SoulShift

The following is the next sermon in our SoulShift sermon series. enjoy!

 

ILLUSTRATION- I don’t remember much about my grade 10 science class, but I do remember at least 2 things.

            The first thing that I remember is that I liked it so much that I actually took it twice!

            The second thing I remember from my grade 10 science class is what Chris said.

            We had received our grades from an important test.

Apparently he didn’t do very well on this test, because I remember him telling the rest of the class, “I even prayed to God about this test”

            Now, I’m not here to judge him but, I don’t recall him being associated in anyway with the Cause of Christ.

            But he is not unlike countless other people who come to Jesus for all sorts of reasons.

            Some people who come to Jesus do so for valid reasons. Some people truly recognise their need for a Savior, and they surrender their lives over to His Lordship.

            But there are other people who are not so serious. Some people come to Jesus, and use Him as a get out-of-jail-free card.

Some people come to Jesus because they are in a tight spot, and they want Him bail them out.

ILLUSTRATION- This reminds me of the story of a man who fell off a cliff but managed to grab a tree limb on his way down.

            As he was hanging on the branch, looking at the ground below, he looked up and said: “Is there anyone up there?”

Suddenly a Voice from above said: “I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?”

The man replied: “Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe. But, I can’t hang on much longer.”

The Voice responded by saying: “If you really believe, you will be alright. I will save you. Just let go of the branch.”

The man paused for a moment and then yelled up, “Is there anyone else up there?” (http://www.clarklakecommunitychurch.com/LET_GO_OF_THE_BRANCH.pdf)

Many people come to God for many different reasons, but as far as we know, none of the disciples came to Jesus because they were stuck, sick, alone, in debt, or even hanging on a limb.

            As far as we can tell, all of the disciples followed Jesus simply because He passed them one day and said: “Come, follow me…” (Matthew 4:19a, NIV)

            The disciples followed Jesus because He called them, but as you read the Gospels you’ll notice that Jesus put them to work.

            This is the 6^th shift that the disciples experienced, and it is a shift from Sheep to Shepherd.

            It’s a shift from following Jesus to leading others toward Jesus.

            Let’s take a brief look at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel and see how this shift played out in the lives of the Disciples.

            In Mark chapter 1, Jesus began preaching that the Kingdom of heaven had come, and He invited the people of the day to: “Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15b, NIV)

            “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mark 1:16-17, NIV)

From the very beginning, Jesus wasn’t looking for followers or a crowd.

From the very beginning, Jesus was on a mission; He wanted His disciples to “fish” for people who were far from God.

Hear the call one more time: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” (Mark 1:17, NLT2)

The statement that Jesus was making is: Found people find people. 

Moving on to Mark 3, Jesus pulled His disciples aside and commissioned them to “…be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.” (Mark 3:14b-15, NIV)

Once again, we see that Jesus not only called His disciples to follow Him, but He actually sent them out to lost people.

In Mark chapter 6, Jesus gave His disciples: “authority over evil spirits… (and) They went out and preached that people should repent.

13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” (Mark 6:7b, 12-13, NIV)

There it is one more time: The call to move from Sheep to Shepherd. The call for found people (Christians) to find (lost) people.

Well, this brings us to our text for the day. It’s a text that some of us have heard at least once; it’s the feeding of the 5,000.

This event is recorded for us in Mark 6 beginning at verse 30: “The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.

31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.”

He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

 32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.

33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.

34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.

36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”

37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

 39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

 41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.

42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.

44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!” (Mark 6:30-44, NLT2)

As the disciples come back from their ministry tour, there was still one more thing for them to do.

When Jesus saw the crowd of people approaching the place where they were trying to get to, “he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34b, NLT2)

As Jesus was teaching the people, the disciples approach Him and remind Him of the time, and they ask Him to send the people away so they can get some food, when all of a sudden Jesus drops a grenade in their laps and says:

 “You feed them.” (Mark 6:37, NLT2)

There it is one more time. Jesus not only called His disciples to follow Him, He also called them to meet the needs of the people.

The same applies to you and me.

Jesus didn’t come to save you from your sins and cater to your every need from that point on.

Jesus came to save you from your sins and then recruit you into His mission to redeem the world.

Jesus is calling His followers to move from Sheep to Shepherd, because found people find people.

