Cow Tipping 4 - Super Size Me!

Cow Tipping - 4
Super Size Me!
Troy Kennedy, Worship Pastor

Worship led by Jimmy this morning (because Troy was preaching).   Last song of the worship set was "It Is Well With My Soul" - one of my all-time favorite hymns. 

... Pastor Dan introduces Pastor Troy Kennedy (while explaining the pastor team model - nine pastors). We use a team teaching approach.

Big idea for this series: Jesus expects us to examine our beliefs in the light of scripture.

... Take whatever we believe from whatever source we got it, hold it up against scripture. Passing the mic to Troy Kennedy, Worship Pastor.

... praising Dan's character. Approached this topic with great fear and trepidation ... talking about God and your bod. A biblical framework for how we treat our bodies. Not going to impose some kind of cultural standard about how we should look. Our standard has always been different as Christ followers.

... Troy relates his struggles with his body and his health. Had a case a diverticulitis and a hernia. How do I manage my age and be the best possible person I can be for Him and my family.

Big idea for this teaching: Your body was made by God, for God, to honor God.

... Pastor Troy using a wagon wheel to explain the hub and spokes as a metaphor.

Your relationship with God is not a category. It is the hub of the wheel.

We all tend to fall into two categories regarding our health - Worshipers and Neglecters.

... easy to obsess on our image.

1 Timothy 4:8 TNIV For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

... only about four percent of people who were healthy and active in high school and college maintain that lifestyle in the future. The neglect happens over a long period of time.

Taking care of our bodies is an act of worship.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

... Paul juxtaposing your physicality with your spirituality. It is the whole of our lives but it also includes our bodies. How many of your have heard the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit? Troy relates the context for the Temple in Paul's time as a Jew. Also goes way back to Moses, wandering in the wilderness, pillars of smoke and fire, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, then Solomon and building the Temple. Then Jesus and the sacrificial system but He pays the ultimate price, once and for all. The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) will come to you (the Disciples).

1 Cor. 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? ...

... The Temple is no longer a place, it is you. We don't worship the Temple or neglect it, but we value it because of who lives there.

Taking care of our bodies is an act of stewardship.

... How many Lord of the Rings fans out there? City of Gondor from the outside this guy looks like he's the king, he's part manager part protector. He is the Steward. The King gave him the keys to the kingdom to take care of it while he was gone.

1 Cor. 6:19b-20 You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

... Manage your weakspots. It is not an excuse to say 'that's just the way I am, accept it.'

We take care of our bodies because it is wise.

... Saving for retirement is wise, correct? Those little decisions you make now add up to a quality of life later on. Our lives are the accumulation of all our decisions.

... Parenting examples and the excuses we use to neglect our bodies. Not all cultures are equally good. You are just doomed to feel poorly about yourself (if you follow the Hollywood standard). Since when have we let culture dictate what we as Christ followers do?

... When you and I are irresponsible about our bodies now, we burden the ones we love.

The Spirt of God will give you everything you need to do what he is calling you to do.

2 Tim 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

... We are not animals. We are not slaves to our urges and appetites. Loving God, not a cruel God. He promises to meet us in the middle.

Three things to get started:
admission,
assistance,
accountability.

Starting a lifeline here in September called Body & Soul to go on this journey together.

We are accountable to a creator who gifted us this body ... do something good with it.

... Pastor Dan takes back the mic after Troy's ending prayer. See you at the park next week.

Announcements from the Bulletin

Humble Pie Notes

My notes from today's message at Westside Family Church Online Campus

Life Apps - Week 4
Humble Pie - Jimmy Nickelsen
James 4:1-11


Big Idea for the series:  God offers the wisdom you need, download it, use it.

Pastry filled with the entrails and organs of slaughtered animals ... basically hot dogs.  :)

Jimmy telling his story ... being his own boss as a plummer.

Make sure you can fulfill the promises that your making ... the little voice in the back of his head. 

Relationships stretched to the breaking point ... heading for a train wreck.

He was cracking under the pressure, he cracked, it was crushed, end of dream. 

James 4.6 - opposes the proud, grace to the humble

Today’s Big Idea:  “God’s plan A: humility   God’s plan B: humiliation"

1. God loves you enough to oppose you.

Proverbs 8:13b  ...I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

... I had stretched everyone around me ... evil behavior, nothing uplifting ... this verse applied to me. 

Leviticus 26:19  I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the earth beneath you like bronze.  (Holman Christian Standard)

... God will oppose your work and dry up your resources in order to get your attention. 
... Humble Pie app is the bell at the back of your head dinging ... the idiot light on your dashboard.  God's trying to get your attention.  Stop, slow down, read the road signs (Danger!)

What's this look like in real life?  Fewer friends, and the friends you have left are perhaps telling you you're drinking too much.  You're not sleeping enough.  Feel like God is judging you. 

Luke 14:11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

... Back to the basics.  Own those bad behaviors. 

2. Win through daily humble choices.

Luke 14:8-10  “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.

... parable that talks about daily choices.  Choose the cheap seats, not the box seats. 

Philippians 2:3-4  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own  interests but each of you to the interest of others.

... Pay attention to the little things.  Small steps of obedience. 

Romans 12:10  Be devoted to one another in love.  Honor one another above yourselves.

... God does not guarantee a result that we will like.  No expectation of a reciprocating response.  Trust Him to lift you up. 

3.  Trust God to do the lifting.


Isaiah 66:2  These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word.

... contrite=broken, teachable

... Back to the end of the story.  End of Jimmy's dream.  Talking to an attorney, who advised he file bankruptcy.  Scary moment before the bankruptcy judge.  Judge said: I'll be seeing you again ... I know your type.  Something hit Jimmy, that shattered his crust.  He did not like that judge because he saw through him.  There is another Judge, his name is Jesus, and he knows your type. 

Jesus is the Judge!  He knows your type.

... We are all built to need praise, love and respect.  Need to be held and validated.  But we must look in the right direction and trust God to do the lifting. 

Philippians 2:8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!

... God lowered himself to be with us (as Jesus).  How do you tell the difference between a good shepherd and a bad shepherd.  He smells like his sheep.  He got stinky for us and endured the shame of the cross but before that he walked in humility among us.  He was the lowest, and lifted up the highest.  Trust God to do the lifting up. 

... God's plan for us is humility. 

Choose Plan A!

Prayer:  You are the hope that we have.  Turn toward God.  Look to God and trust Him with all your heart.  Jesus, we love you, we pray to you and in your perfect name, Amen.