Hey, a lot can change in a month

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Feelings follow after the thinking that our minds are doing. The path to emotional ruin is taken easily once our minds are convinced that we are in charge. If only everyone would think like us. If it is our desires that matter the most, then feelings bring plenty of destruction.

There are going to be tremendous amounts of conflict that go along with emotional ruin. Like the effect of the ring in the Lord of the Rings, “whatever we wants, precious, that’s whats we try to get.” The emotional pull of possessing what we want makes it impossible to care about the needs of anyone else. The obsession takes over.

Take dating, for instance. As long as I am having my needs met by you, I am in “love” with you. How quickly that changes when you don’t do what I want or I am not getting the attention I feel I deserve. Conflict quickly moves in and with me at the center of the universe, obviously you must be wrong. Either you change your act immediately or I am out of here. I’ll simply fall in “love” with someone else until my needs aren’t being met again.

Follow your desires? That is the last thing you should possibly do.

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When we choose not to deal with a God, then our minds have to go to work. We need to find ways to convince ourselves that God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t matter.

We have worked on this in our country with some interesting mental gymnastics. In the public square, we attempt to follow a strict Darwinian evolution model, desperately holding on to natural selection and random mutation as the sole mechanisms for the development of life. This position is becoming more and more difficult to defend. Origins of life research (“abiogenesis”) provides an impossible scenario for Darwinian evolution to begin. You see, in order for natural selection and random mutation to work in the first place, you need something to select from; something to mutate. The apparaent necessity of an outside agent of some kind getting the ball rolling is conveniently dismissed as something beyond the scope of discussion.

Those who believe in God may also attempt to delude themselves into following other paths to try to keep themselves at the center of their own universe.  They focus on what they want, not what God wants.

One of the interesting attempts to cloud our thinking about God is to deny the validity of God’s Word. Bible scholars will go out of their way to try to show the Bible doesn’t mean what it says it means in order to justify personal desires.

The two most common issues today where contemporary Bible scholars attempt to undo a clear overall message from Scripture is first, supporting sexual fulfillment outside of a male/ female marriage, and second, supporting different paths, other than trust in Jesus, for salvation. In these  scenarios you take what position you want to hold and then you try to get the Bible to support your position. 

If that isn’t possible, then you simply declare the Bible irrelevant to the matter in question. Bible writers couldn’t comprehend issues we face today like homosexual sexual fulfillment or universal salvation. Yet, this position places one outside of the scope of traditional Christianity anyway, as God is the source of the Bible in the first place, and God is certainly capable of knowing about the situations we face in life today.

Once our choices turn us away from God, then our thinking goes to work. Deceiving ourselves in order to get what we want is not a difficult task. We are experts at it. Self-worship and deception are a great match.

What are some other issues upheld by traditional Christian morality that are being challenged today?

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Sermon 26 July 2009 by Pastor Dana Hanson  
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Sermon 26 July 2009.mp3 (9530 KB)

Jesus brings calm and confidence in the storms of our lives

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“Trust based on evidence” is a good definition of faith. When an atheist claims there is no God, the belief is not based on a solid body of evidence. There is so much evidence to the contrary that you can say the atheist has more “blind faith” than faith.

Romans 1:20 (NLT)
From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

Today, we are able to see way more of “earth and sky and all that God made.” The evidence for design in the universe- and the big bang evidence for space, time, energy and matter being created simultaneously- all point to to a likely conclusion that there is a causative, extradimentional agency. This doesn’t specifically warrant this being the God of the Bible, but there is other evidence for that being the case. Let’s just consider a “god” in general.

Why do a small minority of people not trust there is a god? Why do so many more people act as if there is no god? The challenge is, if God exists then God must somehow be in charge. If God is in charge then guess what? We’re not.

The path of ruin begins with the heart. Choices are made as if there is no God. These choices affect all the other parts of our lives. We wish to be in charge and if God exists we can’t logically hold to that viewpoint. So we begin to deceive ourselves in one of two ways. We either choose to believe there is no God, or we act as if there is no God. Either way we lose. This is why unhealthy behavior by atheists and by people who identify as Christian can look very similar. One ignores the consequences of there being a God, and the other acts as if God doesn’t care.

