Hey guys... to be honest I don't have a real good feel for this message yet. I have some ideas that I like, but I don't have a real solid sense of direction. I have a big chunk of time to work on the message tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted on my progress. But here's what I have at this point. Please feel free to give suggestions!
1. God is good
a. I had a tough time deciding if this is what I wanted to talk about. It's
overly broad I know, but I do think it's something we forget or misunderstand.
Especially in light of the news of Luini's dad's death (which I imagine many of
us and the kids are struggling with), it's something I wanted us to dwell on.
2. Key text: John 10 - I am the good shepherd.
a. The imagery of the text emphasizes “shepherd,” but “good” is an essential
qualifier.
b. It doesn’t matter a whole lot if he’s a shepherd, but he isn’t good
3. What does it mean that God is good?
a. I don’t think I’ll spend a ton of time talking about what it means that God
is good. I might cover it briefly
b. But I want to focus more on what it doesn’t mean. The fact that God is good
means he is not a lot of the things we think he is.
i. He is not…
4. What does it mean for us?
a. God can be trusted
i. God is good and remains good at all times.
ii. At the heart of trusting God is the belief that he is a good God, a
good shepherd. He is undeniably good, unshakably good, good without
exception, good in the purest sense.
1. Our inability to trust him with our lives and situations often
comes from a defect in our view of God’s goodness.
b. We need to take time to taste it (1 Peter 2:3)
i. God’s character should be savored and enjoyed – what better
characteristic to dwell on then his goodness.
ii. We rarely just sit and savor God’s goodness
That's it for now. Obviously I'll develop sections 2 and 3 a lot more. More to come.
By the way... blogger SUCKS for formatting. Or maybe I suck. I don't know but I had the hardest time trying to compose an organized outline on this.
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Maybe we should move over to a wiki or something.. Because those are more customizable for outlines at least.. Maybe I'll set one up.. In the summer or something.. Maybe.. But I still have much to learn...
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking and praying about Luini's situation.. And it's sad for those he's left behind but he's in the best situation right now.. And that's why God is good.. not because of the jobs we have or the homes that we live in or situations we are in now... But because of the hope that we have in being in heaven with him.. Our hope is not in this life, but in the life that is to come..
Sorry there was no structure to this..
Thanks for the comment Hashi... I really like the way you put that.
ReplyDeleteThat brings up a question I've been mulling over - should I talk about Luini's situation directly or indirectly? Should this message be in response to and focused on her dad's passing, or should I just mention it?
I'm not sure... what do you guys think?
its hard to say. i was thinking about that also. i think at some point it might be good to address it. in terms of timing, maybe its a little too soon? but if the kids are really struggling with it, and i would venture to guess that some are, then it might be a good time to address this friday. i think this hits a little bit closer to home than last time when that girl died in the car accident some time ago. that had people shaken up.
ReplyDeleteso maybe it is a good time, its just never an easy address. but sometimes we have to say hard things. i think it can still go in with God is good. i really liked this part: "He is undeniably good, unshakably good, good without
exception, good in the purest sense".
however, in light of what has happened, if you do ultimately decide to address it then we don't have to tie it in. though even if it were a separate address it would still be at least indirectly pointing to the fact that God is good.
from that last time, if i'm not mistaken, i made a shorter address and we just had a night of prayer and worship. so we can possibly go that route.
oh and, i'm not too fond of blogger either. its totally not outline friendly which makes the outlines that we put much more confusing. i spent some time trying to format mine last week but really to no avail.
yeah, definitely its not formatting too well... not sure if there's a way to fix that....
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm gonna have to disagree with Hashi on the point that our hope isn't here on Earth... I really believe that there is hope in this life. If not, what did the Jews hope for? I know that there's hope in heaven, I'd never deny that... but I believe that there is much hope to be offered today and right now.
Now of course with what's been going on, this may be kinda hard to see. We know that God is good (well, we do need that reminder), but God does not always come to the rescue as we would want it (sometimes not at all for a particular situation?). But God IS ABLE TO and He is Good. But yeah, its a tough thing to explore. We have faith and trust in a God who is capable of doing great things, but does not always do what we want. And Bad things do happen. Plain simple fact.
God is also good in these times as a God who ultimately does not abandon us. He allows us to voice our feelings and is good in the sense that he our counselor and comforter. He is the one who brings healing and peace. In those ways he's good too.
Something that is troubling for me to say however, in this situation especially is the idea that we sometimes make everything about ourselves. Like if God doesn't act in our way and bad stuff happens to us, then somehow God has let us go.... but that centers all the situation around us. And yet there could be larger forces at work with bigger effects imaginable. Now of course that isn't that comforting sometimes, but it is something that I've been thinking about. (not in this situation in particular, but I've been pondering it for awhile)
But I do like the quote eugene likes a lot too.. but yeah, this is a broad topic. Brandon, if you could give some more specific things on some of the points I can comment on those too
Hey guys... thanks for the comments so far. I've really been thinking and praying about it today, and I've decided I do wanna address Luini's situation directly. It's still a message primarily about God's goodness, but the crappiness of this situation provides the framework. Here are some more pieces of the message that are coming...
ReplyDeleteIntro: talk about Luini... this is the ultimate tough situation. It is really hard to think about. Asking the question, "what is God like?" in the face of what's happened isn't easy. But this is where our theology is tested. This is the absolute best time to get our ideas about God straight! It's easy to just gloss over God's character when things are good. But when things are tough, that's when the question means something because that's when our true feelings about God are revealed. That's when we wonder. And that's when we absolutely need to sit before God and ask him who he is.
Illustration - like a relationship. You learn a lot about how you feel about a person when the relationship isn't going so well, when you're fighting, etc.
Body - still struggling with a key text. I like John 10, but it's lacking in any depth of God's goodness. I'm getting there. The point of this section is that God is good. In a constant, unchanging, unwavering sense. I want to hammer that home. I liked that quote too, if I do say so myself. Haha. But maybe this is more of a message about God's constancy than his goodness. But whatever. The point is that God's goodness does not ebb and flow. I agree with you Brett, and it's a point we need to make. God's goodness is not a function of the goodness of our lives. Period.
Closing - Luini is a freaking rock. I know she's hurting right now, and I'm not going to trivialize that. But I want the kids to see the heart of a person who knows deeply that God is good. Her email after her dad's passing blew me away. I want them to see that knowing God's goodness produces a faith that cannot be broken or shaken.
That's where I'm going. Thanks for the input so far.
how about heb 10:23..."Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful"?
ReplyDeleteat least thats the verse that came to mind for me.