Ephesians 5:15-21
A Real Church Service 3: Thanksgiving
I. Introduction
-Ill. Two men walking through a field spotted a charging bull.
1. They raced for the nearest fence but realized they would not make it in time.
2. ‘A' said: "Put up a prayer, b/c we're in for it!"
3. ‘B' said: "I can't, I've never prayed in public!"
4. ‘A' "Just do it the bull is about to catch us!"
5. ‘B' "All right, I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father use to repeat at the table: ‘O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"
-Thanksgiving- Be Thankful!
-Ill. "There is always somebody worse off than you!"
1. Good reason to give thanks?
2. What if you are the one person in the world that is worse off than the whole rest of the planet? 3. Could that person give thanks?
-What really is thanksgiving?
II. Scripture
III. Blessed?
-What can I say new about thanksgiving?
1. Probably nothing!
2. Be thankful, some are not.
-We are blessed!
1. America is the richest nation to ever exist.
2. We enjoy more freedom than any other country has ever known!
3. We have bigger homes, bigger cars, more cars, more money, and greater prosperity!
4. How many have a ‘spare' bedroom? Unheard of in the rest of the world!
5. Grocery store choices! Half an aisle of beans!
6. Green, white, kidney beans, northern, garbanzo, etc.
-It's hard for us to imagine what it means to be in need!
1. Our government even takes care of the poor, the disabled, the unemployed.
2. Universal Health care is already in existence, just go to the hospital w/ or w/out health insurance!
-It would seem we have more to be thankful for than the rest of the world.
-Yet we have more cases of depression, despair, and suicide.
1. The world around us seeks to drive us toward some ‘new need'.
2. Commercials, ‘keeping up with the Jones,' and a desire to be a step above others drives us.
-Money says: "In God we trust"
1. In my lifetime, I don't think I've ever witnessed our world living that out.
2. "One nation under God" has never been a reality in my lifetime.
-God is not a communist.
1. But neither is He a republican nor democrat.
2. U.S. is not a Christian country, but a secular country with a strong Christian presence.
3. We have bonded our faith in Christ w/ patriotism.
-Ill. Nazi soldiers wore on belt buckle "God is with us"
1. Holocaust (6 million Jews)
2. Abortion (47 million babies)
-Please don't miss my point.
IV. Analytical Worship
-I fear in the church, we may have become analytical worshipers.
-Ill. Pastor stayed w/ a young couple overnight.
1. In the morning he woke to hear a soprano voice singing "Nearer My God to Thee"
2. At breakfast he thanked the wife for the beautiful song and told her of the blessing it was as he woke in the morning.
3. "Oh, well, it's an old song my mother used to sing. I sing it b/c I've found it's a good one to boil eggs by. Just repeat the 1st verse 5 x's for soft-boiled, and 8 x's for hard-boiled."
-We've analyzed the divine out of the picture!
1. Music gifted: wrong note, tempo, poor blending, etc
2. Organizationally gifted: Order of worship was not followed closely enough, over time, that testimony was scheduled, etc.
3. Theologically gifted: theological correctness, incorrect song lyrics, incorrect testimony, etc.
-So our praise & thanksgiving becomes an issue of solely the intellect.
1. Mark 12:30 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
2. But v. 19b "singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart."
3. I'm not promoting emotionalism.
4. But I am promoting worship from the heart!
-We have so much, we do not know what gratitude is!
V. Foolishness
-Paul says foolishness is not knowing God's will for our lives.
-Ill. Budapest a man asks his pastor: "Life is unbearable. I have a family of 9 in one room. What can I do?"
1. Pastor; "Take your goat into the room w/ you & come back in a week."
2. Next week man says: "It cannot stand it any longer, the goat is filthy and unbearable!"
3. Pastor: "Let the goat out."
4. The next day the man said: "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat- only the nine of us."
-Ill. H.A. Ironside in a crowded restaurant
1. Man wanted to sit with him, and Ironside bowed to pray.
2. The other man asked, are you okay?
3. "Yes, I was just giving thanks before eating."
4. "Oh, you're one of those? Well, I never give thanks for what I eat, b/c I earn it by the sweat of my brow. I don't bow my head I just start right in!"
5. Ironside responded: "My dog does that too!"
-I'm not arguing for or against a prayer before meals.
1. I'm arguing for a thankful heart.
2. v. 20 "giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"
-What do you really believe is God's Will for your life?
1. Wealth, picture perfect life, perfect health, fame, fortune, popularity?
2. Or just being grateful for what you have?
3. Thanksgiving is the foundation for contentment!
VI. Worse Off?
-So what are some of the reasons to give thanks?
1. "There is always somebody worse off than you."
2. "Do not grumble because you do not get what you want; be thankful you do not get what you deserve!"
-But what if you are the one worst off by the world's standards?
-Maude Royden "When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough."
-C. S. Lewis "He who has God and many other things has no more than he who has God alone."
-In our quest to accumulate we have grown cold in gratitude!
-There is no one worse off than that person who does not know Christ.
-There is no one more blessed than that person who knows Christ as savior!
-If God never gave another ‘blessing' we would still be blessed beyond imagination
-If you are a Christian this morning, you have all the reason you will ever need to give God thanks!
VII. Scriptural Thanks!
-The Bible Says...
-1 Chron. 16:34-35 "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Say also: ‘Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.'"
-Psalm 7:17 "I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."
-Daniel 6:10 "When Daniel knew that the [law against prayer] document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously."
-1 Cor. 15:57 "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
-2 Cor. 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere."
-2 Cor. 9:15 "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"
-When the Lord returns:
Rev. 11:17 "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign."
VIII. Conclusion
-Have you worshiped today?
-Ill. Gene & Joyce Williams
1. Pastor of Wichita, KA 1st Nazarene & prolific author.
2. All his children were Christians but one (Pat).
3. Pat came into their room and said: "Mom & Dad, I love you."
4. Pat shot himself at the foot of their bed.
5. He survived and told his dad years later: "During the closing hymn we sang ‘Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus' and that's what I did this morning."
-In our ‘culturally informed' way of thinking, we come to church looking for more blessings.
1. Prosperity gospel/ get rich quick
2. Maybe we should come willing to give to Him.
3. Give thanks to Him.
-Maybe that's a real church service!
1. Maybe that's real worship.
2. Maybe that's what we're all about.
-Different response:
1. Stand from your position.
2. Say: "I give God thanks."
3. Will you stand and give thanks to God today?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Unpardonable Sin
Matthew 12:22-32
The Unpardonable Sin: Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
I. Introduction
-Is there a sin that is unpardonable.?
-Scary two words: unpardonable sin.
II. Scripture
III. Background
-Jesus heals a demon possessed man who was blind & mute.
1. It is a triple miracle of restoring sanity, sight, and speech
2. The man is made whole.
-But the Pharisees begin their accusations.
-They said it was only by Satan he was able to do it.
-Jesus response to the accusations of the Pharisees:
1. v. 25-26 Are demons fighting demons? (Can you see humor in this.)
2. v. 27 Who do your people cast out demons by then?
3. v. 29 Jesus work is liberating those in bondage (what does bondage mean?)
4. v. 31-32 caution not to do the unpardonable.
IV. What is the Unpardonable Sin?
-Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.
-Blaspheme = to speak of or address with irreverence
1. Blasphemy = the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God
2. in the Greek blaspheme literally means to be against... so while it usually means in speech, it can also include your actions and thoughts.
-Apostle Paul was a blasphemer:
1. 1 Timothy 1:13 "Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; [14] and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus."
-The REAL problem we have:
-We want to minimize our relationship to God to one act/point in time.
1. I got saved then.
2. I repented then.
3. I was forgiven then.
-Being a Christian is being.
-We view salvation as complete already.
1. Salvation is not complete until you are standing in heaven one day having been glorified.
2. Salvation is not complete or you wouldn't need to grow.
V. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
-So what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
-We try to minimize it to one act.
1. But the unpardonable sin is not one act....(though it could be):
2. Just like salvation is not one act.
-Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a continual move against the Holy Spirit.
-Hard heartedness, resistance are too tame/too neutral of words to describe it.
1. It is an open obvious, rejection of God's Spirit.
2. It is the continual, deliberate, refusal to acknowledge God's truth from the Holy Spirit.
3. It is more than an instance of "quenching the Spirit."
-It is not...
1. Honest questioning.
2. It is not weak faith.
3. It is not having doubts.
-Point: Ppl are not forgiven because their sins are less (or more) than others – but because they ask for forgiveness.
-Contrary to what some believe, the Pharisees did not ‘commit' an unforgivable sin.
1. Jesus didn't describe what they had done, but what they were doing.
2. Just as salvation cannot be minimized to the act of confession.
-The only sin that is unforgivable is the sin that is unrepented.
VI. You Must Take Sides
-Make no doubt about it, you are in a battle.
-v. 30
-There is no gray area, there is no de-militarized zone, no neutral area, no in-between, etc. in the spiritual realm.
-You are either moving with the Spirit or against the Spirit.
-If you think you are neutral, then you are probably going against the Holy Spirit... blaspheming.
-List of sins God can forgive...
1. Woman caught in adultery.
2. Crucifixion
3. Murderers, thieves, etc.
4. Gossips, drug addicts, liars,
5. Hate mongers, back biters,
-Point: He has never forgiven those who have rejected/ acted against the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and He never will.
