The Challenge
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The Challenge:
The Challenge:
Tonight I want to issue a challenge to each of you. How many of you like a good challenge. Something that you can achieve but it might take some effort. I want to challenge you to figure out what exactly am I going to do with Jesus. For some of you just me saying that is making you think already. For the rest of us that may take a little longer to process this let me give you some guiding points.
Some of us will try to process this with logical thought and brain power. Although that is admirable it’s not enough. Yes we should question, reason, and think but it’s not enough. You were made with more than just a brain. You are not a computer. Here is what Paul says in Romans about what happens when we think we are smarter than we really are:
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Now think about this: don’t answer out loud but when I read this next part see if it reminds you of people you know or have heard of:
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
This sounds exactly like the world we are living in today. We are too smart for our own good. We think we know everything or can solve every problem with our brains. Some things just can’t be known that way.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
You see we become so proud in our intelligence that we miss out on things that God is trying to say. We get offended or get our feelings hurt because the Gospel isn’t pretty or we can’t make it fit our ways. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians.
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
He says it’s foolishness to those who are headed for destruction. And i know some of us in here are getting offended because I’m being real and I’m not sugar coating my words. That’s ok.
You may be thinking well if i can’t just rely on my thinking how do I complete this challenge. Well here are a few things I would point out:
Heart, MIND, SOUL
Basically your complete makeup…your everything is what you use to figure out what to do with Jesus.
Jeremiah says:
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Search for Him wholeheartedly. Seek Him. And here is how He will answer you....
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
The question I have for you is will you accept the challenge. What will you do with Jesus?