Brady's Bulletin
PASSING IT ON - LIVING GRACIOUSLY
Gracious Lives Matter
Dear Church Family and Friends,
When we, as we’re doing in this “Pass it on” series, think about passing our legacy on to the next generation, there’s an implication that we’re not passing on our legacy. The truth is we are always passing something on, good and bad. Our challenge is to be intentional about what we’re passing on.
My title, Gracious Lives Matter, is clearly exemplified in an ICU nurse being gracious and strong, keeping the well being of the patient their focus while being a peacemaker for all involved. A good nurse can’t be, “like everyone else”. A good nurse has to always be at their best because lives are at stake. God has made us, His followers, the caretakers of the world, starting with our family. The challenge is, what are we passing on?
In this message we are going to look at the importance of His most important command and His new and final command. Our command to love is a command to live graciously and a grace filled life is a life worthy to be passed on and grace filled lives matter more!
Advancing His Kingdom,
Brady Rice
Gracious Lives Matter
Dear Church Family and Friends,
When we, as we’re doing in this “Pass it on” series, think about passing our legacy on to the next generation, there’s an implication that we’re not passing on our legacy. The truth is we are always passing something on, good and bad. Our challenge is to be intentional about what we’re passing on.
My title, Gracious Lives Matter, is clearly exemplified in an ICU nurse being gracious and strong, keeping the well being of the patient their focus while being a peacemaker for all involved. A good nurse can’t be, “like everyone else”. A good nurse has to always be at their best because lives are at stake. God has made us, His followers, the caretakers of the world, starting with our family. The challenge is, what are we passing on?
In this message we are going to look at the importance of His most important command and His new and final command. Our command to love is a command to live graciously and a grace filled life is a life worthy to be passed on and grace filled lives matter more!
Advancing His Kingdom,
Brady Rice
Living Graciously: Gracious Lives Matter
Nurses are trained to respond to situations that require help and expertise and when given life threatening situations respond as trained. They pass on their training and skill to save lives. Nurses that were normal attendees to a wedding and even the bride became lifesavers in life threatening situations. Our friend Randee Mooney was an RN nurse in ICU and her training and skill was not just medical but relational as well. Her patients and their families needed to trust her and she had to win their trust very quickly. She had to respond always in patience, understanding, kindness and graciousness while maintaining full control of her emotions. Her relational skills allowed her patients and their families to receive her skilled training. If nurses’ relational skills are poor, their patients may not be receptive to their life saving skills that they desperately need. Those who are fearful of dying are not as concerned with relational skills as are those who feel they are perfectly healthy, their only concern is to receive the nurses life saving skills. In ministry I’ve found the easiest conversions for me have been with people who are genuinely fearful of dying and meeting their maker. It’s the ones who feel they’re perfectly healthy that present our challenge as Christ followers to share the abundant life we’ve found with them. Like nurses we’re in desperate need of gracious relational skills in order to pass on our eternal life skills.
Who’s a good person?
Who ascribes to be a “good person”?
Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
Jesus certainly ascribed to be good but because of His capacity to be evil He felt the only truly good in all of creation was God who doesn’t have the capacity to be evil.
Those of us who ascribe to be good pass on way more than those who are selfish jerks. No one desires to follow a selfish jerk.
When we, as we’re doing in this “Pass it on” series, think about passing our legacy on to the next generation, there’s an implication that we’re not passing on our legacy. The truth is we are always passing something on, good and bad. Our challenge is to be intentional about what we’re passing on. My title, Gracious Lives Matter, is clearly exemplified in an ICU nurse being gracious and strong, keeping the well being of the patient their focus while being a peacemaker for all involved. A good nurse can’t be, “like everyone else”. A good nurse has to always be at their best because lives are at stake. God has made us, His followers, the caretakers of the world, starting with our family. The challenge is, what are we passing on? In this message we are going to look at the importance of His most important command and His new and final command. Our command to love is a command to live graciously and a grace filled life is a life worthy to be passed on and grace filled lives matter more!
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
I’ve been trying to come up with an easily understandable analogy for this foundational and extremely important teaching of Jesus, how that love is the necessary ingredient in order to fulfill the commands of God. The best I could come up with has been fishing. The necessary ingredient for fishing is water! You can certainly do everything fishermen do, even sit in a boat, cast nets, put on hip waders but without water I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s not fishing. In the same way, to be a follower of God you can do all the things that followers of God do and are supposed to do but without love, what you’re doing may look religious, it may actually be religious but according to Jesus it’s not being a follower of God. Religion without love is fishing in the parking lot.
God’s command to love is totally relational, we’re to be in a loving relationship with God and we confirm our love for God by how we love others, and show our lack of love for God because of our lack of love for others. Matthew 25:44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
My experience is that the more graciously I live the more receptive others are to my life and heart beliefs. No one wants to follow a self centered jerk, we are the leaders to life everlasting and the gracious path is the easiest path for others to follow.
I watched last week a video, thank you Bruce Wegner, of two ways to break a horse. One was by breaking their spirit and the other by winning their trust. The overwhelming conclusion was that breaking by winning the horse’s trust took much longer and required patience but was so much more effective because the horse didn’t obey out of fear but out of trust. We are commanded to love and 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
The phrase “I am” appears in scripture literally hundreds of times, my source says over 2000 but that includes derivatives but it’s in scripture a lot, the question is what does it mean? Much of the I am’s in the Bible refer to who God is, healer, savior, truth, resurrection, the way, and so on. My point is, God is who He is and He’s not adjusting who He is because of who I am. God is who He is no matter who I’m being, He doesn’t change. The challenge is, do I? Do I allow others to change who I am? Am I strong enough, wise enough and courageous enough to be me no matter who or what others around me are being? Do I allow others to change me because of who they’re being? God’s love, care and belief in me is not determined by my actions, it’s all because of who God is not about me at all.
