What are you bargaining with?

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 18:28-34

Lessons to learn:

~Discipleship is not bargaining. God owns everything, He owes no one anything, He doesn’t need to bargain, so why should He?

~We’re afraid that giving will leave us with less, that we will lose what we give. God’s supply is endless, He will never run out of anything, but we’re not sure that’s true.

~God’s supply is endless but may be different than you can imagine.

~So when God closes a door you may need to look for an open window, instead of staring at the closed door. It could be that God has more for your life than going in and out the same old door.

~The Cross: the worst thing has become the greatest thing. That’s what God does.

Good News

Message: Good News…The Gospel 

Luke 2:8-11

The Good News…Hope Promised

Matthew 28:1-8

The Good News…Hope Realized

What would life be like without the gospel? What would be the point?

Christ paid a debt He didn't owe to pay a debt we couldn't pay.

The Gospel is the good news of what Jesus Christ did do, is doing, and will do.

Timothy Keller, "Right there you can see the difference between Christianity and all other religions, including no religion. The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially good news."

This isn’t hard, it’s impossible.

Message: The Gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 18:15-27

Rich…Young…Ruler

Confronted with the impossible.                 This isn’t hard, it’s impossible.

The young man is not only empty, he’s scared, anxious…worried.

“Trusting in the sovereignty of God isn’t really changing anything around me, but neither is my worrying. Trusting God is changing me.”

Replacement theology: John 20:27 (NIV)

Stop worrying

Start trusting

Follow Jesus

Loaned, Not Owned

Message: The Gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 18:15-27

Childlike, not Childish

Rich…Young…Ruler

Full but empty, how can that be?

Jesus isn’t asking him to give it all away, He’s asking him to give it all back. The young man confused loaning with owning.

Isn’t being rich supposed to make you happy? Colossians 3:16

“Genesis teaches that evil enters from an abuse of freedom.”

This Passover

Message: Remember Me…

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:24-26

Luke 22:15, “This Passover…”

The first Passover

Successive Passovers

This Passover, the last one

To Remember: meditate, consciously recall, intentionally looking back

Amplified Version, “affectionately recall”

Vs 24, Jesus and you

It’s easy to start thinking about all the things God is not doing.

Praying "For" not "About"

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 18:9-14

I’m glad that I am so good:

Pharisee prayed to himself about someone else. Comparing himself to these 6 people was his only way to feel good about himself.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "…we must ask ourselves whether we often have not been deluding ourselves about our confession of sin to God - whether we have not instead been confessing our sins to ourselves and also forgiving ourselves. And is not the reason for our innumerable relapses and for the feebleness of our Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living from self-forgiveness and not from the real forgiveness of our sins?"

Praying for someone or about someone?

Have mercy on me because I am so bad:

Mercy is the 1st cousin to grace. Included is not being able to:   pay, earn it, fight back, keep up…I surrender.

Who do you think is the worst person in our church? Look around, who is the worst person in our sanctuary today?

What person in your life is your biggest spiritual hindrance?

Always

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 18:1-8

The comparison in this parable is in the contrast. God is nothing like the unjust judge, they are opposites.

Always: It’s always something!

Lose Heart: There will always be something to tempt you to give up.

There are only 2 choices: Always pray or lose heart (give up)…pray or give up. If you keep praying you won’t give up. If you give up, you have quit praying.

“Speedily” is an understatement.

We struggle with Jesus saying that God answers prayers fast…It doesn’t seem so. We’re wondering when God will start answering our prayer, when He has never stopped. Before you started praying God was already at work.

Ages

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 17:20-37

Periods of time or ages:

1) Before Jesus’ birth

2) When God became man, Jesus

3) After Jesus’ ascension, before His return

4) Eternity, no more time or age

Thoughts:

~Other ages thought they might, but we are the only age who can witness the return of Jesus.

~History tells us that every previous age change happened unexpectedly as far as the people were concerned. Every example Jesus gave is events happening suddenly, without warning. The return of Jesus will happen suddenly, we won’t be expecting it, so we must live _______?

~Hebrews 11:39-12:1 (NLT) Putting life and eternity into perspective.

