Five Questions to Find Your Spiritual Gifts

"So yesterday, I'm at home laying on my couch and I see snow falling.  For those of you who are northern transplants, you have to understand that snow in the south might as well be cocaine falling.  There are people who are not in church because of snow.  It becomes Snowmageddon. "

This is the second week of the series, "Don't Waste Your Life", Perry Noble of www.newspring.cc wants to offer 5 questions that will change your life.  Most people don't intend on wasting their life.  They get distracted.  Alot of people know what they should be doing but they just don't follow through. 

To give an example, Perry talks about taking his daughter out to Chik-Fil-A for a date.  First, he was going to take her to the zoo, then to the Mall of Georgia.  His daughter, Karis, also wanted to ride the escalator while the two were there.  Perry was fine with that.  On his way out, his wife Lacretia asked him to pick up something while he was at the mall.  Of course Perry got nevous because he seems to always mess these kinds of things up.  Lacretia asked him to go into Bed Bath and Beyond., a place that already freaks him out.  "I'm not anti-Bed Bath and Beyond.  I just don't get it."   So, his task was to get one of those things that plug into the wall and hold a scented insert.  "None of you guiys know what I am talking about."  When they got to the store, Perry asked his daughter to find what mommy wanted.  Immediately, Karis went right to the area and knew what to get.  As he was leaving though, a store helper stopped him.  saying if he bought another refreshener, he would save mmoney because it was 2 for $15 but 3 for $20.  after a little back and forth, Perry, said, "you know what, I am going to just do what my wife asked me to do."  Walking out, Perry thought to himself that this is what happens a lot of times in life.  We know what we should be doing and then we get distracted. 

There are a couple of competing ideas in life.  One is a lie from the pit of hell.  Perry calls it the "Great American Lie".  Here is the lie; If you believe in yourself and try really hard you can do anything you want and be anything you want.  "That's the biggest pile of crap in the universe!  WE know that's not true!!  We know that because we watch American Idol."  So many people have failed because they have spent way too much time believing in themselves.  What if someone wants to be an american idol and can't even sing?  Perry wanted to play professional football, but that wasn't going to happen.

God made us on purpose to make a difference.  He custom designed us.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.   Maybe your parents said you were unplanned but God has never called you an accident.  He made you on purpose for a purpose so you could make a difference in this world. 

Last week in Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable about a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.  To one, he gave five bags of gold.  To another two bags and to another one bag.  The man with five bags turned it into five more.  The man with two bags turned it into another two, but the man with one bag buried it!! 

In the Bible, it says that all of us have at least one spiritual gift.  One of the coolest things about being a christian is that Jesus wants to bless us right off the bat.  He wants us to focus on our gifts and blessings and not be distracted!  God does not take from us good things.  It is the miserable things in our life He wants out, NOT the good things!  To help us wrap our minds around what our spiritual gifts are, Perry decides to give us 5 guiding questions. 

1) What do I enjoy?   When Perry first was considering being a follower of Christ, he started hearing what the pastor was saying.  The pastor wasn't preaching a sermon about keep him from going to hell, but rather it was a prayer to let Jesus control his life.  See, Perry knew a lot of Christians that just weren't happy at all.  Waiting tables, Perry noticed that on Sunday people would show up after attending services and they would be some of the meanest people he's ever met.  They all looked constipated.  "Have you ever seen that person?  No Joy!!"  Perry didn't want to be that person.  From the time he was 0-12, Perry says he had a "drug problem". "I was drug to church every Sunday".  But when his mom died, he wasn't drug anymore.  But then he was skeptical and didn't want to be unable to party and then have to go on mission trips.  But what finally transitioned his thinking was Perry was reading in the Bible and saw John 10:10;

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. 

It hit perry that Jesus Christ wanted him to be filled with joy.  THE BEST EVIDENCE OF CHRIST IS OUR JOY.  Perry says he has joy in what he does because he loves his job.

2) What do I do well?  For those who say they do nothing well, they might as well give God the finger and call him a liar.  He knows who you are and what you do well.  Some people are organizers.  They love to order things and GOD NEEDS THESE PEOPLE for His Purposes.  Some have the spiritual gift of mercy.  They love to shepherd people, cry with people, hear their problems and help them.  Some people are creative and write poetry, music and webcode.  "Did you know that some of the first people filled with the Spirit of God were filled to be creative?"  We all have gifts...

1 Peter 4:10:  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace and its various forms. 

Everyone has a specific gift for this purpose.  Both of the previous questions have to be anwered together because some people enjoy what they don't do well.  But on the flip side, some people are really good at something they don't enjoy. 



