Brian "pb" Brijbag

“Three Little Pigs” (1 Cor 3:10-15)

Once upon a time there were three little pigs whose mother said to them, “It is time for you to go out into the big world to build your homes and to seek your fortunes”.

 

The Had a Mission … To Build.

 

The decision before all of us as builders of our life is whether we will build quickly without quality and wind up with a house that can easily be blown away or are we going to build steadfastly, line upon line, precept upon precept, building a house that cannot be blown away, made of materials that will endure?

 

How are you building your life?

 

The first little pig did not like hard work, so he quickly built his house out of straw. He built it on the soft sand. He finished that same day. That night he was lying in his hammock satisfied with himself for finishing so quickly, looking forward to a lazy life of leisure.

 

The first little pig is like a Christian who is not concerned about putting effort into building his spiritual life.

 

What are you doing to build your spiritual life?

 

If you are not putting 100% into your relationship with the Lord… If you are not working at building your life and faith…

Then you will reap what you sow. If you are just doing enough to get by that is all you will do–GET BY.

 

The second little pig took one look at the palm shack of the first little pig and decided to build his house out of Sticks. “My Stick house will look tons better than his palm branch shack!”

 

This little pig is more concerned about appearances than responsibility and obedience.

 

So he builds his house with sticks in the middle of a lovely little valley. It doesn’t take him much longer than it took the first little pig. But it looks so much better, he is satisfied with himself. That night he lies on his cot feeling happy with himself for building something so good looking.

“I built my house of Sticks I built my house so
fine. With a hey diddle diddle He played on His
fiddle, and danced for a very long time!”

 

The second pig knows that he should have built a stronger house, but doesn’t want to spend the extra time, money and effort to do it right.

 

What are you doing to build your spiritual life well?

 

The third little pig was a sober little pig.

He had decided to build his house out of cement blocks on a solid foundation. It took him a long time

and the work was difficult and tedious. But the third little pig was looking forward to the peace and comfort of a strong, sound home.

So, slap, slap, slap, away he worked Laying bricks and mortar.

 

What are the bricks of your life?
(What are the building blocks?)

 

What is your mortar?
(What is holding it together?)

 

As Christians we need to build our lives with God’s building blocks.

 

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15

 

This scripture is saying that we can strengthen our life by using the Word of God.

 

The third little pig used mortar to hold his house together. The Holy Spirit is like mortar in our spiritual life.

 

His ministry is to teach us and bind God’s words to our hearts.

 

“ But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26John 14:26
English: World English Bible - WEB
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

 

How are you doing in building and reinforcing your spiritual house? Is it ready?

When the Storms of Life or the Big Bad Wolf blows will your house still stand, or will be saved only by the hair of your chinny chin chin?

“The Tea Bag Experience” (Romans 12:1-2)

Change

Half of you just tuned me out.

Stick with me.

Perhaps you have found yourself discontent with your life.
Maybe you have had feelings of doubt or feelings of inadequacy.

Perhaps you have found yourself asking questions like,
“Why am I going through so many trials and temptations?”
Maybe you are feeling defeated in your Spiritual walk.

Our text suggests that the Process of change is progressive and on-going and it tells us why we need to change as well as what our responsibility is in the change process.

First Statement: The Process of Change is a progressive process initiated at Salvation and completed after our physical death.

Consider a tea bag.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the process, what you do is open the outer wrapper of the tea bag to expose the actual tea bag itself. Next, you put the teabag into a cup and you add hot water. As the teabag sits in the hot water, the flavor of the tea seeps into the water. The longer the bag sits in the water, the more of the flavor that will be drawn out and exposed into the water. If you taste the Tea and you don’t like the flavor, you don’t change the type of water. If you want a different flavored tea, then you must use a different teabag. The hot water is merely the catalyst for drawing out the flavor of the teabag. The contents of the teabag determine the flavor of the tea.

Our Christian lives are like that in some respects. God allows Hot Water experiences to surround us and draw out the flavor of the heart. As we find ourselves in difficult or strange situations, God shows us who we are and what we need to change about who we are. God reveals the true desires of our heart. He illuminates unbiblical thinking. He exposes un-Christ-like thinking. His expectation is that we will learn from these situations and be transformed into a Christ-like humble servant.

But how often do we miss the point?

Second Statement: The purpose of this change is to make us suitable for God’s uses in His work.

We need to understand that as a part of our human nature, we are self-centered and self-righteous in our thinking and in our actions. Often times, we ignore the fact that God has been at work throughout history. What we see is only our lives and we feel as if we have to do God’s work or it won’t get done. The fallacy in this thinking is that we believe that God ‘needs’ us to accomplish anything. This simply is not true. God has been working eternally. He never stopped working. We just simply have been out of tune with God, and therefore, we haven’t seen him at work. Today, across the globe, God will be working in church services, at jobsites, in the lives of many people in many cultures. God is at work and He will accomplish His plans.

As we are faithful in the small things, He prepares us for larger things.

Third Statement: The persons of change describe both man’s part (surrender) and God’s part (salvation).

Now, we get to the meat of what we are to do.

The point here is that God doesn’t want us to be conformed or shaped by this world. We have the choice of allowing the world to shape who we are and to some extent, we all are shaped by our culture. Everyday, we are being programmed by TV commercials and TV shows. We are told by magazines that we need to accept our bodies that we need to be sexier, smarter, richer, liked by all those around us. These things do shape who we are. Our text tells us that we need to recognize that the world is trying to shape us and instead of allowing the world to conform us to its image, we should instead allow God to transform our minds. God wants us to surrender our minds to Him.

We renew our minds by reading the Scriptures, meditating on them, memorizing them and applying them to life situations.

Dumping out the garbage and junk that our society throws at us and filling our minds with the things of God.

