Sermon Notes 12-1-2019

Christmas 2019

Week 1 (love)

Preparing to receive the lost!

(Understanding the power of Jesus, and the love of the church)

First, let’s look at the power of Jesus

Here we see the power of Jesus and His ability to heal and deliver anyone!

Matthew 8:28–34 (ESV)

²⁸ And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 

²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 

³⁰ Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 

³¹ And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” 

³² And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 

³³ The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 

³⁴ And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. 

·      There is a lot theologically going on in these verses, but we are not going to address that today!

·      We are going to address the power and authority of your savior!

The men

·      There are just two of them 

·      And they are tormenting an entire village of people

·      They are mean, nasty and creating havoc

·      Like most of us when we walked in the door here

·      And probably a lot like the people that will be dawning our door in the next month

Satan’s job is to roam the earth thwarting the good works of God's people!

Job 1:7 (NLT)

⁷ “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” 

Satan and all his minions know Jesus!

·      They call Him by His true self “Son of God”

·      They know Him and fear Him “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 

And Jesus is in control always!

³² And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 

·      Some of the people that come in these doors will come and see Jesus, find Him, and will follow Him, and some will not, some will come to try and create havoc, but we can’t forget that Jesus is in control!

During this time of year, Satan is desperate to retain all the souls that he can and will send some into the midst of God's people to create havoc, deception, and to try and disrupt God's people from doing what Jesus has called them to do!

And for those of you worried about the church, Stop, Jesus has got it covered!

Matthew 16:17–18 (ESV)

¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Jesus has hell on lockdown!

·      Satan, death and hell could not hold Him.

Acts 2:24 (ESV)

²⁴ God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. 

·      The Spirit of God resurrected Jesus from hell and the grave by the power of God. 

Revelation 1:17–18 (ESV)

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

·      There was nothing hell could do to keep Him

Acts 2:31 (ESV)

³¹ He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 

·      Jesus stripped Satan of his power over death 

Hebrews 2:14–15 (ESV)

¹⁴ Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 

¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 

Some of you are so worried about protecting the church, that you are actually getting in the way of God's mission

·      To reach the lost

·      We get worried about how the church will look if we

o   Let so and so do this 

o   Or allow so do that

·      Or if we don’t do this (alter calls, flags, bibles)

·      We get caught up in 

o   Tattoos

o   Hair

o   Smoking

o   Drinking

·      And we lose people 

·      Good people

·      People God could use

·      Because WE GET IN THE WAY! 

So, let’s get back to basics! What has Jesus called His church, the body of Christ to do?

The great commission

Matthew 28:18–20 (NLT)

¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 Make

·      We make disciples

·      This is an action's word

·      We don’t wait, we make

Dunk

·      This is a symbol 

·      An outward action of the new faith of the new disciple

Teach

·      We teach, we teach and bring to understanding all that God has revealed to us

·      And in doing so it continues to challenge us to learn more about the example Jesus gives us in His word

·      We all stay hungry if we are all teaching someone

What commands?

Jesus clarified, and illuminated the things that were important in our walk with Him, and narrowed the focus of His followers, things like:

·      Repent

·      Love your enemies 

·      Reconcile to your brothers and sisters

·      Fear not

·      Forgive always

·      Don’t worry   

·      Love God with all you have

·      Store your treasures in heaven

·      Love your Neighbor

·      Pray to your Father

·      Serve first

·      And many more

And He gave us one new command!

John 13:34–35 (The Message)

³⁴ “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 

³⁵ This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” 

·      This is maybe one of the hardest commands to follow

·      We all have different backgrounds, we all have a different and “better way of doing things”

·      To be thrust into a family of believers, and Jesus says to Love “Agape” all of them?!

·      To sacrifice, to serve, to put them first?!

·      How do we do that?

Paul tells us!

1 Corinthians 12:12 (NLT)

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NLT)

²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

·      Jesus created His church to work together, as the body does

·      We are all unique parts, independent, yet working together for one common goal

·      And Paul lays the framework and then tells us how to accomplish this seemingly impossible call to be one body!  

