Social media gives the ability to curate our own life and our own online communities. We can choose our friends and what we allow them to see. We can choose how deeply we engage or connect with those we follow or who 'follow' us. But that doesn’t often lead to deep and authentic community or connection. We seem more at ease these days holding each other at a distance rather that getting to involved with one anothers business.
Sometimes God puts us in places we don’t want to be among people we’d rather not share life with. But where we are may be exactly where God needs us to be, for not only do we learn to trust him and the future he has promised us, but we might be a part of his plan to bring connection and hope to the cities and places where he has called and placed us. Today, we’ll explore what it means to be fully engaged in community life, with God, right where he has placed us.
#7 in series: Fully Engaged
*** The first couple of minutes of the video are not recorded as the internet went down and we had to restore from another connection. Our apologies.
Between a rock & a hard place…A Catch-22 situation. It's used to describe those times when you have to choose between two equally undesirable outcomes. You sense there’s no-win whichever way you go; and as much as the inspirational calendars want you to believe...making something ‘beautiful’ happen is not always possible.
In those circumstances, discouragement is the rule not the exception. That’s where we find Jeremiah…struggling between discouragement and frustration…fear & disappointment.
Even when we are battling things on all fronts, feel ready to give up, see no good decision, there is One who is with us, whose grace & faithfulness enable us to move into our day obedient to him…as hard, frustrating, or discouraging as it seems. Jeremiah and each of us receive exactly what we need to stay fully engaged…even in the struggle.
#6 in series: Fully Engaged
It's a truth that all teacher's know. Visual aids are critical in the learning process. Complex ideas can often be conveyed easily and effectively with a single image. While the human ear processes up to10,000 bits per second (bps) at maximum bandwidth, the human eye can process up to 7 billion bps. So neurologically speaking, a picture is not just worth a thousand words, but 700,000 words! A visual cue speaks more than we can ever know. That's why God takes Jeremiah on a field trip and uses a visual aid to communicate a truth that needs to be seen to be understood. He wants Jeremiah and us to know that he has the absolute right to shape, form and fashion us into what he desires for his purposes. Whether his people yield to his touch or resist his touch, God remains fully invested, engaged and intentional toward us, and his plans for the world will not be thwarted. Today he invites us to be fully engaged in his sovereignty and says, "it's your move!"
#5 in series: Fully Engaged
Does your heart break for the hurt and pain you see in this city? Do your eyes well up with tears when you see images of a father who dies while trying to save the lives of his children. Or one who dies trying to shield his family from the errant gunfire of an assassin. Do you weep with a mother who is at a loss to help her drug addicted child? Sometimes…our hearts just break…the weight of the world’s brokenness rocks us deep within.
When you know you are powerless to prevent the tragedy…helpless against the unstoppable…defenceless against the inevitable…you are where Jeremiah was. Jeremiah knows with absolute certainty that Jerusalem will fall. Its people will be taken into captivity. He knows by God’s assurance the people of his city are in for pain & heartache, fear & hurt...destruction & exile…Be he also knows God’s broken heart for his broken people will be the key to their restoration & new life… for God himself is fully enegaged in grief for the people of the city he loves
#4 in series: Fully Engaged
'Oh it seems to me…so it seems to be…Sorry seems to be the hardest word' Elton John's 1976 hit song speaks a truth that we know all too well...that the hardest words ever to cross our lips are “I’m sorry. I apologize.”
But you know what’s harder still? To mean it…to turn those words into real change - changed life choices, a new direction, transformed day-to-day behaviour. Harder than uttering the words is the acknowledgement of guilt and the devotion to live and be different moving forward.
To change course, direction, goals and destination for your life is to be fully engaged in repentance. It's a turning back to the life and way that leads to fullness of life in relationship to God and with others. A life that is birthed in forgiveness, restored by grace, rebuilt with love, and renewed in hope. That's a fully engaged life that will have traction and build momentum in this city for the purposes and glory of God. We'll explore that today.
#3 in series: Fully Engaged
Australians seem to love a rebel. Whether it is a bushranger in a tin suit, a group of underdog miners making a stand at the Eureka Stockade, or an underarm delivery to win a game of cricket, these stories, and other like them, seem to capture the Australian imagination. Sometimes rebels are necessary, sometimes we are called to stand against injustice and to rebel against corrupt regimes. Other times a rebel is just someone bucking against the system out of self righteous indignation or selfish ambition. But a Christian is always a rebel, we are either busy rebelling against God, insisting on doing things our way, or we are walking closely with him, which puts us at odds with the world around us. That's what we'll look at more closely as we explore what it means to be fully engaged in rebellion
#2 in the series 'Fully Engaged'
In every team sport, the players who make up the team each have a specific role to play. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in American football, where an entirely different team of players takes the field depending on whether you are attacking or defending. A quarterback calls the play and passes the ball, some are experts at blocking the opposition, others are adept at dodging them, still others have the responsibility of running or catching the ball; no one player can do it all. Jeremiah was called by God for an important task, a task he did not feel equipped for, or capable of, but God called him anyway, and with the assurance that God had everything in hand, Jeremiah got into the game and played his part in a big way. That's what it means to be fully engaged in God's call.
#1 in the series 'Fully Engaged'
'Hand-picked.' Whether it's a person you select to join your team, a grape or olive chosen from a particular region for a special bottling, an experience or gift that is specifically identified and settled on for a particular person, the act of handpicking points to a deliberate and intentional choosing for a specific purpose and outcome. When it comes to his mission in the world, God also selects carefully with a particular plan in mind. It's a call that is deeply intentional, deliberately targeted and personally handpicked according to God's purpose. Saul discovered that. So did Ananias. And for both it was a frightening experience. What God handpicks you for may be extremely scary but your faithful obedience and willingness to live courageously in spite of your fear, may just be the catalyst that God uses to release the next Paul he has handpicked into the world.
#6 and final in series "Living Courageously"
Echo chambers. We all live in an environment or ecosystem where we become fixed in our views and encounter beliefs that simply amplify or reinforce our preexisting beliefs. An echo chamber is a closed system that confirms our views by its repetition and insulates us from anything that would challenge the protective bubble we build around our lives. Google operates exactly that way. Grab a friend and search the exact same thing, and there is a high probability that your results will differ (unless that person is in your echo chamber too!). It takes courage to break out of the echo chamber. It takes courage to be curious. It takes courage to seek truth, listen to truth and be transformed by truth. It takes courage to ask hard questions and to venture out on a journey of discovery. But it is this living courageously that is at the heart of Nicodemus’ story and it’s a story that can embolden you and help you live with courage when it most matters.
#5 in series: Living Courageously