Gospel Life Church

Which side of Jesus will you fall on, His wrath or His people.What do His people look like?Are you preparing even now for the coming of the Lord?Do you live like one of His people or like the world?Jesus came to make the rough places straight and He will do this through his wrath or through His redemption. Redeemed people live like Kingdom people and He will not be satisfied with the religious.Luke 3:3-8 NLT 3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 4 Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the LORD's coming! Clear the road for him! 5 The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth. 6 And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.'" 7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, "You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God's coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.This citation from Isaiah in Luke is the key interpretive framework that the remainder of Luke and Acts is to be understood.“Prepare the way” is exactly why the church in the book of Acts was known as “The Way” occurring 6 times in the book of Acts (9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22)It is what Jesus means when He says in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”The call is the same to us today. Prove it!!! We often hear people telling God to prove Himself to them, that He is real, but the Scripture makes the opposite call.Are you clinging merely to your prayer, to the idea that you have been forgiven, but then are you failing to even consider that He demands a repentant people, poor in Spirit, that thirst and hunger for righteousness, that are oppressed in their taking up the cause of the oppressed or do you merely use religion to oppress others. So what is Luke talking about and where does this idea come from?Clear the road for him! 5 The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth.Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT 3 Listen! It's the voice of someone shouting, "Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!Isaiah 49:11 11 And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys.Isaiah 57:14-15 NLT 14 God says, "Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity." 15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.Luke 6:20 NLT 20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.Isaiah 62:10 NLT 10 Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.The highway is a means of access to God and His city.The image of clearing the way for God’s people is present alongside a picture of His people as humble and lowly which is just what John the Baptist is calling for. The way to God is cleared for humble and righteous people. The leveling of geographic obstacles is a way of portraying God’s coming as powerful and without obstruction. Just as God parted the Red Sea in the Exodus so He will remove all of creation’s obstacles for His people as He delivers them. All of the life of ministry of Jesus can be seen in light of this prophecy for in these words we see all that Jesus was ever doing.The highway that clears the way for God’s coming is a purified heart.Isaiah pictures a new exodus and that is exactly what Jesus is initiating in His earthly ministry.(Isaiah 43:17-19 NLT) called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. 18 "But forget all that-- it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.Isaiah is not just referring to a Babylonian Captivity but to God’s ultimate salvation through Jesus.We are in the midst of the new exodus where God is calling people to Himself through Jesus.(Luke 1:17 NLT) 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”Malachi 3:1-3 NLT "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 2 "But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD.Malachi 4:1-6 NLT The LORD of Heaven's Armies says, "The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed-- roots, branches, and all. 2 "But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 4 "Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant-- all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel. 5 "Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse."In the midst of His wrath there are those who still fear Him that the Lord remembers:Malachi 3:16 NLT 16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.Luke 3:8-18 NLT 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire." 10 The crowds asked, "What should we do?" 11 John replied, "If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry." 12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He replied, "Collect no more taxes than the government requires." 14 "What should we do?" asked some soldiers. John replied, "Don't extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay." 15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered their questions by saying, "I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am-- so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire." 18 John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.So what we see with the coming of Jesus, as predicted in Isaiah and Malachi is that the coming of Jesus sets people in one of two categories, and Jesus throughout His ministry is doing just that.How do we prepare for His coming? Its repentance. We act like its a choice to worship, to serve, to forgive, to sacrifice when we want to, if we feel like, and if its convenient, and if we spend our lives like this then the Woes of His fierce wrath will fall on us, so I say if you think you have received His salvation, PROVE IT, by the way you live that you have repented and turned to God.Do we think that our seeing others as a brood of vipers we are in turn able to live as a brood of vipers ourselves?How can we celebrate His birth if we live like He never came and is impotent and forgetful of His mission to set the world straight? Lip service, token religious gestures, half-hearted commitments, faith lived out of convenience, that is repulsed and draws back at the call to sacrifice will surely experience the wrath of the King of kings, Jesus.So we look out and see the chaos of our world and we must ask ourselves, are we part of the solution or are we part of the problem that Jesus will solve?