Welcome to Country Weekend. It is great to be with you. My name is Dean Angell . . . I'm one of the pastors here at Lakeview Church . . . and I love country music . . .
Start with a little taste of my 6 most favorite country tunes . . .
Game - prize - who knows the songs first wins. Six tunes - 15 seconds or so each:
. Queen of my Double Wide Trailer - Sammy Kershaw
. I've Still Got Her Number - Sammy Kershaw
. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
. El Paso - Marty Robbins
. Me and Bobby McGee - Kris Kristofferson
. Desperado - Eagles
Ever hear what happens if you play a country song backwards? (only
good things)
. wife comes home
. get your job back
. quit drinking
. dog comes back
. quits raining
I'm so excited about the next 4 weeks we'll have together in this series
"Faith that sounds like . . . " we're gonna talk about:
Jazz
Blues
Gospel
And our music team is working incredibly hard to bring us some of the best music that will give each of us a taste of these different styles . . .
And we'll be opening God's word to what He says about our faith journey . . . connected to these different music styles.
It's gonna be great to be part of these next few weeks.
Today - Faith that sounds like country . . . faith that is real - worn to
Earth.
Faith is blue jeans .
Now if you're a country music fan - you'll realize that country music covers a very wide scope of topics . . . In fact country covers nearly eery angle on life . . .
Today I want to focus on 2 or 3 . . . and how these very real life issues . . . connect to our faith . . .
The first being heartache and pain . . . and regret. And it feels like this scene from "Hope Floats" (a very country movie)
I Heartache and Regret
Now in a couple of weeks were gonna talk about the blues . . .which is about heartache of a whole different kind . . . The blues is about pain and heartache that you can't control. However - today were talking about faith that sounds like country . . . and . . . The heartache in most country songs is self-inflicted and usually the song writer is writing from his own self-inflicted heartache experiences . . .
In the 70's Tammy Wynette sang divorce after her 3 rd marriage to George Jones came apart . . .
Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson) - busted flat in Baton Rouge - headed for the trains.
Hank Williams Jr. - wrote about addictions based on his families tradition.
I still got her number but I can't reach her anymore written by Sammy Kershaw after his 3 rd marriage came apart.
Now we all laugh about the crying, whining, cheating country songs - but the reason most of those songs became popular is because they struck a chord - they're real and most of us can relate at some level to self-inflicted heartache in our lives . . .
Most of us have made some choices in our lives that have caused us some level of pain and regret:
. we spent too much
. we drank too much
. we didn't care enough
. or we wasted some years caring too much
. we didn't make a decision we needed to (and missed an opportunity)
. we let love slip away
. we risked too little
. we risked too much and now we have regrets - ever felt regret ?
Regret is a funny word - funny but not hilarious . . . because it has the ability to steal your life . . .
Regret has this horrible heaviness about it - it's like a dark cloud that is incredibility hard to shake - it just stays with you and stays with you and rains in your world and blocks your view of the future and holds back your vision of what could be in your life.
Here's what regret is - regret is "living with the reality of consequences for bad decisions ."
You ever felt regret?
. That stupid decision you made when you were 17 or 18 or 19 or 20
. That relationship that got broken because of selfishness and pride?
. That business deal that went south farther than you could imagine?
. That addiction that cost you everything?
Regret is one of the worst feelings in the world . . .
You know the Bible speaks a lot about the regret of self inflicted heartache - in fact nearly every significant Bible leader felt the sting of regret.
Adam - Abraham - Moses - Paul - Peter
I think the guy (in the Bible) who probably struggled more than anyone else with regret was David - (King of Israel - war hero - incredible leader - spiritual giant) The book of Psalms (in the Bible) (mostly written by David) is filled with these incredible words of poetry and song describing David's love for God and the incredible relationship between the two of them - and yet (even in this very close walking relationship with God) . . . . . . . David made some decisions in his life that were colossal mistakes - mistakes that created a wave of pain and hurt to those close to David . . . and a huge cloud of regret over David's life. Here's a couple of examples. David made some huge errors in raising his children - mostly because he was absent and a little busy fighting wars and leading a nation and so in his absence - He failed to discipline his own children and his family fell apart - in fact it got so bad - that with in his own family there was hatred and lying and incest and rape and even murder . . .
All that within the family of a spiritual giant . . . who made some mistakes and knew the feeling of regret . . .
And only after a family comes apart does a parent feel true regret . . . and David felt it . . .
And then there's the other very messy situation David got into . . .
