Sept. 9, 2018: We need a Messiah

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We Need A Messiah

Mess. Messiah. More than a Moment

  • 2:45 - A Messiah doesn’t come if there’s not a mess.

  • 15:38 - Be with Jesus.

  • 18:00 - Everybody’s got a mess. The Question is: What are you doing with that mess?

  • 21:15 - Jesus is with the mess.

  • 28:00 - And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

  • 29:20 - The call of the Messiah is not to put your name in a book. The call of the Messiah is for you to follow the Messiah every single day.

  • Be with Jesus.

Sept. 2, 2018: Philippians 3 Part II

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Philippians 3

  • 3:50 - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. vs 12-14

    • Upward call of God =  “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” vs 20-21

    • Our hope is this world is transformed when Jesus comes again.

  • 7:40 - God’s made his will for your life crystal clear.

    • And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30

    • Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1:4-5

  • 10:30 - Take your focus off of when & where and focus on the how.

    • Holiness reflects how you go about life.

  • 12:25 - You get to reflect the image of Jesus Christ.

  • 14:55 - Why are we struggling to conform to the image of Jesus Christ?

    • We have no team around us.

      • Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. vs. 17

      • Who are you pouring into?

    • We have no intentional concentration.

      • We need a team around us to help sustain discipline.

    • We’re confused in our allegiances.

      • But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ vs. 20

      • Our citizenship in heaven directs our citizenship in America.

      • Only Jesus Christ deserves all of our allegiance.

  • 28:00 - Love with wisdom.

  • 32:30 What’s the one thing I can do this week to bring my life in alignment with Jesus?

August 26, 2018: Philippians 3

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Philippians 3

  • 4:30 - Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. vs 2
    • Look out for those are are leading the church, teaching something that doesn't match up with the Word. 
  • 8:15 - Christianity isn't about just believing anything you want.
  • 8:55 - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. vs 8
    • The central idea of Christianity is not religious activity.
    • The central idea of Christianity is knowing Jesus.
  • 11:20 - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. vs 9
    • Jesus is the only reason you can stand before the throne of God.
  • 15:40 -  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. vs 10-11
  • 18:00 - What are the implications of Christianity?
    • When we know Jesus Christ the past is forgotten.
      • Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. vs 13
    • Religious activity is dangerous.
      • It can isolate us from people who need Jesus the most.
      • It separates us from others.
    • We can say so long insecurity!
      •  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. vs 12
    • So long low grade guilt.
      • There is no good Christian or non-Christian. There is ONE who is good. Jesus Christ.
      • Boldness comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
  • Do you KNOW Jesus?

August 12, 2018: Faith & Work

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Faith & Work

  • Ideas have consequences
  • 6:28 - Before sin entered the world what was there? Work.
    • Work is a gift from God.
    • That which you are doing each day is a gift from God.
  • 12:10 - Do you know they "why" behind your work?
  • 13:00 - How do I work to bring God praise
    • Work as though you are working for the Lord.
      •  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. - Colossians 3:23-24
    • Do our work according to the purposes of God.
      • God does not like dishonest scales.
      • "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[b]they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16
      • Cloth yourself in the character of Christ, even while at work.
  • 22:00 - The identity that we have at work.
    • Your identity is this: You are a son or a daughter of the creator of this universe. 
    • Ephesians 1
    • What's determining your value?
    • You are a child of God, not a product of your work.
    • Are you a healthy worker?
  • Are you a healthy worker?
  • 28:33 - Can you rest from your work and be present with people?
  • 28:50 - Pursue work as an opportuity to dliever God's goods to the world.

August 5, 2018: Praise the Lord

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Praise the Lord

  • Ephesians 1:3-14
  • For What?
  • 2:10 - The whole point of this sentence is to Praise God.
  • 2:25 - Three different stanzas that are the same
    • Vs 6 - To the praise of his glorious grace.
    • Vs 12 - To the praise of his glory.
    • Vs 14 - To the praise of his glory.
  • Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
  • Praise - Halal - Rave
  • 11:15 - Everybody here knows very well how to praise. The question is, are we fully engaged in praising the One who deserves it all of the time?
  • 16:00 - Psalm 150:2 - Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! 
    • Why do we praise God? Because of the deeds he has done and who He is.
  • 17:30 - Nothing can touch what God has done and why God deserves praise. Therefore we have a reason to praise God.
  • 18:45 - No matter what your circumstances are today, you need to have your focus in one of two places, the cross or the empty tomb.
  • 21:00 - The most joyful people are the ones that are giving.
  • 22:05 - "A dislike of enthusiasm can be one of the biggest hinderances to revival." - Martin Lloyd Jones
    • When there's not engagement in praise which you were created to do, theres not going to be engagement in the mission of God, which brings revival.
  • 23:15 - Your for what is to praise the living God.

