Sermon Notes 4-30-2017

Ephesians Part 19

We all have a ministry!

Ephesians 6:5–9 (ESV)

⁵Bondservants (workers), obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

⁶not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

⁷rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

⁸knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

⁹Masters (Boss’s), do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

We all have a ministry, we just don’t know it! It’s called life!

The verses we just read tell us simply that we all have a ministry, we have all been called to follow Jesus and that means wherever he places us, so let’s look at different areas of our life and what it means to follow Jesus in our ministry

If you work for someone you’re in a ministry!

⁵Bondservants (workers), obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

⁶not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

⁷rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

⁸knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

So, we look at our Jobs from the right heart

·      This means our attitudes

·      The way we approach our work

·      The way we talk about our employer

·      The way we look at things

·      And our attitude changes, when we truly follow Christ

o   Following Christ means we don’t worry about what others think, we do it to glorify him!

Charles R. Swindoll  - The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts.... We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so, it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

We don’t do act one way when the boss is looking and another when he is not!

·      This is not about lip candy and butt kissing

·      This is not about being fake or vain

·      This is not about you at all

·      It’s about glorifying God through all that you do, and that includes the way you do your job when no one is looking!

Talk is cheap!

Proverbs 14:23 (NLT)

²³Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!

·      Trust me, it’s not just your bosses who are watching you

·      Everyone around you, is watching you

·      And you as a follower of Christ, you want to represent him well

Never forget you’re the retailer and I’m the wholesaler

·      You will show the world around you who the church is, who your savior is through your actions

·      And you will make the greatest impact on reaching the lost through your actions and attitudes toward the everyday activities in your life

·      So, do the right thing even when no one is looking, because you are doing it for Christ!

Matthew Henry - A steady regard to the Lord Jesus Christ will make men faithful and sincere in every station of life.

This is truly a heart issue!

VS 6² doing the will of God from the heart,

·      When your heart is working kingdom down

·      When your heart is focused on the father through Jesus

·      When your will lines up with God the father

·      It won’t matter what kind if work you do

·      It won’t matter what kind of boss you have

·      What kind if teacher you have

·      What kind of position you hold

·      All that will matter is being an image bearer of Jesus to a lost world!

o   To be a light in the dark

o   A beacon of hope to the marginalized

o   And an example to all you encounter

·      To do that we are honest about our sin

o   We are real in are walk and struggles

o   And we do the right thing, even when the fallen world, the culture that we live in, wont!

And here is the promise your heavenly father makes you!!

·      The good you do

·      God, the perfect father

·      Will make sure he gives you the credit!

Check this 

·      You’re at-a-boy

·      You’re pat on the back

·      You’re blessing

·      Will not come from this world

·      God will honor your work, your suffering, your trials, your obedience!

·      It may not be today, it may not be until you hear these   words: well done, my child” when your crown is placed on your head in heaven

·      And I guarantee you it will be worth the wait!

⁸knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord

For those of you that hold a position of authority!

Ephesians 6:9 (The Message)

⁹Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them.

·      Check your ego at the door

·      You and those who serve under you all serve the same Father in heaven

·      And Jesus example holds true

o   Treat everyone with respect

o   With compassion

o   With dignity

o   With mercy

·      Holding them accountable

o   But never demeaning them, abusing them, or humiliating them in the process

Sermon Notes 4-23-2017

So where do we go From here??

After Easter

So, we have celebrated our Risen Savior!

So, what do we do next?

What do we as believers need to be doing?

What about the new people returning, that God touched their hearts to start a relationship?  

Its simple, start looking at the basics of the gospel and do a gut check.  

·      We revisit the mirror

·      We take a long hard look at our relationship

·      And the new believers, they start to establish a relationship with Jesus!!

SO let’s look at both and see what we all need to be doing.

New believers, things we all need to remember!

1. You are called to follow!

Matthew 9:9 (ESV)

⁹As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

·      You are called to follow

·      Simply follow

·      No matter where you are, are what you are doing now, he just wants you to follow

·      Jesus always wanted the outcast, and marginalized to simply follow

·      There are no rules to follow, no standards you habe to meet to start following Jesus

·      Church has for to long put rules on us to start following Jesus

·      And Jesus simply say “Follow Me”

Jesus Loved Sinners!

Matthew 9:10 (NIV)

¹⁰While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

·      Jesus loves sinners

·      Jesus didn’t hang out with the religious

·      So, don’t ever think you’re not “good enough” for Jesus

·      He spent most of his time in relationship with sinners just like you and just like me

·      Jesus likes you

·      Jesus is not put off by your sin

·      Jesus loves you right where you are

The first step is understanding we all need help!