VII. Who Commits This Sin?
-Religious people.
-Do you know the hardest ppl to reach with the Gospel are those who have grown up in church.
1. They know the terminology.
2. They know how to behave at church.
-Do you know who the hardest ppl are to catch on fire for God?
1. Regular church attenders.
2. They get heat resistant.
-These two categories of people can most easily go against the Holy Spirit.
-Lost folks may have doubts and fears and questions when the Spirit speaks to them, but...
-"Churched" folks know what they need to do, but they go against the Holy Spirit when He speaks to them about it.
VIII. Pastoral Pause
-Look where we are right now.
-A church in transition toward a deeper intimacy with Christ.
-There are some who are still fighting against the Holy Spirit (blaspheming).
1. They have not progressed deeper with Christ.
2. They may think they're all right to go against the Spirit.
3. But that cannot be forgiven.
-We need everybody on board.
1. We need everybody going with the Spirit; everybody gathering.
2. Because those stuck in Neutral are just slowing the speed of the church as we move toward the cross.
-Some feel, out of frustration, that the best way for this to happen is just let ppl go.
1. That might happen.
2. But we shouldn't hope for that; we should hope for them to go w/ the Spirit.
IX. Conclusion
-If you're honestly worried that you've committed the unpardonable sin, you haven't.
-To Do (for myself):
1. Nurture a sensitivity to the Spirit.
2. Desire for God to speak to you.
3. Learn to do w/out some worldly distractions.
4. Establish a precedence of obedience.
-To Do (for the church):
1. Start praying for those who are blaspheming/going against the Spirit.
2. Be pro-active rather than re-active about the Spirit's movement in our services.
3. Be aware of God's presence in our services... so you can better pray.
-God is still working here.
-That means we still have work to do.
The Unpardonable Sin: Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
I. Introduction
-Is there a sin that is unpardonable.?
-Scary two words: unpardonable sin.
II. Scripture
III. Background
-Jesus heals a demon possessed man who was blind & mute.
1. It is a triple miracle of restoring sanity, sight, and speech
2. The man is made whole.
-But the Pharisees begin their accusations.
-They said it was only by Satan he was able to do it.
-Jesus response to the accusations of the Pharisees:
1. v. 25-26 Are demons fighting demons? (Can you see humor in this.)
2. v. 27 Who do your people cast out demons by then?
3. v. 29 Jesus work is liberating those in bondage (what does bondage mean?)
4. v. 31-32 caution not to do the unpardonable.
IV. What is the Unpardonable Sin?
-Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.
-Blaspheme = to speak of or address with irreverence
1. Blasphemy = the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God
2. in the Greek blaspheme literally means to be against... so while it usually means in speech, it can also include your actions and thoughts.
-Apostle Paul was a blasphemer:
1. 1 Timothy 1:13 "Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; [14] and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus."
-The REAL problem we have:
-We want to minimize our relationship to God to one act/point in time.
1. I got saved then.
2. I repented then.
3. I was forgiven then.
-Being a Christian is being.
-We view salvation as complete already.
1. Salvation is not complete until you are standing in heaven one day having been glorified.
2. Salvation is not complete or you wouldn't need to grow.
V. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
-So what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
-We try to minimize it to one act.
1. But the unpardonable sin is not one act....(though it could be):
2. Just like salvation is not one act.
-Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a continual move against the Holy Spirit.
-Hard heartedness, resistance are too tame/too neutral of words to describe it.
1. It is an open obvious, rejection of God's Spirit.
2. It is the continual, deliberate, refusal to acknowledge God's truth from the Holy Spirit.
3. It is more than an instance of "quenching the Spirit."
-It is not...
1. Honest questioning.
2. It is not weak faith.
3. It is not having doubts.
-Point: Ppl are not forgiven because their sins are less (or more) than others – but because they ask for forgiveness.
-Contrary to what some believe, the Pharisees did not ‘commit' an unforgivable sin.
1. Jesus didn't describe what they had done, but what they were doing.
2. Just as salvation cannot be minimized to the act of confession.
-The only sin that is unforgivable is the sin that is unrepented.
VI. You Must Take Sides
-Make no doubt about it, you are in a battle.
-v. 30
-There is no gray area, there is no de-militarized zone, no neutral area, no in-between, etc. in the spiritual realm.
-You are either moving with the Spirit or against the Spirit.
-If you think you are neutral, then you are probably going against the Holy Spirit... blaspheming.
-List of sins God can forgive...
1. Woman caught in adultery.
2. Crucifixion
3. Murderers, thieves, etc.
4. Gossips, drug addicts, liars,
5. Hate mongers, back biters,
-Point: He has never forgiven those who have rejected/ acted against the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and He never will.
VII. Who Commits This Sin?
-Religious people.
-Do you know the hardest ppl to reach with the Gospel are those who have grown up in church.
1. They know the terminology.
2. They know how to behave at church.
-Do you know who the hardest ppl are to catch on fire for God?
1. Regular church attenders.
2. They get heat resistant.
-These two categories of people can most easily go against the Holy Spirit.
-Lost folks may have doubts and fears and questions when the Spirit speaks to them, but...
-"Churched" folks know what they need to do, but they go against the Holy Spirit when He speaks to them about it.
VIII. Pastoral Pause
-Look where we are right now.
-A church in transition toward a deeper intimacy with Christ.
-There are some who are still fighting against the Holy Spirit (blaspheming).
1. They have not progressed deeper with Christ.
2. They may think they're all right to go against the Spirit.
3. But that cannot be forgiven.
-We need everybody on board.
1. We need everybody going with the Spirit; everybody gathering.
2. Because those stuck in Neutral are just slowing the speed of the church as we move toward the cross.
-Some feel, out of frustration, that the best way for this to happen is just let ppl go.
1. That might happen.
2. But we shouldn't hope for that; we should hope for them to go w/ the Spirit.
IX. Conclusion
-If you're honestly worried that you've committed the unpardonable sin, you haven't.
-To Do (for myself):
1. Nurture a sensitivity to the Spirit.
2. Desire for God to speak to you.
3. Learn to do w/out some worldly distractions.
4. Establish a precedence of obedience.
-To Do (for the church):
1. Start praying for those who are blaspheming/going against the Spirit.
2. Be pro-active rather than re-active about the Spirit's movement in our services.
3. Be aware of God's presence in our services... so you can better pray.
-God is still working here.
-That means we still have work to do.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Lord is Here
Ezekiel 48:30-35
The Lord is Here: The Greatest Description
I. Introduction
- God is here this morning!
- But what does that mean?
1. Why is that significant?
2. Why does it matter?
- Did you know you can have "church" w/out God?
- Churches do it all the time.
- Maybe we've been guilty of it.
1. Maybe I'm guilty of "church" w/out God.
2. Maybe you're guilty of it.
- I wonder if we might even "feel blessed" and yet God never even be here.
- We need God to be here.
II. Scripture
III. Background
-The word of this scripture can be both...
1. Text & test.
2. Conviction & consolation
3. Hope & Challenge
-I think, as always, God's word is relevant to where we are as a church and as individuals.
-18,000 cubits circumference = 6 miles (1.5 m per side)
-Ezekiel was written about the same time as Daniel.
1. Both were in exile in Babylon.
2. Ezekiel wrote to those in captivity, but also to those who were allowed to stay in Israel.
-He warns/ rebukes those still in the ‘promised land.'
-In Ezekiel 10 & 11 he prophesied about God leaving/departing from the temple/sanctuary area. -You have to understand what that meant to them.
1. Was God going back on His promises?
2. Was he forfeiting His covenant w/ Abraham?
-The first half of the book of Ezekiel is gloom, doom, & despair.
-But then Ezekiel looks forward to God's redemptive work.
-And v. 35 says Yahweh-Shammah "The Lord is there.' (Jerusalem)
IV. God's Omnipresence & Presence
-At some level you cannot find a place where God is not.
-In other words, you cannot hide from God.
-Jeremiah 23:23-24 "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God afar off? [24] Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord."
-You cannot run away from God.
-Jonah 1:3 "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord."
-We read Psalm 139 this morning.
-But there is also a concept in Scripture that God can be absent from places & ppl's lives.
1. Moses to God soon after the golden calf incident...
2. Exodus 33:15 "And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.'"
-There is also a concept of God's presence being revealed in a special way in a particular places.
1. Exodus 25:8 "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst."
2. Moses & the burning bush.
3. Solomon at the dedication of the temple.
4. Jesus & the transfiguration.
5. Pentecost ‘mighty rushing wind.'
6. Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus.
7. All tied to a revelation of His glory.
-Don't make the mistake and believe that He is only glorious when His glory is revealed or He is only present when it is known.
-Jacob, while running away from home to his Uncle's house, stops for the night and dreams about a staircase from heaven w/ angels on it.
1. The next morning...
2. Genesis 28:16 "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.""
V. The Lord is Not Here
-There are some places God does not reside.
-God is not where there is chaos.
1. 1 Corinthians 14:40 "But all things should be done decently and in order."
2. Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley..
3. Real sermon series titles (of chaos)...
...Spiritual Life is like a box of Krispy Kremes
...Lessons from Dr. Seuss
...Sex and the City and You
...Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Ringo and George
...Dates of Our Lives: How to keep your love life from being a soap opera
... Meet at church naked.
