My First Sermon

I was 'nominated' to give a sermon today. I think this is my first Sermon ever to a church. Not my first public speaking stint, but first Sermon. So below is what I came up with. It's not word for word of what I said, but I wrote this as my study so I knew what I wanted to say; so it's close. Plus I used this to write my sermon notes. Beware, for those of you who aren't Christians, heavy Christian content to follow! scary! ;-)

Oh, and before I started I gave a short shpeel on how fast I talk when I speak in public and that I was aware and would attempt to slow down. I told them that if I got going to please let me know and slow me down otherwise no one will understand me and their wouldn't be a point of me talking. I get an adrenaline boost public speaking which while nice as it quickens my thoughts, it also causes me to unknowingly talk faster. Afterwords I was told that I still talked fast but if they concentrated they could understand. Oh, and I'm the only native English speaker, for everyone else on the compound it's English is a 2nd or 3rd language. Which doesn't help when it's ME talking. Native speakers have a hard enough time understanding me! :-)

Oh, and actually for this sermon there was a native English speaker in the audience. We had the pleasure of 2 visitors, one gal from North Carolina one from Germany. (They were doing AIDS research and the German gal had heard about the farm from a friend of hers).

Sermon:
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An elder Kenyan was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two lions. One lion represents fear, unjust anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith." "This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too," he added. The grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which lion will win?" The old Kenyan simply replied: "The one you feed."

Of these lions, we all know which one we want to win. The one who fights for peace. No one in their right mind wants to always be experiencing War or Anger or Fights between friends. Speaking of Friends, we all want the lion that represents Friendship to win, not envy and regret, which destroy friendships. Unfortunately we often feed the lion we don't want to win. The one that tells us we are weak, stupid, less of a man/woman than everyone else. The one that causes us to go into ourselves and take pity on ourselves. Pat yourself on the back and say, I know I know, I'm weak, their strong, I'm dumb, their smart. If any of you have seen Lord of the Rings, and I believe some of the young boys have, there's a part of the movie where Gollum, a very self tortured man, does just this. He pats himself on the back, rubs his back, pities himself, tells himself all the lies he wants to hear. Gollum's Lion that represents Self-Pity is very strong. Lots of food. Ultimately Gollum is lost. Killed by his own, corrupt desires.

So how do we feed the lion we want to win? How do we, unlike Gollum, kill our corrupt desires, instead of be killed by? Like I said, often we can't. We need help. And let me tell you friends, Jesus has food that only 1 lion likes. The lion that is Love. The enemies food is worthless to this lion, it is stinky rotting monkey carcass! However, the food we feed our lions is usually mixed. Good but tainted. Corrupt goodness.

Gen 1:26-27
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

So God created us, in His image, our human nature resembled God's Nature. And what did he say after he created us? Vs. 31 "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good". Not just good, very good. And I'll have to admit, Very Good to God is a kind of good that I can't even imagine... but something happened. Something changed. Something, someone sinned.

Gen 3:22
"Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat and live forever"

We sinned and corrupted our Nature.

Romans 7:9
"I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died."

We all know we are not perfect human beings. Christ is, but we aren't. We are corrupt shells of what we are intended to be. We do good, and we do evil. We feed both Lions. And throughout human history, it's been apparent that while we can feed both lions; the food is really only fit for one lion. we've seen that this Lion, the one who represents Lies and Fear usually wins, and continues to win more and more.

Luke 2:10-11
"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"

As a gift to a fallen mankind, God became flesh and blood. Bones and marrow. So that HE might defeat the Lion that represents Guilt. We are all guilty are we not? I am.

Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

I've lied. I've lusted. I've been unjustly angry. I'm prideful and have a rather large Ego. And I've acted on my lies, on my lust, on my anger. I've fed the wrong Lion. Many times. But through Jesus, because he chose to be born as Man, that birthday which we will celebrate later this month, that Lion in me can be DEFEATED. In fact, it already has. He just doesn't know it yet.

Philippians 3:12
"Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:14
"For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

Back to Romans 3:23, but this time include verse 24.
Romans 3:23-24
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;"

That Lion, the Lion of Judah, Christ, has already staked his Claim on me. and on you. And there is nothing that other lion can do about it. Only I can choose to feed it. Only I can choose to not feed it. And Through God and with the Lord's guidance, grace and mercy I'm not feeding it. I'm dealing with or have dealt with parts of that Lion; I'm dealing with my issues. And I'm positive the same is with many of you.

Ephisians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them"

Someday, before I die, I hope to stop feeding him my unjust anger, my resentment, my lust, my envy and my ego, and whatever else cannot survive God's presence. With God's help I'll get there. With God's help, WE will get there. Me and Him. You and Him. US and Him. And I'll be able to feed my other Lion, my Love, my compassion, my friendship and my faith. And simply acknowledging what Christ has done for me, through His birth, his life, his death and ultimatly his resurrection, I am infinetly closer that I ever could have been on my own.

Course that's all fine and dandy some say. But where's the practical?! How do I feed the right Lion? I want to feed the Lion of Judah! Well the answer is the same. Jesus, the Lion Himself! Because God created us in His image, we have Free Will. The ability to choose rationally, disregarding the animalistic instinct. God does not infringe on our Free Will very easily. So what do you do? You ask!

Revelation 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

He's knocking, He's saying "Hodi"! You gotta welcome Him in. You gotta ask him! "Jesus, please come in, come in and change me, refine me, perfect me!" I warn you though, being refined is not easy. To refine precious metals, like Gold and Silver, you have to heat them, very hot, and then sift off the impurities. Are you ready to have it hot? You wanna change, you wanna stop feeding that lion of Anger, it's gonna be work. Do you think God just automatically changes you? Changes your personality? No! But he will give you an opportunity. He'll bring you food. Which Lion do you feed? Say your anger has destroyed another friendship and you are tired of it. You want to give it up to God and have him refine it like Gold. you pray to God to help you control your anger. Will God then keep all things that make you angry away? No no no, he brings them close. Gets them hot. You pray. The next day something happens that normally makes you Angry. God helps and you don't get angry. Rejoice! Praise the Lord! Thank Him for his Grace. But then He bring's something else, and something else. Soon, we are no longer getting angry at the litte things that used to make us so mad. We're being refined. It's not easy, with God, there are growing pains. But the pain is nothing compared to letting the other Lion devour us.
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I ended with praying that God would bring to mind things he wants to refine, and that we would in turn offer those up to Christ for refining. I didn't get anything, but I was also hyped up on adrenaline, sweating and very hot; which is normal when I speak in public.