During the Christmas season, like no other time of the year, people seem to be drawn to the eternal. We seem to be pulled toward the supernatural. Most of us down deep are tired of living in the natural world and when we think about Christmas and the miracle of Jesus Christ, we are drawn to it. The Bible explains it to us in Ecclesiastes 3:11 when it states, “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.” We have the baby Jesus born in a cave with the angels worshipping Him and the angels knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that this little defenseless baby is the creator of the universe. And God Himself tapped the angels on the shoulder and allowed them to bring this message to a group of just ordinary, hard working shepherds.
Luke 2:10. “But the angel said to them…” I want to talk to you about angels because there is a lot of misinformation and a lot of muddy stuff going around concerning these beings. I have made up an acrostic out of the word angel. Write that vertically on the back of your bulletin. A stands for aware. Angels are aware of what is going on in our lives. I Corinthians 4:9 states that we are a spectacle to angels. This word spectacle refers to an arena where a play, a drama or an athletic event is going on and people watch. The Bible says that angels watch us live our lives. Jesus said in Matthew 18:10 that each one of us is assigned a guardian angel the moment we are born.
A couple of years ago some good friends were traveling with me in a van. We were in a small town called Port O’Connor, Texas. The speed limit was 20 mph. We were heading to a restaurant and suddenly we saw a truck, traveling about 80 miles per hour, run through an intersection without stopping.
So, God added the vision. Then he added something else. He can’t just stop at vision. It’s fine to talk about vision, but he also added something else. He added leaders. Vision plus leaders, difference makers. When the church brought me here, it was just starting. I was the only staff member. We had a rented typewriter and were meeting in rented facilities.
A small group of people looked at me and they said, “Ed, how are you going to do this church when you are the only staff member? How?”
It was a great question. I said, “You know what? You’re going to be my staff. That’s right. You’re going to be the staff of Fellowship of Las Colinas. I mean, I can’t pay you. We don’t have the money, but you’re going to be the staff.”
They looked around and Preston said, “Me?” I said, “Yes, Preston, you.”
Doris was like, “I’m working in the corporate world.” I said, “Yeah, Doris.”
Owen told me, “I have an insurance company.” I said, “Yes, Owen.”
I said, “You’re going to be the staff. You all are the staff.”
“Okay,” they said, “that’s cool.”
I said, “You know, we’re going to make some decisions here. We need to commit not to miss a Sunday (because at that time we only had church on Sunday). We need to commit to attend every Sunday morning for the next 18 months. We’ve got to get this thing off the ground and going. We’ve got to become autonomous and self-supporting. We’ve got to do it. I’m willing to do it, are you?”
And they responded, “Yes.”
Is that unbelievable? I mean, you are talking about awesome leaders? Many, many others are here too, but I’m talking about Owen, Doris and Preston. The commitment level was huge. Leaders—they owned the vision and they still own the vision. They put flesh beneath the vision. It’s so important to understand that principle, because every time God adds a vision, he adds it to the lives of leaders.
Look at verse 9. After he had killed the lion and messed around in Timnah, he decides to go back into the vineyard to check out his trophy. Maybe he wanted to show some of his friends the lion that he had killed. The Bible says that he walked over to the carcass. He heard the sound of bees. “So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went.” Now in order to do that, he had to touch something dead. He just broke the second of the Nazarite vows. Can’t you just see this guy, covered with the honey he was eating, walking on home? And when he got home the Bible says that he gave some of the honey to his parents but that he didn’t tell his parents where he got the honey. I love what old Warren Wiersbe says. “Samson was a man of faith, but he was not a faithful man.” Everything was exterior, wasn’t it? Everything was up front. There was nothing down deep.
So in verse 10, he decides to throw a party. He is going to have a big bachelor party and none of his Israelite friends, if he had any, even came to this party. His parents did. They were nice enough to go along to the Philistine city. In Biblical times, most people would get married at the groom’s household, but because Samson’s parents were against the marriage, they went ahead and did the deal in the Philistine country.
And women, you thought that soap operas, talk shows and romance novels were exciting. They can’t touch this stuff. They can’t come near it, can they? Samson throws this big feast. Underline the word feast in verse 10. In the Hebrew, it means a drinking bout. Here again, the Nazarite vow comes into play. I don’t get a picture of Samson during this bachelor party standing in the corner sipping Perrier and lime, do you? No. Samson was doing the drinking thing.
If you missed last weekend, you missed something that we have never done before at the Fellowship Church. We brought on this stage a live sheep. And the sheep bahhhhed at the right time. The sheep was really cool. I had never been that close to a sheep before. It was a lot of fun. But you should have seen what happened back stage. Pastor Owen Goff had this sheep on a leash. He said, “Pastor Ed, I am going to walk this sheep before the service so he can do his business.” So he had the sheep was walking back and forth outside. Then Owen let him inside and the sheep tried to eat some electrical cords. He got him away from the cords but then he tried to eat some plants. Then one of our staff members gave the sheep an Altoid. The sheep looked up and said, “curiously strong.” No, he didn’t speak. But a sheep will eat anything.
