No Stone Unturned

Thank you for joining us today. Let’s welcome everyone that is listening to us via our podcast. I hope if you are in the Orlando area, you will stop by and worship with us. To understand where we are going, we need to look at the end. Jesus explains at the end of His sermon, it is wise to hear His words and do them. Not because they are ingredients that will allow us to avoid trouble but when trouble comes, our foundation is strong enough to survive. In this series, we will unpack this new standard, this Wild Standard.

(ESV) — 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Series Summary

Standards provide direction for growth

Where there is no standard, there is confusion

Jesus is the standard

Empire vs Kingdom

The presence of problems is not the absence of blessings

You are not blessed because of what you have, you are blessed because of who you have

As we continue to examine this sermon, we pick up where we left off. I want to remind us that this is all one sermon for Jesus; . Everything he is sharing is connected to the previous thought and the next thought. So after Jesus deals with what it means to be blessed, He then puts His attention on another aspect of their identity by letting them know they are salt and light. They are called to stand out. They are called to make a difference. He sets the record straight by saying He is the standard when He says He has come to fulfill the law. The wild standard is not something to live up to, it is something we are invited to live in. He then shifts His attention to matters of the heart and how we interact with people.

Anger and how we need to not let issues go unresolved

Lust and how we need to not dehumanize people:

(ESV) — 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Divorce and how unresolved issues and lust can lead to it

Oaths, which are covenants that don’t involve the grace of God

Retaliation and how we should respond with generosity and kindness when we feel the most offended

Then shares that love is the answer to all of these things:

(ESV) — 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Perfect means whole. Perfect means Blameless. It means complete. God’s plan has always been for us to be whole.

Today as we continue in this series, I want to talk about our hearts and the Wild Standard of the Kingdom wants us to steward them. No Stone Unturned. God, speak to us today. Open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts. In Jesus’ name...

I recently read the most compelling but equally disturbing book ever. It’s called Between a Rock and a Hard Place. If you’re not familiar with it, let me fill you in. It’s the story of a man named Aron Rolston. He’s an avid outdoorsman that isolated himself from his loved ones. One day he went on a hike not telling anyone where he was. Once he got miles away from civilization, he falls down a canyon where his hand and arm gets trapped beneath an 800 pound rock/boulder. While there he goes through a series of extreme scenarios that challenge him to go from one survival desperate act to the next. Pushing him from rationing his resources to trying to stay warm and dry to having to drink his own bodily fluid in order to stay hydrated and survive.

Here’s the thing I think many of us aren’t too different than Aron. We live isolated lives to the point no one knows where we are emotionally so when we end up stuck people don’t know how to support us. While in that place, we slowly go through iterations of desperate measures where we end up ingesting things we shouldn’t, just to survive. We give in to anger, just to survive. We dehumanize people, just to survive. We walk away from covenant relationships, just to survive. We build barriers around our heart, just to survive. We look for ways to get revenge, just to survive. We hold on to the past to keep it from happening again, just to survive.

Unfortunately, no matter the survival techniques Aron employed, he was still trapped…so are we. Have you ever felt trapped? Unable to move forward, no matter how hard you try. Trapped in bitterness, un-forgiveness, anger, addiction…what is the metaphorical rock that has you trapped?

God’s people have been trapped for years. It seems like their entire existence is connected to one form of oppression or another. Granted, much of it was self inflicted, but logic and personal responsibility is rarely the focal point when we just want relief. They went from Egypt to Babylonians, to Persians, Greeks-Medes, and now the Roman Empire has its foot on their necks. These are the chosen people and yet, they are not feeling chosen right now. So for them, they were looking for the Messiah to come and regulate. They envisioned a man of war who would come in and bring order. In other words, they wanted their king to do to their oppressors what had been done to them. So when Jesus shows up and He is saying the right things, He is doing the right thing, they are excited but, they begin to ask a one word, two letter question that can often through us off track…IF?

If He is the Messiah, why are we still dealing with the same drama?

If Jesus is Lord, why is my money not right?

If Jesus is Lord, why am I still struggling?

If Jesus is Lord, why did I experience this loss?

When we reduce the creator of the universe down to the variable of my feelings, or my preferred outcome, the answer isn’t God, we have a genie and cosmic santa clause. There are few things that will stimulate a crisis of faith more than a If/Then proposition. John the Baptist had the same crisis. Scripture says He knew who Jesus was even in the womb but when he was in prison, he posed an if/then proposition. Are you the one or should I find another? (; ; ) In other words, If you are good, then why am I in this situation? We need to move from that place and live in the “Even if” like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. ()

Even if it doesn’t work out, God is good

Even if the counseling didn’t work, God is good

Even if my grandmother didn’t recover, God is good

The Wild Standard in dealing with our heart is moving from if/then to even if. Jesus knew the only way that His followers could truly live lives of freedom and abundance was to shift from transactional belief to a faith filled relationship. Living under the stone of if/then, keeps you from moving forward to even if.