Found people don’t keep the Good News to themselves. Found people tell others about the Good News.

Found people don’t avoid lost People. Found people find people.

Jesus was asking His disciples in Mark 6 to meet the needs of the people of the day, and Jesus is still asking His disciples to meet the needs of the people of this day. 

The call has not changed. We are not to take, take and take some more. We are here to give, give and give.

Just as Jesus had compassion on the people of His day, we too are to have compassion on the people who don’t know Jesus, but we’re to do more than that, we are to lead them to Jesus, because found people find people.

Jesus asked His disciples to meet people’s needs and not to let a petty little thing stand in their way.

Jesus asked His disciples to heal people; to deliver them from demons; Jesus wanted His disciples to set captives free.

Jesus wanted more from His followers. He didn’t want them just to follow Him; He wanted his followers to become shepherds.

“Jesus is looking for disciples to become shepherds, because the problem with the world is that so many people are like sheep without a shepherd.” (DeNeff)

So the question that we need to figure out this morning is this: How do we move from Sheep—from following Jesus—to Shepherd—to leading others to Jesus?

There are several practical steps that I could give you this morning; several different things that you can try to help you move from Sheep to Shepherd, but there is only one that will truly help us move from following Jesus to leading others to Jesus.

Share the Gospel

I believe that we can share the Gospel with the words we use and in the lives we live.

Sometimes we need to use words. Sometimes we need to speak up and tell the world what the Bible has to say on an issue.

Other times we need to close our mouths and let our lives do the talking.

Sometimes people need to hear what we believe, other times we need to demonstrate what we believe.

Someone once said “Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words."

Sometimes words are needed in order to preach the Gospel, sometimes no words are needed to preach the Gospel.

Paul said in Colossians 3: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”(Col 3:17, NIV)

When we move from Sheep to shepherd, we will look for ways to share the Good News of Jesus with the people in our circle of influence—with our family, with our friends, with the people we work with.

Why?

Because Found People find People.

Who do you know that could benefit from hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ? Who can you lead to follow Jesus?

Who, in your world, needs to be fed?

You understand church that we still need to follow Jesus. There will never be a time that we will not need to follow Jesus.

We are sheep and sheep can be dumb, so we will always need to follow, but we can commit to bring someone else along to follow Jesus; we can lead someone to Jesus. 

I should warn you, however, that this will not be a quick process.

Sometimes it will take years for you to see the fruits of your labour, but as you begin to move from Sheep to Shepherd, from following Jesus to leading others to Jesus, you are making a commitment to stick with this person no matter how long it takes.

ILLUSTRATION- Last Saturday, I officiated the funeral of a man who I have been witnessing to for years.

            Stan lived in Havelock and as far as I knew, Stan never attended a church, except when he was a little boy.

            I first met Stan 8 years ago at the prompting of one of the men in our Havelock church.

       Stan was in the hospital in Moncton due to an accident involving a Transport.

            Because Stan had no connection to church, he had very little use for preachers, and the preachers he knew, he didn’t like all that much.

            As I walked into Stan’s hospital room that day, I was scared to death.

       How would he respond to me, a pastor, coming visit him?

I talked with Stan for a few moments, and in that time I didn’t bring up Jesus or religion.

As I was preparing to leave, I asked him if I could visit him again next week, and to my surprise, he said yes.

Week after week, I would visit with Stan and we would talk about anything and everything... everything that is, except church.

Shortly after I began visiting Stan, I was told by his wife that he had no use for preachers, but he liked me because I didn’t preach at him.

I will never know this side of heaven if Stan received Jesus in his final hours of his life, but because I had built a relationship with this man who was far from God, I was able to share my faith with him 3 weeks ago… all because I moved from sheep to shepherd.

Now you might be saying—“you’re a preacher, you’re supposed to do that kind of stuff”.

With Stan, I wasn’t a preacher. I was a follower of Jesus, who had compassion on someone who didn’t know Jesus, and I did my best to share with Stan the love of Jesus.

This is what it means to move from Sheep to Shepherd. It means getting involved in the life of a person who is far from God.

It’s taking an interest in their life, in their family, building a relationship with them, so one day; you can share the gospel with them.

Jesus, before He ascended to heaven, said: “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matt. 28:18-19a, NLT2)

The call to follow Jesus isn’t just a call to be a sheep; it’s a call to be a shepherd, to invest in the lives of people in your corner of the world to look for ways to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them.

