News about my latest books
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: General
Finding God in a Galaxy Far, Far Away has been selected as one of LifeWay.com's top books of the year by LifeWay's customers! Click here for details. Plus, it's now being stocked at most Barnes and Noble locations.

The Da Vinci Codebreaker is hitting stores nationwide right now. Even if you're not concerned with The Da Vinci Code movie or book, check it out. It's a great resource for understanding how the Bible came to us and how the books of the Bible were selected. Click here to order The Da Vinci Codebreaker.

Notes for Lent 6
Mood:  amorous
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING 5 of 6
Motif
> Review
> Know Jesus, No Fear
Ever had one of those days spiritually? Life with God is going great ... seems like you've beaten sin ... without warning ... derails everything.
> Because we've experienced that, we develop a fear.
--> ... we become afraid to take a stand and say, “I'm not going to do this again,” afraid to say, “I'm not going to commit this sin again.”
--> ... because we are afraid that we'll fall back into the sin again.
--> ... We are afraid of failure. [Word for this: [Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia/Arachibutyrophobia] Kakorrhaphiophobia ]
--> ... so we simply let it remain in our lives, try to hide it, try to ignore it.
--> [[lose temper ... lust ... talk someone down behind back ... embellish truth/lie]]
> TRUTH: Every moment that you allow your fear of failure to keep from fighting against sin, you have failed already—because you've allowed the sin to stay that much longer.
> E.S. Jones: “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. … I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. … In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath—these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air. A Johns Hopkins University doctor says, 'We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than non-worriers, but that is a fact.' But, I, who am simple of mind, think I know: We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way.”
> It's fear of failure that keeps us captive to the most stubborn sins.
Dilemma
> How do I get over my fear of failure?
Text
> Mark 14:50–72
> Ever suppose that—if only Jesus walked and talked right beside me—I wouldn't sin? That's what disciples thought: MARK 14:31. After three years of walking every day with Jesus, every one of his disciples fails.
> Haunting image: Young man, slipped into night wrapped in sheet, follows into garden ... runs, naked into the night ... early church tradition: Mark [Lord's Supper in his parents' home].
--> Why does it tell the story in this way? Can you think the other time in Scripture when, in a garden, someone runs naked from God's presence? Same choice Adam/Eve were faced with, humanity is faced with again: Will we obey our Creator or run from him? Humanity fails again.
> Not only do Mark and other disciples fail ... even the inner circle.
> At first, Simon Peter looks like he's going to follow Jesus all the way ... creeps behind, watching what happens ... watches from edge of courtyard, warming hands.
--> ... hears conflicting testimony, hears Jesus say, “I AM” ... high priest rips his robes ... Jesus being spit upon, blindfolded, beaten.
> As he watches, a little slave-girl walks by ... she's seen Jesus and his followers in temple courts: “You were with Jesus of Nazareth”—in truth, there's nothing more wonderful that anyone could say about us.
--> Simon Peter: Bold, brave, fisherman, muscle-bound by a lifetime of hauling fish into boats ... faced by a little girl, a slave ... but he knows that—if this is happening to Jesus/if Peter is known as follower—this is what will happen to Peter.
--> “I don't know—I don't even understand!”
--> This is the failure that Simon Peter feared.
> Just as we do sometimes, once we fail—afraid of saying, “I'm not going to do this again!” ... instead of getting out, we keep going back ... “You are! You have a Galilean accent”—Galilee was the ancient equivalent of rural Arkansas ... cultured people of Judea laughed at their accent.
--> Third time, Peter curses and swears: “May I be cursed/damned if I even know who you're talking about.”
--> His fear has sent him into the sin that he's feared the most.
--> In Luke (22:61), at this moment, Jesus turned and looked directly at Peter.
> Jesus: Face bruised and swelling, blindfold slipping, flies swarming around blood congealing along his jaw, looks at Peter, standing in shadows, face barely visible in flickering firelight—yet Peter knows that, even if Jesus does not see his face—Jesus can see his soul ... Peter feels the eyes of Jesus piercing into his soul ... eyes of love that burn like fire ... at this moment, rooster crows ... Peter stumbles into an alley that's as dark as his own soul and falls to the ground, weeping in great, bitter moans that convulse his body until he retches ... hours later, he still lays in that alley, eyes and stomach empty, and yet he weeps ... that horrible, dry weeping reserved for the darkest moments of human existence. This is what it feels like to be Simon Peter, the big fisherman, curled on the ground at this moment in the streets of Jerusalem.
> His worst fear has been realized; Simon Peter has failed.
> Yet what's most important is what happens next: All four Gospels find Peter next ... with the other disciples in Jerusalem
--> Easiest thing to do? Give in to his failure, give in to his fear, decide, “I can't beat the sins in my life,” run back to Galilee, patch up his fishing boat, forget he ever heard of Jesus. It's always easiest to go back to our old habits, old ways. It would have been for Peter; it is for us.
--> But that's not what he does: He goes back to wait with the other disciples.
--> Are they still afraid? Sure! [John 20:19]
--> Yet they don't let their fear drive them to further failure.
--> And it's in this waiting that, on Easter, Jesus appears to them—but that's the story for next week.
--> Within a few weeks, Peter is boldly proclaiming the message of Jesus—unafraid of his potential for failure.
Resolution
> How do I overcome my fear of failure?
> You can't.
--> Society: From childhood, we're told to be afraid. [“Keep hitting with lightsabers ... eye out”/look both ways]
--> Genetic: people with shorter gene slc6a4 on chromosone 17q12 ... more likely to be afraid. If, right now, you're thinking, "Which one do I have?"—you have the shorter one.
--> Main reason: The reason you fear failure is because it's very possible that you will fail. NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF?
--> Fear that God wants to get out of lives is fear that God is against us, abandoned us. But when it comes to my failures, there is much to fear.
> What do I do with my fear of failing again? You can learn to fear God more than you fear any failure.
> There's a fear God doesn't want, fear that God has forgotten [ISAIAH 43:1-2]/fear that God requires [PROVERBS 1:7].
--> “Fear of God”: Not cowering, terrified, but profound awe and respect for God's character and God's plans.
> The life that God has created for me to live matters more than any fear or failure that I may face.
> That's what happen to Peter: Simon Peter still believed that there was something greater for his life than failure.
--> So, he returns to the last place he had been before he failed Jesus—the upper room, where they shared Last Supper—and he waits there.
> He has failed horribly: God has a plan for my life that is greater than any fear or failure that I may face. HE FEARED GOD MORE THAN HE FEARED HIS FAILURE.
> What sin have you let stay in your life? “I'm never going to beat this, it's been there so long”/“so deep, so dark, I can't deal with it”—that's your fear of failure talking ... “If I take a stand and tell others, 'I'm going to break free from this,' I might fail ... then what?”—that's your fear.
--> God has a plan for you that's greater than your fear of failure.
> You can LOVE LIFE GOD CREATED YOU TO LIVE or you can LIVE IN FEAR OF FAILING AGAIN—but you cannot do both at the same time.
> Will you ever fail again? Perhaps—do what Peter did: Go back, get rid of what caused you to fall, learn to love life God created you to live, start over.
> What sin makes you afraid? Either because you're still struggling with it or because you're closer than you want to admit to falling into it?
> Isn't it time to move beyond the fear and learn to love the life God created you to live, beyond power of that sin? Isn't it time to break free?