God’s people had a legit gripe. They had some understandable frustrations. Problem is, when you look at things exclusively through the lens of your feelings, you can dig yourself deeper in them. It will eventually lead to dehumanizing yourself and others and justifying it using toxic logic. My wife and I frequently talk about how to implement wisdom in our relationships. I am not talking about letting someone mishandle you or mistreat you. That is not the will of God. However, I am talking about not being bound in the way you treat your next relationship based on a past relationship. Love keeps no record of wrongs. This is what Christ was talking about with oaths and revenge in . We create inner vows, a covenant that doesn’t include the grace of God. This traps us under the rock of unforgiveness, making it impossible to move forward. The longer you stay trapped under that rock, you lose circulation and grow numb. We make statements like…I’ll never let that happen to me again. Your feelings are valid, but they aren’t adding value to your life. Are my feelings leading to a place of hope or am I a prisoner of pain? It’s cutting off your circulation and suffocating your relationships. The Wild Standard in the Kingdom is to root yourself in things that bring life, not takes it.

God’s people had a legit gripe. They had some understandable frustrations. Problem is, when you look at things exclusively through the lens of your feelings, you can dig yourself deeper in them. It will eventually lead to dehumanizing yourself and others and justifying it using toxic logic. My wife and I frequently talk about how to implement wisdom in our relationships. I am not talking about letting someone mishandle you or mistreat you. That is not the will of God. However, I am talking about not being bound in the way you treat your next relationship based on a past relationship. Love keeps no record of wrongs. () This is what Christ was talking about with oaths and revenge in . We create inner vows, a covenant that doesn’t include the grace of God. This traps us under the rock of un-forgiveness, making it impossible to move forward. The longer you stay trapped under that rock, you lose circulation and grow numb. We make statements like…I’ll never let that happen to me again. Your feelings are valid, but they aren’t adding value to your life. Are my feelings leading to a place of hope or am I a prisoner of pain? It’s cutting off your circulation and suffocating your relationships. The Wild Standard in the Kingdom is to root yourself in things that bring life, not takes it.

God’s people had a legit gripe. They had some understandable frustrations. Problem is, when you look at things exclusively through the lens of your feelings, you can dig yourself deeper in them. It will eventually lead to dehumanizing yourself and others and justifying it using toxic logic. My wife and I frequently talk about how to implement wisdom in our relationships. I am not talking about letting someone mishandle you or mistreat you. That is not the will of God. However, I am talking about not being bound in the way you treat your next relationship based on a past relationship. Love keeps no record of wrongs. This is what Christ was talking about with oaths and revenge in . We create inner vows, a covenant that doesn’t include the grace of God. This traps us under the rock of unforgiveness, making it impossible to move forward. The longer you stay trapped under that rock, you lose circulation and grow numb. We make statements like…I’ll never let that happen to me again. Your feelings are valid, but they aren’t adding value to your life. Are my feelings leading to a place of hope or am I a prisoner of pain? It’s cutting off your circulation and suffocating your relationships. The Wild Standard in the Kingdom is to root yourself in things that bring life, not takes it.

The longer you stay trapped under that rock, you lose circulation and grow numb.

Jesus knows what you hold on to, holds on to you. In order for God’s people to truly move forward, we HAVE to let go. If you’re eye causes you to sin, cut it out. If you’re right hand causes you to fall short of God’s standard, cut it off and throw it away. To be whole, you have to let go.

In order for God’s people to truly move forward, we HAVE to let go. If you’re eye causes you to sin, cut it out. If you’re right hand causes you to fall short of God’s standard, cut it off and throw it away. To be whole, you have to let go.

After spending several days trapped and using desperate measures to survive where he was, he resigned to himself that he was going to die there. He took his utility knife and carved his name and birthday and projected death in the rock so that when someone eventually found him, they would know who he is. As he began to drift off, the oddest thing happened. He saw a vision of himself with a child. Up to that point, He had not had any children. He could tell in the vision that the boy was his son and he had so much love for her. As he examined the vision more, he noticed that a part of his arm was missing. When he regained his consciousness, he knew what he had to do. Though his son wasn’t born yet, he reconciled that the only way I can survive this and have this beautiful little boy is I have to let go of this thing that has kept me here trapped. With the same instrument that he used to carve his date of death, he now used it to give him life. He broke his arm and began to cut through the skin, bones and arteries. It was messy but he kept visualizing his son and how much he loved her. Love compelled him to break free. Love compelled him to cut through the messiness. He said, I would rather go through life with 1 arm and live then die here with 2.

Love is the instrument that sets us free. Christ loved us, so we could be free. That love empowers us to do the same. Because Christ loves me, I am empowered to love myself and love others and I will not stay trapped in bitterness, love set me free. I will not stay trapped her in un-forgiveness, love have set me free.

I will leave no stone unturned because God has shown me a vision for my future and dying here isn’t part of the plan. I am looking at death and saying…not today. I am turning over the stone of un-forgiveness with love. I am turning over the stone of anger with love. I am turning over the stone of bitterness with love. The wild standard and oxygen in the kingdom of God is LOVE!

Demonstrating love is the strongest thing you will ever do. (; )

(ESV) — 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

We are called to build our life on the rock, not live under one!

We are free because of love. When we cut ourselves free, there are times we have phantom limb syndrome. A phantom limb is the sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still attached. Even though it feels like it, you are free!

No Stone Unturned

Welcome

Scripture(s)

Pray

Illustration

Transition

Background/Context

Thoughts/observations

The Lordship of Jesus isn’t dependent my comfort.

How you feel may be valid, but it does not always bring value.

To be whole, you have to let go.

Closing/Alter