The Rock of KC

- we cannot give what we have not received - 1 John 4:10, Romans 5:6-8, 8:37-39 - It is like a two sided coin on one side you have the statement: "You matter to God" On the other side it has the question: "Does God matter to you?" - What are the two greatest commandments according to Jesus? - Matt. 22:36-40, 1 John 4:7-12, John 13:34-35 1. Love others the way God loves you (1 Cor. 13:1-8,13, John 15:9-14, Prov. 3:11-12, Heb. 12:5-11, Rev. 3:19) 2. How cna any of this be possible? By the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:12-14, John 7:37-39, Rom. 5:1-5)

- we cannot give what we have not received - 1 John 4:10, Romans 5:6-8, 8:37-39 - It is like a two sided coin on one side you have the statement: "You matter to God" On the other side it has the question: "Does God matter to you?" - What are the two greatest commandments according to Jesus? - Matt. 22:36-40, 1 John 4:7-12, John 13:34-35 1. Love others the way God loves you (1 Cor. 13:1-8,13, John 15:9-14, Prov. 3:11-12, Heb. 12:5-11, Rev. 3:19) 2. How cna any of this be possible? By the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:12-14, John 7:37-39, Rom. 5:1-5)

- Life is meant to be lived in love - John 3:16-21, Romans 5:6-8, 2:4 - love is the stat of God's existence - God is love personified - 1 John 4:10, Hosea 3:1-3 - the name Hosea means "salvation" and the name Gomer means "completion" - when we discover God's love, everything changes

- Hebrews 11:1, Mark 2:1-12 - faith is more about moving us - faith will drown out voices of other things - Jesus is the object of our faith - faith isn't just a personal thing, it's a community thing

- Have you ever needed to be picked up because you're down? Many times people need help. - God is the one who's always there to pick us up. The Holy Spirit in our life is not going to allow us to go into that funk. - What does is look like for us to call one another up? - Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. - Three things that Jesus is to us that we can be to be to others. God is always there to help us. He sent His Son to help us, and He sent the Holy Spirit who is called the Helper. Romans 12:9-21, James 2:15-16

Paul taught, for us . . . there is but one LORD, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 8:6). And Paul taught that Jesus is Lord of all (Romans 10:12). Jesus warned, Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven (Matthew 10:33). That early Christian did not disown his Lord. Some questions for us: - did God authenticate Jesus as Lord? Yes (Luke 2:11, John 20:31) - did Jesus claim to be Lord? Yes (John 13:13, Matt. 28:18) - is it important that we believe Jesus is who He said He is? Yes (John 8:24) - what did the first century church preach? (Acts 2:21, 36; 2 Cor. 4:5, 1 Peter 3:15, Col. 2:6, 1 Thess. 5:9, Rom .6:23) Implication: - salvation is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:22-31, Rom. 10:9, 12-13) Important: - when summing up his ministry, Paul said "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:21) - Paul said, "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living (Rom. 14:9) - if Jesus is my Lord, then I am his bondservant (1 Cor. 6:19-20) - a bond servant is a voluntary slave for life out of love for his master who gives up everything - it's a position of honor - all true believers are bond servants (Rev. 1:1) - obedience is required of a servant (Luke 6:46, Matt. 28:19-20) - are salvation and punishment related to obedience? (Heb. 5:9) - what if we don't obey? (2 Thess. 1:8-9) - did Jesus make obedience a salvation issue? (Matt. 7:21-23) - are there special blessings for those who obey? (john 14:21,23-24) - are there conditions dependent upon obedience? (John 15:10, 14) - Grace is available to surrender to His Lordship. For some it is instant revelation and others it is progressive. (Phil. 2:9)

1 John 2:1-6 An advocate is a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, or cause. It's someone who will present someone else's case. John 14:1-4, 15-18, 23-27; 16:7-11 This the Holy Spirit comes along side of us, to live in side of us to do: 1. teach us 2. remind us 3. testify (John 15:26) 4. convict us "Christ is good and holy and pure; to reject him is to convict oneself of being opposed to goodness and holiness and purity and love." (Erdman) In the New Testament, the word advocate no only means the "called alongside one", but there is a purpose to his being there: to assist, to comfort, to counsel, to defend, to intercede on behalf of another "The Holy Spirit is God's advocate on earth with men. While Christ is mans' advocate with the Father in heaven. John 8:1-11 The attitude of an advocate, of mercy, grace, love, forgiveness is Jesus our Advocate

Luke 19:1-10, Romans 5:6-8, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 7:34 (Jesus is a friend of sinners) - Jesus calls the unlikely to follow Him - Jesus calls the undesirable to follow Him - Jesus calls the spiritually unhealthy to follow Him 1. what does this teach me about God? 2. what does the text teach me about sinful humanity? 3. what does this text teach me about Jesus Christ? 4. what does God want me to know? 5. what does God want me to do? Conclusion: Jesus was a friend of sinners. He reached out to the undesirable, called the unlikely and healed the spiritually unhealthy. He cared for them, He spent time with them, and He loved them. If this is true of our Master, then it should also be true of us.