God’s plan to save the world includes you and me.

He is calling us to move forward, to quit following Him from a safe distance, and walk along side of Him, helping Him do the things He is trying to do in our world.

It all begins when you hear the familiar Voice of your Shepherd say: “those people in your world are like a sheep without a shepherd… you feed them”

As the band comes back for our final song, I would like for you to spend a moment in prayer thinking about the name—or names—of someone who God might want you to lead.

It could be a family member, it could be a co- worker, whomever it is, I would invite you, to pick up a piece of paper on the alter, and write this name down, and commit to God that you will do whatever it takes to share the Gospel with them. 

             By doing so, you are telling God that you will move from Sheep to Shepherd.

 

Soulshift

This message is the next in our current series, SoulShift. Enjoy!

 

 ILLUSTRATION- Several years ago, cell phone company Verizon, released a series of commercials advertising its nationwide cell coverage by showing a man in obscure places, talking on his cell phone, saying: “Can you hear me now?”

            Throughout the Gospels, Jesus frequently spoke about the disciples learned ability to hear the voice of God.

            In John 10, Jesus said: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (10:27, NIV)

            In Matthew 11, Jesus said: “He who has ears, let him hear.” (11:15, NIV)

            In Revelation 3 Jesus said: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20, NIV)

            It’s almost as if Jesus was saying: “Can you hear me now”?

            This is the 5^th shift that we must consider as we grow into the image of Jesus Christ; this is a shift from Ask to Listen.

PRAY- Please help us to hear what You have to say, Lord.

            Let’s start at the beginning of Mark’s gospel and notice the emphasis Jesus placed on listening.

            Jesus begins the parable of the sower, in Mark 4, in a peculiar way: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. 4 As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath…” (Mark 4:3-4a, NLT2)

            After describing the four kinds of soil, Jesus added: “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” (Mark 4:9, NLT2)

            Later, when the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him what the parable meant, He explained that each soil represented the way people respond to the gospel.

            The first group of people heard the word, but Satan came at once and took the word away from them.

            The second group of people heard the Word, but because they didn’t cultivate their walk with Jesus, they fell away when they were persecuted for their faith, or when other problems arose.

            The third group of people also heard the message, but their desire for other things in life prevented God’s Word from taking root in their lives;

            And the 4^th group of people were the ones who heard and received God’s Word.

            After Jesus explained this parable with an illustration of letting our Light Shine, He said: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:23, NIV) 

            Three times in a matter of moments, Jesus reminded His hearers to stop and listen.

            A few chapters later, we join the disciples as they were walking with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.

            Just after Jesus had told Peter that he was minded more like man and not like God, “Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.

As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them.

4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.

            5 Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

6 He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.

            7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”

8 Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.” (Mark 9:1b-8, NLT2)

As Peter and company are on the mountain with Jesus, they watch in amazement as Jesus’ clothing was changed and His face shone like the sun.

All of a sudden, Moses and Elijah—both heroes of the Old Testament—appeared out of thin air and start talking with Jesus.

After Peter foolishly opens his mouth, a cloud forms over the mountain and falls on the disciples and their heroes.

What comes from the cloud is incredible. The Voice of God said: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7b, NIV)

I think the implication is clear: We are not to listen to Moses, nor are we to listen to Elijah; both great men of God; we are to listen to God`s Son, Jesus Christ.

Oddly enough, the disciples had been following Jesus for 2 years, doing everything He had asked of them, but they still had to be told to listen to Jesus.

If you are, or profess to be a follower of Jesus, this is your responsibility as well. You are to listen to Jesus.

There is only one problem with that statement: We don’t like to listen!!

ILLUSTRATION- On Tuesday, I placed a call to a certain company, and after I

waited out the mandatory 15 minute waiting period, I got to speak with a service representative.

            After telling him my name, and where I was from; I explained my issue.

            As I waited for his reply, you could almost hear that he was thinking of something to say, because when he started to speak, he started out with an apology.

            He told me that he only heard half of what I had said, because he was busy doing something else!!!!

            I felt like hanging up the phone! The only problem was that I would have to wait another 15 minutes to speak to someone different, and I didn’t want to wait any longer.

