Sunday 10AM Services
Messages 2009 - Scott Spielman: "PROBLEMS With SCHEMING", click to play 2009 - Scott Spielman: "Why LIFE is HARD", click to play 
Special Message from Scott Introduction As a boy growing up, Bill went his own way. His mother didn’t care. She said to him, "I don’t care if you become a drug addict or a bank robber or if you bring home a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend. There is just one thing I don’t want you to do in life - become a Christain. So Bill set his sights on pleasure. He lived a life of sexual conquests. He suffered through a number of relationships and marriages that fell apart. In his desire for money to buy things to make himself happy, he worked to the point of exhaustion. In an attempt to escape the despair of thinking that there’s no real purpose to life and nothing beyond the grave, he drank heavily and got involved with drugs. His life was stressed out – he tried women, money and drugs – nothing seemed to work – his life was passing him by. It was spinning out of control. Maybe your life is moving too quickly: - The days, weeks, months, yearly are speeding by and you wonder what is happening to you Symptoms Little things make you angry Big things send you into depression Not much joy Increasing sadness and hopelessness Nothing seems to satisfy you for very long – one goal after another, one experience after another Maybe the pressures and opportunities of work have you caught up in a cycle that is moving faster than you like. Maybe you have made some decisions that have turned out to have hurt you or others around you. Life is tense.
If this is you – if you would say you are stressed out, you fit right in with the rest of the people around here We are in trouble – but sometimes we don’t know how much. When we get stressed out – we lose a sense of objectivity – we don’t understand what is happening to us. There are the major stresses of life like Bill’s. Life and the common stresses of life. For example: Family Stress As a spouse A lady got home and burst in the house yelling, "Pack your bags honey, I just won the lottery!" And the husband said "Oh wonderful! Should I pack for the beach or the mountains?" The wife shot back, "I don't care where you go ...Just get out!"
As a parent A father boasted to his son Willie: "When I was little, I always ate my crusts." Asked Willie: "Did you like them?" "Of course I did." "Then," said Willie, "you can have mine."
Compared to death, divorce, and serious illness, events such as moving house, or preparing for the arrival of a new baby, would seem to be on a much lesser scale. However, the level of stress evoked by welcomed events can be just as overwhelming as that involved in the unexpected and unwelcomed. Compelled to shift the roles we perform and the relationships we have with each other, we can easily find ourselves being caught unawares by the strength of the emotions that are evoked, loss, fear, anxiety, whatever. Job Stress (the wacky world of business) "In every organization, there is one person who knows what's going on. This person must be fired." "I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs." -- Samuel Goldwyn Stress and worry on the job can be harmful! They cause physical and emotional problems that may damage both your health and your performance. Furthermore, stress grows! Excessive worry is a major element in the vicious cycle of tension: the physical sensations of stress-tense muscles, headaches, insomnia and so forth - lead to catastrophic stress-building thoughts, which in turn aggravate unpleasant physical feelings, and so on, up the tension cycle. Soon, just the thought of preparing an assignment or meeting a deadline triggers all the symptoms of stress, along with an overwhelming wish to avoid tasks. Statistics STRESS - AMERICA'S #1 HEALTH PROBLEM Surveys and Research Reports over the past two decades reveal that: - 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress. Stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide. - An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints. Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550,000,000 workdays lost annually because of absenteeism. - Nearly half of all American workers suffer from symptoms of burnout, a disabling reaction to stress on the job. STRESS – IS GETTING WORSE AND MORE COSTLY The proportion of workers who reported "feeling highly stressed" more than doubled from 1985 to 1990. - Job stress is estimated to cost U.S. Industry $300 billion annually, as assessed by absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover, direct medical, legal and insurance fees, etc. 60-80% of industrial accidents are due to stress - The market for stress management programs, products, and services was ~ $11. billion for 1999. - 40% of worker turnover is due to job stress. Joke A man who is experiencing chest pains and exhaustion goes to the doctor. The doctor examines the man and finds high blood pressure, high anxiety and a severely stressed out life. The doctor excuses himself and goes into the waiting room to speak with the wife and proceeds to describe the condition to the wife with the following recommendations: - Let your husband quit his job and you continue working - Relieve him of the work around the house. - Suggest he spend less time caring for the kids and providing discipline as needed. - Do these things and he will live longer. SO the husband and wife get in the car and the husband asks the wife, "What did the doctor say?" And she responds with, "I am sorry honey, but he says you are going to die." Background of Psalm 23 Written by David the shepherd king – a shepherd as a boy, a king as a man. David had personal experience as a shepherd. There were many stressful moments in his life – fighting predators to protect his sheep, fighting the giant philistine warrior Goliath, pursued by the king of Israel, Saul, who wanted to kill David. David was deeply troubled as well by the disintegration of his family due to his own indiscretions. This Psalm is timeless for its insights into how to handle the stressful seasons of life. Today we are going to deal with the first principle of stress management – To have someone you can count on – To have a focal point for your life. Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd" - The The word "THE" suggests the one and only one true God – that God is unique. Principle – God is unique This immediately raises some important questions. First, is God really unique? After all, many believe there are many ways to God. There are many well intended, good people who worship other gods. Some come to your door with real sincerity and share about the end of the world and share about new revelations about god. There are those who believe in submitting or surrendering to god, and that Jews and Christians should be made to pay tribute, or forced to submit to god. They endorse Holy Wars. Is it right to believe there is one true God? There are many reasons to believe that there is a God. Universe (billions of stars in delicate balance in the universe) Life itself (the fragile balance of life) History (What God did –recorded in Biblical and secular history – the scattering of the Jewish people in 70 AD and the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 People (changed lives).