Seeking

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 17:1-6

1-2 This is for those who offend, difficult people doing terrible things. They will always be and God will deal with them.

3-4 This is you being Christlike no matter what.

5-6 Faith isn’t you uprooting trees, it’s God uprooting trees.

Hebrews 11:6

God is – He is as sovereign as He says He is. Acts 17:26, Colossians 1:17

Explanations & understanding is not faith and does not increase faith. Romans 10:17.

Rewards, diligently seek Him – If our faith wasn’t tested there would be no need for it.

Seek Him, not rewards…focus.

Nothing

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 16:14-31

Divorce: Mt 5:31, 19:9, Mk 10:11-12, 1 Cor 7:10-11, Mal 2:16

This Life 19-21: What do you have to do to go to hell? _________

~His table, his crumbs…was more important than people. Lazarus wanted to be fed, but Jesus didn’t say he was fed.

~His gate…he wasn’t accountable for every beggar.

~His every day…his opportunities

There’s no sin in being rich just as there’s no righteousness in being poor. It’s who you are with what you have.

Eternal Life 22-26:

~Rich man is very aware of Lazarus now, the man he ignored in his other life. He begs for mercy now, the thing he would not give before. He knows where he is & will always be & where others are. He remembers why he’s here…for eternity.

~Lazarus knows he’s comforted for eternity.

Living like those who are going to hell:

Winning and losing implies a contest, a struggle, a fight…Winning implies you might_____. Losing implies you might_____. Failure implies you _____ ______.

Fishing

Message: From the fish to the flock—Peter’s restoration

Text: John 21

Peter was hurting, feeling guilty, and went back to what he knew…or so he thought.

The difference between success and failure was _______________.

Sound familiar? Luke 5:1-11

Jesus knows where ____ ____ are.

Jesus not only forgave Peter, He restored him in such a way that Peter became the rock he was originally meant to be.

A.W. Tozer, “God is looking for those with whom He can do the impossible, what a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.”

Faithful

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 16:1-13

Jesus is not commending his actions but his effort.

Working as hard at righteousness as some do at sin.

Vs 10 (NLT) “Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”

~”More” comes from God. Advancement comes from God but is based on you.

~Your future is somewhat based on, and determined by, your present.

~You may be holding yourself back by faithlessness with what God has already given you.

~You will reap what you sow.

Faithful with the eternal

Rick Warren, "Why should God give you another day if you're going to waste it?"

Church sign for Pleasant Hill Baptist, “Get your tools ready and God will give you work to do.”

Finding Joy

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 15

The reason for one of Jesus’ most important parables is the religious leader’s complaint that Jesus hangs around sinners…and likes them!

In all 3 phases of this parable, joy over the lost being found is the only common denominator.

~You will never find joy by searching for it. You will only find joy by searching for others.

~Joy will not come by anything you do for yourself, only by what you do for someone else.

Hebrews 12:2

Positive: A real sense of Joy!

Negative: A total lack of joy.

So, if joy is about someone else, lack of joy is about me sitting around feeling sorry for myself, or simply thinking about myself too much.

Becoming like the father.

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 15:11-32

We all start out as one of the sons.

Which are you most like?

Younger son—Coming back home:

Was in love with his father’s things, not his father. He was selfish, unloving, uncaring, self-centered, ungrateful, unjoyful.

Older son—Making a home to come home to:

Was in love with his father’s things, not his father. In love with the things his brother wasted, not his brother. He was selfish, unloving, uncaring, self-centered, ungrateful, bitter/angry, unforgiving, ungraceful, unjoyful.

The father—keeping home…home

Romans 8:29, John 17:21

~The father has grown up/matured. He is not like either of his sons. Somewhere in life he stopped acting like a son and started acting like a father.

~Both sons either approach and/or reproach the father, but he is unaffected by their behavior. Fathers keep being fathers no matter what.

~The father stayed home and kept it an inviting place to come home to.

Home

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 15:11-32

The father stayed home waiting for his son, the shepherd went searching for one lamb—which is right? The lamb: wanders off, can’t help himself, doesn’t know what he’s doing.