If we keep choosing to ignore God, we keep ignoring the blessings God has in store for us. When our hearts are turned in another direction, we cannot be our best, true selves.

Look for evidence of God today.

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Sermon 19 July 2009 by Pastor Dana Hanson  
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Sermon 19 July 2009.mp3 (6383 KB)

Jesus gives his views on family life

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What does a path to radical ruin look like? Why don’t I notice self-worship for what it is? These are great questions. It goes something like this.

When it comes to food, you know how it seems everything that is not healthy for you is also what you like the most? I try not to eat donuts because you could call me “Homer Simpson.” I never met a donut I didn’t like. I could eat a whole box of Krispy Kremes and come back for more. It’s not just donuts. I could eat pizza for every meal. I am very skilled at wanting to eat in abundance that which I should be eating in moderation, if at all. I am an expert at eating what is unhealthy. This is no problem for me.

The same holds true for all of us on the path to radical ruin. In the way we treat ourselves and others, that which is unhealthy is easy to accomplish. We are experts at denial and manipulation. We hide our sin from ourselves or we may call it “good.” It is fascinating to watch people trying to be all sophisticated in their language as they try to explain why sin isn’t really sin. We have expertise in fooling ourselves and we have so much self-deception we think we are fooling others.

These are characteristics to self-worship: Denial, deception, and manipulation. We become outstanding negotiators of convincing ourselves that what is plainly and completely wrong—isn’t.

Jesus summed it up in this statement.

Matthew 16:26 (NLT)
And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Where have you been trying to fool yourself lately?

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Our heart is where our choices lie. We make good choices. We make disastrous choices. Why the difference? It really has to do with who we are and the paths we choose.

The first path is the one we start out on and most of us stay on. This is the “self-worship” path. Dallas calls this the “path to radical ruin.” Self-worship means we put ourselves and our desires on the throne of our lives. We are the center of the universe. 

It is like when we are one years old and we can’t distinguish between ourselves and the world around us. In some ways, for most of us, this never changes. We grow older but we don’t grow up. Until Jesus is on the throne of our lives, radical ruin is the outcome waiting for us in any possible given situation. John Maxwell says it this way, “Unless God is in control of your life, your life is out of control.”

Our human nature is to focus on ourselves and what we want. The mantra of a “normal” person is, “I want what I want when I want it.” Are there any alternatives? One.

The second path is that of “self-denial.” This doesn’t mean we deny who we are and the condition we are in, rather it means we choose not to give in to our normal desires which are to seek pleasure and be in control. Self-denial or the “path to radical goodness,” is where we live for the sake of others. This doesn’t demean us. This doesn’t turn us into doormats to be stepped on or taken advantage of. This enhances who we are and puts us on the path that God designs us for all along. When Jesus is on the throne of our lives, we are finally our best, true selves. How does this happen?

It has to do with the five parts of who we are again: Heart, mind, body, social life, and soul. We will look at the path to radical ruin and the path to radical goodness. We are invited to choose. This cannot be done for us. Under the influence of God’s grace it is possible to choose goodness.

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A life moving toward God, rather than centered on oneself, becomes a possibility when our heart aligns with God’s desires. When our choices are the choices God would make for us, we begin transformation. All the other parts of our lives are affected. Mind, body, social life, and soul are all involved in the process.

Here is what is different about a renovation of the heart. It is not simply trying harder or getting more focused on the choices we make. It is not a direct approach at all. Remember what we said about “willpower?” It cannot be sustained. Every part of you will scream out, “It can’t be done.”

Life with God is different. There is no part of you that cannot be transformed under the power of the Holy Spirit. You will learn from Jesus how to live life as he would live it if he were you in any given situation. This begins with understanding what life is like without God.

Are you moving toward God or away from God? Think on this.

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