Here is my sermon notes from one I did recently :)
“God gets in the dirt 3x that I can think of :
To create Adam
To bury Moses
And to defend a woman caught in adultery
God is with us in the joy of birth,
The pain of death,
And kneels beside us in our shame.
We can rest, God can handle our dirt.”
(Twitter, anonymous)
That tells me that God is with us in the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Beginnings
God is with us in the beginnings, new dreams, people, directions, ideas, plans, situations, places, the beginning of new chapters.
It's exciting and nervous and unknown, but it's not unknown to Him. He already knows each step you’re going to take but wants to walk with you for each of them. He isn’t just waiting at the finish line.
Revelation 1.11 says He is the Alpha and Omega, first and last. He’s not just at the beginning, He is beginning.
He’s a creative God, He created the idea of creating stuff, and that’s a trait we have too. We are made in the image of God, we are also creative. We like new things, and creating is bringing new things into existence. Something that previously didn’t exist and you’re creating it. There is joy in that! And pride. And even though change can be scary, it's also exciting!
God is with us in the anticipation. He’s with you in the good things happening, He’s with you in the butterflies. He loves getting excited with you, He wants you to enjoy life and to love being a part of what He’s created and set into motion.
Genesis 2.7 “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
“It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only.” (Great Are You Lord)
He gives us breath, and I feel like that brings a bit of responsibility to how we use it. The words we say, the songs we sing, the things we give energy to.
God isn’t just there for you in the hard times, He wants to chat to you in the good times too! Thank Him, tell Him about your day. Give your breath back to Him in praise.
But He’s not afraid of your honesty.
The End
The pain of losing someone or something, closing a door, leaving things behind.
The end of things is also stepping out into the unknown, out of something you’ve grown comfortable with. The end of something is hard, it’s painful. We don’t like letting go.
When Lazarus died, Jesus knew He would rise again, He knew the miracle, and He knew the ending. But there was still pain and sadness in the death. He knew the good that would come out of the situation, but John 11.35 says Jesus wept.
You can know it will be okay and still cry about it. Romans 8.28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” but it isn’t wrong to be upset when ‘all things’ includes bad stuff too.
It isn’t wrong to share your frustration or questions with God, He can handle it. He isn’t going to run away scared of your emotions, He didn’t create you then go “AH it has feelings!”
@awriterandtheword “It’s not disrespectful to feel and ask questions, it’s part of the human journey. One of the great comforts of the Psalms is the permission to feel and speak and dialogue with God what is truly in our hearts. He’s not offended by our honesty.”
We see Job, that’s over 40 chapters of confusion and honest, raw conversation, both to God and among people. It’s big questions and then at the end God responds with big questions too. Right at the start, Job 1.21-22: “‘I came into this world with nothing, and I will leave with nothing. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”
God wants to share life with you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He wants to know your heart, and He’s with you in the ugly times that are out of your control.
And He’s with you in the ugly times that are within your control.
Shame
These are the ugly moments within our control.
When we choose the world, when we choose ourselves.
Shame is about you, your choices, it's personal, you’re mad at yourself.
Shame is something I held onto for too long. I carried it with me and it is h e a v y, and it's dirty.
I was at a time in my life where I let a lot of things in, and I got comfortable with them.
Imagine our minds like a room. You make space for things, and I pulled up a chair and entertained these things more than I should.
I was too hurt to do anything about all this, and too proud to admit it. It’s a shame thing, I’m here and I’m not wanting to change.
All of this didn’t leave room for God, but I was okay with that because at this point I was running away from Him. I wouldn’t allow myself 2 seconds of the day to face it, because that would mean I would have to change. I wasn’t making time for Him, not giving Him space to move in my heart or in my life.
Holding onto things closes your hand to what God is trying to give you and show you. You need to surrender what is in your hand so you can be open to His plans.
You don’t have to be an open book and tell everyone your issues, but hiding and holding onto these things isn’t doing you any favours. It’s heavy, and you just feel dirty.
So there was this one Sunday where I realised enough was enough, and I went up for the altar call. And He met me there. I took the step out and He met me there. The Holy Spirit came. And He didn’t come to condemn and say I’m doing this, this and this wrong.
He’s happy that you’re here now, with Him, choosing Him. Because He will keep choosing you.
"I leave 99 of my favourites to pursue my favourite. I know you’ve run, I run faster. I know you’re dirty, but I’ve used dirt since the beginning. I know you’re lost, I am the way. The 99 are lovely, but my 100 are holy. Be still, and know that I am coming." - @anthonygurrola via instagram
He loves us as He finds us, but He’s too good to leave us there. You don’t have to clean up your mess before inviting Him in. As I made more space for God, praying more, inviting Him into my life more, the day to day, He started taking up more space! As you step into new things, and allow God to move in your life, there were opportunities that came up that I wouldn’t have taken before.
A lot of these things only have power in the darkness, but when you invite God in and His light, you acknowledge that you are not a slave to the shame, to the bad habits, and they lose their power over you. They start to shrink as God takes over. They can’t take up as much space. John 8.12, after the woman’s accusers left, Jesus said “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
You say yes and God will do the rest. I was finding ways to enjoy life again. With God. After I got to the point to say ‘Hey, I’m not doing great looking after myself and choosing my own path, it’s not going very far. I need life again, I need Jesus.’ And it isn’t easy, but you’re not alone. And you have a guide (Bible).
And turning to God isn’t totally foreign, He still wants you. Your skills, your creativity, your personality, your passions. He doesn't turn you into a robot, He wants you for you, your hearts. Things like writing for me - that was something I did before, but now I was doing it out of an overflow.
So returning is beginning, not backtracking.
He will show you the past with hope in the pain, new eyes. (@loopforwomen via instagram)
"He’s giving us new memories in all the places shame wrote our story, it’s not just perspective, its innocence restored." (Pieces - Spontaneous, Bethel) It’s not ‘hey it wasn’t so bad after all’, it’s innocence restored, meaning God is saying you don’t have to hold on to that hurt anymore. In the places shame wrote our stories, when you look at that chapter and it's just messy, God wants you to give that to Him, you don’t have to keep that. It’s not yours to hold anymore.
180 is turning away from sin, it's not retracing your steps.
When you're walking and following your footsteps, you can easily slip into that. But when you turn and try to walk the other way, you don't fit into those old ways anymore, they're against where you're going.
So it's the start of a new journey, it’s walking towards God now, which is where we originally were. Going back to that, we can always go deeper, He is infinite.
OKAY - so I have obviously left some parts out, it was a long sermon and speaking is different to writing :) please comment any questions, I am more than happy to clarify <3
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