            When he finally stopped to listen, he was able to assist me, but he first had to stop and listen.

            Listening is not something that we are good at doing! We are excellent at talking, but we are not so good at listening.

ILLUSTRATION- My wife and I know of a certain individual who will bombard us with question after question, but never stopping long enough to hear the answer to the question.

            We know this to be true, because they ask the exact same question 15 minutes after they first asked it!

            We have no problem asking! We ask Google, we ask Wikipedia, we ask Reference books. Asking is not the problem, listening is the problem.

            I think we can be guilty of approaching our Bible reading the same way.

We have a habit of selecting only the parts of the Bible that deal with our questions, and we consider the other parts of the Bible—the ones that we will have to stop and listen to—as irrelevant.

            We don’t clue into the fact that God might have an interest apart from our interests, and that He might want to speak to us from another part of the Bible.

            We have mastered the art of asking. We will ask preachers, authors, friends and therapists, “what does God want me to do?” but do we really stop and listen as to what God wants us to do?

            Think about it, when we’re asking everyone what we’re to be doing, our minds are active and busy, but when we stop and listen, our minds are open to hear what God has to say.

            When we are asking, we want to know something, so our interests are confined to the things we want to know, but when we stop and listen, we want to hear what God has to say. 

            When we ask, the relationship with God is peripheral; we value it only so far as it helps us to know God’s will.

But when we listen, our relationship with God is the reason we are talking to Himà we don’t want to do all the talking; we’ll want to stop and listen to what He has to say.

            So the question of the day is: How do we make the shift from ask to listen?

How can we move from simply asking God to listening to God?

            I want to give you some practical things that you can do this week to help you listen to God.

            #1 Get alone.

            If you want to hear God speak to your soul, you will have to unplug and get alone with God.

            You will have to turn of the television, you’ll have to turn off your phone, and leave your iPad at home. If you want to hear the voice of God, you will turn down the world’s volume.

            1 Kings 19 is a fantastic reminder of this truth. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah had just demonstrated how powerful God really was, but in chapter 19 he realized that there was a bounty on his head; so he runs away.

            When he finally stopped running, he collapsed under a tree and hoped to die.

            After an angel of the Lord fead Elijah, he travels to Mt. Horeb, the Mountain of God, and walks in the mountain and takes a nap.

            When the Lord appeared to Elijah, Elijah tells God that he’s had enough and wants to die.

            God then tells Elijah: “…to stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave….” (1 Kings 19:11b-13a, NIV)

If we’re going to make a shift from Asking to Listening, we’re going to have to listen for the Gentle Whisper of God’s Holy Spirit.

This only comes to us as we, #2 Meditate on the Word of God

If we want to know what God wants us to do; we’ve got to spend some time in the Word of God.

Rick Warren is quoted as saying: “Stop listening for a voice, and start looking for a verse. He’s already spoken” (@rickwarren October 8,2012)  

God will not reveal His plan for your life in a science book, or even the Sears Wish book. God will reveal His will for your life as you mediate on His Word.

The Psalmist said: “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” (Psalm 1:1-3, NLT2)

If you want to hear God, you’ve got to spend some time in His Book.

After you have done your best to get alone with God; after you have spent some time in His Word, you can ask a Godly person for advice on what you have heard, but this should only be done after you have spent time listening to God.

Often times, God will confirm or deny His plans through a godly person, but we can only approach them, after we’ve spent time on our knees in the presence of the Father.

“Our problem is not that we seek the counsel of wise friends, follow good leaders or trust informed voices. It is more that we seek only these things and never learn how to hear the voice of God within” (93 of SS)

Friends: it takes practice to hear the still small voice of God, but once you dial into His voice, you will move from ask to listen.

I want to challenge you this week to implement these simple steps. Find some time to be alone with God. 

Find some time to get into the Bible reflecting on what God has said, and seek out a Godly mentor who can speak into your life.

When God said: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7b, NIV) He was being serious.

If we are going to be minded like God, we must listen to His Son.

As the Dean’s come back for one final song, I would like to ask you to spend a moment or two reflecting on what you’ve just heard.

If you spend more time asking than you do listening, this shift is for you.

If you spend more time asking other people what you should do, instead of listening to God, this shift is for you.

If you want God to speak into your soul, you must move from ask to listen.

