Core Values: Passionately Proclaiming

IMPERATIVES: #1 Determine Your Goal;#2 Pick A Point (It’s important to have a one point message. That way you only have one thing to remember.);#3 Create A Map (Me-We-God-You-We);#4 Internalize The Message (Tell a story that takes them on a journey) (Whether it’s a journey to your childhood home or a journey to a life-changing truth, it’s a story that will take you there.) (People make it difficult when they try to communicate points instead of telling a story.) (When you stand up and speak without notes and without having to read your sermon, you’re saying, “This is so important that it’s a part of me — and I think you should make it a part of you, too!”);#5 Engage The Audience;#6 Find Your Voice;#7 Find Some TractionPrayer, Checklist Questions: What do they need to know?Why do they need to know it?What do they need to do?Why do they need to do it?MAP:ME - Explain who you are and what you’re all about. Pastor in his church uses as introduction of idea or topic.WE - It takes me from what I’m thinking or feeling to what WE are thinking and feeling. I have to find an emotional common ground with them around the topic or idea of the message. My goal is to raise a felt need with as many people in the audience as I canGOD - where I take this emotional common ground I’ve established and introduce biblical truth into the discussion. Now I’m providing a solution to the need I just raised. Remember, we are not teaching the Bible to people; we’re teaching people the Bible. First, we connect with the people; then we move to the Bible.YOU - Once I’ve introduced God’s view on the subject as the answer to the need, it makes it easy for me to then ask, ‘What are you going to do about it? This becomes the application segment, and if I’ve followed my map well, instead of having to stir up interest in making the application, the application comes as a relief or it’s always the answer to a question they’re already asking. Communicate the challenge at a personal level because life-change is going to come when people apply the truth to their lives. You just go back, and everywhere you raised a need, now you make an application and make sure you don’t raise a felt need that you aren’t going to cover from God’s Word and answer with an application. The worst thing a communicator can do is overpromise and under-deliver. You’re building trust with your listeners. Not just trust in the information, but trust in the relationship.WE - the place to cast a common vision. A vision of what our lives, our church, and even our world would look like if only we would apply the truth of God’s Word. It’s the inspirational part of the message. My goal at this point is to inspire people to make a change. Sometimes being faced with God’s Word can leave the listener feeling defeated, if all they think about is how far they have to go. But, if I can give them a picture of what life will be like once they apply the truth, then they have a little hope.

GOAL: To help New Life to understand the Core Value of “Passionately proclaiming, by word and deed for transformation . . . 1) of the heart, 2) of the mind, and 3) of our being.

POINT: Passionately proclaiming transformation is of utmost importance!

INTRODUCTION

The Andy Griffith show video makes good humor of health! Isn’t it funny how that can happen if someone begins to point certain things out in our lives and about our bodies . . we all of sudden get real nervous and concerned . . . maybe even scared!

When we think of health and more importantly Transformation . . . the motif looms large in the stories of the world, and if for not other reason than that stories are built around the principle of character development . . . and if the development is sufficiently drastic, we experience the account as a transformation. In mythical literature, too, stories of transformation — trees becoming people, people becoming animals or statues (like in The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, or like The Weeping Angels, better known as Blink in Doctor Who turning people into statues).

Kind of reminds me of a little story . . .

Illustration: There was this Jewish man that moved into a Catholic neighborhood. Every Friday the Catholics went crazy because, while they were gloomily eating fish, the Jew was outside barbecuing steaks. So the Catholics worked on the Jew to convert him. Finally, by threats and pleading, the Catholics succeeded. They took the Jew to a priest who sprinkled holy water on him and intoned, “Born a Jew, raised a Jew, now a Catholic.” The Catholics were ecstatic. No more delicious, maddening smells every Friday evening, they thought. But the next Friday evening the scent of barbecue wafted through the neighborhood once again. The Catholics all rushed to the new convert’s house to remind him of his new diet. They saw him standing over the grilled steak sprinkling it with water. As he did so he said, “Born a cow, raised a cow, now a fish.” Hodgin, Michael. 1002 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Hodgin, Michael. 1002 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Hodgin, Michael. 1002 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Anyways . . . but transformation assumes spiritual depth in the Bible with its sense of the momentous possibilities for good or ill that characterize human life.

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 261: Dilbert Creator Gets Voice Back

Scott Adams, the creator and writer of the Dilbert cartoons, suffered from a vocal disorder—spasmodic dysphonia. With this rare disorder, a certain section of the brain simply shuts down, paralyzing the ability to speak with much command or volume. Think of it as a more permanent case of laryngitis.

