WEiRD Desires!

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:16-17


Weird Desires, well to start with, we'll talk about what normal people want and then we'll discuss how you to can become WEiRD!


Normal people seem to want everything NOW, just like the son in Luke 15:12. Many people are in this normal mode. Like a young couple who knows that cuddling and snuggling is for married couples, but they want it now! If he don't get it, he may just die! lol Or maybe you have temper issues and need to cool down before you speak, but you want it now! So you send an e-mail because that's quick, but then you walk into work on Monday and lose your job!


Normal people always trade the ultimate for the immediate, just like Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of stew, because he was going to die of starvation! He wasn't gonna die, he could have made his own stew within about 30 min! I mean I like to eat, but even I can hold out for 30 min and not throw my whole future away. Gen 25:29-32


You may ask, who would really do something so stupid? I tell you people do it every day! Maybe for you it's spending money, you're always broke and have no future, because you just wont save money and you have have a the new stuff! Maybe you're the one who's throwing his family away on that job, working day and night and neglecting your family! By the time you realize it, those kids will be grown and wont know who you are! Maybe you're the young lady who just gave herself away and broke the promise to yourself and God that you made to save yourself for marriage! Maybe your trading precious time with your wife for the porn that keeps popping up on your computer, your wife knows and she's disgusted with you! She feels unattractive and your marriage is falling a part!


What's your bowl of stew? What's that stew costing you?


WEiRD People know that later is better than now!

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city. Prov 16:32

We need to trade the immediate for the ultimate, wait until you get married to have sex, think of the testimony you will have and who pleasing it is to your God and your future partner. Weird people buy assets, not liabilities. What's a liability? Well as soon as you drive that brand new car off the lot it loses value, or how about that $23 shirt? I don't care where you bought it! It's now only worth .50 cents in a yard sale! lol Assets become worth more!

WEiRD people seek God until His desires become theirs! 

Ps 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

Gal 5:16-17

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. 

When your desires become God's desires, you will get those desires filled! Line your thinking up with God!

All throughout scripture we read - We serve the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob! If Esau wouldn't have gave up his future for a bowl of stew it would have changed our scriptures to Abraham, Isaac & Esau!


Esau's destiny was changed because of a craving that wasn't harnessed. What desires do you need to get under control? 


Don't get robbed of your future!

I CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE

There is a constant pressure to conform to the norm! The first pressure we will discuss comes from within. We seem to have a desire from within to please others and we are constantly asking ourselves "what will people think?"


Proverbs 29:25 reads - Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. That word snare in the Hebrew is moquesh - it means a trap or a hook like in a bulls noise in which he is easily guided by! Do you feel trapped in a snare? Easily pulled around by what people will think of you?


Becoming obsessed with what people think is the quickest way to forget what God thinks!


Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. 1 Sam 15:24-25


Then there's the outward pressure! Criticism! People say things like "Oh you go to church now, so you must be better than us! or Why you gotta pray so much? Why are you always helping people?" The criticism kicks in and we start re-evaluating what were doing! We have to remember this hatred towards doing the right thing isn't something new.


"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you…  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also… John 15:18-20


When you decide to be a follower of Jesus, be prepared for the junk talkers. If you're ready for it, don't let it be such a shock to you. Tell those people around you, "I kind of knew this was going to happen, I was prepared for you to be mean to me."


I'm more worried when people aren't talking junk about me then when they are. I must be to normal and they think I'm just like them. I don't want that to happen! I want to be like Jesus!


Jesus said it best in Matt 5:10-12  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Remember you can't please everyone! Just take a second and say that. I can't please everyone, but I can please God!


Our purpose is to please God, not people. 1 Thess 2:4 NLT

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Prov 29:25

People are more concerned about people thinking they're weird than they are with their sinful actions! This comes from caring more about what people think and less about what God thinks! It is truly a path to destruction!

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Gal 1:10

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. John 12:42-43

Maybe you haven't completely given yourself to God for fear of what people will think. I encourage you today to stop worrying what people think and step up for God! Let today be the day that changes your life, step up for God, you can't please everybody, but you can surely please God!

WEIRD - IN A “GOD” WAY

Have you been living life weird or are you just trying to fit in as normal? Do you consider yourself weird? Weird in a God Way? In Matthew 7:13 - 14, we find there is a wide road that many people are following and it's called normal! If you decide to follow the narrow road you will find that not many people are on that road... Because it's weird!

What is normal? Being overwhelmed, Rushed, Stressed, Broke, In Debt, Relational tension, Divorce! These are normal in the world, Living life without any type of direction, Just working for a paycheck and in job you don’t like! Multiple partners is normal in the world today! Then if we don't do what people expect us to do they will put Guilt and Shame on us and then we have to live with regrets.

So what do we do?

·        IF YOU WANT WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE HAVE, DO WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE DO.

·        IF YOU WANT WHAT FEW PEOPLE HAVE, DO WHAT FEW PEOPLE DO.      (Get weird)

If you look at your life and see it as pretty normal, maybe you’re on the wide path! I'm just sayin! The Bible teaches the weirdest things you’ll ever read:

 Looking at someone with lust IS cheating! The first will be last and the last will be first. We will be Great, yet we will serve. When we give, we will be given to. To find your life, you must lose it! If someone wrongs you, you must forgive them 70 x 7!

Angela and I are committed to weird. We rarely fight, that's weird! We have a great romance with each other and that's weird in the world today! We're working off our debt and don't plan on anymore! We are raising some great kids, with some good morales!

Weird people don't think like normal people!

Don’t live any longer the way this world lives. Let your way of thinking be completely changed. Then you will be able to test what God wants for you. And you will agree that what he wants is right… Romans 12:2 NIrV

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out… Romans 12:2 MSG

I encourage you to pick up the book - WEIRD, by Craig Groeschel , it will teach you to think different about: Time, Money, relationships, Sex, and Values!

What you think determines what you become!

Weird people don't live like normal people live!

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:11-12

When you start to take scripture to heart! You will become Weird! It's time to get lost in Jesus! Jesus said if you want to find your life you must lose your life in Him! Let’s get Weird! Because Normal Isn’t Working!