Sovereign King Church Sermons
Web Site: Sovereign King Church
Total Sermons: 69
Total Amens: 2
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Membership Class Session 2 Part B
A teaching as well as question and answer session about Sovereign King Church, church membership, the PCA, and Biblical example of membership.
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Membership Class Session 2 Part A
A teaching as well as question and answer session about Sovereign King Church, church membership, the PCA, and Biblical example of membership.
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Membership Class Session 1
A teaching as well as question and answer session about Sovereign King Church, church membership, the PCA, and Biblical example of membership.
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The Resurrection Is About Mission
At the heart of Jesus' death and resurrection is His of securing forgiveness of sins. This Easter, how can you better understand Jesus' work in your life and how does that propel to you proclaim it to others?
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Maundy Thursday 2009
- On the night Jesus was betrayed, before He went out to the Mount of Olives to pray, He shared one last meal with His best friends, His disciples. He knew that one of them was ultimately going to betray Him, but He also knew that His disciples were going to need encouragement to endure Jesus' trial and crucifixion. - So He says encouraging words to them trying to address their fears and strengthen them to faithfulness. - I'm sure they didn't fully understand the Gospel even though Jesus has been explaining and even more importantly displaying it for the past three years. - But you know what? Honestly, the gospel is not that easy of a thing to define. - At its worst and most incorrect definition, it is the thing that makes me better than all of those people going to hell. - At its most minimal, it is forgiveness and being given the right to go to heaven. - So what is the Gospel? - Without completely defining it at this moment (I do have a sermon to preach you know), the Gospel is about what we can be in Christ, it is about what He has made us and it is about what He will make us - So, what we are going to see in these few moments is Jesus praying and explaining one more time what the Gospel is. The cool thing? While He is explaining the Gospel, He takes time to pray…for us. From John 17 "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. - Jesus is praying and while He does He asks that God would glorify Him which means that after 3 years of Jesus being denied the glory He deserves, He is finally going to receive it. But Jesus doesn't ask for this glory for His own sake. He asks for it so that He might return that glory to the Father. - And how is Jesus going to return that glory to His Father? He intends to give the Father glory by exercising the authority that is uniquely His. You see, Jesus has authority over - All flesh meaning every living being. Every single human being on this planet is under the authority of Jesus whether or not they know it or admit it. - Jesus' authority is to such an extent that Jesus gives eternal life to everyone that the Father has given Him. - In case the disciples didn't understand what that meant, Jesus explains what eternal life is. He says… - Eternal life is knowing the one true God and Jesus the Savior that the one true God has sent to deliver salvation. - Jesus explains how everything He did while He was here on earth glorified the Father because Jesus accomplished the work that the Father had for Him. - You can see why Jesus is a worthy Savior because in that statement He makes it clear that He never wavered or disobeyed the Father – something we can never claim. - Since we can't claim that, we have no other choice but in every moment of our life to admit our complete and utter dependence on Jesus Christ. - But, Jesus asks once again that the Father glorify Him in the presence of His Father with the glory that Jesus had before time. - Jesus is asking that God the Father to restore things to how they were originally when God the Father and Jesus Christ shared glory perfectly prior to creation and prior to the entrance of sin into this world. - You know when you read this, it has this otherwordly feeling. You get a sense and a picture of Jesus' life with God the Father prior to any of us. Jesus longs for that return of fellowship. - Well, interestingly enough, we do play a part in that returning of glory to Jesus as Jesus prayed for us that night as well. After praying for His disciples He prays… "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." - Jesus prays for us. Jesus prays for you. On the night before He dies, you are His concern. You as an individual. - He prays that we will be one. He prays that we will have a unity like the one Jesus and His Father have and that unity will shine a light to the world telling them of Jesus. - Jesus prays that God the Father would give us a share of the glory that He has given Jesus. Try to fathom that for a minute. Jesus has the power to eternally save which is more than enough but in addition, He also shares the glory that He has with the Father with you and this is what Jesus shares with you. - If you ever wonder sometimes why your life is so full of trials, no that you are experiencing the glory of Christ as He achieved glory by suffering as well. - These things are not mere possibilities – what Jesus prays for happens. It is accomplished. His prayers are within the will of God and are not tainted with ill motive or selfish ambition. Jesus has prayed that we will share in His glory so you will and you do share in His glory. - But in addition, Jesus prays that you will be with Him in Heaven to witness this