Oddly enough, the condition is situational. For example, Adams could speak quite well when using his public speaking voice, but his more conversational, everyday voice eluded him.

Adams wrote on his personal website about how frustrating the condition was. He desperately wanted his normal voice back. One day he finally had a breakthrough. While helping his child with a simple homework assignment, Scott found that he could speak perfectly when using a rhyme scheme. He could say, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick” with very little difficulty. As he noted on his website, it was “just different enough from normal speech that my brain handled it fine.”

What is amazing is that Adams’s regular voice returned as well. He likened the healing to starting up a car on a cold winter night—the words of the poem awakened a sleeping section of his brain, and his normal voice suddenly emerged.

In a similar way, the living Word can awaken and transform a heart that has been spiritually dysfunctional.

Do you ever feel that? When you think of transformation . . we all know that we are supposed to be going through a process of being transformed . . . and then we get convicted because we wonder if we really are!

The tension that takes place between what we know is supposed to be happening and what is really happening! And especially when we fail the tests of life and we react in a way that we know is wrong . . . or we say something that is out of place from who we are!

(ME)(WE)

You see, God wants ME to live a victorious life on the outside that comes from, and is only possible out of an overflow of a healthy heart and life on the inside! He want US all to do the same thing! And . . . that is possible through our transformation!

And then, not only living it in our words and our deeds! But, PASSIONATELY PROCLAIMING it with our words and deeds to everyone else! BEING THE LIGHT! RIGHT!

How can we possibly do that?

(WE)

MESSAGE

(GOD)

TRANSFORMATION OF THE HEART: (Ezekiel 11:19)

Ezekiel 11:16–20 NIV84

“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 11:19 NIV84

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 11:19 NIV84

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

You see, we learn from this text that the Israelites that were exiled were away from home and God was calling them back. The remnant was being called back home to clean things up and God would give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them . . . He would removed from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh . . . and then, and only then would they follow His decrees and be careful to keep His laws . . . then they would be His people and He would be their God!

Ezekiel 11:16-

You see, transformation of the heart comes when we come to Him, when we return home to where we already know we are supposed to be. It is when this happens and we get focused on the Lord and are single minded that he works in us to give us an undivided heart, a new spirit, and a heart of flesh! We have to stop chasing after the idols of this world and be focused!

You see THAT IS THE FIRST STEP in relieving the TENSION of knowing and being TRANSFORMED!

The second is the . . .

TRANSFORMATION OF THE MIND: (Romans 12:2)

Romans 12:2 NIV84

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This is a verse we have heard many times . . . in fact you’ve heard me preach this in the last year. There are so many things out there in this world that will pull us to be conformed to the patterns of this world! And what do we do about it to combat those things that pull on us? Do we give in? Do we stand and fight? Do we make a decision to not give in and partake? What is the answer?

The answer is to commit to renewing our mind so that we will be transformed! To begin to think about what we are thinking! To begin to focus ourselves and let God speak to us in each moment and for us to listen and not just busy ourselves with the things of life that it keeps us from hearing what God is trying to say to us!

And what happens when we do focus and are renewed and transformed? We are able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good pleasing and perfect will!

Wow! What a deal! We will be able to see clearer! We will be able to understand clearer! We will be able to do so many things more clearly and better than before because of His transforming power! From spending time with Him transforming us!

When we spend time with Him transforming us it is described in 2 Cor 3:18.

TRANSFORMATION OF OUR BEING: (; 5:17)

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV84

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This speaks of our last step in being transformed . . . the TRANSFORMATION OF OUR BEING! You see one of the things that it speaks about here is the fact that we have unveiled faces. You know why that is . . . it is because when we approach the Lord and we are being transformed and glory of God is descending on us . . . the shame goes! As we keep approaching Him, and letting Him see us as we are, and we are continually going to Him with our stuff and we are confessing it to Him . . and He is changing our hearts and our minds . . . we begin to reflect the Lord’s glory in new ways! And as that continues in ever-increasing glory . . . our faces all reflect the Lord’s glory as we are transformed into His likeness with this every-increasing glory which comes from the work of the Spirit of God within us . . the power to break the chains! The power to break the strongholds on our lives!

You see, that is what is described in when it speaks of us being a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV84

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

When we come to Christ we are made into new creations . . the old being gone and the new coming! And as we walk in this life through the world and we get all messed up (as we do) from the filth, and the grime of sin . . we need to run back to Jesus on a regular basis and be cleansed . . . making sure our hearts are staying cleaning and right before the Lord. We are to constantly run to Jesus with our stuff and let Him speak to us and transform us so that we do not give in to the conforming part the world wants to force upon us.

