God Every Time example essay topic

Doing good? We " ve been here since sept. and people always ask what have you been doing. WE " ve been trying to fit in. We " ve stopped saying yall. Plural. We " ve started using utensils.

Potholes, you have obstacle courses In cindy we drive the speed limit. I'm thinking we vote to have ish printed on the speed limit signs. Accent. People ask us how its going? How are things for the new church coming along. Let me tell you.

We learned a few weeks ago that the financial support we would receive from our sponsoring organizations was a little bit less than we'd expected. 10's of thousands of dollars less. The day I found out I began furiously running numbers. How can I make this work. Do I call my mommy? I'm 31 years old and my mother still gives me lunch money.

I know I'm spoiled, but its true, if I'm at home in Cincinnati, my mother will just slip me a twenty. Mom, I wonder if I could get a 50 year advance on my lunch money. I wanted to fix it but I couldn't. We were just plain short ten's of thousands of dollars.

I prayed. God, I'm not sure what to do here. I prayed and prayed but I didn't really feel any better. I read my Bible. All the verses I could remember about God providing for his people and God being faithful, but honestly it didn't really provide much comfort. And then I did something I'm almost embarrassed to tell you.

I was desperate to hear from God and so I flipped through my Bible and asked God to speak to me. I landed on John 6. "Jesus Saw a large crowd coming and asked phillip where will we find enough food to feed all of these people. Hah-I thought kind of like us launching this church. WE " ve got this crowd coming on launch day, and we don't have enough money to buy the equipment we need to resource these people spiritually. John 6: ?

"Jesus asked this only to test him, because he already knew what he was going to do". I wondered. "Is this verse for me?" Jesus has allowed this lack of funds to happen to test us, and he already has in mind what he's going to do". I started to feel a little better.

A little more confident and I read on. Phillip said, Lord it would take eight months wages to feed all of these people. And it was then that it occurred to me that the amount of the money we needed was exactly eight months of our staff salaries. [twilight theme song] And that's how its going. We work. We run into seemingly insurmountable obstacles. God sweeps in at the last minute and saves the day. if you ever doubt whether or not God is real, whether or not God really cares, whether or not God really is faithful, my advice to you is maybe you should start a church, because it really feels like God is with us.

It really feels like God is looking over our shoulder all the time ready to step in when we need Him And that's what I'd like to talk about today. The idea that God is with us. You know this past summer my daughter was throwing a ball into the air. Over and over she looked up in the sky and threw it up. She asked me why God didn't catch the ball. Have you ever felt like God was a far off God?

In the OT, people viewed God as this far off God. He lived in the temple. He hung out on mountaintops. He dealt with people through prophets and burning bushes and plagues. He's this transcendent, unapproachable, far off God.

700 years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah uttered these words and in Matthew 1: 23 the angel repeated these words to Joseph " Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, 'God with us. ' ' Jesus means God is close to us. Jesus means God is approachable and that He's not some detached, distant and disinterested deity, And that truth seems pretty simple but it has huge implications for how we live our lives. And that's what I'd like to do with the rest of our time this morning is look at three implications for the fact that God is Immanuel. The first one is kinda scary: EVERY TIME WE blow it, GOD KNOWS IT. And that's sobering truth.

Someone forwarded this email to me about the dumbest crooks in America. I don't usually read forwards, but this was good Jamie O'Donnell stole a car and headed North. Somewhere between Austin and Arkansas he picked up a hitchhiker. When he reached Virginia, stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom.

When he came back out the car was gone. That's right, stolen car was stolen again, this time by the hitchhiker. His problems were further complicated when he called the cops to report the heist. It didn't take them long to figure out Jamie was the first thief. And it didn't take them long to find the second thief, either. They " re both under arrest for stealing the same car.

Two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck. Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, though, they pulled the bumper off their truck. Scared, they left the scene and drove home. With the chain still attached to the machine. With their bumper still attached to the chain. With their vehicle's license plate still attached to the bumper.