... The Power of Positive Thinking
4. At a Nazarene Church: "Pimp my Bride" [off MTV's pimp my ride]
...Pastor Mike recounts the moment of inspiration."At that moment, I realized... this is what God wants to do to His Church. He wants to take our old and busted stuff and turn it into new hotness."
5. Churches resort to chaos.
6. Pastor said: "If so & so amount of ppl come to church on such & such a Sunday I'll preach from the roof of the church in my pajamas."
...Barring unforseen circumstances, you'll never catch me preaching from the roof of the church in my pajamas!
-God is not where there is disobedience.
1. Genesis 6:3 (time of Noah): "My Spirit shall not abide[strive] with man forever."
2. Note: Don't take it for granted.
-God is not where there is a quenching of the Spirit.
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 "Do not quench the Spirit."
2. If you quench, He leaves!
-God is not where there is sin
1. Proverbs 15:8-9 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. [9] way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness."
2. Proverbs 11:20 "Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are His delight."
3. On the cross Jesus took on all the sins of the world, then said: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
VI. Yahweh Shammah
-I believe the Lord is here.
1. May we ever protect that claim with all that is w/in us as a church.
2. May we fight for the presence of God.
3. ...hold tight to our God.
4. ...seek so to find Him.
5. ... hunger & thirst for it.
6. ... call out to Him in desperation!
-Isaiah 57:15 "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
-Paul preaching in Athens at the Areopagus...
-Acts 17:26-27a "And He [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him."
VII. God is Not Confined Here
-Solomon about building a temple for the Lord...
1. 2 Chronicles 2:6 "But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?"
2. 1 Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!"
-After Jesus was crucified...
-Matthew 27:51 "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split."
-Since the lamb was slain to take away the sins of the world things are different.
-1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
-Thus is the power of the church, the body of Christ.
1. God's Spirit dwells w/in us.
2. We are born-again in and of the Spirit of the living God!
-Matthew 18:18-20 "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [19] Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. [20] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
-Ill. Beulah land...
1. Isaiah 62... married land
2. Heaven on Earth.
3. If you can't experience the presence of God here on Earth, you probably won't make Heaven.
VIII. Glory Comes With Presence
-After the triumphal entry...
1. Some Greeks want to see Jesus... (hear where our church is, in this)...
2. John 12:23-28 "And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. [27] "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. [28] Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.""
-There can be no greater description of a church or a people or a city or a home than this: "The Lord is there." (Yahweh Shammah)
-There is nothing worse than God's presence departing a place.
-Ill. Eli, Samuel's mentor, died and along w/ his three wicked sons and the ark of the covenant had been captured by the Philistines.
1. Eli's daughter-in-law gives birth...
2. 1 Samuel 4:21a "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel!""
-The absence of God in a church or in a life is a terrifying thing!
1. We tend to be flippant about it.
2. "It's not a big deal that I am sinning."
IX. Conclusion
-Yahweh Shammah
1. God is there.
2. God is here.
-As ordinary or extraordinary as it may seem.
-Hebrews 13:5b "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
-Maybe you just need to be reminded of the presence of the Lord in your life.
-Maybe you've never experienced the presence of the Lord in your life.
-Maybe you need to know He is especially close to you this morning.
-Whatever your need... The Lord is Here.
Response
The Lord is Here: The Greatest Description
I. Introduction
- God is here this morning!
- But what does that mean?
1. Why is that significant?
2. Why does it matter?
- Did you know you can have "church" w/out God?
- Churches do it all the time.
- Maybe we've been guilty of it.
1. Maybe I'm guilty of "church" w/out God.
2. Maybe you're guilty of it.
- I wonder if we might even "feel blessed" and yet God never even be here.
- We need God to be here.
II. Scripture
III. Background
-The word of this scripture can be both...
1. Text & test.
2. Conviction & consolation
3. Hope & Challenge
-I think, as always, God's word is relevant to where we are as a church and as individuals.
-18,000 cubits circumference = 6 miles (1.5 m per side)
-Ezekiel was written about the same time as Daniel.
1. Both were in exile in Babylon.
2. Ezekiel wrote to those in captivity, but also to those who were allowed to stay in Israel.
-He warns/ rebukes those still in the ‘promised land.'
-In Ezekiel 10 & 11 he prophesied about God leaving/departing from the temple/sanctuary area. -You have to understand what that meant to them.
1. Was God going back on His promises?
2. Was he forfeiting His covenant w/ Abraham?
-The first half of the book of Ezekiel is gloom, doom, & despair.
-But then Ezekiel looks forward to God's redemptive work.
-And v. 35 says Yahweh-Shammah "The Lord is there.' (Jerusalem)
IV. God's Omnipresence & Presence
-At some level you cannot find a place where God is not.
-In other words, you cannot hide from God.
-Jeremiah 23:23-24 "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God afar off? [24] Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord."
-You cannot run away from God.
-Jonah 1:3 "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord."
-We read Psalm 139 this morning.
-But there is also a concept in Scripture that God can be absent from places & ppl's lives.
1. Moses to God soon after the golden calf incident...
2. Exodus 33:15 "And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.'"
-There is also a concept of God's presence being revealed in a special way in a particular places.
1. Exodus 25:8 "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst."
2. Moses & the burning bush.
3. Solomon at the dedication of the temple.
4. Jesus & the transfiguration.
5. Pentecost ‘mighty rushing wind.'
6. Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus.
7. All tied to a revelation of His glory.
-Don't make the mistake and believe that He is only glorious when His glory is revealed or He is only present when it is known.
-Jacob, while running away from home to his Uncle's house, stops for the night and dreams about a staircase from heaven w/ angels on it.
1. The next morning...
2. Genesis 28:16 "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.""
V. The Lord is Not Here
-There are some places God does not reside.
-God is not where there is chaos.
1. 1 Corinthians 14:40 "But all things should be done decently and in order."
2. Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley..
3. Real sermon series titles (of chaos)...
...Spiritual Life is like a box of Krispy Kremes
...Lessons from Dr. Seuss
...Sex and the City and You
...Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Ringo and George
...Dates of Our Lives: How to keep your love life from being a soap opera
... Meet at church naked.
... The Power of Positive Thinking
4. At a Nazarene Church: "Pimp my Bride" [off MTV's pimp my ride]
...Pastor Mike recounts the moment of inspiration."At that moment, I realized... this is what God wants to do to His Church. He wants to take our old and busted stuff and turn it into new hotness."
5. Churches resort to chaos.
6. Pastor said: "If so & so amount of ppl come to church on such & such a Sunday I'll preach from the roof of the church in my pajamas."
...Barring unforseen circumstances, you'll never catch me preaching from the roof of the church in my pajamas!
-God is not where there is disobedience.
1. Genesis 6:3 (time of Noah): "My Spirit shall not abide[strive] with man forever."
2. Note: Don't take it for granted.
-God is not where there is a quenching of the Spirit.
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 "Do not quench the Spirit."
2. If you quench, He leaves!
-God is not where there is sin
1. Proverbs 15:8-9 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. [9] way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness."
2. Proverbs 11:20 "Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are His delight."
3. On the cross Jesus took on all the sins of the world, then said: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
VI. Yahweh Shammah
-I believe the Lord is here.
1. May we ever protect that claim with all that is w/in us as a church.
2. May we fight for the presence of God.
3. ...hold tight to our God.
4. ...seek so to find Him.
5. ... hunger & thirst for it.
6. ... call out to Him in desperation!
-Isaiah 57:15 "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
-Paul preaching in Athens at the Areopagus...
-Acts 17:26-27a "And He [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him."
VII. God is Not Confined Here
-Solomon about building a temple for the Lord...
1. 2 Chronicles 2:6 "But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?"
2. 1 Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!"
-After Jesus was crucified...
-Matthew 27:51 "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split."
-Since the lamb was slain to take away the sins of the world things are different.
-1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
-Thus is the power of the church, the body of Christ.
1. God's Spirit dwells w/in us.
2. We are born-again in and of the Spirit of the living God!
-Matthew 18:18-20 "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [19] Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. [20] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
-Ill. Beulah land...
1. Isaiah 62... married land
2. Heaven on Earth.
3. If you can't experience the presence of God here on Earth, you probably won't make Heaven.
VIII. Glory Comes With Presence
-After the triumphal entry...
1. Some Greeks want to see Jesus... (hear where our church is, in this)...
2. John 12:23-28 "And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. [27] "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. [28] Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.""
-There can be no greater description of a church or a people or a city or a home than this: "The Lord is there." (Yahweh Shammah)
-There is nothing worse than God's presence departing a place.
-Ill. Eli, Samuel's mentor, died and along w/ his three wicked sons and the ark of the covenant had been captured by the Philistines.
1. Eli's daughter-in-law gives birth...
2. 1 Samuel 4:21a "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel!""
-The absence of God in a church or in a life is a terrifying thing!
1. We tend to be flippant about it.
2. "It's not a big deal that I am sinning."
IX. Conclusion
-Yahweh Shammah
1. God is there.
2. God is here.
-As ordinary or extraordinary as it may seem.
-Hebrews 13:5b "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
-Maybe you just need to be reminded of the presence of the Lord in your life.
-Maybe you've never experienced the presence of the Lord in your life.
-Maybe you need to know He is especially close to you this morning.
-Whatever your need... The Lord is Here.