3) What bothers you?  I'm not talking about people who don't use their turn signal or men that wear Capri pants,.  "Some of them might get mad, get in their Prius, drive home and eat some hummus and write a poem.  I don't care.  I don't fear the men that wear Capris.  I'm afraid of the guys who wear Wranglers."  Anyway, when you look at the world, what bothers you.?  One time, Perry was watching Popeye.  It bothered Perry because it never made him want to eat spinach.  Besides, Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyle was ugly and Popeye was always getting beat up!  But remember what Popeye would always say before he ate his spinach?   "That's all I can stand.  I can't standst no more!" 

When you find your misery, you'll find your ministry.  What bothers you? 

In the book of Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and Nehemiah was bothered about this.  He fell, wept, fasted and prayed.  By the end of the book, he and his men rebuilt the walls of Jeruselem.  "What about Mother Theresa?"  When she went ot Calcutta, India, she was so bothered by the poverty that she moved there and dedicated her life.  One day, she was washing the feet of a leper and someone said, "I would not do that for a million dollars" and Mother Theresa responded with, "Neither would I".  Christian Kain was in a Greek airport and saw all the missing girls moved in to the sex trade, so she started the A21 campaign.  Perry started his church when he was botherd by churches where he felt he couldn't bring friends to any other one.  Perry makes the point that whatever botheres  you, you cannot delegate that burden to other people in the church.  You have to act on what God has put on your heart. 

4)  What opportunities are in front of you right now?  If we are not faithful with what we have now, we will not move forward to other areas.  When Perry found Jeuss, he found it natural to just talk to peole.  Perry asked what he could do in the church and the pastor directed him to the 6th grade classes.  He volunteered all week with the kids making crafts and stuff as he was directed.  One day, the class leader said she didn't have a lesson and she asked him if he would put something together.  So, his first sermon was to seven 6th graders giving his testimony! It was the worst sermon in the history of the world, but after he was finished, four kids out of the seven gave their lives to Christ.  It really meant a lot to him and helped him realize what his gift was.  The pastor got wind of this and asked Perry to speak at a mission trip he was going to on.  He ended up speaking in the basement of a youth rally.  That night, someone was playing guitar and Perry followed.  After he preached, eight more people gave their lives!!   From here on out, Perry just preached where he was called to preach.  He stopped giving God his plans and just gave Him his hands. 

5) Who?  None of the other questions matter until you ask this question.  Matt 25:19-25 tells us what happens to the servants when their master returns.  The master comes back to the servants and asks what the servants have done with his money.  They each show their accomplishments.  To the first two servants, he says "Well done good and faithful servants, but to the last servant, buried his lot, the master responds by throwing the man out.  All three declared God as their master, but only two demonstrated that He was their master.  Who are you going to live for?  1 Corinthians 5 says;



Do you not know that wrongdoers do not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be decieved.  Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolators nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slandereres nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God. 

Don't worry about where you were or  of what you are afraid.  Embrace what God promises for you and what He has for you.  Trust that.  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  He can use you to make a difference!

What's So Bad About Greed?

If there is anyone who can help you with your finances, it is Jesus. He is the most Generous! He gave his life on a cross for us, so how much more is He willing to give us now?! If you are in a financial prison, you did not follow Jesus there. It was greed and greed always brings about death. If you are in the middle of a life of greed, something in you is dead or dying. It could be your conscience, it could be your marriage or it could be your home, but it is not from Jesus.

In the second part his series, "Upgrade", Perry Noble's opening remarks on "Greed" begin with a recollection: "When I was in college, my freshman year at Anderson University, I never ever changed or washed my sheets all semester.  See, some of you guys are saying, "What? (What's the big deal?)".  Others of you are jaw dropped.  My thinking was, since I showered at night, that I was always clean and there was then no reason to worry about changing the sheets.  When I finally changed them, though, they stood straight up by themselves and they walked themselves to the wash!  Now, many of you approach your faith like I approach my sheets.

I gave my life to Christ in May of 1990, but there were two major areas that I did not surrender to God until 1999.  One of those areas I will cover another time, but my finances were the second area. My finances were OUT OF CONTROL.  I will tell you this; based on my experience, you show me the most out of control area of your life and I will show you the area of your life God does not control. 

I come from a pretty poor background.  When I accepted Christ, my dad and I lived at poverty level.  My dad was on Disability and received $980 a month.  I worked two jobs and basically worked from 5am to 11pm.  We lived in a trailer for $40 a week in rent.  There was one night when our utilities were cut off and we almost froze to death in our own home.  When I graduated from college, I came out of there with $35,000 in student loan debt.  Then, I discovered VISA.  Ooooohhh.  I was riding down the road with my VISA in my pocket and I saw this gun I had to have, so I bought it.  I was ready for "Red Dawn".  A few nights later, a friend invited me to OutBack.  I didn't have money, but I had VISA!  When I saw how low the minimum payments were, I couldn't help but use the card again and again and again.  I helped my father with his debt using VISA.  Embarassingly, when I went to buy furniture before my wife and I got married, my credit was not good.  So, by the time we were married, I owed well over $100,000.  It was time to pay down the debt!!"  So, Perry put a plan in place and he is now debt free. 

