Paul
Indescribable (You named the stars in the sky and you called me by name)
Cannons (The moon and the stars declare who you are)
No Other Name But Jesus
Stephen
potluck in 2 weeks
Sharing one thing on my mind
I’ve been careless this week with words and I’m reading this for me and I don’t know if these 2 verses have ever been linked together
John 15 no longer do I call you servants
Romans 15:7 therefore show grace and peace and hospitality
One of the hardest things to do is just be friendly to people around you
Paul
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord O my soul)
Who You Are (I won't be satisfied)
Forever Reign (You are good, You are good, when there's nothing good in me)
Jon
Here’s Jeami, she’s going to India next week
Jeami
I’ve had India on my heart for a long time
With Uganda in good hands, prayer led us to know that now was the time
So I joined the rotary club of El Segundo and they asked me to represent them in Bangkok so they’re paying my way which is a huge deli FE
Jon
Another week, another parable
Jesus often responded to deep questions with stories
Have to use your imagination and recreate and participate
Not going to be able to leave without
What do our lives consist of? What are the priorities? What are you rooting yourself in? Are you storing up treasures for yourself or treasuring God?
Luke 12:13-21 NRSV
Rabbis were often asked to satisfy legal disputes
Divide the family, the inheritance
Another relationship in conflict
Conflicts in the family structure
When you have 2 conflicting perspectives, you need a 3rd perspective for resolution
Who set me to be judge or arbiter over you
Here as a reconciler
Jesus has to get to the request UNDER the request
Some sin operating underneath that Jesus is digging towards in His infinite wisdom
Repentance, turning is needed
If Jesus just granted the request, the two brothers would still be divided
It only gets worse as time goes by
When it is possible, we should be people who seek reconciliation in relationships
Division can remain from generation to generation
Some of you have seen and experienced it in your own family dynamics
We don’t want more isolation from one another
He is a healer and a reconciler
Like Stephen said, we’re actually going to use one of his texts, John 15 about how to be a friend
Let’s turn this thing around and see what it takes
Friend
More than acquaintance
I want the best for you
I want to associate myself with you
I want to share myself with you
Beautifully complex issue of relationship and what it takes
John 15 I have revealed everything to you
A true friend is committed to transformation in your life
I don’t want you to go it alone
Would you stand next to me in this transformation power
Friend, this will take you away from where you need to be
You need another perspective though to help learn it
Sin isn’t breaking a law or missing the mark
Choose to turn away from life and invest in something finite
Idolatry that leads to enslavement in the human heart
Why is there this divide, this rift
Verse 15, Jesus is now addressing the audience
When we see a good story, we are invited in and asked to do some self-reflection, identifying with the characters
What do I need to change in myself?
Jesus is going to call us to recreate our imaginations
This life is translated from the Greek zoe
Special quality of life
What’s going to give me life, fill the empty parts of me, give me hope
Greed translated as insatiable desires
Easy to motivate humans by tapping into desire
What happens when desires turn into cravings
Lust – not just about sex, but about good things turning into bad things
Sex turning from this beautiful thing into abusing or using others in order to satisfy our own insatiable desires
Money turning from something I can give to others to hoarding it and finding your identity in it
Success turning into identity and in that I can find rest and life
But is that zoe life
When desires become insatiable desires, addiction happens and that’s when relationships get hurt
Not asking you to give up desires but turn them towards this life my Father gives
Rich man by the title given indicates that he could be satisfied
But then his land produced abundantly
When you’re a farmer, you have so many threats to worry about after planting
He gets an unexpected crop
Bumper crop
What do I do with the surplus?
Remember the turn to insatiable desire and the turn from life
Who permitted this surplus
Follow the money and see where your priorities are
Now the man is talking to himself instead of friends or family about what to do with the extra
Precious…….
Imagine if God gave us extra and we came together as a community and asked what we can do to make Gods love and Gods peace a laity here on earth
Not what should *I* do, but what should *we* do
How can we work out the Christian principles and practices alone?
It’s not designed to be done in a vacuum
Christianity is about community
We create together
There are hungry people all around him and he asks where do I store it
What if instead of getting together and gossiping about other people, we discussed what can we do?
This community is a place of transformation
Being merry alone isn’t fun
Should have given the bumper crop away and made relationships with others
I didn’t earn this in the first place, what should I do with this
We’re not going to always get it right, but that’s why they call it Christian practices
Am I responsible with what I’ve been given?
Have we identified pressing need around us?
Barbara Brown Taylor, Speaking Of Sin
We police other nations without their consent….not welcome as tourists abroad….robbing nature but our nature demands that robbery continues…
The thunderous voice of God breaks into the story and into our lives, reminding us of what we’re doing
People will live forever, things do not
What does my life consist of?
Are you rich in God