Posted by timothypauljones at 5:49 PM CDT

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Palm and Passion Sunday thoughts
Mood:  blue
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Mark 15:51-72: Simon Peter failed ... or did he?

Fear of failure is what keeps us in sin---we're afraid to take a stand and say, "I'm not going to do this anymore!" because our first thought is, "What if I mess up?"

Many of these examples are drawn from John Ortberg's sermons ...

Jonas Salk: "I did not fail 200 times; I discovered 200 ways not to vaccinate for polio."

Winston Churchill: Repeated a grade in elementary school: "I never failed anything in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right."

No event is, in and of itself, a failure---failure is how you interpret the event.

> What if something happens to your car? You will eventually get another one.
> What if something happens to your wallet? You'll eventually replace it.
> What happens if the preacher preaches a really bad sermon? You can send him to Hawaii on a sabbatical!

Having intense fear and anxiety may even be genetically influenced---people with a shorter gene slc6a4 on chromosone 17q12 are more likely to be afraid. If, right now, you're thinking, "Oh no, which one do I have?"---you have the shorter one.

The ride only lasts a few minutes---there's not enough time in life to spend it in worry and fear. Just do it!

Some of it is the way we were brought up: "You're going to lose an eye hitting each other with those lightsabers!"

Some of it is media: Len Sweet: We long for security, knowing how things will come out. "Fear is dominated by our need for security. ... First we install seat belts, then shoulder belts, then we put the two together. Then we add airbags. Soon we'll be driving around in giant marshmallows." Eileen Gulden: "You can live on bland food to avoid an ulcer, drink no coffee or tea, go to bed early, avoid all controversy, spend money only on necessities, and save all you can---and still fall and break your neck in the bathtub and it would serve you right."

Wear your seatbelt, take care of your health, look both ways before crossing the street, don't talk to strangers---but not because you're afraid. Do it because you love life. The actions aren't the problem---it's the motive that's the problem.

Get rid of fear not because there aren't things to be afraid, not because you won't ever fail in your struggle against sin ... no, get rid of fear because you love life and because life is short and you want your life to be the best it can be, you want to glorify God.

