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– Matthew 16:24-27 You are 5 or 6 years old and it is your birthday. Mom and Dad have given you some really great presents and you are out in the back yard playing with them. With you are all the kids that came to your party. One of them, your best friend sees you playing with one of your new toys and comes over and asks to play with it. The conversation quickly irrupts into a fight over the new toy. Mom and Dad come running to see what the yelling is all about. Here you and your now ex-best friend are fighting over the new toy and who should be able to play with it. Your folks look at you and tell you that you should be willing to share your things with your guests. What is your response? No! It’s mine. You gave it to me for my birthday. How would a good parent respond? Before God created man to be in relationship with Him He created the world and everything in it for man. Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God did this so that man would have all he needed for life and happiness. It was up to man to care for the earth and all that God had created for him. But sin entered into the equation of man’s relationship with God and everything changed. Even though God had created all things on earth for man, all things began to get in the way of man’s relationship with God. Things began to take the place of God in the heart of man; mankind began to worship and honor the created in their hearts more than God. Rom. 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator
The sin nature took over and self became exalted above everything else, the desire to posses became a stumbling block to mankind. The words “my and mine” took on greater meaning in our lives, expressing the true sin nature of man, moving God from the throne of our lives and putting things there. Stuff quickly began to take God’s place as Lord in our lives. Jesus recognized the problem and as He does most problems, came head on at it. Vs 24-25. The main characteristic of the problem reveals itself as possessiveness. Even the words Jesus uses suggest this: gain and loss. When we enter into relationship with God through Christ we must give everything up in our hearts to Christ. If we can do this we will lose nothing at all. There are no U-Hauls behind a hearse. Fail to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus means to give up the one thing we can take with us into eternity, our souls.Matt. 19:16-24 Look Together Stuff will never make us happy. Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdm of heaven. Here we are told that those who have broken the yoke of slavery to things and their rule over our hearts, putting God first will gain all that God has for them in His kingdom. Theirs will be the kingdom of God.
It is difficult at times to understand what some of these principles mean so the best way to understand them is to look at an example: Abraham is a good example of how this worked out in his life. God had chosen Abraham and covenanted with him to give his descendents the land of Canaan. God also promised to give him descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham and Sarah, his wife, grew old and still had no son to be heir of all that God had given Abraham. Then in their old age God gives them a son through Sarah who would be the heir of all that God promised Abraham and the messianic hope through him. When Isaac was born he quickly became the apple of his father’s eye, even though Abraham was old enough to be his great grandfather. Isaac became Abraham’s great love and delight, almost bridging on the edge of idolatry. Isaac grew and Abraham’s love for his son grew with him. They did everything together. Abraham even made some bad choices trying to protect his beloved son. He watched his son grow into manhood and his love for his son grew deeper and deeper until it reached the point of being perilous, dangerous.
This is when God stepped in to save both the father and the son from the consequences of an idolatrous love. Abraham had put Isaac on a pedestal much to the danger of his soul. Gen. 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Abraham was to offer his son Isaac up to God as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. We can only imagine what a restless night sleep and despair Abraham faced that night as he contemplated what God had asked him to do. He may have wrestled as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane before He went to the cross, on the same mount Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. How much easier would it have been if God had asked for Abraham’s life instead, but God knew where the problem lie, Abraham had began to idolize his child in the place of God and God needed to remind Abraham where his 1st love and worship should be. But how could Abraham kill his own son?
But, Abraham knew God, he had pursued a relationship with Him, he knew the character of God, the promises God had made and how He never went back on His promises. So, he reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Heb. 11:17-19 Look So, Abraham rose early in the morning and took his son and the wood for the sacrifice and went up the mountain. In order to save his life and that of his son’s he would have to offer Isaac up to God, removing the one thing that Abraham has raised above God, getting in the way of his relationship and submission to God. Gen. 22:9–12 Look Together Abraham was wholly surrendered to God, a friend and a favorite of the Most High. Abraham was utterly obedient to God, a man who possessed nothing because he had consecrated his all to God. When it comes to the stuff that gets between us and God, God could easily work on the edges of our lives and then move inward. But just as a good surgeon goes in to cut out the disease in us causing all the bad symptoms so God cuts to the heart of the disease that keeps us from pursuing a good relationship with Him. Abraham considered himself a man who possessed nothing but had everything. He had God first and foremost in his heart and was blessed by God with riches beyond compare. The words “my and mine” had a whole new meaning to him. Our possessive clinging to things is a harmful habit. It brings no peace or joy to our lives. But because it is such a natural thing for us, due to the sin nature we have, it has rarely been recognized for the evil that it is. We need to realize that stuff will never make us happy unlike the rich young ruler. We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord for the fear of their safety.
