Genesis

My wife loves telling me about a trip she made with her Dad about fifteen years ago. They were traveling on a motorway, the M1 I think. Dawn fell asleep, as she often does in the car. She is not a great long car journey companion! You end up on your own for most of it! And on this occasion she fell asleep. (She wasn't driving I might add). Her dad had been chewing a piece of chewing gum on the journey, and decided that he had had enough of it so took it out of his mouth. Now being a very environmentally conscious person, Dawn's dad Ron, wouldn't just discard of it by rolling the window down and throwing it out. He definitely wouldn't place it in his car anywhere as he is fastidious in his car cleanliness! So he decided to keep it in his hand until they next made a stop!

You can guess can't you?

As Dawn woke up somewhere along the M1, she wondered what on earth her dad was doing. He was driving but was desperately trying to disentangle himself from long strings of chewing gum that had got on to the dashboard, the steering wheel, the seat, and on Ron himself!

He was in a complete mess and they had to pull over to disentangle him from the mess he had got himself in.

In the course of our ministry particularly at Liverpool Boiler Room and here in Sanctuary 21 Dawn and I deal with people entangled in the most amazingly complex messes. Lives tangled in Internet porn, witchcraft, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, consumer debt, bad relationship choices, dead end jobs that they hate, you name it we see it all the time.

Tangled messes that have just ensnared people and trapped people, and we see them struggling to disentangle themselves.

I myself was in a complete tangled mess at one stage of my life and I'd like to share a glimpse of that now.

Before I became a minister I worked in a hospital operating theatre, as a part of the team that scrubbed for open heart procedures. I lived and worked in a high velocity environment of fast paced City hospital life, and as a consequence of that I tended to live life on the edge. I was single, had a sports car, spent all my money and beyond what I earned on women, football, night clubbing and cars. I got myself into a series of long relationships that were not right for me. Living on the edge of oblivion meant that I got myself into some scary situations and mixed with some really scary people.

But on the surface, to the world outside my life? I looked like I had everything. I looked like I was sorted, like I was accepted and significant. I was even going to the Salvation Army, in fact was fully involved, but not because of God. Everyone in the church thought I was a great asset, a laugh, a good bloke.

But here's the thing.

Inside my life? I was dying.

Dying of the pain of insecurity and the mad scramble to be secure.

Dying of the shame of only thinking of me and never others.

I was constantly tired of acting the role of the Gary that everyone wanted and knew.

I lost my identity.

I lost the real Gary, lost him in the entangled mess that built up in my life.

I don't want to get into my dramatic conversion story here, it's way too long! But I do want to say this. I remember clearly one afternoon where I was simply walking along the road. Nothing more, nothing less. Just walking. I suddenly became aware of the mess I was in, acutely aware.

And I became even more aware that I wanted desperately to experience a different life, a good life, where others came first, where I had a purpose and a reason for existing.

At this point I can honestly say that this is the moment I prayed my first ever genuine prayer.

This was it.

Will someone get me out of here? Jesus get me out of this mess please!

I cried this prayer out in my heart.

And he did. But that's another part of this story that I'll tell another time.

The point is this. My personal mess, my tangled and entrapped life was pretty bad. But I've seen much worse.

But I want to say that there is an awesome way out.

It's to do with new beginnings.

It's to do with new creation.

It's to do with fresh life.

It's to do with Genesis.

I want to share this from the message bible with you.

God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. (Psalm 51:10 MSG)

Shape a Genesis week out of the chaos of my life!

That was really the essence of my simple prayer back then.

I know when I am asked by God to share any part of my personal story, then God wants to speak to someone through that. So I am confident that someone reading this today is feeling tangled up, feeling you are in a mess that you can't seem to free yourself from or worse have resigned yourself to feeling there is no way out.

You maybe feel trapped, restricted, belittled, undermined, frustrated, maybe even worthless and hopeless.

Listen. As hard as it is to pray that scripture as a prayer, pray it, even right now.

God make a fresh start in me. Shape a genesis week out of the chaos of my life.

Take a step out of your mess today.

Enough is enough.

However impossible your chaos seems?

Remember God is massive.

He saves the hardest of people, he can soften the hardest of hearts.

He can do the impossible so don't even think your impossible situation is insurmountable.

Don't try and untangle the mess on your own like my father in law trying to work is way out of the chewing gum situation. Choose God to bring you out now.

Step into a deeper relationship with him now.

Go on decide to do it.

Let him shape a Genesis week out of the chaos of your life.

And a scripture that I want to leave with you again from the message.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:30 MSG)

Massive blessings on your life today.