Message Notes

4 Ways to be Transformed into a Harvester for the Kingdom of God

1. Don’t live in isolation – Be among hurting people (vs. 35)
2. See the crowds, and pray for a heart of compassion (vs. 36)
3. See with a spiritual eye the abundant harvest of souls (vs. 37)
4. Pray for God to meet the need, and then join the work (vs. 38)

Directions: Bring to a Boil

Romans 12:11
NIV- Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
KJV- Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.

“Never be lacking in zeal”
“Keep your spiritual fervor”
“Serving the Lord”

Our God Connection…
God is Master.
We are workers.
We are obedient.
We are grateful.

How does you “boiling factor” measure up?

I Love You, Man

Romans 12:10

NIV- Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

KJV- Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;

This is a command. That means we MUST do it. God tells us to do it. It’s not optional.

Two Issues Destroying Christians

1. Isolation - Disassociation from the body
   - Association with the body, but disassociation from the people
2. Indifference - Kills marriages
   - Kills churches

When Christ transforms your heart “brotherly love” will replace isolationism and indifference.

Romans 12:10b

NIV- Honor one another above yourselves.

KJV- in honour preferring one another;

It means to put others ahead of yourself.

Better because… When God does a makeover on a person, that person will instinctively give preferences to others.

Honor because… Honoring others is the natural act of those who view themselves as servants.

Love & Honor Are Indispensable!

Stuck!!!

Romans 12:9
Cling to what is good.

Good #1
Family
Proverbs 15:17
Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.

Good #2
Work
Proverbs 14:23
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Good #3
Giving
Proverbs 21:26
…the righteous give without sparing.

Good #4
Finances
Proverbs 13:11
…he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Good #5
God’s Purpose
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

Pick One!

Five Things to Hate

Romans 12:9
Hate what is evil;

Evil #1- Stealing
Evil #2- Greed
Evil #3- Lying
Evil #4- Squandered Time
Evil #5- Casual Sex

Live Free!!!

Undisguised

In ancient Greek language (the Bible) there are at least 3 Words translated for Love
Philos= Friendly Affection
Eros= Physical Love
Agape= Sacrificial Action

12:9 Love must be sincere. Literally=Agape-let it be sincere.

What does “Genuine” love look like? 1 Corinthians 13

Sincere love IS NOT…
Envious
Boastful
Proud
Rude
Self-seeking
Easily angered
Record wrongs
Delight in evil

Sincere love IS…
Patient
Kind
Rejoices…truth
Protects
Trusts
Hopes
Perseveres
Never fails

12:9 Hate what is evil;

Four “Evils”
Evil #1- Stealing
Evil #2- Lying
Evil #3- Casual Sex
Evil #4- Squandered Time

Four “Goods” “cling to what is good”
Good #1- Family
Good #2- Work
Good #3-Giving
Good #4- God Connection

Undisguised Love – The Love of God was undisguised at the cross.

Point- Authentic love, hating evil and doing good is undisguised Christianity.

Be an “undisguised” Christian!

The Barrenness of Isolation

Preview
God…

• Planned for us to be connected
• Intended for us to be different
• Expected us to bless one another

Romans 12:4-5
“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 who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

The Anatomy Analogy

1. One Body
2. Many Parts
3. Diverse Functions

Romans 12:6
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”

Diverse Gifts

• Prophesying
• Serving
• Teaching
• Encouraging
• Contributing
• Leadership
• Mercy

God…

• Planned for us to be connected.
• Intended for us to be different.
• Expected us to bless one another.

Purpose Driven Life

1. Worship
2. Fellowship
3. Discipleship
4. Ministry
5. Mission

Prayer of Your Heart
“Lord, I give myself to you to fulfill your desired purpose.”

A New Perspective

Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Possibilities:

• Vanity
• Egotism
• Conceit
• Pride

Unhealthy pride is….

• an inflated sense of importance
• a lofty sense of superiority
• a haughty contempt of others
• supports a whole array of sins
• the antithesis of grace

Proverbs 6:16
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look ..."

God’s Mercy

Living Sacrifice

Transformed

New Perspective

Four Biblical Examples

1. Children……Matthew 18
2. Publican……Luke 18
3. Moses……...Numbers 12:3
4. Jesus……….Matthew 11:29
5. Diotrephes… 3rd John 9

Psalm 147:6
The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

Psalm 149:4
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 26:12
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool…

1 Peter 3:8
Be compassionate and humble.

1 Corinthians 4:7
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

James 4:6
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

A New Perspective

What’s your schematic?

Some men die by shrapnel,
And some go down in flames
But most men die inch by inch,
Who play at little games.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 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. –KJV

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world”

Literal Greek =
“Do not be schematized by this age”

The Roman Schema was…

• Pluralistic
• Idolatrous
• Sexually Decadence
• Drunken/Drugged
• Elitist Mentality

The Old Schematic

• Immorality
• Impurity
• Lust
• Evil desires
• Greed (idolatry)
• Anger
• Rage
• Malice
• Slander
• Filthy language
• Do not lie

The New Schematic

• Holy
• Compassion
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Forbearing
• Forgiving
• Love

“Be metamorphosed”

“Be transformed”

David, the Psalmist-
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Buddha-
“The mind is everything; what you think, you become.”

James Allen-
“You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson-
“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

smartrecovery.org-
“The silent forces behind many of our actions and decisions are our values and our ideas about what is most important to us in our life.”

