Untitled Sermon (32)

Northside Church

As for me #1

Jamey Mills

8/13/23

NORTHSIDE… my name is Jamey Mills, it is so good to be back!

Call up Terry, Stephen and Matthew… heading to Uganda to work with Val and waffle Lomilo. Missionaries we support. I am confident it wont be the last time we sent folks there. Leaving on the 19th… coming back 3 weeks later… feels like NS first short term mission? Pray for them… continue to pray for them. We will try to keep you all updated.

Pray for them

I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to Jason… who’s really stepped up and helped over the last couple of months. Appreciate you.

The staff really stepped up while I was out too. So thankful for you guys.

It was so good to see Bobby, one of our elders, preach for the first time… and crush it.

It was great to see Daniel preach for the first time at NS.

I had a great time away… I got to spend some time with my parents, be more present with my family, take care of a few things, read some and… I got to spend 8 days living off the back of my motorcycle which… (a few pictures of my time)

1.

2.

3.

4,

5.

6.

such a life- giving thing for me.

Lots of time to pray and reflect… I kept thinking about how this year is Kylee’s senior year and asking where did the time go… I remember this day… Holding her for the first time… where did it go. It goes by so fast.

And that got me thinking about just how important our moments and days really are.

And it reminded me of a sermon I listened to out in the middle of nowhere…

What do you think leads to a fulfilling life? Or…

what do you need or what needs to be true in order for you to be or feel… fulfilled.

Money, great job, cable, to belong to a football conference with more than 4 teams,

Another way he asked the question was this…

What is it that some people have that others lack that lead them to this sense of joy, purpose, and fulfillment…

He went on to say… its not what so many think or fight so hard fo… It’s not money, looks, education, homes… the world has seen over and over again… those who have so much… but are so unfulfilled.

In the time that God has allowed me to do ministry… I would say for sure there is a growing # of people who feel aimless… empty… directionless… purposeless…

And though there are several things that can land us there… one of the ones I personally have struggled with and have seen the most is this… this is what happens… when we look for meaning, purpose, and identity outside of where we were created to find it… when we value things that work against what God created as and is truly good… life giving… and freedom giving kinds of things…

And our culture promotes it… it’s constantly in our face through media, social media, the environments we often put ourselves in, the values of our culture… It is so easy… and it happens a lot… to almost subconsciously drift… where our values begin to drift… until our minds, hearts and lives begin to reflect things that are far from God.

I’m guessing you know people who’ve struggled with it… it may have been or may be you right now.

And the truth is… our moments matter.

One of the authors that I have been reading said it like this…

So much of what we experience in life boils down to these three things…

It boils down to these three things…

1. What it is we hold as true

2. What we truly value

3. The way we allow those two things to impact every decision we make.

How big of a role does your decision making play in living a fulfilling life?

Looking online… it seems to be a pretty widely accepted #... the average person makes about 35-40k conscious decisions a day… I

Craig Groshell said it like this…

“The quality of a person's decisions plays a huge role in their quality of life”.

Do you think that’s true? That the quality of our decisions plays a huge role in what we experience?

We rarely think about it in that light… but to some degree, our experience in life is the sum of the decisions that we make.

And while I believe there is truth in that statement… i want to make a qualifier, and then qualify the qualifier…

That statement… our experience is the sum of the decisions we make holds truth, but it can lead us in bad ways…

If you experience good things, it would be easy to become self righteous… begin to think you're doing it right and even lose sight of your need for Jesus altogether. That is a bigger issue in the American church than we want to admit.

If you are facing hard times… whether your choices or choices others have made for you… it is easy to begin to punish yourself… feel disqualified… and reject the grace of God that Jesus provides for you.

It takes some moxy on both sides…

To lose sight of your need for Jesus because you think you're doing well enough on your own.

To think that your mistakes have more power than His grace…

Both of these things scream in the face of what the Gospel teaches… and belittle the reality of who Jesus is and what He came to do. The struggle is real, I get it… but if you’re there let me buy you coffee. Let's talk about it.

The qualifier is this… and you need to know this… rest it in… believe it… praise God for it.

His grace is greater than the sum of your decisions.