I was reading these stories and thinking, 'Anybody would have to be dumb to be a thief! Don't they know that eventually they " re going to get caught?' AND THEN IT HIT ME. How often do you and I fool ourselves into thinking that we " re getting away with something in our lives? How many times do we think, what really matters is whether or not we get caught. I think we tend to have the notion that its not about whether we have character or not, its just about whether we got. You know what's at the beginning of every racist joke?

As if its OK to tell a racist joke as long as they don't hear us. We " re like Moses, in Exodus 2: 12 says 'he looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian. ' He looked this way and that, But do you know what? He never looked up. we run personal errands on company time, Or we tell our wife we got caught in traffic Or we spread a little gossip, Or we pocket some work supplies and say, 'We " ll never get caught. No one's going to find out Guys, ULTIMATELY WE DON'T GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING!

Hebrews 4: 13 says: 'Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. ' Isn't that kind of a scary truth? Maybe it's a helpful truth too. Maybe if we really get the fact that God is with us all the time, maybe it would have a positive impact on the way we live our lives. Because here's what I've noticed in my own life.

Even when I'm not so concerned about looking up, even times in my life when I've doubted whether or not anyone was ever really up there looking down or not. I still have to look in the mirror. And there's something in me that says I don't want to live a life of moral mediocrity. I don't want to look in the mirror and know that the guy I'm looking at is less than the guy I show to other people day in and day out. So for me this God watching over me concept is not so much scary, its helpful, because it helps me become the man that I really want to be. It affects how I surf the internet.

It affects whether or not I tell the truth. It affects the way I fill out my taxes. The second implication of Immanuel is this: EVERY TIME WE STRUGGLE, GOD understands IT. And that's encouraging. You see, Jesus isn't just 'God with us' in that He has proximity to us, but He also is with us in the sense of actually having become a man-flesh and blood.

So He's 'God with us' in the sense of being knit together with us by the common experience of walking the earth and living life. He knows what its like. Rocko the gorilla had lived with his owner, St eve Ruhan for ten years in a 10 x 10 x 10 cage. Now when rock was a baby gorilla that cage was huge. He had plenty of room to run around and swing from the bars, but when rock reached 390 pounds the cage got a little small and so Steve Ruhan donated rock to the local zoo. The zoo had a number of gorillas already and was well known for their huge simulated African habitat for gorillas.

The zoo and Steve drove with Rocko up to the habitat and opened Rocko's cage. All this freedom and wildlife was before him. Rocko didn't budge. They laid some food outside the cage.

Rocko cowered in the corner. Steve had raised rock for ten years-new him intimately and tried to coax him out of the cage. No, Rocko didn't move until another gorilla, Theo interested in what was going on came over to the cage. He poked around for a bit and then went inside. Rocko and Theo had a little gorilla conversation.

Now I don't know what they talked about. I don't speak primate, but I'm guessing that Theo told rock, "you don't have to be afraid. This place is awesome. Trees and grass and they feed us three times a day and man you ought a see some of the girl gorillas, you " ll go bananas.

I don't know what Theo said but after a few minutes Theo grabbed rock by the hand and they walked out together. Nothing worked until one of his own kind, somebody who was like him and could understand what it was like to be a gorilla came into the cage. So what's the point? Jesus is like a gorilla. Jesus came into our cage -- He became a man. And because of living among us, He understands us.

He relates to us., if we " re feeling REJECTED, Jesus can relate because He has been spit upon and mocked. When we " re feeling BETRAYED, Jesus can relate because at His biggest time of need, His best friends abandoned Him. When we " re mourning the loss of a loved one, Jesus can relate because He was moved to tears by the death of His friend Lazarus. When we " re tied in knots by anxiety, Jesus can relate because He didn't just sweat bullets, he sweat blood before His crucifixion.

When we " re tempted, Jesus can relate. : 'For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ' Then listen to verse 16: 'Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. ' Hebrews 4: 15 No matter what it is, Jesus may not have experienced the exact circumstance but there is no doubt he has felt the emotion. He understands. Before I move on to this third implication.