My friend shared that he and his wife have a personal ministry of being very generous tippers. After sharing a nice meal with their Sr. Pastors but not receiving great service they still tipped generously, their server caught them before they could leave and in tears thanked them and also apologized for their poor service then told them how God was using their generosity to speak into her life. My friend’s response was, we tip generously because of who we are and do not allow any other factors to change who we are. That sounds like God’s heart to me and challenges me to be a son of the most high God and to not allow others actions to change me and to always be a reflection of my Lord and Savior.
Application
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
We are and will pass on who we are, much more so than all we say!
Nurses are trained to respond to situations that require help and expertise and when given life threatening situations respond as trained. They pass on their training and skill to save lives. Nurses that were normal attendees to a wedding and even the bride became lifesavers in life threatening situations. Our friend Randee Mooney was an RN nurse in ICU and her training and skill was not just medical but relational as well. Her patients and their families needed to trust her and she had to win their trust very quickly. She had to respond always in patience, understanding, kindness and graciousness while maintaining full control of her emotions. Her relational skills allowed her patients and their families to receive her skilled training. If nurses’ relational skills are poor, their patients may not be receptive to their life saving skills that they desperately need. Those who are fearful of dying are not as concerned with relational skills as are those who feel they are perfectly healthy, their only concern is to receive the nurses life saving skills. In ministry I’ve found the easiest conversions for me have been with people who are genuinely fearful of dying and meeting their maker. It’s the ones who feel they’re perfectly healthy that present our challenge as Christ followers to share the abundant life we’ve found with them. Like nurses we’re in desperate need of gracious relational skills in order to pass on our eternal life skills.
Who’s a good person?
Who ascribes to be a “good person”?
Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
Jesus certainly ascribed to be good but because of His capacity to be evil He felt the only truly good in all of creation was God who doesn’t have the capacity to be evil.
Those of us who ascribe to be good pass on way more than those who are selfish jerks. No one desires to follow a selfish jerk.
When we, as we’re doing in this “Pass it on” series, think about passing our legacy on to the next generation, there’s an implication that we’re not passing on our legacy. The truth is we are always passing something on, good and bad. Our challenge is to be intentional about what we’re passing on. My title, Gracious Lives Matter, is clearly exemplified in an ICU nurse being gracious and strong, keeping the well being of the patient their focus while being a peacemaker for all involved. A good nurse can’t be, “like everyone else”. A good nurse has to always be at their best because lives are at stake. God has made us, His followers, the caretakers of the world, starting with our family. The challenge is, what are we passing on? In this message we are going to look at the importance of His most important command and His new and final command. Our command to love is a command to live graciously and a grace filled life is a life worthy to be passed on and grace filled lives matter more!
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
I’ve been trying to come up with an easily understandable analogy for this foundational and extremely important teaching of Jesus, how that love is the necessary ingredient in order to fulfill the commands of God. The best I could come up with has been fishing. The necessary ingredient for fishing is water! You can certainly do everything fishermen do, even sit in a boat, cast nets, put on hip waders but without water I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s not fishing. In the same way, to be a follower of God you can do all the things that followers of God do and are supposed to do but without love, what you’re doing may look religious, it may actually be religious but according to Jesus it’s not being a follower of God. Religion without love is fishing in the parking lot.
God’s command to love is totally relational, we’re to be in a loving relationship with God and we confirm our love for God by how we love others, and show our lack of love for God because of our lack of love for others. Matthew 25:44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
My experience is that the more graciously I live the more receptive others are to my life and heart beliefs. No one wants to follow a self centered jerk, we are the leaders to life everlasting and the gracious path is the easiest path for others to follow.
I watched last week a video, thank you Bruce Wegner, of two ways to break a horse. One was by breaking their spirit and the other by winning their trust. The overwhelming conclusion was that breaking by winning the horse’s trust took much longer and required patience but was so much more effective because the horse didn’t obey out of fear but out of trust. We are commanded to love and 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
The phrase “I am” appears in scripture literally hundreds of times, my source says over 2000 but that includes derivatives but it’s in scripture a lot, the question is what does it mean? Much of the I am’s in the Bible refer to who God is, healer, savior, truth, resurrection, the way, and so on. My point is, God is who He is and He’s not adjusting who He is because of who I am. God is who He is no matter who I’m being, He doesn’t change. The challenge is, do I? Do I allow others to change who I am? Am I strong enough, wise enough and courageous enough to be me no matter who or what others around me are being? Do I allow others to change me because of who they’re being? God’s love, care and belief in me is not determined by my actions, it’s all because of who God is not about me at all.
My friend shared that he and his wife have a personal ministry of being very generous tippers. After sharing a nice meal with their Sr. Pastors but not receiving great service they still tipped generously, their server caught them before they could leave and in tears thanked them and also apologized for their poor service then told them how God was using their generosity to speak into her life. My friend’s response was, we tip generously because of who we are and do not allow any other factors to change who we are. That sounds like God’s heart to me and challenges me to be a son of the most high God and to not allow others actions to change me and to always be a reflection of my Lord and Savior.
Application
- People respond favorably and listen more closely to those who are more gracious and loving.
- Like nurses, we’re called and trained to save lives. We’re never fully off duty.
- Stop being controlled by others and be who God made you to be, be in control of you.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
We are and will pass on who we are, much more so than all we say!
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