Top Values
Being Loved
Good Friends
Self-Control
Well-Organized
Good Parent
Related to God
Fun
Physically Fit
Creative
Purpose

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Be transformed by a renewing mind!

Farmer Brown’s Breakfast

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

“to offer your bodies as living sacrifices”

“your spiritual act of worship”

HOW?
Living
Holy
Pleasing

Christian Types

• Title
• Convenience
• Religious
• Consecrated

“your logical worship”

What will you put on the altar?

The Doxology Experience

Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Romans 11:34
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

Romans 11:35
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Is God the center of my world?
About Him……..About Me
Dependent……...Independent
His Will…………My Will
His Laws………..My Desire
Please Him……...Please Me

The Doxology Experience

God, have mercy!

Romans 11:25
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited:

Romans 11:25
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

Romans 11:26-27
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Romans 11:28-29
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Romans 11:30-32
Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Summary

• Gentiles were disobedient.
• God showed mercy to Abraham.
• Israel is now disobedient.
• God is showing mercy to the Gentiles.
• God’s mercy to the Gentiles will end.
• Israel will receive mercy once again.

Lesson #1
God’s prophetic plan still includes Israel.
Israel will be restored to Palestine.
Israel will rebuild the temple.
Israel will be surrounded by enemies.
Israel will enter into a peace treaty.
Israel will be the location of Jesus’ Second Coming.

Lesson #2
We are objects of “mercy”.

Accept God’s Mercy

The Triumphal Entry

A Donkey was a common means of transportation in the Old Testament.

Donkey References

• Peter refers to Balaam
• Jesus confronted Pharisees
• Good Samaritan

Why did Jesus ask for the donkey to enter Jerusalem?

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

To fulfill prophecy!!!

Jesus presented himself as “Messiah”.

Trust in Jesus for forgiveness, freedom, eternal life.

Second Triumphant Entry
Revelation 19:11-16

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

Summary

• Jesus is coming again.
• He’s coming in power and glory.
• His appearance will be startling.
• His mission will be judgment.
• We’ll be riding with him. (Rev. 19:8)

Trust in Jesus for forgiveness, freedom, and eternal life.
John 3:16

Over-estimating Yourself

“I am an old fashioned, reformed, Bible believer who supports missions and reads and prays daily before sunrise.”

Don’t be guilty of spiritual conceit.

Five Reasons

1. We are grafted in.
2. We benefited from Israel.
3. We were grafted in by faith.
4. God can cut you off too.
5. God can graft Israel in again.

Have a positive attitude toward…

1. Jews
2. Non-Christians
3. Other Christians

TRUTH
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” - Jesus (John 8:32)

Understand the Times

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” - George Santayana

1 Chronicles 12:32
“men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do”

  Romans 11:11
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

Daniel 9:24
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.”

Luke 21:24
“They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled .”

Zechariah 12:10
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,…”

Romans 11:12
But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

Romans 11:13-14
“I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.”

Romans 11:15
“For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Romans 11:16
“If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

What does this teach us?

1. Bless the Jews
2. Bless the Lost
3. Bless the Lord

“God has it all under control.”

Will God Work Against Us?

Romans 11:7
What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did.

Timeless Truth
Hard work done wrong doesn’t pay off.

Timeless Truth
Not following God may result in God working against us.

Romans 11:7-8
The others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.”

How God can work against us:

1. A spirit of stupor
2. Closed eyes
3. Covered ears
4. Rigged table
5. Eyes darkened
6. Crippled back

Result:
Hopelessly and helplessly lost.

John 6:28
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Romans 8:31-32
What, then, shall we say in response to this? 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?

Follow God

1. In faith
2. In life

Does God Give Up On Us?

Romans 11:1
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!

Romans 11:1
I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.

God will not reject (your name) whom he foreknew.

Romans 11:2-3
Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?

Romans 11:4
And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Romans 11:5-6
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Does God give up on us?

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven!

Rejected

Romans 10:16
But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Isaiah 53:1

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. KJV

Romans 10:18
But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:4

Romans 10:19
Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” Deuteronomy 32:21

Romans 10:20
And Isaiah boldly says,
“I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” Isaiah 65:1

Romans 10:21
But concerning Israel he says,
“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” Isaiah 65:2

“Accepted”
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- John 1:12

Trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior!

That’s Impossible!

Impossibility #1
Romans 10:14
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

What must we believe?

• Believe that God loves you.
• Believe that God will forgive you.
• Believe that God will save you.
• Believe that God will reconcile you.

Again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made. – Robert Schuller

Impossibility #2
Romans 10:14
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?...

Impossibility #3
Romans 10:14
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

How you can “preach”?

1. Be Ready (eyes)
2. Do Good
3. Tell Your Story

“No one ever gets very far unless he accomplishes the impossible at least once a day.” - Elbert Hubbard (editor, publisher)

Impossibility #4
Romans 10:15
And how can they preach unless they are sent?...

Romans 10:15
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Be the Runner!

Who Do You Trust?

“Love all, trust a few.”- William Shakespeare

Trust
Predictability
Character
Spiritual Core

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.” – George MacDonald

Romans 10:11
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Isaiah 28:19-20
“The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror. The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.”