I think his message would probably be like Theo's message too. Guy, I've come into your cage. And I know it's a little scary to think about leaving your home-the only place you " ve known. The place you grew up, but I've been to a better place. My home is an amazing place, its beyond what you can imagine since you " ve been living in a cage all your life. Hold my hand, trust me, I understand what you " re going through.

I'll take you to a better place. Now that's some good theology there folks. Pastor said Jesus is like a gorilla. And, finally, the third implication of Immanuel is this: EVERY TIME WE SACRIFICE FOR HIM, GOD HONORS IT.

And that's motivating! Gym at our last church. Somebody had left a bunch of kickball's out. So here I am, nobody around, in the gym, kickball's on the floor.

What would you do? So from one side of the gym I kick this ball and it goes up and up and right into the basket on the other side of the gym. I couldn't believe it. So I'm patting myself on the back and trying to figure out if I should go out for professional basketball or soccer and then it dawns on me-no body saw it.

The most incredible athletic event ever and nobody was there to see it. Have you ever felt that way about some of the good things you " ve done. You go to the nursing home and encourage family member-nobody sees it. You put in extra time at work to provide well for your family-nobody sees it. You " re a great mom and you sacrifice career and sleep and time and so much to try and shape your children in just the right way-and nobody sees it. Well one of the cool things about Immanuel is that if God is with us no sacrifice you make.

No good thing you do goes unnoticed by God Every time you sacrifice short-term pleasure in order to obey God Every time you swallow your pride and forgive an enemy Every time you " re in a hurry but you pause to commit an act of kindness Every time you'd rather relax but instead you get elbow-deep in the life of a hurting person; Every time you could be making big bucks by working overtime but you choose to put your family first. Every time you take a next step in your spiritual life and you " re not sure if God notices. He does. Every time you make those kinds of sacrifices and you think that nobody else notices -- GOD NOTICES. And God keeps track. And the Bible says that God rewards you.

Proverbs 11: 18 says, 'He who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. ' MK 10: 29 'I tell you the truth,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields -- and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come. Galatians 6: 9 says, 'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ' I know its hard sometimes when people don't notice all of the ways that you serve them. I know that people take us for granite. I know that sometimes we can even get to feeling like God doesn't notice.

We pray and we pray and we serve and we serve and we still loose the job. Or we still get sick. But the good news about Immanuel is that we can imagine Jesus standing over your shoulder and cheering you on and saying, 'You just wait. Wait for the day when I settle your account, because you will reap a sure reward. What does Immanuel mean? Let me close with a story.

I was eight years old and went with my friend will pierce to his birthday party. It was the coolest eight year old birthday party ever for a couple of reasons. First, we got to go to King's Island with him. Now that was cool, but what was even more cool is that in the van on the way there Will started begging his Dad to let us walk around by ourselves.

Now we were eight years old and will's dad flat said no, but will started throwing a fit. He begged and begged and finally his Dad said OK. So the second reason Will's party was so cool is that we were eight years old and set free in King's island to do what we wanted. So we log flumped and rollercoaster d and waffle coned and everything, all day long without any uncool parents around. I saw Will years later in high school and we were reminiscing about that party and I was telling him how cool I thought it was that his Dad let us do that. Turns out will's Dad told him a couple of years later that he'd followed us around all day-he ate when we ate.

He rode rides when we did. All day long he was watching over us. Now, was it good parenting-not necessarily, but it reminds me that God is always watching over my shoulder. Whether I realize it or not. Whether I believe it or not. Whether I let it affect my decisions or my words or my actions.

Whether I like it or not God is always with me. As we close today, we want to invite you to experience with us the truth that God is with us. He's not some far off God, but he loves us. As you watch this video just remember; : EVERY TIME YOU Blow it, GOD SEES IT. SO 'FESS UP. EVERY TIME YOU STRUGGLE, GOD understands IT.

SO OPEN UP. EVERY TIME YOU SACRIFICE FOR HIM, GOD HONORS IT. SO KEEP IT UP.