This is especially true for our friends and loved ones. There should be no fear in doing so because Jesus did not come to steal kill or destroy, there is already one here who is doing that. Jesus came with another purpose in heart. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The things we have today, our gifts and talents, need to be recognized for where they came from, gifts to us from God. 1 Cor. 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? If we were to recognize that our stuff is getting in the way of our relationship with God, knowing Him and our pursuit of a deeper relationship with Him, we must put away all of our defenses, all the “but its mine” and make no more excuses. We must come before the Lord and lay down all the “my’s and mines”, giving it all over to Jesus, taking up our cross, insisting that God take it all. We need to get rid of all the things we are holding to tightly to in our hearts instead of the Lord. Then God alone would be our all in all, ruling and reigning over our lives. Doing so will give us peace and happiness beyond our under-standing and a deeper knowledge of God and all He has for us. If we want to grow in relationship with God we must go the way of renouncing stuff from the thrones of our lives. At times it will be a bitter and harsh experience, letting go of things we held so tightly, but just as the weeds need to be pulled from the garden so its fruit increases, so we need to pull down the strongholds in our lives so we can have an increasing fruitful relationship with God.
Benediction: 1 John 2:15–17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Romans 6:13-22
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Introduction: You have a huge project going on at your place and you need help. Someone comes by and tells you that they have a free day and that they are at your disposal for the day.
What is the first thing that comes to mind? How serious are they really about being at your disposal? What does that really mean? How would you describe what being at someone’s disposal means? For me it means that what ever they ask me to do I will do with all my ability. I will strive to do it right and with care.
How is this proved out? By how they work and act during the time they offer to you, right? If they don’t do what you ask or goof off when ever they get the opportunity, were they really serious? No. When we asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life what did we have to confess to Him? That we were doing things our way, which doesn’t work and only leads us into sin, that being so, then what way should we be living our lives now? His way.
As we have gone through our study on the power available to us from God, we have seen first and foremost that all power belongs to God. The power of the Blood of Jesus to save us from sin’s consequences and deliver us into relationship with God, as His children, the power of the Word of God to give us all the wisdom and understanding we need to live a godly life and to know all that God has available to us. The power of the Holy Spirit to lead us and direct us in Christian life and service, defeating sin in us and sanctifying us, The Power of Prayer, asking as God’s children.
All this power is available to us but there is a condition to receiving it; the condition is that we put ourselves completely at God’s disposal, offering ourselves up to Him in complete surrender to His will and way. Vs 13, 22.
How would you treat someone who does everything you ask?
Only when we have put ourselves completely at God’s disposal will we know the blessedness and power available to us from God. Vs 13 is the secret revealed to living a life of power from God. When we offer ourselves to God we are putting ourselves fully at His disposal. We have now become His property, 1 Pet. 1:18–19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. We were redeemed, bought back, and as His property we must allow Him to use us how ever He will.
By doing this we will be making the wisest choice we could ever make for our lives, because by doing so we will secure all the blessedness that is possible for man to receive from God. He will bless all who surrender to Him, putting them selves at His disposal, blessed with an ever increasing measure. James 4:6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Every day when we rise up there should be a new prayer upon our lips as R. A. Torrey prays; “Heavenly Father, from now on, I have no will of my own. Let Your will be done in me, through me, by me and regarding me, in all things. I put myself in Your hands. Please do what ever You desire with me.”