Romans 10:12
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,

Romans 10:13
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Trusting in Jesus…

• Liberates us from divine judgment.
• Is available to all of us.
• Is just a “call” away.

Who will you trust?

It’s Not That Hard!

Romans 10:5
Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” (Lev 18:5)

The Law was a sanctification issue not a salvation issue for the Jew.

The Law was a way of blessing for the redeemed – not a way of salvation for the lost.

The Law exposed our sin and pointed us to the Savior.

Galatians 3:24
So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

Keeping the Law was hard! Impossible!

The Way of Faith

Romans 10:6-7
But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

You don’t have to go DOWN to the grave (abyss) to bring Jesus up from the dead.

Romans 10:8
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:

Righteousness by faith is right close to you.

Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

Romans 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

The heart is the seat of the affections. The heart is the source of what we love. The heart is the ONLY part that can fulfill the great commandment “Love the Lord your God.” Believing in the heart is embracing Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior. Salvation is a matter of the heart.

Timeless Truth
The way to heaven by faith is not hard.

Who Would You Save?

Romans 10:1
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

Timeless Truth
God has put a desire in our hearts for “someone” to be saved.

Romans 10:2
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God,

Romans 10:3
Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Four Reasons

1. “not based on knowledge”
2. “did not know God’s righteousness”
3. “establish their own”
4. “they did not submit”

Timeless Truth
It’s possible to be religious in the wrong way.

Religiosity Scale

• Irreligious
• Vaguely Religious
• Routinely Religious
• Passionately Religious

Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Timeless Truth
Jesus is God’s way to righteousness.

Who would you save? Point them to Jesus!

Missing the Boat

Romans 9:30-31
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.

Islam’s Five Pillars

• Recite the Creed
• Ritual Prayer
• Alms-giving
• Fasting during Ramadan
• Hajj

Romans 9:32
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. …

Romans 9:32-33
They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” 33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

To those who believe, Jesus is the “Cornerstone.”

Don’t Miss the Boat!

Commitments Worth Making

Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

WHAT ?

• Aerobic (cardio-vascular)
• Strength
• Diet
• Flexibility
• Sleep

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

WHAT ?

Bible
Language
Library
Musical Instrument
Internet Study
Art
Dance
Read to kids
Write
New Business

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-7
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

“I used everything you gave me”

The Story of Christmas

Sermon by Pastor Jeremy Field

"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.” (31)

He testifies to what he has seen and heard… (32a)

“He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.” (32-34)

“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.” (35-36)

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” -Luke 2:11

Living from the Heart

God’s creative handiwork is a mystery beyond understandings.
Most Amazing Plants

• Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes)
• Rafflesia arnoldii
• Telegraph Plant (Codariocalyx motorius)
• Venus Flytrap (dionaea muscipula)
• Romanesco Broccoli

Luke 6:43-44
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

The ability to reproduce after its kind is written into the DNA of every plant and tree.

1. Good trees don’t bear bad fruit…Good trees bear good fruit.
2. Bad trees don’t bear good fruit…(Figs from thornbushes or grapes from briers)
3. A tree is identified (recognized) weather it is good or bad by its fruit. Simple observations from the plant kingdom that serve as an analogy for the “people” kingdom.

Luke 6:45
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Recognizable fruit = Overflow of the heart.
A good man brings out good things.
“Stored up” Greek word for a treasure house, storage room

Galatians 5:19
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You can only bring out what you have inside.

Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

What’s in the pantry of your heart?

Bring out something good this Christmas!

INSIDE OUT

Romans 9:25
As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” (Hosea 2:23 )

Romans 9:26
and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10)

Romans 9:27-28
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” (Isaiah 10:22-23)

Romans 9:29
It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

1st Generation Christians

• Personal faith in Jesus Christ
• Sins washed away by Jesus
• Live their faith in the present tense
• Realize they are objects of grace
• Fresh fruit of the Spirit
• Are God’s chosen people

Are you a 1st Generation Christian?

Destined for Glory

Romans 9:19
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”

Romans 9:20-21
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Divine Decree is Efficacious
A. Some things God has decreed to do himself immediately.
B. Some things God has decreed to do through the agency of natural law.
C. Some things God has decreed to do through the will of moral creatures.

Romans 9:22
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?

Corruption in America

1. Brutality
2. Deceit (Truth)
3. Immorality (Morals)
4. Murders
5. Parades
6. Greed

Romans 9:23-24
What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Tune in to what the Potter is doing in your life…because you are destined for glory!

Offensive T-Shirts

Quote-
The same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 9:14
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

Romans 9:15
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Romans 9:16
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

Romans 9:17-18
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Human Freedom

• Physical Freedom
  
• Moral Freedom
  
• Real Freedom

Upon believing, I realize that God, in his infinite wisdom, in accordance with his good-pleasure and will, before the foundation of the world, chose to save me. I am an object of mercy NOT justice!!!

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Deep Water

Romans 9:6
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

Definition:
A Christian is one who is born again by the Holy Spirit being evidenced by sincere repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord.

Romans 9:7
Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”

Romans 9:8-9
In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Romans 9:10-13
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Isaiah 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. – KJV

Isaiah 45:23
By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.

Isaiah 46:10
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Definition:
The decree of God is His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His own will whereby for His own glory he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Terminology

• Purpose
• Counsel
• Foreknowledge
• Election
• Predestine
• Will
• Good Pleasure

Isaiah 14:26
This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

Ephesians 1:6
“to the praise of his glorious grace”

”My Peoples”

Romans 9:1
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—

Romans 9:2
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel.

