“Think these thoughts”
1. You have to be “In the Lord”
2. Focus on what’s good
3. Gain perspective
How the Sinless looks at the sinner
Message: How the Sinless looks at the sinner
Text: Philippians 2:1-8
~Jesus esteems you above Himself. He puts your interests before His own…He loves you more than Himself.
~Jesus created you so He could love you, not vice versa. Love is a gamble for us, not for Jesus. If Jesus’ ultimate purpose was to create someone who would love Him, He would be in a permanent state of disappointment.
~Jesus can love us without needing to be loved in return. But we are different: we need Jesus to love us, and we need to love Him.
~A living, loving fellowship with Jesus is one of the most important things He created you for. Loving Jesus more may be the missing key in your life.
“If only…”
Covetousness
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 12:13-21
Popular bumper sticker, “He who finishes with the most toys wins” Wins what?
Covetousness, “wanting and/or wanting to accumulate things…and more things.”
One held it because he wanted it. The other wanted it because he could not hold it.
“take your ease…” Tend to the garden God has given you until God tells you to quit.
“many years…” Things as insurance.
“this night…” If God provides you with time, He will provide for the time. Time is more precious than any thing.
I, my, mine – 11
God – 0
Jason Boyett, "We work more hours to make more money. We make more money to buy more stuff. We buy more stuff to make our leisure time more enjoyable. Then we sacrifice that free time in order to work more."
Does Your Sin Bother You?
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 12:10-12
Holy Spirit convicts and leads
Vs 10 Is there any sin more powerful than the redeeming blood of Jesus? This is an issue much deeper than any specific sin.
When is the first Biblical recording of Holy Spirit conviction of sin?
Instead of, “Why is there bad in the world…Why is there good in the world?” Why do we know the difference?
“Grieving, resisting, quenching” The unpardonable sin is the sin you are no longer asking pardon for. Stay current.
Vs 11-12 Don’t worry about it…
“You can’t cross a bridge before you get to it.”
Yesterday’s faith is not for today. Today’s faith is not for tomorrow…it is only for today. Prepare as much as you can, then allow God to do as He has already prepared. Wherever you go, He is already there waiting for you.
Start and Keep Going
A man named Joseph, Mary, swaddling clothes, stable, manger, angels…a sword
Keeping our eyes on the prize at the end of the journey
Vance Havner, "If the Christian allows it, men will tone him down, steal the joy of his salvation, and reduce him to the dreary level of the general average. If the devil cannot keep us from being saved, he next endeavors to make average Christians of us."
John Stott on nominal Christianity, "They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved; enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience."
Are You Ashamed of Jesus?
Being ashamed or embarrassed because of Jesus. What is the only real reason we would be ashamed of Jesus?
Our witness and our worship—our words and our actions.
We greatly underestimate what people think.
What is the only reason Jesus has to be ashamed of you?
Coach Woody Hayes, "The first time I stood in the middle of the Ohio stadium with its 86,000 seats staring down at me, I was shook up. I stood there holding my son's hand and I thought of the fans and how angry they can get if you lose. Then I thought of all the people who were depending on me to develop a winning team. For a moment I felt fearful. My young son must have sensed my fear for he gripped my hand and said, 'Dad, look at the field, it's the same as all the others.'"
The Nature of God.
Acts 17:14-33
Beware!!
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 12:1-7
Beware!
Life is always a progression. What are you becoming?
A lie can never outrun the truth.
Dutch proverb: Even the lie runs ever so fast; the truth overtakes at last.
Satan is not the master of hell or anything else. Hell is simply his eternal destination. Jesus is the master of everything and everywhere. There is not one inch of creation that is not His.
Why does hell matter? Why is it important?
There is consequence for everything we do, everything matters. There is action/reaction, sowing/reaping.
Religion-Rules-Relationship
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:45-54
Vs 46 – Bible is full of “Good News” and is meant to lift us up, not weigh us down.
Religion – Rules – Relationship
Vs 47-51 – Most of us will not be guilty of killing God’s prophets, but how can we be guilty of killing the things of God?
Vs 52 – Standing in the way.
The difference between being an offense or a blessing is sometimes just a manner of speaking.
David Larsen, "There are three kinds of people; the constructive, the obstructive and the destructive."
What is seen verses what is unseen.
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:37-44
Vs 39-41, Caring more about what people see than what they can’t see.
Vs 42, organizational/relational; measurable/immeasurable; impersonal/personal; distant/close; Easy to write a check/harder to hold a hand, say a prayer…
Vs 43-44, you love how others see you, but they aren’t seeing the real you.
Real change can only start in private, never in public. Changing the real you:
~Two people always see you?
~Honest when no one is watching
~Holy when no one is watching
~Always the same everywhere
A.W. Tozer, "If you can find what I think about when I am free to think about whatever I will, you will find the real me."
Generations
~A generation’s opportunity.
Judgment according to opportunity. Generations respond differently to the gospel.
