Last Sunday, we continued our Summer Sermon Series entitled, "At the Movies". I have to be honest, I really am enjoying teaching this series! During the first 3 weeks, we have already looked at the Indiana Jones Movie Series, Star Wars, and Mission Impossible. Each week, we have shown how movies are a great way to relate to spiritual truths.
Jesus used parables to teach complex spiritual thoughts to people who many times were uneducated. He could paint a picture through the things that the people navigated through during their every day life. He was a master story teller!
When you think about a good story, they always have 5 basic parts to them...
Plot
Setting
Characters
Point of view
Conflict
The best movies still hold these truths today. As we have seen through the first few weeks of this series, there are some images and thoughts in today's movies that can help us see things in our mind.
Last Sunday, we started talking about "Mission Impossible"...of course the Pastor (me) got a little too involved in teaching and only got through the first point in our allotted time.
What we did learn in our time last week is that God has a mission for each of us...but it is our choice whether to accept it or not. These missions, or callings, may be for specific seasons or they may be a lifetime commitment. Either way, they are key to us realizing the GREATer purpose that God has for us.
When God calls you to a mission, it's not impossible, unless you try to do it all on your own. There is a faith that we must have when we look at the task God has called us to do. This faith is not in our ability but in the power and strength of the Lord.
All 12 of the spies went into the Promise Land. All 12 spies saw that the land was exactly what God said it would be. All 12 also saw the enemies and the obstacles in the land. No one tried to gloss over what they would face. But only 2 of them could understand that if God promised they would take it, then it was already theirs. It didn't mean it wouldn't take effort, because it always does.
Paraphrasing what author Mark Batterson has said, we must pray and believe as if everything is up to God, but we also need to work as if it all depends on us.
The thing we must remember is that the promise is always what God said it would be. That's every promise that we find in the bible! We can stand on them, but we also have to do what it takes to get the promise. You can't just expect God to give you the promise without you doing your part.
The bible is our contract with God. In it is filled with the benefits of entering into a relationship with a loving Father. But it also is filled with fine print or conditions that you have to do to access these promises.
I encourage you to read the passage above and think about what promises God has given for your life and are you really trusting that God will follow through. If you are not walking in the promise yet, it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't happen. God may be waiting for you to step into your place in it.