Ephesians 3:8
Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Romans 9:3-5
Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

We have…

• The Gospel
• The Word
• The Spirit
• The Fellowship
• The Access

EMBRACE THE PRIVILEGES

God’s Refrigerator

Romans 8:37
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Romans 8:38
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.

Romans 8:38
For I am convinced…

Why “persuaded”?

• Converted
• Tutored
• 40 Lashes – 1 (5)
• Rods (3)
• Stoned
• Shipwrecked (3)
• Afloat
• Hunted
• Slandered
• Abandoned

2 Timothy 4:16
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength,…And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.

God is present in every circumstance of life.

1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. …..it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. …7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Celebrate God’s Love!

Petrified Hearts

Matthew 12:11-12
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Mark 3:4
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

Mark 3:5
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Timeless Truths
God values people.
God restores people.
God wants your heart.

Change a Hardening Heart

• Humble Yourself
• Be Honest with Yourself
• Open the Door
• Allow God to Work

It’s better to have a withered hand than a hardened heart.

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker this morning is John Mackin. John and Sandy serve on staff with Campus Crusade at PSU. Previously, they served for 16 years as missionaries in the Philippines. They are valuable members of PFBC where John serves as an Elder and Sandy leads a Women’s Bible Study.

Winners & Losers

Romans 8:31
What then, shall we say in response to this?
Foreknew
Predestined
Called
Justified
Glorified

FOUR QUESTIONS (In view of God’s Plan)

• Who can be against us?
• Who will bring any charge?
• Who is he that condemns?
• Who shall separate us?

Romans 8:31-36
If God is for us, who can be against us? 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?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who is he that condemns? 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.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

FOUR ANSWERS

• Nobody can prevent us.
• Nobody can accuse us.
• Nobody can condemn us.
• Nobody can separate us.

Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
If God is for you…
(“foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified”) Nobody can be against you!

Beginning to Ending

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:29
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:30
And those he predestined, he also called;

Acts 2:38-39
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Romans 8:30 (cont.)
…those he called, he also justified:

All things work for good because God…

• Foreknew
• Predestined
• Called
• Justified
• Glorified

Without a Prayer

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.     -- Abraham Lincoln

Romans 8:24-27
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

"the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" 

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

When you don’t have a prayer…

• God is still with you.
• The Spirit is praying for you.
• God’s Will is still in view.
• Wait patiently.

All Creation Waits

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed."

How Good is Your…

Romans 8:17
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.

1 Peter 1:4
…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,…

Galatians 4:7
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Ephesians 2:6
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:17
“heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ”

Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Decide Today!

Debtor’s Prison

Romans 8:12-13
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,…

OBLIGATION
Romans 8:12
“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation”

The Basis for our Debt
Creation
Cross
Providence
Benevolence
Mercy
Grace
Faithfulness

RELATIONSHIP
Romans 8:14
“those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

INTIMACY
Romans 8:15
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

A Father is a …
Life-giver
Protector
Provider
Nurturer
Healer
Leader
Lover
Encourager

ASSURANCE
Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-24
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Shabbat=to cease, end, rest

• Set aside to honor God.
• A day of rest.
• Exemplified by God.
• Established by God.

Sabbath Laws

• Erubh of Courts
• Sabbath Journey
• Animal Food
• Women’s Attire
• Burden
• Throwing Objects
• Catching Rain
• Shaving, Bathing
• Ears and Teeth
• Chicken and Egg
• Woman and Glass

Mark 2:25-26
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

1st Conclusion
Mark 2:27

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

2nd Conclusion
Mark 2:28

So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Live daily with Jesus as LORD!

3 Truths You Need to Believe to Experience the Fullness of God's Blessing in Your Life

Sermon by Pastor Jeremy Field

Truth #1:
Believe that God's character is Always Good.  Even God has boundaries (Gen 2:7-25).

Truth #2:
Believe that God is FOR Me and not Against Me! (vs 17) "You need to know that you are not the only one who wants good thing for you! God wants it even more than you do!" Dr. Henry Cloud

Truth #3:
Believe a wrong view of God will Steal My Life Away from Me!  (Gen 3:1-7, 16-19)

When we get to these places in our lives and we believe that God is not for us we develop a wrong view of God then we allow the enemy to steal our life away from us!

The Fork in the Road

Romans 8:9-11

Galatians 5:19-21
Hatred
Rage
Discord
Dissension
Selfish Ambition

Galatians 5:22-23
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness

Interchangeable Terms
"Spirit"
"Spirit of God"
"Spirit of Christ"
"Christ is in you"

Romans 8:9-11
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you.

1st POINT
Living by the Spirit is a “present tense” experience.
”lives,…living,…lives”

2nd POINT
Living by the Spirit is impossible if you don’t possess the Spirit.
8:9 And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

3rd POINT
Living by the Spirit doesn’t negate physical death.
8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin,…

4th POINT
Living by the Spirit assures us that the power of our own resurrection is already inherent within us.
Romans 8:11
"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 through his Spirit, who lives in you."

Applications

1. Trust in Jesus as Savior.
2. Let the Spirit of God control you.

Patriots

Today’s worship service will feature a series of Patriotic contemporary videos and historic quotes from our founding fathers. Each of the segments are designed to inform and inspire those who would regard themselves as “Patriots.”