*****

Every moment that you live in fear of failure in your struggle against sin, you have already failed.

You can LOVE LIFE or you can LIVE IN FEAR---but you cannot do both at the same time.

Message Notes for Lent 5
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING
4 of 6
REVIEW
> Stop trying .../Jesus is enough/It's not about keeping the rules, it's about living in love.
MOTIF
> To defeat sin in your life, you've got to learn to confess.
--> 1 John 1:9: Beautiful verse, comforting verse---but one of the most misused verses: "If we confess our sins, God is trustworthy and in the right to release us from our sins and to wash us clean from everything in us that isn't right [with God]"---a beautiful verse, but it means so much more than we usually get out of it.
> What confession isn't ...
--> ... admitting you've done wrong [How we use the term]/Bumper sticker: "Yes, I have the body of an 18-year-old but it's in the trunk and it's starting to smell."
--> ... for the purpose of making you feel better [www.dailyconfessions.com] [Marghanita Laski: "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me."]
--> ... to avoid divine punishment:
-----> If you are a Christian, your punishment has already been taken on the cross [When some tragedy strikes, "What is God punishing me for?" ... your punishment has already been taken.]
-----> God does let us experience the natural consequences of our bad choices. [Drink poison? Leap from a building? This falls into the general theological category of don't be stupid.]
-----> God does discipline his children---God allows events to happen in our lives to remind us that we are not in control, to call us back to him. He does this in love. [Hebrews 12:7-8]
> When I was younger ... "God, forgive me of everything I've done wrong today," each night. What was wrong with that? I wanted to avoid God's punishment, and I was confessing my sins to God, wasn't I? It was to make me feel better/avoid punishment.
--> "Just do it and then ask forgiveness" or "God knows and he'll just have to understand": That's not confession, and God doesn't have to understand---Jesus did not die so that we could exploit God's grace but so that we could imitate God's holiness.
--> To imitate God's holiness ... real confession.
> What is confession---real confession?
> Homologeo: To express the same idea from one's heart ... to confess sin to God is to agree with God's view of the sin.
--> The goal is not simply release from punishment; it's release from the sin itself---the goal of confession is to break the grip that a sin has in your life!
DILEMMA
> Where do I learn to confess my sins?
TEXT
> Psalm 51
> Ascription: After David's sin with Bath-Sheba ... [describe David's actions ... kept it under wraps for nearly a year] there is no sin that God is unable to deliver you from ... "Thou art the man."
I. 51:1: Chanani elohim k'chesedek ... : In three words, David gives up any illusion that he is in control. [At the essence of sin is the delusion that we're in control.]
--> David's king! But he knows there's a greater king! And he knows it is only by this king's mercy that he can live.
--> "You and you only": Every sin is ultimately against God ... image of God.
--> [[[1]]] In authentic confession, I give up the delusion that I am in control. [If I received what I deserve ... 51:11 ... 51:1b: It is only because of love.]
II. 51:2, 7: "Wash me thoroughly": Not "take away the consequences" but "take away the sin itself": David doesn't want to remain in this sin.
--> Sometimes confession: "Change my situation so I may praise you." David says, "Change me, and I will praise you regardless."
--> [[[2]]] In authentic confession, it isn't about avoiding the punishment for the sin [51:4b!] ... it's about being released from the power of the sin ... breaking free.
III. 51:6: "God, look into my darkest closets---the things I've done that only you can see."
--> Peek-a-boo: Practice ... damaging to child if they don't play peek-a-boo ... "I can hide" ... hide-and-go-seek ... hunting/paintball.
--> We learn that we have the capacity to hide from other people---problem: We think we can hide from God too. [Adam and Eve]
--> We can't play peek-a-boo with God; we can't hide from God. You can hide it from me, spouse, parents; God sees.
--> [[[3]]]In authentic confession, we stop hiding: 51:5-6: "Sin runs deep in me---it always has. But I want to stop hiding from you."
> "I am the problem": [[[While in therapy ... single theme ties together: "I'm not the problem; it's not my fault." Go on TV so that someone can tell them, "You are the problem."]]] Things in my past may make it easier to slip into certain sins, but I am the problem.
--> When I sin, I cannot blame: 1 Cor. 10:13; Heb.12:4.
--> Good news: Even though I am the problem, I don't have to be the solution: Only God can release: 51:10: Bara, creation from nothing ... something only God can do!
> In everyone of us, areas where heart isn't clean ... things that we've never been completely honest with God about [dark closets, corners] ... sure, we know he knows it happened ... but we've never expressed to God how wrong it was, how much it hurt us, how much it hurt someone else.
--> Do you want that "clean heart"? (51:10).
--> What are you hiding? God already sees---but he cannot create new heart until you stop trying to hide it.
-----> It may be God isn't the only one that you need to stop trying to hide from: 51:13.
-----> James 5:16: [not publicly revealing every detail ... openness to brokenness ... rather than gossiping or tearing down: "How can we work together to love and to help?"]
-----> This is not a place where perfect people come to polish their perfect lives; it is a place where we work to put broken people back together.
RESOLUTION
> How do I really confess? Stop living as if you're in control---you aren't. Don't ask God to take away the discipline---ask him to take away the sin. Stop hiding---the one who loves you most of all already knows it all.
APPLICATION
> What are you hiding?
> [Small town in northern Greece/Aphitos/Millionnaire left 2 billion drachmae [[between $5-6 million]]: One condition: Read in public square details of his relative's lives with their consent---things they'd been hiding/Preferred to miss a vast treasure than to confess]