God is always speaking, the only question is “Can you hear Him now?”

 

SoulShift

The following post is the 5th sermon in our SoulShift Series. Enjoy! As always, if you're in the area on Sunday, we'd love to see you in Church!

 

 

We are in the middle of an 8 week series called: SoulShift.

            A SoulShift is a change in the deepest part of our being… that makes us more like Christ and less like our old selves.” (DeNeff)

            God wants to make a change deep in our soul, because the soul is the place that God does His best work.

            The psalmist said that God “restores my soul” (Psalm 23:3, NIV)  

            The place where God will begin to make you more like Jesus is deep in your soul.

            So, how is your soul?

            Have you been allowing the Lord, thru His written and spoken Word, to speak to your soul?

        Are you making a shift from Me to you, which is a shift from focusing on yourself to focusing on others?

Are you making a shift from Slave to Child? This is a shift in identity from serving God to loving God.

Are you making a shift from Seen to Unseen? This is a shift from embracing things that are temporary to embracing things that are eternal.

            God doesn’t intend for us to give our hearts to Him and live any old way that we want.

God wants us to be minded like Jesus, and love him with our heart, mind, strength and soul.

            Today, we want to look at the 4^th shift that should occur in the life of the follower of Jesus Christ: from Consumer to Steward.

            “This is a shift in ownership from acquiring things for ourselves to offering what we have to God and others.” (SS chapter 4)

            Some of you might be shifting in your seat right now. You might be thinking: ‘oh great! The preacher is going to talk about money… I picked a great day to come to church!”

            If this is what you are thinking, it might surprise you to know that the Bible as a lot to say about money and possessions.

            In fact, our next sermon series will be “what God has to say about money” I KNOW you will not want to miss that series!!

            In his book Your Money counts, Howard Dayton tells us that “Sixteen of Jesus’ 38 parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions.

        Indeed, Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other subject.

            “The Bible offers over 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,350 verses on money and possessions.

            The Lord said a lot about it because He wants us to know His perspective on this crucial area of life.” (DeNeff, 2011,77)

            If the Bible devotes over 2300 verses to money and possessions, it’s probably a good thing for us to talk about money and possessions.

            So, don’t shift in your seat, allow God to make this shift in your soul!

            As we pick up our story of Jesus and His disciples, we find Jesus making His way to Jerusalem, when He is approached by a young man, who “fell on his knees before him.” (Mark 10:17a, NIV)

            This young man assumed a posture of respect and submission before he asked Jesus a question.

            He said to Jesus: “Good teacher….what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Mark 10:17b, NIV)

            Jesus stopped this man and asked him why he called Jesus: “Good teacher”, when only God was good. Was this man equating Jesus with God?

            But you notice that this young man says nothing in response. He simply waits for the answer to his question, of what he had to do to inherit eternal life.

            Jesus responded by repeating the second half of the Ten Commandments, particularly the ones that involve loving other people.  

            Jesus was hinting that eternal life is not only in loving God—the first 4 commandments—but eternal life is also in loving other people…which make up the final 6 commandments.

            Upon hearing this, “the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” (Mark 10:20, NLT2) I’m good Jesus; I’ve done everything that the law requires.

            Pay particular attention to the first part of verse 21: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” (Mark 10:21a, NIV)

            The New Living records the words this way: “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him” (Mark 10:21a, NLT2)

            Because Jesus was others oriented—Me to You-- He could speak the truth in love to this young man. He reminded Him that:

“There is still one thing you haven’t done….Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21b, NLT2)

            Too often we are quick to “take sides” with this passage.

        One group of people will suggest that we need to sell everything we have, and the other group of people will ignore this teaching altogether.

            What we tend to forget when looking at this passage is that Jesus was answering the “what must I do to inherit eternal life” question.

            The topic of possessions only surfaced to the fore-front because the possessions were holding this man back from following after Jesus.

            There is a line in the sand. If we want eternal life, we must be open and honest about what controls us.

This man’s wealth stood in the way of receiving eternal life; he was a slave to his money.

            This wasn’t the first time Jesus was talking about possessions possessing people.

            In Matthew 6, He said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

Jumping down to verse 24, Jesus continues: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24, NIV)

There is a direct connection between the relationship that we have with our pocket book and the relationship we have with Jesus. One or the other will almost always win out.

