Series: Keepin' it Real

Hoarding – the persistant difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value.

We hang on to things that are keeping us from realizing all God has in store for us:
our hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

Hurts, habits, and hang-ups can knock us off of God’s plan and throw us into a worldy detour headed toward destruction and despair.

Hurts

Any life experience that may have damaged your heart, your emotions, your psyche.
An offense that cripples your ability to deal with the world in a healthy way.

Recognize the hurt. How has it affected your life?
Identify the emotions. (Ex. Shame, abandonment, etc).
Seek God’s help.
Get connected in Christian Community.

Seach me. Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
Psalm 139:23 New Living Translation (NLT)

Express the hurt and reconcile if safe/possible.

God gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak.
Isaiah 40:29 (NLT)

If necessary, seek outside/professional help.
Let go.

Forgiveness – to be free of what is holding us hostage; not letting the past control our future.

Habits

Unhealthy patterns that often start as a percieved “remedy” but turn into chronic bad behavior or addiction.
The repeat, default scripts we run to when the going gets tough.

You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven
above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Exodus 20:3-4a (NIV)

Admit the problem.
Seek God’s help to break the cycle.
If necessary, seek outside help.
New friends. Christian community.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
I Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)

Hang-Ups

General roadblocks that keep us from progressing forth in God’s plan for your life.
Shaped by some bent thinking or unhealthy attitudes adopted as a means of coping with life’s challenges.

Pray. Ask God to reveal the hang-up.
Admit the problem.
Seek God’s loving presence in your life.
Get connected in Christian community; seek outside help.

What are you hoarding?
Jesus’ power if greater than your worst-case scenario!

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

…a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 COR. 12:7b-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

“What is written in the Law?” 
he replied. “How do you read it?”

Luke 10:26 New International Version (NIV)

[The expert in the law] answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. 
“Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 
“And who is my neighbor?”

Luke 10:27-29 (NIV)

The Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37

Christ calls us to make a difference 
in the world.

What will you do to tear down the walls that separate us?

What are you going to do to represent Christ in the world?

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…

Romans 3:23 
New International Version (NIV)

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, 
“I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Genesis 3:8-11 (NIV)

Who told you that?

I Samuel

“Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before 
the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, 
“Do not consider his appearance or his height, 
for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:6b-7 (NIV)

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; 
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NIV)

For the wages of sin is death, 
but the gift of God is eternal life 
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, 
[they are] a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, 
the new had come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 
English Standard Version (ESV)

what about you?

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.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

God gives us 
a basket of ingredients…

 

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel [wisdom], 
clear understanding [knowledge], simple trust [faith], healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation [prophecy], distinguishing between spirits [discernement], tongues, interpretation of tongues. 
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. 
He decides who gets what, and when.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 The Message (MSG)

A Bag of Tools

by R.L. Sharpe (1870-1950)

Isn’t it strange that princes and kings,
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common people like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
a shapeless mass, a book of rules;
And each must make — ere life is flown —
A stumbling block or a stepping-stone.

“Are you ready for the best day of your life? 
‘Cause it’s here.
Yesterdays gone…
a cancelled check.
Tomorrow may never come…
a promissory note.
Today is CASH…
spend it wisely.”

God’s purpose is not to “chop” us down but to build us up, 
to encourage us, 
to help and strengthen us.

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10 New King James Version (NKJV)

What’s in your basket?
What are you 
going to do with it?

YOU ARE NOT GOING 
TO GET CHOPPED!