The Day After New Year

The Day After New Year’s 2011

All I Really Need Is A Little More

I believe you have decided to start your New Year off right choosing to attend the

Worship service this morning.

For me when we get together is its like a family gathering at the dinner table.

In my home we try to eat dinner together as often as we can.

Actually sit down,

wait for every one to be seated,

lift a prayer of thanksgiving,

fix our plates with food,

and talk about whatever.

Over the Christmas celebration did you get to hear a rendition of

“I Will Be Home For Christmas”?

It’s a World War II era song,

about a soldier’s longing to be with his loved ones halfway

around the world.

I'm dreamin' tonight of a place I love

Even more than I usually do

And although I know it's a long road back

I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas

Having put the brakes on the schedule and the to do list,

I was sitting in front of my fire place,

all the Christmas lights on,

thinking about what makes Christmas so special.

It’s not the gift giving,

though I like to see the face of a loved one who just scored a great

present.

It’s not the gift receiving,

though I like to receive what to me no matter what it is, is a message

of love, of acknowledgment, of appreciation.

It’s not the great feast Carol prepared for us to enjoy.

What makes Christmas so special is to be with your people.

To enjoy being with each other.

No wonder God came to be with us.

I thought about Patti Higashimura,

Myles hasn’t been physically present for Christmas for a couple of years,

and then on Christmas Eve Patti’s mom graduated into eternity.

I thought about my friends Craig and Connie Rench, knowing that they we’re

missing their son Jonny who suddenly slipped into eternity this Fall.

I thought about kids missing one of their parents because of divorce,

I thought of the ex-spouse, the widower, eating Christmas dinner at Denny’s.

I thought about the homeless guy.

I thought about the missing people at the table.

As my mind wandered over the missing people,

I thought how lonely it would be to eat Christmas dinner by myself;

or how difficult to eat every dinner by myself.

Some of you deal with that every day.

Kids are grown, spouses are gone,

friends don’t get around so easily anymore,

so you spend a lot of time alone.

Some of you deal with that every day,

though your life is busy and active,

no one really knows you,

its kind of like your invisible,

by yourself in a room full of people who are

supposed to love you

but are just too preoccupied.

I thought how Christmas,

how every day of the year is better when you get to spend some of it with

your people; when you enjoy one another.

I thought how often we take one another for granted.

We just naturally assume that today will be like yesterday and

tomorrow a whole lot like today.

We have stuff to do.

How much of that stuff will matter if your loved one is not

there to share it with you?

So here you are.

You made it out of your busy week,

your overloaded schedule,

your choice of diversions,

to gather with your spiritual family for a spiritual meal.

It feels good to have you here, gathered in Jesus name, together.

The family has gathered,

how good it is to be with your people.

I don’t think you are here by accident.

Of all the places of worship you could be this morning you are here.

I know that God has orchestrated events that directed you to this place

and these people because He knows that this is your place and

these are your people.

You’re here because for this season,

this place and these people are what and who you need to thrive.

I am convinced that what all you and I really need is a little more to make 2011 our

best year ever. We need more.

Oliver Twist—“Please Sir, I want some more”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrgxHvNNUc

What! You want more.

Yeah, I want more.

More and more—that’s an often heard message.

Your doctor says more dieting and more exercise.

Your teacher says more studying and more learning.

Your government says more taxes and more fees.

Your financial advisor says more saving and more investing.

Your retailer says more shopping and more buying.

Your dentist says more flossing and more brushing.

Your coach says more practicing and more winning.

Your lover says more time and more affection.

Your retailer says more buying and more charging.

Your boss says more productivity and more profitability.

More and more,

We hear that message a lot.

Some of those messages aren’t worth our heeding,

Some of those messages need to be heeded.

Brothers and sisters I have one “more and more” message that needs your

attention.

Church family on this first Sunday in the New Year what we need is a

little more.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (NIV)

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

     ³ It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸ Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

     ⁹ Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.

     ¹¹ Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

The message to be heard and heeded is this:

Love more and more.

That’s what we need in order to thrive in 2011, a little more love.

Love more and more.

Love is a word that requires context for us to understand properly;

for when I say I love pizza and say I love my wife,

I am saying vastly different things.

Love for God.

1 John 5:3 (MSG)

The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.

“…we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)

More and more love God.

More and more deepen your intimacy,

Your in-to-me-see with God.

To do this more and more as I have instructed you.

practice the seven habits of a disciple.

The seven habits are

1. Reading the letters God has sent to you.

Someone went to the trouble in collecting them all for you and placing

them all in one binding called the Bible.

Reading the scripture is opening a door that leads to encounter.

It’s through encounter with God that you learn to love

Him more and more.

2. Talking with Him.

God’s got the best wireless network out there.

Perfect coverage area,

No dropped calls,

no voice mail,

always a direct connect called prayer.