Response
Saturday, August 16, 2008
A Real Church Service #2
1 Peter 1:25b- 2:3
A Real Church Service 2: Spiritual Growth
I. Introduction
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Hunter & the Woodman
1. A hunter was searching for the tracks of a Lion.
2. He asked the a man felling oaks in the forest if he had seen any tracks or the lion's lair.
3. "I'll take you to the lion." said the woodsman.
4. Hunter turned pale & said: "No, thank you. I did not ask for that; it is only the tracks and lair that I am in search of, not the lion."
5. Are you looking for signs that Jesus is here or for where his Spirit abides?
6. Or are you looking for Him?
- What makes a good church service?
- We base our answer on some of the wrong things.
1. It shouldn't matter whether you like the teacher, preacher, song leader, etc.
2. What matters is the object of our Worship.
- But now let's answer that question on your side of the fence.
1. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit.
2. What is your obligation toward a good church service.
II. Scripture
III. Christianity is About Growing
- Our faith is about growing [relationship].
- The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 is about making disciples
1. Disciples = pupils
2. Not just converts or professions.
- He did not commission us to enlarge our finances or our numbers or our programs.
1. Make disciples!
2. Students of the Word who are growing!
IV. Born to Grow (Stage 1)
- In order to grow spiritually you must be born-again!
- 2:3 "...if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good!"
1. Repent of sin & believe in Christ.
2. Spiritual growth w/out spiritual birth is impossible.
- If you're not growing...
1. ...something is wrong!
2. ...you might be dead!
- Those born-again will have a longing to grow.
1. It is in the DNA of a believer
2. v. 2:2 Cultivated Desire
- Long for what?
1. pure milk of the word
2. pure= nothing but milk
3. beware false teachers/ preachers
4. Pure milk sometimes doesn't taste as good as a coke, but it's better for you.
- 2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."
- The biggest enemy of the church today is not the world, but that which poses as the church!
- Long for...
1. Milk of the Word- Bible. Biblical preaching, biblical songs, biblical discussion, biblical thinking, etc.
2. Sunday School, Wednesday Bible Study, Sunday PM, all focused on God's Word!
- Query: Are you 'lactose' intolerant?
V. Stage 2: Lay Aside Acts of Sin!
- After being Born-Again and God giving you a longing for growth, you will begin conforming more and more of your actions to those of Christ.
- This is where Christians get the cart before the horse.
1. We can't clean them up to get them saved.
2. We are to get them saved so they will get cleaned up!
- As a new Christian you will begin aligning your actions with those of Christ!
- Put aside/ quit sinful acts.
1. alcoholic, get sober & be filled with the Spirit.
2. living together, separate.
3. cheating in business, restitution.
4. lying, tell the truth.
5. abusive, bring healing
6. profane language, holy language.
- Growing involves putting off sinful acts.
1. If you don't, you won't grow
2. If you don't, it will kill you.
VI. Stage 3: Lay Aside Attitudes
- Usually God will deal with your blatant sinful acts and then begin to work on your attitudes.
- Conforming your attitudes to Christ.
- We end growth with outward actions.
1. Those are what people can see.
2. But we don't like to deal with our attitudes.
- At that point we become big babies who don't do bad things, but do have bad attitudes.
- We don't want to grow.
- Hebrews 5:12-13 "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness , since he is a child."
- Some of us have been Christians long enough that you should be in a position of leadership; involved in a ministry.
1. SS teacher, board members,
2. small group leader, etc.
- Ephesians 4:13-14 "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14]so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."
- Growing will involve taking on the attitudes of Christ.
1. Love, humility, perseverance
2. Putting off envy, pride, greed, malice, hate, etc.
- Ultimately it means you will begin to care more about others than yourself.
VII. Spiritual Leadership
- There are some things in the church that require growth before you can do them.
- If you are a new Christian, we are not going to put you on the board!
1. ...make you a SS teacher.
2. ...make you the preacher.
3. ...put you in charge of a ministry.
- Ill. Simon the Magician
1. Acts 8
2. New Christian, saw the apostles lay hands on believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
3. He wanted to buy that power.
4. He didn't want to grow.
- Johann von Goethe "Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."
- With leadership & authority comes the responsibility to grow.
- Paul tells Timothy about leadership/overseer:
1. 1 Timothy 3:6 "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."
2. 1 Timothy 5: 22 "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure."
- If new to the church the same applies.
1. If left the church & come back same applies.
2. If unfaithful to the church this applies to you.
VIII. What is Spiritual Growth?
- It's not a flash in the pan or a shooting star!
- C. S. Lewis "Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth."
- I've seen lots of stuff happen on Sunday and then you wonder what happens the rest of the week!?
1. Or you never see that person again!
2. You're not growing if you're not consistent.
- Old timers use to say: "It's not how high you jump on Sunday, but how straight you walk on Monday."
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Tortoise & the Hare
1. A hare challenged a tortoise to a race.
2. The hare took off in the beginning but got a lead so that he could take a nap.
3. The tortoise never stopped, but slowly continued along the path.
4. The tortoise won, b/c he was consistent!
5. Slow but steady wins the race.
6. God is not impressed by all-stars as much as He is consistency.
- Spiritual Growth is not just change.
1. Ellen Glasgow "All change is not growth; all movement is not forward."
- Spiritual growth means you won't be at the same place you were 10 years ago or even one year.
1. Robert N. Coons "If the shoe fits, you're not allowing for growth."
2. Are you stunted in your growth?
3. Are you a spiritual midget?
- Spiritual Growth means you still have more to learn.
1. ...in communicating w/ God.
2. ...in using your spiritual gifts
3. ...in spiritual disciplines.
4. ...in love for God & others.
5. "I'm not a finished product!"
- Spiritual growth means different ppl are at different places.
1. If you are a Christian we have expectations of you!
2. Different for different ppl!
- No matter where you are in your spiritual walk: there is still room to grow.
IX. Conclusion
- Ill. Family driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, FL.
1. As far as the eye could see: Orange trees!
2. They stopped at a little place in the middle of the orchards for breakfast.
3. Father orderd OJ w/ his eggs.
4. "I'm sorry," the waitress said. "I can't bring you orange juice. Our machine is broken."
5. Leroy Eims said: "They were surrounded by millions of oranges, and I knew they had oranges in the kitchen--orange slices garnished our plates. What was the problem? No juice? Hardly. We were surrounded by thousands of gallons of juice. The problem was they had become dependent on a machine to get it."
- Are you growing? I'm not asking whether...
1. ...our church is growing... I know it is.
2. ...your parents, kids, siblings are growing.
3. I'm asking: Are you growing spiritually?
- Ill. We had company & my wife told me to stop using my 'preacher voice.'
1. Can I cease to be the preacher for a second and just be your pastor.
2. It's time to grow!
3. The oranges are all over the place!
- Don't look for evidence that Jesus has been here; look to Him.
- Discipleship is not optional, it is what God has called us to be.
A Real Church Service 2: Spiritual Growth
I. Introduction
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Hunter & the Woodman
1. A hunter was searching for the tracks of a Lion.
2. He asked the a man felling oaks in the forest if he had seen any tracks or the lion's lair.
3. "I'll take you to the lion." said the woodsman.
4. Hunter turned pale & said: "No, thank you. I did not ask for that; it is only the tracks and lair that I am in search of, not the lion."
5. Are you looking for signs that Jesus is here or for where his Spirit abides?
6. Or are you looking for Him?
- What makes a good church service?
- We base our answer on some of the wrong things.
1. It shouldn't matter whether you like the teacher, preacher, song leader, etc.
2. What matters is the object of our Worship.
- But now let's answer that question on your side of the fence.
1. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit.
2. What is your obligation toward a good church service.
II. Scripture
III. Christianity is About Growing
- Our faith is about growing [relationship].
- The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 is about making disciples
1. Disciples = pupils
2. Not just converts or professions.
- He did not commission us to enlarge our finances or our numbers or our programs.
1. Make disciples!
2. Students of the Word who are growing!
IV. Born to Grow (Stage 1)
- In order to grow spiritually you must be born-again!
- 2:3 "...if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good!"
1. Repent of sin & believe in Christ.
2. Spiritual growth w/out spiritual birth is impossible.
- If you're not growing...
1. ...something is wrong!
2. ...you might be dead!
- Those born-again will have a longing to grow.
1. It is in the DNA of a believer
2. v. 2:2 Cultivated Desire
- Long for what?
1. pure milk of the word
2. pure= nothing but milk
3. beware false teachers/ preachers
4. Pure milk sometimes doesn't taste as good as a coke, but it's better for you.
- 2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."
- The biggest enemy of the church today is not the world, but that which poses as the church!
- Long for...
1. Milk of the Word- Bible. Biblical preaching, biblical songs, biblical discussion, biblical thinking, etc.
2. Sunday School, Wednesday Bible Study, Sunday PM, all focused on God's Word!
- Query: Are you 'lactose' intolerant?
V. Stage 2: Lay Aside Acts of Sin!
- After being Born-Again and God giving you a longing for growth, you will begin conforming more and more of your actions to those of Christ.
- This is where Christians get the cart before the horse.
1. We can't clean them up to get them saved.
2. We are to get them saved so they will get cleaned up!
- As a new Christian you will begin aligning your actions with those of Christ!
- Put aside/ quit sinful acts.
1. alcoholic, get sober & be filled with the Spirit.
2. living together, separate.
3. cheating in business, restitution.
4. lying, tell the truth.
5. abusive, bring healing
6. profane language, holy language.