Matthew 9:11–12 (NIV)

¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

·      Everyone in this room believer or not have to come to grips with we all need help

·      We all sin

·      We all fall short of God

·      If you think you don’t need help, that everything in your life is going good, you will never follow Jesus

o   I don’t care where you are in your life, we all sin and fall short daily

o   And that is the first truth we must come to terms with

Four truths about following Jesus

1. Being a sinner does not disqualify you form following Jesus, it’s a prerequisite!

·      Every person Jesus ever ask to follow him was a sinner

·      The only people Jesus didn’t ask to follow him believed they weren’t sinners

o   They were rule followers

·      And there is no sin that you have done that leaves you out of the invitation

2. Being an unbeliever doesn’t disqualify you!

·      None of Jesus’s followers started out believing!

·      Some doubted even after he rose from the dead

·      There is not a person on his room who started following Jesus truly believed in the beginning

o   Everyone had doubts

o   Everyone had questions

o   Belief comes with time in a relationship

3.The invitation to follow, is an invitation to relationship

·      It’s not about following a bunch of rules

·      It’s not about blind obedience

·      It’s about building a relationship

·      Relationships take time

·      Trust take time

·      And your relationship with Jesus will be no different

4. Following will force you to focus on where you are, not where others are not

·      This is so important; believers and non-believers hear me on this

·      If you are working on your relationship

·      If you are constantly looking in the mirror

·      You won’t have time to worry about what others are doing

·      It keeps you humble

·      Because you see yourself as the sick person that needs a Dr.

·      We won’t judge, we won’t gossip, because we will see others with compassion, and mercy

If you’re a new believer or maybe you’re on the fence, Jesus is saying “just take a baby step and Follow me”

·      Give me an opportunity to show you a better way

·      Give me a chance to soften your heart

·      Give me a chance to love you like no one else ever will

Believers

Are you following??

·      If you are truly following Jesus, you should be making unbelievers comfortable around you

·      They should not see you as intimidating

·      Jesus followers don’t look down on people or ignore people, the love them right where they are

If you think you’re doing all the “right things” you’re doing it all wrong

Matthew 9:11–13 (NIV)

¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

·      I don’t care what bible you read

·      I don’t care how many times a day you pray

·      I don’t care what you give

·      Never get comfortable in your walk

·      Or you will find yourself outside the ones Jesus comes to call

·      Jesus wants you to always be searching,

·      always be looking in the mirror,

·      and always to be questioning and cultivating your relationship with Him

·      never, ever be comfortable with following a bunch of rules and miss your calling to continually follow Jesus

·      that’s exactly what the Pharisees did, and if we aren’t careful so will we!

Close

Religion says: Change and you can join

Jesus says: Follow me and there is no way you can’t change!

Sermon Notes 4-16-2017

What is the Gospel

Easter 2017

Today I would like to give you sermon that makes you think a little, makes you understand what the Gospel “the Good news” is all about, and why we need a savior so desperately.

There are 3 parts to the Gospel

·      God the Creator

·      Humans the Sinners

·      And Jesus the Savior!

So let look at those three parts and understand why we need a savior!

The first part of the equation (God is the Righteous Creator)!

Genesis 1:26–27 (NLT)

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁷So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

·      God created everything

·      And then he created man

·      And placed us in the perfect setting

·      And we couldn’t do it, we just had to go our own way

And in that fall, we created DEATH

·      God in his perfect holy character could n0t look past our sin

Exodus 34:6–7 (NLT)

⁶The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

⁷I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty.

Sin- is anything that goes against the will of God

·      And God could not just let sin Go

·      So he made death, the penalty

Was he Just to do that?

·      Yes

·      He is the judge of all things

·      And he is just to sentence us all to death

·      For our sins

And we all fall under that Judgement!

Hebrews 10:30–31 (NLT)

³⁰For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”

³¹It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So you see God is the one and only true Judge

·      It might not happen today

·      It might not happen tomorrow but it will happen

·      One day we all will have to stand before a holy God and give account for all our sins!

Romans 14:11 (ESV)

¹¹for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV)

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

The second part of the equations (Man the Sinner)!

The bible talks a lot about humans and the state we are in

Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)

¹⁰as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

¹¹no one understands; no one seeks for God.

¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Isaiah 64:6 (NLT)

⁶We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Romans 3:23 (NLT)

²³For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

I know what your going to say:

·      I am a good person

·      I give to charity

·      I work hard

·      I provide for my family

·      I make it to church “most” Sundays

·      I read my bible occasionally

·      I am not like those “other” people

There is a problem with every statement I just made, it the Letter “I”

·      You see you can’t do anything

·      You can’t fix your self

Psalm 51:5 (NLT)

⁵For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

·      You were born in Sin

Ill prove it to you!