Now, if you want to be debt free, ask yourself three questions:

1) Is Jesus first in your life?

Genesis 2:15-16 says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;" 

Look at this!  The first 3 words God said to man was YOU ARE FREE.  It wasn't "Stop that", "Hush" or "Worship Me".  It was "You are free".  BUT, look at what then comes in the verse:  "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 

He was basically saying, "If you touch what is mine, you will die."  So, God is very generous with the Garden of Eden, but asks that a small portion of the garden be His.  

To illustrate the God's generosity, Perry calls some volunteers up on the stage.  He wants a middle school kid, a high school student and a college student volunteer.  The criteria for each of them is that they need to be flat broke.  He gives the high school student $10 and asks him to give $1 to the church.  Perry asks, "Am I a generous man?"  Then he gives the middle school kid $100 and asks him to give $10.  "Am I a generous man?"  Then Perry gives a broke college student $1000 and asks her to give $100.  Then he asks, "Am I a generous man?"  During the demonstation, the college student, a young girl, says she is trying to go to Kenya (sounds like a mission trip).  Perry pauses for a moment and then says, "Newspring is going to cover that."  In an emotional moment, the entire church stands to applaud the blessing.  "Mmmmm.  I could go home now!  Get those offer baskets back out!" 

Everything the audience saw and felt is what God does.  The audience watched as three people were blessed.  Joshua 7 talks about how the Israelites were going to conquer Jericho.  It was the first city His people were going to takeover when they came out of Egypt.  But God told Moses that no one was to touch any of the belongings of that city because it was the first city he was going to let Israel conquer (presumably among many).  Well, a few days later, the Israelites went to conquer another city, but they got their butts whipped!  Moses went to God and said, "What!?!  You said we would win! What happened?"  And God told Moses that someone in the population had touched some goods from Jericho.  When Moses investigated, he found that a man named Achan had, in fact, disobeyed God and had taken some things for himself. 

Joshua 7:20-21 - Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.

Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord bring trouble on you today.”  Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

This passage shows us that our greed affects everyone around us.  All of them suffer the consequences as well.

1 Kings 3:4 talks about Solomon, "who went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you.'"

Solomon definitely got an upgrade after he generously gave to God, wouldn't you say? 

In Luke 12:12-15, we find someone in the crowd said to (Jesus), “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

In America, the theme is "He Who Dies with the Most Toys Wins". But the Bible says, "He Who Dies with the Most Toys Dies"  God takes Greed seriously and so should we.

There is nothing wrong with us having things. The problem is when those things have us! This is especially true when it comes to robbing God.  How dare we do that!

1 Corinthians 6:9-12  Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Ephesians 5:3-5   But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Colossians 3:5-6  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

2. Is what is important to God important to me? 

"I used to play church basketball...it is rough!...My wife would come and watch me and cheer me on...but as time went on, I noticed she wasn't paying attention to me.  Are you reading a book?   He later learned that she didn't like basketball.  The only reason she went to watch was because she loved Perry.  It was important to her because it was important to Perry. 

What is the most important institution to God?  The church! Giving to the church what God asks should be a priority.  In Acts, there is a guy named Barnabus who gave and, because of his generosity was made a leader in the church. 

1 Corinthians 16:1-2   Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.  On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

In Revelation, it talks about how, when everything has passed away and everything has been destroyed, the only thing remaining will be Christ and His Bride; the Church.  That's a pretty good investment, huh? 

3. What Adjustments Do I Need to Make?

What classes do you need to take to learn about Biblical finances?  What personal adjustments do you need to make to cut back or to be able to give to God?  

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. 

How Do I Escape the Prison of Unforgiveness?

Starting his new series called "Upgrade", Perry Noble says he was thinking about having music in cars. It obviously wasn't always this way.  Back in 1980, his parents bought a car that had an 8-track tape player in it.  "We rocked out the 8-track!!  And my mom bought the Loretta Lynn 8-track 'Coal Miner's Daughter'...I literally can sing every song in (that album)...it's something that I am tortured with to this day...they bought a Rosanne Cash album and Mickey Gilley...but then and upgrade come along"  The first upgrade was casset tapes.  "I remember getting Dire Strait's 'Brother in Arms'."  Then the Sony Walkman upgrade came out.  But then the CD upgrade came out and finally, the I-Pod came out and has revolutionized everything.  Yet even with the I-Pod, we want to upgrade to each new version.  We all want and like upgrades.  We upgrade our cars, we upgrade our televisions we upgrade our computers and we upgrade our homes.  But there are many people who became Christians years and years ago, but they don't want to "upgrade" their faith!! 

