Message God s Love/Jesus Provision 06/11/2017 Thank you Angie for reading that story. Good Morning Church! I pray that as we Celebrated the Day of Pentecost in our service last week that you felt (The Gift from God) the Holy Spirit and that He touch your heart. This week, we are going to talk about God s Love for His People and the provision that was paid by Jesus, Life, Death and Resurrection so we could enjoy and embrace the opportunity to be one with God. Slide Picture of Jesus on the Cross Seeing Jesus hanging on the cross is a stark reminder that He paid the ultimate Sacrifice for each of us. And as the story that Angie read revealed He paid that same price for all who would accept the gift and for those who would not. Which brings me to the question; SLIDE; Have you accepted the Gift of Jesus yet or not? If you have what are you doing with it? Are you learning from it are you growing as a follower of Jesus using the gift in accordance to the words that Jesus said to Go and tell the world.
What do you do as a daily or weekly practice of the precious gift of knowing Jesus? And just so you know each of us was given a special talent to share with others that God will use if we will allow Him to lead guide and direct us daily. SLIDE; If you haven t accepted the Gift Why not? What is your reasoning for not accepting the life changing Gift from God? SLIDE; Maybe you didn t even know there was a gift to accept? See Because I have spent more years in the world than as a Christ follower I realize and recognize that many times people never accept the gift because they don t know enough about the gift of Jesus or it has never been presented to them in a way that would allow them to understand that there is a better way for their lives...and His Name is Jesus! And I think that for years that The Christian Community has tried to make the scriptures so unidentifiable and so difficult to understand that we have really lost the simplicity of their Core Value (and that is) that God Loves His people and wants to have a personal relationship with us and each other! So he sent His Son Jesus to show us how to live and to be the ultimate sacrifice for our Sins and now we have the
power thru the Holy Spirit to help turn us away from Sin in our lives. Now, I have to tell you that before Angie and I gave our hearts to the Lord, we didn t understand that. We viewed God as an authoritative deity that was untouchable to normal everyday people that is why we needed a Priest. And that our Obligation as a God fearing human was to go to church and teach our children to go to church. Painstakingly as that was! Because we were going to church for the wrong reason! Forget any understanding of His unending Love and Grace it was all about making sure we went to church and the dogmatic rituals to a God that I couldn t see, feel, or understand only thru the priest blessings. But the day that I found out that He was a God of Love and Forgiveness and Grace and Mercy That He made a way for me to be in relational with Him... That Thru the death of His Son Jesus on the cross I was able to receive the Gift of the Spirit That was the day that changed everything about what Jesus meant for me.my life my family everything.
That is when Jesus became real to me! And so as a Christ follower and a Pastor my Passion is to extend not only His sovereign word as part of my calling but to invite New followers into the simplicity of God s love. And Hear what I am saying church! God is not simplistic but God s love is simplistic. God Love s each and every one of His children. John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but God s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. John 3:16 (NIV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. See God s Love is an agape Love which is a Greek word for all forgiving Selfless love. A love that by human standards is seemingly impossible! But God takes what is impossible by Human standards and makes it possible so as to direct the paths of His children to prosperity. Not the Prosperity of worldly wealth but the Prosperity of goodness in people s lives That is what His Son Jesus came to show each of us.
And it was by the provision of Jesus that God showed the world this new understanding and new meaning of His loving nature. This was by design it was formulated from the beginning of all mankind. God always wanted to be part of the lives of His children (That s why He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve) but He didn t want robots to love Him He wanted children that loved Him with the same unending love as He had for them.and so He gave Humans free will. Free to Choose! And with that free will we gave into the sinful desire to be in control and fall to the desires of our flesh! Now don t put all the blame on Adam and Eve! Because we all have for generations fallen to these desires of our flesh It was only by Grace thru Jesus that we were saved fro ourselves. And let s not give all the credit or blame to Satan because for generation after generation we have made bad choices to choose and to turn away from God It has been as much our selfish choices as it is Satan s prompting. See the serpent may have tempted Eve but it was still her choice to indulge or turn away!