(Isaiah 58:6 NLT) 6 "No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.CONCLUSION:So what I want you to see is that the OT is setting up the dominos that the NT begins to push over that will culminate in the grand finale of Jesus’ return.So what we have in the book of Luke is a warning and an understanding of what it means to be prepared for the way of the Lord.As we celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, He didn’t just come to make us feel warm and fuzzy but to call us back to God. We should read the Gospels this Christmas season to ensure that we are truly His people that He will remember and that His wrath doesn’t still fall on us.When Jesus returns is not when I want you to have a moment of clarity. On that day I don’t want you to fall down in dread but to life your hands in victory and joy.So what’s it going to be, the baptism of the Spirit or fire?(Luke 24:46-49 NLT) 46 And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: 'There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.' 48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”Isa 32:15 until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. Isa 44:3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. Isa 59:21 "And this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children's children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken! Joe 2:28 "Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. (Isaiah 49:6-7 NLT) 6 He says, "You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." 7 The LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: "Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the LORD, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Isa 32:15 until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. Isaiah 43:10-12 NLT 10 "But you are my witnesses, O Israel!" says the LORD. "You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God-- there never has been, and there never will be. 11 I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no other Savior. 12 First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God," says the LORD.(Isaiah 44:8 NLT) 8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses-- is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock-- not one!"Isaiah 49:6 6 He says, "You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”Acts 13:46-48 NLT 46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, "It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said, 'I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.'" 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.Acts 28:26-28 NLT 26 'Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. 27 For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes-- so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.' 28 So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”(Isaiah 6:8-10 NLT) 8 Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me." 9 And he said, "Yes, go, and say to this people, 'Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.' 10 Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing."Isaiah speaks of the restoration of Israel built on 6 crucial themes that play a significant role in the book of Acts (Beale, NTBT, pp. 701–703):The reconstitution of Israel begins in Luke with the establishment of the 12 apostles who represent the regathered 12 Tribes of Israel.Acts 2:5 5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. This refers to Isaiah’s prophecy of the ingathering of dispersed exiles.The Coming of the Spirit (Acts 2 & see above Isa 32; 44; 59)Initial repentance of multitudes in Israel (2:41–47; 5:14; 6:1, 7; 11:24; 12:24)The rebuilding of the Davidic Kingdom (Acts 15:13–18)Acts 15:13-18 NLT 13 When they had finished, James stood and said, "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 15 And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written: 16 'Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might seek the LORD, including the Gentiles-- all those I have called to be mine. The LORD has spoken-- 18 he who made these things known so long ago.’The inclusion of outcasts among God’s true people like the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26–39)7. Word of the Lord(Isaiah 2:3 NLT) 3 People from many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob's God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For the LORD's teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.(Isaiah 45:22-24 NLT) 22 Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. 23 I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to me." 24 The people will declare, "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength." And all who were angry with him will come to him and be ashamed.(Isaiah 55:10-11 NLT) 10 "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 11 It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.(Acts 6:7 NLT) 7 So God's message (the Word of God) continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.(Acts 12:24 NLT) 24 Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.(Acts 19:20 NLT) 20 So the message about the Lord (the Word of the Lord) spread widely and had a powerful effect.“Despite opposition the world makes its way and accomplishes its goal of creating the church community, which, in contrast to the Jewish establishment, is identified as the true heir of Isaiah’s new-exodus and restoration promises (Beale, NTBT, p. 702).”“The church is the commencing fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah’s restoration. Beale, p. 703.Jews at the time of Jesus believed that their exile had continued into the first century which explains Luke's emphasis on Isaiah’s restoration promises in the coming of Jesus and the Spirit.