In life we have physical laws and spiritual laws.  If we violate physical laws, there are consequences.  Likewise, the same holds true for spiritual laws.  Nobody hearing this believes they are an exception to physical laws.  If any one of us jumps off a building, we all know we will splatter on the concrete.  However, it seems that many people feel they are exception to spiritual laws, but these laws hold equally punishing consequences as well!  Matthew 6:14 says;

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

It is a sin to knowingly hang on to bitterness and unforgiveness in a spiritual life.  Jesus will not let us be comfortable living our life this way.  What we do to ourselves when we hold on to these things is we end up in our own personal prison.  To illustrate this, Perry goes into a cage on the stage.  "This is where we end up...and we can end up living our lives this way for the next 10, 20 or 30 years...but today I am going to talk to you about how to get out of this prison

 

Matthew 18:21 starts, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Seven is the number of completion and was a number used in a spiritual sense many times back in Peter's day.  Jesus, who basically said, "Forgiven people forgive people", responds by saying "“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." What He means is, not only should we forgive people, but we should continue to forgive them on an ongoing basis. 

What these verses do not say is that Jesus said we SHOULD forgive people because if there is something in our lives that we should do, we simply don't do it!  We should work out, we should visit family more, we should be more disciplined.  We should, we should, we should.   Some people think, "I can't forgive other people until I forgive myself."  But forgiveness is not achieved; it is received. 

Jesus continues with a parable. "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants."  One day, we will stand before a God where our accounts will be settled.  "As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt."  If we are Christians and you have prayed to received Christ as a forgiveness for your sins, but you have not been able to forgive others, this is your story. 

It is easy to see others sin, but it is difficult to see our own.  Several years ago, Perry's mom went on a crazy health kick that was insane and it affected everyone in the house.  They were taking pills and drinking Aloe Vera juice.  There was absolutely no sugar in the diet.  So, one night, Perry went to a friend's house and ate an entire box of Fruity Pebbles.  His mom was upset with him and said that he wouldn't be able to go over to the friend's house because it was bad for his diet.  She really drilled into Perry the notion of taking care of his body.   After Perry's mom died, his step-dad took him grocery shopping and asked Perry what kind of cereal his mother bought him.  Of course, what kind of cereal do you think Perry picked out?  Of course...  Fruity Pebbles!   It was a lie and it was a sin. 

Another point Perry makes; "If you came up and smacked me today, we might fight.  But let's say you got a chance to smack Barack Obama.  'It's not gonna go good for you...because there are secret service men surrounding him who have waited all their lives to kill someone!!'"  They will only ask questions after they've popped a cap in you!  The same is true about lying.  If you lie to a Federal Judge.  It will not go well for you!!  How much worse would then be then, if we lie to the Creator of the Universe?  Sin is ultimately against the God.  There are huge consequences of sin and all of us either needed to be saved from our sin or currently need to be saved from it. 

Jesus goes on with His parable, “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go." This is Jesus! He cancelled our debts when the enemy was about to foreclose on us.

This is a great story about forgiveness, but then the story takes an unbelievable turn. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt."  It is equally disturbing that we refuse to forgive people who have wronged us when Jesus has forgiven us. 

To our credit, we all know that forgiveness is hard!  Right?  Here are a few pointers that might help us to deal with our own unforgiveness.

1. We have to deal with the hurt. 

In the verse, the forgiven servant found someone who ligitimately owed him money and he was angered because it affected his being able to pay back the king. 

Perry remembers several incidents as a child, that ligitimately made him mad.  Brian Jones gave him a bloody nose.  Then there was Roy Pettit in the 4th grade.  "I got a paddling from Mrs. Natalie but her paddles never hurt and 'I was a frequent customer'...Me and Donny Farmer had gotten a paddling and I walked into class saying 'didn't hurt, didnt hurt'...then Roy Pettit told the teacher what I said...So I got a 2-for-1 that day...and the second one was from the Principal, and it hurt!!...I remember a girl who broke up with me."  It's easy to find people who have hurt us.  The enemy will keep them fresh in our mind. 

There are certainly more serious cases of forgiveness.  There are people reading this who have been raped, abandoned or molested.  But Jesus says we have to deal with these.  Just dealing with the emotions around these incidents can be hard.  "I'm not talking about something that is happening currently like living in a currently abusive situation."  In this case, get out of the house today.  Jesus is talking about dealing with pain from the past.