But what if there are many gods? Which one is the head god and how do we decide who is the head god? Another question that the word "THE" raises is this: It is wrong to pursue other things equal to God? This is a politically incorrect question to raise. Lexie Potamkin wrote a book entitled What is Spirit? And she concluded that the way people see spirit is as individual as a fingerprint! "I interviewed hundreds of people --- world leaders, scientists, street people and Buddhist monks and nobody had the same answer." Certainly we worship many things. And that should be left up to the individual. Right?
What other gods do we worship? Idols Money – money buys a certain level of freedom we believe. Money can’t buy happiness but it sure goes a long way toward it. People – we will turn our heads when a celebrity walks into a room, or an attractive person for that matter. And ignore the people around us who love us and need us. Somehow we need to get that straight. Power – Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Prestige – Some people want adulation and acclamation. "There wouldn’t be brown-nosers if people didn’t want to be brown-nosed." Cars – Paul Newman wrecked his race car at 72 years of age. I wonder about the wisdom of racing at 72. Self – Perhaps the motivation behind worshiping idols is self. Getting things to feel better, more valuable, more powerful, more wonderful than others.
"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself." -- Sir Richard F. Burton One of the greatest stress producers I know is the pursuit of things with fleeting value. I spent many years pursuing success, money, sports, relationships and a common outcome. When I achieved my goal – it was never enough. When I was the center of my life – I stressed out – because I had to achieve more, get more, do more, be more. I was searching for meaning. We either are searching for meaning, or running from meaning. Meaning is best defined in a spiritual context. Lexie Potamkin "When you ask people, 'What is spirit?' it gets them in touch with why they are here, and what is the meaning of their lives. It gets them to think in deep ways."
David suggests to us in the 23rd Psalm, we are to worship: (1st) - The – One and Only, (and 2nd) – Lord - Lord Yahweh – the name that motivated reverence – a deep reverence from God’s people. God had brought his people out of slavery in Egypt and that miraculous deliverance brought a response of awe and wonder to the Hebrew – so much so that the Hebrew would not even pronounce the name of God. Who is the God of the Bible? 1 - God the Father Characteristics of God – He is great The creator and perfector of life Psalm 19:1-2 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. [2] Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." The heavens are evidence of a great designer – the billions of stars and the smallness of earth – a grain of sand in a gigantic universe. Even the theory of a big bang points to a divine creator – if the universe occurred through a big bang – From where did the energy and matter originate? The laws of physics tell us that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
The Laws of Physics 1st law of thermodynamics - Energy cannot be created or destroyed Conservation of energy is the "most powerful and most fundamental generalization about the universe that scientists have ever been able to make." Isaac Asimov
John Glenn – "To look up at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible." Psalm 14:1 – "The fool has said in his heart there is no God."
Creator of humanity Isaiah 43:15 "I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King." Psalm 139:13-14 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Principle - God is the creator of life There is also the Goodness of God
God is the Helper of man Psalm 27:9 "Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper."
God is the Deliverer from man’s troubles Psalm 70:5 "Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay."