How do you think God, who is infinite in love, wisdom and power will answer this prayer? Luke 18:1-8 God would do His very best for us. We may not see it immediately, but trusting God for who He is, we will see the result of this sooner more than later. God will pour out His love into our hearts, filling us with joy, peace, the light of Jesus and with power. Rom. 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Absolute surrender to God and His will is the secret of being blessed by God and filled with power for Christian life and service. The truth of God’s word will begin to fill our being and will illumine, light up, our path that lay ahead. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all
When we act in self will instead of a surrendered will the darkness of our understanding takes over and we grope about in the dark trying to find our way. When we put ourselves at God’s disposal the questions that have bothered us for a long time begin to be answered. When we walk in the darkness of our own understanding and will we begin to be filled with doubt and unanswered questions, like we are slipping and sliding about in moving water neck deep on slimy rocks.
Vs 15-16 The deep truths of God and of life can not be learned by mere study or investigation. They can not be reasoned out. They must be revealed to us. This will only happen when we have laid our lives and wills into the hands of God. Matt. 6:24
When we surrender ourselves completely to God’s will for us we will begin to know the power of prayer at work in us and through us. 1 John 3:22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
When we are fully submitted to God’s will we will begin to pray for the things God wants us to have and to pray for and when we pray according to His will we are promised to receive what we have asked for. 1 John 5:14–15This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Vs 17-18 This is so because when we are at God’s disposal we are keeping His commands for our lives which are pleasing to Him.
When we don’t receive it is because we have refused to be at His disposal and are no longer are asking according to His will for us but asking for our own selfish desires. Jam. 4:1-4
Jesus had confidence that the Father heard His every prayer and would answer them. John 11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Why? Because He came to earth and lived His life here completely surrendered to the Father’s will for Him. John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
If we will put ourselves at God’s disposal we will know the power of God working in us, through us and by us. There will be great joy in our lives by living a surrendered life.
John 15:10–11 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Jesus knew the joy of a surrendered life and we His disciples can know that joy as well.
Ever meet a half hearted Christian?
Even when we are going through the toughest times of life we can know the joy of God’s love and will, carrying us through.
When we live a surrendered life to God we will see God go to work in us giving us peace, revealing truth to us, watching our prayers get answered and having our hearts filled with the joy of His presence and knowing Jesus active in our lives.
John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
Jesus will be evident to us, loving us, walking with us and even carrying our burdens. We will know His gentle leading and instructing. Matt. 11:28-30
Living our lives at God’s disposal will give us all these things and even a fullness of the Holy Spirit in us, as we have never known before. We can ask all we want for the fullness of the Spirit but will never know that fullness unless we are completely submitted to doing God’s will in our lives. Only then will we know the power of the Holy Spirit in us and working through us.
Crumbs to feed our hunger. Oh, we can know bits and pieces of God’s power at work in us. But if we want the fullness of God’s power at work in our lives then we need to put ourselves at God’s disposal, willing to do His will for our lives no matter what.
Doing so we will begin to operate in the power of the Blood, the power of the Word, the power of the Spirit and in the power of Prayer, but we must ask for it and tell God we are His to do with as He pleases because we are fully submitted to Him and His will for us. Then as we saw in vs 17-18, we must obey and do what he says, showing we are serious.
Vs 19-23 What benefit do we have in not surrendering to God? Living according to our will only leads us away from God and His blessings. Will we surrender to Him today? Will we know the joy and power that will fill us if we put ourselves at God’s disposal?
Will you come and pray with me the prayer the prayer Torrey prayed; “Heavenly Father, from now on, I have no will of my own. Let Your will be done in me, through me, by me and regarding me, in all things. I put myself in Your hands. Please do what ever You desire with me.”
Benediction: Rom. 6:22-23
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John 6:43-51
Introduction: If you are in a relationship now or have ever been, maybe husband or wife, boyfriend, girlfriend or good friends, who was the first to make a move on the other? Who was the first to pursue who? What happened after one of you made the first move?
Was the other encouraged to pursue the relationship further?
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For Sheri and myself, it was I who made the first move to pursue her, how about you?
If you saw someone today whom you were interested in would you pursue them or wait to see if they would pursue you?
The Bible teaches us that God sought us out first before we sought after Him, by God making the first move to pursue us that gave us the beginning desire to want to come into relationship with Him.