There is only one way we can accomplish what God has called us to do

·      Satan’s job is to distract us from carrying out all that Jesus expects from us

·      To keep us from seeing God is in control always

·      That He has a plan for everyone that walks in this door over the next month

o   The ones who hear, the ones we plant the seed in

o   And the ones who try and tear down what we do

·      And it is very easy for us to lose sight of what Jesus has commanded us to do

·      And how to carry that out in the body

READ  1 Cor  13

·      These words have been used at funerals and weddings all over the world

·      And most of us never look at them in the context they were written

·      As the framework for the individuals in the body to work from

·      From the framework and the position of LOVE

·      You see love for others cures many ills

·      And when we love like Jesus loved we see each other and the ones coming in the way we should

o   We don’t get frustrated, we show compassion

o   We don’t get angry, we show mercy

o   We don’t have pride, we have humility

o   We show love, we don’t just say it

So the season is upon us, so let’s get our hearts prepared to receive them!

Sermon Notes 11-24-2019

Thanksgiving

It's more than a day

It's an attitude

We all live in a great country, we have lots of opportunities, we live in a country where we can worship God freely, work and make our own money, let’s face it we have a lot to be thankful for, but most of us aren’t!

The research is in!

We are hardwired to see negative!

In almost any interaction, we are more likely to notice negative things and later remember them more vividly.

As humans, we tend to:

·      Remember traumatic experiences better than positive ones

·      Recall insults better than praise

·      React more strongly to negative stimuli

·      Think about negative things more frequently than positive ones

·      Respond more strongly to negative events than to equally positive ones

But by God's grace, we can work to overcome that!! 

So, let’s compare 2 people, 

let’s call one: Negative Nancy!

and the other: Grateful Greg!

Let’s look at negative Nancy first!

Philippians 2:14–15 (ESV)

¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 

¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 

Most of us are very unthankful!

Let’s be honest. None of us are as thankful as we should be. We love to complain, and our attention is usually on the negative. 

Nancy’s Point of view

Thanksgiving isn’t easy. Although the Bible tells us to do everything without complaining, maybe just maybe we haven’t perfected it yet. Surely if Paul knew how good it felt to be a complainer, he’d change his tune. These practices are guaranteed to make you an efficient complainer.

Keep a journal. 

·      No matter how minute, keep track of everything that bugs you. 

o   We all have pet peeves. 

o   If you write these annoyances down, you’ll keep track of them better. 

o   Try to write down three or four things that irritate you daily. 

o   Regardless of how insignificant these issues are:

Set aside time daily to ponder what other people do to bug you.

Whenever you find yourself accidentally happy, take your journal out and review all of your frustrations. Maybe even write these frustrations on notecards and post them around your house.

Use negative words whenever you can. 

·      The lives of grateful people aren’t that different from yours, but they’re not realists like us. 

·      They simply need to practice reciting their frustrations more.

·       Language matters so be mindful of the adjectives you use. 

·      The more strongly you label things, the better you’re going to be able to cultivate a grumbling spirit. 

Use adjectives like:

·      Horrible

·      Bad

·      Atrocious

·      Irritating

·      Stupid

Be constantly distracted. 

Thankful people usually can’t (or refuse to) remember the bad stuff that’s happened in the past. 

·      They don’t worry enough about all the awful things that could happen in the future.

·       If you want to be an A+ complainer, you must be able to do both. 

·      Always, always, always be multitasking. 

·      Don’t waste your time by simply enjoying a meal. 

·      Entertain yourself constantly by looking at your phone and watching TV. 

·      If you give yourself too much time to focus on the good stuff happening around you all the time, you’ll miss out on the potential threats on the horizon or bad stuff you’ve already experienced.

Focus on yourself when you pray. 

·      Use your prayer time to get what you want. 

·      Praising God for who He is will waste your time. 

