02) Re-Directing Your Life - October 09, 2007 @ 6:30pm Westside Baptist Church Room 4C-6C
Session #2: Redefining Your Life
We will be using The Message translation in this session
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God!
Romans 8 : 5 (Msg)
No matter how long you’ve been away from church and no matter how big a sinner you may think you are, God knows who you are and wants you close to Him.
John 15 : 1 – 3 states:
“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. (Msg)
Small Group Scripture
…if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.
1 John 1 : 9 (Msg)
OUR ATTITUDES
Allow your personal relationship with Jesus Christ to work through you…thank God for allowing you the many opportunities to share the good news.
1 Peter 3 : 15 – 16
If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. (Msg)
Remain Connected with Brothers/sisters in Christ
Galatians 6 : 1 – 3
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. (Msg)
Small Group Scripture
12Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
13-15Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. James 1 : 12 – 13 (Msg)
OUR MACHO IMAGE
A defense mechanism. The ability to go to a gruesome traffic crash and then immediately go to eat dinner consisting of Italian food with lots of meatballs.
We suppress our anger and hurt as we silently cry to ourselves, “Why, oh why?”
We have confused the idea of neutrally enforcing the law with how we are supposed to deal with grief, stress, and spiritual matters.
A policeman [wears many hats and] is all the things we hope and pray for. Most of all, never forget that you are only human, and a creation of God Himself.
Jesus and the Use of Force Matrix
God never intended you to be some type of “junk yard dog” … ready at a moments notice to unleash ourselves upon the public.
We MUST be sure that our anger is directed toward the right issues and not just an emotional release.
Our attitudes should be the same as Christ
Philippians 2 : 5
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. (Msg)
Small Group Scripture
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12 : 1 – 2 (Msg)
How does this passage related to your job in law enforcement?
GOD REMOVES PEOPLE IN AUTHORITY
Authority is God-given as in Romans 13, but it can be taken away as well.
Small Group
He changes the seasons and guides history, He raises up kings and also brings them down, he provides both intelligence and discernment, He opens up the depths, tells secrets, sees in the dark—light spills out of him! Daniel 2 : 21
What are some examples of God removing a bad leader or someone from a position of authority? Individuals, politicians, co-workers?
WE CAN’T BE JUDGE AND JURY
Some feel that law enforcement has the authority to hand out justice on the street. Sometimes we can feel consumed by the actions of those we encounter. We all take crime very seriously, as we should, but it is difficult to not take it personally.
Many times we make it very clear as to what is in our hearts by the words we say or the manner that we say it. If we hear or even more so hear ourselves say it enough, words can translate into action. Those words can sprout up at the most inopportune moments, say in the presence of the media or in court.
Directly from PeaceKeepers (34): In every case where we allow our emotions to overtake us, we are actually allowing sin to enter our minds at “Code 3 Speed”. It is when our physical and emotional state is at its highest that we allow Satan to control our thoughts and actions; often leading us into a Federal courtroom for a Color of Law violation. During these times, God is furthest from our minds.
Do not confuse acting with compassion with not being tactical and safe. If someone is taking action against you or another, do what is necessary. Use your training. But, do not take it to a personal level when you have taken care of business.
Small Group Scripture
A hostile world! I called to God,
to my God I cried out.
From his palace he heard me call;
my cry brought me right into his presence—
a private audience!
Romans 12 : 14 – 21 (Msg)
14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody [prideful].
17-19Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
Hate the sin; but not the sinner.
We are ALL THE SAME. We just have different roles in the world.
How does reading verses 17-19 affect your thoughts as a law enforcement officer?
Verse 16 tells us not to be proud. Do you think we as law enforcement tend to exalt ourselves over others, more often than not?
THE FAITH OF THE CENTURION
We tend to confuse our faith with attending church or actively worshiping God. It is equally important to have faith IN God and His will for your life. Imagine how God could use us for HIS purpose if we had the faith of the centurion.
Small Group Scripture
Luke 7 : 6 – 10 (Msg)
1-5When he finished speaking to the people, he entered
6-8Jesus went with them. When he was still quite far from the house, the captain sent friends to tell him, “Master, you don’t have to go to all this trouble. I’m not that good a person, you know. I’d be embarrassed for you to come to my house, even embarrassed to come to you in person. Just give the order and my servant will get well. I’m a man under orders; I also give orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9-10Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd: “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in
Do you think you could possess the same faith as the Centurion did?
Matthew 17 : 20 (Msg)
20“Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”
2 Corinthians 4 : 18 (Msg)
There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
Hebrews 11 : 6 (Msg)
It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
To be completely with God, you need to redirect your life so that you may understand and feel the fulfillment of your new life in Christ. “You need to have the faith to believe that God wants to be a part of your life and use your position as a law enforcement officer for His greater purpose.”