We must take great hope from the fact that God was interested enough in us to make the first move in pursuing us. If He had not done so we would never have gone looking for Him. We were completely lost in sin and somewhat content with that.
Rom. 3:10–11 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
1st election when Obamma’s follower was saying how he would take care of her needs if he was elected.
Even Jesus understood that when He was there speaking to the crowd of people. He knew that the only reason they were looking for Him was because He took care of a need they had across the lake on the mountainside. Vs 26
Vs 44-45 The Father is the one who sends His Holy Spirit to touch our hearts, softening them so we might know His call toward us. If it were not for God making the first move none of us would know salvation at all.
In the pursuit of your relationship, did it end when you got it or was that just the beginning?
When you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, becoming a child of God, is that where the pursuit ended? Is our salvation the goal or the beginning of something new and wonderful?
Psalm 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
God makes the first move on us, softening our hearts so we would know He is there, that He loves us and desires that we choose to get to know Him. He even went to the extreme to open up a pathway for us to enter into relationship with Him. John 3:16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God knew that if we were left to ourselves we would not be able to come into relationship with Him unless He made a way for us.
Rom. 1:16–17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” So, it was God who made the first move on us, desiring that we enter into relationship with Him through faith in Christ. Vs 6:27-29
So let’s say you have come to faith in Christ through the nudging of God upon you, what next? Have we arrived, accomplished all we need to do or desire to do?
Make a trip to Disney World to only stay in hotel room.
That is not what Jesus expects from us; John 17:2–3 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Our receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is just the beginning of the relationship we can have with God, the beginning of our journey. We now have an opportunity to get to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, personally. Who they are, what they feel, what they are thinking. We can know what hurts their feelings and what pleases them, what makes them happy.
We can get to know them as we now pursue them in relationship, seeking to learn all we can about God, beginning with His word, from His actions toward us and even from every promise He gives us, the things He says He will do for us, unconditionally and conditionally. 2 Pet. 1:3-11 Look Together
God is a person, even though He is infinite and eternal, He still thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person would. When He makes Himself known to us it is by His personality that He does so. He communicates with us through our personalities, our minds, our wills, our emotions, pouring out His love to us.
The best way to understand this is to look at who Jesus is:
John 14:5-11 Look Together
Jesus is the physical representation of the Father; Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
If we were to look at His life here on earth we would see that he had a personality, He loved, felt emotions, hurt, rejoiced, willed and desired, all the emotions and things we do within our personalities. He related to others through their personalities and the disciples related to Him in the same way.
This is how God desires to relate to us.
It is up to us to choose whether we want to get to know God deeper and deeper in relationship. If we desire that, He will show us more of Himself, reveal more of Himself to us. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
A complicated person.
Understand though that God is infinite and we are finite, we will not be able to understand all there is about God while here on earth. 1 Cor. 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
When we are born again by the Spirit of God our spirits open up to this new relationship with God. We can now get a glimpse of the kingdom of God and begin to understand all that is available to us.
And this is just the beginning of a glorious relationship with God, not the end or the goal of our coming to faith. We now have an opportunity to explore our new relationship with God.
If we look at the Apostles we can see that they knew the opportunity available to them, even when others thought it was a bad idea or a waste of time. John 6:66-70a Look Together
If we look to the scriptures we can find example after example of people who desired a deeper relationship with God and asked for it. Exodus 33:13-18 Look Together
Moses was even bold enough to ask God to show him His glory and God was so pleased with His relationship with Moses that He agreed to reveal His glory to Moses.
David’s life was one filled with heart ache and rejoicing, but by reading through the Psalms we will find that he desired to know God deeply. David wrote Ps. 37 our memory verses.
The Apostle Paul, who made a mark on history with the gospel of Christ, had one great desire, that he know Jesus, even if it meant suffering. Phil 3:7-11 Look Together
So, is salvation our goal or are we just beginning a growing relationship with God, who was the first to pursue us?
Marriage counselor who directs a relationship.
Do we expect others to be the ones to help us grow in relationship with God or are we willing to put forth the effort needed to pursue God and a growing relationship with Him?
Will we ask God to show us His glory or will we be satisfied with a surface relationship with Him?