·      He already knows how great He is. 

·      He doesn’t need you blabbering on about it. 

·      Instead remind Him of everything you want that you don’t have.

Let your health deteriorate. 

·      Thanksgiving and physical health tend to work together. 

·      Healthy people are usually grateful and positive. 

·      Then the positivity tends to just lead to healthy decisions. It’s a vicious time-wasting circle.

·      Make sure you’re never getting all of the sleep you need. 

·      When you’re tired, you get anxious. Anxiety is like steroids for complainers.

Exercise is poison. You get endorphins when you exercise. Those positive chemicals in your body prevent you from recognizing the awful realities of the world. You can’t afford to let anything stand in the way of that.

Of course, we don’t need help to become serious complainers. Fortunately, you can reverse all the points we just talked about. Don’t be like negative Nancy, be like grateful Gregg!

Now for Grateful Gregg 

Ephesians 5:18–21 (ESV)

¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 

¹⁹ addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 

²⁰ giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

So, let’s look at Grateful Gregg’s habits, and figure out how we can become more thankful! 

Gregg Regularly practices giving thanks. 

·      We should make a habit of expressing gratitude. 

·      Thankfulness rather than criticism should be our default position. 

·      When you see something good in your life, point it out. Thank God for it. 

·      We all complain occasionally, but practice responding to your own complaining by finding things to be thankful for. 

·      This helps to rewire your brain to be as proficient at recognizing the good in your life as you are at identifying the bad.

ALWAYS, Express gratitude regardless of the situation. 

·      Remember Nancy talking about Paul

·      Paul tells the Thessalonians to give thanks in all circumstances because God wills it (1 Thess. 5:18). 

o   Why? We never see the full picture. 

o   We can’t look at every situation and clearly understand why it’s happening. 

o   We can only know God is at work in these situations and working them out for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

·      Regardless of what’s happening, we can thank God for His presence. 

·      He is redeeming the situation and sustaining us through it. 

·      On our own, we focus on the current situation. 

·      We rise above the situation when we purposefully look for what God is doing in the middle of it. 

·      A.W. Tozer says, “Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.”

Praise God when all is well. (train now, the storm is coming) 

You may believe this is obvious, but it’s critical we do it. 

·      We’re conditioned to believe that life will go well for us. 

·      When life runs smoothly, we don’t tend to see this as God’s gift to us. 

·      We don’t see how He protects and guides us along the way to green pastures and still waters.

Gregg learns from his past! 

He always learns to see how bad experiences can produce good outcomes. 

·      We should all take some time to consider the benefits of the difficult times in our lives. 

·      After a period away from the situation, we should be able to see the good that came out of those experiences. 

·      Often we will be able to see how those bad experiences helped us gather strength and momentum for future blessings in our lives. 

·      Regardless of that, learning to see past trials through eternity’s perspective enables us to be more thankful during times of struggle.

He makes gratitude a part of his interactions with other people. 

·      Nancy is always looking for the bad in others, the fault in others

·      Gregg on the other hand, see the good and positive in others

o   We all have our good and bad qualities, Greggs focuses on the good

·      Gratitude should impact both our relationship with God and our relationships with other people. 

·      Rick Warren once said, “To appreciate means to raise in value. That’s not only true of things, it’s true of people. 

·      When you appreciate somebody, you literally raise their value. 

·      We ought to appreciate people because it increases their self-worth.” 

·      Make it a regular practice to say thank you to people in your life. 

·      Sadly, often, the people we express gratitude with the least in our lives are those the closest to us.

Lastly, Gregg Leans into the strength gratitude provides. 

·      I know many people who have been through extremely tough situations. 

·      I’ve noticed those who are the most grateful and have learned to see God’s work regularly show the most perseverance.

Everything good in your life comes from God (James 1:17). 

We’ll grow closer to God when we understand this truth and build our lives around it. Giving thanks in the good and the bad times, learning to see the good in the people around us, and trusting God in all things!