The son: leaves intentionally, doesn’t think he needs help, thinks he knows what he’s doing.

We all start out as one of the sons, or more like one of the sons, no other choices to start.

Which are you most like?

Younger son—Coming back home:

Was in love with his father’s things, not his father. He was selfish, unloving, uncaring, self-centered, ungrateful, unjoyful.

Older son—Making a home  to come home to:

Was in love with his father’s things, not his father. In love with the things his brother wasted, not his brother. He was selfish, unloving, uncaring, self-centered, ungrateful, bitter/angry, unforgiving, ungraceful, unjoyful.

What would it take to have a joyful home again? Love, acceptance of the person not the lifestyle, forgive & forget, peace…(what else?) 

The Struggle

Message: The Lord is my Shepherd

Text: Psalm 23

1-2 The Shepherd and a lamb

Where there is a shepherd there is a flock. This Psalm is not about a flock, it’s about you:

“The Lord is my Shepherd…”

Genesis 1, God formed man, and He still does.

Psalm 139:13 “knit together in the womb…”

The reason you feel like no one understands you sometimes is because they don’t

3-4 The Guide and the traveler

Paul, Acts 17, “He is never far from any of us…”

God loves you too much to let you go your own way without a struggle.

The reason you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing sometimes is because you don’t.

5-6 The Host and the guest

(When I get home)

Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

The reason you feel out of place sometimes is because you are.

Lost Sheep, Silver, Son

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 15:1-10

Lost sheep, silver, son

 ~Sinners listen to Jesus. Pharisees complain to and about Jesus. Which are you more like?

 ~The: shepherd, 99 sheep, 1 lost sheep

Which are you?

Conundrum: No one needs Jesus more than I do. Many people need Jesus more than I do…because they are lost.

 ~How OCD are you?

Can you stand the sound of one bleating sheep?

Have you forgotten how valuable you are?

 ~You will never find joy by searching for it. You will only find joy by searching for others.

Hebrews 12:2

Joy will not come by anything you do for yourself, only by what you do for someone else.

Conditions of Discipleship

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 14:25-35

Today’s text is about being a disciple of Jesus. Romans 10:9-10 is about salvation in Jesus. They should be the same thing but are usually not.

Discipleship conditions:

~Vs 26 Loving Jesus more than those you love. Jesus does not just ask you to love Him more than bad things, but also more than good things.

~Vs 27 Loving Jesus more than yourself. The discipline of putting Jesus and others before yourself. “Our cross” is not about us, but others. We shape our own cross for Jesus and others.

~Vs 33 Loving Jesus more than everything.

Oswald Chambers, "Jesus said it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something."

Everyone starts out not one. “Great multitudes” will never be disciples, only a few of them will.

So, according to these very demanding conditions, what is the only thing worse than being a disciple of Jesus? ____________

Billy Graham, "Salvation is free, but there is a price to pay in following Jesus."

Serving Jesus in a self serve world.

Message: Serving Jesus in a self serve world.

Text: John 12:1-8

Jesus had a lot of_________

He requires that we be___________

Following Christ requires that we__________

Serving = Sacrifice

It looks different for everyone, but it’s the same…it’s all we have.

The jar can’t be poured out, it has to be broken.

What are you holding onto?

What are you waiting for?

Don’t live with regret!

Vaclav Maly (Czech Priest), "They stripped our faith of all the superfluous things.  They took away church property.  Only someone willing to make a personal sacrifice could make a confession of faith.  Young people entered the church because they understood this sacrifice."

The Good Things That Hinder

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 14:1, 15-24

Church members shouldn’t need to be invited, they should be inviting.

 Looking at them. Looking at you:

~Hands that are already so full there’s no room for anything more. A calendar that is already so full…

For many of us though, the cause and affect has been turned around.

~Need is the great spiritual game changer. When you see need, that is your sign from God.

Mother Teresa, “I knew that God had something for me to do, because He gave me the health to do something.”

~Strangers. Unexpected opportunity. What is your most important ministry opportunity__________?

Apostle Peter, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you…”