The Cup Of Deliverance

CORNERSTONE CHURCH April 12,,2015 The Cup Of Deliverance Part 4 The Purpose of This Series::When He makes a promise, He always fulfills it. The Bible is clear, not only will God intervene on behalf of His people, but He will also lead them to a life of freedom that they could not imagine. This series will help us discover the four promises God makes with His people and how they can receive them. Easter Report Results: 1529 attended Spiritual: 75 salvations 10 Steps: Our new believers have been contacted and encouraged to meet at the 9am hour to walk through our 10 Steps to Christ at the OC. That leads us to a great question, how are we going to get that building finished so we can move in there? There is an important date that you all need to know about, especially if you have gone through the Growth Track- It is our VISION NIGHT on May 3rd. We have so much to share with you about how we are going to get all this finished so we can focus on ministry rather than a building! Message Notes: It is important to take the message notes that we provide because research tells us that you have 5X s more potential to learn and retain when you are taking notes. I encourage you to follow along with my message notes and grow with us. We are in our fourth week of a six week series called Four Cups, (Go figure!). I am drawing this message from a teaching by Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands, in Birmingham, AL. His insight to the four cups that the Hebrews would have drunk from during the Passover Meal had significance then, but Jesus made this His last meal and He introduced Himself as the fulfillment of these four cups. The four cups that the Jews would recognize during the passover meal were the four promises that God was making with His people, but through Jesus Christ, He is making with us! These promises show up all through the Bible, so, in Week 1 God has made you some promises always keeps them Week 2 Christ our Passover Meal- the four promises can only be fulfilled through one person Jesus Last week we started the journey through the first of four promises- I will bring you out. Core Promises Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Exodus 6:6-7 Garden City, Kansas 1 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

Many people are rejecting what they have never experienced. They have not experienced the forgiveness of Christ nor have they known the freedom of Christ and they are rejecting Him without ever having known Him. The Cup of Sanctification Salvation. This cup stands alone. It is the foundational cup you drink from. The Cup of Deliverance Freedom. This cup is what we will talk about today. Getting Egypt out of you! The Cup of Redemption Restoration. This cup is about restoring you back to your original intent. The Cup of Praise Fulfillment. This is God s original plan for you. He wants to take you on a Spiritual journey, realizing everything that God has for you. The Egypt In Me I want to make a distinction today the difference between the first cup and the second cup. I want you to know why the process of salvation is so easy. The reason it is so easy is so you can t take any of the credit, the work has been done for you. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can t take credit for this;; it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 (NLT) The Scripture tells us that your part in your salvation is, BELIEVE. There is no works required. You can t take credit for it or it would not be a gift. You CANNOT pay for what is given to you. And if you have that difficulty, then you cannot RECEIVE salvation. That s a big statement, but it is part of your relationship with God, to ALLOW Him to GIVE you what you cannot EARN! Here is another way to say it, Salvation is NOT for sale, it is for receiving. If you worked for it, it is not salvation, because you are under the false assumption that you were somehow capable of paying for Christ sacrifice on the cross for you. The amazing reality of the debt that Jesus paid for your life is that in your best life you would not even come close to paying for it. You are deceived if you think you can pay for your salvation. Another thing to keep in mine, if you won t let God give you this salvation, you CAN T BE SAVED. Many of you have been taught that life is NOT a free ride, that you need to pay your own way and never let anyone else pay for your lunch. It is the most difficult thing for you to let someone do something else for you. You may have a hard time with Jesus. Because you cannot do this on your own. You HAVE to let Christ PAY YOUR WAY! If not, you cannot be saved. God is saying, I m going to save you and here is how I m going to do it, I m going to give you a gift. And in that gift contains a forgiveness for you that I could not have any other way. And here is the only thing He requires of you believe! Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:9 (NLT) So why does the Bible have so much that it tells us what to DO? Because there is GRACE that only require BELIEF, and there are WORKS that require OBEDIENCE. God never wanted the Garden City, Kansas 2 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