glory. But notice how He says it. Jesus DESIRES for you to be there. Jesus longs to be with all of us, His children. - You need to remember this. When you sin or better yet let me make it specific… - When you silently curse someone you love - When you silently curse someone who is different than you are - When you very loudly shame another person and take pride in it - When you neglect your responsibilities as a parent - When you neglect your responsibilities as a child or husband or a wife - When you neglect your responsibility as a member of this church - Whatever the sin is that guilts you, you need to remember, Jesus desires to be with you. Jesus desires to restore us and forgive us. - Jesus concludes His prayer by asking His righteous Father this. He says, "The world doesn't know me, but I know you. That is the hope for this world. Jesus knows the Father and He knows the love of the Father. - You know folks, this is the essence of the Gospel: the Gospel is about what we can be in Christ, it is about what He has made us and it is about what He will make us - What can we be in Christ? We can be a unified body of believers proclaiming the glories of Jesus Christ - What have we been made in Christ? We have been made those who are called to share in His glory and share in the love of the Father. - What will He make us? He will make us co-heirs receiving all of these things in perfect relationship in Heaven. - We do not and will not ever deserve these things, but that's what makes it the Gospel right? Let's pray. The Giving of the Lord's Supper Luke 22:14-20 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Benediction: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13
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The Gift of Faith
The book of Ephesians speaks about the Gift of Faith. We often get confused when we hear the word gift in scripture because in our mind, a gift is something you can seemingly choose to accept or not. But faith does not work that way. If you could choose to accept faith or not, then faith would not be a gift. Faith, then would be a grant that you applied for. A gift is not a gift until it is received sort of like unrequited love is wonderfully Shakespearian but not fully expressed love. Let me give you an example. Amy's family always draws names for Christmas presents so we don't have to buy so many different gifts. It also allows us to pick gifts that have more meaning and are a bit more nice for each other. Well this past year, I drew Amy's sister in law in Japan. I found out that she like the show "Monk" so I bought her the season one box set for Christmas. That sounds like a nice gift doesn't it? But it's not really though. You want to know why? Because it is still sitting in our guest bedroom. I haven't mailed it yet. It isn't a gift until it has been officially given to her. Until then, it is just a DVD boxset. The gift of faith that God gives is very unlike my undelivered boxset of the show "Monk." God's gifts are given and received by God's own power. God has given His people the gift of faith to believe in Jesus Christ. And if you believe, it is because God has equipped you with the gift of faith to be a believer. Faith is truly hope for the hopeless. Yes, your heart may have chosen Jesus Christ as your Savior, but only because you have been equipped with the gift of faith to make that choice. Otherwise, scripture tells us that our hearts remain dead in sin apart from the gift of faith. Now, growing in that faith is the challenge of the Christian life. Fortunately, God has given you various means by which you can build up that faith that He has given you. - You can read and study the scriptures. - You can pray and find our hearts transformed into the image of Jesus. - You can worship with other believers. - You can serve the needy. - You can proclaim the Gospel. All of these things serve to deepen and strengthen your faith. And at first, they all make sense in a very practical way. If you approach them like working out, you think, "Okay, reading, praying, worshipping, serving, and proclaiming build up my faith. The more I'll do them; the more strong my faith will be." Now there is an element of truth in what I just said, but there is one glaring omission. To approach building your faith like working out does not require Jesus in any way. All it requires is you. And any approach to your relationship with Jesus without Jesus is inherently non-Christian We ARE to read and study and serve and proclaim but it is all to be done in the strength of Jesus. The gift of faith is not given just so you can then do all of this on your own. That wouldn't make any sense. If you ever wonder why your prayers or your time of study seem ineffectual or powerless, examine your heart and see if your approaching those things with your own wisdom and understanding or whether you are approaching by faith and the power of God. I promise you this, once you throw Jesus Christ in the mix, everything gets a little screwy. Jesus wonderfully shakes us out of the monotony and relentless habits of our lives. You see, in Jesus' economy, the way up is not up, the way to strength is not working out, the way to greatness is not trying to be great. In fact the opposite of all those things is true. The way to life is to die. To love your life is to lose it. The way of honor is the way of service. All of these things run counterintuitive to our culture and even our very own hearts. So we approach the scriptures on the wonderful Palm Sunday celebration, let's ask this Big Picture Question. Big Picture Question: Since following Jesus is paradoxical: we gain nothing but gain everything. We die, yet we live. We lose our life, yet we keep it. What does it look like in your life to fully and unreservedly serve Jesus?