First thoughts on Lent 5
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Last Sunday, the message was presented by a representative of Voice of the Martyrs. So, I'll be picking up the current series with Lent 5, focusing on David's confession and lament in Psalm 51. The message will be primarily concerned with what constitutes authentic confession of our sin to God.

Confession ...
> 1 John 1:9: A beautiful verse, a comforting verse---but one of the most misused and misunderstood verses in the Bible: "If we confess our sins, God is trustworthy and in the right to release us from our sins and to wash us clean from everything in us that isn't right [with God]."
> Confession is good for the soul---it's needed. (http://www.dailyconfessions.com). "I have no one to forgive me of my sins."
> When I was younger ... "God, forgive me of everything I've done wrong today," each night.
--> What was wrong with that? I wanted to avoid God's punishment, and I was confessing my sins to God, wasn't I?
--> No ... what confession isn't: (1) Confession is not simply admitting that you've done wrong. This is how it's used in our culture---when someone is accused of a crime, as well as, in some sense, in Roman Catholic tradition. (2) Confession is not for the purpose of avoiding divine punishment.
-----> If you are a Christian, your punishment has already been taken on the cross [When some tragedy strikes, "What is God punishing me for?" ... your punishment has already been taken.]
-----> God does let us experience the natural consequences of our sin. [Drink poison? Leap from a building? This falls into the general theological category of don't be stupid.]
-----> God does discipline his children---God allows events to happen in our lives to remind us that we are not in control, to call us back to him. He does this in love. [Hebrews 12]
> Homologeo: To have the same viewpoint or idea ... to confess sin to God is to agree with God's view of the sin. The goal is not simply release from punishment; it's release from the sin itself---the goal of confession is to break the grip that a sin has in your life!
> To defeat sin in our lives, we must learn to confess our sins---really confess.
> Psalm 51
Ascription: After sin with Bath-Sheba
51:1: Chanani elohim k'chesedek: In three words, David gives up any illusion that he is in control. He's the king! But he recognizes that there's a king greater than he---and what he deserves (cf. 51:11). Then, "according to your abundant mercy": Rachamim: "Because I am your child" (the root racham means "womb").
51:2, 7: "Wash me thoroughly": Not "take away the consequences" but "take away the sin itself": David doesn't want to remain in this sin. 51:13: Wants this so deeply that he wants to lead others out of sin.
51:4: "Against you only": Every sin is ultimately against God---a violation of the image of God in that person.
51:5: Not that his conception itself was sinful---every human being is born with a tendency toward sin.
51:6: Confession is about no longer hiding from God.
51:9: "When you look at me, please don't see this sin anymore."
51:17: You are the sacrifice that God wants---confession is ultimately about sacrifice.
"Create in me a clean heart": Bara, creation from nothing ... none but God is ever subject of this verb! ... Confession recognizes, "I am the problem."
--> Many prayers ask, "Change my situation so I may praise you." David says, "Change me, and I will praise you regardless."

"Peek-a-boo" ... hiding from God (Adam and Eve) ... town in Italy (?) that received money but with requisite that embarrassing details about family had to be read publicly.

Story from David Lodge about play wherein news of John F. Kennedy's death burst in ... reality broke through the play-acting.