first cup to be mixed with the second cup. In one moment God forgives you and erases your past which BEGINS THE PROCESS of a FORGIVEN LIFE to a CHANGED LIFE. If you mix the two cups, making the cup of FREEDOM with the cup of SALVATION, then you will equate the change of what saved you with what you did rather than what God did. So, lets move from the FORGIVEN/SAVED Life into the CHANGED/EMPOWERED Life. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT) We don t work hard to get saved, we engage, knowing that we are saved, God is our Father, we have become a son or a daughter into His family and we engage in His plan and purpose, not only for my life, but for ALL His family. God wants to do something in you and THROUGH you now that you are in Him and He is in you, it s amazing what can happen in your life. Why? Because God is going to start working in and through you. When you are left up to your own experience, your own abilities, your own wisdom and understanding, your own education, your own strength, you might have an advantage here or there, but what is you are tapped in on God s experience, abilities, wisdom and understanding, His strength and knowledge don t you think there is an overwhelming advantage to that? This Scripture tells us that there is a posture or position that we take in receiving what He gives. Early in football, as a running back they would teach you to let the quarterback place the ball in the breadbasket. We ran again and again with one arm up and one arm down making room for the ball to be placed in our stomach. After the ball is placed firmly in our gut our gut reaction is to close our arms over what just caused us stomach pain. As a believer, we have two receptive actions, the upper arm is REVERENCE and the lower one is FEAR. The top arm controls the ball, the lower arm keeps anything from jarring it lose. Reverence- G5156 - tromos- a trembling or quaking with fear; with fear and trembling, used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but religiously does his utmost to fulfil his duty Fear- G5401 - phobos- fear, dread, terror; There must be a REVERENCE toward God if you are going to get anything from Him. Impatience, uncertainty, doubt, distraction and fear all contribute to a failed play. A reverence toward God is a patient confidence that He knows what is going on and He wants me to know what He is up to as well. But more importantly, I will trust Him even when I don t know the play, (option), I will do just what He tells me, even when it seems wrong. (counter play) So God is working in you. What is He trying to do? He is trying to GIVE, (there is that word again), to give you the DESIRE and the POWER to do what PLEASES HIM. Most of us know what doesn t please God. Even in our life before Christ we knew that some of the things we did was not pleasing to God. But we didn t have the power to overcome and stop doing what we knew were wrong. But God will give you the DESIRE and POWER. Desire Desire- G2309 - thelō- to will, have in mind, intend; to desire, to wish; to love- to like to do a thing, be fond of doing; to take delight in, have pleasure Garden City, Kansas 3 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

God has not only SAVED you, but He is in the process of CHANGING you. Another way of saying it, SALVATION happens in a MOMENT, while DELIVERANCE, the second cup, is not instantaneous, but it is a PROCESS! God working in you will GIVE YOU NEW DESIRES As God give you these new desires you can do TWO things: EXPECT it, AND INVEST in it. EXPECT it: Before you had ideas of doing certain things that might be useful, helpful and kind. But now, God will give you NEW DESIRES. I can tell you four of them right away, 1. A Love for God- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37 2. A Love for God s Word and to Obey it- But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. I John 2:5-6 3. A Love for God s People- But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1:7 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. I John 2:9-10 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. I John 5:2 4. A Love for the Lost- Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:14 For my Father s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. John 6:40 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race Romans 9:2-3 Luke 15:10 says that the angels get really excited about one person becoming a Christian. John 3:16 has almost become a throw away verse for people who have grown up in the evangelical church. Most of us can rattle it off like it is our phone number, and don t quite grasp the depth it s meaning, how great God s love is. Garden City, Kansas 4 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

INVEST in it: You don t have to sit around and wonder if God wants to do something in your life, you can invest in ways that produces God s pleasure or God s will in you. My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:34 Whoever does God s will is my brother and sister and mother. Mark 3:35 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. John 5:30 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. John 6:38 "Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him " Psalm 37:5-7a, (NIV) Obey God s Word If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:17 Don t get in a hurry to get a REVELATION from God s Word if you are not willing to activate the TRUTH of God s Word. Here are some great questions to ask yourself: 1. Am I resisting or running from God in any area of my life? 2. Is there an area of your life that needs correction, healing or confrontation and you are AVOIDING that issue, or, you are willing to be corrected, healed, and confronted about that issue and you are REFUSING TO EXCUSE IT, but have not found freedom yet? 3. Do I place myself in relationship with other people who can coach me, develop me, challenge me or correct me, or do I have a tendency to keep my life private from other people? 4. Do I allow God s Word to coach me, develop me, challenge me or correct me or do I go to God s Word only from comfort, peace or promises? We know that God doesn t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. John 9:31 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 Prayer Garden City, Kansas 5 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Luke 11:2 (KJV) Preaching and Teaching of the Word Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Titus 4:13 which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior Titus 1:3 Power So God is working in you, giving you the DESIRE and secondly, will provide POWER that you never had. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil s work. I John 3:8a This second cup is God promise to deliver the children of Israel from being slaves. After they were already set free from Egypt, they weren t slaves anymore but they still acted like slaves, thought like slaves. Still be bound with chains acting like a slave. They were out of Egypt but there was a little Egypt still in them They were headed to the Promised Land But still acting like slaves and their thinking was messed up they had wrong views of themselves and wrong views of God. They were still plagued by habits addictions attitudes. We need the cup of deliverance. For anyone still struggling with their sinful nature listen to this, SALVATION determines your ETERNITY after this life, but DELIVERANCE determines the QUALITY of life while on the earth! We have to take some steps How does it work? We are TRIUNE BEINGS we re BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT. Body the physical Soul the mind, will, and emotions Spirit the part of us that is like God When we get saved spirit made perfect, instant perfect in spirit, but your natural man needs some work. When we get saved, the spirit part of us is renewed and empowered. Now the rest of us has to catch up. So your Spirit part now can influence the other two parts. Only can if the spirit is stronger than the other parts, allowing God to do a work in you- LIFEGROUPS Living In Freedom Everyday! (REGENERATION) Small groups systematically take people through a process closing the door on the Egypt that is in us that keeps us trapped in our past. Three areas LIFEGroups and our EQUIPPING CLASSES are designed to do: 1. Victory over sin. Simply defined as the choices you make what you do to yourself! Habits addictions attitudes. Sin can be so discouraging because you know you shouldn t have done it and Garden City, Kansas 6 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

