Summer Block buster series 2020 Part 3

It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Play Mr. Roger music

Matt 6:14 "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

Matt 6:15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome back to our summer block buster series: It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. This is part 3 and the final sermon!

Last week we talked about bitterness! Lloyd Vogel was a writer for Esquire Magazine and and his neighborhood wasn’t like Mr. Roger’s neighborhood instead of being a beautiful neighborhood it was a ugly neighborhood filled with bitterness.

His father had didn’t his mother wrong and him and the rest of his children.

His mother died and his father deserted the family.

Bitterness had claim lives of many because of this horrible act of this man.

Just because people have done bad, horrible things does not give you or me the right to judge or to hold bitterness.

Play the clip where Mr. rogers is talk about meeting his friend Lloyd at the begin of the show when he showing a picture of him

Matt 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Matt 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Matt 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Matt 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

In this chapter, Jesus is giving the signs of the end of time. And Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “ What will be the sign of Your coming?”

I think that you will agree with me, we are in the season of His return. We know that nobody know on the Father knows but Jesus said we would know the season and It is now!

Never had we seen such prophetic fulfillment in the church, in Israel, and in our world.

So I think we can confidently say that we are in that time period that Jesus is describing here.

Now this is what I want you to notice: One of the signs of His return:

Many will be offended. And then shall many be offended, not a few, not some but many.

First we must ask, “Who are these offended?” Are they Christians or just society in general?

We find the answer here:

Matt 24:12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

The Greek word for love in this verse is agape. There are several Greek words for love in the New Testament, but the two most common are agape and Phileo.

Phileo defines a love found among friends. Phileo is an affectionate love that is conditional. Phileo says ‘You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, of “you treat me kindly and I will do the same.”

But Agape is the love God sheds abroad in the hearts of His children.

It is the same love Jesus gives freely to us. Agape is unconditional and it is not based on performance or even whether it is returned.

It is a love that gives even when rejected.

You see, without God we can only love with a selfish love, one that cannot be given if it is not received and returned.

But Agape loves regardless of the response. This agape is the love Jesus shed when He forgave from the cross.

So “the many” in the text that Jesus is referring to are Christians whose agape has grown cold.

Mr. Roger was not one of them, because this young writes who was ate up with bitterness and unforgiveness, Mr. Roger would not quit reaching out to him.

clip when Mr. Roger talking to Him right after the bus ride and Mr. Rogers break out the puppets and start talking to him about his dad and Lloyd relationship.

There has been time when I did everything I could to show my love to a certain person. but it seemed that every time I reached out to love, that person slapped me back with criticism and harsh treatment.

You been there?

And then we start complaining to God. We will say things like, “I have had it.” And I believe that when we do that God begins to tells us, that we need to learn to trust in His love.

Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

We need to realize that when you sow the love of God, you will reap the love of God. We need to develop faith in God’s spiritual law.

You may not harvest it from the field in which you sowed, or as quickly as you would like.

Think about Jesus, in His greatest hour of need, some of His closest friends deserted Him, Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him and all the rest of them ran for their life.

Only one John and he followed from afar. These were the ones who Jesus cared for them for over three years, He feed them, He was teaching them.

But do you know what Jesus did on the cross, He died for the sins of the World, He forgave and He released all of them.

From all of His friends, the Roman guards who crucified Him. And guess what they didn’t ask for forgiveness, Jesus just freely gave it.

You see, Jesus knew that because He had sown love, He would reap love from many.

But Jesus take it on a whole different level.

Matt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matt 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Matt 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Matt 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

We must realized that the love that we give out is being sown to the Spirit and eventually you will reap those seeds of love.

Most of the time we don’t know where but we will harvest.If more Christians would recognize this, they wouldn’t give up and become offended.

But we seem to walk more in selfish love and that love is so easily disappointing because we have our expectation torn down. We set ourselves up for offense when we require certain behaviors.

The more we expect, the greater the potential offense.

And instead of looking to God and His love, we begin to look at the offense and not God.

So we put up walls of protection.

Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

An offended brother or sister is harder to win than a fortified city.

The strong cities had walls around them. These walls were the city’s assurance of protection. They kept unwelcome people and invaders out.

We build walls when we are hurt to safeguard our hearts and prevent from getting hurt again.

We become selected, and we deny people from getting into our lives because we have fear of getting hurt.

We open our lives only to those we believe are on our side.

But then these people who we believe are on our side, they will also offend us. So we start stacking additional stones on our existing walls.

And the sad thing, without knowing, when it happens those walls of protection become a prison.

At that point, we are not only cautious about who comes in, but in terror we can not venture outside our fortress.

And then our focus become inward and introspective. We guard our rights and personal relationships carefully.

Our energy is consumed with making sure no future injuries will occur.

If we don’t risk being hurt, we cannot give unconditional love.

You see unconditional love gives other the right to hurt us.

1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

1 Cor 13:5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

1 Cor 13:6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

1 Cor 13:7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Love does not seek its own, but hurt people become more and more self-seeking and self-contained. And in this atmosphere the love of God waxes cold.

A perfect example of this is the two seas in the Holy Land. The Sea of Galilee freely receive and gives out water. It has an abundance of life.

And the water of the Sea of Galilee is carried by way of the Jordan River to the Dead Sea.

But the Dead Sea only takes water in and does not give it out. There are no living plants or fish in it.

The living water from the Sea of Galilee become dead when mixed with the bitter waters of the Dead Sea. Life cannot be sustained if held on to: it must be given freely.

An offended Christian is one who takes in life but because of fear, cannot release life.

As a result, even the life that does come in become stagnant within the wall or prison of offense.

Apostle Paul describes these walls as strongholds.

2 Cor 10:4 We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

2 Cor 10:5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

You see, these strongholds create set patterns of reasoning through which all incoming information is processed.

You builded the walls for protection but they become a source of torment and distortion because they war against the knowing or knowledge of God.

We filter everything through past hurts, rejections and experiences.

We find it impossible to believe God. We cannot believe God means what he says. We doubt His goodness and faithfulness.

Because we judge Him by the standards set by man in our lives. But is not a man!!

Num 23:19 God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?

I want you to understand to have forgiveness and to give forgiveness, we must be willing to give and receive. It must flow thru us and to us.

show the clip of the bus ride and them sing the songs and mr rogers clapping