Message given at Grace Church, Molokai 28 December 2008

What's that dragging behind you? It looks like a power cord…

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

This week power outages in Hawaii made big news. In the first instance power was lost at Kahului airport to the runway lights. All flights were cancelled because they couldn't see to land or take off. Not to be outdone by their cousins on the neighbor islands, the entire island of Oahu lost power on Friday night. People were stuck in elevators, people at home dependent on medical equipment found themselves suddenly in life-threatening situations, all the street lights went out turning traffic into a grid locked mess. And on top of everything else it was raining hard.

Everything for modern living depends on power. And when the power goes off we're left hopeless, helpless and gridlocked.

It reminded me of the airline pilot whose voice came over the loud speaker saying they'd lost power in one engine and would be delayed by one hour. A few minutes later the plane bumped and the pilot again got on the intercom and said, "I regret to tell you tell you we've lost engines 2 & 3. We're flying on one engine and will now be delayed by three hours." One of the passengers who had just woken up said, "I sure hope they don't lose the fourth engine. My connecting flight is 3 ½ hours after we land and I can't afford to can't miss it.

Many people are living with power outages in their lives. And sometimes they get so worried about the delays that they don't realize that their equipment's not working. It would be a cliché to say that only those who don't know Jesus live with power outages, but many Christians are living that way. We may have the outward appearances of having the right equipment and having it all working, but really inside we know we are grid locked and experiencing power failures. This isn't a new phenomenon. In Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy he speaks of people that have the outward form of godliness but do not live with its power.

Usually I don't make New Year's resolutions. I also don't normally ask you to make them either. But this year I am asking each of you to make just one. This one resolution will enable you to live with power. You will find that every part of your life will be affected. The gifts that God has given you will be fully charged. If you live out this resolution your family life will improve. You will find that this resolution will affect you at your job. And as the commercial says, "But wait, there's more!" You will find that you will play with more fun, live with more joy, and love with greater passion. This is not a weak and wimpy resolution. It will take a bit of will power but you will not have to do this alone.

What would you say if I told you that God has given us a gift to help us live with power? It is called time. God has given us the gift of 1,440 minutes today to live with power. And this week alone, He will give us 16,080 minutes of time. It is what we do with that time that often determines the level of His power that we have in our lives.

All we have to do is to train ourselves to take a small portion of that time and give it back to God. Now think, can you spare 15 minutes out of 1,440 to pray? And can you spare another 30 minutes to read the instruction book on how to live with that power? If you give 45 minutes to God you will still have 1,395 minutes left each day to do whatever it is you do. If you take 45 minutes a day for an entire week God will still give you another 15,765 minutes to live with power. That's a pretty good investment if you ask me. If we devote 3% of our time to the Lord, it will positively affect the other 97% of our lives.

Here is my request for your New Year's resolution: This year, take time every day to focus on prayer and on God's Word. If you do this, God will change your life and give you power like you never imagined. From the Bible, you will discover new friends, find stories of great adventure, and receive divine guidance. You will begin to gain wisdom. You will be challenged and sometimes you will be even be bewildered by what you study. You will learn that God is greater than anything or anyone that you have ever, ever experienced or imagined.

One of Whisper's favorite questions is "What's next?" She usually asks it with her eyes sparkling after having just done something fun. She is totally immersed in the details of her life and then will suddenly ask her mother Lyn to explain the bigger picture.

If you can give 15 minutes of focused prayer and 30 minutes of reading the Bible, you will find yourself saying "Lord, what's next?" And you will find that God has unexpected and wonderful answers in the big picture we can't even imagine.

Here's an example. After we finished feeding the Aloha Night gang on Thanksgiving day, a relatively new believer asked, "So what are we doing for Christmas?" In other words, what's next Lord? For the first time in his life he had helped serve the Lord in a brand new way. But he had also made a commitment to read a few chapters of the New Testament every day. He started on August 27. Yesterday, on December 27, he finished reading the entire New Testament.
Most of us, after we finish a project, just want to sit back and catch our breath. "Wow, I'm glad THAT's over!" We don't turn to God with twinkling eyes and expectantly ask, "What's next?" with enthusiasm.

Why do you think that is? Could it be that we are living and working without power? But the Word had come alive to him in such a way that serving the Lord didn't seem hard. It was fun. He was living in the power of the Lord.

When the current of Jesus Christ is flowing through us, we don't become weary. Isaiah 40 tells us that even young men grow weary. But the people that plug into God's power will soar like eagles.

When Bishop Bob was here last Sunday he baptized Byron & Jackie. Here is what the Bible says about baptism in Romans 6:4, "For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."

That's a fantastic promise! We can live new lives with the power that raised Jesus from the dead! But that power is only available to those people who are plugged in to the Source.

Have I convinced you yet that this might be a worthwhile resolution?

Before we continue, I need to tell you that one of the reasons that people struggle with reading the Bible is directly related to this morning's reading from Galatians. When we think about the Bible, it's often with an attitude that this is just a really big book of rules. And who wants to memorize a million more rules? Quite honestly, don't' you feel like there are enough rules in our lives?