7 Steps in Asking Forgiveness 12/04/2016

7 Steps in Asking Forgiveness 12/04/2016

Getting Bitter or Better 11/27/2016

Getting Bitter or Better 11/27/2016

Good Desires Turned Evil 11/20/2016

Good Desires Turned Evil 11/20/2016

Why does AA need a higher power?Because in going through your Inventory its easy to get caught up in the fact that its all about you.When its all about you, you can get caught up in several traps: One, you can’t really face yourself and your life because if you did you would be overwhelmed with grief, with guilt, and with shame. You can spiral into self-doubt, and discouragement so much that its paralyzing. You get can get caught in the trap of self-pity.Two, you can get caught up in the trap of self-righteousness. As in, because its all about me, I am the standard by which I judge others and I focus on those who don’t live up to my standard. Self-righteousness says, “I’m in the right.” We judge others and we blame others. The result is we struggle to show mercy because no one deserves it. They haven’t sinned against God, they’ve sinned against me, so why should I have to show mercy, why should I have to forgive others.If you are self-absorbed, how could you ever absorb the failings of others?Why would anyone ever show mercy if its costs something? If someone is going to pay, it should always be the person who is responsible. Sometimes we say we are showing mercy, we say we are forgiving people but in reality we are making them beg, we are making them grovel, we are what? Making them pay part of the cost. We are exacting the debt by making them pay for it a little bit. We are going to vent to others about that person, we are going to gossip about that person before we ever get to the place where we are willing to forgive them. So we are making them pay for it just enough to let us bring down the debt to a manageable sum. If I compare myself to many in this room about who is the better artist I may come out on top. I may be able to draw better stick figures than most of you. But what if I compare myself to Michelangelo? Jesus is the standard and He takes away our self-righteousness, our self-pity and we can never be the victims again because He is truly the only victim.You can’t come to God and say you owe me, that God doesn’t live up to your standard.This morning I want you to see that showing mercy costs you something and we know this because God showing mercy to us cost us His life.BEATITUDE Matthew 5:7 NLT 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.Jesus tells the merciful that they will be shown mercy because its only those who have received God’s mercy who show mercy to others.But you say, “I see others showing mercy all the time who are not Christians. Here we have to remember that this Beatitude is part of a set that it cannot be separated from. Showing mercy to others over the course of a lifetime will wear you out and create emotional fatigue you won’t recover from. But that is why the first Beatitude says, “Blessed are those who are pour in spirit” meaning blessed are those who realize they need God. So the first sermon Jesus preaches He starts out by saying the first thing you need to know is that you need God.Jesus lives out the Beatitudes perfectly, thats what His life was all about. He suffered that He might show us mercy, so that we could have the strength to show mercy to others that we might live a life that brings glory to God.But how can I show mercy when the person hasn’t asked me for forgiveness?Matthew 5:23-24 NLT 23 "So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.Mark 11:25 NLT 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.".But how will we show mercy when all we feel is bitterness?If somebody runs into and totals your car, and you say, “I forgive you,” does that mean somehow the car is suddenly repaired? No! If you don’t forgive the person the debt, that person pays whatever the car cost, or you pay whatever the car cost, because you replace your car. Either that person bears the cost, or you absorb the cost, but there’s no way the debt goes into the air. Somebody pays it. Whenever you forgive somebody, that means you absorb the cost.You see when God said “Let there be light” there was light. But when God said I forgive you and I show mercy to you, it cost Him a great deal. He went to the cross for us. That is why some say the only problem God ever faced was showing mankind forgiveness.How do I know showing mercy costs something? 3 examples.The Good Samaritan-Luke 10:30-37 NLT 30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, 'Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.' 