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.
Finally, the dog hollers a third time and the visitor can’t stand it anymore. He asks the front desk, why is the dog howling like that? A man at the front desk responds very casually, “oh, he is just sitting on a nail.”
“Sitting on a nail? Sitting on a nail?” exclaims the man checking in. “Why in the world doesn’t he just move?” The owner of the dog responds in all sincerety, “because the dog is hurting enough to complain about it, but not hurting enough to do anything about it.”
The same is true for us. When it comes to problems, all we typically do is complain, and complain, and complain. When it comes to our walk with Christ, when it comes to our idols, do we care enough to do something about it?
2. PLEASURES
BIBLE VERSE: Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Now, there is a lot to this verse, and I could go into tons and tons of details here, so let me just go into a couple of them.
A. Living Together:
“Marriage is in trouble in the United States. You can see it in the declining number of people who get married. It is evident in the fact that the U.S. has the highest divorce rate among developed nations. You can sense its deterioration based on the effort to legitimize gay marriage. Even public opinion about the importance of marriage is slipping….
Early in the book you will read why cohabitation is something we should be paying attention to if we care about saving marriages. A useful tool is the list of myths about cohabitation. The book notes that people cohabit for a variety of reasons, but the result is generally the same, regardless of the motivation: a failed relationship, whether marriage ensued or not. Among the reasons cited for the break-up of cohabiters are the mistrust of marriage, the lack of positive experience with marriage in their family of origin, the absence of male commitment, increasing cultural acceptance of both cohabitation and divorce, and financial benefits.
Surprisingly few people seem to be aware of the risks inherent in cohabitation. Chief among those is the potential for experiencing violence. A different but no less significant risk is that of bearing children without a committed family bond. Economic hardship, rampant infidelity, legal entanglements and more are detailed with depressing clarity by the authors.
Depending on your faith perspective, of course, there are all kinds of arguments that can be made in relation to the cohabitation experience. It is biblically forbidden. It is historically ineffective. It pales in comparison to legitimate marriage as a satisfying or lasting relationship.
But cohabitation has become an accepted way of life in America, despite its flaws and failings.”
B. Mass Media: Where do all these ideas come from? Yes, many originate from the heart, but our TV/radio/music/internet/magazines/everything else doesn’t help does it.
C. Seventeen Magazine Example:
Just go grab a teen magazine from a local library, and read all the stories targeting our youth, and somehow this goes on just fine without complaints.
Here are some headlines from a random Seventeen magazine from September 2009:
My Coach Secretly Filmed Me Naked: Could This Happen To You?
Flirty: Find the Perfect First Day Outfit for YOUR Style
50 Ways to Be a Better Flirt
Britney Spears for Candie’s at Kohl’s (advertisement)
Babysitting Horror Stories: They Were Creepy Sexual
Is This Date Savable?
His Secret Hookup Stress
(just page through to see all the provocative styles, use judgment in MS)
D. Immoral Friends: BUT, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT OUR IMMORAL/CHRISTIAN FRIENDS? The answer is pretty tough if we really understand it.
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 5:9-11
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world. But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not to even eat with such a person.
E. The Waiting Room
It’s all about perception. That’s it. The issue is not so much on should I hang around with my friends, or not hang around with my friends. But the issue is what am I doing while hanging around with my friends. This is where I will go into great detail about how our time here on Earth is merely to make an adequate waiting room. Most of us spend all our time, and it is all going burn anyway. If our intention is to make a really fun and exciting waiting room, and that is why we tolerate the sin of others around us, is that what our intentions should really be?
F. On The Topic of Dating
I am absolutely amazed at how bad dating is right now. I mean, its not just that there are so many bad options, so many bad hastily made decisions, but I am amazed at the utterly stupid advice given by the world on this topic.
Ten Steps to Avoiding a Loser (Received from a Secular Source as a Warning to Women):
(this is absolutely hilarious, because the actions are so obvious)
“Here are 10 steps to avoiding the loser:
1. Do background checks on the men you date or are considering dating.
2. Don’t pick up guys in bars and parties where alcohol or drugs are present.
3. Don�t date married men- no matter what he says about leaving his wife.
4. Don’t date your friends’ exes. Not only is it bad form, you also already know all the dirt on them. Just steer clear of guys that have been involved with your friends.
5. Be confident and send out healthy, happy vibes to attract men of the same disposition.
6. Try new things. Consider blind dating or Internet dating. It’s possible you’ve maxed all of your local resources for meeting good guys and it’s time to search elsewhere.
7. Watch out for guys with no personal motivation to complete their goals- or guys who have no personal goals at all.
8. Walk away at the first sign of abuse. If there is any hint of abuse of any kind, walk away. Don’t wait for him to actually hit you or worse.
9. Take your time jumping into a relationship. Things always seem great in the beginning and often turn out to be another loser. Don’t jump in too quickly and take time to get to know him first.
10. Beware of guys who have children they don’t support or many children with multiple women.”
G. Can I? I GET THIS QUESTION ALL THE TIME: Is it possible to be a ____________ (fill in the blank), and still go to heaven? Regardless of what fills in the blank, the Bible is pretty dog gone clear. A person who legitimately knows Christ, a person who really has given their life to Jesus, will act in a certain way—and NOT act in a different way. Take a look at this verse.
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites.
Sources:
Fritz, Paul. What American Idol Do We Follow? Trinity College, Florida, July 2006.
Living Together: A Tale of Three Kings Parenting by the Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Children, Book Review of Living Together by Mike & Harriet McManus, barna.org.
M. Lisa, 10 Steps to Avoiding the Loser, womansavers.com.
People Magazine, 6/12/2000, page 62.
Sermonillustrations.com. Keyword: Problem.
Seventeen Magazine, September 2009.
NAME: ________________________________________
NO PROBLEM MON
IDOL SERIES 3: PROBLEMS & PASSION
INTRO: 3 Possible Idols from Last Weeks:
______________ _____________ ______________ _______________ _______________
1. _______________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:28-32
BIBLE VERSE: 1 John 4:4
You dear children, are from God and have _______________________ them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the _____________________________.
Examples:
Fog: _________________________________________________________________________________
Salmon Business: ______________________________________________________________________
Hotel Dog: ____________________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be _____________________ by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will _______ the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
A. The Major Issue of _________________________________________
B. Mass Media Influence
C. Magazine Articles: _______________________________________________________________
D. Immoral Friends?
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 5:9-11
E. The Waiting Room:
F. Ten Steps to Avoiding a Loser: __________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 6:9