Notes for Lent 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
STOP SINNING 3 of 6
Sermons and diapers both need to be changed frequently—and usually for the same reason.
Stop trying to stop sinning ... / Life as if God is really enough—because he is.
Motif
> HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS/ANYONE CAN HONK; IF YOU LOVE JESUS, TITHE!
> Neither honking nor tithing is what God wants if you love Jesus: JOHN 14:15.
> What comes first—love or obedience? If we loved God completely, we would naturally do what God commands.
> No one has a sin problem—what we have is a love problem.
> When I sin, it's because I love the world around me more than I love the God whose presence is within me. [MATT. 22: Two great commands are not Don't sin against God/Don't sin against your neighbor ... “Love the Lord”/“Love your neighbor.” Why? Central problem in human soul is not a sin problem—it's a love problem.]
> SIN BY ANGER, LASH OUT: Begins with not loving/LUST: Not loving spouse, person/STRESSED: Not loving God, not loving myself as someone formed in God's image.
> Where there is total love for God beyond me, for the people around me, and for the person God created me to be ... there is no space left for sin.
> Lost sight of the love: What is a Christian like? Against certain things? Keeps certain rules? Rules aren't necessarily bad—but a Christian is someone who's absolutely in love with God as he has been revealed in Jesus.
> You can be here every Sunday, keep all of the outward rules that good Christian people are supposed to keep—and still be living in depths of sin. The essence of sin is failing to love God completely.
--> To do this, I have to be honest about what I really love.
--> This is one of those things it's tough to be honest about—like your weight. How many people are really, completely honest about their weight? “Don't measure weight—measure fat content”—which sounds like a good idea to me, it's a lower number. Problem: Pinch or pool. Get out of shower/jump three times/start stopwatch/whenever everything stops jiggling, that's your fat content/I'm down to three ... days.] There are some things it's difficult to be honest about!
--> I'd like to think, “Oh, yeah, I love God”—but every time I sin, ... there's some spot in my soul where I don't love God completely.
Dilemma
> How do I move from keeping rules to loving God?
Text
> John 2:13–22
> It's Passover! Spring! When people who worship God of Israel remember how God delivered Hebrews from Egypt.
--> Everyone who's able goes to Jerusalem; population swells from 50,000 to 180,000. And not only Jews! Gentiles—God-fearers—who worshiped Israel's God would come to Jerusalem. There was an area for them; they couldn't go past the courtyard; ... ask a Jewish person to offer sacrifice for them, remain in the outer court to pray.
--> It's a profitable time: Most people didn't bring animals with them; instead, they bought them when they arrived in Jerusalem—these animals had to be pre-approved by the priests.
--> What's more, only “shekel” weights could be used in temple. Roman coins didn't come in shekels, plus had the image of Caesar.
--> Moneychangers converted Roman coins into Tyrian coinage, pure silver shekels with no image of Caesar.
--> This is a huge money-making operations for thousands of people!
--> Everyone that's here is keeping the commands.
> Might have expected Jesus to say, “Wow! I am so impressed! All these people, keeping the rules I made all the way back in Moses' day!”
> That's not what Jesus does.
> Makes whip/lashes oxen and sheep/threw coin-boxes to the ground/threw out sellers of doves/“Stop turning the house of my Father into a house of merchandise!” [Imagine if this happened here after offering!] [Jesus is annoying, inconvenient.]
> Leaders: “What sign do you show?”=“Why are you doing this? We're keeping the rules!”
> Good question: Why, if all these people are keeping the rules, does Jesus become so angry? Bad day?
--> Nothing to do with Bingo!
> To understand why Jesus did what he did, we've got to understand where he was when he did it.
--> Court of Israel, Women, Gentiles/sign between/expectations of Messiah: Charge into the temple area and throw out all the Gentiles/Where do you suppose the market had been set up?/Jesus, rather than throwing out the Gentiles, throws out those who had turned the place for Gentiles to pray into a market, spattered with the dung of pigeons, sheep, oxen.
--> They were keeping God's rules—coming to worship at Passover—but they weren't living in love.
--> What's more, Jesus makes a shocking statement ... refers to “Court of Gentiles” as the House of his Father/for religious leaders, “House of God” didn't begin until after you reached the Court of Israel [Gentiles, women were excluded from God's house]/”Father's house? House of God doesn't reach this far.”/”Fullness of God's love and grace doesn't reach that far!”--maybe as far as the sign, but certainly no farther.
--> Even more shocking statement: “Tear down the temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days.”
--> “46 years?”: King Herod began renovations on this temple 24 years before Jesus was even born; vast and beautiful! By this time ... 46 years
--> “His body”: Wherever Jesus is present in love, there is the house of God.
> What truth do we experience in this text? Keeping the rules isn't what God wants; what God wants is love—love of God beyond us, people around us, the person God has made us.
RESOLUTION
> So, how do I do this? How do I move from keeping rules to loving God, people, myself?
> LOVE JESUS / LOOK FOR JESUS: (1) LOVE JESUS: Not fuzzy feeling in tummy/not love ... indigestion/Adore Jesus, “Whatever you want to do with me, do it”/passion for pleasing Jesus/more precious to you than any dream/Does your mind wander toward Jesus?/You can never defeat sin until you love Jesus./(2) LOOK FOR JESUS: [When sit at restaurant, at work: “Hmph, can't believe ...”/Every person ... “Jesus desperately desires to live within that person.”/Tough to despise them then.
> Problem with religious leaders in Jesus' day: Couldn't imagine that God wanted anything to do with anyone but people like them, didn't think God's house could reach beyond.
--> As a result, they were keeping rules—but God was not impressed, because ... didn't truly love God, others, selves.
APPLICATION
> Consider honestly the sins that you're struggling with. Each one begins because we don't believe God is enough, continues because—somewhere—there's a failure to love. Who am I not loving with God's love?
> May need to ask God, “Where? What?”: Charles Steinmetz/electrical engineer for GE in early 1900s/retired/everyone baffled by problem in machines/X/$10,000/itemized: Making one X: $1.00/Knowing where to put it: $9,999.

