sermonshorts

Ephesians 4:11-12 states: “¹¹Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  ¹²Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

Now when you first look at that it sounds great and it is the kind of church that we all want to be a part of.  However, there is a process we go through in order for this to happen and not all of us want to go through it.  The word equip literally means to make perfect and has the idea of a radical adjustment like that in resetting a broken bone.  Now, I don’t know about you but that does not sound too fun.  The job of the pastors of the church is to equip or reset God’s people so that they can do his work and therefore build up the church but not very many people sign up to go through the pain that it takes.

So, here in lies the dilemma, pastors are called by God to do this but God’s people resist it and therefore our churches are not built up.  Instead of seeing this as a GIFT to the church we actually see it as a curse or at best being harsh and judgmental.

However, IF WE CAN THINK PAST THE PAIN, then we can get onto a place of health and the church can grow.  We have to remember the ultimate purpose of WHY this is going on and allow ourselves to be reset and sometimes by being re-broken.  Don’t resist the process and you will GROW, resist it and you will be half-healed and always walk with a limp. And when that happens then the world around us continues to suffer in sin because we are no longer being effective as a church influencing them to go through the same process.

Here are my sermon notes from Sunday on this topic:

The longer that I am in ministry the more I realize that people need Jesus.  It is sometimes overwhelming to see the needs and want so desperately for people to find the rest they so desire.  That is why it is so important for us to preach the “Good News” that Jesus came down to give us rest.

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Whether you go to Revolution Church or not I want you to know that you CAN HAVE REST.  You can find your ultimate satisfaction in who Jesus is and in seeking Him be fulfilled.  We talked this last weekend about how God’s promise of rest still stands (Hebrews 4) and that before we go after even more people that we have to experience it ourselves.  I don’t know where you are in life or what is going on but I know that Jesus can heal whatever the hurts are.  He can give you what you can’t give yourself.

I am praying one for our people at Revolution that you would know that Jesus is here to give you this and we are here to give you Jesus.  It is my joy to serve you as pastor and at the same time enter into your pain.  Please don’t go another day before you find rest for your soul and please know that we are here to listen and pray.  Secondly, I am praying for everyone else that may not be a part of a church but find themselves in need of this.  Please know that the church can offer you what you are desperately needing and we won’t judge you when you come to get it.

Here are my sermon notes from the wknd:

Rhythm and Results (53)

We started a new series at Revolution yesterday called Useless?  The purpose is to communicate that after the Gospel gets planted in us then it naturally produces results.  Those results are 2 fold: one is internal and the other is external.

The internal fruit that is produced is called the “Fruits of the Spirit” which is found in Galatians 5:22-23.  As the Gospel begins to make changes then this “list” will be a result of the Spirit’s activity in us.  We will grow internally and these things will be a result.

The external fruit that is produced is our actions of how we live.  There should be visible differences in the things we do and how we serve.  This is going from a “you serve me” attitude to an “I serve you” attitude.  Ephesians 2:9-10 says we are saved for these good works that God planned for us to do.  So the point is that after we accept the Gospel we get busy doing the things he created us to do.

We are going to unpack these even more over the next few weeks but the point for right now is to begin to ask ourselves the honest questions about whether or not we are seeing this fruit in our lives.  Have there been internal changes since accepting Christ?  Have there been noticeable differences in attitudes and actions? If not then one or two things are going on.  First, maybe your heart was never changed by the gospel and you just started being religious.  If this is the case, then asking Jesus to save you and change your heart is the next step.  Second, if you have already done that, then maybe you have just grown cold to the things of God and are in need of repentance.  If this is the case, then confessing openly to Jesus about your cold heart and ask the Holy Spirit to revive your heart as you begin to pursue Him again.

We are ALL in process and this is something that happens slowly over time but at the end of the day it should be happening. If it is not, then we are ultimately becoming useless to the kingdom of God and to his church.  Our desire is for you to be useful and if you become productive then you are on your way.

Here are my sermon notes:

Yesterday at Revolution Church we talked about the role of pleasure in our obedience to Jesus.  All too often, when we think about obeying we slant it in a very negative light by saying it is about duty instead of joy.  However, when you read the Bible, God asks us to obey not because He is trying to restrict our joy and pleasure but actually to enhance it.  Think about it in terms of raising your kids.  You do not discipline them because it is fun to do so but rather you do it because you want the best for them.  You want them to be happy and to have a great life and you know better than they do how to get that.  The same is true with us and God.  He is the ultimate Father and laid out life in such a way that when we obey Him it leads to our joy and pleasure.

So when you think about living your life according to the Bible, you must reprogram your heart to see that it is less about duty and more about your own pleasure and satisfaction.  We are commanded in 1 John 2:15-17 to not love the world and that literally means to not take pleasure in what it offers us.  I don’t know if you have realized this yet or not but that is impossible to do unless there is something else that we are taking MORE PLEASURE in.  The reason God commands that of us is because He knows there is no greater thing to take pleasure in than Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate satisfaction of our souls and until we experience Him we will continue to go after lesser pleasures.

The highlight of yesterday, was when at the end of the service we asked our men to come down front for a gift.  Then we gave all of them a MAN CARD and challenged them to lead their families in this pursuit of joy.  We then prayed for them to have the courage to be the man God desires for them to be.  Thank you guys for coming down and letting us commit together to be godly men.

Here are the sermon notes:

I have been recently amazed at something, and not in a good way.  All too often we as Christians can criticize the world and talk about how it is falling away from Jesus.  But honestly, we should not be surprised about this because the world does not have the Holy Spirit and therefore they follow their own desires (Romans 1).  However, what is surprising to me is how Christians act and even more so Pastors.

As a Pastor, I am called first to be a sheep of the Chief Shepherd and then second I am His under shepherd to the church that He has called me to.  The church is not MINE it is HIS.  The people are not MINE they are HIS.  Jesus can and will save people WITH or WITHOUT me.  I am not so special that Jesus needs me to do anything FOR him.  However, because of his grace He allows me to do things WITH him.

I say all this to say that there has been something that I have noticed among those that call themselves pastors.  Their is an air of arrogance that is really unsettling.  And I think that we have forgotten that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).  It is a very scary thing for me to think about the fact that GOD MIGHT OPPOSE ME.  The last thing I want in life is a Holy all-powerful God to be against me.  And the only way to make sure that I am on His team is to make sure that I realize this is ALL about HIM and NOT about ME.

So if you are a Pastor or more over a Christian, then never confuse confidence in who HE is with arrogance in who YOU are.  God will give you the grace that you need to follow him as long as you realize that all he requires of you is the humility to say as Louie Giglio’s book points out “I am not but I know I AM.”