Sermons About World
House Rules Part 3
If you are even a casual student of scripture, you will find that there are just some verses and commands in the Bible that just seem...well...hard. There are just some verses that seem practically impossible to obey and some almost don't even make sense. We look at them and think, "Well God, you will just have to do that in me if you want me to do that because I don't see that happening. For example: - Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. o Are you kidding me? Why would I hate my parents? - Matthew 5:39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. o We devise elaborate explanations about why we don't to obey this one. - Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. o We hear that and think, "Yeah, but there are few people that I know I am better than." There are always good, practical theological explanations for these verses, but when it comes down to it, obeying them is just flat out hard Here is thing. When we hear those verses and we think, "God is just going to have to do that if He wants me to obey," we are actually thinking correctly. We often fall into the mistake of thinking all the other verses in the Bible are easily within our grasp. If that was the case, Jesus surely didn't need to die. I Corinthians 15 makes it clear that Jesus' death on the cross was for the payment of our sin and His resurrection was for our new life. The only reason you and I can obey with a desire to glorify God is because Jesus' enables us to now. Otherwise we would be the dead men we've always been. You know there is an old hymn that sings, "I was sinking deep in sin/far from the peaceful shore." That hymn though sweet is completely wrong. We aren't sinking deep in sin; we are dead in our sin. The hymn really should sing, "I was lying dead in sin on the bottom of the ocean floor." If we are going to obey any verse, hard or not, it is because the Spirit helps us to obey. We don't discount the hard work obedience is, but as soon as we get away from dependence on God for that obedience, we have become lazy in our walk with Christ despite the contrary. Well this week in the book of 1 John, we are going look at one of these hard, nearly impossible passages of scripture. We want to pursue it well and understand its application for us, and then we want to ask our God to help us to obey.
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Loving like Jesus
As we move toward Christmas, our eyes are turned toward Jesus. The Christmas story centers on His birth and introduces us to God's plan to win us back to Himself. We speak of the "incarnation" of Jesus - the act of His "taking on flesh" so that he might walk among us, love us, and ultimately give His life for us. "Incarnational" has become a very popular word in evangelical writings in the past 5-10 years - and more than being just the current "buzz-word" I believe it relates very well to the series of messages we've just completed, as well as putting feet to our mission of "loving people, following Jesus, and serving the world." In Christ, God took on flesh, so that He might relate to us. We in turn are called to step into the lives of others - to literally be "Jesus with skin on" to a world that needs to see and know the love of God.
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Hands that change the world...
We're wrapping up our series this weekend. We've covered a ton of material, but the bottom line really comes down to a pragmatic question; what are we going to do with what we know? These messages have been "meat and potatoes" type messages; no smoke and mirrors, no rocket science, no mysteries, just the basics. We know that we are called to: "LOVE PEOPLE, FOLLOW JESUS, AND SERVE THE WORLD." So.....? I want to leave you with this challenge. If you claim the name of Christ, then your life is no longer "yours." It belongs to Christ. And your agenda must now fall in line with His! So what is it that God is calling you to? Will our world be a better place because we were here? Are you willing to stand alone? Key Passage: Daniel 1:8 & 19
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I want more!
We've come full-circle in our discussion. I don't think you can prioritize the order of importance of evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, and service; they all happen to some degree simultaneously. However, there are two ends to this journey. God calls us "out" of the world and back to Himself. The word "ecclesia" literally means the "called out ones." At the other end of the spectrum, we have the missional and sending heart of the Father that pushes us back out into the world. As He sent Jesus - He sends us! What a privilege to live "on mission" with and for God Himself! That's a calling worth stepping in to! Key Passage: Micah 6:8
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What's Right with the World, Part 1
In a world where everything seems to be going wrong, we will gather to be obedient to Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.â€
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Three Things We Know II -- 1 John 5:18-20
How does a person stand firm in the faith in the face of the temptations of this world? As we look at the second of the three things that John said believers should know, and see that really knowing that, really knowing that directs your mind to look to Christ who transformed you.
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Come Out Of Her My People
God is calling his people to come out of the world. He is calling us out of the world's priorities, the worlds lies, the worlds passions and is calling us to Christ. As long as our priorities are on the world, they will not be on Christ. God is calling us to come out of her and come to Christ.
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Who is The Church for?
In this sermon John Hugh looks at what the Church is supposed to look like in the world.
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