~A generation’s potential.
Why do you think God made you?
Whatever it is you are doing, is it what God made you for?
Do you think there is more potential in you than what you are seeing right now?
What do you think God could do with you if you really opened your life to Him and let Him have His way?
This is time sensitive, whatever you’re going to do you must do it before your generation ends.
Winston Churchill on becoming Prime Minister, "At last I had authority to give directions over the whole scene.I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial."
Worship, The Word, Prayer(Part 3)
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:24-26
Ephesians 5:18
“…be filled with the Spirit.”
The disciplines of:
Worship
The Word
Prayer
Prayer:
The devil loves empty.
Jesus loves full.
The devil loves to look back.
Jesus loves to look ahead
Romans 8:26 We learn to pray by praying. A big part of prayer is God doing for us what we can’t do.
Tom Elliff, "The needs of our lives today are part of God's plan to keep us praying."
Therese of Liseux, "Prayer arises, if at all, from incompetence, otherwise there is no need for it."
Worship, The Word, Prayer(Part 2)
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:24-26
Ephesians 5:18 “…be filled with the Spirit.”
The disciplines of:
Worship
The Word
Prayer
The Word:
2 Timothy 3:16
Romans 15:1-5 There is an Author behind the author.
Hebrews 11, “By faith ______...”
John Stott, "We must never divorce what God has married, namely His Word and His Spirit. The Word of God is the Spirit's sword. The Spirit without the Word is weaponless; the Word without the Spirit is powerless…Christians who neglect the Bible simply do not mature."
Worship, The Word, Prayer(Part1)
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:24-26
We want to be master of ourselves and we may deceive ourselves that it is possible, but it is not. The fastest growing religion in the world is religion-less…none.
Removal is not reformation.
Rehabilitation is not regeneration.
A million “I don’ts” won’t make one “I do.” We’re still empty inside.
Ephesians 5:18 “…be filled with the Spirit.” The disciplines of:
Worship
The Word
Prayer
Worship: I see who Jesus is. I see who I am. And I see the difference.
It is about giving; adoration; praise…
We come intending to give and we then receive in the worship process. We give to Jesus and we give to each other.
Crying Stones, Luke 19:37-40
Two reasons to not worship: 1) You’re ashamed 2) You have forgotten what Jesus has done for you. You no longer see it. Others do, but you don’t.
A House Divided
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:13-23
Jesus did not conquer Satan by dividing his house, Colossians 2:13-15. Dividing-opposite of unity-is a trick Satan has to play to gain anything.
Ephesians 6:12
The problem with all my relationships is always __________.
The problem with all my relationships is always __________.
“The Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
A Parable of Contrasts.
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:5-13
A parable of contrasts. The comparison is in the contrast.
Contrast the person:
~It’s never midnight for God, there is no bad time because for Him there is no time.
~God is never troubled by you.
~He is never too busy with other people and other things.
~So God never needs to change His mind about answering you.
Contrast the request:
Stone/bread; serpent/fish; scorpion/egg
Thank God He gives what we need, not just what we ask for!
What we really need in this world to have real life is the Holy Spirit!
Make Now Count
Teach Us To Pray
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 11:1-4
Spirituality is contagious (but almost everything is)
Jesus’ shortened version of The Lord’s Prayer recorded by Luke:
Praise
Need for today
Forgive me & help me to forgive
Help with my tendency to sin
Practice teaches you how to pray.
Need teaches you to pray.
One of our greatest needs is to see our need.
Oswald Chambers, "Be yourself before God and present your problems, the things you know you have come to your wits' end over. As long as you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything."
Dr. Ole Hallesby, "Only he who is helpless can truly pray."
Eugene H. Peterson, "A religion without miracles has only marginal worth; why bother with religion if you can do it all yourself anyway?"
Priorities
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 10:38-42
~This is the same Mary & Martha who had a brother, Lazarus
~Like many followers of Jesus, the sisters aren’t facing an issue of right & wrong, but priority. Which is actually harder to discern sometimes. The issues are service or worship/discipleship (sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him)
~The reason they have to deal with priority is because of time…Jesus has only a limited amount of time to be in their home. We have only a limited amount of time so we are continually having to prioritize…choosing.
~Never make petty the priority. But petty never seems petty to us until compared to something much more important. Pettiness is always pulling us downward, worship is always drawing us upward.
~All of us are steadily heading toward a point in our future where time stops and eternity begins…where time meets eternity. That’s when we meet Jesus face to face. What is more important than that?
Which side of the "road" are you traveling?
Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 10:25-37
30-37 The Good Samaritan, part 2
Cast of characters
Neighbor: we know nothing about him, who the lawyer thought would be the star of the story
Priest: from the family of Aaron. Ordained, anointed, sanctified. Publicly stands between God and the people.
Levite: helper to the priests. Maintains the temple and helps with sacrifices. A public worker.
Samaritan: a half breed Jew. Hated by the Jews and a hater of the Jews.