1 Samuel 8:4-11 — Psalm 138 — 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 — Mark
3:20-35
Family Affair
v
Testimonies
1. God does amazing
things through small numbers
2. What does he want
to do through us?
House Divided:
KU
& KState, Lakers & Anyone else, Texas & Texas A&M
v Family
Ø Who is your family?
Ø This passage invites
those that are not blood
§ Into the family
Ø This passage
certainly doesn’t say “Focus on the Family
Ø This passage doesn’t
say turn your back on your family
§ Remember: Mother Mary
was there at the Cross – John 19:25-27
Ø Jesus here brings the
family together
§ Not by nationality,
blood type, or family tree
§ But by the
commonality of doing the will of the FATHER
v
Question is:
Ø
Who
is your family?
§
Are
family ties more important that God?
§
Are
you wanting to wait till your parents die to serve? Luke 9:57-62
Ø
Who
are your peeps?
§
Not
a declaration of blood family, but of commonality.
§
A
declaration of Nationality.
v
Gideon
Ø
A
few months ago my dad mentioned he was working through Judges & had just
passed through chapter 7.
Ø
In
Judges 6, we meet a man named Gideon.
§
Ch
6 says: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into
the hands of the Midianites”.
§
He’s
told by an angel of the Lord that he will lead an army against the Midianites
·
Gideon doesn’t believe it’s God.
¨
Asks for a sign… laying out a fleece
§
Ch
7:2 Lord says: you have too many men, I can’t deliever Midian into their hands,
they’d boast against me
·
Any
who are afraid, may trun and leave (22,000)
§
Ch
7:4 10,000 soldiers left – Lord says: still too many…
·
Separate
those who lap like a dog from those w/hands
·
Keep
those who lap with hands (now total of 300)
§
Ch
7:22 the men in the camp turned on themselves.
v The Big 12
Mark
3:13-19 Jesus calls the 12.
§ What happens after the calling of the 12?
§ What has happened throughout the last 2000+ yrs?
God
took a small few, and did the AMAZING!
§ Through 12, God transformed Human History.
§ Through the 12, God’s story continues to you and me
§ It wasn’t through the most talented
§ It wasn’t through the most schooled
§ It was with a bunch of misfits, outcasts.
·
They didn’t make the
original cut.
·
But God chose them
·
God called them
·
God partnered with
them.
§ God is going to use them
¨ And in a mighty way!
v This passage from Mark 3 makes me think of the song we sang
earlier:
The first
verse says: We may be little, insignificant in the eyes of this world, but
when we realize that God has sent us to the world as blessed
our lives will multiply and grow to fill the needs of others. Our gift is not what we can do but who we are.
our lives will multiply and grow to fill the needs of others. Our gift is not what we can do but who we are.
v We may be little. We may be insignificant in the eyes of the
world
§ But God has sent us, and we will multiply & grow
¨ For our own needs?
Ø To fill the needs of others!
v Are we a house divided?
§ Living: in relationship to God
§ Loving: God & others
§ Longing: to see others know God
Ø “Forming Christ like disciples in the Beach Cities”
v Why these stories?
Ø Why the story of Gideon and the Big 12?
§ We are a small congregation.
·
But when we are lead
by God, we can do great things
·
But, we “believe” we
are: chosen, called & partners with the divine!
v Are we a house divided?
§ Or through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT are we a house
united?
Ø What do WE want to do for God?
Ø How do WE want to live?
§ Howe do WE want to impact this world?
v God told Gideon to pare down,
§ so it was seen as his work, not theirs.
v Jesus pulled a bunch of misfits, and flunkies.
v The Holy Spirit empowers us.
§ We are God’s ambassadors.
1. God does amazing
things through small numbers
2. What does he want
to do through us?
Communion Prayer
We
come to the table today: not as individuals.
But as the FAMILY OF GOD.
Holy Father who invites us, bless these cup and this bread
that we are about the receive. May it be for us, the body and blood of your
son, who gave of his life, that we might be called brother and sister. Grant
that we, who are individualistic, might come together in Unity. May we be in
unity of heart and spirit with one another and in unity with you the Holy
Trinity. As we partake of Holy Communion, fill us; mold us into the powerful
spirit filled family you desire us to be.
Amen.
This is the FAMILY DINNER TABLE. COME
& DINE!
v Benediction: Ephesians 3:16-18
As you Go,
May you be United, be of one Mind and do the will of God. Go and Love!
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