Do we desire to taste and see that the Lord is good and have Him come and touch our hearts and lives in special ways?
Today the church is in decline because for too long we expected others to show us God. This has led to a sterile religion where experiencing God in our lives is a foreign concept, when all the time God wants to be involved in our lives, revealing Himself to us, showing us His glory.
He wants to be our all in all, the one we seek out and desire a relationship with everyday of our lives.
He went to great extremes to pursue us and a relationship with us, are we willing to make any effort in our getting to know Him better and deeper?
The choice is ours.
Benediction: Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Have you ever noticed that when you meet someone new, especially a person who claims to be a believer, we have a tendency to place them on a scale of whether they are mature or have integrity? Whether we can trust what they say about themselves. In a sense we judge them for who they present themselves to be. When you meet a new person where do they get placed on your scale for maturity and integrity? Do they get placed at 50%, 75% or 100%? How do you view them as a person on your scale? You know it goes both ways. They also make a judgment about us when they first meet us. How do you think you fit on their scale? Would you like to start out at 100% with them, that you are honest about who you are in the Lord and where you have come from in maturity and growth in Christ? I am not talking about the fact that we pretend to be full of knowledge and understanding in the Lord but being honest about where we truly are, still trying to figure it out, striving to grow in Christ, learning from the lessons we are taught by God. Where do we put others and where do they put us on the scale we so often use to judge the life of others we first meet?
Paul was very zealous about his task to persecute the believers in Christ when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus knocked him off his high horse of legalism and introduced Himself to Paul. From the moment Paul received Christ he was set at 100% on the Lord’s scale, where he went from there was up to Paul in how well he obeyed and served the Lord. Acts 9:15–16 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” How well do you think Paul did on the scale the Lord used? Did he mess up? Where did that put him? What did he do about it? We are moving into the last section of the letter to the believers in Rome. In this section Paul mixes his personal plans in with the practical lessons he still wants to get across. Paul has been careful not to refer to himself very often in his letter. He only used himself as and example or gave his personal opinion a handful of times in the whole letter. Something only a humble person could do. Would we be talking about ourselves the whole time or what the Lord wanted us to say?
But now Paul is closing his letter and wants the folks in Rome to know what his future plans may be if the Lord wills it. James 4:13–15 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” This is one way to stay at 100% with the Lord. Vs 14-16 Paul understood what it takes to build a good relationship with others; give them the opportunity to start out at 100%. He does that here in his letter by calling them brothers, a term of endearment. He goes on to recognize in them the qualities needed to be a mature believer; goodness, complete in knowledge and competent. 2 Peter 1:5-9 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. These are the qualities every believer should strive for so to grow in Christ and stay at 100% with Him or at least in the 90’s. They will make us useful to the Lord and to one another.
Paul did not have a low opinion of the believers in Rome. They all started at 100% with him and he gave them the benefit of the doubt that they were growing in Christ, spiritual and maturing, willing to grow and be used of the Lord. He even begins his letter with an encouragement to the believers telling them he can’t wait to visit them so they can build each other up in the faith. Rom. 1:8-12 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. 11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. Vs 15 When you first came to faith in Christ what was the first thing you wanted to study? Most likely Revelation or the prophets and the prophecies about the end times, the fantastic stuff, but someone had to remind you that you needed the basics of the faith first. The foundation we will build upon to grow and be steadfast in the Lord. 2 Peter 1:12-15; 3:1-2 12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. Paul like Peter had a responsibility and the qualifications before the Lord to remind the believers about the basics of the faith. This will keep them and us firm in the faith no matter what comes. At times when we are dealing with other believers we need to speak truths they do not want to be reminded of. When we speak hard truths we need to be careful to not cross a line of bitterness but always doing so in love. Eph. 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Paul had been appointed by Jesus to carry out the priestly duties of proclaiming the will of God to the Gentiles. He was sent to them to bring the good news of Christ and see many come to faith, a fragrant offering to God. This was the mission Paul was sent on, to bring in the lost Gentiles as a sacrifice to God, a fragrant offering. Eph. 5:1–2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Isn’t this the mission we are sent on to rescue the lost from their sin and the judgment to come? Staying at 100% in obedience to be a witness for Christ. When they come the Holy Spirit moves into their lives to begin the sanctifying process, setting them apart from the world and its ways to God and a life that will be glorifying to Him. They then start at 100% and where they go is up to them. Phil. 3:7-16 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us, then, wwho are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Striving to stay at 100%.When Jesus knocked Paul off his high horse He gave Paul an opportunity to start over again beginning at 100%. Where Paul went from there was up to him in Jesus eyes. Paul went forward in faith to be all the Lord wanted him to be. This was the attitude Paul had with the believers in Rome as well. They had been given the opportunity to begin again in Christ at 100% and Paul believed they continued to strive for that place before the Lord. In that they can move forward in faith and obedience to Christ to be productive and useful to the Lord.Jesus has done the same for you and I. He gave us the opportunity to begin afresh and anew, to start out at 100% in His judgment. Where have we gone from there? Can we say with Paul that we are striving to be all that we can be in the Lord or do we find ourselves making excuses about our lives and having others come to us speaking some hard truths to us in love?