But God provided us a way one last effort to embrace His Glory for our lives thru a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ To receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit or Not. This is the essence of the story that Angie read. Steve the student doing all the pushups he was representation of Jesus. And it was thru His pain and suffering that we were offered the Gift. Maybe a little more than a Donut! His Sacrifice was for our sinful nature to be covered by the His Blood so we could stand in the presence of the Holy God so we could stand against our sinful nature. So we could be Sanctified by the Holy Spirit otherwise we could not stand in the presence of the Lord. If it hadn t been for the sacrifice of Jesus and the resurrection we would still be accountable to the Priest of the temples and offering our fatted calves slaughter for our sins. That is how they handled it in the Old Testament The provisions in the OT to be in the right standing with God was to sacrifice animals. I don t know about you but I am so glad to live on this side of the Cross! Otherwise I would have to give up one of
Angie s Wiener dogs! Ok Just Kidding that would never happen! But God made another way for us to embrace His love thru the Sacrifice of His Son Jesus. And by our acceptance of His Son we are offered the opportunity to have the Goodness of life just like the donut represented. But the sad part is that some will not accept. Yes some will embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior But Jesus says that road is Narrow and Some will not and Jesus says that that road is wide and full of destruction. You Know, I guess I could stand up here all day long and tell you about God s Unending Love, Grace and Mercy and the provision of His Son s death for you! But without acceptance and an intentionality everyday to follow you will still be stuck in the same place you were when you came in here. Church The stories and the teachings of the word of God in the Bible need to be part of who were become EVERYDAY as Christ followers in order to keep our right focus.
Because when we read the scriptures with the intention to know more about our sovereign Lord It is then that He will reveal to you thru the Power of the Holy Spirit what His intention for your life is. I believe this with all my heart church! That if you are not reading His word as a Daily Practice you are not receiving the goodness and the gift that God has in store for you each day and you will miss the blessings when they come by! Because in God s provisions He has also offered us His Guiding Lamp the word of God and without it we are only doing as good as we THINK we should be doing and not the expectations of how God thinks we should do! And if I am only living up to My expectations and Not God s then I am living by Human standards and Not God s Standards And His Standards far surpass any of our human expectations for this life. And it is hard for me to understand why anyone would want to put so much effort into making Sunday worship service a part of their lives and then turn to the world the moment they walk out the doors of the church.
Again I quote Eugene Cho who said; SLIDE: How can you Worship Sunday what you don t live out the rest of the week. Why are you willing to waste an hour or two a week on Sunday to something that is irrelevant to the rest of your life! You don t do that with anything else in your life why would you do that with the most important and meaningful asset as a follower of Christ. Church all things have a purpose and a Plan and much to our dismay or displeasure we can t fall into the mindset that we can indulge in things of this world simply because we like them or they make us feel good Because some things even though we like them or they feel good they are just not good for us. And for some Christians our actions speak louder than words Going to places we shouldn t saying things we shouldn t say tearing down others acting in anger to get our own way. These are not actions of Christian men and women. But this is how the Holy Spirit can help us daily to live a righteous life a life pleasing to God. So Let s Go to the scripture and look at what it says.
In Romans 8 The First part says Romans 8 (NIV) Life Through the Spirit 8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. See the Laws of the Ten Commandments before Christ came were subject to the desires of the Flesh but after Jesus came he gave us a way to fight against the Spirit of the flesh by offering us the Holy Spirit! And Here He explains why. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. But for those who have accepted Jesus and walk with Him daily.he says;
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. v-intentional 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an /obligation but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. But then Paul Goes on the tell about Present Suffering and Future Glory. Because as Christian Followers in the Sinful world there will be suffering But the Glory to be held is worth it all. And here is the Part that I wanted to get to today and that is that we can conquer our selfish and sinful nature by giving our lives to Christ Accepting the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
So we jump down to verse 31 And Paul writes in Romans that we are More than Conquerors Romans 8:31-39 (NIV) More Than Conquerors 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The word of God! AMEN! Christian Men and Women we need to stand up for what we believe That Jesus Christ is First and foremost in our lives. and stop pretending that Jesus somehow is second to or daily grind.
Trust in His word to guide you daily Study His word to give you guidance in the areas that He wants you to change And believe in His resolve for your future! Because Nothing can separate us from the Love of God but we can separate ourselves from Him what will it be for you? And all God s people said; AMEN! As the Praise team comes forward! If you haven t given your life over to the Lord If He is not the center of your life daily today can be the day to start a New life of understanding things like you have never seen before. If you are stuck in the rut of life and feel like there is no way out or maybe you re just in a spiritual slump call on the Lord and surrender to Him and Let Him fill you with His Genuine love and compassion. Saints and Sinners set your standards aside for the New standards presented to you today! Come to the Altar of the Lord!