The Common Denominator

Romans 8:5
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Two Options
Sinful Nature
Spirit

Mind Reservoir
Galatians 5:19-21
Hatred
Rage
Discord
Dissension
Selfish Ambition

Romans 8:6
The mind of sinful man is death,

Mind Reservoir
Galatians 5:22-23
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness

Romans 8:6
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

Romans 8:7-8
the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Think…..Life and Peace!

Freedom!!!

Romans 8:1
”Therefore, …”

Previously Written

• Ch 1-3 Condemnation for sin.
• Ch 3-4 Salvation by faith in Christ.
• Ch 5-7 Sanctification by faith in Christ.

Passage Breakdown

• FACT A
• FACT B
• EXPLANATION A
• EXPLANATION B

FACT A
Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

EXPLANATION FACT A
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us,

FACT B- The Spirit sets us free.
8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

EXPLANATION FACT B
4 who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Ministry of the Spirit

• Convicting
• Regenerating
• Baptizing
• Sanctifying
• Indwelling
• Filling
• Gifting
• Sealing

Inner Conflict

Galatians 5:19-21

• Hatred
• Rage
• Discord
• Dissension
• Selfish Ambition

Galatians 5:22-23

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness

Walk by the Spirit and live free!

WHO?

Life is a process of making choices.
The choices we make reap benefits or suffer consequences.
Restate: The choices we make come back to bless us or curse us.
We make our choices and then they make us.

The Law (Decree)

Romans 7:21
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

The Explanation

Romans 7:22
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

Romans 7:23
but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Romans 7:24
What a wretched man I am!

Inner Conflict... ultimately necessitates choices

Galatians 5:19-21

• Hatred
• Rage
• Discord
• Dissension
• Selfish Ambition

Galatians 5:22-23

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness

Paul did NOT ask...
HOW will I escape this body of death?
WHAT can I do to overcome my struggle?
WHERE can I go to find relief?
WHEN will I be delivered from this conflict?

WHO?- Deliverance was not in "something" but in "someone."  Paul's answer: Through Jesus Christ.

Twenty Three “Drowners”

Preview

1. One Grateful Samaritan
2. The Samaritan’s Benefits
3. The Samaritan’s Secret

Luke 17:11
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

Luke 17:12-13
As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

Leviticus 13:45-46
"The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.

Luke 17:14
When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke 17:15-16
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:17-19
Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Benefits of Gratitude

• Happier
• Higher Control
• Positive Ways of Coping
• Less Negative Ways of Coping
• Sleep Better

Becoming More Grateful

1. Think
2. Write
3. Announce
4. Reflect
5. Journal

18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Basis for Gratitude

• Benefit perceived as valuable to us.
• Benefit perceived as costly to the benefactor.
• Benefit perceived as given with benevolent intentions rather than ulterior motives.

Grasp the Samaritan’s Secret!

Who Lives Here?

Romans 7:13
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Romans 7:14
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

Romans 7:15
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Romans 7:16-17
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Romans 7:18
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

Sin Nature

• Sin
• Flesh
• Old Man
• Heart
• Carnality (fleshly)

Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 7:18-19
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Romans 7:20
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Kick the visitors out!

Feed the good dog!

Stop Your Cookie Monster!

Romans 7:7
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”  8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.

KJV-8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.

For apart from law, sin is dead.

Romans 7:9
Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Romans 7:10
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

Romans 7:11
For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Romans 7:12
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Stop Your Cookie Monster!

The Farmer’s Market

Romans 7:1
Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?  2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

POINT
Under the Law, a marriage partner was free to remarry after the spouse died.

Romans 7:4
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

POINT
When you died with Christ (6:2) you were set free from the Law and from sin.

Romans 7:5
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Romans 7:6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

PURPOSE CLAUSE in 7:4
in order that we might bear fruit to God.

What kind of fruit are you growing?

THE END

Romans 6:19
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

Offer Body Parts
Slavery

Option #1	Option #2
Impurity	Righteousness
Ever-Increasing	Holiness

 

Qualities of Holiness
Love, mercy, kindness, faithfulness, truth, patience, honesty, peace, gentleness, self-control

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.  21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!  22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Make the Right Choice!

Are You Tax Exempt?

When: After Peter’s Confession; Transfiguration
Where: Capernaum
Who: Collectors
What: Temple tax Exodus 30: 12-13 (1/2 Shekel = 2 drachmas)

1. The tax was a ransom for himself as an offering to the Lord.
2. The tax was paid by every male over 20 years old.
3. The rich were not to pay more and poor not to pay less – Flat Tax!
4. It was paid to the Lord as a ransom for one’s life – to dwell in the land / prevent plague.

The Question: “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from others?”

27 “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Jesus paid Peter’s ransom tax.
He paid our ransom (redemption).
We are the Royal Family!

Are You Tax Exempt?

Whose Slave Are You?

Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

Romans 6:16
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey.

Enslavement Options
SIN
RIGHTEOUSNESS

Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Enslavement Options
SIN….You Were
RIGHTEOUSNESS….You Are
Thanks for God!

Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Enslavement Options

SIN
Pride
Greed
Lust
Anger
Malice
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Love
Mercy
Faithfulness
Truthfulness
Benevolence

Be a Slave of Righteousness!