God is the lover of man Psalm 57:10 "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
So there is God the father, great and good – and also
2 - There is God the Son The greatest measure of God’s love is in sending his son to die for us. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
There is also God the Son – Jesus Christ The uniqueness of Christ is He is God who died for man
What makes the God of Christianity unique? Nowhere else do you find: A god who loves at such a cost that He sacrificed Himself for us There is nothing man can do to earn his or her way to God Rebels come back freely to the Father’s house that they abandoned
The Lord IS – the One and only great and loving God is: - Is Principle - God is active and involved in life You might say, How could God be active, since there is so much evil in the world?
About evil – Is there evidence of a lot of evil in the world? Drugs, crime, murders, genocide, hate. The evidence is great and is seemingly getting worse. But consider this -- How would man ever know what evil was unless there was a sense of morality given to him by God? Without a divine standard and a human conscience given by God no one would know good from evil. It would be all relative. Life would be anarchy. Kill people if they stand in your way for no reason or any reason – Germany, Russia, Cambodia, Sudan, and drug dealers. One has to merely look at the world to know there is a severe problem of evil. But that man perceives it and detests it. That is evidence of God’s heart given to men and women. But not only that – God arrests evil. How? By death – have you noticed that Hitler is dead and so is Stalin. God is arresting evil in a world that wants to abandon Him. About changing lives Another aspect of God’s activity is the number of lives that are changing because of Christ. Lives change because The Holy Spirit – God who dwells in the life of a person makes them new. We have testimonies from people who accepted Chris into their hearts. - My Principle – God is Personal – my shepherd This is about a Relationship – the uniqueness of Christianity is that, the God Christians worship, is a personal God So personal that we can call Him "Daddy" Jesus called the Father daddy
Mark 14:36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
And we can call Him daddy, too. Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
Reparenting – not like the dad who failed you! And Jesus is personal too. He is our savior and friend
Friend And we can call Jesus – the Son – a friend John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command. [15] I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." 'But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
Do you ever wish for a friend that would never let you down – never hurt you or neglect you? And someone who would love you just the way you are? Well, one is available to you and His name is Jesus. The one and only great and loving active and involved personal God is lastly a shepherd - Shepherd A shepherd is a tender of sheep. Thanks for telling me Scott. As if I didn’t know that myself! There are good shepherds and bad shepherds. Bad shepherds neglect their sheep and the sheep become malnourished and sickly. Good shepherds work hard – they stay up all night guarding the sheep form predators and constantly care for the sheep. God is the good shepherd who loves his sheep. Jesus said: John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
A shepherd who would die for his sheep – now that is quite a shepherd! Notice something with me - If God is a shepherd then we people are sheep.
What do we know about sheep? Sheep are helpless and needy. Sheep are not very smart Why do we need a shepherd? We, like sheep, have gotten into trouble We need Guidance Bobby Phills – 30 year old pro basketball player – husband – father of two small children. Races his Porsche going 75 in a 45 mph zone and dies in a crash John Rocker – racial statement against blacks, Asians – led the world to conclude that John was really off his Rocker. God sees people as equal – His love motivates us to love people deeply and fairly and regardless of skin color or background. Environment – the US generates 60% of the world’s solid waste with 5% of the world’s people. We added additives to our fuel which were supposedly to make the air cleaner, but the additives have been poisoning our waters. Or simply the neglect of the people we love, the neglect of our health, the pity parties we throw, the hurts we can’t get over, or the weeks, months, years we waste serving our selves or feeling sorry for ourselves. Or our pursuits of relationships that are clearly bad for us – we chase the wrong people in the hope of finding fulfillment or the missing piece of life – even though that inner voice whispers that we shouldn’t be doing it.
Isaiah 53:6 "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
We also need forgiveness. Only God can give us guidance that always works, and forgiveness that is unconditional. How do we relate to the shepherd? By accepting his love through faith that Christ died for us. Then we have a relationship with Him. Then we will follow Him. Then the word of God comes alive and we not only can understand it better. We want to live by it because we realize it is for our good. John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me."
Principle – God is a good shepherd and we are his sheep So what? A question for you - why are you here? What is your course in life? When you set the right course, then you will reach the right destination – but what if your course is off? James Lovelle video clip - Apollo 13 Mission to the moon – a coil inside an oxygen tank sparked and caused an explosion which damaged the space craft. The spacecraft was dangerously low on power. It was returning to earth and needed a course correction. However, low power would not allow the uploading of vital information to its computer for the course correction. How are you setting you course? Do you have a fixed point, a focal point in your life, that you can depend on? God can be that point Rev. 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Christ is willing to be that focal point for you. To relieve the stresses and tensions and get you a direction – a better reason for living. Let’s Pray
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