First thoughts on Lent 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
> Moneychangers were needed to convert provincial, Roman, and Galilean currencies into Tyrian coinage that the sellers of sacrificial animals would accept.
> Most people didn't bring animals with them; instead, they bought them when they arrived in Jerusalem.
> "Forty-six years" since Herod's renovations began places Jesus' words in A.D. 27-28. The temple wasn't completed until A.D. 63-64, only six years before its destruction.
> Jesus becomes a "temple" in which Jews and Gentiles are joined together.
> "Zeal for your house consumes [eats] me": Intensive form of esthio, not used elsewhere in John, can mean not only "consume"/"eat" but also "destroy"/"rip apart."
> Naos (vv. 19-21) as opposed to hieron (vv. 14-15) usually refers to central sanctuary rather than entire precinct.
> Zechariah 14:21: "No longer shall there be traders in the house of YHWH Sabaoth."

Notes for Lent 2
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING 2 of 6
Review: Stop trying to stop sinning, start living as God's friend.
MOTIF
> "Jesus is the answer": Is he? What if someone's question is, "How can I get rich? An easy life? More pleasure"? Is Jesus still the answer?
> Yes---but he isn't the answer that we may want: Riches not of money but of satisfaction with what he's given, ease not of a life without troubles but of finding rest in him, pleasure not of physical ecstasy but the sheer joy of knowing God of universe.
DILEMMA
> What if our question is, "How do I live as God's friend?" Is Jesus the answer? Yes---but it may not be the answer we expected.
> Abraham: "the friend of God" [James 2:21-23].
> Let's look at Abraham and find out how God answers the question, "How do I live as God's friend?"
TEXT
> Read Genesis 16:15---17:17 and pray.
> So far, Abram's attempts at stopping sin, living as God's friend, have not gone well ...
--> Gn12 [does leave, but arrives in Egypt and lies, saying his wife is his sister]; Gn16 [immediately after this, he has a son not with wife Sarai but with her servant Hagar---still doesn't trust]
--> Why? Focused on problem instead of on living as God's friend: First words when God appears in Gn15: ?Oh Lord, how can this be? You haven't given me what I've asked for.?
--> For Abram, ?friend? means ?do what I want.?
--> ?Abram? means ?exalted father?--which feels like a mockery. His wife's name Sarai means ?one who second guesses?--this is closer to the truth.
> In Gn17, God doesn't give Abram the answer he expects?he gives him the answer that he needs to live as God's friend.
--> 17:1: 99? 86? 13 silent years. Ever been in those years?
--> 17:2: ?I am El Shaddai.?: First time this name for God appears in Scripture!
-----> El: God/Shaddai: [could mean ?mountains?] Sh'e: ?One who is?/D'ai: ?Sufficient? or ?Enough.?
-----> God's answer to, ?How do I live as your friend?? is not, ?I'll do what you expect.?
-----> God's answer is, ?I am sufficient, enough, all you need.?
> Every sin begins with a single lie: ?God is not enough.?
--> Began in Garden of Eden: ?Has God said?? ?Is God really enough??
--> Abram: Lied about wife: God's not strong enough to keep safe/Questioned God: God's not strong enough to give child to 86 ... /Has son with Hagar: God is not sufficient to do what he promised.
--> Answer? El Shaddai?God who is sufficient, God who is enough!
> What does God do to remind Abraham? He gives a sign.
--> Circumcision: ?You want me to do what? Why not a secret handshake or a decoder ring? Why this??
--> Two things: Sacrifice/separation: ?When truly recognize I am enough, your life will become a sacrifice and you will be separated, different from the world.?
--> Circumcision is not part of joining God's people today?which is good because if you think it's difficult to get people for certain committees, imagine if we had a Circumcision Committee.
--> We are called to sacrifice and separation?when we live as if God is enough [sacrifice of our expectations/separation because we live by different values]
> What else does God do to remind Abram? He changes his name.
--> Name is identity ... we still recognize that a little ... wouldn't change name without an excellent reason: CLASSIFIED AD RE: GRAVE STONE.
--> In ancient world, when you named someone, you possessed power [Adam and animals]??Abram, you are my special possession.?
--> 17:4: ?Exalted father?>?The father of many?: God places his promise?the promise that he is enough?in the middle of Abram's name.
--> ... and not only for Abraham: ?Sarai?: ?Contentious,? ?second-guesses?>?Sarah?: ?The princess.?
-----> Dream of every little girl/Anastasia/?You're a princess.?
-> God does this to remind that he is enough??I am enough to turn you into father of many, to turn you into princess!?
-> God does the same for you: Rv2:17; 3:12.
-> What does this mean? It's your reminder that El Shaddai, God is enough.
> Abraham breaks down: 17:17-18: Why does he laugh? The first birth that Medicare will have to pay for, first couple to find themselves buying Depends and Pampers in same trip to Wal-Mart! Both parents and baby eat the same strained vegetables because no one in the family has a tooth in their head.
> This is too good to be true! But it comes true because El Shaddai?God's friendship is enough.
RESOLUTION
> You cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
> Problem: Throughout your life, you experience times when a person or circumstance wasn't sufficient: Parents whose love wasn't enough, tainted with abuse or selfishness/Time when you didn't have enough to get by/Time when someone you trusted took advantage, were not protected enough ...
--> Each of these leaves a scar, a point of emptiness where you feel empty.
--> Every sin you commit is a vain attempt to fill these points of emptiness: [Looking for father's love/Looking for security in possessions/Trying to fill the pain of abuse with one more relationship or to numb the pain with one more drink].
--> When you come to faith in God, you are faced with a crisis: Will I trust that God is enough to fill this need? Do I believe that God is El Shaddai?
--> You cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
> This is difficult in a culture that tries to convince us that we never have enough: Commercials [highlight our points of emptiness, convince that what we need is product] ... we are addicted to the main tool that works this into lives: [[[No? Hide remotes, hide Bibles, see which one gets noticed first/Remote with beeper/Industry is built on convincing you you don't have enough.]]]
-> ?If I have God as my friend, I have all that I need because El Shaddai.?
APPLICATION
> Think about sins you struggle with: What need are you trying to fulfill? El Shaddai.
> You can't beat the sin until you live as God's friend, and you cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
[STILL LOOKING FOR CLOSING ILLUSTRATION]

