Godliness

March 1, 2009 - Pastor Don

Sermon title: Godliness

Here is a link to the .mp3 file for you to want to listen to the entire sermon, Godliness download -- or at the very least listen to the opening story. It has to do with the owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks making an offer to WGN Radio Sports Talk Host, D. Maverick.

"My Name is My Birthright"

7 Marks of a Christian:

1.) CONDUCT - 1 Jn2:6

2.) CONCERN - Col 3:1-4; Mt 6:31-33; Phil 4:9

Concern loops back around to conduct

What are my concerns?

3.) COMPASSION - I Jn 3:17 "How can the love of God be in you?"

Compassion costs personally & is outside my wants or needs

4.) CONVERSATION - Mat 12:34 "empty words"

- James 26 "religion worthless"

What and How we speak about something important to us. - was it uplifting? - encouraging? -would we speak it if Jesus were visibly present?

5.) COMFORT - I Thess 4:13; 2 Cor 1:3-4

We receive comfort from God so that we can pass it on / comfort others

6.) CONFIDENCE - Heb 11:6; Gal 3:11

7.) COMMUNION with God / BUILDING Relationship with God - I Jn 1:3

to Know God is very very different than to merely know About God

Following are my notes relating to the sermon and/or sermon points:

The opening story has the comment,

"My Name is My Birthright."

This has a completely different meaning to people who are not adopted. People who are adopted, they lose much that should have been "their birthright", even the 'birthright' of their original name. 5.) COMFORT. The verse in I Thess states that we receive comfort from God so that we can turn around and comfort others when they need it. For some people this is a strength God has already wired them with (similar to compassion). But other people may need to learn how to comfort others.

2.) CONCERN. I had to stop and ask myself... what are my concerns with all the time I spend on-line?

One of my concerns is 'being heard'.

Another concern is for others. I want to encourage others who are struggling or who maybe are/were in a similar situation. I want to support people and help them through the dark times.

I think my biggest concern on-line is change ... Change is so desperately needed! 3.) COMPASSION. I listed this trait last because I think it is a critical trait that is lacking in adoption. In my sermon notes journal I have !*!* next to this trait. Jesus was a powerful man. He healed many people and performed many miracles. Yet he was very much a man of compassion. We see it over and over that when he saw people in need, the story went like this "Jesus saw... and He was moved with compassion" or "He was filled with compassion" or simply "He had compassion on..." Where is the compassion when it comes to adoption? The verse in I John 3 is very strong "How Can the Love of God be in you?' I think that could easily be read 'How can the Love of God possibly be in you? You're interested in only your own self and while you give lip service to the hurting, you are unmoved by their deepest needs ???!!!" So, where IS the compassion when it comes to adoption? What Pastor Don said in his sermon needs repeated ...

"Compassion Costs Personally".

When he said that, the story that came to my mind immediately is one from an AMom. I originally read this article --> http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1317242/article_Black_Kids_in_White_Houses I'm copying most of one paragraph from that article... Pam and her husband, Bill, both white, adopted two black children, Theo and Simone, whose mother, Amanda, . . . had to give them up because she's poor and has been dealing with illness in her immediate family. The . . .cost almost $20,000 each. ". . . There's nothing wrong with her [Amanda]. . . I've thought before, what if I'd just given that money to her?" Yes, Pam, what if you HAD just given that $40,000 to their momma? Or even half that? You would be a hero forever. To me, that would've been the kind of Compassion Jesus talked about. I think that is the kind of Compassion Pastor Don was talking about when he said that Compassion Costs Personally. It seems that Christians have stopped giving without expecting something in return. Could it be that we're lacking Compassion. So, where is the Compassion in Adoption? I often think about the baby girls adopted from China. How many of those girls and young women are now in America. They've lost their natural family, their heritage, their culture. Their chance of ever finding the answers to life's most basic questions (such as 'who do I look like?') will go unanswered. How many have been adopted? What if American Christian women stopped paying the Chinese government to force mothers to abandon their daughters? Instead of encouraging the practice to go on, What if, instead American Christian women would've put that money together over the years and fought against the real human rights issue in China? Now that -- that to me sounds like Compassion. That sounds like Compassion which would Cost Personally. So, tell me, where is the Compassion in Adoption. It isn't there, my friends. Plain and simple. When you peel away the layers, the deep and real motive with adoption is to fill a want by AParents. Compassion would look into the eyes of a child and want to fight to keep that child with his/her natural parents - not take the child away. Give without expecting to receive in return. Godliness is displayed by Compassion. Compassion Costs Personally, it gives without expecting to receive anything in return.