Now part of the Old Testament is indeed a book of over 600 entries about how God wanted Israel to live. In fact those are called The Books of the Law. But that's just this much of this book (lifting up the pages of the first five books - barely ¾ of an inch thick). It was written in a time when people did not have Jesus and they did not have faith in the fullness of God. It was written to protect them in a world without law, in a world that did not know YHWH.

Think about it in this way. When a 2 year-old wants to touch a hot stove or eat only brownies for breakfast, we parents spend time protecting them, training and teaching them to grow and to make their own decisions. When they are grown up they can touch the stove, but usually only when it's cold, because they've learned what happens when you touch a hot stove. Ouch!

Once they are mature, brownies will not be the main course of every meal. (Scotty says that's probably it's because by then they've also discovered ice cream)

Now today's scripture tells us that the Law was given until Jesus died to set us free from sin and rose to give us power. Once that happens in us, we are no longer bound by those laws. Instead we are treated as adopted children of God. In other words, this book is not a book of Laws, but a book on how to live with freedom, in Jesus Christ.
Here's an example. In the 5th chapter of Galatians it talks about the fruit of the flesh. There's a list of bad things that happen when we live selfish lives, like dissention and anger and envy. Right after that there's a list of the fruit of the Spirit with good things like love, joy and peace. If we read this passage as a rulebook we will think that we should just aim for the good rules and avoid the bad. But one translation says it this way, "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace…" and more.

Is there anyone here who feels connected to God and to His love when they are so angry they can't think straight? Is there anyone who feels that they are living freely as God's children when they are wishing harm on someone else? These things quench the Holy Spirit's control. These things unplug us from God. They are called the fruit, or the results of, a life that is not under God's control.

Do you see the difference? One view, the rulebook, sees a list of do's and don'ts and translates that into "live this way and you'll get what you want." The other perspective, the user's manual, shows us the things that cut off the power and the evidence of lives that are plugged in. When we are living in God's power these are the things that our lives will produce. Instead of a list of laws, this passage is more like a thermometer that shows whether we are hot or cold.

There are many people who believe in God, and even believe in Jesus; who go to church regularly and are nice people who think they are really Christians because they are living by the right set of rules. They think that they're doing pretty good because they are earning their way to heaven.

But there's one thing in the Bible you won't find in any other book. And that is God's love given to us freely through Jesus, when none of us deserve it. In these pages you find grace, a wonderful and free gift, given even to the worst of us. Romans 3 tells us that ALL of us have sinned. Romans 6 tell us that the wages of sin is death. So what have we all earned? Death. But Romans 6 goes on to say that the free gift from God is eternal life. This is a gift that none of us can ever earn.

It's not about being blessed because we do the right things. We don't deserve a blessing, but that didn't stop God's love. We do the right things because we are first blessed by God. Or as 1 John says, we can only love because God first loved us.

Anyone who thinks that they deserve adoption as God's children because of their good deeds hasn't read this book. But the Bible also tells us that because we are adopted as God's children we can live freely.

So here is why this resolution is so important. Since none of us was born as a child of God, we are going to have to learn how to live. We need to know how to live in His kingdom and with His power. To do this we're going to have to talk to Him and ask, "How do I do this? Lord I need You to show me!"

Recently my old trusty cell phone broke. I had learned to work that cell phone in my sleep. I got a new phone. It promised me that I could see pictures of my grandson, send & receive text messages, and call all over the world. But this new phone doesn't work like my old phone. I didn't know how to use it. There are new applications and the buttons are in different places. I have learned to call and get my voice mail but there are things I don't know about because no one has shown me and I haven't read the manual. Anyone here have a Christmas present like that? Scotty just informed me that if I want to, I could play games on my phone. All I want is a phone that works! Others can show me how to use it.

And that's why we share our praise reports and share our prayers. Did you know God would do this miracle for Brandon's dad and his grandparents? Wow! I never imagined! Did you know God could even love ____________? Amazing!

We also need to talk to God directly about how to live as His children. We all have direct connect… We need Him to help us with difficult people and situations that seem hopeless. And every day we need to ask Him to show us places He's working that only He can do. And so we talk to Him, get to know Him, learn to live connected to Him and to His power.

And we have to read the guidebook because we don't have a clue on how to live freely as His ohana. 15 minutes in prayer and 30 minutes in the Book, will help us discover and live with His power. If that's too big of a bite, then you can still follow the guide, but just begin with the New Testament readings each day. That way we'll all still be reading the same lessons. We can talk to one another about our questions, or what God has told us in our devotions through His Word.

What a shame it would be if we spent more time trying to learn how to work our cell phones and Christmas presents than we do learning about and tapping into the power of God.

In 2009 you get to choose. Is this the year I choose to live plugged in to God's power? If that's you, then this is one resolution you can't fail to keep.

Please pick up one of the big blue laminated bookmarks at the entrance. It's a guide, kind of a table of contents the leadership team has used to help with daily readings. If you follow this daily plan, in 2009 you will read through the entire Bible once and also read the New Testament a 2nd time.

When you get to a hard part, don't be ashamed to find someone who has studied and ask, "What the heck does this mean?" Sometimes things are easily explained. Some passages are complicated because God is even bigger than we could ask or imagine.

Psalm 16 says, "You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

If you accept this resolution challenge, you will find His path, His pleasures and that will lead you to His presence, which is full of joy. AMEN

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