Sermon Cloud

• Question:  When you die…what do you want people to say about how you lived?
• Question:  When you die…what will people say you valued, where passionate about or committed to?
• Question:  When you die…what will people say you believed in most?

Large Group Question:  What are the priorities of Americans today?  What do we value…spend our time doing, spend our money on?  What type of people do we give our attention to?

Illustration (Biblical – Moses on a mountain top):  The year is somewhere around 1400B.C.  The people called Israel…camping in the Desert at Sinai, over 600,000 people.  Three months had passed since they had crossed the Red Sea.  God guided them everywhere they went by either a pillar or cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night, these pillars represented God’s visible presence with His people.  God met Moses on top of Mount Sinai and issued Moses a Covenant/Treaty/Set of Values/Beliefs…that determined how God and Israel would relate.  If they trusted in God, desired to be in relationship, then they would live according these 10 Commandments. 

The first two commandments set the tone of God’s relationship with His people.

• First Commandment – God says, “You shall have no other gods before me (in my presence).” 
• Second Commandment – God says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them…” 

Statistics that reveal our cultural values:

• Only 12% of the world's population lives in North America and Western Europe, but we account for 60% of private consumption spending.
• The richest 25% of the world's population receives 75% of the world's income, even when adjusting for Purchasing Power Parity. The poorest 75% of the population share just 25%.
• Per capita income in US is over 46,000; ranking 4^th in the world.
• We spend $50,000.00 as a spending unit (2.5 people):  Housing, Transportation, Food, Insurance, Health, Entertainment, and Clothing.

Statement:  What or who you believe in determines how you live, move and have your being!

Bible

Let’s catch up with Paul, a Christ Follower, whose whole life is consumed with doing whatever God determines.  In other words…Paul uses His time, talents, and resources to “Build God’s Kingdom.”  Paul has just been kicked out of another city because he was a declaring God’s Love in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He arrives in Athens still a vital cultural center with a world class university…the intellectual capital of the world.

Read – Acts 17:16, 18, 19, 22-31, 32-34.

Paul is rejected, his message of the One True, represented by their altar to the “Unknown God.”  He sighted their religiousness…their worship of many God’s all of which are false, man-made, and a waste of time because they are absolutely powerless.  He challenged them to Believe In God – represented in Christ who is all powerful, Everywhere, and Cares for all mankind.

Reflective Question/Challenge

• Question:  What would others say you trust in, believe, value, worship, or idolize by how you live each and every day?
• Question:  Take a moment and think about how you do life…what is it that’s most important to you?  What do you spend your money on?  What do you spend your time doing?  Who the most important person in your life?

Illustration (Dave – Rob’s friend):  Dave’s built an incredible, thriving company now all over the US.  He believes in and values people his family, employees, costumers, friends, etc.  He re-invests what God has blessed him with into local communities, churches, church plants, and missions.  He is rebuilding an entire community near Tijuana, Mexico.  If you checkout his company’s website he doesn’t hide the fact that he is a Christ Follower.

Dave will die…and people will remember his passion for God, and building His Kingdom; concern and care for people…how he invested his time, talent and money into what matters to God…people.

Statement:  What or who you believe in determines how you live, move and have your being!

Challenge

Statement:  When you Follow Christ, God shifts your priorities to match His…People always!

• Question:  If you want God’s help in restructuring your priorities, shifting what you value, what you spend your life on…pray with me!