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Where You Go, I Will Go Part 4
At Sovereign King, we have spent the past month discussing the promise that God is at work in this world and in our lives whether or not that work is always visible. A lot of the time, we have no idea where things are going or what God has planned. Because of that, the call of going where God takes us leads to a life of humility, trust, and patience. For example, we've followed Naomi from fleeing Israel during a famine through losing her husband and two sons to her return to Israel with daughter in law, Ruth to her expressed anger at feeling abandoned by God. We've followed Ruth from being a pagan, Moabite to becoming a widow herself to leaving behind her family and culture to professing faith in Jehovah God to working in the welfare fields so she and Naomi can eat to catching the eye of Boaz in whose field she works. Many of us have stories like that where we start in one place in life but wind up in another. Rarely are we able to chart out our life from point A to B and if we do decide where we want to be and wind up there, rarely is the road the one we thought it would be. In our church alone, we have folks who started out as social workers who are now training to be librarians. We have folks who were in the interior design field who now work at hospitals. We have folks who were homeless who are now headed to the military. We have folks who were school teachers who are now...pastors. We have folks who thought they would never get married who have are now happily married, and we have folks who thought they would never have kids but now they do. We may or may not like where we have ended up in life, but the big question all along has been and needs to be, "Can you rise up and call God good and blessed no matter the circumstance?" I mentioned a few weeks ago that God does have a purpose and a plan for everything, but it is important for us to remember that His purpose and a plan is just that…His. And we should think about that at times other than just when things don't go our way. We often hijack our own tribulations with the expectation that God is going to bring about some blessing other than our knowing Jesus better as if knowing Jesus better was not enough. I'm reminded of a conference that I attended a few months ago where one speaker said that failure was God's means of leading us to success. Then the following speaker stood up and said, "Only in America would a Christian say that failure was God's means of bringing you success. When it is all said you and done, you might just fail and all you will have is Jesus. The big question is…is Jesus enough?" Though the book of Ruth seems to be a million miles away from Jesus, I think that is a fair question to ask as we prepare to close this study. So this Sunday at Sovereign King Church, our Big Picture Question is this: Big Picture Question: No matter the consequence, whether good or bad, rich or poor, sickness or health, dreams fulfilled or dreams deferred, is Jesus alone enough for you?
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Where You Go, I Will Go Part 3
***NOTE*** Because of a digital recording glitch, the last ten minutes or so of the sermon were lost in the audio recording. I've spent the last month and half studying prayer, and it has been the most productive and effective study in my entire Christian walk. I can that without any sense of hyperbole. You might ask, "How does one study prayer?" and the answer comes in different forms depending upon whom you ask. - Some would do a concordance study of every instance of the word "pray" or "prayer" in the Bible. - Some would do a study of the Psalms. - Some would read books like "Prayer by E.M. Bounds or "Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home" by Richard Foster All of these are good plans, and I think you could learn a lot by doing them. I however followed the example of a good friend who just….prayed. Now, I've written my prayers out in journals for years because closing my eyes means going to sleep, so with a few helps, I have journaled through the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer now for about a month and a half, and I think I've learned as much about myself as I have about God. I've learned that one of two things happen when you prayer continually about a desire: you either grow comfortable with God's plan and His timing or you grow discontent and bitter with it. This contentment or bitterness of course rises out of whether or not you think God is giving you what you really think is best. I guess a good question to ask would be, "What happens to the heart when you ask God for something for 40 straight days and nothing seems to happen?" Let's be honest. Praying for 40 days in a row may seem like a pretty long time in terms of discipline and passion, but 40 days in a row ain't nothing in light of eternity and how God works His plan. Don't get me wrong. I would love to hear from any of you folks online or the folks at Sovereign King that you are experiencing the joy of a disciplined, prolonged time over prayer over the last 40 days. It is just that none of us have any right to get too proud of ourselves because we got 40 days closer to obeying I Thessalonians 5:17 that says, "Pray without ceasing." We have to remember. God is not impressed with our obedience. It is what He expects from us. Yet still, what happens to the heart if we continue to pray for something and we feel that those prayers are going either unheard or ignored? You know there is a story about how Augustine came to faith. If you read his book "Confessions" you find that Augustine's mother Monica was a godly woman who prayed for her very rebellious son. In fact, at one point, she kicked him out of the house he was so rebellious. Day and night, Monica prayed and cried that Augustine would repent of his sins and profess faith in Jesus Christ. After praying and praying and crying and crying, Monica sought the wisdom of a local bishop. His response was that she should be consoled because the son of so many tears could not be lost to Christ. Of course, years later, Augustine finally professed faith in Christ and became an incredible early church father articulating great doctrines for the church. That story ends well, but it doesn't always. I wish we could say with that Bishop that enough perseverance and enough tears could change God's mind, but the God of the universe doesn't have a beaker full of your tears where He measures your sincerity. He is not waiting for you to hit some unknown amount of sorrow before He relents. No, the promise of answered prayer comes in 1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." Pray the will of God and God answers our requests. But the problem is, outside of the commands of scripture, we don't know the will of God which leaves us petitioning and waiting. As we approach Ruth Chapter 3 this week, we are going to see Ruth and Naomi have high and big hopes for what God might do. They do their part by obeying and keeping to God's word, but along the way, they too have to wait and see what God will do. So as we approach the scriptures this week at Sovereign King, we hope to answer one Big Picture Question. Big Picture Question: Knowing that all of God's decrees and desires come to pass, what is the proper posture of the believer while they wait?
