Reset Relationships. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God s power. 5

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1 Reset Relationships 2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. I. Jesus is the only one who can fully restore me. Jesus is my source of restoration. Jesus restores me. Jesus fully restores me. I need to be fully restored and Jesus is my restorer. 2 Corinthians 13:11a Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration A. Rejoice. 1. Why rejoice 2. There doesn t seem to be a specific reason to rejoice except to rejoice because it seems to accompany the context. 3. Rejoice because 2 Corinthians 13:4,5 4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God s power. 5 Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you a. Rejoice because you have a reason to rejoice. b. Rejoice because when you rejoice in and for the right things it strengthens the soul. c. It lifts you up. It brings you higher. d. Life is not supposed to be ONLY WORK! B. Two words in that sentence jump off the page at me. 1. Strive & Full. 2. Strive means to make a great effort to achieve something. a. So this is something that I m going to have to work at. b. I m going to have to put some effort into. c. I m going to have to work at it. d. It will require something of me.

2 3. Full means containing or holding as much or as many as possible; having no empty space. not lacking or omitting anything; complete. a. Apparently you can get part of the way there and stop. b. Salvation is no guarantee of full restoration. c. I can live beneath my potential. d. I could actually be missing out on a whole bunch of stuff. e. Jesus may be my savior but I could live my whole life beneath all that God has for me. f. I don t want to miss God s very best for me. g. Why would I? Ephesians 4: So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Application Let s rejoice that we re going to get FULL RESTORATION! Let s rejoice that we re being equipped and built up. Let s rejoice that we re being made mature Let s rejoice that the whole measure of the fullness of Christ is ours. Let s rejoice that we re no longer babies We growing and will not be tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there. WE RE Hitting the RESET button and gonna get everything God has for us. II. God uses relationships in my life to restore me. My restoration happens in context of relationships. God is leading us to hit the RESET button on our relationships.

3 A. Sinners need restoration because they are have been injured, hurt, harmed and damaged by sin. John 8:34b everyone who sins is a slave of sin. Romans 6: But now that you ve found you don t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (MSG) B. Sinners are. 1. Selfish 2. Want to be right, served and the center of attention. 3. Sinners want to be felt sorry for and love to sulk. 4. Sinners like to brag and are takers by nature. 5. Sinners aren t very to be patient are easily irritated. 6. Sinners have an issue with Self-control and don t like to share. 7. Sinners long to be served and resist being givers. C. My restoration is directly related to my connections. 1. My restoration = my healing. 2. I am healed when I am in relationships. 3. God uses my relationships in my restoration. 4. Part of my restoration includes relationships in my life. D. We were created for connection. Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. Unpack We have got to get this. Foundation. If we don t go here we miss everything that is next.

4 E. Connections balance our lives. 1. By yourself you will live an unbalanced life. 2. Nobody sees everything clearly. 3. We need each other. 4. Were better together. 5. You will get better perspective. One another s 58 times in NT Support one another. Encourage one another. Love one another. Care for one another. Greet one another. Pray for one another. F. Connections give us strength. 1. Emotional, spiritual, physical. 2. You can handle far more in life if you know someone is there with you. 3. You can handle far more pain in your life if you know someone else has gone through it. 4. If you know you re not alone, you can do so much more. 5. Not by yourself.. Etc. We are better connected now more than ever before. But we are more disconnected and more lonely. Individualism over community. Pace of life is so fast that we don t have time. Ephesians 1:23 The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ s body (MSG) One day there will be no businesses, sports teams, hobbies but the church will keep going. Romans 12:5 so it is with Christ s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. We are connected to each other.

5 Church is not an event you attend It is a family you belong too. It is a relationship you are connected too. We belong to each other. III. The most important relationships in my life are in the Church. God want you to understand this so badly he gives us four metaphors. 1. Brick in God s temple. 2. Fruit on a vine 3. Part on a body. 4. Family member of a family You might be married but that will not last forever. You might have a physical family but that will not last forever. You might have business relationships but those will not last forever. Sports team but those relationships will not last forever. Only one relationship will last forever and that is relationships within the church. The church offers you 4 things that that no other type of relationship will last forever. What happens with I connect to a church family? A. Brick in God s temple. 1. It connects me to God s eternal temple. 2. Not made of bricks but it lasts forever and forever. 3. It is made of people. 4. Remembers Ezekiel s Vision from last week. 5. You need to get connected to it 1 Corinthians 3:16 Don t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? Ephesians 2: In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

