game.
Let’s try and find something to be glad about, so we made a game of it.
And after all I forgot about the doll
I found a reason for being glad
We were glad we didn’t have to use them (crutches)
You can be glad you don’t need this coffin
They do not respond well.
(undertaker) “I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings”
Clip (not shown) - 1:31:46 Encounter with Rev. Paul Ford
(in his angry voice) “If you are an enemy to one another than you’re an enemy to God!”
“When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will.” Abraham Lincoln
Note the perspective of reality
Look for the good in people
Glad Passages – 800
A. Psalm 100:1 “Shout for Joy!” (17 x)
B. Be glad (in the Lord) (lots)
C. PSALM 118:24 - This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

“If God took the trouble to tell us 8oo times to be glad and rejoice, He must wanted us to do it.”

POINT – We always a have a choice on how to respond to reality:
Clip (not shown) – the Final Test (the stakes are raised)
Pollyanna falls out of a tree sneaking back into the house after the bizarre. He fall injuries her in such a way that she may never walk again. She has a choice. She is overwhelmed by the prospect that she will never walk again and becomes despair and is incapable of playing the glad game. This time, the town comes to the rescue (Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen).
RECOMMENDED READING:
a. Victor Frankyl, “Man’s Search for Meaning” (always have a choice & the importance of hope)
b. Randy Pausch, “The Last Lecture” or the internet site http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ (how to live life)
c. Eleanor Porter, “ Pollyanna” or the movie (1960) - (Glad Game)
d. Dennis Prager, “Happiness is a Serious Problem”,(Moral obligation to be happy as not to hinder the happiness of others, butterfly effect, system thinking) “Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists” (p. 4).
e. Henri Nouwen, “Wounded Healer” (we can heal each through our wounds like Jesus)
People respond, they come out in mass, they greet her and by their mere presence it gives Pollyanna the will to play the glad game again. We need each other (Wounded Healer) She needed a little help from her friends (Joe cocker)
LITMUS TEST: Will the complaint do any good, if not; move on.
There are those who feel like we should complain; but if the rest of the world believed in complaining as much as they do; they wouldn’t like it; but still they share their wisdom.
OBSERVATION: The complainers; (there is a tendency, “if you spot it; you got it”). I have a friend who would complain about things not being organized. They are one of the most unorganized persons I know.





Puppets
Sally: Chuck, how are you?
Chuck: I am sad; but, thanks for noticing me.
Sally: Well chuck, Have a deal for you.
CHUCK: I hope it is not too rigorous. I have to watch out and avoid too much excitement.
SALLY: Well, then this is perfect. Let’s play the Glad Game
CHUCK: Glad bags? I don’t have any Glad bags. Do I need to have a Glad bag to play?
SALLY: No silly, not Glad Bags; Glad Game.
CHUCK: Oh, what’s the Glad Game?
SALLY: Well when I am gloomy or sad, I try to find something to be glad about.
CHUCK: Oh, I couldn’t do it.
SALLY: Look Chuck, there are over 800 bible verses in the Bible about being glad. If God went to the trouble to tell us over 800 times to be glad, don’t you think God would want us to do it?
CHUCK: Gee, I never thought of that. I never thought that God was interested in me being Glad.
SALLY: There you go Chuck. Now, what are you sad about?
CHUCK: I am sad that summer is ending.
SALLY: Well surely we can find something to be glad about because summer is ending.
CHUCK: I don’t think so.
SALLY: Well, because summer is ending football is starting.
CHUCK: I don’t like football.
SALLY: Well, because summer is ending, school is beginning.
CHUCK: I don’t…
SALLY (interrupting): i don’t want to hear it. Let’s see, because summer is ending new TV shows are coming on TV.
CHUCK: I don’t like TV.
SALLY: This is going to be more difficult than I thought.
CHUCK: I am hopeless.
SALLY: I know, because summer is ending, it will soon be Trunk or Treat.
CHUCK: Oh I love Trunk or Treat. I can’t wait. Hey, I am already feeling better. I wish every day was Trunk or Treat.
SALLY: See now how we can be glad even though it seems gloomy. That’s the Glad Game.
CHUCK: I am glad we played the Glad Game. You sure I don’t need a Glad bag to play.
SALLY: Chuck the only thing you need to play the Glad Game is a willing heart.








Glad Game
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
1. Don’t be gloomy
2. Find something to be glad about
Example: wanting a doll and receiving crutches from a missionary barrel, glad she didn’t need the crutches.