2. We have to avoid handling these situations ourselves. 

We all love to handle things ourselves.  "My wife is so godly...our little girl Karis came home one day talking about how a little boy had talked mean to her...everything my wife told her was godly...she told Karis to forgive him and to talk to him etc."  But that night, when his wife asked Perry what he would have told his daughter, here is Perry's reply:

"There is a spot on a man that, if he's ever messing with you, it's called the 'no-no-special-place...and it will stop any man at any time and when you kick him there and when he bends over, you take your knee and put it on his nose... it will bring blood and he will pass out.  Then you stand over him and talk about his momma.  Doesn't that feel good?!!"  Obviously kidding, Perry's point is that our Heavenly Father feels the same towards us when it comes to protecting His children. Romans 12:17 says,

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone."

Some of us deal those who have hurt us by by gossiping or slandering.  We hope for bad things to happen to these people.  But we have to avoid wanting to have our way immediately.  Paul tells us, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:  “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

When Perry recently heard about, not one child who had been talking mean to his daughter, but 3 boys, he was furious.  He wanted to go to the school and deal with each of them.  "I could chuck three-year-olds all day!  Did you know that there's not a three-year-old on the planet who is a match for me?...Likewise, there's not a man on the planet who is a match for your God"
 
Perry was talking about how, when he was 4 years, he got locked in the bathroom and how it was during a time when he had a teacher, Mrs. Moore (who he nicknamed Satan), was very frustrated that he couldn't get out. When he finally did get out, his teacher slapped him with an open palm.  "I couldn't wait to tell my daddy!"  That night, at the table, Perry shared what happened with his parents.  His daddy said, "Why don't you go out and play...and, btw, you're not going to school tommorrow.  I am"  Perry doesn't really know what happened, but his father told me a few years later that when he had gone to the school, the principal brought the teacher in to apologize.   Perry's father said, "Well, I brought my wife in to whip her $%#@."   My dad completely handled the situation and all I had to do was tell him!!  Similarly, your Heavenly Father will handle it.  Trust Him! 
 
Have you ever played "Angry Birds"?  These birds are angry!! 



These pigs keep stealing the birds' eggs and it makes the birds angry.  So they go after the pigs to get their eggs back.  But if you look at the game, the birds keep killing themselves.  The lesson here?  It only hurts us when we seek out our own justice.  Look at what happens next in the parable:
 
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”  We put ourselves in a prison with unforgiveness! 

3. Forgiveness is the KEY to free us from our personal prison. 

When we choose to use the key that God has given us, we free ourselves.  This is the key to a life of abundance.  Karis is learning how to ride a bicycle.  Perry and his wife took her to an area where it was safe to teach her how to ride.  It was frustrating Perry because Karis kept braking because she was scared.  Perry told her to trust him.  "Do not brake...fix your eyes on me and trust me...I will take care of you". 
 
We have to do this with our God.  We have to look in His eyes.  We have to trust Him.  Do not brake on your walk with God.  He will take care of you.  Make a choice to forgive and let your Heavenly Father deal with it. 

How Do We Know When God is Talking To Us?

For all of us, "Home for Christmas" means something different. For some of us, it means joy, but for others it means "setting our hair on fire and putting it out with a sledgehammer". For his current series, Perry Noble is starting each message with Isaiah 9:6.

The first message in this series, "Wonderful Counselor" begs the question, "How do we know when God is talking to us?" Everyone of us wants to make good decisions in our lives. Most of the time, we go to others for counsel. What we learn pretty quickly,though, is that there are many people who have an opinion about how we should live our lives. There is always good advice, but the trick is distinguishing good advice from bad advice. Here's the good news about God; He really does have an opinion about how we should live our lives, but His way is always right. The most common word in the Bible used to describe our Savior is "Holy". So, when God commands or suggests that we do something, we should do it because He is holy and it is best for us.

Isaiah 9:6 says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." God wants us to get life right. Why is it that God wants to talk to us more than we want to listen? If only we would know that he is our Wonderful Counselor. He speaks to us through many ways.

1) The Bible - Let's look at some scripture to talk about how God communicates. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and acting". The bible is the most exciting book ever written. People get bored with the Bible because they've never read it! If Hollywood ever got hold of the Bible and decided to make it a full blown movie, it would be rated R at best. The Bible is life! Why have we made the Bible pretty? Why are all the animals on the ark smiling? It is such a nice story right? But what about everyone else who was outside of the Ark? It was horrible! The Bible is definitely not a boring book.

Let's read in Hebrews some. The Word is "sharper than any two edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart." The reason many of us don't enjoy reading the scriptures is because we see it judges us. It is conflicting. Today there are too many people seeking out wisdom in the Bible but they are unwilling to live it out.

