12, September 2004
Dakota Community Church
Knowing Me, Knowing you
Finding and Living From Our True Hearts
This sermon is developed from one by Elmer Towns entitled:
“Three of the Greatest Emotions in Life” Which is posted on Sermon Central.
Introduction:
Back to school has me reminiscing about those years of life. The promise, the hope, the fears, and the questions that had to be asked:
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- What is my purpose in life?
How many of us are living the lives we dreamed of when we were 18?
What has happened to that passion?
John Eldridge in “Wild at Heart” makes the assertion, and I agree, that:
“The way a man’s life unfolds nowadays tends to drive his heart into remote regions of the soul.”
- Endless hours at a computer screen
- Time at the mall
- Meetings, memos, phone calls
- The church, religious duty
Our true heart gets lost in the shuffle of important and mundane things.
We need to find it again and live from it.
We need more than houses and cars and retirement plans.
We need the passion that comes from the God factor.
Not the Church factor, the God factor.
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.
Ask yourself what makes you come alive,
And go do that,
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
- Gil Bailie
Psalm 137: 1-6
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
Three Questions we need to ask to start the journey.
1. What makes you cry? (Past)
Psalm 137: 1
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
a.) We weep over the harvest.
They wept because of the past and what was lost to them.
They wept because they could not undo what they had done to themselves.
Sometimes even though repentance brings restoration and forgiveness to our fellowship with God – which is the most important thing in life, - it does not undo the harvest of our actions.
- A repentant teenage girl is still pregnant.
- Esau cannot regain his birthright.
Hebrews 12: 16-17
16Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. 17You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing--but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.
b.) We weep over the oppressions of hell.
Job 35: 9
9 "Men cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
Exodus 3: 7
7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
Do not weep over what the enemy does - do battle – we are not in the old covenant.
James 4: 7
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
c.) We weep over failed relationships.
Even when a really bad relationship ends, unhealthy ones that we realize were mistakes in the first place, there is much weeping. More than anything else this shows how important relationships are.
2Samuel 18: 31-33
31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, "My lord the king, hear the good news! The LORD has delivered you today from all who rose up against you."
32 The king asked the Cushite, "Is the young man Absalom safe?"
The Cushite replied, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man."
33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you-O Absalom, my son, my son!"
d.) We weep over the death of those we love.
Not long after arriving in New Hebrides as a pioneer missionary, John G. Patton and his wife rejoiced in the coming of a baby son to gladden their home. But the joy was short-lived. Soon death took both his wife and child, and Dr. Patton had to dig their graves and bury his loved ones with his own hands. In writing of this experience, he testified, "If it had not been for Jesus and the fellowship and grace He afforded me, I am certain I would have gone mad or died of grief beside their lonely graves." Marvelously strengthened from above, the bereaved servant of God found that the promises of the Word were able to sustain him through the heartache and sorrow of his tragic loss.
Our Daily Bread, August 6, 1992
Acts 9: 39
39Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
John 20: 10-13
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
What ever it is that you cry about, one thing is certain, we are not meant to remain in a constant state of sorrow. Learn what you need to learn about yourself, make the changes you need to make, do the warfare that needs to be done and move on to the life you were created for.
Look at this future:
Revelation 21: 1-4
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Isaiah 65: 17-19
17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
Psalm 30: 4-5
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Which brings us to the next question:
2. What makes you sing? (Present)
Psalm 137: 2-4
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
- Don’t hang up your harp!
- What do you really enjoy in life?
- What is the song the Lord has put in your heart?
Psalm 40: 1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
For me my heart sings:
- Preaching an anointed sermon
- Writing anointed words and ideas (The time with Him)
- Communing with the ones I love, Holiday feasts and fellowship
- After the work out, a walk in the fallen leaves, live sport events, the beach
- Making love, knowing and being known, ministering to one who receives it.
I counseled one man who told me He didn’t know what he liked to do any more, religion had made him choose things that were not right for him and he felt lost.
I wonder how many of us would say that watching TV or playing computer games makes our hearts sing? Yet how many hours do we invest in those things?
Leads me to question number three:
3. What do you dream about? (Future)
Psalm 137:
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
What is different about you then than you now?
Quotes:
“The reason most goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.” – Robert J. McKain
“We choose our life by how we spend our time.” – John Maxwell
Joel 2: 28-29
28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
What is the dream that you have received from the Spirit of God in you?
I think some are confused by the commercialized dreams of our society.
T.E. Lawrence once said, "All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible..."
As you think about the past, present, and future in answering these three questions:
- What does it reveal about your true heart?
- What changes do you need to make?
