Saturday, December 28, 2019

Passion 365 One Thing

Pericope: Phil 3:12-14
Sermon Text: Phil 3:13…but this one thing I do…
Sermon Title: Passion 365: One Thing
Point 1: What wasn’t finished will be!  Philippians 1:6 NLT And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Point 2:  Paul refused to read his press clippingsVs 13a - Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;
Paul dis-avowed both his accomplishments and his mistakes in verse 3-7 - 3for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 4although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  
Point 3: Paul stretched but he didn’t his stress Vs13 B - but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead
The one thing Paul did is the one thing we will do.  We will do like Paul – stretch ourselves.  Stretch our faith.  Stretch our comfort zones.  Stretch our hopes and dreams. Paul put it this way in vs. 14 - I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
1.    Be tenacious – 2 Cor. 11:23-29 NLT - 23 Are they servants of Christ?  …I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stonedThree times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.  28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches
2.   Don’t let anyone temper your vision – 2 Cor. 12:1 - This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord.
3.   Be a holy terror to the enemy – Eph 6:11, 13 - 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
Life Application
1.   Forget the past – look forward to the future – 20/20 vision for living. If you don’t let the past die it won’t let you live.
2.   Register for Lifegroups to prepare for a successful 2020

3.   Don’t stop being passionate for Christ the game ain’t over.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Many Reasons for Christmas Pt 4 - The Generosity of God


Review: The Many Reasons of Christmas Pt. 1 - Sin
Point 1: The reason for Christmas is God’s quid pro quo.
Point 2:  The reason for Christmas is it takes away the loneliness. Matthew 1:23
Point 3:  The reason for Christmas it reveals the real you. Luke 2:9 
Point 4: The reason for Christmas is it brings joy.   Luke 2: 10
The Many Reasons of Christmas Pt 2 - Love
Point 1:  God is in Charge of Love. Vs 7, 8 3:1 7
Point 2:  You cannot get away from Gods Love. Eph 3: 18, 19
Point 3:  God’s love takes away our sin. Vs 9,10 (TLB)
Point 4: Love is a verb.  Vs 11, 12
The Many Reasons for Christmas Part 3 Five Reasons to Forgive
Point 1: Forgiveness promotes contrition. vs. 26
Point 2: Forgiveness cancels debt – vs. 24, 27
Point 3:  Forgiveness corrects the community.  Vs. 30-32
Point 5: Forgiveness sets you free.
Life Application:
            Heavenly Father, _________ has taken _____ from me.  I have held on to this debt long enough.  I choose to cancel this debt.  _________ doesn’t owe me anymore.  Just as you forgave me, I forgive ____________. 
1.    Determine what they owe you.
2.    The debt cannot be repaid so cancel it.
3.    Apologies promises and restitutions cannot erase an experience.
4.    Forgiveness is a verb and act of your will not your feelings.
5.    Ignore the rattling chains. 
Sermon Text: John 3:16 Living Bible (TLB) 16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Point 1: Generosity breaks the hold of stinginess Matthew 5:40-42 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Matthew 6:2-3, 24 - 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others…3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 24 “… or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Point 2: Giving prioritize your life Matthew 16:26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Point 3: Giving puts others first John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
a)          Prov. 11:24 NLT - 24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 
b)          b) Prov. 21:13 NLT - 13 Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need. 
c)          Prov 28:27 NLT - 27 Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing,  but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed. 
Point 4: Giving pays it forward Matt 6:19-20NLT 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
Luke 16:9-11 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Point 5: Giving makes us more godly John 3:16 MESSAGE - 16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Life application
1.  I will be more generous with my life by giving my life to Jesus
2.  I will be more generous with my time by registering for lifegroups today.
3.  I will be more generous with my money by giving to the generosity matching today.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Many Reasons for Christmas Part 3: Forgiveness