2 Timothy 3:16 says "all scripture is God breathed". Sometimes people will actually ask Perry what his stand is on the Bible is. He was in a coffee shop one day and heard a guy talking about how he thought the Bible was full of fairy tales. Yet, he heard this guy then talk about how he thought vampires were real!! "The Bible is the inerrant infallible word of God. Perry kids that even the maps are god-breathed. The Bible is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training up in righteousness.

Perry studies politics a lot. In fact, if he had not begun a career in preaching, he might have entered politics. Many people talk about separation of church and state, but the constitution never said this. Thomas Jefferson did pen this, but it was written to a Baptist organization and yet people cling to these words. It's amazing how people will do the same to the Bible and how they will quote scripture that isn't there! An example of this is "The Bible helps those who help themselves", but it's not in the Bible! Perry then says, "turn to the book of Hezekiah...Stop!!! It's not in there either...There IS NO BOOK of Hezekiah." Read the Bible! Another quote often mistaken is "cleanliness is next to godliness". That was actually said by Benjamin Franklin. Often misquoted is "money is the root of all evil". This isn't true. It's actually "the love of money is the root of all evil". "God loves the sinner and hates the sin." Do you know who initially said that? Gandhi- and FYI, Gandhi didn't play for team Jesus. The Bible didn't say any of these things.

Rebuking. "There are many times during my quiet times when God will rebuke me in my attitude towards my wife, towards my kids and even my job."

Correcting. In every service, when he had a Q&A service with his wife, Lucretia, there were multiple questions asking things like "is it okay if I sin sexually but then bring my boyfriend to church?" What kind of question is that? People in these scenarios are not seeking church, they're seeking Oprah. Just a footnote from Perry; How many kids did Oprah raise?!?!

When people ask questions like this it is because they need correcting and the Bible corrects. Training up in righteousness. In Luke 4 and Matthew 4, you'll find the story of the temptation of Jesus; of how Satan came in and tempted Jesus 3 times. How did Jesus resist Satan? He quoted scripture! Satan can't hang around when we quote scripture. Last year, 500,000 Bibles were purchased in America, so we definitely have access to it, but we need to realize it's power.

2) His Spirit. "I'm a mutt, spiritually." Perry points out that he is not loyal to any one Protestant faith. How many Methodists do we have in the house?" Perry goes on to take a poll of the different denominations; Presbyterians? Episcopalians? Catholics? Baptists (the back-slidden Baptists)? Pentecostal? The reaction here is funny. Pentecostal's were waiting and responded as Perry expects; with cheers. "I'm gonna show the catholics how to praise!...Did y'all bring your tambourines?" "I come from a Wesleyan background and later a Baptist background. The Baptists and Wesley ans, in my church, never talked about the Holy Spirit. You had to acknowledge Him because He's in the family, but He's crazy and sits in the corner." If you come from a Pentecostal background, it's different... "I remember going to a Pentecostal church and a woman stood up in the middle of the service and starting speaking in tongues. The guy next to him said 'Shh...there's going to be an interpretation'. Then, another lady stood up beside the first and started , 'I am the Lord....'" That was Perry's first experience with the Holy Spirit. Generally speaking, there are churches that either ignore the Holy Spirit altogether or you have churches that focus on the Holy Spirit and then never talk about God and Jesus.


Jesus said in John 14,15 and 16 that he would not leave his Disciples as 'orphans", but he would send the Holy Spirit. John 14:25-27 says, "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."



The Holy Spirit provides peace to us even when all hell is breaking loose . When the spirit of truth appears, He will guide us. Some people have come to Perry and said the Holy spirit said it was okay to sleep with their boyfriend, but Perry stresses that the Holy Spirit will never guide us contrary to the Bible. In fact, the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own, He will only speak what he hears from the Father. Do not underestimate the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. There was a friend of Perry's who told him a story that really rocked his world. This friend was up late one night and, upon the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he felt a very strong urge that he should call a close friend. Even as late as it was, the Holy Spirit kept urging him. Finally, he called his friend, who kept asking, "Why did you call me now? Why did you choose to call in the middle of the night?" The friend later told him that the night he had received the call, he was sitting on the edge of his bed with a pistol in his hand, ready to take his life. Never underestimate the Holy Spirit. He is not a myth. He is real.


3) Others. I'm not talking about others who walk around saying, "I have a word from God for you." Early on, there was a guy who came to Perry and said he was addicted to porn, but the bigger problem according to this guy was he couldn't hear the Holy Spirit! "Well, I think I know what your problem is..." thought Perry. Then the guy said, "Wait, I'm getting something..." as if a word from God was coming through. That weirded Perry out. There was another call from a lady who said Perry needed to walk around his church 7 times backward!

