Overflow

City Harbor Church – Hampden, Baltimore, MD

God
Exodus 34:6-7…merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding (overflowing) in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…

US
Genesis 1:27a So God created human beings in His own image.

We aren’t God, but we bear his likeness! If God overflows with good stuff, and we are created in his likeness….

YOU WERE CREATED TO OVERFLOW!

John 10:10
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundantly = exceedingly above, OVERFLOW

Luke 6:45
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

Matthew 22:25-28
For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

The question is not will you overflow but what will you overflow with?!

How do we overflow with good stuff?

1. Clean your dirty ducts

a. Better air quality, Increased efficiency, reduced odors, mold and mildew prevention, less chance of repairs.
b. God is involved! Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
c. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 (Ask for help!, WORSHIP…)

2. Abide

a. Psalm 36:8-9 You feed them from the abundance (or overflow) of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.
b. Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
c. John 7:38 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

i. Living water = Not dead, enjoy, active, blessed, fresh, strong, efficient, active, efficacious.
ii. Efficacious = Successful in producing a desired or intended result.

3. How do we overflow with Good stuff? Meditate: On the right stuff.

a. Romans 8:5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
b. Phil. 4:8 (fix your thoughts, Q) Philippians 4:8… think on these things
c. Psalm 48:9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.
d. Psalms 145:5 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles.
e. Colossians 3:2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

4. Let Jesus share the load

a. Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.

5. Overflow with Good stuff: Be Thankful

a. Study on Gratitude –

Recent study of nearly 300 adults, mostly college students who were seeking mental health counseling at a university. Recruited them before their 1st session of counseling.

Three groups:

• The First Group was instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks.
• The second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences.
• The third group did not do any writing activity.

What did they find? Compared with the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended. It seems, practicing gratitude on top of receiving psychological counseling carries greater benefits than counseling alone, even when that gratitude practice is brief.

• Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it.
• Gratitude’s benefits take time (four weeks it was better)
• Those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner.
  • What does the Medial prefrontal cortex do?
    • Executive functions (planning, reasoning, language, context, adaptive responses
    • Learning & memory
    • Decision-making and judgment
    • Emotional processing (regulating)
    • Social cognition or the ability to process, understand and respond to social information.

Same study: Benefits of Gratitude

• Reduces depression
• Less anxiety
• Supports heart health
• Relieves stress
• Improves sleep

Harvard & UCLA suggest that you can incorporate gratitude into your life by praying & redirecting your thoughts (Harvard & UCLA).

6. How we overflow with good stuff: Love others

a. John 15:12 This is my commandment, that you love each other.

Practice Overflow

• In your own life
• With others

1. How? Give it away! Don’t be a Scrooge.
2. How? Don’t stagnate. We can get clogged by too much good stuff.
3. How? Invite people to church

1 Corinthians 9:6-12
Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your (overflowing, clean) heart how much to give.? And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide (overflow) all you need. Then you will always have everything you need? and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and ? then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

Psalm 1:1-3
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.