-Eph. 2:1-7, Gen. 4:1-7 - What is sin? Romans 3:23 - we are all born bad - Eph. 2:1 - sin steals and robs our true existence and meaning in life (Rom. 6:23) - sin fascinates before it assassinates - but God... (Eph. 2:4, John 3:16) - what's the answer - God! The only way to be alive is to follow God. Receive His love. Can't earn it - don't deserve it! Accept it! He is obssessed with YOU! He who knew no sin became sin - so that we would live. We belong to Jesus! We are totally forgiven, totally accepted and totally loved by our heavenly father. We must receive His love. He is enough! He approves me and loves me. It's not about our performance, our pedigree, background - The Good News is - Jesus came to pay the price for us to go from a place of separation to a place of belonging! - we belong to Jesus! Jesus is Alive!

Jesus Is...with you always. Matthew 28:18-20 1 John 4:15 John 16:33 John 16:31 John 16:32 John 16:33 Hebrews 13:5 Philippians 4:4

Ephesians 2:8-9 1. Grace is a gift - grace is more than favor...it is the free gift found in the personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Luke 15:11-32) 2. Grace is always looking for you 3. Grace is not about your worth (Eph. 2:1-10) 4. Grace is not earned - less about rules, and more about grace - we must learn to embrace grace

- 2 Tim. 3:1-9 - Overcoming Last Days Madness 1. Lovers of self first - "'Lovers of self' aptly heads the list since it is the essence of all sin and the root from which all the other characteristics spring. The word is literally 'self-lovers' and points to the fact that the center of gravity of the natural man is self rather than God." (Hiebert) 2. Lovers of money - Luke 16:13 3. Boasting, pride, and blasphemy - boasting: an empty pretender - pride: showing one's self above others, overtopping, conspicuous above others, preeminent - blasphemy: speaking evil, slander, reproach, abusive 4. Disobedience 5. Unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgving - Unloving (translated without natural affection in the KJV) literally means, "without family love." Paul said that the end times would be marked by an attitude of growing disregard of normal family love and obligation. (Rom. 1:18-32) 6. Slander 7 Without self-control 8. Brutality 9. Despisers of good 10. Traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - we don't have to choose between pleasure and God - serving God is the ultimate pleasure (Ps. 16:11) 11. Having a form of godliness - Having a form of godliness but denying its power: In our self-obsessed world, people feel very free to have a "salad bar" religion - they pick and choose what they want. They feel free to be very "spiritual," but sense no obligation to be Biblical.

- bitterness will grow into every part of your life - an offended spirit isn't broken or contrite - Heb. 12:14-15, Eph. 4:31-32, 1 Peter 2:23, Luke 23:34, Matt. 6:14-15, Rom. 12:14-21 - Dr. Gregory Popcak wrote, "Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented. The more we hold onto past hurts the more we become drunk on our pain and the experience can rob us of the joy we can find in anything." - bitterness is wrath's little sister - Steps to overcoming bitterness 1. Ask God to forgive you for a bitter root judgment 2. Forgive 3. Make a plan (on how you're going to live from this moment forward) - forgiveness frees up the energy - not to be my life story but only a scar 4. Stop dwelling and retelling - don't nurse it, don't rehearse it, don't curse it, let it go 5. Receive grace (Titus 2:11-12)

7 Biblical Ways To Overcome Offenses: 1. Avoid divisive people. Romans 16:17 2. Overlook the matter. Prov. 19:11 3. Do not take things too personally or people too seriously. Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 4. Be properly reconciled to people who offend you. Matthew 18:15-17 5. Let your own conduct be above reproach. Acts 24:16, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 2 Corinthians 6:3 6. Never give up on people-Give them up. Ecclesiastes 10:4 7. Be an imitator of Jesus. Matthew 16:23 - Above all things, guard your heart (Prov. 4:23). - Don’t allow a spirit of offense to overcome you. Instead, overcome it. - There are many things in life that can stop you from getting closer to God. You need to break free from them. - A spirit of offense will never let you go. You have to let it go. - "That you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ." Philippians 1:10

- Luke 15 - "We are not yet what we will be" Martin Luther - God's moving us forward - Restoration - God's in the business of fixing us and putting us back together - doing life your way - will work for a little while - our attempts at making life work just doesn't work 4 ways God restores us 1. God brings us to our senses - when we're broken, we allow God to work in us - can't start to fix it until you finish the break and it's completely broken - God will allow us to be broken in order for us to be fixed the right way - Ps. 51:17 2. He calls us to something greater - am I living where I ought to be? - God will use this to draw me to Himself - because I wasn't paying attention, I'm not where I'm supposed to be - why is it we choose what the world offers instead of what God provides 3 He embraces us with grace - thank you God, that I'm in your hands - I've never been holding on to God, He's always been holding on to me 4. God uses truth to restore us - Father says "This is my son" to the prodigal son - God speaks truth over us and it sets us free - God wants to restore us