It was a busy morning.
We had two baby dedications and something we call 'The Right Hand of Fellowship.'
New members are welcomed into the church by the church staff and pastors, board members and trustees and their spouses. The leaders line up at the front of the church and as the new members names are called, everyone claps and they come up and make their way through the line, shaking hands and being hugged and hopefully, made to feel welcome into our body.
Sermon-"Intense Effort"-These are the notes I took complete with my own distractions and perceptions.
Main point-"If we want to experience what the early church experienced, we have to do the things they did."
Scriptures-
Acts 2:42,43-"And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles."
Eph. 2:8-10-"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Too often we think we are in complete control of our lives.
We think "we are the master of our fate and the Captain of our souls."
Pastor Frank told the story of a man who was riding his donkey one day and came upon a little feather ball lying on the road. Upon closer inspection, he discovered a sparrow lying on his back, with his feet pointed in the air. "Are you Okay?," asked the kind man. The sparrow replied, "I heard that the sky was falling and I am doing all I can to hold it up there."
How foolishly, we, like the sparrow, try to control all the circumstances in our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grace is the foundation of our salvation.
Mercy is when a police officer let's you off after he's caught you going 20 mph over the speed limit.
Grace is when he invites you home for dinner after he's caught you and given you mercy.
God has not only taken care of the payment for our sin, He has invited us Home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think I have the following right:
A perfect passive indicative tense refers to an action that occurred in the past that has present current ramifications.
The past act?-Christ crucified and rose from the dead; forgave my sins
Present tense?-When we believe the action that has already taken place.
I have been saved by faith once I believe.
The process of salvation has already been done.
By grace, I have been saved through faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cross is not:
Knowledge-even the devils believe and tremble-James 2:19
A Feeling-not based on a positive mental attitude;Faith has to have a substance to it. It must have a subject to it.
Is not faith in yourself-(Unless there is something in yourself worth believing in.) We are born in sin. Our hearts are deceptive. We have a natural propensity to do wrong. We cannot have faith in our humanity. It will fail us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God gives us a new heart, a new song, and a new name.
God replaces in us what the nature of sin takes from us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Faith is based on:
A fact-Jesus Christ was more than just a historical figure.
Commitment-Take up your cross and follow Him.
If there is not commitment in the home, there won't be commitment in the church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Acts 2, we read how all the people devoted themselves.
To devote means to continue to do something with intense effort.
Before they saw the move of God, they devoted themselves.
They devoted themselves to fellowshipping with each other. Hebrews exhorts us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, especially as we see 'the day' approaching.
The church cannot save you, but the church can help you.
We need each other on this journey.
If two of us agree on anything touching His name, miracles will happen.
The believers devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles.
We need to keep taking personal responsibility to learn, grow, and understand the ways of God.
We need to be able to give an answer for the hope that is in us.
We look so much like the world that no one is asking us questions.
The believers were devoted to caring for one another.
Elton Trueblood, in his book, the name of which I didn't catch, quoted a student's writings.
"It takes courage to care. I keep a secret store of indifference to keep myself from being too involved..."
We are to love the unlovable.
Caring is done with intense effort.
It will cost us something.
The believers were devoted -with intense effort-to worship.
An example of intense worship would be the kind of praising that Paul and Silas did in prison while bound in chains. The earth shook and the prison doors were open and their chains fell off. Not only did the love God and praise Him, but they cared for the jailer and his family after they were set free.
Don't worship God if you don't care for those around you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before God can send revival, we have to love each other, be devoted to fellowshipping with each other, care for one another, study the Word of God, and worship Him with intense effort.
(Isn't it interesting how the worship of God and the caring for one another go hand in hand?
The First and Second Commandments fulfilled-'Love the Lord your God with all your heart...and love your neighbor as yourself" appears to be the pre-requisite for a time of refreshing from the hand of God. Revival also seems to bring with it a time of cleansing, and we will really need to love God and each other through that process, won't we?)
We had a special time up around the altar, but some things are too sacred to write about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read this on the same morning Pastor Frank preached this sermon. It's from the devotional book by Bill Freeman-'The Supplied Life'.
"...The kind of church life described in the New Testament requires a higher and deeper love than we have in our natural life. We are called to love sinners. We are called to love those who are unfinished, who are still in the process of being transformed. We are called to love weak, and oftentimes failing, saints. Divine love is Calvary love-the love demonstrated on the cross. It is love that flows out to despicable kinds of people-ugly people, hateful people, dirty people, rebellious people, deceived people. The love of God in Christ is all-embracing and full of forbearance and longsuffering. "
"To have the church life that is unveiled in the pages of the New Testament demands this divine love. It is a church life that is beyond the reach of our natural man. In ourselves we do not have the capacity to love one another the way Christ loves us. But that is okay. When we are overwhelmed with the demand of the church life, we are put more and more into contact with Another life that can supply us with divine love. The demand escorts us to Christ."
No comments:
Post a Comment