Lots of you will know the story of David and Bathsheba - a married woman who he saw one day, lusted after her and had to have her, . . . and because he was the king - he could make it so, and he did . . . And then when she became pregnant he had to fix that situation . . . so he had her husband killed - and tried to cover it up . . . . This is David - writer of the Book of Psalms - David -guy who loved God and wanted desperately to follow him . . . And then he had the gall after all this was done . . . to bring her into his palace as one of his wives . . . but . . . . . . in true country song fashion everything started to unravel and David got caught and his lies and actions were exposed and his life turned into a huge bucket of regret and guilt and shame . . . and self inflicted heartache set in . . .
Now let me turn the corner on this . . .for all of you who felt the sting of living a country song in your life . . . all of you who are connecting with this whole regret filled heartache deal . . . . as I talk about it . . .
. . . There is a reason why God talks about regret so much in the Bible . . . It's because he knows the heaviness and the weight (burden) that it creates in our lives . . . and God also knows what it takes to get rid of it . . . In fact over and over again the Bible outlines 4 words that will take away the heartache that comes from regret . . . .
confession, forgiveness, change and restoration
Listen to what David did to release the weight of regret. He wrote a song (country)? Psalm 51 describes the process he went through after regret set into his life .
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night. Purify me from my sins, [ 1 ] and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt . Psalm 51: 1-3, 7-9 (NLT)
(Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.) Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 51: 10 & 12 (NLT)
Folks - There is an answer to regret and it is simple but not easy - (The answer to regret lies in dealing with the decisions that got you to the point of regret in the first place) - 2 steps David went through:
. Confession forgiveness
-have mercy on me - cleanse me
-wash me - deal with this regret
-forgive me
-the only way to begin to deal with regret. God knows it and sees it - so why not let him deal with it.
-hidden from everyone but God?
I gotta tell you - if you've got this sense of guilt and regret in your life . . . and your carrying it around - isn't it heavy? Aren't you getting tired of carrying that weight? . . . Well - only one way to rid yourself of that heavy load . . . confess - tell God you need his forgiveness . . . .
I John 1:9 - Promise
"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."
(Then here's the 2 nd step David took)
. Change Restoration
Let me reread verse 10 of Psalm 51 . . .
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
David said - God - as you forgive me - begin to change my heart.
God as you walk with me change me into a better person
God I open myself up to you - help me make better decisions
God - you are the one who can restore me and heal me and turn this regret around and change my life . . . .
Ultimately, the answer to every country song is the word restoration . . and it's the answer to the points of regret we feel in our lives as well . . .
So David said . . . Here's how to remove guilt and regret and get restored . . .
Confess and be forgiven . . . then walk with God and allow him to change your every day . . . and thought that process of change - comes restoration . . .
That's the part of faith, that sounds like country . . . It's about a faith with answers to life's real issues . . .and real mistakes and real regrets . . .
Folks - (trust me on this one) take all your heartache to God . . . and especially today - take your self inflicted - regrets - to Him and let him forgive and change and restore your life . . . and you will find peace .
II Count Your Blessings
Let me switch gears a bit . . . because there's a whole other segment of country music that I gotta talk about, (especially country music in these past years) . . . songs that talk about the blessings of life and about getting more out of life - or about living the adventure of life of the fullest Country music always gets a bad wrap for singing songs that whine about the pain of life . . . .
But . . . in the past 10 - 15 years there have been so many country songs written about the other real side of life . . . songs about . . .
. Counting your blessings and making a difference
. The blessing of a great marriage
. The whole idea of the amazing country we get to live in
. Or the gift of a solid home we may gave grown up in
There was a great song that came out a couple of years ago called "Front
Porch Lookin' In." We actually sang it live here . . .
Country tune that describes how incredible the blessing of a family really is looking from the front porch in at what you've got together instead of looking out and away and what you don't have . . .
Another great country song - huge hit 3 years ago - "I Hope You Dance." A song of blessing from one person to another - I hope for you - joy and peace and adventure - I hope you leave a great legacy and that you find purpose and meaning and fulfillment and destiny . . . and every thing life is meant to be -
I Hope You Dance . . . and there are a 100 other country songs that desire to push us to a new level . . . in our lives.
Folks, here's what I know to be true . . . that God has given us so much to be thankful for (so much to be positive about) think about that for a minute .
Hasn't He blessed us in our lives?
Have you thought about it much lately?
I thought it just made sense to do that today . . .
In fact - take a pen out and write a few things down . . .list 4 - 5 things you're thankful for - what are they?
home I grew up in church
family, Canada
hockey (my did had his first ever hockey practice today)
friends - people who stick with you - by you
What are you thankful for?