2

Review: The Many Reasons of Christmas Pt. 1 - Sin
Point 1: The reason for Christmas is God’s quid pro quo. 
Point 2:  The reason for Christmas is it takes away the loneliness. Matthew 1:23 
Point 3:  The reason for Christmas it reveals the real you. Luke 2:9  
Point 4: The reason for Christmas is it brings joy.   Luke 2: 10 
The Many Sounds of Christmas Pt 2 - Love
Point 1:  God is in charge of Love. Vs 7, 8 3:1 7 
Point 2:  You cannot get away from Gods Love. Eph 3: 18, 19 
Point 3:  God’s love takes away our sinVs 9,10 (TLB) 
Point 4: Love is a verb.  Vs 11, 12
Clip #1 courtroom scene Sermon Bumper
Pericope: Mt 18:21-35 - 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’  30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Sermon Text: Matt 18: 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Sermon Title: The Many Reasons for Christmas Pt 3 – 5 Reasons to Forgive
Introduction: Peter raises the question that we all have asked…HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE DO TO THIS. In fact how do I forgive someone like this brother did in the clip?
Point 1: Forgiveness promotes contrition.vs. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
Psalms 51:17 - My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
In the parable Jesus talks about forgiveness in response to Peter’s question we find the person who needs forgiveness begging for it.  He is in a posture of brokenness.  He loses all sense of pride.  He begs in a way that is commensurate to what he owes.  He does not debate whether he should ask for forgiveness.  He lays it all on the line.
Scripture calls it contrition.  Contrition is complete brokenness.  The Greek definition means a crushing from the inside out.  One scholar said it is a full internal repentance that happens from the inside out.  David put it this way in Ps. 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart   you, God, will not despise.
Psalms 51:17 THE MESSAGE
Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship
   when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice..
David said it is the sacrifice that gets God’s attention.   
Forgiveness promotes this kind of repentance.  
Point 2: Forgiveness cancels debt – vs. 24, 27 TLB - 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him $10 million!$10 million, literally, “10,000 talents.” Approximately £3 million. 27 “Then the king was filled with pity for him and released him and forgave his debt.
According to the text the man who begged for forgiveness was forgiven a debt totaling $10,000,000.  Clearly that was an amount he could never pay off in a lifetime.  The average high school graduate will only make 1.5 million in a lifetime.  So he would need several lifetimes to pay off the debt, but no need because he was forgiven the debt.  
How would you like to be forgiven a debt you cannot pay off?  Immediately we think of our mortgage or car payment or student loans or maybe business loan.  Well you have a bigger debt than that.  It accumulates interest from the day you were born.  That’s your sin debt.  Your sin debt has three categories.  Sin of adoption.  Sin of commission and sin of omission.  Under the sin of commission we have sin we purposely do and accidentally do.
People will take on your offense and forgiveness or lack thereof.  When someone hurts you, your friends get upset.  They will stay mad as long as you do.  when you say you have forgiven the person more often than not they will too.  This is not only true on the individual end but also the larger community.  Example:  Nelson Mandela South Africa Truth Commission.  The opposite is happening in our country.  President Trump says something offensive.  Doubles down.  Everyone retreats to their tribes with no forgiveness.  Forgiveness can correct the problems in our community if we do it.  Christmas is the power of forgiveness.  That’s why pardons are given during Christmas.  
Transition:  Forgiveness promote contrition.  Forgiveness cancels. 
Point 3:  Forgiveness corrects the community.  Vs. 30-32 -  30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
In the text Jesus added this interesting exchange between the man that’s forgiven, a person you owed him and their friends.  The exchange goes something like this:  the forgiven man sees someone who owes him.  He refuses to pay him back because he does not have the money. He askes for forgiveness but does not receive it.  This causes an uproar in the community.  Their friend immediately goes to tell the owner.  
This gives us some insight about what happens in a community when forgiveness takes place.  The community is estranged because of this.  This shows the power forgiveness has in the community.  Forgiveness corrects the community.  Forgiveness also causes you to confront your own conviction.  
Point 4: Forgiveness causes you to confront your own conviction.  Vs. 34-35 -  34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
In the final verses of the parable Jesus shows us how serious God takes forgiveness.  Failure to forgive brings conviction on us and sets the person who offended free.  In other words, Jesus the parable teaches the man who did not forgive after he was forgiven suffered a worse fate.
When you don’t forgive you are held prisoner by your unforgiveness.  It’s drinking poison hoping the other person will die.  Jesus put it this way in Matt 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Point 5: Forgiveness sets you free
Clip Mother Emanuel church scene SC
Life Application:
Heavenly Father, _________ has taken _____ from me.  I have held on to this debt long enough.  I choose to cancel this debt.  _________ doesn’t owe me anymore.  Just as you forgave me, I forgive ____________.  
1. Determine what they owe you.
2. The debt cannot be repaid so cancel it. 
3. Apologies promises and restitutions cannot erase an experience.
4. Forgiveness is a verb and act of your will not your feelings.
5. Ignore the rattling chains.  

Virtual Family Sunday Questions

What ways can we create community as a family? How has our viewership/church attendance enhanced or diminished our family covenant? What way...