God is always ready to converse with you if you will take

the time to be with Him.

3. Hanging out with Him.

Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

God has absolute identification with His children;

we in Him and He in us.

So that when you fellowship with other believers

God is miraculously there through you for them

and through them for you.

Its through the willingness to be conduits of God love that you

are loved by God.

4. Using your Gifts

God created you with certain abilities.

As you use those abilities for Him,

He reveals more of Himself to you through the thing

that you do.

You feel His pleasure in you.

That deepens your relationship with

Him.

5. Giving Him First Place.

God the One in whom you live and move and have your being,

He’s your power source,

He’s your light and life,

He has bought you for Himself and

brought you to Himself.

The only rightful response is to acknowledge Him with your

loyalty and deference to Him.

As you allow Him greater preeminence,

the more He reveals Himself to you;

the more intimate your relationship

becomes.

6. Doing what He Commands

God knows what needs to get done.

He has a part for you to play in getting done what He wants.

He is writing a good story for you.

You deepen your relationship with Him in every act of

Obedience.

Obedience is like trust,

It qualifies you for even more intimacy with

Him.

7. Being open to Him

Every serious relationship needs fine tuning of the deep things of the

heart so that you can be on the same frequency.

Being open means you are allowing God to get into you,

to fine tune your heart—

He points out what adjustments need to be

made and you make them.

The more open to God the more in sync you will be with

God.

The seven habits of a disciple:

Bible Reading, Prayer, Fellowship, Service, Worship, Obedience and

Contemplation.

Their daily practice will result in you loving God more and more just as you

have been instructed.

What you need to thrive in 2011 is a little more love.

Love God more and more and love others more and more.

Loving others needs some defining also.

Love for Others.

1 John 3:17 (MSG)

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

“Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other... Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 (NIV)

Too often our business keeps us isolated from others.

We can conveniently hide behind our schedules.

We can shut our eyes because we need our own space.

We find easy rationalizations to keep ourselves from getting

involved with others.

Love for others is demonstrated by seeking to meet their need.

Its so easy not to see a need if we choose to isolate ourselves.

I can’t imagine having all my family gathered around the table and ignore them.

It’s never happened, but all my family,

My great-grandparents, and grandparents,

my father, my mother, my aunts and uncles,

my sister, my half brother,

my nieces and nephews,

my cousins all come together around the

table to be with one another and enjoy

a meal.

I just can’t imagine finding some excuse not to attend.

I just can’t imagine ignoring anyone in that group.

They’re family, I might not like some of the things they have

done, but they still are bone of my bone and flesh of my

flesh.

I can’t imagine that if one of them was hurting that I would choose to ignore

their pain.

No I would do what I could to help them out.

Even if that meant tough love,

Even that meant not enabling them.

Or if it meant a another type personal cost,

I would try to help them.

You can call that brotherly love,

Familial love, family love, its what you need to do more and more of with

your church family.

Three loving things we need to do more and more of:

1. Connecting

Increase the number of people you hang with.

Try to connect with the members of your spiritual family.

Not to throw a guilt trip on anyone but don’t you think you

should at least be able to greet everyone that attends

HBCC by their name?

There’s not that many of us.

Move out of your comfort zone and make a new friend.

Connect-more and more, connect with your church family.

2. Caring

Caring starts with observation—seeing and listening.

In the movie Avatar—the people called the Na’vi greet one

another by saying “I see you.”

You can’t see someone unless you spend time with them.

Oh you can recognize a face,

but I’m talking about knowing the heart.

Taking time to know them is a way of caring for them.

You don’t care if you don’t connect.

3. Contributing

Contributing is putting feet to your caring.

You see a need and give what you can of yourself,

Maybe that means giving your time,

giving your talent, giving your treasures,

Regardless you give yourself to become part of the solution to

meeting your brother or sisters need.

You don’t contribute if you don’t care,

you don’t care if you don’t connect.

If you don’t connect you don’t love.

And what you need is to love more and more.

To thrive in 2011 you need to love others more and more by

making connecting, caring and contributing a priority.

You’re not here today by accident;

too many sales out there today to take advantage of.

It’s a holiday weekend, there are a lot of distractions.

Yet here you are.

Why does God want you to hear a message like this one?

When I speak to you like this I know that there is a conversation going on between

the Holy Spirit and you.

The Holy Spirit uses my words to speak to you.

What has God said to you,

what has God pointed out to you,

what is God calling you to do?

What do you and I need to make 2011 the best year ever?

We need a little more love.

We need to love God more and more.

We need to love others more and more.

It’s the quality of your relationships that’s most important.

Your intimacy with God and Others, that’s what’s precious,

a priceless treasure.

Don’t cheat yourself, Don’t cut yourself short,

turn everything into an opportunity to love more and more.

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