(YOU)

So, how about you! Where are you at in this tension process between knowing that you are to be transformed but yet struggling with the whole constant transformation process? The struggle between knowing and believing and living is to be one that is taken to the battlefield with the armor of God on . . .

Standing our ground

with the belt of truth buckled around our waist

with the breastplate of righteousness in place

with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace

with the shield of faith extinguishing all the flaming arrows of the evil one

with the helmet of salvation in place

with the sword of the spirit in hand

and praying in the Spirit in every occasion with all kinds of prayers and requests!

We are to be alert and always keep on praying and proclaiming transformation!

Not only for ourselves, but claiming Transformation by our words and deeds to those around us in our homes, at our work place, at Leevers and on the streets of Valley City! Proclaim it in Ace Hardware, and in the pharmacy downtown, and in the schools kids, and in the college, when you walk around campus and when you are on activities and other sporting events! Passionately proclaim your transformation by word and deed and pray for others to experience the same things that you have experienced!

Ephesians 6:10–18 NIV84

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:10

CONCLUSION

(WE)

God wants us to Passionately proclaim our transformation of heart, mind, and being by every word and deed that we live! He wants it so that we can live victoriously and so that others will know what the power of God can do! We have great opportunities everyday if we will only take and make use of them! Let us join together and make a difference in our city and surrounding areas! The mighty arm of the Lord is not to be held back as we push against the gates of hell! The word of God tells us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Lord and His church! So, lets knock on the door and push it in and passionately proclaim the truth of God’s Word for all to know and see!

Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations Conversion—miraculous transformation

Robin appeared before applauding crowds, wearing a fur coat worthy of any actress. She waved at fans, who gawked at her incredibly long nails and big brown eyes. But she had grown accustomed to such attention, starring in the movie Hotel New Hampshire and appearing regularly in the Circus Vargas. She was a 250-pound bear and the prized possession of her trainer, Wally Nagtine. He had raised Robin from a cub. However, he warned, you can’t make a bear do anything it would rather not. Threats of retaliation were useless in training the bear; instead, Wally used rewards like honey and words of praise when she did well. She lived with people and existed peacefully with Wally, who controlled her ferocity, but she was not domesticated, for all that. Without constant restraint, she would quickly revert to her natural self.

Conversion gives us what the trainer gave his bear: control and direction. We might say it spiritually domesticates us—it makes us something altogether different. Yet this also is true: If we slip the leash from our conversion, we will rush right back to being a wild, rebellious sinner, hating grace and living unworthy of divine companionship. Only as we allow conversion to keep applying its grip on us will we be fit to serve God. Only as the Holy Spirit leads us do we find ourselves less like the sinners we naturally are and more like the saints he is pleased to make us.

A saloon keeper sold his old tavern to a local church. Enthusiastic church members tore out the bar, added some lights, gave the whole place a fresh coat of paint, and installed some pews. Somehow a parrot which belonged to the saloon keeper was left behind. On Sunday morning that colorful bird was watching from the rafters. When the minister appeared, he squawked, “New proprietor!” When the men who were to lead in worship marched in, the bird piped, “New floor show!” But when the bird looked out over the congregation, he screeched, “Same old crowd!” God doesn’t want us to be conformed to the world. He wants us to be transformed by our commitment to him. How about it? Different location but “same old crowd”? God forbid! Hodgin, Michael. 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Hodgin, Michael. 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 261: Dilbert Creator Gets Voice Back

Scott Adams, the creator and writer of the Dilbert cartoons, suffered from a vocal disorder—spasmodic dysphonia. With this rare disorder, a certain section of the brain simply shuts down, paralyzing the ability to speak with much command or volume. Think of it as a more permanent case of laryngitis.

Oddly enough, the condition is situational. For example, Adams could speak quite well when using his public speaking voice, but his more conversational, everyday voice eluded him.

Adams wrote on his personal website about how frustrating the condition was. He desperately wanted his normal voice back. One day he finally had a breakthrough. While helping his child with a simple homework assignment, Scott found that he could speak perfectly when using a rhyme scheme. He could say, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick” with very little difficulty. As he noted on his website, it was “just different enough from normal speech that my brain handled it fine.”

What is amazing is that Adams’s regular voice returned as well. He likened the healing to starting up a car on a cold winter night—the words of the poem awakened a sleeping section of his brain, and his normal voice suddenly emerged.

In a similar way, the living Word can awaken and transform a heart that has been spiritually dysfunctional.

Hodgin, Michael. 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Hodgin, Michael. 1002 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

To exist is to change; to change is to mature; to mature is to create oneself endlessly. (Henri Bergson) Hodgin, Michael. 1002 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.