Perry says, do you have friends in your life who love Jesus and love you? If they don't love Jesus more than they love you, they will tell you what you want to hear. Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed". God often speaks through other people. One time, Perry was considering a job in Orange burg which was as a youth pastor. Wrestling with the idea, he asked his friend, Dale, what he thought. Dale simply said, "I don't think God is through with you in Anderson yet". How true that proved to be. But, it was no "word from God" from Dale, it was simply a love for Jesus and intuition.


4) Being still. In Psalm 23 we find, "The Lord is my Shepard. I shall not want...." (As Perry continues the passage, his video team starts turning his mike down and turning up news, texts, noises and distractions so you can't hear a single thing Perry is saying. It's quite clever. Then the distractions are removed and Perry's mike is turned back on.) Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Perry heard a speaker say one time, "If I were Satan, I would invent a device that would never allow you to escape your phone or your calendar." When is the last time you rode to work with your cellphone off and your radio off with no noise? Try it. Perry recently went to a christian counselor. After hearing much of what was going on with Perry, the counselor suggested that Perry go for a walk alone in the mountains. He also suggested Perry take a pen and paper to focus on listening for God. Even Jesus did this. In the book of Mark, Jesus went for a walk to a solitary place and prayed.


5) Circumstances. How often did Jesus communicate with his Disciples through a storm? Quite often. The storm in our lives is often the voice of God screaming to us saying, "you think this is bad? Listen, because you don't see what is yet to come". God is going to be speaking every where we go. We just need to watch for Him.


Recently, Perry went to a conference at a nice hotel. Perry was trying to relax and fall asleep, but he then he heard something start to bark. There was a dog in the room next door! "I didn't know dogs could go to nice hotels!" He thought to himself, "If I lay here long enough, he'll eventually be quiet." But Perry had to finally call security. The more he tried to ignore the dog, the louder it got. YOU CANNOT IGNORE GOD. You can run from God, but you can't outrun Him.


Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."


God will not be silent if we are truly His. Perry was recently arguing (friendly argument) with a pastor friend of his. The argument was, "God can't speak to people who aren't Christians." Perry says, "first of all, I don't like that because God can do anything". Secondly, Perry is convinced that God prompted him into the ministry even before he knew he was saved. He knew he was to speak the gospel since he was 5 years old, but in March of 1990, a monumental moment for Perry, he was sitting in the office of his spiritual mentor. "Let me ask you a question, Perry. Are you saved?" This stumped Perry, but he made up some garbled things to answer. His mentor went on to say, "many times, people say they are called to the ministry, but they are really being called to salvation. Are you saved?"



"How many of you watch the biggest loser? I watch it for myself. I watch it to make myself feel better. Really." The show usually gets intense is when the participants step on the scale at the end of each episode. This is because the scale doesn't lie. It is consistent and it measures them accurately. We don't like to step on the scale sometimes. A guy in Perry's gym was punching the scale and shouting that the scale was wrong. Well, in the same way, sometimes we don't like the scriptures because it measures us, so we doubt it or question it. Satan did this in the Garden of Eden. He began questioning God's real intent before Adam and Eve? "Did God really say this, Eve?"


But we can't doubt God in the scriptures. It hinders our growth. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us, "You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart." Could you seek God for just one week? For those of you who are not spending regular time with God, start to pursue Him with just 10 minutes a day.

Obey it God's counsel. "I love Christmas...but I don't like Christmas music until after Thanksgiving...the thing I love most about Christmas is the food I get to eat....from Thanksgiving to Christmas, it is pure gluttony... here in the South, we eat solid for a month, anything that's not nailed down...and we think January 1...I'm getting in shape...but when we get there, we think "you can't diet on January 1! That's the middle of the week. So January 4,...but that's Sunday...next week then... wait...next week is Bowl week..." So, we put it off until April!!


Perry tells a story about a Tibo video that a friend's parents bought one time. His friend was telling him how he got home and heard the Tibo video playing and thought it would be gross to interrupt his parents especially if they had Spandex on to exercise. But when he looked to see how it was going, both of his parents were lying on the couch eating popcorn and watching!! He said, "You cant just watch the video! You have to do it.."

"Sometimes," Perry says, "I fear, as a pastor, that I am just a Tibo video. I'm entertaining, but many of you have no intention of following anything that the Lord has said." James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."


Going back to the lesson of his mentor and the question that was asked of Perry regarding whether or not he was really saved, this bothered Perry for weeks. For days on end afterwards, all that Perry heard in his pastor's messages was about salvation, all he seemed to see in scriptures was salvation. One night when he was singing with a group, God whispered to him, "you do not trust me because you do not know me". Perry obeyed the prompting of God and today he is so glad he did.