- Growing involves putting off sinful acts.
1. If you don't, you won't grow
2. If you don't, it will kill you.
VI. Stage 3: Lay Aside Attitudes
- Usually God will deal with your blatant sinful acts and then begin to work on your attitudes.
- Conforming your attitudes to Christ.
- We end growth with outward actions.
1. Those are what people can see.
2. But we don't like to deal with our attitudes.
- At that point we become big babies who don't do bad things, but do have bad attitudes.
- We don't want to grow.
- Hebrews 5:12-13 "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness , since he is a child."
- Some of us have been Christians long enough that you should be in a position of leadership; involved in a ministry.
1. SS teacher, board members,
2. small group leader, etc.
- Ephesians 4:13-14 "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14]so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."
- Growing will involve taking on the attitudes of Christ.
1. Love, humility, perseverance
2. Putting off envy, pride, greed, malice, hate, etc.
- Ultimately it means you will begin to care more about others than yourself.
VII. Spiritual Leadership
- There are some things in the church that require growth before you can do them.
- If you are a new Christian, we are not going to put you on the board!
1. ...make you a SS teacher.
2. ...make you the preacher.
3. ...put you in charge of a ministry.
- Ill. Simon the Magician
1. Acts 8
2. New Christian, saw the apostles lay hands on believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
3. He wanted to buy that power.
4. He didn't want to grow.
- Johann von Goethe "Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."
- With leadership & authority comes the responsibility to grow.
- Paul tells Timothy about leadership/overseer:
1. 1 Timothy 3:6 "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."
2. 1 Timothy 5: 22 "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure."
- If new to the church the same applies.
1. If left the church & come back same applies.
2. If unfaithful to the church this applies to you.
VIII. What is Spiritual Growth?
- It's not a flash in the pan or a shooting star!
- C. S. Lewis "Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth."
- I've seen lots of stuff happen on Sunday and then you wonder what happens the rest of the week!?
1. Or you never see that person again!
2. You're not growing if you're not consistent.
- Old timers use to say: "It's not how high you jump on Sunday, but how straight you walk on Monday."
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Tortoise & the Hare
1. A hare challenged a tortoise to a race.
2. The hare took off in the beginning but got a lead so that he could take a nap.
3. The tortoise never stopped, but slowly continued along the path.
4. The tortoise won, b/c he was consistent!
5. Slow but steady wins the race.
6. God is not impressed by all-stars as much as He is consistency.
- Spiritual Growth is not just change.
1. Ellen Glasgow "All change is not growth; all movement is not forward."
- Spiritual growth means you won't be at the same place you were 10 years ago or even one year.
1. Robert N. Coons "If the shoe fits, you're not allowing for growth."
2. Are you stunted in your growth?
3. Are you a spiritual midget?
- Spiritual Growth means you still have more to learn.
1. ...in communicating w/ God.
2. ...in using your spiritual gifts
3. ...in spiritual disciplines.
4. ...in love for God & others.
5. "I'm not a finished product!"
- Spiritual growth means different ppl are at different places.
1. If you are a Christian we have expectations of you!
2. Different for different ppl!
- No matter where you are in your spiritual walk: there is still room to grow.
IX. Conclusion
- Ill. Family driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, FL.
1. As far as the eye could see: Orange trees!
2. They stopped at a little place in the middle of the orchards for breakfast.
3. Father orderd OJ w/ his eggs.
4. "I'm sorry," the waitress said. "I can't bring you orange juice. Our machine is broken."
5. Leroy Eims said: "They were surrounded by millions of oranges, and I knew they had oranges in the kitchen--orange slices garnished our plates. What was the problem? No juice? Hardly. We were surrounded by thousands of gallons of juice. The problem was they had become dependent on a machine to get it."
- Are you growing? I'm not asking whether...
1. ...our church is growing... I know it is.
2. ...your parents, kids, siblings are growing.
3. I'm asking: Are you growing spiritually?
- Ill. We had company & my wife told me to stop using my 'preacher voice.'
1. Can I cease to be the preacher for a second and just be your pastor.
2. It's time to grow!
3. The oranges are all over the place!
- Don't look for evidence that Jesus has been here; look to Him.
- Discipleship is not optional, it is what God has called us to be.
Friday, August 8, 2008
A Different Kind of Battle
1 Samuel 17:1-11, 26, 31-40
A Different Kind of Battle: Where is Your Battle Line?
I. Scripture
-Note a few things in the Scripture we read...
1. v. 2 "drew up in line of battle"
2. v. 8 "servants of Saul"
3. v. 11 "dismayed & greatly afraid."
4. v. 26 "armies of the living God."
II. Church is Losing
- We're losing "the battle."
- Ill. Teen Soap Opera "Gossip Girls" ads use borderline pornographic pictures.
1. Even secular critics are appalled by the tv series.
2. The ads use negative critique comments.
- Ill. New studies everyday show how many young adults are abandoning the church.
1. Age 18-22 leave the church, most, never to return.
2. This is not just a ‘phase,' it is Satan coming onto the Church's turf and dragging our children away!
- Ill. The church now looks the other way when it comes to most sin.
1. Everybody does, including the pastor, the leaders, the teachers, etc.
2. Scandal among clergy are common place!
- Ill. Abortion is all but a lost cause for the church.
1. Politicians will no longer stand for Christian values (Dem or Rep)
2. The church is in full retreat in the cultural battle.
- Query: Is the real battle a cultural battle?
III. The Real Battle
- Long before Chapter 17 a major battle was lost by the Israelites.
1. It was the battle for a righteous King.
2. In Ch. 15 "the Lord Rejects Saul" as king.
- If the Lord rejected Saul for his actions, I believe He has rejected our culture for the heinous and blatant sinfulness that we have come to tolerate!
- By Ch. 17 the Israelites were fighting the wrong kind of battle!
1. Against the Philistines
2. But they were not fighting the spiritual battle they should be fighting!
- We are fighting the wrong battle(s) too!
- Ill. "One" campaign to end poverty.
1. Jesus said you will always have the poor!
2. Wrong battle!
- We fight...
1. ...physical, emotional, political, and financial battles.
2. ...for our children, marriage, job, reputation/fame, to make a name for ourselves, etc.
- All wrong battles!
- There is a Goliath in our lives today and we are "dismayed and greatly afraid" of Him!
IV. Battle Lines
- Just as the Israelites drew up battle lines so we have drawn up lines with the world.
- Problem is we cannot win the battle b/c we're fighting it on the world's terms.
- The Gospel is polluted when sinful methods are used to gain holy ends.
1. The holiness of God has been subtracted to make way for our sinfulness when, just the opposite, is what God expects!
2. Disguised Evangelism and the Gospel message.
- Ill. Church bill board ad w/ half naked woman advertising sermon on modesty!?
- Christians too often are fighting the Devil on his terms!
1. We think we are helping God.
2. We are actually subtracting from His Holiness and the significance of the cross.
V. God's Victory
- God gets glory when by earthly standards He does the impossible.
- The reality is that everything is within the realm of the possible with God!
- Example: Healings in Scripture
1. Blind, lame, leprous
2. Lazarus raising from the dead.
- Example: virgin birth
1. Resurrection of Christ
2. Saul => Paul (conversion)
- Is God in control? Or are we?
- Ill. Flipping coins.
1. At best we can theorize and work out equation to calculate the probablity that the coins will turn up a certain way. (Two flips = heads & tails)
2. (If #1 gets heads then...)
3. Probability tells us that #2 will flip and we will get tails.
4. This is an educated, philosophical, guess, but actually a shot in the dark!
- But before the coin was ever created, before you were ever born, before the sun was ever formed in the hands of God, He knew all that would come to pass and that we would be standing here on July 27th [date preached] waiting to see what the coin flip turned out to be.
- It is no surprise to Him, because nothing is impossible to Him!
VI. What Can HE Do?
- Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
- 1 Samuel 17:34-36 "But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a sheep from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him... and the uncircumcised Philistine will be like him.'"
1. He had done it with animals and this was no different for God.
2. David is fighting a whole different battle than everyone else!
- Point: Part of our problem is we have failed to identify the real enemy.
- We think the church is ineffective is because...
1. ...it is unpopular to the world (thus our battle is to make it popular).
2. ...we don't have the resources/talents/etc. the world has (battle then is to adopt them).
3. ...we don't have the programs the world has (battle to compete with them).
4. ...we don't have the advertising and publicity the world has (battle to sell ourselves to the world).
5. ...it's not as exciting as the world is (we're boring).
- And we draw up the wrong battle line!
- Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
1. Two enemies identified: the rulers over the sinfulness/ darkness of this world
2. And spiritual forces of evil
VII. Effective Weaponry
- Point: May I propose that the reason the church is ineffective in our world today is because we have failed to pick up the proper weapons available to us!
- As soon as Saul thought he found somebody naive enough to risk his life he saddled him with armor.
1. David wasn't fighting that kind of battle.
2. David said in v. 39 "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them."
3. He knew God would provide, but nothing else would for sure!
- As soon as we think we've found a movie star or a sports star or celebrity of some kind, we parade them around in front of the world like a "sow at the county fair" and say: "See we're getting more famous people on our side."
- What we don't realize is that our own "Christian" singers are running out the back door to the harlot that is called fame and fortune.