Human beings will try anything. “Oh, I had better taste this. I have got to experience this. I have got to check this out.” Even though we know that doing some things one time can be addictive, destructive or even deadly. Yet, we serve a Shepherd, a God who has been there, a God who has paved our paths, who has forged our future. He is a God who is preparing diligently some pastures so that we may experience amazing grazing.
I thank God for all the times that I have seen Him protect me. But I also thank God for those times that I don’t even know about. I thank Him for all of those times when He has gone ahead of me and gotten all of those plants out of the way so Ed Young can have amazing grazing without any poisonous grasses or weeds around.
I love what the writer of Hebrews said. Hebrews 4:15. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet was without sin.” You never know the full force of temptation until you resist it. Christ knows the full force of temptation like we will never know it.
We have changed worship times and worship styles. We have changed a bunch. I think that we have the most flexible, friendly church that I have ever seen. You guys are incredible. I cannot believe the change that you have experienced and adapted to in a mighty, mighty way. It takes flexible people to grow a fantastic church. We are flexible.
There is a tendency, which will be especially true for us when we move to the new house, to become more inflexible, to do life and church in a rut, to slowly get inside the box. But God has shown me over the years that He is a flexible, rut-ruining, outside-the-box God. You will not find an inflexible, in-a-rut, inside-the-box follower of the Lord in the Bible. They are not there. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, even Jesus himself—they were flexible, always stretching, always doing different and new things. So I will prepare you now. We have to become more and more flexible. It takes flexibility to continue to do what God wants us to do within our purpose statement, to worship Him, to evangelize those without Him, and to disciple those who have just made a personal commitment. So, flexibility is foundational.
The fourth lesson that I have learned is that creativity is a crucial component in the church. People have asked me, “Ed, did you guys plan this style and plan this church?” No, we did not. I had no idea eight years ago what our church would look like and how we would be doing church. As long as the church is Biblically-driven, the style doesn’t matter. Certain churches attract specific people. Certain people are attracted to a certain style. But we must keep the Bible as our authority. But having said that, I sincerely feel that any time Christians get together, sharing and worshipping, we should be the most creative people around.
Lisa’s family, on the other hand, you talk about organized? Her dad would get the AAA road maps out and highlight the route months in advance. He would know where they would stop and what they would eat. He even knew how long they would stay at a particular tourist attraction. As you can imagine, when we planned our first vacation, we had organization frustration.
Moses dealt with organization frustration. If you have ever dealt with it, you are in great company. Big Mo dealt with it. Whenever I talk to you about organization, I want you to remember what organization is. This is very important. It’s key if we are going to hit the sweet spot. Organization is a decision based on a process. Let’s say that together… organization is a decision based on a process. Let’s look at a four-word process of order and organization through Moses’ life.
If you are taking notes, the first word I want you to write down is the word “realize.” Moses realized that he needed some serious help. We all have to realize that. I need some help in my own life organizationally. If we are going to be honest here, so do you. We need help. Realize that. That’s what Moses did.
Let’s turn our Bibles to Exodus 18:13-16. Moses was experiencing organization frustration. He was trying to lead two million Jews to the Promise Land. He was God’s man of the hour, but he was messed up organizationally. Look at verse 13, “The next day, Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people. They stood around him from morning until evening. When his father-in-law, (His father-in-law was Jethro) saw all that Moses was doing for the people, (see he wasn’t doing it for God, he was doing it for the people), he said, Moses, what is this you are doing for all these people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” What and why?
The writer of Colossians puts it this way in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do”—I mean, if you take care of toddlers, build homes, program computers, whatever you do—“work at it with all of your heart”—Be tenacious about it. Be passionate about it. Be focused about it—“as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Well, as we continue, we need to come up with a working definition of worship. What is worship? We all worship. Every single person on the planet worships something. Worship is to be intensely passionate about someone or something. Henry used to worship that car. I have seen a lot of people in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area worship cars. You have seen them too. They don’t like bow down to the car. They worship it. They are intensely passionate about this thing. I have seen people worship someone they date or worship a wardrobe, or worship their portfolio, or worship a house. What does God say? God says throughout the pages of scripture, “Don’t waste your worship. Don’t waste your worship.”
