What sound does the broken heart make,
When love is ripped from your grip for utilitarian sake.

Psalm 136 - Message Translation

^{1 -3} Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.

^{4 -22} Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt's oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.

^{23 -26} God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!

Rush of Fools Show at Church Tonight

Wow...God is awesome.

Following is my message for this past morning for the high schoolers


(I manuscript most all, but I extemp. quite a bit as well that's not written - and take out as well)

Have you ever been in that situation where you want to do one thing so much….but something, be it conscience, or maybe more rightly, compassion holds you back? Maybe you’ve been given the opportunity to go hangout with your best friends, but instead you decide to spend some time with a younger sibling…or maybe spending some time with a peer you don’t really know that well who has invited you to do something else…and it may be a chance for you to invest in that relationship which earns you the right to relate your testimony to them…it’s about giving up your rights for the benefit of others, but not just for them…it’s to glorify Jesus, doing what He did

Let’s think to Jesus, - He is, was, and forever will be God…but for that brief period of time during which He walked in the flesh upon this earth, He gave up His right to be worshipped and praised and radiate His glory (you know how you can feel the sunshine upon your face on a sunny day?, think about amplifying that a billion times and adding every color and visible and invisible energy wave known and unknown)… If anyone had a claim to rights it’s definitely God…and yet He laid not just His rights, but His life down for us…to the point of suffering a cruel unjust murder upon a cross

What would compel God to do such a thing….was it His love for us?

No…and yes…

First we have to get one thing straight…God’s primary focus is glorifying Himself…does that ring true to you?

If it doesn’t, think about it this way…would God be God if His primary concern was His creation and having to create and having to redeem what He created…that would make God subject to us…and because He’s God…that won’t happen…

Often in the Bible we hear of God doing things for His namesake…for instance, many times Israel was saved for His namesake. It wasn’t about them, it was about Him

It’s always been about Him…God sent His Son to redeem us for His namesake. God created us a certain way for a certain purpose – to love and enjoy Him forever…therefore when man fell, there needed to be a Savior in order for the purpose of man to be upheld…that’s why Christ loves us so much….to the point of dying a dreadful death….it’s so that His name will be upheld, so that we will be as He created us…to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

SO now then…what’s Paul talking about…to die is Christ…to live is gain…I thought you were going to say compassion for people….

That’s only partially true

To live is Christ – that is He gave His life for me and so I live by Him. I am to live out this life as He would desire me to live if, for it is His

It’s about delaying your gratification so that you can serve the Lord as much as possible, as intelligently as possible.

But…to die is gain – the gain of the glory of eternity, the gain of receiving the rewards for which one has labored in Christ so long…it’s to be seated with Christ…

Paul is following Christ in Christ’s focus…it was on His Father’s glory…likewise, Paul’s thoughts go to God as well in that he decides he will remain living because it’s most beneficial to the Body of Christ. His focus isn’t people, but the idea of sharing in the what makes our Lord so awesome – the fact that He lived a perfect life and still decided to willingly sacrifice it for us to retain our purpose through Him.

Paul knows what he’s giving up here…wait…Paul knows? Yeah. Paul has been to the third heaven…he knows what he’s missing out on…just as Jesus did when He was on earth…

Thus, Paul is telling us….a life worth living is only worth living if it’s lived focused on Christ.

What are some ways by which we live for ourselves? Within the Church, how do we adjust the focus from Him to us?

In contrast, what are some ways by which we can live for Christ? How can we change from selfishness to selflessness…what are some examples of where we can shift our focus from us to Him? And how?

Paul makes the point that until you’re prepared to die as he is, you aren’t nor will you ever be prepared to live a life worth living. Why does he make this point? What’s so important about being ready to die that opens us up to living full lives?

Are you like me? I sometimes get caught up, especially at this period of time in my life with so many transitions from high school to college to work, school, career, marriage…..there is so much to figure out, and all along the way it’s easy to get lost if we’re not careful…sometimes I get to the point where I just cry out to God asking, craving Him to tell me the answer to this one question…. “What’s my purpose?” Now I know we went over the purpose of man….but I want to know my purpose, my individual purpose…why did you create me? What function do I serve in this Body…..Paul notes here in verse 24 that his purpose, his sole purpose to continue living on was to serve the Body of Christ, his fellow believers, to strengthen them in teaching, preaching, raising up new assemblies….he would stay to encourage them to press on in the faith….

Paul is a believer who suffered, he “took his lumps”, he underwent lashings, shipwrecks, robbery, drifting at sea, imprisonment….all because of focus

His focus was so strong, his stance was so solid, his decisiveness so resolute, He was so stubborn for Christ…that he counted these as privileges….

How many of us could honestly say getting hit in the face by another because we mentioned the name of Jesus, or get jumped by a group of guys because we carry a Bible and talk about God, or get made fun of and slandered at school, or even raped and beaten, all because we follow a guy who happened to be God, who happened to call us to follow Him, HOW IN THE WORLD CAN WE CALL THOSE PRIVILEGES?!?!?

Take a minute or two to talk about a time when you were wronged and how it made you feel.

Honestly, sometimes, I want to think Paul was delusional writing that suffering is a privilege, and if I didn’t mention it already, he’s referring only to unjust suffering, suffering for the Gospel (suffering so that love can win), suffering that isn’t pursued, but comes upon you without your provocation, your egging it on, teasing it to come after you…

It’s hard to look at all the junk we’ve had to go through in life to get to where we are now….sometimes we see that junk and say…that just wasn’t fair, and if it was for God, you’re right, it wasn’t…but Paul seems to tell us that it was a privilege to go through it, like it’s better that it happened to us than not at all….I guess maybe we can use it as part of our testimony or something like that…..but is that all?

I would venture to say no…there’s more…there’s something greater here.

As Jesus said, “Follow me”

Thinking about this topic, we know that blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. We also know that our God is a jealous God. He and He alone can and has taken upon Himself the sins of the world for the redemption of those who believe. (He underwent what you underwent because He took upon Himself that sin which was committed against you, it was committed against Him, but here’s the thing, only He could actually do something about it, and what He did was in complete and utterly pure and perfect love, it’s called forgiveness). For Him to share with us the unjust sufferings which He underwent for our salvation is sharing the most precious form of provision available. The great mercy he gave to us…He’s letting us do the same for others. There is no greater love.

Next time something happens to you that seems unfair, not right, unjust; if you feel like you are suffering because you’re following God, first make sure that you are unable to keep from the persecution (don’t entice it), if it’s still there, continue to pray about it and read the Word for God’s insight into your situation, along with that find an elder or a pastor to share your burden with…explain what’s happening, they will help you understand and cope with it….

Finally, and here’s the greatest but weirdest part that might take a little time to get adjusted to….Get excited and rejoice in the Lord…again I’ll tell you what I just said because I’m pretty sure it didn’t sink in…..Rejoice…By suffering with Him you are involved in the most intimate act that Christ performed for us. You are rejoicing in the ability to focus on Him over all else, you can rejoice when He is what brings you joy, because the joy we find in Him is perfect, without blemish, and it never fades…

When you get taken advantage of, how can or how do you rejoice?

As we leave today to go back to our families and friends this week, to our jobs and our summer leagues…to our video games and books, our bike rides and water fights…..remember it’s not about me…and that’s why it’s worth it.