1. "I kissed a girl and I like it" Pop hit sung by Katy Perry, previously "Christian artist"
2. Jaci Velasquez acted in a movie in which she posed in only lingerie.
3. Southern Gospel singers = same thing
4. Ill. Paris Hilton's claim of salvation and then attendance at a playboy party!?
5. But we don't care as long as the world has formed a fan club for them.
6. God cares!
- Isaiah 54:14, 16a "In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.[16a] Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose."
- I don't care if you're a millionaire, movie star, famous musician, or just an average person.
- My question is can you get down on your knees and reach heaven with your prayers that will make a difference in eternity to your family and to your neighborhood and to your church?
- Prayer is our weapon!
- I want to know if ... Psalm 40:8 "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
1. And if...
2. Psalm 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
- God's Word/ Sword is our weapon!
- Salvation is our armor!
1. Faith, Hope, & Love these are our resources!
- Have you tapped into the Holy Spirit.
- The reasons our churches/ Christians today are ineffective is b/c they do not have the Spirit! (We have everything but the Spirit.)
- Acts 6:5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, ...
1. Acts 6:8 "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
- Holiness!
1. God doesn't take out ads in the local paper or on the radio... you are it!
2. God doesn't have a public relations department... you are it.
3. God doesn't have a seat on the UN... you are his ambassador!
4. But only when he has re-created you in His likeness... in holiness!
VIII. Conclusion
- Query: Who/what is our battle against if not all these other things?
- It is NOT...
1. ...a political party, human,
2. ...another church, the world,
3. ...hardship, or even the Devil.
- None of these things can separate us from the love of God. (Rom 8)
- Your Goliath is... (mirror)...you.
- The only solution: kill that person [crucify the self].
1. They have to die out.
2. Then the Spirit can live in the shell.
- All those weapons are to get rid of you to make room for the Spirit.
- The only way God is going to get the glory in your life, is if you fight the right battle.
1. A battle to the death.
2. A battle w/ the self!
- Then the Spirit has all of you!
1. Then the Spirit can completely fill you!
2. Then the Spirit can make you holy through and through!
A Different Kind of Battle: Where is Your Battle Line?
I. Scripture
-Note a few things in the Scripture we read...
1. v. 2 "drew up in line of battle"
2. v. 8 "servants of Saul"
3. v. 11 "dismayed & greatly afraid."
4. v. 26 "armies of the living God."
II. Church is Losing
- We're losing "the battle."
- Ill. Teen Soap Opera "Gossip Girls" ads use borderline pornographic pictures.
1. Even secular critics are appalled by the tv series.
2. The ads use negative critique comments.
- Ill. New studies everyday show how many young adults are abandoning the church.
1. Age 18-22 leave the church, most, never to return.
2. This is not just a ‘phase,' it is Satan coming onto the Church's turf and dragging our children away!
- Ill. The church now looks the other way when it comes to most sin.
1. Everybody does, including the pastor, the leaders, the teachers, etc.
2. Scandal among clergy are common place!
- Ill. Abortion is all but a lost cause for the church.
1. Politicians will no longer stand for Christian values (Dem or Rep)
2. The church is in full retreat in the cultural battle.
- Query: Is the real battle a cultural battle?
III. The Real Battle
- Long before Chapter 17 a major battle was lost by the Israelites.
1. It was the battle for a righteous King.
2. In Ch. 15 "the Lord Rejects Saul" as king.
- If the Lord rejected Saul for his actions, I believe He has rejected our culture for the heinous and blatant sinfulness that we have come to tolerate!
- By Ch. 17 the Israelites were fighting the wrong kind of battle!
1. Against the Philistines
2. But they were not fighting the spiritual battle they should be fighting!
- We are fighting the wrong battle(s) too!
- Ill. "One" campaign to end poverty.
1. Jesus said you will always have the poor!
2. Wrong battle!
- We fight...
1. ...physical, emotional, political, and financial battles.
2. ...for our children, marriage, job, reputation/fame, to make a name for ourselves, etc.
- All wrong battles!
- There is a Goliath in our lives today and we are "dismayed and greatly afraid" of Him!
IV. Battle Lines
- Just as the Israelites drew up battle lines so we have drawn up lines with the world.
- Problem is we cannot win the battle b/c we're fighting it on the world's terms.
- The Gospel is polluted when sinful methods are used to gain holy ends.
1. The holiness of God has been subtracted to make way for our sinfulness when, just the opposite, is what God expects!
2. Disguised Evangelism and the Gospel message.
- Ill. Church bill board ad w/ half naked woman advertising sermon on modesty!?
- Christians too often are fighting the Devil on his terms!
1. We think we are helping God.
2. We are actually subtracting from His Holiness and the significance of the cross.
V. God's Victory
- God gets glory when by earthly standards He does the impossible.
- The reality is that everything is within the realm of the possible with God!
- Example: Healings in Scripture
1. Blind, lame, leprous
2. Lazarus raising from the dead.
- Example: virgin birth
1. Resurrection of Christ
2. Saul => Paul (conversion)
- Is God in control? Or are we?
- Ill. Flipping coins.
1. At best we can theorize and work out equation to calculate the probablity that the coins will turn up a certain way. (Two flips = heads & tails)
2. (If #1 gets heads then...)
3. Probability tells us that #2 will flip and we will get tails.
4. This is an educated, philosophical, guess, but actually a shot in the dark!
- But before the coin was ever created, before you were ever born, before the sun was ever formed in the hands of God, He knew all that would come to pass and that we would be standing here on July 27th [date preached] waiting to see what the coin flip turned out to be.
- It is no surprise to Him, because nothing is impossible to Him!
VI. What Can HE Do?
- Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
- 1 Samuel 17:34-36 "But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a sheep from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him... and the uncircumcised Philistine will be like him.'"
1. He had done it with animals and this was no different for God.
2. David is fighting a whole different battle than everyone else!
- Point: Part of our problem is we have failed to identify the real enemy.
- We think the church is ineffective is because...
1. ...it is unpopular to the world (thus our battle is to make it popular).
2. ...we don't have the resources/talents/etc. the world has (battle then is to adopt them).
3. ...we don't have the programs the world has (battle to compete with them).
4. ...we don't have the advertising and publicity the world has (battle to sell ourselves to the world).
5. ...it's not as exciting as the world is (we're boring).
- And we draw up the wrong battle line!
- Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
1. Two enemies identified: the rulers over the sinfulness/ darkness of this world
2. And spiritual forces of evil
VII. Effective Weaponry
- Point: May I propose that the reason the church is ineffective in our world today is because we have failed to pick up the proper weapons available to us!
- As soon as Saul thought he found somebody naive enough to risk his life he saddled him with armor.
1. David wasn't fighting that kind of battle.
2. David said in v. 39 "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them."
3. He knew God would provide, but nothing else would for sure!
- As soon as we think we've found a movie star or a sports star or celebrity of some kind, we parade them around in front of the world like a "sow at the county fair" and say: "See we're getting more famous people on our side."
- What we don't realize is that our own "Christian" singers are running out the back door to the harlot that is called fame and fortune.
1. "I kissed a girl and I like it" Pop hit sung by Katy Perry, previously "Christian artist"
2. Jaci Velasquez acted in a movie in which she posed in only lingerie.
3. Southern Gospel singers = same thing
4. Ill. Paris Hilton's claim of salvation and then attendance at a playboy party!?
5. But we don't care as long as the world has formed a fan club for them.
6. God cares!
- Isaiah 54:14, 16a "In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.[16a] Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose."
- I don't care if you're a millionaire, movie star, famous musician, or just an average person.
- My question is can you get down on your knees and reach heaven with your prayers that will make a difference in eternity to your family and to your neighborhood and to your church?
- Prayer is our weapon!
- I want to know if ... Psalm 40:8 "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
1. And if...
2. Psalm 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
- God's Word/ Sword is our weapon!
- Salvation is our armor!
1. Faith, Hope, & Love these are our resources!
- Have you tapped into the Holy Spirit.
- The reasons our churches/ Christians today are ineffective is b/c they do not have the Spirit! (We have everything but the Spirit.)
- Acts 6:5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, ...
1. Acts 6:8 "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
- Holiness!
1. God doesn't take out ads in the local paper or on the radio... you are it!
2. God doesn't have a public relations department... you are it.
3. God doesn't have a seat on the UN... you are his ambassador!
4. But only when he has re-created you in His likeness... in holiness!
VIII. Conclusion
- Query: Who/what is our battle against if not all these other things?
- It is NOT...
1. ...a political party, human,
2. ...another church, the world,
3. ...hardship, or even the Devil.
- None of these things can separate us from the love of God. (Rom 8)
- Your Goliath is... (mirror)...you.
- The only solution: kill that person [crucify the self].
1. They have to die out.
2. Then the Spirit can live in the shell.
- All those weapons are to get rid of you to make room for the Spirit.
- The only way God is going to get the glory in your life, is if you fight the right battle.
1. A battle to the death.
2. A battle w/ the self!
- Then the Spirit has all of you!
1. Then the Spirit can completely fill you!
2. Then the Spirit can make you holy through and through!
Monday, May 26, 2008
A Real Church Service #1
John 14:12-17
A Real Church Service #1: The Holy Spirit
I. Introduction
-What makes a good church service?
-It is debated in churches today.
-I do not want to wrangle about preferences.
-Biblical answers to this kind of a question...
-We’ll start with what Jesus promised, the foundation of a good church service.
