White Flag - Beauty
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The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I love this text because, we always think of Christianity as being about life after death. And yes it is for sure but Jesus makes it clear it is also about life before death. And that is what this series has been about.
God wants, Jesus wants, we want Life-Joy and Beauty.
The human desire for LIFE-JOY-BEAUTY is the very proof for God.
The hope for life-joy and beauty does not spring up from the death, sickness and sorrow all around us. Rather it springs up from within us. In dreams, prophecy, art, poetry. It is like Heaven is calling out and saying there is more.
When we surrender to Jesus as Lord and surrender to the Word of God the natural response will be to surrender to the way of Jesus. Or in other words surrendering to His way of living.
We started this series off with White flag life-White flag joy and today we end with White flag beauty.
Life comes by surrendering to Jesus, Joy comes by surrendering to the Word of God, today we deal with Surrendering to find beauty.
When we surrender to Jesus as Lord and surrender to the Word of God the natural response will be to surrender to the way of Jesus. Or in other words surrendering to His way of living.
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As a kid my favorite super hero was Superman. I loved that he could fly, he had lasers that came out of his eyes, he was strong enough to move a planet out of its orbit, and of course pretty girls really liked him. All of these were reasons enough for an 8-year-old to want to be Superman. But I had another reason. Superman made the bad go away. He made the world right. He made the ugly beautiful.
Another favorite hero of mine was Robbin Hood. Now don’t tell anyone but when I was a kid my dad would make me a Robbin Hood hat out of green construction paper and he would place a feather from our back yard in it. And my mother would let me wear her panty-hose. I would run around the house with a green shirt, green hat and women’s panty hose and my Walmart kids bow and arrow. (Arrows with suction cups.) I would take money from my mom and dad and give it to my poor stuffed animals.
I loved Robbin Hood because he was all about making the world right. He wanted the poor to have what they needed and he wanted the injustice to stop.
We love Super Heroes because they give us hope, and they give us an ideal picture of what we want to be and how we want the world to be.
Today I want to show you that while you will never be Superman you are called to be a Super hero side kick.
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God has called us to partner with him in making the world beautiful.
God has called us to partner with him in making the world beautiful.
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
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We are Ambassadors who have been empowered and commissioned to participate with Him in making the world beautiful.
An ambassador is a representative of a government and it’s rule of law in another nation.
That means you rep the Kingdom of God here on earth.
And you have been empowered by God’s Spirit to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.
You are to be a sacred space, a space where heaven and earth have already touched.
You are the moving Tabernacle of God on earth.
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We are Ambassadors who have been empowered and commissioned.
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How do we partner with God in making the world beautiful?
How do we partner with God in making the world beautiful?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
– Good news to the poor, release from captivity, blind will see, oppressed are free.
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Good news to the poor, release from captivity, blind will see, oppressed are free.
– Destroy the works of the devil. (Death, destruction).
By surrendering to the ways of Jesus we make our world beautiful.
By surrendering to the ways of Jesus we make our world beautiful.
But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
– Destroy the works of the devil. (Death, destruction).
Matt 7:24
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
How do we partner with God in making the world beautiful?
Too often Christians use Jesus as a get out of hell card but refuse to follow his way of living.
They may get out of hell in the future but they often are living in it now.
The way of Life Jesus taught is the way of His Kingdom - It is the way of beauty.
As ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, His teachings are what we are to bring into this world.
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
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Seven ways we make the world beautiful by surrendering to the way of Jesus.
Seven ways we make the world beautiful by surrendering to the way of Jesus.
When we raise our White Flag to the way of Jesus-
When we raise our White Flag to the way of Jesus-
We bring healing to the sick.
These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
-Miracles, calling of doctors and nurses, helping provide medication for the poor
(Miracles, calling of doctors and nurses, helping provide medication for the poor)
We bring peace to the war torn.
God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
We bring generosity to the needy.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”
We bring forgiveness to the depressed and despised.
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
We bring reconciliation to the broken.
We bring forgiveness to the depressed and despised.
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We bring reconciliation to the broken.
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
-When there is a fight seek reconciliation instead of joining a side.
We bring love to our enemies.
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
-Perfection is seen as love to our enemies.
-”Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends” Abraham Lincoln
Imagine the beauty if we were all peace makers.
We bring freedom to the oppressed and enslaved.
These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
Mark 16:17-18
These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.
(Demonic, emotional, hurts, habits, hangups) – Bill Chambers – I had him begin to announce “I am free”. The work was already done, it was just getting him to accept and receive it.
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Parable about 14 year old peasant girl given a vocation by an angel to translate the Word of God into the common language.
Always Leave people
better than you found them.
Hug the hurting.
Kiss the broken.
Befriend the lost.
Love the lonely .
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Call to action: Surrender to the ways of Jesus.
Call to action: Surrender to the ways of Jesus.
Become a red-letter Christian (Become so familiar with the words of Jesus that you can then interpret all of Scripture through the lens of his words.).
Let the Sermon on the Mount give you super powers (). (Eat it like Popeye ate spinach). Do not stop reading it until His teachings become your habits.
Live empowered by God’s Spirit (and not your sin nature.)
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You have been saved, called, commissioned and empowered.
You have been called to participate with God in making this world beautiful.