"The music of my youth seemed to close out any feeling of God, to me. The tunes were in my head, and I could easily hum and feel like I was emptying myself of the day's stress. I could relax and not feel burdened. Many people would consider that a gift, to be able to do that. But did it bring me closer to God? No, it only brought me closer to my past understanding of happiness. Why did that happen, you may ask? It was because I was feeling discontentment. When I'm not satisfied with the way God is running my life, there is always much to fill me up, just waiting to satisfy. Perhaps it's only because I don't understand, but whatever the reason, the door is still open because I didn't take the initiative to shut it."
"We are told to flee temptation, but we leave the door open. Instead of running from it, we often hurry to it …the old way of doing things. But in those days of old, did we bring our problems to God? As I see it, we are either going to God or turning away from Him. Or perhaps we are just standing still. And I know the anxiousness …especially of our youth. None of us stand still very long. We all eventually have to move …and we either move towards God or we move away from God. And if we move away from God, it doesn't matter whether we walk or run …it's not the speed of the retreat that gets us in trouble, it's the direction. When I was young, I remember the church was planning a youth retreat. I recall that I didn't go because I was so afraid. I thought they were going to retreat from their parents and God."
He hesitates for a brief moment as the congregation laughs, "Yes, we need direction in our lives. And at the end of the day, we need to feel renewed with purpose. Because if we end the day with renewed purpose, we'll wake up in the morning with renewed purpose. You may say, I was not a Christian in my youth, therefore, I did not have purpose. That isn't true, we all have purpose. But if we are now Christians, how do we find new purpose? Well, you can turn with me to First Corinthians, Chapter fourteen, verse seven. It asks us: How shall it be known what is piped or harped? Now, I could continue to harp on you with these things, but let me just say this: If we were to remove the words from our music, what sound would we hear? And what significance is there if the music dominates the words? Often there is more focus on the music than the words. And how often we can't even hear the words? Verse thirty-three: God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. Do we feel peace because we are ridding ourselves of stress, whether through music or through meditation? Or having a hobby instead of a hubby, or instead of being a hubby? Married couples, you need to turn together towards God, not towards externals, to deal with stress."
Pastor Paul takes a couple more gulps of water before giving the congregation something else to swallow, "We cannot come to God with a self-generated feeling of wholeness. We cannot feel peace because we merely feel good about ourselves. Do we feel good because the Red Wings are winning or because our church defeated another church in a softball game? Or is it as simple as hitting five green lights in a row on our way to work? You adults, think back …what was it in High School? A varsity jacket, a class ring, or being elected for the Homecoming Court? Then was it the quick acceptance at work, getting your own locker, your own cubical, or getting the keys to the executive bathroom? And as a Christian, what is it? Back to verse twelve …are you zealous of spiritual gifts? And if so, do you excel to the edifying of the church, or are you merely edifying yourself? Do you relieve yourself any better by using the executive bathroom?"
"We are not to put distance between ourselves by granting our own elite-ness, portraying a holier than thou attitude. And we are not to assume we are the distributor of gifts. If God would have us to be an auto mechanic, then we are to be an auto mechanic. We are not to compel the auto mechanic to be a doctor and a doctor to be an auto mechanic. What we should all feel compelled to do, is to bring the message of salvation to the lost. Once they receive the message, God will prepare them further to receive what God will have them receive. We are to edify one another, not confuse each other's way. Doubt, discouragement, comparison, exclusiveness, distractions ---how many more can we name that we fall victim to? Or are we further deceived, and use them within our own private arsenal, unknowingly taking our own unwilling victims, all too willing to attain the same high standards, their own exclusiveness."
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