Sermon Central
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How To Get God's On-Going Care For Me
Contributed by Andrew Chan on Jun 29, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: The model of caring offered by Jethro has much to offer the church in responding to the crisis of care and how we need not depend on a superstar to get by.
HOW TO GET GOD’S ON-GOING CARE FOR ME
You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation Ex.19:6 is our theme for the year, let’s flesh that out a little. One cannot become "priests" and "holy" without help. How do we get this help so that when we do serve as God envisioned us to be i.e. his chosen people, a royal priesthood, belonging to Him and don’t get burnt out at the same time? We need God on-going care if we are to survive the tumult and toss and turns that are to come in a broken world we live in.
CELEBRATION:
Praise God’s salvation for you and others
Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people… Exodus 18:10
There is a thirst for a BIG celebration in A BIG WAY: see in the way millions are tuned in Y2K celebrations, World Cup Soccer, Grammy awards, people are spending time and money to celebrate, aren’t they?
Let me submit to you a reason to celebrate. Not just for a one time event but an event that has everlasting impact? Where we are all winners, where we all can make acceptance speeches: where we don’t need to thank members of the academy, where we all make the jackpot, where we all get married to greatest Lover who died for us to show us His love… “I thank God, praise God” and the audience of One, hears it and applauds and sings for joy over us. Here we have the most astounding thing that God would love sinners and rescue them, that is why we celebrate God in worship, BUT do we celebrate??
Center on God’s rescuing hand. Has he not saved us, just as surely as God saved Moses and Israel from the clutches of Egypt?
When we celebrate God, and see His redemptive love, His rescue effort, triumph over evil we see God caring for u and I. He cared enough to be squished into tiny little insignificant human form for me.
Revisit the story of love, story of grace, be lost in wonder in awe and worship Him again in a big way.
Get God’s ongoing care by listening how He has come through for us, for all.
Never boring for me to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
Tell the story of salvation: Is this not reason why we’re together.
Worship/Celebrate
SHEPERDING:
Reliance on one celebrity pastor is wrong
“What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”… “What you are doing is not good…you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you, you cannot handle it alone.” V.14, 17 (NIV)
In this situation there is CRISIS of care, meeting needs of people lined up from sunup to sundown,
produce frustration, - judged NOT GOOD! Reliance on one celebrity, the expert who know it
all is wrong. What that produces is burnout, you will wear self out. What Moses did is
so inefficient and wasteful. He ends up a loser, and everyone loses, no one wins. It is the same with us today.
Culture taught us the way go, the way of the celebrity
Pay millions to entertainers, superstars, to meet our needs, but do they deliver maybe for
the length of the song, performance on stage, on the playing field? But after that little burst, all go home empty as well!
Yet millions of people buy into it - celebrities are all running away to hide in million
dollar mansions, with paid body guards, surveillance systems,
those who think they can hide eventually wear themselves out, check in at some insane asylum, commit suicide, take drugs, get lost in world of fantasy (see it in Jim Bakker, Jim Swaggart, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley)
people are wondering why don’t they care for the ordinary folks
who pay their bills. God never created us to be lone superstars, he created the church, it
is about family, not elevating one to be superstar, it is about love, meeting each other
needs. That is why when he created the church, God tells us in His word:
“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” John 13:34,35 (CEV)
church is people, not the pastor, or the elders, or sun. school, it’s all about people. God envisions kingdom of priests, not a kingdom of Moses! If we do change way of doing things from the cult of the celebrity to the biblical apporach, then we can change way of thinking, resulting in change in a way people feel about church, cared for, rejuvenated
