Bella Vista Church of Christ

10/06/2019 A.M.

Living The Good Life

Navigating The Storms Of Life

It was known as The Pioneer Cabin Tree… A Giant California Sequoia.

The lower interior was large enough for a house… You could drive your car through its trunk… Perhaps some of you have done that…

But at two o’clock on Sunday afternoon… January 8^th… 2017… In a storm… This giant fell… Even though it had stood for more than a thousand years…

• Its core was gone…

• The limbs were brittle…

• Roots shallow…

• And only a few branches showed any signs life.

So… When lashed by wind and water…. The big tree tottered and tumbled… Shattered on impact… Its long standing faithfulness was over.

Perhaps many of us are teetering and tottering on the brink… Not knowing that with the next storm… We too may be uprooted… Life may fail and we fall in shambles.

Maybe our Christian Life… Our Spirituality… Seems to feel… Hollow…Shallow… With no strength for the next storm…

• Perhaps a death in the family…

• A ruptured relationship…

• A divorce…

• Maybe another health issue…

• Another financial problem…

You name your storm!!...

What if I told you that you can keep that from happening?...

What if I told you that you can weather the storm… However strong it may be

What if I told you… You can have the inner strength and confidence you’ve imagined…. But never felt?

What if I told you that you could experience joy and peace regardless of the storm… Even in the storm. raging around you?... IS IT POSSIBLE??... I believe so!!

Beginning this morning and continuing for the next few weeks… We’ll be focusing our attention on the subject of Living the Good Life.

Jesus said in John 10.10… I came that you might have life… And have it more abundantly.

Jesus was probably speaking of the spiritual realities that He came to make possible… Forgiveness…. God’s presence within… Salvation… Eternal Life… Etc.

But there is another connotation to what He said.

You see… He came teaching… principles… attitudes… Character traits… That… If we will adhere to… Will result in life being better.

Jesus came teaching us how to live to enjoy life…

• Life above the common…

• Above the ordinary…

• Life at its best today… Right now… In this world… As well as eternal life hereafter.

It makes no matter who we are…

• How young or old…

• Rich or poor…

• College educated or not…

It makes no difference how…

• Tired…

• Disappointed…

• Lonely…

How hopeless life may seem at the moment…

We can follow this path to Life At Its Best… The Life Jesus Came To Make Possible… If we hold to these principles.

You see… We’re talking about character… How to develop the… Heart… Attitude… Emotion… And Behavior… Of Jesus.

Church… Know this… Living like Jesus results in life… beyond amazing… Beyond anything we have IMAGINED.

Come!... Let’s see what we can learn…

How do we begin?...

First and foremost we need a new beginning.

Jesus and Paul speak of our conversion in terms of being born again… Of being raised to walk in a new life…Conforming to the image of Jesus… Having His heart and mind.

Listen… Our conversion may have been years ago… But perhaps we’ve never really started living the new life available in-Christ

There are a couple of lists that tell us what this new life should look like… Familiar Scripture that needs to be read again…

2 Peter 1.4-9… He… God through His Son… Has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them we may participate in the Divine Nature… Become Like Jesus… And thus escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Galatians 5.22-23 & 25… The fruit of the Spirit is… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Church… People with these qualities are Saints for all seasons… Living the good life… Regardless of the storms… Around us… Swirling about us… Within us!

But… But… For us to enjoy the good life… We must be willing to embrace… These traits… These characteristics… Making them a part of our daily walk… Are we willing?... Really?

Secondly… We must know that God will empower us.

God never asks us to do anything that He doesn’t empower us to do.

The Holy Spirit… Who lives in us… Is at work helping us to keep in step with Him.

Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter three that God is at work in us… Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

In Philippians he writes… Be confident of this, that he… God… Who began a good work in you… will carry it on to completion.

The prayer of the Hebrews’ Writer is that… The God of Peace… The Good Shepherd… Strengthen and perfect you… Make you what you ought to be … Equip you with everything Good to carry out His will.

Ephesians 2.10 from the Amplified Bible… We are God’s workmanship Created in Christ Jesus that we may do those good works which God predestined… Planned beforehand… For us… LISTEN NOW…Living the good life which he prearranged and made ready foR us.

Church… I hope you believe that God is at work in your life… And in ours corporately as a body of believers… Enabling… Empowering… Us to live the abundant life.

Thirdly… We must decide…

Listen folk… Living for Jesus… Living like Jesus… Living the Good life… demands a personal choice…

Yes… We have almighty help… Divine help… But we’re talking about a life-changing choice that we must make.