There's a verse in the Bible that says this . . . it says that what we're doing right now - is exactly the right thing to do .
Thanking God for everyday - very minute things in our lives . . .
Colossians 3:15a & c
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts . and be thankful."
Folks, did you know that . . . every good thing we have in our life comes from God first - It's from His hand not ours . . .
every good thing . . .
. the food
- the truck
. the kids
. the job
. the money
. the house
. the friends
. the church
Every good gift is our lives from God . . . into our hands . . . and so the Bible says, be thankful . . .
Here's what I think happens to us in life - I think we crowd out thanksgiving. We either get too busy to think about all the blessings we've been given - or we get a little greedy and then unsatisfied with what we have - because we want more . . . or we want something that someone else has . . . and that whole unsatisfied attitude stops us from being thankful for what God has given to us . . . or maybe we just don't think about it . . .
Last spring - I gotta tell you (I was in a bit of a tough spot) - everything was dark in my life.
. I wasn't so healthy physically
. I wasn't in a great frame of mind
. I was tired and grumpy and it was raining in my world . . .
Seemed like I had a little cloud that followed me around and just rained on me . . . and I wasn't thankful - at all. In fact I was the opposite - unsatisfied - frustrated - put out . . . and then came summer. We had a very simple summer. Just our family - our camper and a lake . . . No frills - just us together 24/7 for nearly 4 weeks - awesome.
About ½ way through . . . . . . (that time) God started working on my heart a bit . . . and I had the strangest thought one day . . . shift . . . (I suddenly realized) (again) . . .
I have a great life . . . .
. Great family
. Great wife and kids - awesome kids - supportive wife (so hot)
. Food - books - sunshine - water - mountains
. New friends
. Health
. . . . . . and suddenly I was thankful
It was amazing to me - how quickly my demeanor changed and how fast that little rain cloud over my head - just disappeared . . . (the moment I returned thanks to God). And just by looking from my front porch in . . . at what God had given me . . . and then - everything started to spin and it was like I could see tons of more things to be thankful about . . . everywhere around me.
Awesome.
Thanksgiving became contagious . . . .
Folks, we've gotta learn to count our blessings (even when things aren't so great!) God is with you - He desires to walk beside you and his hand has been and is in your life and around your life much more than you realize. I want to challenge you today to . . . Live like you were dying (song).
Colossians 3:15
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts . . . and be thankful."
(no matter what)
Close with another thought - about faith and country and potential and this community.
This day every year marks the start of another ministry year here at Lakeview Church - it marks another beginning spiritually for us together as a community and also for each of us individually. The next 12 months ahead will be an incredible season for this church (we are embarking on so many new things) - we will build our new facility and the very act of doing that - just taking that step of faith that God has called us to . . . will be an incredible adventure dreams about our continued development as a community (way beyond this new building) and dreams about the impact God will have through our church in this city - will start to be realized . . .
Do you know that people have been working and praying and believing God for more than 80 years at this Church . . . . (in fact) hundreds of people in our church have gone to their grave wanting and praying and hoping for what this church will live out in the next few months and years ahead . . .
Awesome, I believe strongly that the very best days for us (as a community of faith) are ahead of us - in fact I think they're right around the corner.
So folks, corporately - as people of faith who are this church - get ready for a great year - Get ready for God to move among us - get ready for lives to be changed and for his power to fill this place . . . Get ready for us to move forward strongly . . . get ready for families to be made whole and marriages to be healed and souls to be lit up all around this place . . . God is with us of that I have no question . . . and He wants to bless us as we move towards him . . .
Here's the kicker with all that - This church's strength is in It's people - in what God is doing individually in your lives . . . the whole is only the sum of its parts . . . and so I gotta ask you something - As we start this new ministry season . . . as we kick off this year . . .
. What is God doing in your life?
. Are you desiring to have your soul expand?
. What is He calling you to?
. What dream - what passion has He given you?
. What dance is he calling you to in life?
The Bible says that within each of us He has planted a dream - a destiny - a calling. Do you know what He's called you to? Do you know what incredible adventure that lies ahead of you when your soul begins to over take your life? Do you know the changes that might have to happen to seize more of God's plan for your life? Do you have a sense of anticipation in your soul?
(Let me read you a verse . . . to start this year.)
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13a & 14
Folks, I gotta quit preaching . . . here . . but . . . this is the year . . . and it starts today. To take what God has given you . . . and you . . . and you (and us) and seize it and squeeze it for all it's worth. |
