Pastor Larry Gillis
June 15, 2014 - W1424

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Pastor Larry Gillis:

Do you know that you are loved? You have a Father who loves and cares about you very much. We get to spend our time here and in all of eternity to truly find out just how much He loves us.

Let me ask you, if one of your children were in trouble, to what extent would you go to help those you love and care for? The Bible says in John 3:16, that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son…" for you and for me.

The wonderful gift God gave us through His Son is more than adequate. Let me explain a little more about this gift. God gave us His Son to live and die for us. He would come into this world like us and live amongst us. In Hebrews it says that Jesus was tested in every way that we are tested but lived without sin. He not only endured but went through victoriously, experiencing everything that we go through, yet He remained pure and holy in spite of all that.

Imagine, God sent the answer to all our needs through a little child, the weakest of all creation. Little babies, have total dependence on others, total needs, no independence at all. He had to be birthed through that tiny little tunnel like all of us. It has been said that some people are greatly traumatized from that birthing process that it affects the rest of their lives. Jesus went through the same process so Jesus understands all that. By the way, do you realize that Jesus even pooped in His diapers and momma had to clean it all up? Daddy probably also had to walk with the colic baby Jesus through the night because Jesus was a normal baby. So remember when you are caring for your children, that Jesus went through the same process as your own baby, and that He is loving and understanding you as you raise your children.

Even when Jesus was older, He probably had toys taken from Him or had stumbled and got all bruised up and cried just like every other child. When your child goes through this will you remember that Jesus probably went through it too? When Jesus was twelve, He began to struggle with thoughts just like when every child reaches puberty. So at age 12, we see Him wandering off to the temple to assume His role as a man, but His parents, once they realized He was missing, scurried back to the city to get Him. He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just ready to do all that His Father had sent Him to do. Do you ever have similar trouble with your children once they reach adolescence: anxious to be an adult, even though they are not quite ready? Well Jesus probably gave His parents difficulties too, but, He never sinned. Jesus even encountered people who told Him that He was inadequate. People were hard on Him; they told Him He was not any good. Has that ever happened to you or your children? Sometimes it’s our own parents who have not spoken well of us, or maybe some of us have not spoken well of our children. It says in the Bible that Jesus even spoke out during His adolescence, because when His parents questioned him about what He was doing, He told them at age 12, "Well, isn’t it my time to do my Father’s will?"

Jesus was doing the right thing, because He was in the synagogue learning and discussing with the elders and He developed a deeper understanding that He is the Son of God. His parents knew that He had a calling and they taught Him about that, but He obediently returned home until He was 30 when it was time for Him to leave His private life and take His ministry into the public. He realized that there was still much for Him to learn, so He submitted to His earthly parents and stayed with them until age 30. Do some of you have children who live at home until age 30? Its okay.

He obediently proceeded to take His ministry abroad, but, first he went to see John the Baptist who was baptizing people for repentance of their sins. John knew that Jesus who had never sinned really should be baptizing him, but Jesus said to him that it is essential that we do all righteousness, or to do it God’s right way. Now God knows how to do everything. He knows all about us and He knows how we should live our lives. Scripture says, "blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with it."

So here we have a young man of 30 who goes to John the Baptist, who is hungry and thirsty for all righteousness, and insists on doing it God’s way. Now this brings me to the main point of the message today, it has to do with affirmation. It’s important that we hear good things from the leaders of our family about who we are and that we receive direction. So we read here that as John proceeds to baptize Him and as Jesus comes out of the water, this perfect man who never sinned, hears His Father say, "This is my Son of whom I am well pleased." Jesus received the affirmation from His Papa, immediately before Jesus was sent into the wilderness to experience His greatest conflict, Satan. Without this affirmation, Jesus might not have been able to face this challenge. So like Jesus, God wants you to send your children out into the world with an affirmation that is filled with love from you and from The Heavenly Father. Some of you may be thinking as you were growing up that you never got any affirmation, that no one spoke well of you and it has crippled you because of that. But Jesus can and will help you overcome all that. Some of you may even be thinking that you as a parent have not given that affirmation to your children, well that can also be fixed.

I want us to look at John 3:1-3, "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"

Nicodemus told Jesus, we can see that You must be good because You have the approval of God upon you. There was a sense of confidence in Jesus, not that He didn’t have conflict, but because He had affirmation from His Father in Heaven. And Jesus told Nicodemus that it was good that he could see and know this but Nicodemus had to be born again. So here is the message I have for you today, and that is that your family, your friends, your relatives and the people you encounter need to hear that affirmation, and that God wants it to come through you from Him. God will provide all you need to say and do to face and stand up to the challenges that come upon you. He just wants you to share that Godly affirmation He gives you with others around you. So let His love fall upon them through you from Him. Affirmation will lead to relationship so affirm each other so that we and all we know and meet can have a relationship with God.