What do we do when we fall from the 100% in Christ’s point of view? 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
What do we do if another sins against us and comes to us to ask for forgiveness, to get back to 100%? We forgive them.
Matt. 18:21–22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. In doing this we will stay at 100% with God. Remember what Jesus said right after the Lord’s Prayer; forgive as God has forgiven us.
Next time we meet someone who claims to be a believer, be careful where you put them on your judgment scale, remembering that they are putting us on theirs as well.
Let us always strive to be at 100% in the Lord’s eyes and the eyes of others will take care of themselves.
Benediction: Phil. 3:12–14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever heard the term “Friendly Fire”? What do you think it means? How do you think it applies to the church and believers today? Have you ever heard someone say that Christians shoot their wounded? What do you think that means and how do you think it relates to friendly fire? I believe that all too often in the church today there is a judgmental attitude drifting about that says if you don’t do and see things the way I do or you are struggling with a sin in your life, then you are wrong and condemned for it. Read the rest of this entry »
Life’s Little Reminders
Deut. 6:4-9
Introduction: Do you ever have those times when you just can’t remember something? What do you do about them? Post Its?
Have you ever noticed what short memories we have as people?
It seems to me that unless we have some kind of a reminder for different things, we never remember them.
Today many of us have calendar books we carry with us to help us remember, calendars on our fridges or mirrors as reminders of important appointments that day or coming up. Electronic devices.
We have national holidays as days of remembrance of people and events of the past that need to be remembered and celebrated.
In just a few weeks we will celebrate Lincoln’s, Washington’s and other presidents birthday’s because we need to remember the contributions and sacrifices they made for our benefit.
I think one of the problems we have in this country today is a short memory over the events that have taken place in our nation and what the cost was for many of them.
We forget the founding fathers and the ideals they established for the good of all the people. Because of this we have a nation filled with complacent voters who are willing to let their rights and responsibilities as citizens be taken from them as long as someone takes care of them. Application.I believe that God knew that if He didn’t do something to remind the people of the wonders He did for them and the wonders He had planned for them, that the people would forget Him, getting caught up in the struggles and successes of life. They would wander away after other things and allow them to be gods over their lives.
So, I believe God established the holidays and feasts as times of remembrance and promise of all that He would do and had done for them. When they faced times of trouble and distress these celebrations would remind them that God was there and He cared. They were the little reminders of God’s work and promises for them.
When we study the holy days and festivals of the Jews we get a picture of God’s relationship with them and with us. We also see the story of redemption played out through them.
Think about some of them: Passover was the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. They were held captive to do the will of the Egyptians. Why did Jesus die at Passover? To deliver us from sin which held us captive to do its will.
At the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Jews celebrate the fact that God took them out of Egypt, setting them apart for Himself, by the need to make bread made with out yeast so they could hurry away from Egypt. The 1st fast food for travel.Peter tells us that we as believers have been set apart for God as a holy priesthood. We have put off the leaven of sin in our lives and called by God to be His own. 1 Pet. 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.The Feast of Firstfruits was a celebration of the abundance God bestows on His people and a giving part of that blessing back to God for His purposes. To us it teaches the purpose of salvation: fruitfulness for the kingdom of God by abiding in the true vine.