What’s Your Éclair?

Romans 6:12
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Romans 6:13
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Offer the parts of your body to God!

Broken & Spilled Out

John 12:12
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.  13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!”…

Mary- The Anointer

Judas- The Betrayer

”The next day…”

What is your devotion quotient?

Alive!

The Old Christians Rugby Team
Stella Maris College, Uruguay

Romans 6:8-11
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:10
Death………..Life
Sin…………...God
Once………...Ongoing

Romans 6:11
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Consider Yourself

Sin	God
Innocent	Inhabited
Better	Controlled
Worse	Walking
Average	Partnering
Dead	Praising

God has called us to be victoriously alive!

Facedown Experience

Preview

1. Background
2. Observations
3. Lessons Learned

Mount Hermon

Background

• Caesarea Philippi
• Mount Hermon
• Jesus’ Identity
• Jesus’ Death & Resurrection
• Timing

Observations

• Peter, James, John  (1000’s,120,12,3,1)
• “Metamorphosed”
• Moses & Elijah
• Talking about Jesus’ Departure
• Peter offers “Building Project”
• God corrects Peter’s Thinking

Lessons

1. Being clear about Jesus’ identity
2. Hearing Jesus’ voice

John 8: 47
“He who belongs to God hears what God says.”

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Lessons

1. Being clear about Jesus’ identity
2. Hearing Jesus’ voice
3. Having a “facedown” experience

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The lessons of the transfiguration result in our own “metamorphosis.”

Your “Old Man”

Definition:
The “old man” is a person as he was spiritually before he trusted Christ, when he was still under sin (3:9), powerless and ungodly (5:6), a sinner (5:8), and an enemy of God (5:10).

Ephesians 4: 22
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old (man) self,  which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:8
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old (man) self with its practices  10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Romans 6:5-7
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—  7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Romans 6:5
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

Romans 6:6
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,…

Purpose Clause
…that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Romans 6:7
…because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Summary

1. Our old self was crucified.
2. We are no longer slaves.
3. We are set free.

Three Problems

1. We are surrounded by “old men”.
2. We are resuscitators.
3. We’ve tried to do God’s work.

What’s the status of your “old man?”

The Ultimate Fight

Romans 5:20
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

Romans 6:1-4
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Question:
Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Emphatic Answer
NIV- By no means!
KJV- God Forbid.
GK- May it never be!

Paul’s Three Point Explanation

• We died to sin.
• We were baptized into Christ’s death.
• We were raised to live a new life.

A Better Life
Fear……………...
Greed……………
Pride…………….
Lust……………..
Laziness…………
Hatred…………..
Envy…………….
Bitterness……….
Faith
Contentment
Self Worth
Wholesomeness
Industriousness
Acceptance & Peace
Gratitude
Forgiveness

Never Give Up!

Grace Reigns!

Romans 5:20-21
The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,  21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:20
The law was added so that the trespass might increase. …

Romans 7:7-8
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.

Romans 5:20
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

Romans 5:21
so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grace Reigns!

How Much Can One Man Do?

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—  13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.  14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

Sin – One Man – Death – Universal

Romans 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!  16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Sin – One Man – Death – Universal

Gift – One Man – Life – Receive

Summary
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

So What?

• ”Power in the Blood”
• Restored Sense of Dignity
• Better Way to Live
• A Choice About Destiny

Pursue the Second Adam!

Growing Stronger Faith

Doubting Thomas

Matthew 6:30
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Matthew 8:26
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

Matthew 14: 31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 16:8
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?

Matthew 17: 20
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Romans 5:9-11
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Saved through His Death
Saved through His Life

Redemption – Reconciliation

Romans 5:11
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

“Stop doubting and believe!”

The Right Time

Romans 5:6
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6 “at just the right time”
“Powerless”- weak, infirm, feeble
“Ungodly”- destitute of reverential awe
“Sinners”- especially wicked

Galatians 4:4 KJV
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Galatians 4:4 “the fulness of the time”

• Prophetic Timetable
• Single Governing Authority
• Unified Road System
• Common Language
• Extreme Wickedness
• Arrogant Self-Righteousness

How will you respond?

Drenched in Love

NIV- Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

  KJV- Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Point #1
Christian hope will never disgrace us.

NIV-And hope does not disappoint us
KJV-5 And hope maketh not ashamed

Point #2
Our first dividend of “God’s Love” is proof positive.

NIV-“God has poured out his love into our hearts”
KJV- “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts”

Proof Positive

• Issued God’s love
  1 Corinthians 13
  4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

• By the Holy Spirit

• In abundance

• In the heart

You’ll never be disgraced when wearing the love of God!

Smiling in Boot Camp

Romans 5:3-4
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Three Understandings

• Suffering produces perseverance.
• Perseverance produces character.
• Character leads to hope.

Suffering >
   Perseverance >
      Character >
         Hope >
             Rejoicing!

The Questions

1. How will we stand?
2. How will we care?

Get Immediate Results!

Background

1. Guilt of the Gentiles
2. Guilt of Jews
3. Guilt of All People
4. Justification by faith

Romans 5:1-2
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Immediate Benefits

1. Peace
2. Access
3. Hope

Discover the Benefits

Enjoy the Benefits!

Got Shorty

About Zacchaeus

• Affluent City

• Influential Position

• Rich

• Despised

• Short Stature

About Jesus

• Not impressed by affluence.

