Faith Community Church Of Hopkinton

We all carry hurts from our past that have left emotional scars on us. Most, if not all of us, struggle to find the balance between allowing ourselves to feel our emotions and being controlled by our emotions. God is concerned for our emotional health too and wants to heal our emotional life. God is able to deal with our hurts, even turning them into opportunities to see and experience his grace. He offers us his peace, his presence, his healing power, his forgiveness and his joy amongst others to help us be transformed in our emotional lives.

The only way to truly change your life is to change the way you think. Your thoughts control your actions. So if you want to change the way you act, you must start by changing the way you think. If you want to be like Christ, you must learn to think like Christ. The goal of this change in thinking is transformation. To transform means "to change the condition, fuinction, nature, character or personality" of something. Transforming is something God does to us.

When your body is not healthy it affects how you work, think, act, and respond. God is concerned about our physical bodies. He provides for our needs because he loves us. God wants us to take care of our bodies, not only because that's where we live, but also because that's where he lives. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Physical health is a spiritual discipline.

We are thinking people. God created us with thought and reason. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am". How we think affects how we act. For many of us the battle of true transformation is a battle of and for our minds. What we read, watch, think about and interact with affects how we think. As we learn more about how we think, we also discover a host of mental health problems that we need to overcome. God wants to transform us by helping us find mental health. What we discover is that we might need to adjust our mental diet just like we need to adjust our physical diet to find healthy transformation.

A guardrail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience. When we establish guardrails we discover that we feel a tension. We are drawn towards the unhealthy, inappropriate and addictive side of the rail. This is nothing new, we need to make up our minds to do it. The reality is whether you give in to the tension and break through the guardrail or live with the guardrail, the temptation will always be there. But if we break the guardrails we discover that it becomes easier to break them. It does not erase the tension, it just weakens our resolve. We establish guardrails not to deal with the tension, but to honor God. When we follow the guardrails we find that God directs and protects our lives. We can avoid future regrets if we make up our minds today.

A guardrail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience. To avoid greed and irresponsibility: give, save, live. We live in a society filled with the consumption assumption. Get more, spend more. John Ortberg calls it the shadow mission of America - more. Contrary to popular belief, God does not need your money. He does not want something from you, he wants something for you. He wants to protect and direct us in life to void the ditches of consuming and hoarding. In other words, guardrails around money direct us away and protect us from greed.

A guardrail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience. Setting some clear guardrails in your marriage around other relationships, parenting, money and work (ministry) is essential. These guardrails can be established at any time, even now in your marriage. They can also be established before you are married to help you choose a partner. Knowing the guardrails of your married friends helps you to respect them and support them in their marriage too.

A guardrail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience. If every desire requires guardrails, your desire for physical/sexual intimacy requires reinforced steel. The struggle with sexual sin is not that God finds it more offensive, but rather that it causes immense damage to us and our families. Far too often we flirt with sexual sin instead of fleeing from sexual sin. In this area, culture baits us and then chastises us when we cross the line. The best defense is to flee sexual immorality, not flirt with it.

A guardrail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience. We need guardrails in our friendship choices too. Friends influence the direction and quality of your lives, therefore we need direction and protection in choosing friends, discerning how close we let friendships become and creating a position from where we can help friends in times of need. Having a good guardrail in friendships also works positively when good friendships guide us towards health and holiness.

They're everywhere, but they don't really get much attention . . . until somebody hits one. And then, more often than not, it is a lifesaver. Ever wonder what it would be like to have guardrails in other areas of your life—areas where culture baits you to the edge of disaster and then chastises you when you step across the line? Your friendships. Your finances. Your marriage. Maybe your greatest regret could have been avoided if you had established guardrails. Just as we need physical guardrails on a road to direct and protect us, we need guardrails in other arenas of our lives as well. A guard rail is a standard of personal behavior that becomes a matter of conscience.

To many, churches are archaic remnants of our American Christian past that has lost it's significance to our society. They are useful for doing good and helping people in crisis but there are other organizations that can serve that purpose without the controversy that religion often introduces. Jesus speaks of the church as a powerful force that can turn the tide of evil. As the first Christians gathered, churches became the physical representation of Christ to the world. They generously served the needs of the poor. They confronted power structures like slavery and gender segregation. They cared for the sick at peril of their own health. These communities were vibrant centers of spiritual help and direction, challenging evil and advancing good around the world. The present Church around the world may have it's blemishes, but it is also a change agent for good that is so woven into the fabric of human civilization that it can't be removed without damaging the world.

Christ teaches people to pray with confidence and intimacy. His approach to God was both reverential and tender. He removed the need for an intercessor like a priest, making communication with God accessible to anyone. Christ teaches us how to pray for forgiveness, have confidence that our needs will be met when we ask, and turn to God when life is difficult. His example and instruction promote a relationship with God marked by gratitude, humility, love, peace, and joy. Without Christ, people pray with uncertainty, not knowing how to communicate with God. The poor have no hope of help. The suffering have no hope of comfort and meaning. The confused have no hope of direction and clarity. The guilty have no hope of forgiveness. Christ teaches us how to have a familial relationship with God that encourages us to approach Him under all circumstances.

Christ presented Himself as a guide to God. He used phrases like "light" and "way" to describe His work. He claimed to have a unique relationship with God so that anyone who heard Him or witnessed His life gained insights into the very nature of God. His approach to God was unique. Jesus Christ abolished the need for sacrifices as a means to forgiveness. He also turned the purpose of spiritual practices away from a means to a right standing with God to a means of fellowship with God and aid to people. Christ's approach to God eliminates fear, doubt, guilt, and pride. Instead, His approach produces love, peace, joy, confidence, and hope.

Probably the greatest contribution of Christianity to the world is the focus on love. Prior to Christ, God was perceived as distant - too holy and dangerous to approach. In the Roman world, the gods were capricious, manipulative and self-serving. Humans went to great lengths to gain their attention and favor. Even when one did, there was no guarantee that the strength of his god would prove sufficient over another god's designs. Christ promoted the God who is loving, kind, interested and involved. Christ was the only one who used the intimate term "Abba/Father" and taught others to do the same. Christ was tender to children, compassionate to the grieving, helpful to the sick and a friend to the outcast. Christ called Himself our brother and stated that one of the defining characteristics of a follower was his/her commitment to love. As a religion, Christianity is saturated by love, committed to loving deeds and balanced on the transcendent/imminent God who desires relationship.

Christ presented an ethic code that was not prevalent in His day. He calls us to love our enemies, lead by serving, and care for the poor. He promotes humility as a virtue (unheard of in the Roman world) and teaches that the way to greatness is through self-sacrifice. In a world that valued power, honor, and strength, His message was confusing and unusual. Yet, His virtues have taken over the world. We respect the humble over the proud, admire the compassionate and venerate those who serve others at their personal expense. Think of all the nonprofits, hospitals and government programs that have been birthed by these virtues. What would have happened to all those who have benefited from their generosity? Christ's ethics promote peace, compassion, mercy, and aid. Our world is better (ask those who receive the benefits of these virtues) because of Christ's teaching and call to follow.

The life and work of Jesus Christ was a critical part of God's restoration of the world to His original intention. Jesus came to bring all people back to their Creator. His desire was grand in that He wanted the whole world restored. Everything Jesus said and did was meant to change the world, not just a few people or a small region. Jesus wants us to continue with the work He started. Bringing the message and work of Jesus Christ to all cultures of the world is an essential part of our mission to serve God. We do this by imitating Christ's work of spiritual guidance and compassion relief. There is even the indication in the Bible that God has a project plan with a completion point - when we achieve it, civilization hits another turning point.