It’s Complicated Week 5 – David Nasser

Overview: 

In this week’s message, Pastor David spoke about honor, relationships, and revival. Tonight’s message was a message of conviction, confession and personal revival.

Is salvation free? Yes. But is revival free? No.

It costs brokenness, humility and the admittance that it’s not enough to just be a Christian anymore rather the desire to be a victorious Christian. It is allowing God to strip away the things in you that repel the presence of God and foster the things that attract the special presence of God.
Opening with a remembrance of his trip to Rwanda, Pastor David shared the story of the genocide that occurred there. Neighbors were killing neighbors in the most violent ways imaginable because of hatred between tribes. The result of exposure to the overt racism seen in the Rwandan genocide is anger and outrage. But the Lord begins to convict about the subtle racism in your own life. You begin to search your own heart and realize the same evil seen there can also be seen in you. While visiting a church and memorial site he met a woman who watched her family be butchered in front of her. When asked who attends the church now, which tribe, she replied she didn’t know. When asked how she could be around people who murdered her family she replied, “Since they are expensive to God, they are expensive to me”. She honored the potential the Lord had for each one of them not just the shame of their depravity.

Verses:

Romans 12:10

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor”

1 Peter 2:17

“Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

Psalm 119:105

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”

Matthew 10:16

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.”

2 Chronicles 7:14

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”

8 Convictions:
1. I should never deny someone the dignity that God has afforded them.

2. Honor is not a response. Honor is a conviction. An eye for an eye is a natural response, turning the other cheek is supernatural.

3. True honor must be a work of the Holy Spirit or it will quickly turn into fabricated honor. Flattery for example is fake honor, which is in fact, dishonor.

4. My interactions with someone are important. My interactions about someone are even more important. Honor must be given in both presence and absence.

5. There is something broken in me if I enjoy the art of shamming. If I enjoy the “burn” of the broken.

6. We honor God when we battle vain imagination & choose to give people the benefit of the doubt.

7. Never miss a great opportunity to shut up! Clarifying, critique and accountability can be honorable, but contempt never is.

8. The image of God exists in every human being. Christian and non-Christian. This can drive the way we view the matters that matter.

Abortion is an honor issue, for the mother and the baby.

Pornography is an honor issue.

The immigrant crises is an honor issue.

Orphan work is an honor issue.

Global Missions is an honor issue. Love this country enough to not make an idol out of it.

If we want revival it will come at a cost.
We are either on the verge of revival or retreat.
Let’s say God doesn’t bring a campus wide revival to LU because the truly honorable are the exception and not the norm but at the very least, I am postured for personal revival.

Quotes:

Responsibility for a Christian is our response to His ability – Adrian Rodgers

I don’t want to just live a Christian life but a victorious Christian life

Honor is not a suggestion, it is a command.

Honor is the ability to see people in their full value and worth. Both their shame and their glory. Both their pitfalls and potential.

Flattery is motivated by selfish ambition, honor is seeing dignity in people and extending grace. You’re either demonically driven or you’re Christ-like.

It takes no courage to bow up and fight back, it is not weakness to turn the other cheek it is meekness.

Unlock your imagination to see honorable things in others rather than assuming the worst.

This message was about a passionate pursuit for more of God in your own life.

If people are expensive to God, then they are expensive to me.

We devalue the power of the cross if I look at it as enough to save me but not enough to change me

I am responsible for my own heart, my own mouth, and my own thumbs!

Questions:

1) When you step into a new conversation with someone, are you quick to see potential or pitfalls?

2) How do we move to seeing people more clearly?

3) Do you sometimes confuse venting or prayer requests with gossip? Do you truly honor others behind their back? What does a genuine prayer request look like?

4) How does pride repel the special presence of God?

5) We as Christians have a dual citizenship? What efforts can we take to live more through citizenship of the kingdom of God?