Peter says… Giving all diligence… Add these Graces to your life.

Diligence is not a word for the Faint Hearted… It takes determinate commitment.

Adding these character traits will Change our life…Transform us into the image of Jesus…

Indeed… The development of a Jesus like character takes determination… And is a joint effort by God and ourselves… We can’t have the Good Life without both… Amen?

We must JETTISON our fears.

Indeed…

• With God dwelling in us through His Spirit He gave us… What have we to fear?

• If the… Creator… Provider… Sustainer… Protector…Of the universe is our Father

God… What have we to fear??…

It was Jesus who said… Don’t worry about your life… Don’t be anxious about tomorrow… Don’t let your heart be troubled…

Paul said… Be anxious for nothing.

Hear the voice of God from Isaiah 41.10… Do not fear, for I am with you… Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Indeed… We don’t need fear anymore!!

Instead… We need… Faith… hope… Strength… understanding of God’s promises... and his presence.

Well… You knew I was going to mention the next one….

If we’re gonna enjoy the Good Life… We must have the right motive for what we do.

I don’t want to preach this point… I’m gonna let… Jesus…Paul… And Solomon… Say their piece on the subject…

First Jesus… Take care not to do your good deeds publicly or before men in order to be seen… Otherwise you will have no reward awaiting you from You Father Who is in Heaven. When You pray… You must not be like the hypocrites… For they love to be seen and heard…Praying standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets… That they may be seen… Truly I tell you they have their reward in full already. And whenever you’re fasting do not look gloomy and sour and dreary like the hypocrites for they put on a dismal countenance that their fasting may be apparent…Truly… I say they have their reward in full already.

Then there is Paul on Motive… If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do… I’m bankrupt without love.

Solomon… Proverbs 23.7... As a man thinks in his heart... So is he.

Solomon is saying MOTIVE MAKES THE DIFfERENCE!!

Proverbs 4.23... Out of the heart come the issues of life.

Indeed!!... To have a right relationship with God… To live the good life… Our heart must be right… Motive is everything!!... Without it the abundant life is impossible!

Ok… Let’s note… Why we struggle so much with LivingThe Good Life??

Why do we find it so difficult to add these

Character Traits to our daily walk??…

Why is there such a gap between what Jesus wants us to be and what we are??

Three reasons…

Sometimes we misunderstand the concept of salvation.

I think the Bible presents Salvation in three stages… Three steps….

One is the moment we… Believe… Repent… And are Born Again in New Testament

Baptism…At that point we are forgiven…. saved.

However… There is the time in which we grow to be like Jesus to conform to His image… His likeness.

• Peter speaks of this in terms of making our calling and election sure.

• Paul says… It is working out our salvation.

• John uses the idea of Walking in the Light… Walking in truth.

These metaphors speak of Our being continually cleansed by the Blood of Jesus… As we strive to become more and more and more like Him.

Then of course…. Our salvation is completely done… When we’re in the presence of God in Heaven.

Sometimes… We struggle because of a misunderstanding of Grace and Works.

People are always saying to me… I hope I’m doing enough to get to Heaven… NO…. NO!!... NEVER!!... We can never do enough to put God in our debt.

Salvation is a grace Gift from god… Not something we merit!...Not something we earn.

We must be careful lest we get the idea that we are saved by our own good deeds… Works.

Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith as a gift of God…Not by works.

In fact the very next verse tells us we are saved to work… Not saved by works… For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We struggle because we fail to understand spiritual maturity.

Yes… God could save us alone… But he requires our developing the character of Jesus.

Second Timothy 2.15 has Paul saying… Do your best… Be diligent… 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.

Peter says… Add these attributes so as to make your calling and election sure.

In Galatians… Paul says… Our producing the Fruit of the Spirit… Means that we are keeping step with the Spirit.

Keeping step with the Spirit means we are walking with God.

Yes… God desires we live… The good life… The ABUNDANT life…Jesus came to make possible.

He wants us to be a tree that never topples… Giants that never fall… Regardless of the storm that swirls… About us… Around us… Within us.

David addresses our tree-like character in Psalm one…

Blessed is the man who…

Does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…

or stand in the way of sinners…

or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord… And on his law he meditates day and night.

Listen now… He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…

And whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment…

Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous…

But the way of the wicked will perish.

If you’re here this morning and have not started your walk with God… You can by… Faith… Repentance…Being Born Again… And starting your new Life In Christ.

For those of us who are children of God… Ours is to make our walk complete by adding the fruit of the spirit to our daily walk.

Come accept God’s offer to the abundant life as we stand and sing together.