• Not impressed by influence.

• Not impressed by wealth.

• Not deterred by size.

• WAS impressed by interest.

Zacchaeus went…

• Public

• Generous

• Righteous

• Believing

Lessons Learned

• God is pleased with sacrificial giving.

• God desires to reach the un-reached.

• God can save the hardest people.

Plink, Plink

Mark 12:41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.  42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Observation #1
Jesus was interested in what people gave.

Observation #2
Jesus wasn’t impressed by big checks.

Observation #3
Jesus was impressed by the degree of sacrifice.

2 Kings 24:24
I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.

Mark 12:43
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Observation #4
Jesus didn’t stop her from giving.

Goal
Pay off the church in 2 years!

NT Giving: The Training Wheels Come Off!

Over Arching Principle
“The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”  - Psalm 24:1

NT Exhortation
Abound in the grace of giving.

“But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”  - 2 Corinthians 8:7

1. What Is The Motivation For Giving?
A. The example of Christ.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” – 2 Corinthians 8:9
B. The command of Christ.
“My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13

Principle: Giving is a test of sincerity of our love.
“I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others” – 2 Corinthians 8:8

2. NT Principles About How We Should Give
A. Give willingly.
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” -2 Corinthians 9:7
B. Give generously.
“And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.  Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.  For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, even beyond their ability.  Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service to the saints.” - 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Principle: “God’s grace abounds to you”
“6 Remember this:  Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously….8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  As it is written:  “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’  Now he who supplies the seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

1. Sow sparingly = Reap sparingly
2. Sow Generously = Reap Generously

God also blesses in the life to come - Matthew 6:19-21

C. Give as you have purposed in your heart.
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” – 2 Cor. 9:7

D. Give cheerfully.
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Cor. 9:7

E. Give proportionately.
“Now about the collection for God’s people:  Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.  On the first day of the week, each one should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” – I Cor. 16:1-2

“During the time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea.” – Acts 11:27-29

F. Give regularly.
“On the first day of every week…” - I Cor. 16:2

G. Give worshipfully.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” – Matt 5:23-24

3. The Purpose Of Our Giving
To meet the needs of:
A. The Saints – Acts 2:44-45
B. Sick and Aged – Acts 20:35
C. Elders, Current Day Pastors – 1 Timothy 5:17-18
D. Widows – 1 Timothy 5:16
E. Poor Relatives – 1 Timothy 5:8
F. Missionaries – 3 John 5-7
G. The Local Church – Galatians 6:6

How Should We Respond?

1. Realize that God cares more about your heart when it comes to giving than the size of your gift.
2. Confess any wrong attitudes or the use of God’s resources as a steward of all that belongs.
3. Commit to pray about being a purposeful, generous, cheerful give for the glory of God and for His kingdom.

Conclusion:
Experience the joy and blessing available through the generous giving after the example of Christ (2 Cor. 9:15)

Old Money

The Bible & Money
Money & Future Treasure Matthew 6:19
Money & Personal Affection Matthew 6:21
Money & Single-Heartedness Matthew 6:24
Money & Danger 1 Timothy 6:10
Money & Contentment Hebrews 13:5

Tithing: Four Observations
Pre-dated the Mosaic Law
Abram – Genesis 14:18-20
Jacob – Genesis 28:20-22

Malachi 3:8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.  9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.  10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Tithing: Four Observations

• Pre-dated the Mosaic Law

• Required by the Mosaic Law

• Practiced in 3 Dimensions
  10% Priests & Levites
  10% Sacred Festivals
  10% 3 Yrs. to the Poor, Widow, etc.

Tithing: Four Observations

• Pre-dated the Mosaic Law

• Required by the Mosaic Law

• Practiced in 3 Dimensions
  
• Surpassed by Freewill Offerings
  Numbers 31:49-50
  2 Kings 12:9-12
  Deuteronomy 15:7-11

Deuteronomy 15:7
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. … 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Proverbs 11:25
A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

What Do We Learn?

1. Giving was a matter of the heart.
2. Giving enhanced fellowship.
3. Giving was an act of worship.
4. Giving magnified God’s nature.

Open Hearts = Open Hands!

Hanging On By A Weed!

Romans 4:18
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Romans 4:19
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead---since he was about a hundred years old---and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Romans 4:20
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Heifer, Goat, Ram, Dove & Pigeon
Walk Between

Abram’s Name Change
Abram means “exalted father”
Abraham means “father of a multitude”

Romans 4:23
The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness---for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Romans 4:18
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed

NEVER LET GO!

How Do We Get “In”?

Abrahamic Covenant
Genesis 12:1-3

1. Great Nation
2. Personal Blessing
3. Great Name
4. All Nations Blessed

Abram’s Righteousness
4:1-3…..Imputed by faith
4:9-12…Not through circumcision
13-17….Not through the Law

Romans 4:13
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring---not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” (He is our father in the sight of God), in whom he believed--- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

”the God who gives life to the dead”

1. Abram’s dead (lifeless) body
2. Isaac back from the dead
3. Eternal Life for those of faith

Hebrews 11:17
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Galatians 4:28
“Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.”

“and calls things that are not as though they were.”
Gentiles were not Abram’s descendants.
God now calls Gentiles descendants.
(by faith)

What Should We Do?

