Not Condemned

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: NOT CONDEMNED

INTRO: New Year’s Eve is over, our family had a great time including an extra day of recovery with a snow day (yeah us teachers get all the weather breaks). But something was interesting to me when I was shopping on December 31st…did anyone else know that stores are a mess?

Besides the store being a mess, I took some time to observe some behaviors, and to me three of them stuck out. 1) I saw a young twenty something all-American girl walking and shopping and I thought to myself that’s a neat girl. Then I saw her at the check out and watched her buy a big bottle of Jack Daniels and a 4 pack of Hard Lemonade. 2) I saw a professional woman with top of the line fashion shopping as she walked thru the aisles pointing to things to buy, then her husband just picked up a bottle of this and a bottle of that until the cart was full for the party. 3) I saw a Hispanic daddy with a cart full of Ramen noodles and other inexpensive things bent over kissing his little baby sitting upright in the cart—kind of rubbing noses.

Now, I am not stating any person is right or wrong or good or bad, but in my own way I saw three different aspects of life, the party girl, the party parents & the loving dad. Now that we have a new year, it’s time to focus on what is important, are we going to serve the party OR are we going to serve our family?

BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of heaven.

GOAL: One of the first things we got to do is learn to understand what it means to live “NOT CONDEMNED.”

POINT #1: WE ARE GUILTY

A) On the Run: Nelson & Janet Hannifan have been on the run from the law for 12 years. Unlike the A-Team, they are wanted for committing a crime they DID commit. In this case, they committed mail and bank fraud while bilking investors out of at least $1.7 Million. They were busted because of an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.” They ran a Ponzi scheme based on lies & theft. While on the run and living under alias’s, the lived large including yachts, luxury vehicles, designer clothes & jewelry.

B) Great Lifestyle: Imagine how much fun they had changing states, altering names, buying ships, and who knows how many other crimes they committed in this process. This is like a real life version of Ocean’s 11 with criminal minds—not that any of you know what Ocean’s 11 means (do any of you)?

C) We Live a Great Lifestyle: Hey American, think about your great lifestyle. You have 3 meals a day, actually a 4th if you count Taco Bell. You have luxury clothes. How many purses do you have? How many shoes do you have? How many T-shirts do you have (that one is for me, I have too many)? You know, in many ways, we compared to all the other people in the history of the world, live lavish luxurious lifestyles.

D) Theft & Lies: How many of us actually stole something (raise your hands)? How many of us ever lied (raise our hands)? So in a spiritual sense, just like the Hannifans, WE ARE GUILTY.

POINT #2: WE ARE TO NOT GOING TO BE CONDEMNED

BIBLE VERSE: Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

A) Condemnation Defined: to express strong disapproval, to pronounce sentence, unfit for use.

B) Unfit for Use: Think about that for a second, we are absolutely unnecessary to the kingdom of God, because quite honestly we are absolutely worthless. We are in a very real sense, unfit for use.

C) Top Ten Useless Things in America: This is according to a website that also has lists such as “10 Worst People in the World,” “10 Reasons Why Leonard Nimoy is More Interesting than You thought,” “10 Best Films of 1998,” (even though the website was made in 2011) & “9 Ways to Make Airline Travels Suck Less.”

10) Blockbuster Video Stores

9) Segways

8) Best Buy Employees

7) Roundabouts

6) Handerpants (no joke, its underwear on your hands)

5) Prescription Drug Commercials

4) Wristbands (do people really support your cause because of your bright wristband?)

3) Energy Drinks

2) Pennies

1) Me, Tom Papez (OK I added that, the original Khloe Kadashian), but quite honestly, in the eyes of God, I really am UNFIT FOR USE

BUT, GOD USES ME ANYWAY! GOD USES ME ANYWAY! GOD USES ME ANYWAY! GOD USES ME ANYWAY! GOD USES ME ANYWAY! GOD USES ME ANYWAY!

POINT #3: WE RECEIVE BLESSINGS

Youth Leader, this is where you take over. Talk to your group about personal blessing you have received. Share with them some of the blessing you have received. I will add a list of verses about blessings as follows, please use them accordingly or as necessary. Please remember to keep the Not-Condemned theme going.