Joy Unspeakable and All That Other Stuff (03.25.18 Notes)

“Joy Unspeakable and All That Other Stuff”

Emojional Week Four

Pastor Kris Freeman

Revolution Church

March 25, 2018

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-12

To watch the service, go to the bottom of this post...

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

To live with a great expectation is a FOUNDATION for worship. 

Many of the people who comprised the books of the Bible were writing with INSPIRATION of the Holy Spirit but had yet to see many of the things they talked about.

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

How could the writers of the Bible be HAPPY about the things they saw around them?

- Immense persecution of the early church

- Threats and realistic issues of violence

- Prejudice, hatred, racism, sexism, classism

- Extreme poverty

- Government corruption

And yet… they turned it into PRAISE! Does this feel like you today?

You cannot truly worship when you are just happy, you need to possess JOY.

Barney E. Warren wrote this in 1900:

I have found his grace is all complete, he supplies my every need. While I sit and learn at Jesus feet, I am free, yes free indeed. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory, it is joy unspeakable and full of glory, oh the half has never yet been told.

Now read the next scripture…

10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

The Biblical writers and prophets understood the power of HOPE in our worship. They had to write about things they could not see, could not use, could not explain and could not hold - yet all of those things brought them great joy!

Happiness won’t ENDURE.

My happiness can change in a moment. I can receive bad news. Encounter a tragedy. Fight a battle that’s bigger than my ability. Deal with a crisis. Experience brokenness or lost. Mess up. Make a mistake. Sin. Get my hopes and dreams crushed. Happiness is all RELATIVE.

But joy is a different story. Joy is a deeper sense and realization of hope that lives inside of your circumstances. And true joy will produce longer PERIODS of happiness even when the circumstances don’t call for it!

Be happy, because you have hope, and hope produces joy! And then worship in it!

#emojional #revwhitehouse

Don't Lose Your Head (03.18.18 Notes)

“Don’t Lose Your Head”

Emojional Week Three

Pastor Kris Freeman

Revolution Church

March 18, 2018

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28 (NLT)

Click here to watch the video, or go to the bottom of this post...

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

One of the most confusing emotions for all of us is ANGER.

Anger is defined as: “a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility”

A few types of anger:

1. Assertive anger - a catalyst for positive change
2. Behavioral anger - physical aggression, rage
3. Chronic anger - general resentment, frustration, depression
4. Judgmental anger - indignant, intimidating
5. Overwhelmed anger - hopelessness and lack of control
6. Passive-aggressive anger - the avoidance of confrontation with words or actions that covertly express what is wrong
7. Retaliatory anger - vengeful anger, revenge
8. Self-abusive anger - shame and self-hurt
9. Verbal anger - less violent but psychologically and emotionally abusive
10. Volatile anger - come out of nowhere, fly off the handle

As a disciple, Peter was the most likely to express anger as an emotional response.

Why? Peter was:

- Outspoken

- Assertive

- Protective

- Prideful

- Courageous (at times! This is why Jesus called him out, cause he knew!)

Peter reminds us a lot of OURSELVES

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

These are not types of anger - RIGHTEOUS and UNRIGHTEOUS - those are instead the method by which we express different types of anger.

What Jesus is reminding us - and Peter - is that pent-up and uncontrolled anger and hurt can radically damage our WORSHIP and our DISCIPLESHIP.

Worship is the process of pointing out the greatness of God to YOU.

Discipleship is the process of pointing you toward the greatness of GOD.

Ways unresolved anger could derail Peter’s mission (get behind me Satan!)

1. Peter had been delivered and anger will DUMP you back where you came from.

Was Peter thinking about this? Let’s talk about the denial.

2. Peter had been commissioned and anger will MESS UP your direction.

3. Peter would be GUIDED by the Holy Spirit and Jesus knew that misguided anger would destroy Peter and make him doubt himself.

If you want to truly worship and serve, there are certain things you have to let go and there are certain things you have to righteously stand for to change.

#emojional #revwhitehouse

What to Do When You Get it Wrong

BY PASTOR KRIS FREEMAN, REVOLUTION CHURCH

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:  “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. – Jonah 1:1-3 (NLT)

I stepped to the bedroom window on Monday morning about 6:00 a.m. and peered into the brilliant sunshine casting shadows through the back yard on a blanket of snow.

By now, if you are a part of Revolution Church, you may have heard that I shared my affinity for being a meteorologist in my dream job, and then declared there was no way it would snow and stick Sunday night. Less than 24 hours later, kids were arriving to school two hours later under a fresh crop of snowflakes covering our city.

I had 47 messages on Monday through various ways asking me to stick to my day job of preaching and announcing, and leave the weather to professionals. By the way, they are always wrong, too!

But this humorous response caused me to step back and think – what do you do when you get it wrong, and especially when that is public and on display for everyone to view your mistake?

Jonah was a prophet of God called to go to Ninevah to preach, but because of his prejudice and disdain for the people there, he wasn’t exactly excited about seeing them make right and repent with the same God he served. So disobeying God’s instruction, Jonah ran from his duty and the story spiraled into a big fish tale, the eventual Ninevites repentance, and a sullen and pouting Jonah getting a talking-to of sorts after all was said and done.

