Going Off Script
Week 5: Reckless Behavior
May 30, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Matthew 5
Listen to Sermon: Reckless Behavior
May 30, 2010 – 1:49 pm
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Tag Archives: sermon on the mount
//Reckless Behavior
//Hungry and Thirsty
May 23, 2010 – 6:00 pm
Going Off Script
Week 4: Hungry and Thirsty
May 23, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Matthew 5
Listen to Sermon: Hungry and Thirsty
Imagine
Describe how you feel when you’ve had a stressful day at work or with the kids, your tired, your hungry and you have gone the past 6 hours without a snack or meal.
Imagine you just got done running 4 miles in the heat of the day in the middle of August. Imagine you just finished working in your yard for the past 4 hours and the weather was 98% humidity and 89 degrees and you have had nothing to drink for the last 4 hours. How would you describe that feeling of unquenched thirst?
Imagine something you crave. Chocolate. Romance. Respect. Love. Friendship. Sex. Pickles and milkshake (if your pregnant). Hope. Meaning. To be heard and noticed. Finding that dream job. Getting your 10 point buck.
How do you feel when this craving goes unsatisfied indefinitely? How do you feel when you finally sink your teeth into that long awaited meal? How do you feel when you finally take the first gulp of that ice cold beverage on a roasting hot day? How do you feel when you finally get that thing you have been craving for so long?
Thoughts from today’s conversation
When you are hungry or thirsty for something it means you don’t have it.
Jesus is looking for a particular kind of person. He’s not looking for one with right answers, right actions, or right image. He’s looking for a person with a particular kind of desire and motivation. God is more interested in what we desire than what we actually do. He’s more interested in what we crave than what we confess.
Everyone measures us by what we do, but God is looking at the core of what motivates us. Why, not what!!
God looks at us and sees the truth of our lives. He sees our lives with his potential. He says there is more in you than you know, there is better in you than you’ve lived.
The moment we become hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the moment you come to God and say, “God I don’t want to be this person. I want to be the person only you can create me to be.” That is a life changing moment.
//Full of it
May 16, 2010 – 1:58 pm
Going Off Script
Week 3: Full of it
May 16, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Matthew 5 - Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the earth.
Listen to Sermon: Full of it
Thoughts from the talk:
Conquers inherit the earth. The affluent inherit the earth. Those with power and position inherit the earth–not the meek? Right!
Meekness is controlled strength. It’s not about losing confidence, or being passive, or lacking power and strength. It’s about capturing it and using it to empower.
What would happen if the meek actually had been running Wall Street?
Sometimes we forget that Jesus is inviting us into a life that isn’t different from his but a life that’s a reflection of his.
“Inherit” implies relationship.
Questions for the soul:
Do you believe you have power? What does that look like for you?
What does it look like for you to use your power (time, resources, family, relationships, money) to empower someone else?
//Walking off a cliff
May 9, 2010 – 1:12 pm
Going Off Script
Week 2: Walking off a cliff
May 9, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Matthew 5 - Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
Listen to Sermon: Walking off a cliff
Thoughts from the talk:
Mourning involves loss and loss involves loving something or someone. If you’ve never mourned then you’ve either never lost anything you have loved or you have never loved anything you’ve lost.
For faith in Jesus to grow it means we take risks. Risks leads to mourning because risking will involve losing at some point. Following Jesus beyond “nice religion or morality” means we will take risks with our heart and resources. Taking risks in faith often feels like we are walking off a cliff into nothingness. This is where we meet God in the most profound ways.
Mourners take risks. They risk safety, they risk what is comfortable, they risk being taken advantage of, they risk what is easy so they can love. Blessed are the mourners for they will be comforted.
Questions for the soul:
Outside of your family relationships, what are you afraid to lose? to risk?
Those who know God, those who are possessed by his kingdom are those who will mourn because of the risks they took loving God and loving his world. Does that disturb you? Comfort you? or Inspire you?
//Poor
May 2, 2010 – 1:01 pm
Going Off Script
Week 1: Poor
May 2, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Matthew 5 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Listen to Sermon: Poor
From the time we were brought into this world we’ve learned that there are just some ways the world works. You grow up, go to school, get a job, try and find love, probably get married, have kids, and pay taxes! This is just how life is supposed to go, right? These expectations of what’s normal act like scripts that we follow. Scripts determine what is normal, or typical, or acceptable behaviors in the flow of life.
Then we come to the life of Jesus and find that he was always going off script. Jesus colored outside of the religious and social lines of what was acceptable behavior in his day. Jesus wasn’t going “off script” just to shock, he was going “off script” to show us what it means to live fully alive and awake to what matters most in this life. For the next 5 weeks we will begin a conversation here at Engage and hopefully a conversation with our Creator about some of the scripts we follow in our lives. We will explore Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 and how He might be inviting us join Him “off script”. Looking for nice safe religious teachings? Looking for the boring, tired, safe, same old-same old way of life? Don’t get to know Jesus! Jesus will disturb your comfort but he comforts the disturbed. Join us as we go “off script” at Engage.