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God at Work
GK Chesterton once said that there are two types of people in this world: those that think the wind causes the trees to move and those that think the trees cause the wind to blow. Chesterton was criticizing people who are oblivious to forces other than themselves in this world. He was criticizing the myopic, tiny world that most people live in which reduces each person to their own god and the world to their own little playground. You know these folks and at times you may be that person yourself: - This is when you take full credit for your accomplishments. - You describe yourself as a self-made man or women - You never get around to thanking God for the way He blesses you. - You never ask God for help. - You always assume you are the smartest person in the room and try to prove it - In some ways, being a Christian makes you feel morally and intellectually superior and that gives you a thrill. Chesterton's observation is akin to the person who never makes mention or thought of God until things in this world do not go there way. Unfortunately, so much of Christianity reduces God to a self-help guru who promises take our lives free of care. Has God done that in the past? Yes, He has kept His people free of sickness at times and He has blessed His people immeasurably with wealth at times. But there are not promises in Scripture that God intends a life free of pain and sorrow for His children. You may not believe in the health and wealth theology but ask yourself what your affection for God is like in difficult times. If your affection for God rises when life is good and dims when life is bad, you have more in common with the health and wealth folks than you think. Reducing scripture to such thinking as "God always intends richness and health for His people" makes God our handmaid, and the God of the Universe is no one's Handmaid. Chesterton's observation is insightful in many ways especially if we consider what we talked about last week at Sovereign King. After examining Ruth 1, we walked away with a picture of God not merely as the reporter of stories in the Bible. Instead, we see that God presents Himself as the author of all circumstances. He guides and directs our steps, and He is the one who ordains the good and the calamity of life. He does all things for one reason: His glory. This is a hard truth to consider. But folks are either one or the other from the Chesterton's quote. People will either live their lives with such entitlement, such manifest destiny, such arrogant pride really, they think they move the trees. They feel that God has no say or play in their world so they live and die, rise and fall by their own efforts and talents. Or people can live with the reality that God has called us to live and work faithfully according to His commandments while we know that as Job 23 says, it is His decrees and desires that are accomplished and not ours. The question is, which one practically are you living as? I'm sure everyone here that professes Jesus Christ as their Savior would say, "God moves the trees. God moves my life. I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm the god of my life." But when you make life decisions without seeking God's wisdom, when you neglect Scriptural wisdom day in and day out, when you outwardly disobey commandments that you know God has given to guide and protect His children, how functionally different are you than those that think they move the trees? This week at Sovereign King, we will return to the book of Ruth, and we will ask our big picture question: Big Picture Question: God is no less active in our lives when He works behind the scenes, so what steps are necessary for you to be aware of His activity and how would that awareness change your life?
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Where You Go I Will Go Part 1
Typically, if you have faith in God, when things go well, you want to thank Him. You say, "Thank you God for giving me this raise," or "Thank you God for letting that officer not give me a ticket." But when things go poorly, well that's a different story. We might yell at God, "Why did you cause this to happen?" We might yell, "Why didn't you stop this?" Maybe we blame ourselves for making a mistake. Maybe we blame someone else or some impersonal force in the universe. The million dollar question though is, "Can you rise up and call God blessed and thank Him for each and every circumstance in your life whether good or bad?" If you feel like God is good and just and not only in control but actually decreed that your circumstances will happen, it is possible. If you feel like God is not in control and does not decree all the circumstances that will happen you either get mad that He didn't do something or you are left to mumble catch phrases like, "Well God has a purpose and plan in everything." Now, I believe scripture speaks to God having a purpose and plan in everything, however, I'll tell you this though. If God did not ordain and decree all things to happen, saying He has a purpose and a plan reduces Him to a cosmic janitor that runs around and cleans up our messes. The book of Job offers a lot of insight into the way that God interacts with us and sums it up well in Job 23:13 "But God is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What He desires and decrees, that he does." God is not frustrated or restrained by anything much less weak creatures like us. God does have a purpose and plan for everything: His and only His. So amid the most difficult or even the most joyous of circumstances, we need to ask ourselves this Big Picture Question: No matter the circumstance or condition of life, can you rise up and call God "blessed" and "good"?
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