36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."So we see that the Samaritan showing mercy cost him time and money.2. The Debtor-Matthew 18:21-35 NLT 21 Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" 22 "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven! 23 "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold-- along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned-- to pay the debt. 26 "But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 "But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 "His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it,' he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”So we forgive others, we show mercy to them innumerably because the debt forgiven us was infinite. We never get to the place where the mercy we have shown others matches the mercy that God has shown us.When we resist forgiving others its because we are self-aborbed, and self-absorbed people are unwilling to absorb the failings and debts of others.So this is why AA needs a Higher Power, to take our attention off of ourselves and place it on someone who transforms our whole perspective.3. JesusWe see the costliness of God’s mercy through Jesus in so many ways.If a child on the street makes fun of me I don’t really care. What does that child know about me? But if one of the members of my church community attacks me, it matters to me a great deal and I feel pain as a result. In fact it can be agonizing. But if my wife says, “I hate you” then I’m devastated. My life feels like it is collapsing in a moment. We have known each other 15 years and been married 12 1/2 years. But imagine the pain Jesus felt on the cross when His Father whom He had known for eternity turned His face away breaking fellowship with Him for the first time in all eternity. The more intimate the relationship, the more painful the rejection and Jesus suffered that rejection so that He might show mercy to us.Luke 22:45 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.And Jesus does all this voluntarily. In the Garden of Gethsemane He comes face to face with what He is about to suffer. This is why He was sweating great drops of blood.Luke 22:39-47 NLT 39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There he told them, "Pray that you will not give in to temptation." 41 He walked away, about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. 46 "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation." 47 But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss.Jesus needs the support of those closest to him in the hour of His temptation but He doesn’t find it.I believe the temptation for Jesus in His humanity was to turn away from God’s will for Him, to forsake the cup of suffering and the rejection of the Father. There in the Garden He feels the full intensity of what He is about to suffer.Jesus uses the strength given to Him by the angel to even more fully face the temptation He is about to suffer.You know when you are angry and in a fight with someone and you get a phone call from your pastor or your friend and suddenly you are able to regain your composure because this outside influence is able to change the situation and your behavior? That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross is meant to do for us. Jesus takes us outside of ourselves. It takes us outside of our self-pity and self-righteousness.When you are tempted to withdraw from a person and to hold on to your bitterness and you struggle to forgive someone or be reconciled to them you are having a Garden of Gethsemane moment. We need to realize that right there in that moment we ourselves are in the Garden of Gethsemane.Perhaps there are some of us here this morning that have already withdrawn from someone Jesus wants us to be reconciled to.When the bitterness is welling up within us we need to learn at that moment to turn our eyes to Jesus so that we can say if Jesus was willing to voluntarily enter into His suffering so that He could forgive me, surely I can voluntarily enter into this suffering so that I can absorb the sin of someone else against me.Our small cups of suffering are nothing compared to the great cup of His suffering.This morning I want you to let the suffering of Jesus, the suffering that He suffered for you, let it wash over you, fully embrace it and let it change your whole perspective and be blessed for His grace in empowering you to show mercy to others.This is why AA of necessity needs a higher power and we get to know this Higher Power personally. Jesus allows us to take the focus off ourselves and shows us what mercy and costly forgiveness looks like so that we might show it to others.God says to Adam, obey and you will live. God says to Jesus, obey and I’ll completely crush you for the sins of the whole world.So I ask you this morning, do you know and understand and are you willing to experience the mercy of God so that it transforms you and your relationships?Pray this this morning:Psalm 86:3-5 NLT 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. 4 Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. 5 O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.Right now I want to invite you to have a Garden of Gethsemane moment. I invite to right now to keep watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. I want you to focus on the mercy that Jesus voluntarily entered into for you at great cost to Himself and I want you to let the Holy Spirit whisper into your heart telling you who you need to forgive at great cost to yourself.