Commandment 1: You shall have no other gods before Me.

·      I bet you have a functional God

o   Money

o   Job

o   Kids

o   You put something before God, I guarantee it

Matthew 6:24 (NLT)

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Commandment 2: You shall not make idols.

·      Your TV

·      Your house

·      Your Job

·      Your favorite Nascar driver

·      Think about it we put all kinds of Idols before God!

There was one person who thought he was perfect in Gods Sight!

The person I relate to most in the Bible is a guy named Paul, he wrote most the new testament.

·      He helped kill the first Christian martyr

·      He was “The Man” in his circle

·      And he did everything he could to stop the Christian movement

·      And then he met Jesus

·      And he wrote this about him self

Philippians 3:4–11 (NLT)

⁴though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

⁵I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

⁶I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

⁷I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

⁸Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ

⁹and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,

¹¹so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

·      We are all sinners

·      None of us can do it on our own

·      We are all destine for Hell

·      A horrible death

·      And there is nothing “we” can do to stop it

Depressed yet????

The third part of the equation (in rides the savior)

Romans 6:23 (NLT)

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

·      Because God is Just an a price has to be paid for sin

·      And that price is Death

Romans 6:23 (NLT)

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

But because Gods character is to Love

·      He gave you a way out!

·      And Jesus is that way out

So what did Jesus do to pay the debt

·      He lived a perfect sinless life

·      He lived just like us all

·      He was tempted in everyway

·      He died a horrible death (that we should have died)

·      And because he was sinless he rose on the third day

·      He scarified his life for us all

·      And he paid your debit to bring you it right standing with the father

·      On the cross Jesus said

Luke 23:34 (NLT)

³⁴Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Matthew 27:46 (NLT)

⁴⁶At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

John 19:30 (NLT)

³⁰When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

In a nut shell

(the Great Exchange)

Penal: Jesus’s death paid the penalty for the sins of his people. God punished him as if he were guilty of their sins.

Substitutionary: On the cross, Jesus stood in the place of his people. He was a substitute. He suffered so that they wouldn’t. He was punished so that they would be healed and reconciled to God. He was counted guilty so that they would be counted righteous.

Atonement: Jesus poured out his life as an offering for sin. He atoned for our sin, covering it over and making us at one with God. Where there was enmity, now there is peace. In his substitutionary death, Jesus fully satisfied the demands of God’s justice so that all who turn to him in faith are counted righteous in God’s sight, accepted by God, reconciled to God, and given eternal life.

  

We live in a depraved and desperate world that desperately needs Jesus

So what was God trying to tell us in the suffering and Death of Jesus???? The events surrounding the last 24 hours of Jesus’s life on earth speaks of the brokenness of humanity. Each person taking part in the tragedy of Jesus’s death is a reflection of that brokenness.

·      The disciples fell asleep; they fled in fear as Jesus was arrested.

·      Judas betrayed Him, and Peter denied Him.

·      The Pharisees and religious leaders plotted to kill Him,

·      The crowded wanted violence versus a messiah of Love.

·      The governor tried to satisfy the crowded even when he knew it was wrong

·      And the soldiers took delight in the torture and dehumanizing of an innocent man.

What humanity did when God walked this earth is a look in the soul of all of us.

·      We are meant to find ourselves in this story and to be moved in the tragedy of it all.

·      We are meant to realize that there is something deeply wrong with us all, that we are broken and in desperate need of forgiveness!

·      The suffering and death of Jesus is intended to be a mirror for us all to look into; a reminder of the jealousy, pettiness, self-centeredness, spiritual blindness, and darkness that lurks in us all.  

·      The accounts are meant to move us to repentance.

The Story of Sacrificial love

We are also meant to see the sacrificial love of the one who suffered for us, as well as His determination to save us from ourselves.

·      He hangs on the cross as if to say “do you see the extent the Father has gone to show you His love”.

·      Do you understand that I have come to show a love so deep that it is willing to suffer, even die for you!

Jesus demonstrates a love that refuses to give up or give in, he is willing to love us even when we don’t love Him or even like him. He is determined to bring us back in right relationship with God no matter what the cost!!

Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jn 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.

·      Sacrificial love transforms Lives!

·      It turns enemies in to friends,

·      Turns guilt into repentance, and melts hearts of stone.

·      The world is changed by demonstrations of true sacrificial love and selfless acts of service.

We are to look at the cross and say I have to strive to live more like Jesus, to be worthy of His sacrifice!  We are meant to be changed by the events of the cross and in turn to practice the same sacrificial love demonstrated by Jesus toward others. As each new follower of Jesus shows that same sacrificial love to the world lives will change and the world will be transformed!!

·