Sunday, August 16, 2009

Notes from today’s sermon 08.16.09 Steven Hedgecoth

Disposable versus Irreplaceable Relationships
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
(Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV)

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. (Proverbs 18:1 KJV)

It is not good for us to be alone, it makes us crazy.

1961 brought a new invention that changed our lives forever: disposable diapers. Now we have disposable everything: razors, plates, cameras, dvds.

Has this mentality invaded our relationships? When things get too messy do we want to throw it away? We used to have to fix things. Now it costs less to replace than to repair most things. It has moved into churches and friendships, too. A good friend will confront you with an issue and walk through it with you.

Saw a website with the slogan: “life is short have an affair”

Has this disposable mentality crept into our relationship with God? We can ask God questions but God is not disposable. Some of us want to walk away if it gets too hard.

Things that make a relationship irreplaceable:
1. Loyalty – Proverbs 18:24
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
They have to know that they are more important that all the things.
Job 6:14
To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
Ya know what gets people back on track? YOU

2. Listening – Proverbs 18:13
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
Don’t listen with the intent to respond. It isn’t about the answer. It is about understanding what is being said. The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it is taking place.
Understanding brings enlightenment. When people feel understood then they can open up and be enlightened.
James 1:19
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

3. Love – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Love is not a feeling, it is an action that continues when the feeling may not be there anymore.


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