Why does AA need a higher power?Because in going through your Inventory its easy to get caught up in the fact that its all about you.When its all about you, you can get caught up in several traps: One, you can’t really face yourself and your life because if you did you would be overwhelmed with grief, with guilt, and with shame. You can spiral into self-doubt, and discouragement so much that its paralyzing. You get can get caught in the trap of self-pity.Two, you can get caught up in the trap of self-righteousness. As in, because its all about me, I am the standard by which I judge others and I focus on those who don’t live up to my standard. Self-righteousness says, “I’m in the right.” We judge others and we blame others. The result is we struggle to show mercy because no one deserves it. They haven’t sinned against God, they’ve sinned against me, so why should I have to show mercy, why should I have to forgive others.If you are self-absorbed, how could you ever absorb the failings of others?Why would anyone ever show mercy if its costs something? If someone is going to pay, it should always be the person who is responsible. Sometimes we say we are showing mercy, we say we are forgiving people but in reality we are making them beg, we are making them grovel, we are what? Making them pay part of the cost. We are exacting the debt by making them pay for it a little bit. We are going to vent to others about that person, we are going to gossip about that person before we ever get to the place where we are willing to forgive them. So we are making them pay for it just enough to let us bring down the debt to a manageable sum. If I compare myself to many in this room about who is the better artist I may come out on top. I may be able to draw better stick figures than most of you. But what if I compare myself to Michelangelo? Jesus is the standard and He takes away our self-righteousness, our self-pity and we can never be the victims again because He is truly the only victim.You can’t come to God and say you owe me, that God doesn’t live up to your standard.This morning I want you to see that showing mercy costs you something and we know this because God showing mercy to us cost us His life.BEATITUDE Matthew 5:7 NLT 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.Jesus tells the merciful that they will be shown mercy because its only those who have received God’s mercy who show mercy to others.But you say, “I see others showing mercy all the time who are not Christians. Here we have to remember that this Beatitude is part of a set that it cannot be separated from. Showing mercy to others over the course of a lifetime will wear you out and create emotional fatigue you won’t recover from. But that is why the first Beatitude says, “Blessed are those who are pour in spirit” meaning blessed are those who realize they need God. So the first sermon Jesus preaches He starts out by saying the first thing you need to know is that you need God.Jesus lives out the Beatitudes perfectly, thats what His life was all about. He suffered that He might show us mercy, so that we could have the strength to show mercy to others that we might live a life that brings glory to God.But how can I show mercy when the person hasn’t asked me for forgiveness?Matthew 5:23-24 NLT 23 "So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.Mark 11:25 NLT 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.".But how will we show mercy when all we feel is bitterness?If somebody runs into and totals your car, and you say, “I forgive you,” does that mean somehow the car is suddenly repaired? No! If you don’t forgive the person the debt, that person pays whatever the car cost, or you pay whatever the car cost, because you replace your car. Either that person bears the cost, or you absorb the cost, but there’s no way the debt goes into the air. Somebody pays it. Whenever you forgive somebody, that means you absorb the cost.You see when God said “Let there be light” there was light. But when God said I forgive you and I show mercy to you, it cost Him a great deal. He went to the cross for us. That is why some say the only problem God ever faced was showing mankind forgiveness.How do I know showing mercy costs something? 3 examples.The Good Samaritan-Luke 10:30-37 NLT 30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, 'Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.' 36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."So we see that the Samaritan showing mercy cost him time and money.2. The Debtor-Matthew 18:21-35 NLT 21 Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" 22 "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven! 23 "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold-- along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned-- to pay the debt. 26 "But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 "But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 "His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it,' he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”So we forgive others, we show mercy to them innumerably because the debt forgiven us was infinite. We never get to the place where the mercy we have shown others matches the mercy that God has shown us.When we resist forgiving others its because we are self-aborbed, and self-absorbed people are unwilling to absorb the failings and debts of others.So this is why AA needs a Higher Power, to take our attention off of ourselves and place it on someone who transforms our whole perspective.3. JesusWe see the costliness of God’s mercy through Jesus in so many ways.If a child on the street makes fun of me I don’t really care. What does that