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God & I Have This Dream… -2- Sunday, July 26, 2020 Security escorted them out of the courthouse & then he Series: The Life You Always Wanted & God finally got summoned and he got his new middle name. Always Intended When he was leaving, security stopped him at the Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10 (pg. ) front door and said, “You can’t go out these doors. Two Theme: Seek transformation & redemption guys are out there having a fight. It’s dangerous.” At which point he stood tall and said, “It’s OK. I know this pastor, recently retired, who told a story he Danger is my middle name.” promises is true about a family friend who, some time It’s true… really… and aren’t you glad it is? ago, changed his middle name. Because maybe that’s the secret…our hope… I don’t know what his middle name was nor do I maybe the personal change we’re looking for is just a even know the first & last name he didn’t change… name-change away. All I know is he changed his middle name to Danger… Because I know, like me, many of us are often Yes, D.A.N.G.E.R – Danger. disappointed with ourselves… - Sometimes I’m disappointed with how much time I Pastor John says that this friend of the family got to be have wasted and waste still and will never get back. middle-aged and he did not like who he was. - Sometimes I’m disappointed with how contented I am He did not like his boring, play-it-safe, compliant, to be by myself… someone I know – one of you – will never-take-a-risk, wallflower, always Mr. Nice Guy, life. have a trauma or trouble and I will think, “I should at And he thought if people started calling him by his least call,” but I think, “That means a conversation and it middle name, change would happen. might mean work and I don’t have the energy for another person so I’ll do it tomorrow.” Now, a name change is not an instant thing – there are Tomorrow, of course, turns into days and weeks several legal hoops to jump through, requiring at least 2 and then I think, “Now it’s too late. I’m embarrassed.” rubber-stamp visits to a courthouse. - Sometimes I’m disappointed that I haven’t gotten any On his 2nd & last, at which time his new name was further with basics like praying.” be approved, he was last on the docket but the 2 people - Sometimes I’m disappointed that I wasn’t a better dad right before him got into a shouting and shoving match – and I’ll never get another shot.” - Sometimes I’m disappointed I don’t know God better. -3- -4- And even wonder if I know him at all. W/out involving anyone else… you attempt to solve the - Sometimes I look at my wife’s graying hair and am… problem with that person… immediately humbled that she hitched her entire life to And yet, how often do bombs explode on social mine – 1 & only life - and she deserved so much better. media or among families and in communities because we - If only the person I long to be was only a name change have gone to everyone else first… to person, not at all. away…. If only. Sometimes. - Sometimes I am disappointed in us – in the church – If only the people we long to be was only a name change Horizon and the Church, capital C. away…. If only. For all of our grace and love and wonderfully beautiful moments, sometimes… Do you know the benefit of having time… time away… * There’s a verse we learned when we were all time on a horse… 6 or 7 hours on a horse named Bruce young and struggling to stay in the lines with our and the slow side-to-side, gentle rock with little to do but crayons… we learned to call it the Golden Rule… look around and think… It’s kindergarten simple: Treat other people the And then 64 hours in a car with little to do but way we want to be treated. check off one state after another and think… And yet, sometimes I see people who have been in Maybe for the first time since March, I got to think church all their lives… decades and decades of sermons long about the question, “What happens to the Church if and Bible studies and prayer meetings and we don’t we lose Sundays?” seemed to have learned what was so simple in We won’t, of course, they’ll be back… kindergarten. But what if? We can’t seem to find the grace for one another Would the church still be in business… would we that we most certainly want for ourselves. still be… if we lose Sundays? Sometimes. What would we do? What would be the business of the Church if it * There’s a lesson Jesus taught 2 different ways – wasn’t putting on a Sunday every 7 days? you could call this, Lesson #1 on problem solving… Know what it is… the business of Jesus’ Church? Jesus said if someone has hurt you, or you have The redemption of human beings… body, mind, hurt someone else… you go to that person, immediately. spirit & soul… the redemption of human beings. -5- -6- I want to show you something… it’s an idea from God And in all the creative history of God… there is nothing I’ve returned to in the Bible many times… more grand, more glorious, more beautiful than a human It’s very rich, I think. [SLIDE-] being fully redeemed. It’s from a letter… the author wrote: “God saved We are God’s masterpiece. you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a 2) But there is a second word I want you to see [SLIDE] reward for the good things we have done, so none of us It’s the word ‘created’ in the very next sentence. can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He That word, ‘created,’ comes directly out of Genesis has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the chapter 1 – “In the beginning, God created the heaven & good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph. 2:8-10) earth.” [OFF] Now – this should be easy, but it isn’t… it will For a couple minutes, I’d like to ask you to pay attention take a couple minutes… to 2 words that mean a lot… So put your feet up and take a big sip of your 1 – word ‘masterpiece.’ [SLIDE] coffee and hang with me, ready? OK? This letter was written in ancient Greek – and the Greek word there is poiema – it’s where we get our It is true that the Bible says God created out of nothing. English word, ‘poem.’ God didn’t start with a Betty Crocker Instant Earth And in the ancient Greek, it means ‘work of art.’ Kit… he started with nothing. It’s why, in English, we translate it as masterpiece. However, that is not exactly where Genesis starts. It’s a thing of beauty. The second sentence of Genesis, just before God It is the achievement of which someone is most gets to the business of creating, says this: “Now, the earth proud. was formless and empty.” It is the work someone finishes and he stands back Formless & empty… those two very old, very and look and he thinks, “I don’t think I could ever do ancient words together mean chaos… better. This is my master work… my masterpiece.” Formless means wild, a jumbled up mess, a pile of [OFF] Legos mixed with thumbtacks and dynamite and pepper And I want you to notice: That’s what we are. flakes and rust – it means there is no order, no structure, Or, to be more correct… that’s what God is doing no shape at all. & making… we, you & I, are the master work of God. Empty means wasteland… barren… lifeless. -7- -8- Now, what God does in Genesis chapter 1… when God You know, it’s really interesting – for some reason I will starts the work of creating… never understand, people have this desire to ruin great He deals with the chaos and he brings order to it… works of art… First, by giving form, shape, structure to creation- - The Mona Lisa has been damaged several And then by filling its emptiness. times… the worst two were in 1956 when someone threw acid on the painting and in 2009 when a tourist threw a He makes the form of light and dark and then fills that souvenir coffee mug and damaged the painting. form with sun & moon & stars. - Plenty of other paintings have been attacked with He makes the form of water & sky and then fills it knives… dozens of masterpieces slashed w/ knives. with fish and birds. [SLIDE]- 1 of the most famous attacks on a masterpiece He makes the form of sea & land and then fills it happened in 1972 when a deranged man hopped over a animals and humans. railing and started swinging a hammer at Michelangelo’s Pieta – a 500-year-old masterpiece, Mary, holding JC. So Genesis 1 is a majestic picture of how God creates… [SLIDE] The guy hammered off her nose, an eyebrow, He takes chaos and he brings to chaos, order.

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