Jonah, in no uncertain terms, was wrong.

Here’s three things we can do when we are wrong, and I think these will help you.

1. Make the wrong a right.

Jonah had to pay the consequence for his decision, and often the wrong is a sinful action which may require a tough punishment. When you have wronged others, your first step may be paying those consequences and also speaking a moment of regret or sorrow. Make it right by saying you are sorry and doing what it takes to rectify the situation.

Today, we are being rather lighthearted but the truth be told some things are hard to ever make right and so serious that these steps don’t work. But for the sake of speaking to the practical things you deal with on a daily basis, let’s stick to making simple wrongs correct today.

Jonah’s first step after he ran was asking to be thrown from the ship where he had sailed into stormy waters. He felt his own decisions had endangered others, so he rectified and apologized and then was swallowed by a big fish that didn’t kill him, but spit him up where he eventually did his job at Ninevah.

When you are wrong, speak up and say it. Confession is the first step to forgiveness.

2. Learn to laugh at yourself (and let others do it, too)

The sailors with Jonah were scared in the storm, but after he departed the boat, I’m sure one of them shared sarcastically, “who invited that guy anyway?”

There are times when you speak yourself into idiocy and you simply can’t do anything else except says “whoops” and laugh it off, admit you’re wrong, and pardon my channeling of Kendrick Lamar, but sit down and be humble.

And then enjoy what comes with it. Here is a sampling of my messages from Monday:

• Stick to your day job
• There’s a reason I love you as my pastor and there’s a reason I love Henry at NewsChannel5. Let’s keep it that way
• You bothered to look outside yet?
• Hey, when you wake up, call me. I have a prediction that your day will be kinda interesting.
• Next week, can you preach on Revelation and let God handle the prophecy?

Ok, I get it. It snowed. My days as the Nashville snow czar are over. But I have truly enjoyed laughing at myself and letting others have the moment, and in doing so, I hope to have displayed a bit of imperfect humanity and authenticity.

3. Be thankful you have an influence that is listening

We can all do things to damage our character, trust and influence. It’s amazing that the Ninevites listened to Jonah considering how flawed he was and his approach must have been.

In making a mistake that was publicly visible and hilarious, it reminded me to be thankful for all the people who paid attention. Because in addition to finding out the pastor has no idea when it will snow, we also learned how to connect our emotions and our worship on Sunday, and shared some powerful thoughts about the transfiguration and Jesus.

So, in summary, yesterday I got thrown off the ship and this morning, the fish spit me out, figuratively.

1. I’m sorry.
2. Laugh it up, I deserve it
3. Thank you for listening to me even when I screw up, cause this wasn’t the first time, won’t be the last time, and isn’t the worst time.

Now, the next time you screw up, remember this:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. – James 5:16

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

Sincerely,

The Weather Man

Movements Not Monuments (03.11.18 Notes)

“Movements Not Monuments”

Emojional Week Two

Pastor Kris Freeman

Revolution Church

March 11, 2018

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9 (NLT)

Watch the video here

Six days later, Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up to a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

This event, prior to the death of Jesus, is called the TRANSFIGURATION.

The word transfiguration means “a complete change or form of appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.”

The inner circle of the disciples saw Jesus in his GLORIFIED or, spiritual, state.

Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here. If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials - one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” The disciples were terrified and fell face down to the ground. Then Jesus came over and touched them, “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”

The complete awe of God is a MOMENT of worship. Do you ever find yourself in awe of God?

When are you in awe of him?

- The forces of nature

- The birth of a baby

- The miracle that can’t be explained

- The “coincidental” meeting that turns into a blessing

- The speaking of wisdom through you to others

- The vast view of space, time and astronomy

There is no doubt, Peter, James and John were in awe. But notice what they DID first.

Peter wanted to build a MONUMENT of remembrance. When we encounter God, too often our response is to MEMORIALIZE the moment, rather than create a MOVEMENT with it.

As they went back down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 

What Jesus allowed the disciples to see was a CONFIRMATION of his glory, so that they were empowered.

The disciples were empowered to:

1. Believe the story of the death and resurrection

2. Believe his divinity as the Son of God

3. Believe in themselves to carry on his work after he was gone

The transfiguration looks like a memorial, but it’s really a movement.

The church has TOO MANY memorials already!

Be thankful for where you have been, but be empowered by where you are going.

The problem with monuments:

1. A monument is for DEAD things. A movement is for LIVING things.

He wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” - Mark 9:31

A monument does not have to be a negative thing, but to be effective, it must become a legacy and not an END.

2. A monument is STUCK in time. A movement is TRANSCENDENT.

Worship works in every generation. The number one thing the church fights about in Americanized religious culture is “worship wars” - yet when our worship is focus on style and manner and method, we tend to get “stuck” in our preferences.

A movement of worship is greater than your emotional memory. It’s FLUID. It CHANGES. It adapts and it modifies. Why? Because the movement connects the past to the future and uses the FOUNDATION of God as the bridge.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” - John 14:12

Everything Jesus did was a preparation for everything the disciples would do.

Your worship is not just a memorial to God. It’s a MISSION to prepare you for all God has for you!

Let your worship face be on the move. Go with God’s flow.

#emojional #revwhitehouse