July 29, 2018: How to Love People

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How to Love People

  • 2:45 - Only one person has perfectly fulfilled how to love people: Jesus Christ
  • How to Love like Jesus
  • 3:45 - Be with people
    • Jesus Christ spent time with people.
    • There is power in presence.
  • 13:05 - Sacrificing for people
    • John 15:12-13 - “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
    • Sacrifice for others helps the other person understand the value they have to you.
    • You have to be willing to prefer the other for the sake of loving the other. Sacrifice for the other. 
  • Speak truth to people
    • Jesus was full of grace and truth.
    • Remember that how and when you speak truth matters.
    • That which we dwell with is what we will resemble.
  • 28:30 - We know love because Jesus loves you. 

July 22, 2018: Understanding People

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Understanding People

  • Love God, Love People
  • 1:32 - Love is the fulfillment fo the whole law
    • The whole law was written as a description of how to love people.
  • 8:50 - What does the Bible say about people?
  • 9:08 - Two overarching things that all of us have in common: M&M's
    • 1) All of us are much more beautiful than we recognize
    • 2) All of us are much more rebellious than we acknowledge
  • 9:55 - The beauty of humanity.
    • Psalm 8:5-8
      5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
          and crowned him with glory and honor.
      6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
          you have put all things under his feet,
      7 all sheep and oxen,
          and also the beasts of the field,
      8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
          whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
    • You are valuable because God values you.
    • We are beautiful because we are created by God.
    • James 3:9 - With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
  • 16: 40 - The brokenness of humanity.
    • Romans 3:9-18 - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” "The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes. 
    • Romans 5:10 - For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
    • 1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
    • In and of ourselves, we cannot choose Jesus. This is how rebellious we are.
    • "Sin is not some surface blemish on what is otherwise a beautiful human face. Instead it is radical. It effects the core of our being." D.A. Carson
  • 26:13 - Regeneration. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on your behalf.
  • 26:35 Understanding people is going to drive us to love people
  • 26:50 Understanding people is going to drive us to bring a Savior to them.

July 15, 2018: John 4

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  • 4:05 - John 4:10 - Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
  • 4:28 - John 4:14 - but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
    • What is the offer that Jesus is making? Eternal life.
  • 5:08 - John 4:6 - Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
  • 8:00 - John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
    • Eternal life is not life in heaven, it is a relationship with God. 
  • 11:05 - The offer that Jesus makes is uncontainable. 
  • 13:20 - Jesus intentionally changes His path to encounter one who needs Him.
  • 16:10 - We cannot let familiarity with the Bible bring about comfort with Jesus. 
    • Jesus is not comfortable. Jesus would be with the very people who make Him uncomfortable. 
  • 18:50 - The gift is for you.
  • 20:45 The gift is for others. It is meant to be shared.
    • Go to the well.
    • Know their story.
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July 8, 2018: Idolatry (Rich Merkouris)

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Idolatry

  • 2:42 Jeremiah 2:13 - for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
  • Jeremiah 2:11 - Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
  • 4:40 Idolatry is giving honor to someone or something other than God, and expecting that which only God can give.
  • 6:05 Jeremiah 2:18 - And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
  • 11:40 Romans 1:28-31 - And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
  • The root of the problem is idolatry.
  • To break idolatry we need to go back to God. 
  • How do we encounter the living God? Through the Word of God.
  • 18:30 For principles to think about when reading the Old Testament
    • It's not about you
    • What is God making known about himself and His purposes?
    • Who and why?
    • There's different genres of writing.
  • 27:50 The worst deal of all time is when we give up the Glory of God for a temporary good thing.
    • How do we overcome it? 
      • By making the greatest deal of all time: 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

June 24, 2018: Giving (Rich Merkouris)

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Giving

Luke 21

  • 4:30 What we cling to is revealed in what we give. 
  • 5:33 Luke 20:45-47 - And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.
    • The religious leaders were giving to show rather than giving to glory. This reveals something about their hearts.
  • 6:40 Matthew 15:7-9 - You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: "‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
    • God is interested in your heart because he knows if he gets your heart he gets everything else. 
  • 8:30 Giving is an act of worship. It brings honor to God.
  • 9:40 Genesis 14
    • The tithe is a response to the work of God. 
    • You can't give enough to garner favor with God because God has already shown the highest favor by giving you his son Jesus Christ.
  • 12:00 Genesis 28:20-22 - Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
  • 13:00 Leviticus 27
    • What made it Holy is that it was dedicated to the Lord. Not the quantity.
  • 15:00 Matthew 23:23 - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
  • 17:10 2 Corinthians 9:7 - Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
    • God wants you to bring a tithe because your heart wants to bring the tithe.
  • 19:20 Everything that we have is Gods. 
  • 20:22 God doesn't work from a position of shame. 
  • 21:13 God does not look down upon you by the size or the quantity or ability. He looks on you with favor already because of his son Jesus Christ.
  • Questions:
    • Do I give if I'm in debt? 
      • In the Bible we find a command to give first to God. 
    • How should we give if we are not on the same page as husband and wife?
      • Get to a place of understanding. 
      • Ask each other questions.
    • Does the whole tithe go to the Church?
      • Opinion: No
  • Questions to reflect on yourself: 
    • Why am I giving what I am giving?
    • Am I taking Jesus as His Word?
    • Is the gift you're bringing honoring of the recipient (God)?
  • 34:30 Does God have your heart?
  • 34:50 Are you clinging to God, or is your wallet controlling you?