II. Scripture
III. Truth, Truth
-v. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you..."
1. Truly = amen
2. "Truth, truth" gets your attention!
-v. 12b "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do..."
-Are we doing the works of Jesus?
1. Miracles, healings, etc.. No.
2. Gospel, Kingdom of Heaven, Salvation... Yes
-Are we doing greater works than Jesus?
1. At the end of Jesus’ physical life he had only 11 undedicated disciples
2. He would be a "failed pastor" by today’s standards.
-v. 14 "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
-Jesus is talking to disciples.
1. This is not about a million $$, your favorite sports team winning, or your whims.
2. This is about being so in tune w/ God you ask for what He wants to give.
IV. Spirit & His Word
-v. 15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
-Receiving God’s Spirit is linked to receiving God’s Word
-Sinners cannot receive His Spirit; they cannot understand His Spirit; they cannot realize the need for His Spirit!
-Listen to two passages of Scripture (1) talks about effects of Spirit (2) talks about effects of God’s Word.
1. Ephesians 5:18-20 "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 all your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. Colosians 3:16-17 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
-Bible talks about the Holy Spirit continually!
1. Don’t quench the Spirit.
2. The Spirit came!
3. Blaspheming the Spirit.
4. Ananias and Saphira "test the Spirit of the Lord"
-All Jesus is promising is wrapped up in what the Spirit will do for them.
-It’s not about you doing greater works!
1. It’s the Holy Spirit doing through you!
2. Preaching= I shut-up, allow the Spirit to use me.
3. The difficulty of preaching is, and always will be getting out of the way of the Lord!
V. The Promise
-The Father will give you a helper.
1. Counselor/ Advocate
2. Someone to instruct you!
3. Not a back seat driver!
-Ill. Associated Press carried this dispatch sometime back: Glasgow, Ky.- L. Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor."
-Too many churches are struggling to start the church w/ out the engine.
1. Things didn’t start for the church until Pentecost.
2. Things won’t start for you until your Pentecost!
-That is why ‘quenching the Spirit’ is so serious!
-The Spirit is the engine!
VI. A Consistent life
-The Spirit brings a consistent life.
-Lot’s of churches have a big production on Sunday morning and dead the rest of the week!
1. Ill. Church with curtains pulled back from "stage" and "performance."
2. That’s not a disciple!
3. That’s not a product of the Holy Spirit.
-Ill. Author Jamie Buckingham visited a dam on the Columbia River.
1. He always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that it was just froth
2. Reality is that deep within the dam turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity-- quietly & without notice
-Don’t look for the ‘flash-in-the-pan,’ look for the long-term faithfulness of the Spirit.
1. Don’t look for the revival services, look for the lives changed.
2. Don’t look at the attendance, look at the disciples.
VII. The World Cannot Receive
-v. 17 "even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him."
-Non-Christians cannot receive the Spirit, believers must!
-J. S. Baxter: "What God chooses, He cleanses. What God cleanses, He molds. What God molds, He fills. What God fills, He uses."
-Ill. Don’t tell me about my wife! I know her better than you do!
1. I eat with her, sleep with her, live with her, fight with her, etc...
2. Sinners, don’t tell me about the Spirit/ God; you don’t know Him!
-Then who is it available to/ promised to? Answer: Those who know Him!
-v. 17b "You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
VIII. How Much of the Spirit?
-The question is not: How much of the Spirit do you have?
1. You either have it or you don’t.
2. Question is: How much of you does the Spirit have?
-Ill. DL Moody was going to have a revival in England.
1. One elderly pastor protested: "Why do we need this Mr. Moody? He’s uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?"
2. A younger pastor replied: "No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody."
-Does the Spirit have a monopoly on your life?
-Paul was led by the Spirit.
-Acts 16:6-7 "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them."
IX. Conclusion
-Ill. A lady was asked how she knew the voice of the Spirit,
1. She answered: "How do you know your husband's step and your child's cry from the step and the cry of all others? I can not tell you how I know the voice of the Spirit, but it is as real to me as the voice of any person I know."
2. How real to you is the still small voice of the Spirit?
-Has it been a while since you heard from God?
-Ill. You may believe you have grown in grace since you are not too emotional or tender hearted anymore.
1. Really you have just quenched the Spirit.
2. Really you are growing cold and distant from the Spirit of God.
-Why don't you just participate in a real church service and receive His Spirit afresh and anew!
A Real Church Service #1: The Holy Spirit
I. Introduction
-What makes a good church service?
-It is debated in churches today.
-I do not want to wrangle about preferences.
-Biblical answers to this kind of a question...
-We’ll start with what Jesus promised, the foundation of a good church service.
II. Scripture
III. Truth, Truth
-v. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you..."
1. Truly = amen
2. "Truth, truth" gets your attention!
-v. 12b "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do..."
-Are we doing the works of Jesus?
1. Miracles, healings, etc.. No.
2. Gospel, Kingdom of Heaven, Salvation... Yes
-Are we doing greater works than Jesus?
1. At the end of Jesus’ physical life he had only 11 undedicated disciples
2. He would be a "failed pastor" by today’s standards.
-v. 14 "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
-Jesus is talking to disciples.
1. This is not about a million $$, your favorite sports team winning, or your whims.
2. This is about being so in tune w/ God you ask for what He wants to give.
IV. Spirit & His Word
-v. 15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
-Receiving God’s Spirit is linked to receiving God’s Word
-Sinners cannot receive His Spirit; they cannot understand His Spirit; they cannot realize the need for His Spirit!
-Listen to two passages of Scripture (1) talks about effects of Spirit (2) talks about effects of God’s Word.
1. Ephesians 5:18-20 "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 all your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. Colosians 3:16-17 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
-Bible talks about the Holy Spirit continually!
1. Don’t quench the Spirit.
2. The Spirit came!
3. Blaspheming the Spirit.
4. Ananias and Saphira "test the Spirit of the Lord"
-All Jesus is promising is wrapped up in what the Spirit will do for them.
-It’s not about you doing greater works!
1. It’s the Holy Spirit doing through you!
2. Preaching= I shut-up, allow the Spirit to use me.
3. The difficulty of preaching is, and always will be getting out of the way of the Lord!
V. The Promise
-The Father will give you a helper.
1. Counselor/ Advocate
2. Someone to instruct you!
3. Not a back seat driver!
-Ill. Associated Press carried this dispatch sometime back: Glasgow, Ky.- L. Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor."
-Too many churches are struggling to start the church w/ out the engine.
1. Things didn’t start for the church until Pentecost.
2. Things won’t start for you until your Pentecost!
-That is why ‘quenching the Spirit’ is so serious!
-The Spirit is the engine!
VI. A Consistent life
-The Spirit brings a consistent life.
-Lot’s of churches have a big production on Sunday morning and dead the rest of the week!
1. Ill. Church with curtains pulled back from "stage" and "performance."
2. That’s not a disciple!
3. That’s not a product of the Holy Spirit.
-Ill. Author Jamie Buckingham visited a dam on the Columbia River.
1. He always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that it was just froth
2. Reality is that deep within the dam turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity-- quietly & without notice
-Don’t look for the ‘flash-in-the-pan,’ look for the long-term faithfulness of the Spirit.
1. Don’t look for the revival services, look for the lives changed.
2. Don’t look at the attendance, look at the disciples.
VII. The World Cannot Receive
-v. 17 "even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him."
-Non-Christians cannot receive the Spirit, believers must!
-J. S. Baxter: "What God chooses, He cleanses. What God cleanses, He molds. What God molds, He fills. What God fills, He uses."
-Ill. Don’t tell me about my wife! I know her better than you do!
1. I eat with her, sleep with her, live with her, fight with her, etc...
2. Sinners, don’t tell me about the Spirit/ God; you don’t know Him!
-Then who is it available to/ promised to? Answer: Those who know Him!
-v. 17b "You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
VIII. How Much of the Spirit?
-The question is not: How much of the Spirit do you have?
1. You either have it or you don’t.
2. Question is: How much of you does the Spirit have?
-Ill. DL Moody was going to have a revival in England.
1. One elderly pastor protested: "Why do we need this Mr. Moody? He’s uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?"
2. A younger pastor replied: "No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody."
-Does the Spirit have a monopoly on your life?
-Paul was led by the Spirit.
-Acts 16:6-7 "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them."
IX. Conclusion
-Ill. A lady was asked how she knew the voice of the Spirit,
1. She answered: "How do you know your husband's step and your child's cry from the step and the cry of all others? I can not tell you how I know the voice of the Spirit, but it is as real to me as the voice of any person I know."
2. How real to you is the still small voice of the Spirit?
-Has it been a while since you heard from God?
-Ill. You may believe you have grown in grace since you are not too emotional or tender hearted anymore.
1. Really you have just quenched the Spirit.
2. Really you are growing cold and distant from the Spirit of God.
-Why don't you just participate in a real church service and receive His Spirit afresh and anew!
Filled With the Spirit or Wine?
Ephesians 5:18
The following is a sermon that I preached on May 18th at the community worship service before the local vote on the sale of alcohol. As the Lord led I realized there was little use in trying to convince those present that alcohol would have a negative effect... that was why they were there. The following sermon ensued...
I. Introduction
-In two days an important vote will take place: Should we sell alcohol?
-However, I believe that the problem our community faces is much deeper than this vote.
-In other words, even if the vote is ‘no,’ our community will still have problems.