Worship, friends, is not a noun. It is a verb. There is activity involved. So, if you know Jesus Christ personally, if you have bowed the knee to him, if you have a personal connection with the Lord, you do not come to Fellowship Church for worship. I will rewind on that one because some of you missed it. If you are a Christian, you do not come to Fellowship Church for worship. Instead, if you have downloaded this properly, this worship and work intersection, instead, you come to Fellowship Church worshipping. Worship transcends every area of your life; thus, when you come, you are already worshipping. It’s just highlighting and underscoring what your lifestyle is all about. You are being obedient to Hebrews 10:25 which tells us to “Gather together regularly with other believers.” It tells us not to forget that. Don’t treat it flippantly or casually. Be here for corporate worship. But Christians should come worshipping, not for worship.
They are jealous of other doctors. Homemakers aren’t jealous of actresses. They are jealous of other homemakers. Pastors aren’t jealous of salesmen. They are jealous of other pastors. Jealousy will lead you to a lousy life. It will breed discontent. It will silence your applause. And every time we refrain from applauding, we are just slapping God in the face. We are saying, “God, you are not a generous God. You are not a gift-giving God, not a blessing God because I want it just for me.” See the contrast between joy and jealousy? There was joy going on in the house but the older brother stayed outside the house in jealousy.
Let’s look at the next contrast. It is the contrast between forgiveness and bitterness. Forgiveness and bitterness. The older brother was jealous and angry and that led into a feeling of bitterness. Yet the father was forgiving. Let’s pick up the text. Luke 15:28. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in….” He couldn’t even face his father or his brother. You know what the father did? The same dad who had earlier run to meet his younger son and then thrown him a party, went outside the house and pleads with the older brother, “Son, come in. Son, don’t miss the celebration. Please come in.” I can almost hear him saying to his older son, “It’s sad. It’s a sad, sad situation and it is getting more and more absurd. Why can’t we talk it over? It seems to me that sorry is the hardest word for you to say.” If only this older brother had apologized to his father, to his younger brother, look at the freedom, the adventure, the excitement that he could have experienced. But he stayed near the house, just hearing stuff and calling people, maybe on his cell phone.
As unbelievable as that scenario sounds, many of us do the same thing.
You may have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, but you still feel as though you are bound in a prison cell of poor self-esteem. You have been set free, but you are not experiencing that freedom. You are still chained up.
It is time to get free.
It’s time to experience freedom by living out the abundant life Christ came to give. Allow him to break the chains of your imperfect past, your unrealistic expectations, and your self-imposed standards. Even as Christ-followers, Satan wants to keep us bound to our sins. But Christ has already set you free. So it’s time to leave the jailhouse and live like the free person you are.
#2: I Am Loved
I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
Jeremiah 31:3
Notice that there are no conditions tied to that verse. There are no prerequisites for God’s love.
Many of us grew up thinking that we had to meet certain conditions in order to earn the love of others. We had the impressions that we had to make straight A’s, score the most touchdowns, or do this or that to earn love. God, though, does not place any conditions on his love for us. So when you wake up in the morning, you don’t have to wonder, “Does God love me today? Have I earned his love with a good performance?” The Bible tells us that he has simply drawn us out of loving-kindness.
It’s not about what you can do. It’s not about how good you can be, or how great you can perform in front of everybody. It’s about who you are in the eyes of God. It’s about who you can be through him who loves you perfectly.
If you know it is going to be difficult for you to pay your credit cards off each month, then you need to select option number two. Take out a pair of scissors and cut them up! And then, don’t apply for any more. We get about 50 unsolicited credit card offers every year in the mail.[i] When those offers come, just tear them up.
A good friend of mine is a financial consultant. He had an interesting spin on credit cards that has stuck with me for years. He said, “Ed, you know about the surgeon general’s warning on every pack of cigarettes, right? As far as I’m concerned a similar warning should be required on every credit card issued: “Warning! Overuse can be dangerous to your wealth.”
That is a good warning for all of us. Credit cards, if not used properly, are a danger to you wealth and your family’s future. Don’t let the Plastic People Eaters rob you of your financial freedom. Begin today to take the necessary steps to escape the clutches of the credit card monster. If you don’t, it will eat you alive!
The Media Monster
Another manifestation of the Creature from the Cash Lagoon is the Media Monster. If you’ve ever been to Times Square in New York or have seen it on television, then you can probably picture the mass advertising that is present there. Everywhere you turn in Times Square you see neon lights, ticker tape LCDs, and big screen billboards that broadcast advertisements for every product ranging from shoes to soft drinks, and from clothing to cars. Times Square is the epicenter of commercialism.
What’s the drive behind all of these commercials and advertisements? Why do advertisers expend so much time, energy and money coming up with these creative angles and ideas? They do it for one reason, and one reason only—to get us to spend money. Advertising is all about selling you more stuff you don’t need. And the Media Monster uses our desire for more, more, more to pull us out of the zone and in the Land of Ing.
