American Idols - Season 2

Bob finished his American Idols sermons today. As thought-provoking and challenging as last week was, it would have been easy to walk away feeling condemned or hopeless. A friend, talking about today's sermon, asked if we would be given hope today. The answer? Yes! Just as he always does, Bob brought us back to the Gospel in American Idols - Season 2. The Gospel isn't just the power of God for salvation, it is also the power of God to free us from the idols that would destroy us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our ONLY hope. Because of Christ, God looks kindly and favorably toward us, no matter what! It gives us the power to say "no" to our idols, as well as encourage others to say "no." Believing this makes it okay to ask the hard questions:

• "What is my greatest nightmare/what do I worry about most?"
  
• "What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go bad or get difficult?"
  
• "What preoccupies me?"
  
• "What unanswered prayer would make me seriously think about turning away from God?"
• "What makes me feel the most self-worth/what am I most proud of?"
  
• "What do I really want and expect out of life/what do I think would really make me happy?"

These questions are very overwhelming and that's okay. We need to look at our sin and even ask our Father to show it to us, however (I'm reminded), for every glance we take at our sin, we need to gaze upon the cross 10 times more. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

As I was typing this, the following song came on my iTunes:

Just the Way I Am
Words and Music by Mike Weaver
... God’s “I love you” was signed, sealed, and delivered to us when Jesus died on the cross.
There’s nothing we can do to affect His end of the deal!
Now our “I love you” back is learning to simply trust and obey.

Unbelievable, I’m blown away it’s true
By the matchless love that I’ve found in You
Undeniable, the change in me
I’ve never felt so free
It makes me want to dance
You make me want to dance
When I think about how
You love me, You love me
You love me just the way I am
You love me, You love me
You love me just the way,
Just the way I am
Ever patiently accepting me
You love in spite of everything I do
But oh so faithfully
You’re committed to the process that makes me like You
And I feel like I can dance
Oh You make me want to dance
When I think about how
Not when I’m good enough
Not when I clean my act up
Not when I cross that line the thousandth time
And become a better man
Your grace is more than enough
To cover all my sins You washed them away
So right here today
You love me just the way I am

Run to the cross, and dance!

I Can't Sleep

It's midnight and I have to be up in 6 hours. At the rate I'm going, I won't be getting much sleep tonight. I've gotten in bed twice now, only to get up and find something else to do. The first time, around 11:00 pm, I discovered that my toilet was clogged...GROSS! I tried to see if my friend, Cammie, might be awake so I could borrow her plunger, but she never responded to my text message. What choice did I have but to get in the car and drive up the road to the WalMart, to buy my very own plunger?!

The clog (GROSS) was easily dealt with (Shea, do you still have the auger?) so I decided it was time for bed, again. I began to pray and thoughts of Bob's sermon from this Sunday came flooding in. Bob preached on Daniel 3:1-30 and "American Idols." He included with our sermon outline, an excerpt from one of Tim Keller's books. Its purpose was/is to help you identify the idols in your own life. The directions were to circle any that we think apply to our lives. I'm glad I decided to forgo the circling; the page would have been one big mess of pen markings. Rarely (and sadly) do I ever really think about sermons (please don't tell Bob) but the Lord keeps bringing this one to mind and He keeps giving me real life examples to think and pray through.

As I was confessing my most prevalent idol (which today happens to be the idol of finding my worth and happiness in feeling important and needed), I was faced with the fact that I am one big idol factory. I began thinking about situations where I place things and people in positions of importance above God. As it turns out, this seems to be the norm in my life. Normally, this line of thinking would cause me to feel defeated and hopeless, but this time, my mind was lead in another direction. A familiar phrase of "cheer up" came to mind. "Cheer up, Julie, you are much worse than you will ever know, but Jesus stands before God on your behalf and because of His blood, it's as if you have done nothing wrong, and as if you have done everything right."

Tonight I did a little waltzing while trying to go to sleep. I don't feel defeated and hopeless. In fact, I actually feel that there is hope for me. I know I can't change my heart and stop manufacturing idols; only the Lord can do that. I pray that He will. 1,2,3...1,2,3.

If you want to hear Bob's sermon, you can follow the link below. Enjoy! And if you become overwhelmed at all the idols, run to the cross and dance!

American Idols - Season I

I'm going to try going to sleep again.