-I am against alcohol, but we must ask ourselves what we are for!
II. Scripture
III. More than Anti-Drunkenness
-Drunkenness is sin; the Bible is clear on that. (Galatians 5:21)
-What we could mistakenly read into that passage, and all of scripture is this: "If I am sober, I am saved."
-But that is not true; it is not sobriety that saves us.
-It is not the lack of alcohol that defines the church.
-It is not an absence of alcohol in our body that makes us a Christian.
-There is something more to being a Christian!
IV. Filled with the Spirit
-Often the church has attempted to define itself as simply "anti" something.
-But the void of things/sins removed from our lives must be filled with something else!
-Being Christian is not defined by sobriety, but a filling of the Holy Spirit!
-What are you filled with?
-I’m not talking about...
1. ...association w/ the Spirit.
2. ...acquaintance w/ the Spirit.
3. ...just having the Spirit.
-I’m talking about being filled with the Spirit.
-When you are filled w/ the Spirit, the Spirit comes out when you are knocked about by life.
-When you are filled with the Spirit, it spills out at work, at home, at church, at the ballfield, at school, etc.
-Are you filled with the Spirit? (Those filled with the Spirit are not drunkards!)
V. A Little Church History
-The church only exists in a place where it is receiving (& transmitting) the Holy Spirit!
-What place is that?- Revival
-Let me give you a little church history...
-First Great Awakening (1730-1740's)
1. Jonathon Edwards (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).
2. George Whitfield (methodist)
3. Many congregational style churches (Baptist) emerge
4. Separate Baptists came out of this. (Their verse was: 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Come out from among them, and be ye separate.")
5. It was an awakening/revival of the church!
-There is a need of revival when the church isn’t what it should be!
1. Church lacks power today!
2. The church needs revival!
3. The devil/world cannot stop revival in the church, only you & I (the church) can do that!
-Second Great Awakening (1800-1840's)
1. Presbyterian pastor organized a revival in Cane Ridge, KY.
2. Thousands came out.
3. Baptists and Methodists joined in as it spread across KY and the US.
4. Cumberland Presbyterian Church emerges from the 2nd great awakening!
5. Focused on saving the lost.
6. Pushed controversial issues like temperance, women’s rights, & slavery.
7. Spiritual leaders...
8. Alexander Campbell- Christian Church
9. Methodist Church needs more people like Francis Asbury & Peter Cartright
10. Presbyterian Church needs more people like Charles Finney, Lyman Beecher (temperance),
-There is a need of revival when there are lost people!
-Third Great Awakening (1880's-1900's)
1. AKA- Holiness Movement
2. Church of the Nazarene came from 3rd awakening
3. Salvation Army came from this revival too.
4. Focused on life change after revival services were over!
5. Eventually birthed the Pentecostal movement.
-There is need of revival when lives do not match professions.
VI. Just Momentum?
-Are we running the church on momentum from years past? (past revivals? past generations?)
-Ill. It is said that out west on level, straight track a train going 40-50 mph will go for 15 or more miles on momentum.
-Are we preaching, singing, & testifying on yesterday’s blessings?
-The church has truth on its side!
1. It has the Gospel!
2. It has the Holy Spirit!
3. But I am afraid we haven’t utilized any of that.
-Ill. A train on its tracks came to a stop away from any station.
1. Passengers: "Haven’t you got any water for the boiler engines?"
2. Engineer: "Yes, but we don't have a fire."
-The church needs fire again!
VII. A Divided Church?
-Some have said: "Alcohol has brought division in our community."
-Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
-But in the accusation of division it is implied that the church is divided on this issue... not true.
-Truth is: No church or pastor in Green County is in support of selling alcohol.
-The church of green county stands in one accord on the issue of alcohol sales; it says: NO!
-Do you see what’s happening here? (We are in one accord!)
VIII. The Point?
-The Point: The church only exists when lives are being changed and disciples being made by the Spirit!
-We need an awakening today!
-We need a Pentecost!
-Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
-The second great awakening began in little Cane Ridge, KY. Anyone know where that is?
-Critic: "We’re just a little county.What can we do?"
-Few people may have Greensburg, KY on their map, but few people had Cane Ridge, KY on their map until God broke out among the people!
-All of the ingredients are right for another Pentecost!
IX. Conclusion
-If all we ever accomplish in ministry is keeping alcohol out of Green County we will have failed.
-The ministry of the church is to bring about a spiritual awakening to God’s truth.
-I believe it is coming!
-Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but it is coming!
-God is going to reveal himself to our community!
The following is a sermon that I preached on May 18th at the community worship service before the local vote on the sale of alcohol. As the Lord led I realized there was little use in trying to convince those present that alcohol would have a negative effect... that was why they were there. The following sermon ensued...
I. Introduction
-In two days an important vote will take place: Should we sell alcohol?
-However, I believe that the problem our community faces is much deeper than this vote.
-In other words, even if the vote is ‘no,’ our community will still have problems.
-I am against alcohol, but we must ask ourselves what we are for!
II. Scripture
III. More than Anti-Drunkenness
-Drunkenness is sin; the Bible is clear on that. (Galatians 5:21)
-What we could mistakenly read into that passage, and all of scripture is this: "If I am sober, I am saved."
-But that is not true; it is not sobriety that saves us.
-It is not the lack of alcohol that defines the church.
-It is not an absence of alcohol in our body that makes us a Christian.
-There is something more to being a Christian!
IV. Filled with the Spirit
-Often the church has attempted to define itself as simply "anti" something.
-But the void of things/sins removed from our lives must be filled with something else!
-Being Christian is not defined by sobriety, but a filling of the Holy Spirit!
-What are you filled with?
-I’m not talking about...
1. ...association w/ the Spirit.
2. ...acquaintance w/ the Spirit.
3. ...just having the Spirit.
-I’m talking about being filled with the Spirit.
-When you are filled w/ the Spirit, the Spirit comes out when you are knocked about by life.
-When you are filled with the Spirit, it spills out at work, at home, at church, at the ballfield, at school, etc.
-Are you filled with the Spirit? (Those filled with the Spirit are not drunkards!)
V. A Little Church History
-The church only exists in a place where it is receiving (& transmitting) the Holy Spirit!
-What place is that?- Revival
-Let me give you a little church history...
-First Great Awakening (1730-1740's)
1. Jonathon Edwards (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).
2. George Whitfield (methodist)
3. Many congregational style churches (Baptist) emerge
4. Separate Baptists came out of this. (Their verse was: 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Come out from among them, and be ye separate.")
5. It was an awakening/revival of the church!
-There is a need of revival when the church isn’t what it should be!
1. Church lacks power today!
2. The church needs revival!
3. The devil/world cannot stop revival in the church, only you & I (the church) can do that!
-Second Great Awakening (1800-1840's)
1. Presbyterian pastor organized a revival in Cane Ridge, KY.
2. Thousands came out.
3. Baptists and Methodists joined in as it spread across KY and the US.
4. Cumberland Presbyterian Church emerges from the 2nd great awakening!
5. Focused on saving the lost.
6. Pushed controversial issues like temperance, women’s rights, & slavery.
7. Spiritual leaders...
8. Alexander Campbell- Christian Church
9. Methodist Church needs more people like Francis Asbury & Peter Cartright
10. Presbyterian Church needs more people like Charles Finney, Lyman Beecher (temperance),
-There is a need of revival when there are lost people!
-Third Great Awakening (1880's-1900's)
1. AKA- Holiness Movement
2. Church of the Nazarene came from 3rd awakening
3. Salvation Army came from this revival too.
4. Focused on life change after revival services were over!
5. Eventually birthed the Pentecostal movement.
-There is need of revival when lives do not match professions.
VI. Just Momentum?
-Are we running the church on momentum from years past? (past revivals? past generations?)
-Ill. It is said that out west on level, straight track a train going 40-50 mph will go for 15 or more miles on momentum.
-Are we preaching, singing, & testifying on yesterday’s blessings?
-The church has truth on its side!
1. It has the Gospel!
2. It has the Holy Spirit!
3. But I am afraid we haven’t utilized any of that.
-Ill. A train on its tracks came to a stop away from any station.
1. Passengers: "Haven’t you got any water for the boiler engines?"
2. Engineer: "Yes, but we don't have a fire."
-The church needs fire again!
VII. A Divided Church?
-Some have said: "Alcohol has brought division in our community."
-Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
-But in the accusation of division it is implied that the church is divided on this issue... not true.
-Truth is: No church or pastor in Green County is in support of selling alcohol.
-The church of green county stands in one accord on the issue of alcohol sales; it says: NO!
-Do you see what’s happening here? (We are in one accord!)
VIII. The Point?
-The Point: The church only exists when lives are being changed and disciples being made by the Spirit!
-We need an awakening today!
-We need a Pentecost!
-Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
-The second great awakening began in little Cane Ridge, KY. Anyone know where that is?
-Critic: "We’re just a little county.What can we do?"
-Few people may have Greensburg, KY on their map, but few people had Cane Ridge, KY on their map until God broke out among the people!
-All of the ingredients are right for another Pentecost!
IX. Conclusion
-If all we ever accomplish in ministry is keeping alcohol out of Green County we will have failed.
-The ministry of the church is to bring about a spiritual awakening to God’s truth.
-I believe it is coming!
-Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but it is coming!
-God is going to reveal himself to our community!
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