John 15:1-5 Look Together
The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, points us to the fruit that we should bear as believers through the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering us. Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.The Biblical holidays and feasts were instituted by God as a rememberence of all that God did for His people.
They were a little reminder that the people could use to remember for themselves that God loved and cared for them and they also could use teach their children about God through them. Deut. 6.
The holidays of Hanukkah and Purim were instituted by the Jews as reminders of God’s continued work in their lives by the miracles done and celebrated in them.
Application.
The Feasts and Holidays were an integral part of worship for the Jews and the early Church believers. They were celebrations of rememberence in honor of what God had done for His people. They were also a reminder that God would work for them in the coming days as well, as long as they remained faithful to God and His commands.
The feasts and holidays are not only celebrations of rememberence but also point to Christ and His work for us. Col. 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.The apostles celebrated the holidays and feasts remembering what Jesus had done to fulfill them. They encouraged others to do the same. 1 Cor. 5:6-8 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. Paul encourages the believers in Corinth, mostly Gentiles, to celebrate the Feast of Passover and even uses the symbols of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as an illustration to get his point across.
Acts 20:16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
Do you think the holidays were still important to him?
Application.
In the first century there were numerous believing Jews. All of which celebrated the holidays and feasts God had established and the way Jesus had fulfilled them.
As new converts were brought into the church from non-Jews, the Gentiles, these were incorporated into Jewish worship. They and the Jews were considered one family. The believers considered themselves as being grafted into the vine. They did not consider themselves a new vine but part of the true vine.
Rom. 11:11-24 Look Together
The early believers were not called Christians until about 42 A.D. in Antioch. Acts 11:25-26 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. The word Christian means “an adherent of Christ.” This term was later used to separate the believing Jews from non-believing Jews. Ultimately it became the identity for the entire church.
The Bible makes it clear that any non-Jew who trusts Jesus as Lord and Savior becomes a child of God, equal partners with believing Jews in the Body of Christ. Rom. 3:21-31 Look TogetherAll are declared righteous by God without having to adopt any further Jewish distinctions. I say this because we are not required to celebrate the feasts and holidays as the Jews were, but we can learn a lot from them and gain a richness of understanding of God’s greatness as we see how they celebrated them in remembrance of what God had done for them.
By the 2nd century Gentiles had taken control of the church and began removing Jewish influences. There was a growing resentment toward non-believing Jews and their customs.
As the church grew it became increasingly Hellenized (Greek influenced) and Latinized (Roman influenced).
These groups focused on the resurrection and distanced themselves from Judaism, even changing dates, for Christ’s resurrection, from the Hebrew calendar of the 3rd day of Passover to Sunday, this is how Easter became separated from Passover.
For example, this year Passover is the 30th of March and Easter is the 4th of April. What day did Jesus rise from the dead? The 3rd day after the beginning of Passover. This means in reality we should be celebrating the Resurrection of Christ on Friday the 2nd of April.
The church of the 2nd century began to separate itself from its Jewish roots because of political correctness. Even though they did so God considers us one in the Body of Christ and a fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham of the blessing that would come from him to the world. Gal. 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. God has given us the little reminders in the scriptures of the feasts and holidays to show us that He was at work from the very beginning and is still at work today. There is much to learn from the holidays and feasts that the Jews celebrated.
It has been written in history of our nations that the Puritans, the first settlers in the new world, Pilgrims, recognized that fact and studied the feasts and holidays of the Hebrews. They deeply immersed themselves into the history and heritage of the Hebrews. It is even believed that they modeled the American Holiday of Thanksgiving after Sukkoth – the feast of Tabernacles.
So, as we go deeper into our study of the Jewish Feasts and Holidays let us remember how God worked in their lives and how Jesus fulfilled them in His coming and how some even point to His return again.
God has given us these little reminders to help us learn and grow so we can teach others about them and Him as well.
Eccl. 12:1-7 if time allows.
Benediction: Col. 2:7-8 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. Where was Paul going in such a hurry? What point in his ministry was this happening?