Lent 2
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Initial thoughts and research ...

Genesis 17:1-17
> Between 16:16 and 17:1, there are 16 years of silence. Ever been in those years?
> "El Shaddai" may come from "s'e day" [s'e is a relative particle and day is "enough"; thus, "The One Who Is Enough." It could also stem from sade which is related to "breast" or "mountain"---"One of the Mountains." I tend to think that the former meaning makes the most sense.
> "Abram" is "exalted father"---which must have felt like a mockery when he has no child with his wife; "Abraham" means "father of many"---God has placed his promise in the middle of Abraham's name.
> "Sarai" meant "contentious"---"one who second-guesses." "Sarah" means "the princess."
> According to Ugaritic law, nomadic merchants from other nations could not purchase real estate in Canaan (see C.H. Gordon, "Abraham and the Merchants of Ura," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1958). Yet Yahweh says that he will give him the land of Canaan.
> What you named you possessed power over. [Adam and the animals]
> There is no parallel in the ancient world to a covenant between a deity and a human!
> Circumcision: Because of the shedding of blood, there was a sacrificial aspect to this ritual/separation was also implied.
> Why did Abraham laugh? It was too good to be true---the first birth for which Medicare would have to pick up the tab, the first people to buy Pampers and Depends in the same shopping trip, both parents and baby ate the same strained vegetables because none of them had a tooth in their head.
> When God told him about circumcision, "My hearing's not too good anymore. You did not just tell me to do what I thought you told me to do, did you? Okaaaaay ... okay, God, could we just have a secret decoder ring or a secret handshake, but no knives, not at my age."
> God did away with this; we show ourselves to be sacrifices and separated through baptism---I'm glad he did. You think it's bad, on Nominating Committee, finding people for Preschool Ministry Team? Think about if we had a Circumcision Committee.
> When Abraham sins later, it is because he forgets "El-Shaddai"---he forgets that God is enough, that God is sufficient, that God can provide.
> We think we have to have everything, to make our lives easier, as we have more the more things we have the more they make us think we need more [[[Remote that beeps ... some of you ...]]]
> Name change: Classified ad about grave marker, change name to be able to use it.
> See Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17; 3:12.

