When we forgo the American Dream, we Put God First. When we put God first, we
naturally Surrender all other things in order to wholly
serve and worship Him.
Surrendering
in our world suggests "giving up". We worry about surrendering
because of the things we might have to sacrifice in the process.
Surrender implies sacrificing freedom, when in reality, surrender IS
freedom. What are we afraid of? When we live our lives for ourselves, we are
missing out on all that God has in store for us. Don't default to fear, but
instead default to the greatness of God*.
*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship
Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented August 31, 2013, by
Chip Jackson
Part
4 (excerpts from Anything by Jennie Allen)
What if He lets me
suffer? What if he asks me to sacrifice? What if none of my dreams come true?
The very thought doing anything demands everything. We have to face our fears.
If we believe He is real, if we believe He has an eternal heart, we have to
face the fact that a God like that may mess with our temporary comfort. As
Christians, we are called to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily (Luke
9:23). If we live our lives in this way, we will no longer look at things as
"my dreams/our dreams" but we will know that we are following God's
plan, a plan much greater than anything we can dream for our futures. We
must deny ourselves lordship, abandon our earthly hopes and dreams, and invest
all that we have for Jesus and the gospel. The very thought of doing anything
demands that we give up our plans to follow after God's plan for
us. In 1 Peter 2:11, we are referred to as "aliens and
strangers" of this world. If we truly believed that this is our
temporary home, we wouldn't be trying to make ourselves so comfortable in this
life.
If
we believe that this life is temporary, that belief alone changes how we live
it. James
4:14 states, "What is your life? You are mist that appears for a little
while and then vanishes." Think about the wet dew on the grass
each morning. It is there when I wake up, but almost gone by the time I make it
to work. THAT IS HOW TEMPORARY OUR LIVES ARE. Isn't that crazy? James compares
100-ish earthly years to the time it takes the dew to dry up off the
ground....If we, too, can begin to view this life as temporary in the grand
scheme of all the things Jesus has to offer us, then our lives would be
changed. Sacrificing would become second nature as our eyes our focused on
things above and not on early things.
"Since
the you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not
on earthly things." Colossians 2:16
Following
Him completely requires belief that He is good even if everything here and now
is not, that He sees us and has an intentional plan for our few years
here. This
lyric from Lift My Life Up by Unspoken has been stuck in my
head all week regarding this post on sacrifice: "If I'm under
fire, I know its refining me." God chose us for an intentional purpose,
whether it be a purpose that we had in mind or not. He will place us in certain
situations so that we may be set apart, so that we may shine His light.
Christ
says, “If you are for me, then the world will be against you. If you are not
willing to lose everything you have, including your life, DON’T EVEN FOLLOW ME.
Expect persecution, and consider that a privilege. (Matthew 12:30, Luke 14:26,
Matthew 5:10) How
powerful those words are. Trials purify our faith. In order to consider
persecution a privilege, we must not just set aside a devotional time, but
instead live a life of devotion. If you haven't heard of Paster Saeed Abedini,
I urge you to read his story. He was tricked into flying back to Iran where he
was arrested and taken away, simply for being a Christian. He has recently been
sentenced to 8 years in one of the world's worst prisons. His every move is
scrutinized as the guards wait for him to deny Christ, yet he sees it as a
golden opportunity to shine God's light in the world's darkest places. You can
listen to a letter he wrote to his wife from prison here.
We don't all have a Saeed story, but we all have struggles that we are facing.
How are we handling those struggles? Do we see them as a "golden
opportunity to shine the light of Christ?" Remember, today's pain is part
of tomorrow's redemption story**.
*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible
Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented September 7, 2013, by Matt
Newman
So
Jesus prayed for us, not that we would be kept from hardship or suffering but
that we would be kept from the evil one who desires to take us out. What happens when we are
truly devoted to God? So devoted that we are willing to do ANYTHING to deny
ourselves and follow Him? We can again look to Daniel 3. God used the small
steps in Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego's life when they refused to eat the king's
food and responded in faith to the king's dream. These small steps prepared
them to refuse to bow to the king's statue, when they knew that the consequence
for not bowing was to get thrown into the fiery furnace. The furnace was part
of God's design for their lives. In verse 25, after the three men were bound
and thrown into the flames, King Nebuchadnezzar says, "Look, I see four
men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like
a son of the gods." How can we apply this to our lives today??? Jesus was
INSIDE the furnace. The three men could have just bowed to the king's statue to
escape the flames, but if that were the case, they would have missed the chance
to be in the presence of God. If God leads you to it, He is already there
waiting for you in it!*
*Taken
from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic
Congregation presented August 25, 2013, by Doug Raines
With
no regard for the way this would impact her short life here, she looked for the
big picture As
a woman, the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, can give me an example of how I
should live my life. Growing up in church, I've heard the story of the birth of
Jesus so many times, that I often forget to be genuinely awed by it. Imagine it
taking place in the modern world. A teenager pregnant, claiming to be a
virgin. Imagine the ridicule. Mary faced the same ridicule in her time, and
instead of allowing it to change the whole story of Christ, our whole
story, she looked at the big picture. See, Mary knew that this life is just
temporary. We don't know how much she grasped the role she would play in the
coming of the Savior, but just imagine what would have happened if Mary
didn't want to suffer or sacrifice her temporary comfort in the name of Christ....God
chose Mary, and He is looking for those qualities in each and every one of us.
Are you willing to say yes???
Samantha
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