The Biblical concept of change takes into account that change is ongoing, the goal of change is to become a Christ-like humble servant to be used by God to accomplish His will, and our part is surrender of our body, mind and will while God’s part is justification and sanctification.

We are placed in hot water situations to draw out the undesirable flavors in our lives. This is not the action of a cruel God, rather this is the action of a just God who loves us and wants to give us a more abundant life. We choose how to react to those situations.

When God puts you in hot water situations, what do you choose?

“What to do with Dirty Feet” (Mark 10:35-45)

“The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.” – Dwight L. Moody

Servant leadership – when a leader humbles him or herself to be on the same level as those who are served.

We see in verses 37-38 that James and John asked Jesus if they could be his right and left hand men. Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask.” He basically told them that he was not the one who decided who sat on his right and on his left in the kingdom, only God the Father could do that.

In verse 38 Jesus asked James and John if they were able to drink the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism that he would. The cup is a metaphor for suffering in Isaiah chapter 51. Baptism is a metaphor for being plunged into calamity in Psalm 42:7Psalm 42:7
English: World English Bible - WEB
7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

and 69:1. Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate act of servanthood in history. Jesus did a service to mankind that can never be repaid. He saved the world from its sins. When Jesus asked this question of James and John, he was demonstrating to them that greatness is achieved through service.

Who do you serve?

When Jesus asked this question he was expecting to hear them reply with the word “no,” because no one would or could sacrifice themselves as he would. No one can save the world from its sins. He received a very cocky answer from them though. James and John replied, “We are able.” When they told Jesus that they were able to do what Jesus would, they demonstrated their prideful attitude that would hinder them from servanthood.

How is your attitude right now?

In verses 39-40 Jesus basically told them, “Yup, I guess you can suffer like I can, but that’s not going to win you any favor in my Father’s kingdom.” You see, “They believed that they could endure a little hardship if Jesus would grant them seats of power and corner offices.” If they suffered like Jesus, it would have been for the wrong reason. They wouldn’t be suffering out of love for Christ, but out of the hope of reward.

Why do you serve?

Jesus uses himself and his own acts of service as an example for others to follow. Whenever we desire to understand servant leadership, we can turn to Jesus for advice. Take for example Jesus’ foot washing in John chapter 13.

 “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”
John 13:3-5John 13:3-5
English: World English Bible - WEB
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and was going to God, ⁴ arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

 

Jesus knew that he had all the power of the universe in his hands, but he did not use the power in those hands to inflict control over his disciples. He instead got up and washed his disciples’ feet.

“For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” John 13:15John 13:15
English: World English Bible - WEB
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Jesus exemplified servant leadership, and his is a model we should follow.

Six main points of servant leadership:

“Servants lead out of relationships, not by coercion.”

“Servants lead by support, not by control.”

“Servants lead by developing others, not by doing all the ministry themselves.”

“Servants guide people, not drive them.”

“Servants lead from love, not domination.”

“Servants seek growth, not position.”

Will you strive to serve others?

If we serve our fellow Christians and build them up through encouragement and guidance in the Word, then instead of a select few doing the ministry, others will be equipped and enabled to minister. If we serve those who are not Christians, then we can show them the love of Christ through deed, and allow them see that Christians are indeed a peculiar people. An attitude of servanthood is peculiar to this world.  They don’t understand it.

How peculiar are you striving to be?

“Camouflaged Christian” (Peter 1:13-16)

Don’t Conform.

Conform or suschematizo { soos-khay-mat-id’-zo} in the greek – to fashion one’s self, one’s mind, one’s character to another’s pattern

That definition brings to mind the word Camouflaged

Do you blend into the world around you?

How do we avoid becoming a Camouflaged Christian?
How do we keep from “blending in” with the world?

It’s not a problem when a boat is in the water. The problem is when the water gets into the boat.

In 1989, a book hit the shelves that was destined to become a best seller. It was gear toward giving people the tools they needed to enjoy powerful and effective living. The book is saturated with advice on leadership, life management and relationships, all centered around the “inside-out” concept that old behavior is learned, it is not instinctive. Old habits can be discarded and replaced by new and effective habits.

That book, written by Stephen R. Covey, is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The habits he outlined are

Initiative
Creativity
Productivity
Interdependence
Empathy
Valuing Differences
Consistency

If you were to describe yourself in one word , what would that word be?

BE HOLY. Why? Because God is Holy

How do you know if you are “Holy”?

What habits do you have in your life?

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY HOLY PEOPLE

Habit #1 – Highly Holy People understand Scripture as the guide for their daily lives
Habit #2 – Highly Holy People daily seek God in prayer.
Habit #3 – Highly Holy People are devoted to following Christ no matter what
Habit #4 – Highly Holy People live each day guided by the Holy Spirit
Habit #5 – Highly Holy People are accountable to God’s house and His people
Habit #6 – Highly Holy People are obedient in separating themselves from the spirit of the world
Habit #7 – Highly Holy People seek to serve the body out of thanks to God

If God did not intend for us to be holy people he would not have commanded us to be so. The fact that he gave the command is indication that he has made it possible.

Part of living a life of holiness is developing habits in our lives that are holy.

What habits do you have in your life that lead to holiness?

However, if you try to do these things on your own, you are doomed to fail. Only Christ living in our lives can make holiness a reality for sinful humanity

Because he works from the inside-out

“The Lord works from the inside-out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take the people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human behavior.”
Ezra Taft Benson

How do you keep from becoming Camouflaged?

The World can’t afford for you to be a Camouflaged Christian.

New Website!

New for 2009 is a totally brand spanking new website for FX Ministries!

There is still lots left to do but get started poking around.

Maybe comment something?

– PB