If that were not true, we wouldn’t need Jesus and being out of touch with your need for Jesus is one of the places our relationship with Him can run dry.

The qualifier to the qualifier is this…

The truth that God’s grace is greater than the sum of your decisions… is not a license to live as if your decisions don’t matter.

YOUR decisions still matter.

This has been my experience and what I think we see in scripture… His grace does not often if ever remove earthly consequences or the (thankfully) the lessons that He intends us to learn through them.

The apostle Paul says it this way…

Romans 6:1–2 NLT

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

(NLT)

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Should I keep making poor decisions to highlight God’s kindness and grace…

Paul basically says… Don’t be dumb.

God’s grace does not mean that our decisions will not impact our quality of life… if your choices don’t matter, you’d have to tell me why God talks about it so much in His word. They do… for His glory and for your sake they matter.

In fact…

The earthly consequences of past decisions… in view of God’s grace should inform the importance of making good Christ centered decisions now.

I am as guilty of this as anyone… but I’m sure you know people have made the same mistake over and over again… and whose lives have really been impacted by it. Two pieces of advice I’d give you is this…

Repentance is huge. Seek Jesus… pray about it. Ask and thank Him for forgiveness and that He’d help you walk in a new direction.

Learn the lesson. By humble… learn the lesson.

There was a time in Israel’s history when one of their leaders highlighted this…

Israel constantly battled poor decision making… so many of their choices made the path harder and longer than it needed to be. There were some that refused to learn the lessons.

Regardless… here they were, about to settle into the promised land… when Joshua called all the tribes of Israel together… including their leaders and elders…

He reminded them of God’s protection and provision from the very beginning… about his faithfulness despite their struggle with faithfulness.

And then He said this…

Joshua 24:14–15 (NLT)

Joshua 24:14–15 NLT

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

14 “So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

Some of Joshua’s last words…

He was telling Israel, God and his power and might have brought you here. This was HIS doing and you have an important choice to make… and you have a choice to make. You can continue to play games with the things of the culture… and the things that it values that over and over have drug you down… you can keep making bad decisions and where the scars of them…

But why would you? It’s time to be done with it.

CHOOSE… choose today… whom you will serve. Chose right here and now how it will go for you and what it will be about.

Joshua was drawing a line in His life and in his family… that would inform every other line that would come his way… that would impact every other decision to the best of his ability…

He wasn’t going to wing it, he wasn't going to float aimlessly… he wasn't going to live without direction and purpose. His life would be different… even if he was to go alone.

As for me… I will honor and serve the Lord alone. That’s how it will be.

Joshua desired a legacy that would impact and challenge his kids… his family… his friends… the leaders around him… with those who God had given him influence over…

And, for a time… it made a difference… the people heard him and knew he was right. They destroyed the idols among them and committed to serving the Lord alone.

In my experience… so few people slow down enough to make that sort of resolution before the Lord… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I will draw that line and it will impact every other line I draw.

I think it is so important… to decide what you can now and not when you're in the heat of the moment…

5 things that often interfere with good decision making…

1. Decision overload… Decision fatigue is a real thing for a lot of people.

2. Fear of making mistakes…

3. We allow/desires our emotions to play too large of a role

4. We often consider the wrong audience

5. We often don’t consider how this will impact our life in the big picture, let alone the lives of those we love most.

Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)

Proverbs 16:3 NLT

Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

3 Commit your actions to the LORD,

and your plans will succeed.

I’ve found that people take advantage of this verse a lot…

This is not saying as long as you commit whatever you want and want to do to the Lord your wildest dreams will come true.

This is saying… Seek Him… commit yourself… your choices and your actions to Him it will go well with you,

In my marriage or singleness, dating, parenting, finances, profession, health in my neighborhood… I’m committing my way… and my choices to Him and His way.

How do we get there…

I believe that a big part of that is taking the time to access, pray about, and write out what it is we really value.

Again… a lot of people don’t take the time, and when that happens most of the decisions will default to what sounds good in the moment… which… at best is inconsistent.

One of the authors I read said this… and I agree with it.

That a lot of this boils down to our values.

When we are clear with what we value and we hold tight to them… they become decision influences…

When values are clear… and held… decisions become earlier and clearer…

What does this have to do with the gospel…

A lot actually.

