Connect - Divine Direction #6
Divine Direction • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 51 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Connect
Connect
You are who you run with.
Whether you’re a kid, a teenager, a young adult, or middle-aged, you will become like your closest friends.
When we connect with another person, we become a conduit for their values, beliefs and decisions.
20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
If you hang out with people who are wise, you’ll become wise! If you become close friends with people who make good decisions, chances are you’ll make good decisions too.
But the opposite is dangerously true as well. If you hang out with the wrong crowd, you’ll likely end up doing stupid and dangerous things along with them.
I rarely got into trouble by myself. and on the other side, I rarely succeed at anything on my own.
Sports = coach
Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future. The people you’re hanging out with today are shaping the person you will.
I am who I am today because of the friends I chose in the past. The people you know determine the story you tell.
And the people you’re hanging out with today are shaping the person you will become tomorrow.
Who do you call in those moments?
It’s in the middle of the night and you get that phone call… bad news!!! Car crash - Exame results - Boss “your fired”
Who do you call? NOT ghost busters
We need someone who cares to be present with us, someone to listem to us vent or hold us while we cry. We need trusted friends to love us and remind us of God’s peace and presence in the middle of life’s unexpected storms.
How many real friends do you have?
Four main reasons that people have fewer friends now:
People are working more.
People are moving more frequently
People are getting divorced more often.
People are talking more online and less in person.
Even as most of us are engaged in far more online activity now, many of us are experiencing less personal intimacy. Some people have 700 facebook friends, but not one close friends in normal life.
The decision you most need to make my be to connect. Because believe it our not you could be one friend away from changing directions and even the story you will tell one day.
Paul wasn’t always a Christian. Before he was a follower of Jesus, he was Saul from a city called Tarsus, an angry guy who persecuted and killed Christians.
His transformation was so big, so radical, so life-changing that Saul turned Paul immediately wanted to tell others about Jesus. The problem was that no Christians trusted him, for obvious reasons.
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
At
Paul reached out to people who would give him a change to share his newfound passion and love for Jesus. He was one friend away from altering the course of his destiny. And that friend was a guy named Barnabas.
Luke shows clearly how Barnabas lent Paul his credibility and put in a good word for him.
acts 9:27-28
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
Acts 9:29-28
-28
There are 3 types of friends everyone needs to reach their God given potential.
A friend to challenge you and bring out your best.
A friend to help you find strength in God and to grow in your faith.
A friend to tell you the truth, especially when you don’t want to hear it.
To illustrate these types of friend, let’s look at the life of David in the OT to see the people that God used to maki him the man God wanted him to be.
First Everyone needs a friend who makes them better, and makes them want to be better.
David ‘s life was far from perfect. But still described as “a man after God’s own heart”.
The right people at the right time helped him become the right man.
Samuel - God chose Samuel the Prophet to identify and anoint the next king of Israel.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Samuel thought that was the oldest son do to his appearance, but God said
So Jesse had him brought in. Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Sam
So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
David was just a kid. God used Samuel to help David see that God’s will for his life was more significant than anyone could have imagined.
Samuel made David better
Do you have a friend who make you better and grow?
Walk with the wise and grow wise.
If you connect with someone who makes you meaningful to you and others.
Second - Find strength beyond yourself.
A guy named Jonathan helped David find strength in God.
1 Sam
David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.
There may not be a more valuable gesture one friend can make to another than pointing them toward God, encouraging them to seek him power, loving them toward God’s unending strength.
Who do you have in your life that encourages you spiritually?
Third - type of friend that we must have is one who tell us the truth.
King David - David decided to stay home rather than go to battle… saw Bathsheba naked bathing outside her house.
His selfish lust spoke louder than his wisdom. …
Unfortunately, everyone in the King’s court was too afraid to tell David the Truth. The prophet Nathan met with David and told him a story that went something like this.:
:1-7
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him.
“When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”
Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”
Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.
Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”
He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” They said, “He is witness!”
Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt.
Many people around us tell us the things we want to hear, rather than helping us to see the truth. Tha’ts one reason we must connect with people who love us enough to be blatantly honest.
1 Sam 12:5-6
Prov 27:
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Everyone needs people in their lives who will candidly tem them the truth.
Which kind of friend do you need most in your life right now? Someone who help’s you be better? Someone who helps you draw closer to God?
Ask God to provide the right person at the right time, that friend who can help you grow closer to him and to make decisions leading you in a divine direction.
You’re one friend away from…
better marriage.
getting in better shape.