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Pastor Dan Shima:

My wife and I will be celebrating 50 years of marriage to each other. And I am grateful for my daughter and Her husband (my son in law) who is more like a son to me. We are also blessed to have two grandchildren. I am so grateful for all of them because they are all wonderful gifts to me. And not only is our family gifts, but, also those around us like friends, relatives, co workers and those we mentor. We should be grateful for these gifts, but not only be grateful for them, but that God also wants us to be righteous stewards of these gifts. We need to invest in Jesus and represent His heart to them. This means that we have to live in ways that expresses Christ’s heart. How we think, what we say or do will impact each life that we touch.

Now even if you don’t remember anything I may say today, I do want you to remember this meaning of being righteous stewards of our gifts and that is to accurately and authentically represent the heart of Jesus.

One of the aspects of stewarding God’s gift involves "time". Time is important, once time is spent, its gone forever. We can’t but time even with all the money in the world, and we only have a short amount of time in this world. One use of time is doing our devotions, because as we read our Bible we draw closer to God and helps us to have a more personal relationship with Jesus. That way we can be authentic in representing His heart.

Another use of time is to spend time with our loved ones. And that time will never be wasted. For instance, since I am older I tend to get up earlier now. I make sure that on Saturdays I am sitting on the sofa at 6:30 because my grandchildren always come down to the living room to watch cartoons. I want to spend that time cuddling and laughing with them. Its grandpa and grandchildren time together. But it is also time for me to represent the heart of Jesus with them. My wife and I also like to spend precious time praying in the mornings with them. My daughter and son in law pray with them in the evenings before they go to sleep, but we have the mornings before they go to school. We want them to know that Jesus is always with them right through the day and that all they have to do is call out His name because they are precious to Him as we all are. We were blessed the day that our grandson had to take the state test. We figured that the first thing he would read would be the instructions on the cover of the test, but he said the first thing he did was pray to Jesus.

When our granddaughter had to interview for kindergarten, we couldn’t go in with her. After it was over we asked her how she did. She admitted that one part was very hard, but she put her head down and she prayed to Jesus. Both of them know to truly know and trust in Jesus. They even pray for each other when one of them is sick. So like them we should all realize to put Jesus first in all we do. He is the first person we should turn to when life becomes challenging. Many times He is the last one we turn to. But we should rely on Him and trust Him because He loves us and cares for us and He knows the way He has for us.

Praying and doing devotions each day helps us to develop a deeper relationship with Him and helps us to be authentic as we steward the gifts that God gave us.

The third point is mainly for the fathers of the household. Not only by being a good husband to your wife or father to your children, God also wants you to be the spiritual leaders of the household establishing values which are God’s way to live by and to do your best to represent God’s heart.

I remember that when my daughter and son in law decided to get married, they spent much time developing their values for their life together and when their family was forming they wrote down the values in raising their children. My wife and I noticed their values were very similar to ours. For instance, we all want to belong to a church family, to worship with and also to reach out to others. We also will tithe to our churches because it reminds us that we live by His grace. Everything that we have is because of God’s love, God’s mercy and God’s grace.

So we all need to steward well the gifts that God has given us by accurately and authentically representing God’s Heart. We need to do our devotions, and journaling as we obey and do God’s will and we need to pray every day as we uphold to God’s values in our lives. In this way we can, not only, represent God’s Heart but we can also make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Someone once told me that "love is spelled T I M E". Someone also said "time flies". I replied, "Yes, but we are the pilots" so we need to decide to make that time to spread God’s love.

Special Guest via video:

Shawn has shuttled in an elderly Portuguese man to church and the man wonders why he was brought here. Little does Shawn know that besides being abrupt this man also suffers from dementia. The elderly man robustly questions Shawn about church and the surroundings with low lying trees and steep ramps. He makes threatening comments that if he falls he will sue. He is very dynamic, loud and aggressive. When he asks Shawn why he was brought to church today, Shawn tells him because it is Father’s Day. Shawn then proceeds to ask him if he has a special word about being a father and the elderly man says in his broken slang language, "Da mos’ important t’ing about being a fadda is to love your children’s modda". Wise words and a simple message, but, from the heart of God. Amen.

1) What was it like for you growing up? Did you face challenges?

2) When you were twelve what were you like?

3) What does affirmation mean to you?

4) What fruitful ways can you make to spend time with your family or friends or even those you work with?

5) What values have you set for you and/or your family?