James 1:22–25 (NLT)

James 1:22–25 NLT

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

God’s truth isn’t something we just look at and walk away from… it’s intended to change things…

One of the struggles we often face in decision making is that we have not come to that resolution in Christ… Allowing His truth to shape our values that impact our decisions in ways actually changes the way we do things… and see things… and how we experience life.

If following Jesus does not impact the decisions that we make… What do you suppose that means? We really aren’t following in…

But that is what it means to die to self… to deny yourself… to take our cross and follow Him.

For me here is part of what I hope you get out of this…

So few people actually slow down long enough to consider what it is they value in ways that actually shape the choices they make… which usually leaves us to choosing what sounds good in the moment…

2 lists I hope you’ll take the time to invest in putting together…

#1 List 5-10 values that are informing your choices right now…

#2 list the 5-10 values you think God would have informing the decisions that you make moving forward.

Prayerfully consider what adjustments I need to make… and how to hold them in a way that actually impacts the directions that I make.

I did that this week… and there are some adjustments I need to make.

Some of my decisions do not reflect the values I believe God would have for me… and for Northside.

Here is the list I'm working on…

1. Christ first in all things/ growing in Him

2. His truth over my thoughts… directing my life and decisions

3. Honoring my wife/leading my family

4. My church family

5. Serving others/reaching those who don’t know Jesus yet

6. Friends and fun

7. Taking a day for rest, connection and reflection every week

It's one thing to say… as for me I will serve the Lord…

It’s another thing altogether to know how that plays out… to know now how you handle situations when they come up…

Example…

Purity issues…

To know and be committed to God’s design for sex and marriage… is one thing.

If you’re single… to know what that looks like as you date. To know what situations you will avoid and how, don’t wing it. Kow how you plan to communicate that to whomever you’d date and what you’d do if they don’t respect it.

If you’re married… It means knowing now what boundaries you need to set up as a couple… I cannot tell you the damage I’ve seen because without this… Brandi and mine look like this…

I don't hardly have any social media… FB on my phone is about it and even that is wearing thin. We do not walk with, run with, work out with people of the opposite sex. We won’t ride with… or meet privately with… or invite them in…

Within ministry, sometimes I need to meet with a lady one on one… but I don’t do it privately… without an open door or windows… and without Brandi knowing.

I do that for a few reasons… one… Brandi matters and deserves that respect.

And… because I am aware that no one ever “plans it”. I am not immune to temptation and moments of weakness… SO I KNOW know… what i will do.

IN YM… I would drag my kids along… often.

And so… I have plans in my life… about where I will go and won’t. About what I allow into my head and don’t. What I will drink and what I won’t, the environments I will allow and those I won't and… I try to know what I’ll say if I’m put in a position that challenges it. What I will invest in and what I won’t.

And you can call me weird, weak, stupid, or whatever you want…

I personally believe there is wisdom digging into what you value… and allowing that to shape now… the decisions you will make then.

6 reasons so many of struggle…

I am inconsistent

I am unprepared

I am often unintentional

I can be selfish

I am short sighted

I can quit when things get hard

6 things I hope to be more true of me moving forward..

1. I am ready… prepared

2. I am consistent

3. In a world of apathy toward God, I am devoted

4. In a world that promotes selfishness, I will be generous

5. I will be faith filled and faithful

6. I will endure

When values are thought through and clear… prayed about and held… they become decision influencers.

Will you take the time today… to consider what values are driving your decisions…

Will you take the time to consider what you believe God’s values would be regardless of what you think/feel…

Will you write it out… adjust… and decide now what you can.

Prayer

Communion thought Karen Cunagin

Closing…

Land update…

We have it… 20 acres.

We have been thinking about/praying about next steps.

DESIGN TEAM STUFF

Kevin Kropf MTL

Ron Wobig co leader

Beith Williams

Zac Cartwright

Phase one… assess need within the church and community

Discovery phase… happening now. Not the phase they are looking for input… but that day will come.

I am not the guy… lots of churches lose their way in this. I will meet with Kevin and share my thoughts, but my focus will be on leading the church.

There will be a time for feedback… but its not now.