you want help. But you don t feel like you can t let anyone know. Then the devil begins to torment you, accuse you tell you who do you think you are? The Apostle Paul had this issue... So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God s law;; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:21-25 Many of us need to take these steps of victory once and for all. 2. Healing from wounds. There are negative events that have happened in your life, what others do to you and it s usually not your fault. Rejection divorce negative experiences trauma and tragedies horrible words spoken to you. The devil is looking for a foothold. Painful relationships in our pas can open the door to the enemy. And don t sin by letting anger control you. Don t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27 (NLT) For many of us the pain of the past is limiting your future. 3. Authority over the enemy. Many of us are struggling in our problems and in the past and it is the plan of Satan to keep you trapped there. Whether you like it or not you have an enemy. All throughout Scripture it tells us be alert! But God has given you authority over him and we must learn how to defeat him! Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:10-12 The Cup of Deliverance Some of you need this promise from God, a life of freedom. But can I caution you here, don t try to go to the third or fourth cup without drinking from this second cup. It won t work until you ve been healed and delivered. It will trip you up and keep you unsettled. The enemy would love for you to stay stuck in the second cup, spending the rest of your life looking in the rear view mirror, always plagued by your problems and your yesterdays. God has promises for you REDEMPTION and FULFILLMENT. But only after we drink from the Cup of DELIVERANCE can it all come together. Let s learn how to drink from the 2nd cup... So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:1-2 (NLT) Garden City, Kansas 7 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

Don t let condemnation stop you we all have issues. But notice the secret to overcoming... Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:5-6 (NLT) Spirit thinks about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. It is important that we have new influences, and get away from the old influences. Question is how are we going to do it? Relationships are the key. This makes sense doesn t it? If you have an issue how do you want to deal with it? In a public meeting, or in the safety of people you know? So what do we do in these relationships? Get honest CONFESSION He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13 Confess to God and receive FORGIVENESS If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 Confess to God s people and receive HEALING Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16 Relationships are the way to new influences in your life. Here are your last three takeaways: (All of these are about going public with your faith AND Involving other people) Water Baptism. Baptism doesn t save you it lets the world know you re saved! It s a public declaration of a new association. NT Baptisms were immediately following A new decision to follow Christ. In the early church 3000 people believed and they were all baptized that day. Many adults need to be re-baptized because they were a child, before they believed. Those who accepted his message were baptized. Acts 2:41 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Acts 8:12 Simon himself believed and was baptized. Acts 8:13 Garden City, Kansas 8 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m

Church Membership. (Growth Track) You need a spiritual family you need to join a church, and this would be a good one to join. I ll talk more about that next week. But if you need, I can recommend you to some great churches here in town if you need it. We have wonderful churches and pastors in this city and around the area. Don t cheat yourself what God sacrificed His Son, so you could have it. Church Family. (LifeGroup) Everyone needs to be a part of a local church and a Small group- LifeGroup. It is critical for your freedom and walk with God bad company corrupts good character. Your friends choices will determine your future. Small groups provide a place to connect, protect, and grow! We are about to start Summer small groups and you need to get plugged in to one. In order to drink from the cup of deliverance you ll need another follower of Christ involved one who loves God and loves you! Conclusion There are four types of people: 1. You don t know how you got here ready to leave know you are lost 2. Drifted away not sure 3. Religious but empty 4. Know Jesus you re ready for eternity Garden City, Kansas 9 Four Cups: Deliverance Pt. 4m