No Problem Mon Series

NO PROBLEM MON

IDOL SERIES 3: PROBLEMS & PASSION

INTRO: Last weeks we used the American Idol theme to discuss some idols Americans often times put in front of the Lord, and it turned out to be pretty passionate. The five we discussed were pride, popularity, possessions, & paranoia. Today, we have some more P words that interfere with our walk with the Lord, some of them pretty dang serious, some of them sort of funny.

TRANSITION: There is an old movie, and I know none of you have seen it, it’s called…Cool Runnings. “No people can believe, Jamaica has a bobsled team.” For those who have never heard of it, it is a fictitious story of a retired bobsled champion (John Candy) who trains a bunch of Jamaicans for the winter Olympics. In the movie, one of the Jamaicans, the guy consistently wins local push-cart championships & carries an egg with him for good luck, says, “No Problem Mon.” And there is where we start today, with our next idol…problems.

1. PROBLEMS

BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:28-32

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Worry stems from problems. And as our head pastor has been stating, worry is sin. Worry is not something that we are supposed to do, it’s just not. Putting it another way, check out this verse.

BIBLE VERSE: 1 John 4:4

You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

A. Worry is Like a Fog Example:

“According to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of less that one glass of water. That amount of water is divided into about 60 billion tiny droplets. Yet when those minute particles settle over a city or the countryside, they can almost blot out everything from your sight.

Many Christians today live their lives in a fog. They allow a cupful of troubles to cloud their vision and dampen their spirit. Anxiety, turmoil and defeat strangle their thoughts. Their lives are being "choked by the cares of this world" (Luke 8;14). But "God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline" (II Tim. 1:7). Let’s not let the fog get us down! "Let’s live in the Sunshine!

The Paper Pulpit. “

B. Clever Way to Solve a Problem Example (As Always, Have a Sense of Humor with it):

“A young couple decided to start their own business. He was an engineer and she was an advertising copywriter. They wound up buying a small salmon cannery in Alaska. They soon discovered they had a problem. Customers opening a can of their salmon discovered that the fish was gray. Sales sagged. Investigation revealed that the problem was a result of the way they processed the fish. "This is a technical problem," said the wife, "and you’re an engineer. You have to find a way to fix this."

A month later, the husband announced that they would have to replace some machinery and make other changes. It was going to take at least 10 months to do the job and it was going to cost a lot of money. "We have to do something sooner than that," said the wife, "or we’re going to go under." For the next two days she pondered the problem and came up with this solution: There was nothing wrong with the salmon--it tasted fine. The problem lay in its looks. So she changed the label on the can. In bold letters, right under the brand name, the labels thereafter announced, "The only salmon guaranteed not to turn pink in the can."

Bits and Pieces, June, 1990, p. 9-10. “

C. Dog Sitting on a Nail Example:

A man walks into a hotel, and when he begins to pay his fee, a dog sitting on a cushion near the register howls in one of the worst howls the visitor has ever heard. Since the man working the desk doesn’t seem to be bothered, the two go back to their own business. A bit later, another howl roars, this one seemingly worse than the first. Puzzled, the visitor looks at the dog who appears to be in a small amount of pain, but notices the dog put his head back down and return to a position of rest.