The Rich young man wanted to serve both God and his pocket book, but when Jesus told him that he couldn’t do so, “He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:22b, NIV)

As Jesus saw this man depart, He took the time to teach His disciples an important lesson:

“How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23b, NLT2)

It should be noted that Jesus does not refer to the one who has riches, but rather to the one who trusts in riches. There is a big difference.

You cannot trust in your riches to get you to heaven. You need to place your trust in Jesus to get you to heaven.

To further illustrate this point, Jesus said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
(Mark 10:25, NIV)

Again, Jesus points out that it is extremely difficult for someone who trusts in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven.

At this, the disciples begin to scratch their heads and wonder: “…who in the world can be saved?” (Mark 10:26b, NLT2)

If it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, Jesus, who can enter in?

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27, NLT2)

Jesus was implying that a shift has to be made for you and me to enter the kingdom of God—we cannot earn, or buy our way into His kingdom. We must change and become like little children.

Friends, we need to understand that God is not against money and possessions, nor is He against us having money and possessions.

God doesn’t want us trusting in our money and possessions. We are not to believe that wealth will make us secure.

If we are not careful, having possessions can master or rule us. We begin to believe that we own everything; that we are entitled to anything.

But when we’re minded like Christ, we begin to see that the possessions we have are on loan to us and we will manage them, not have them manage us.

In Jesus’ world, people are not defined by their possessions and they are not valued based on their income.

In Jesus’ world you are blessed if you see your need for Him and if you use what He has given you to bless other people.

So the question to ask and answer today is “how do we make a shift from being a consumer— from thinking that I can have everything my little heart desires—to being a steward—to use what God has entrusted to me to bless others?

I want to give you two practical steps that you can implement this week that will help you move from Consumer to Steward.

These are two things that I am doing… if you are reading the SoulShift book, Steve DeNeff will give you a few more steps you can take, but here’s what I’m doing:

Set a cap on your spending.

ILLUSTRATION- My wife and I are trying very hard to limit the usage of our credit cards.

            There was a day, not very long ago, that we would charge everything- from groceries, to gas, to “tools”, anything and everything would go on the card.

            At the end of the month, it was difficult to pay the cards off, because the money that we did have would have been spent on something else.

            Then we decided to do something radical. We decided to use cash.

            We began a weekly budget and use cash for most, if not all, of our purchases.

            There have been times, especially at the end of the week that we’ve wanted to do something, or go somewhere, but the money just wasn’t there, so we ended up staying at home.

            If we are serious about moving from Consumer to Steward, we will have to deal with how we spend our moneyà and what we spend our money on.

            What works for Beth and I might not work for you, and that’s ok, you’ll have to figure out a plan that works for you, but if we’re going to be serious about following Jesus, we’re going to have to cap our spending.

            I believe it was Jesus who said: “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15, NIV)

            The second practical step is practice sacrificial giving.

            The Bible speaks of this as a tithe.

Those of us who follow Jesus are to give 10% of our income to the church for church purposes.

This is not a suggestion either. This is a biblical command. We are to give 10% of our income, to the church as an act of worship.

If 10% seems like a huge amount to you right now, I want to encourage you to start with 5% and make a commitment to gradually increase your giving to 10% or more.

The bible says in 2 Corinthians 9: “Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

⁷ You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

 ⁸ And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” (2 Cor. 9:6-8, NLT2)

If we want to make a shift from simply consuming things to being a steward of things, we will begin to give a portion of our income to God as an act of worship.

I wonder today how many of us need to experience this shift? How many of us need to move from being a consumer of things to being a steward of things?

Understand that not everyone does! Some of you have been faithful with what God has given to you. You recognize that what you have is on loan to you, and you are treating it as such.

But by chance there is one or two who are seeking that next big thing; we need to ask God to help us move from consumer to steward, because possessions can keep us from missing the kingdom of God.

A good place to begin experiencing this shift is by praying: “Lord, help me. Help me to view “my stuff” as things you have entrusted to me. If someone has a need, and I am able to meet that need because of what You have given me, help me to meet that need.”

If you think God might want you to experience this shift, I would invite you to come to the front and grab this prayer off the alter and pray it for 7 days and be open to what God wants to do deep in your soul, for the soul is the place that God wants to move us from consumer to steward.