6 6. Together is mentioned in all three verses. 7. This is something that you cannot do on your own. 8. You can only do this in community. I really love your church attender not partner. You have a problem we have a problem. I really love our church it is our church. The difference between being an attender and a member or partner is the same difference between living together and being married. It is a matter of commitment. An attender comes to an event a partner is part of the family of God. Christian by committing yourself to Christ. You become a partner by committing yourself to other believers. That is going to be my family, spiritual home, my church. Don t date the church, make a commitment and marry. You need to find God is building a spiritual temple. In a building all of the parts are connected. To hold each other up. To strengthen each other. Benefit of being part of the temple. You get support and stability. Applicaiton When I am connected to a church it gives me support and stability. Emotional, spiritual support. B. Fruit on a vine 1. Third picture of the church is an organic pic. 2. Fruit tree, grape vine, plant. 3. When I am connected to a church it connects me to the power of Jesus.

7 John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 4. Connection empowers us. A Disconnected toaster will not toast. A disconnected lap top cannot connect to the internet. One little wire can keep your car from moving forward. You lose your warmth, power, source of life. John 15:4 No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Application If you have weak relationships, you will have a weak life. If you have strong relationships, you will have a powerful life. The success of your life is largely determined by the connections you make. The most important ones are the ones in the church. A piece of my potted plant that became disconnected. 5. The fruit comes from the root. a. What kind of fruit do I produce when I am connected to the root? Galatians 5:22-23a 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. b. Would you like to have that kind of fruit in your life? c. You only get it by being connected. Unpack Every one of those characteristics are relational. None of these things can you learn on your own. You cannot learn to love unless you have people in your life to learn how to love.

8 You cannot have peace unless there are people in your life to teach your patience. When I am connected to a church I get God s power to change. Application Things in your life that you would like to change. You have tried but you have not been able to. If you could have you would have. Some problems that are in your life are so big that you have to team up on them. Team tackle them. Some things in your life are not going to go away until you deal with them in community. Being connected to a squad, team, group. Small Group. Encouraging you, praying for you, holding you accountable, cheering you on. We only get healed through community/ relationship. C. Part of a body. 1. Second benefit of being connected to a church. It connects me to Christ s body. a. The church is the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:25 we are all members of one body. Ephesians 1: And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body Romans 12:4-5 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5 Tells us a few things. The church is many parts. - We are all different. - God loves diversity. - We need each other. - Like a puzzle we all have a part to play. Missing a piece we all notice.

9 - If you don t do your part I get hurt. - Prominence and significance are not the same. - Prominence is being seen or famous - Significance is important, essential. - You may not be prominent but you are significance. - We are all important but we each have a part to do. The church needs all of the parts. I cannot fulfill God s purpose for my life by myself. I must be connected. Parts are not able to function on their own. They must have each other. If you are cut off from the Body of Christ you are useless. Spiritually disconnected. I love Jesus I just don t need the church. You must have the church. Colossians 2:19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. If you get your small group behind you, you will grow much faster. When I am connected to a church I get life and growth. D. Family Member of a Family It connects me to God s family. 1. You cannot get that anywhere else. 2. When you get connected to God s family you become part of a family. 3. A Christian without God s family is an orphan. When you are born you are automatically part of the human race. I did not become part of a family until someone took me home from the hospital. Mom and Dad. Somebody chose to take you in as a baby. They became a family. When you stepped across the line and became a Christian you needed a family. What you need more than anything else is a spiritual family.

10 To take care of you to help you grow. You learn that by being part of a family. Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God s children. 1 Timothy 3:15 you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God s household, which is the church of the living God 1 Peter 2:17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers Application Love your brothers and sisters in God s family. Membership Covenant Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. When I am connected to a church-- I m loved and I m accepted. Conclusion 2 Corinthians 8:5 but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (ESV) In 1,000 years what will be here? Iphone, internet, University of Alabama football team, Ford motor company, United States, Nothing lasts forever. If Jesus does not come back in the next 1,000 years what will be left is the church. The body of Christ. It s not perfect but it will last. Give your life to Christ. Commit to the Body.