1. Trust
2. Celebrate
3. Rejoice
4. Participate

Who gets “the blessedness?”

Romans 4:9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

First Result
Romans 4:11 (cont.)
So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

Romans 4:12
And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Abraham’s “Footsteps of Faith”
Genesis 12:1-4…..Calling
Genesis 12:7…….Altar at Shechem
Genesis 12:8…….Altar at Bethel/ Ai
Genesis 12:10-20..Lapse in Egypt
Genesis 13:3…….Altar at Bethel/ Ai

What guided Abraham’s “footsteps of faith?”

1. He believed in the presence of God.
2. He believed in the promise of God.
3. He believed in surrender to God.
4. He lived in daily devotion to the Lord.

1. We need to hear the call of God.
2. We need to trust in the promise of God.
3. We need to surrender to God.
4. We need to walk in daily devotion to God.

”How to Find Happiness…After You’ve Blown It”

”Justification by Faith”

• Abraham is Exhibit “A”
• Principle is Clarified
• David is Exhibit “B”

4:4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
4:5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

POINT
Faith without works is credited (imputed) as righteousness.

4:6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
4:7 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
4:8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

POINT
Find your happiness through faith in Jesus Christ.

LIVING WITH AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

I. The Meaning of an Eternal Perspective

• A perspective is a point of view, a way of thinking about a matter.
• Having an eternal perspective means evaluating the beliefs, events and decisions of life from God’s point of view.

A. Our treasure can’t be stolen or destroyed. It is secure. (Matt. 6:19-21)
B. We can live without anxiety. (Matt. 6:25-34)

1. Because we understand how much God loves us and values us.
2. Because we understand that God will take care of us. (v 27)
3. Because we can be free from the pressures of the world. (v 31)

1. Because God is renewing our inner, eternal nature day by day, even though our bodies experience weakness and finally death. (v 16)
2. Because we recognize that enduring earthly afflictions produces an eternal value that far outweighs the trouble we face here on earth. (v 17)
3. Because we have learned to “see” and live for the true reality of the unseen eternal kingdom. (v 18)

• Esther and Mordecai
• David facing Goliath
• Joshua and Caleb
• Joseph

A. Choose to study and meditate on God’s Word.
B. Choose daily to measure values and decisions against the truth of God’s Word. (2 Cor. 10:3-6)
C. Choose to seek God’s Kingdom first and lay up eternal treasures. (Matt. 6:20,21,33; Col. 3:1-3)
D. Choose to walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)

I counted dollars while God counted crosses.
I counted gain while He counted losses.
I counted my worth by the things gained in store,
But He sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I coveted honors, and sought for degrees.
He wept as He counted the hours on my knees.
I never knew till one day by a grave,
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.

Conclusion:

• How many of my values are in line with what God values?
• Have I been caught up in temporal pursuits?
• Have I lost sight of God’s perspective in my life?
• What changes do I need to make that will help me to have more of an eternal perspective?

Abraham’s Discovery

Romans 4:1-3
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about---but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Abrahamic Covenant

• Great Nation
• Personal Bless
• Great Name
• Be a Blessing

Romans 4:1
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?

Romans 4:2
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about---but not before God.

Romans 4:3
What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

What’s the Difference?

• Imputed righteousness means ”declared” righteous.
• Imparted righteousness means ”made” righteous.

So What?

1. Most humble
2. Deeply grateful
3. Treasure
4. Good News
5. Justification can’t be reversed

Thank you, Lord!

Everyone’s God

Romans 3:29
Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Is God the God of the Jews only?
Is he not the God of the Gentiles too?

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American pragmatic religion is whatever God works for you.

Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

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Humility Wears Well!

Romans 3:27
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Romans 3:28
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Result
We are humbled when we realize we have received such a valuable gift for no other reason than the generosity of the Giver.

Scriptures
Romans 4:2
1 Corinthians 4:7
2 Corinthians 10:17
Galatians 6:14
Ephesians 2:8-10
1 Corinthians 1:26-31

”God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, he can make something out of us.” -- Martin Luther

A Portrait of Justice

”Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.”
Domitus Ulpian (100 AD-228 AD)

God’s Justice

1. Legislative Justice…….moral law.
2. Distributive Justice……accountable.
3. Remunerative Justice….rewarding.
4. Punitive Justice………..punishing.

Romans 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

A Portrait of Justice
Jesus died to satisfy the justice of God.

Romans 3:26
…so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

John 1:11-12
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--

How?

• Admit we are a sinner.
• Believe Jesus died for our sins.
• Confess Jesus as our Lord & Savior.

"Johnny One Note"

Romans 3:22-24
There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Why is there no difference?

1. The problem is the same.
   • We violated the commandment.
   • We violated God’s nature.

2. The solution is the same.
   • ”justified” means declared righteous.
   • ”freely” means it didn’t cost us.

How did God justify us?

• He paid a ransom.
• The price was Jesus.

Exodus 21:5-6
"But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life."

”Put the awl through my ear, O Jesus.”

Things Have Changed!

Romans 3:21
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Two Observations

• Things have changed.
• There’s a new righteousness.

The New Righteousness

• Not from the Law.
• Affirmed by the Scriptures.
• Originated with God.
• Based on faith.

For the Apostle Paul this new righteousness meant “freedom”.

For God the new righteousness expressed “love, mercy and grace”.

Things Have Changed!