Is It OK for a Christian to Drink Alcohol?

Addressing the controversial subject, "Alcohol", Perry Noble continues his series; "You Asked for It". "Alcohol, in the South, is highly controversial." Before he goes there, he wants us each to establish our position on the subject. He gives 3 choices; 1) It's wrong for Christians to drink. 2) It's okay for Christians as long as they don't get drunk. 3) Unsure. Perry also asks the audience to "own our faith". He doesn't want us believing something just because Perry said it. In Romans 14:5, it says, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

After this, Perry talks about how he, personally, has an "open hand" and a "closed hand" in his beliefs. His point in saying this is that there are some things that he is firm about in his position because the Bible clearly states the issues as fact. In this "closed" hand are issues like Christ as the only way to heaven, the Virgin birth and sex before marriage. In the "open" hand, or the hand where there are no clear delineations in the Bible are issues like alcohol and speaking in tongues. Perry respects the opinions of others and he states his belief in these areas as being positions that he has developed as a Christian.

Perry's personal struggle with alcohol started when he first drank at 15 and then continued at parties to be "cool". One night, he went to a friend's house and drank up a whole bottle of Bacardi with wine coolers and woke up to one of the worst mornings he ever remembers. Perry's position, here, is that Christians have freedom in Christ to drink, but they sin when they cross the line and get drunk.

Perry talks about why some Christians preach against drinking:

I) There is a misunderstanding about the Bible's reference to wine. Sometimes, people question whether or not "wine" in the Bible is the same wine we know today. We know in Genesis 9 that Noah knew how to make grapes into wine. He drank its ferment! Some people say the wine of that time was watered down wine. But John 2:1 talks about how Jesus' first miracle; turning water into wine. As you read further here, you see that the wine of Jesus was better than what the servants had been serving!

In 1 Timothy, Paul gives instructions to leaders, saying they should "not indulge in too much wine." He knew it could impair judgement. Titus 2:3, it says that the older women are not to be given too much wine. In Psalms 104, it talks about how wine "makes glad the heart of man". In Ecclesiastes, it says, "drink they wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works." The toughest thing for some Christians to accept is that Jesus drank wine. But He probably didn't get drunk. The accusing manner of the religious leaders actually proves that wine was as strong in that time as it is today.

II) Alcohol controls people and destroys lives. If we have to have it and it is controlling us, we are depending on it and not Jesus. Here, it becomes and idol. Can we walk away from it? In this context, Martin Luther said once that we can't eliminate sin by eliminating the objects, otherwise we would have to eliminate women! A fire in the fireplace is warm and cozy. Outside of the fireplace it is dangerous. This is like sex inside and outside of marriage. It is also like alcohol in modesty and in abuse. It IS ALSO applicable to obesity and gluttony, or eating past modesty. Proverbs 23:2 addresses gluttony.

III) It is a stumbling block. Perry's question here, is "what is the real stumbling block?" In Romans 14:21, it talks about how drinking can cause some people to stumble. This is certainly true for people who drink around alcoholics or who drink around people that are under age. We should definitely be aware of who we are drinking around. BUT, what is the bigger stumbling block; a man who walks into a restaurant, has a beer, and tips the waitress well or the man who goes into a restaurant, talks about spiritual things and leaves a weak tip?

What are the sins associated with alcohol?

1) Getting drunk IS a sin. Ephesians 5:18 talks about not getting drunk. Drunk men get violent and highly emotional. Perry actually ran into a drunk at a bar who was highly emotional and was telling Perry he went to his church and said he loved Perry. It's funny to hear him talk about this. In Proverbs 23, it talks about the life of a drunk. This is not the life Christ desired us to live.



2) It is a sin to drink under age and to defy authority. It's a sin when the rules of a home are not honored. Honor thy father and mother. It doesn't matter if opinions are opposed. It is a sin to buy alcohol for under age kids, even if it is in our own homes, because it trains children to break the law under conditions where it is okay. Perry covers a good stretch here of irresponsible parents as it relates to alcohol. Perry said he almost got in trouble because he was going to beat up a guy who bought alcohol for a group of underage teenagers. "But don't be afraid of me and what I will bring, be afraid of Jesus." Jesus is very protective of the children as it is said in Matthew 18:6.

At the end of his sermon, Perry says that he has this relatively positive position on alcohol, but he, personally, doesn't drink because it is not right for him. In Colossians 2, it tells us that we aren't to judge anyone and that, if we take the context away from Jesus, we sin. This is a great message and one which I will use as a reference in the future. Very good!