Am i safe
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The document discusses various questions and concerns about safety. It addresses whether it is safe to send kids to school, whether jobs or college are safe given economic conditions, and whether it is safe to be in certain areas. The document then discusses how to find safety in Christ and the church, and that one can make others feel safe once they embrace their own safety.
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Am i safe
- 1. Am I Safe? Are we safe?
- 2. • Is it safe for me to send my kids to this place or that? Is it a safe environment for them? • Is my job safe with what is happening in the economy or the company I am working for? • Is it safe for me to spend $120,000 to go to college with what I see happening in the job market?
- 3. • Is it safe for me to walk down that alley? • Are those people safe for me to walk by? • Is it safe from me to eat that food knowing what I know about hotel kitchens?
- 4. What happens in 7-9? • Esther exposes Haman’s treachery • Mordechai is finally honored and empowered • The Jewish people are saved (they are allowed to protect themselves from their enemies)
- 5. What happens in 7-9? • Instead of just protecting themselves they avenge themselves (they become the oppressor) [Romans 12:19] • A yearly celebration is established to remind the Jews that they were saved by Mordechai & Esther (God)
- 6. Oppressed people, who are given power but still do not feel safe, will sometimes become the oppressors themselves.
- 7. 4 things about your SAFETY • You can find the safety you are looking for in Christ and the Church! • You are safe – here – with us - in this church. • Because you are safe you can “cease your striving” and experience abundant life today. • Once you embrace that you are safe you can begin to invest yourself fully in making others feel safe.
- 8. How do we secure our safety? • Proverbs 1:33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm. • Proverbs 20:28 Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.
- 9. How do we secure our safety? • Proverbs 28:26 Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. • Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
- 10. How do we secure our safety? • John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. • John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
- 11. 4 things about your SAFETY • You can find the safety you are looking for in Christ and the Church! • You are safe – here – with us - in this church. • Because you are safe you can “cease your striving” and experience abundant life today. • Once you embrace that you are safe you can begin to invest yourself fully in making others feel safe.
- 12. Last weeks conversation •We were able to agree and disagree in love •We were able to be ourselves in relationship
- 13. 5 things new people ask… • Will I be accepted at this church? • Will I find friends at this church? • How will I make a difference at this church? • How will I benefit from joining this church? • What will be expected of me at this church?
- 14. 4 things about your SAFETY • You can find the safety you are looking for in Christ and the Church! • You are safe – here – with us - in this church. • Because you are safe you can “cease your striving” and experience abundant life today. • Once you embrace that you are safe you can begin to invest yourself fully in making others feel safe.
- 15. What does safety look like? People who feel safe People who do not feel safe • GENEROUS • GREEDY • FORGIVE • JUDGE • LET OUTSIDERS IN • KEEP OUTSIDERS OUT • ALLOW FREEDOM • CONTROL INSIDERS • EXPOSE THEMSELVES • HIDE THEMSELVES • ENJOY TODAY • DELAY LIVING
- 16. The early Church – Acts 2 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
- 17. SAFETY • You can find the safety you are looking for in Christ and the Church! • You are safe – here – with us - in this church. • Because you are safe you can “cease your striving” and experience abundant life today. • Once you embrace that you are safe you can begin to invest yourself fully in making others feel safe.
Editor's Notes
- We all ask this question in one way or another.
- Today many of us asked ourselves, “Is it safe to go to church with all the snow?” You came to church today if you answered yes and stayed home if your answer was no.
- The story of Esther is all about the safety question “Are we as Jews safe? Are we even going to exist next year?” The answer given to us by this story is “Of course you are. Of course you will.” Why? “Because you are the people of God.” What kind of people is this? It is a people that is safe in this world. And the next.This message is not just a message for the Jews at that time. It is a reassuring message for all years and in all difficult times. And it is a message for you as followers of Jesus Christ in just such a time as ours.So what happens in chapters 7-9?
- About the green and red. Not about good or bad but about what people do when they do and don’t feel safe. Not everything in scripture is prescriptive. Some things are descriptive and, we, as God’s people are to learn from past behavior what not to do in light of the New Testament and Jesus Christ. This is such a case.Romans 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.After they had secured their safety they established a celebration to remind them that they are a people that is safe because of their relationship with God. It was called Purim. Today we will celebrate communion, which in many was is our Purim. Communion is a proclamation that we are safe in this world because of our connection to Jesus and the church. That is what is means and we do this to remind ourselves that in the life, death and resurection of Jesus Christ we are Why is it important for me that you understand this.
- Because … That is why as Christians it is important that we all understand that in Christ and the church we are safe.
- This is just another way of talking about salvation. “We are saved” is a short hand way of saying I am safe in this world and the next. These four statements are a way of talking about what happens when we love the Lord our God with all our heart soul and mind and then begin to love our neighbor as ourselves. We find our sense of safety in our relationship with God through Christ and because of that we can then begin to love others the way God wants us to.
- I know that I am safe in Christ and in the church. First because the Bible tells me so. But second because I have seen it play out in my life and more importantly in thousands of other persons lives. I have seen thousands of people who have been saved in so many different ways and have found safety in this life and the next. Whether that was from a world of drugs, alcohol, sex, broken relationships, hurt, or deep disappointment.
- How do I know that it is safe here, in this church at Neffsville Mennonite Church? The diversity that has always been here has not divided us but made us stronger. People can be who they are and still be in relationship with one another. We can have conversations about difficult topics and still cross over into the sanctuary and worship together. This tells me this is a safe church. We can also admit our mistakes and receive grace from each other. This too tells me this is a safe place.
- A safe placeis what people are looking for in a church. A safe place where they can be who they are and still be in relationship with others and God. These five questions are all safety questions and are what people ask themselves when they come to Neffsville Mennonite Church. It is my experience that many people have been able to answer yes and amen to all five of these. As a result they have stayed and become a part of our church. If they cannot answer yes or find a suitable answer to all five of these questions it is unlikely that they will stay long.
- What does ceasing to strive look like?
- It is related to feeling safe.
- We see all six of these attributes in the account of the early church. Somehow they must have felt safe. As a result they were able to live lives that were GENEROUS, FORGIVING, they LET OUTSIDERS IN, ALLOWED FREEDOM, EXPOSED THEMSELVES to others and ENJOYED TODAY. They ceased their striving and began to live abundant lives. This was a direct result of them feeling safe in Jesus and in the church. If we can embrace our safety in Christ the same way that they did we will see similar things in our lives and church. In fact we already do. The brotherhood fund is one example of us feeling safe enough to give our money so that no one among us is in need. The brotherhood fund at Neffsville Mennonite Church goes to pay the light bills, rent, food costs, excessive medical bills and other similar things for person in our church that cannot meet those needs. As a result no one among us has an unmet need. That tells me again that many at Neffsville Mennonite Church feel safe.
- When we fully surrender to Christ and receive the safety that God can offer us our focus changes. We no longer spend all our time trying to make a safe place for ourselves because we already feel safe. Instead we begin to desire more and more that others can experience the safety and freedom that we do in Christ and in the church. As a result we begin to spend more and more time trying to help others feel safe in Christ and the church. This results in growth for the Kingdom of God. As Acts 2 says, “We will add to our numbers daily those that are feeling ‘safe’.”And isn’t that what we all want?