child know about me? But if one of the members of my church community attacks me, it matters to me a great deal and I feel pain as a result. In fact it can be agonizing. But if my wife says, “I hate you” then I’m devastated. My life feels like it is collapsing in a moment. We have known each other 15 years and been married 12 1/2 years. But imagine the pain Jesus felt on the cross when His Father whom He had known for eternity turned His face away breaking fellowship with Him for the first time in all eternity. The more intimate the relationship, the more painful the rejection and Jesus suffered that rejection so that He might show mercy to us.Luke 22:45 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.And Jesus does all this voluntarily. In the Garden of Gethsemane He comes face to face with what He is about to suffer. This is why He was sweating great drops of blood.Luke 22:39-47 NLT 39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There he told them, "Pray that you will not give in to temptation." 41 He walked away, about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. 46 "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation." 47 But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss.Jesus needs the support of those closest to him in the hour of His temptation but He doesn’t find it.I believe the temptation for Jesus in His humanity was to turn away from God’s will for Him, to forsake the cup of suffering and the rejection of the Father. There in the Garden He feels the full intensity of what He is about to suffer.Jesus uses the strength given to Him by the angel to even more fully face the temptation He is about to suffer.You know when you are angry and in a fight with someone and you get a phone call from your pastor or your friend and suddenly you are able to regain your composure because this outside influence is able to change the situation and your behavior? That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross is meant to do for us. Jesus takes us outside of ourselves. It takes us outside of our self-pity and self-righteousness.When you are tempted to withdraw from a person and to hold on to your bitterness and you struggle to forgive someone or be reconciled to them you are having a Garden of Gethsemane moment. We need to realize that right there in that moment we ourselves are in the Garden of Gethsemane.Perhaps there are some of us here this morning that have already withdrawn from someone Jesus wants us to be reconciled to.When the bitterness is welling up within us we need to learn at that moment to turn our eyes to Jesus so that we can say if Jesus was willing to voluntarily enter into His suffering so that He could forgive me, surely I can voluntarily enter into this suffering so that I can absorb the sin of someone else against me.Our small cups of suffering are nothing compared to the great cup of His suffering.This morning I want you to let the suffering of Jesus, the suffering that He suffered for you, let it wash over you, fully embrace it and let it change your whole perspective and be blessed for His grace in empowering you to show mercy to others.This is why AA of necessity needs a higher power and we get to know this Higher Power personally. Jesus allows us to take the focus off ourselves and shows us what mercy and costly forgiveness looks like so that we might show it to others.God says to Adam, obey and you will live. God says to Jesus, obey and I’ll completely crush you for the sins of the whole world.So I ask you this morning, do you know and understand and are you willing to experience the mercy of God so that it transforms you and your relationships?Pray this this morning:Psalm 86:3-5 NLT 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. 4 Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. 5 O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.Right now I want to invite you to have a Garden of Gethsemane moment. I invite to right now to keep watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. I want you to focus on the mercy that Jesus voluntarily entered into for you at great cost to Himself and I want you to let the Holy Spirit whisper into your heart telling you who you need to forgive at great cost to yourself.

3 Paradigms of Engagement with Culture and Politics (Hunter, p. 213): Defensive Against- Conservatives of all confessions have been angry about their loss of prominence, as well as anxious, on guard, and self-protective in ways that have created walls between themselves and the outside world. They have pursued this ideal by constructing a complex empire of parallel institutions in music, education, media, law, and the like that functions as a parallel universe to the secular world. Those who embrace the Defensive Against paradigm continue to believe that the main problem in the world is secularization: if only God cold be re-enshrined in the social order, they assume, the culture would be restored. The church wold raging its standing in society, the family and local community would recover its Christian character, and the leading spheres of social life, including law and government, social welfare and reform, hospitals, education, etc. would again be influenced by the categories and codes of Christian moral understanding. Hunter p. 215. Difference is always seen as danger and in creating alternative institutions they live in a pluralistic world without really participating in it. The engage in culture in ways that are often aggressive and confrontational.Relevance To: The priority here is to identity with people’s felt needs and resonate better with the world around them. Theology is seen as divisive and is replaced with