Paul
Lord You Have My Heart
Grace Like Rain
Jenny
New members class on October 28th at Rob and Jill’s
Service project with air force chaplains
Paul
Even if you’re new, this is home, welcome home
Feel comfortable to do whatever, we just want a real encounter with a real God
Desert Song
From The Inside Out (Everlasting your light will shine when all else fades)
Jon
Grace and peace – Philippians 1 v 1-2
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:1, 2 ESV)
Paul speaking from prison, while he’s in chains, talking about love and suffering
Back in January we talked about being a community of grace and peace
My hope and my prayer and my deepest desire is that we each would be completely altered and changed by the pulling and calling of Jesus
That grace and peace will get a handle on us
We’re not interested in the old way of doing things, of condemnation and shame
We’ve all got these tapes in our heads, playing the same old tired song over and over again
That you’re not good enough as you are or our sins are too grave to be reconciled
Lies that keep coming to the surface, that we can’t kick
That keep us bound
We then take on the shame and the guilt of what we’ve done and had done to us
Cloaks of guilt and shame
Paul understand what it means to be consumed by grace and peace, what results
Grace from the Greek keries which means rejoice
Joy, gratification, pleasure, favor given to you by God through Jesus Christ before you even do anything
Grace is a gift
Unexpected reassuring gift of The Spirit
You’re going to get through this
Peace from the Hebrew shalom
Sin is a disturbance of shalom
Every good gift given to you
We learn how to speak grace and peace
Our dialogue needs to begin with grace and peace
Every good thing to you, this is where you start from
…
So quick to judge the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the plank In your own eye
Am I speaking to anybody
Even you plank eye
When we are invited to dinner, we suddenly think we have to invite them over
These imaginary strings attached to invitations and gifts
Play this passive aggressive role
I can’t stand you right now, but we’re fine
See that person in the grocery store
“Oh my gosh, I’ve been meaning to get you over to the house, but you know how it is, we’ve been so busy”
That’s guilt
That’s the old way
That’s us trying to turn the spotlight off of us so that we don’t have to look at the mess we are and how much we need grace and peace
We interrupt with grace and peace
When someone begins to gossip, hold on a second, grace and peace
Interrupt one another with grace and peace, free of charge!
When the ones we love begin to self-deprecate, interrupt with grace and peace
Gossip is a disturbance of shalom
Disturbance of the community for God’s grace
We speak grace and peace, we need grace and peace, we interrupt with grace and peace
What would it actually look like to speak it to ourselves?
What would the inner dialogue be like?
This is life!
I did a retreat two weeks ago in the Rocky Mountains
Met a young man named Brandon
The setting was epic
50 men aged 19-70
I was drawn to Brandon, felt a connection
Talked about interruption of shalom
And Adam and Eve
Naked and unashamed and connected with God
Stepped away from God and begin looking for an identity somewhere else
Shame is very tricky
It keeps us from God
Guilt we can deal with, but not shame
Inner dialogue
Guilt says I made a mistake
Shame says I am a mistake
We come up with really elaborate coverings for this shame
Th story of Adam and Eve didn’t just happen, it keeps happening
Brandon had been very religious
Doing everything he thought he was supposed to
Then he went hog wild the other way, and was very irreligious
And as we talked about grace and peace as the stuff that sneaks into the barn full of guilt and shame and lights it up with a match
And he told me I’ve tried religion and irreligion, what if Jesus is in the center?
What do you do to hide your shame?
What coverings have you created / are you creating?
…
One psalmist gives a picture of a tree rooted in grace and peace by a river
Bruising and stripping, but you never topple
When we get hit with bad stuff, grace and peace keep us rooted and clear headed
He gives it to me over and over again, one hundred fold and a hundred times again
Joy and suffering are not opposed to one another, but they hold hands and kiss one another, they embrace
You can become the kind of person who doesn’t complain or grumble because things don’t go the way you want them to
Why? Grace and peace gives us a larger perspective
God’s not done with you yet
Love is slow to anger, slow to speak, quick to listen
Grace and peace will take your shame and let you talk about it openly
Not “this is too personal”, but “this is what I’ve made it through”
Song coming from Paul’s heart, a heart filled with grace and peace
I want you to just listen