05/15/11 - Freedom Series PT3 - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "Freedom" in this Sunday celebration with "Dancing with the Star".

Freedom PT3
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, May 15, 2011

www.mylifegatechurch.com


Sermon Notes:

Zephaniah 3:17 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (AMP: He will rejoice [dance] over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them])

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”


Dancing with the Star

There are several instructors who want to teach us to dance—our culture, our enemy, our past.  Make sure you are dancing with the Holy Spirit.  He is the only one whose dance sets you free.  He is the only one whose instructions are always for your good.  The other instructors may make you feel free sometimes, but they do not have the power to sustain that freedom.  In fact, at the end of the day you will find their dance was a trap not freedom.

A Tale of 2 Dances:

John 14:3-11 Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet. But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.”

-   Sin seeks ways to “salve” or treat the sin—numb the pain, dull our conscience.  The result is more sin, the things we do to fill the void actually increase the pain, leading to a life filled with regret.  I’m sorry I danced at all.

-   Notice none of the companions in this dance, the friends and guests surrounding them, stopped the dance.  They just stood by and watched destruction unfold, then went home and either talked about how horrible it was or laughed about what fools Herod, Herodias and his daughter made of themselves.

2 Samuel 6: 14-23 “And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns. But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him…Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned to their homes. When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life.

-   Dancing to celebrate the Lord is filled with innocence.  Those around were blessed, even physical blessings (when David fed the entire nation), by the dance.  Everyone left this party rejoicing.  The joy remained since it was the presence of the Lord they were celebrating.  No need to manufacture another reason to celebrate (It’s the weekend.  It’s Cinco de Mayo.  It’s St. Patrick’s Day.  Bin Laden is dead.)  The reason for celebration—the goodness and presence of God—lives among them fulltime.

-   The freedom dance doesn’t really care what people think about it.  The dance is for an audience of One.  I’ll become even more undignified than this—I will worship, I will talk about the goodness of the Lord, I will appear foolish in your sight, I will go overboard for Jesus no matter how ‘uncool’ anybody thinks it is.

-   Just a few days before David was overcome with grief and guilt—because of His mistake someone had died and it seemed the presence of God would never fill his city.  Isn’t it too early for him to be dancing?  Shouldn’t he be grieving longer?  Or could it be that grieving in the presence and power of God looks different.  Could it be that guilt and regret are really healed in God’s presence?  Is there really freedom found simply by living in the presence of a Holy God?

-   Notice the result of despising (making small) the dance of freedom—a barren life


So What?

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is Lord there is freedom.”

-   Settle the “Lordship Issue”—Who is directing your dance? (culture, career, control, comparison, competition)
-   Admit the need to be free—What is present in your life that you could not do without for one week?
-   Embrace the Holy Spirit and His work in you (story of the little girl’s impromptu dance)
-   Practice trusting God—Jesus taught His disciples to pray for “today’s bread”—depending on God instead of self.  He called worry “the way of the Gentiles” (NLT—“dominates the thoughts of unbelievers) (Matthew 6:32)—those with no understanding of a relationship with God.