Lent 1
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
> BUMPER-STICKER THEOLOGY: Problem is that there's never enough room on a bumper sticker for the whole truth.
--> "Christians aren't perfect just forgiven."
--> True---Christians are not perfect, "nobody's perfect," chances are we won't be perfect until we are enjoying God's presence for eternity---BUT ...
--> The problem is, we become okay with that---sinning is a natural part of life, "I'm not perfect," "God will just have to understand."
--> We may be okay with that, but God isn't. ["Be perfect," {not saying perfect scores on every test but complete obedience to God} "Be compassionate," "Be holy"]
--> Not only that, if you have trusted Jesus Christ, you are already dead to sin: [Rom. 6]: Your Christian life should be a process of becoming what you already are in Jesus Christ.
> Because you are dead to sin, because the same Spirit that empowered Jesus lives in you, you can choose NOT to sin.
--> Why then do we still choose to sin? We don't stop sin where it begins. Sin never begins with your choices; sin begins in your mind. [Anger is rehearsed in your mind long before it explodes in your actions/Sexual relationships outside of marriage happen in the mind before they happen in the body/Revenge happens in your fantasies before it happens anywhere else.]
--> [[[Like bugs in a bug-zapper, we think we can get close to it in our thoughts but not affect our actions]]]
--> "Thoughts form choices, choices form habits, habits form your character, character forms your destiny."
--> I don't know about you, but I'd like to stop sinning ... I'd like to stop sin where it begins ... Will I be perfect before Easter? Maybe not---but I can do better, and so can you.
--> Between now and Easter ... SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING.
> COMMON PROBLEM WHEN TRYING TO STOP SINNING: Illustrate: Do not think about a Koala bear, especially not in a pink dress, especially not with a lightsaber.
--> Why was it difficult not to think about it? (1) I caused you to focus on NOT thinking about it. (2) I put temptations in front of you to cause you to think about it.
--> "I'm not going to do it again": The sin becomes your focus; whenever the sin is your focus, no matter how much you don't want to do it, you will go back to it. Why? The same reason you couldn't keep from thinking about a koala---because what you focus on, you eventually do, and because the world around us constantly places reminders of the sin in our paths.
--> A sect in Jesus' day called "the bleeding Pharisees" because, to avoid lust, they made their entire focus in life never even to let their eyes rest on a woman: "He makes as if he shut his eyes, that he may not look upon women, and so runs and dashes his head against the wall, till the blood gushes out." Yet, in their minds, nothing was changed: [Matt. 23:27].
> STEP 1 TO STOP SIN WHERE IT BEGINS: Stop trying to stop sinning ... because as long as you're focused on the sin, you will never escape the sin.
--> "Don't try? I can do that!"---there's more, but before we can get there, [PSALM 25].
TEXT
> Read Psalm 25 and pray.
> Complex poem: (1) Acrostic/(2) Chiasmus: 1st and last will be similar, 2nd and next-to-last ... what is most important to writer, very middle.
--> Vv. 2 and 21: "I trust in you"/"I hope in you."
--> Vv. 2b and 20: "Put to shame."
--> Vv. 2c-3 and 19: "Enemies."
> Center: Verse 11: "For the sake of your name, Yahweh, wipe away my sin---there are so many of them." Sometimes, David's "enemies" are people; in this case, his enemies seem to be his sins.
--> "How do I deal with my sin?"
>> V. 9: Be honest, humble---admitting the real darkness that's in our minds.
>> Vv. 16-18: See what sin does. Sin wrecks relationships. [Vv. 2, 20: Shame]
--> When you're ashamed of something, natural response is to lie about it.
--> Why shame? When we sin, we become less than we were created to be.
--> That's why God despises sin in his people's lives---wrecks our relationships, break our hearts ... WOLF: Lick blade ... no matter how small, eventually some part of your heart/life/relationships will be left broken and bleeding by it.
>> Vv. 21, 5, 3: Stop looking for a quick fix. It doesn't happen instantly---that's what we're waiting for sometimes. It happens through the slow, hard work of seeking God.
>> V. 14: Look for God's real purpose: "Secret," "counsel": What you share with a friend: "Friendship with God is for those that fear him."
--> God's goal is NOT just that you stop sinning. God wants you to stop sinning so that he can enjoy a deeper friendship with you.
--> Whenever you have a deep friendship with someone, you want to get rid of things that stand between you---the primary goal isn't the stuff between you, it's the deeper friendship that you want to share.
--> "Fear"/"Friendship" seem contradictory: With God, there is fear---all-powerful, glorious, unable to be looked upon, despises sin---but there is also friendship, because this God delights in us.
--> James 2:21-23
RESOLUTION
> First step: Stop trying to stop sinning, start focusing on being God's friend.
> Everything you do, ask, "What will this do to my friendship with God?"
APPLICATION
> Fill your mind with that thought: When turn on TV ... / Cue song on CD ... / Respond to spouse or children ... / Click mouse on website ... / Look at someone ... : "I am God's friend. How will this affect my friendship with God?"
> COBRA, E.N.T...., Ortberg: "The most dangerous moment is when you're letting it go."

Thought for a future week ... No desire is bad in and of itself; God created your desires. What can be bad is how we fulfill that desire. Every sin you commit is an attempt to fulfill some unfulfilled need in your life. Bro. Lawrence: "Our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves."