Sermon Central
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Changing Lanes
Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jul 3, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Words shape your actions. There is a constant risk in changing lanes, even though our signal is turned on. It is called the “blind spot”; it is the area where the car mirrors are not sufficient to display all other vehicles. It is the area that we sometim
OPENER DVD SEGMENT
START: Menu Selection #2 - “The Accident” - 4:30 min.
END: When it starts to rain on Samuel L. Jackson
Two men (Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson) on their way to separate court dates fight for a spot on the freeway and crash into each other.
The accident causes no physical injuries, but havoc ensues as one
man misses a child custody hearing while the other loses paperwork critical to a multimillion-dollar deal.
They each blame the other and acts of vengeance and violence ensue. When they finally examine themselves, is it too late for forgiveness and for justice?
Driving at 70 mph now seems fast compared to the 55 mph speed limit used years ago. Even at the maximum speed limit there always seems to be an impatient driver behind my car.
A person who will make numerous lane changes to get ahead or to speed up the process of getting to their destination.
The impatient driver that sped past me will sometime indicate his annoyance by giving me the “look”.
In most cases as I have observed, I will meet this driver at the next stop light, sometimes both cars are parallel to each other or one car length behind.
Our driving habits or driving in our society can tell a lot about how we live.
The Christian life is a race not for those who finish first but for those cultivating a steady, patient and obedient attitude during the journey to heaven.
This is difficult because we live in age defined by speed. Got to have it now! Got to get there fast!
This can drive our life to the point that we become a Christian who
is or always considering changing lanes on the narrow way.
A desire to have a faster version of God’s promises for our life result in the signals we turn on; impatient with the local church direction, impatient to wait for marriage, dating and loving one another.
Our choices we make, can affect us in the same amount of time that it takes in changing lanes while driving.
Like driving, a spiritual signal from a distant can alert others of your intentions so that counsel can be given or sought out.
The signal that is only turned on during the process of changing direction is un-safe and can harm the driver as well as others.
There is a constant risk in changing lanes, even though our signal is turned on.
It is called the “blind spot”; it is the area where the car mirrors are not sufficient to display all other vehicles.
Drivers have to always check their blind spot by looking over their shoulder to make sure it is safe to turn right or left.
Sometimes we are so sure of the direction we want to go that we fail to acknowledge and check for spiritual blind spot.
In rushing our view of what God should be like we miss seeing that the devil and his many schemes are waiting to collide with us.
Checking our spiritual blind spot means a consistent movement of our heart, head and eyes to God.
Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. --Matthew 18:21-22
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Illustration: Bad Meat
Colin Byrne Smith of Australia told of a missionary who called on a tribe of cannibals.
Taking his life in his hands, he crossed the inlet in a small boat, and when confronted by the tribe, meekly endured every insult.
Long afterwards, when he had succeeded in converting many and establishing a church among them, he asked, "Why did you not eat
ME when I came to preach to you?”
The old chief, then a Christian, said, "You see, none of us wanted
to eat you, because the reason we eat people is to acquire their skills and bravery; but nobody wanted to be like YOU, taking all those insults, and patiently bearing every blow against you!"
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When one strives honestly and faithfully to live up to Jesus’ teaching in this matter, or any other, forces far beyond the knowledge of any man are working for the success of the obedient follower of the Lord.
Jesus reminds us that we are to redeem rather than to try to get revenge.
In our day, we seldom slap someone on the cheek to embarrass or humiliate that person. Instead, we shoot them a "zinger," cut them down sarcastically, or tell a joke at their expense.
Look up Matthew 15:18:
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth, come from the heart, and those defile the man.”