pseudo intimacy with celebrity Christians. Their strategy is to downplay any difference between themselves and nonCHristians and the tendency is to lose their Christian distinctiveness.Purity From: These take the view that there is very little that can be done for the world because in its fallen state the world is irredeemable this side of Christ’s return. The Church itself has been compromised by its complicity with the world’s sinfulness. The central task of the Church therefore is to extricate or dismiss itself from the contaminating forces of the world and by so doing, return to its authentic witness. Their engagement with culture and society is ironically a certain kind of disengagement. The Church doing church within its own walls is seen as the only legitimate Christian expression. Christian witness exists exclusively in the in the Community of Christian believers when they meet together to worship and fellowship. The result is cultural disengagement and withdrawal from active presence in huge areas of social life.Faithful Presence: In so far as Christians acknowledge the rule of God in all aspects of their lives, their engagement with the world proclaims the shalom to come. Such work may not bring about the Kingdom but it is an embodiment of the values of the coming kingdoms and is thus a foretaste of the coming Kingdom. Even while believers wait for their salvation the net effect of such work will be a contribution not only to the good of the Christian community but to the flourishing of all. Any good that is generated by Christians is only the net effect of caring for something more than the good created. if there are benevolent consequences of our engagement with the world, it is precisely because it is not rooted in a desire to change the world for the better but rather because it is an expression of a desire to honor the Creator of all goodness, beauty, and truth, a manifestation of our loving obedience to God, and a fulfillment of God’s command to love our neighbor.

3 Paradigms of Engagement with Culture and Politics (Hunter, p. 213): Defensive Against- Conservatives of all confessions have been angry about their loss of prominence, as well as anxious, on guard, and self-protective in ways that have created walls between themselves and the outside world. They have pursued this ideal by constructing a complex empire of parallel institutions in music, education, media, law, and the like that functions as a parallel universe to the secular world. Those who embrace the Defensive Against paradigm continue to believe that the main problem in the world is secularization: if only God cold be re-enshrined in the social order, they assume, the culture would be restored. The church wold raging its standing in society, the family and local community would recover its Christian character, and the leading spheres of social life, including law and government, social welfare and reform, hospitals, education, etc. would again be influenced by the categories and codes of Christian moral understanding. Hunter p. 215. Difference is always seen as danger and in creating alternative institutions they live in a pluralistic world without really participating in it. The engage in culture in ways that are often aggressive and confrontational.Relevance To: The priority here is to identity with people’s felt needs and resonate better with the world around them. Theology is seen as divisive and is replaced with pseudo intimacy with celebrity Christians. Their strategy is to downplay any difference between themselves and nonCHristians and the tendency is to lose their Christian distinctiveness.Purity From: These take the view that there is very little that can be done for the world because in its fallen state the world is irredeemable this side of Christ’s return. The Church itself has been compromised by its complicity with the world’s sinfulness. The central task of the Church therefore is to extricate or dismiss itself from the contaminating forces of the world and by so doing, return to its authentic witness. Their engagement with culture and society is ironically a certain kind of disengagement. The Church doing church within its own walls is seen as the only legitimate Christian expression. Christian witness exists exclusively in the in the Community of Christian believers when they meet together to worship and fellowship. The result is cultural disengagement and withdrawal from active presence in huge areas of social life.Faithful Presence: In so far as Christians acknowledge the rule of God in all aspects of their lives, their engagement with the world proclaims the shalom to come. Such work may not bring about the Kingdom but it is an embodiment of the values of the coming kingdoms and is thus a foretaste of the coming Kingdom. Even while believers wait for their salvation the net effect of such work will be a contribution not only to the good of the Christian community but to the flourishing of all. Any good that is generated by Christians is only the net effect of caring for something more than the good created. if there are benevolent consequences of our engagement with the world, it is precisely because it is not rooted in a desire to change the world for the better but rather because it is an expression of a desire to honor the Creator of all goodness, beauty, and truth, a manifestation of our loving obedience to God, and a fulfillment of God’s command to love our neighbor.

Revelation 2:1–7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: 20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Angels- 19:10; 22:9; 8:3–4Churches- Revelation 11:3–7, 10 Lampstands refer to those who are God’s prophetic witnesses.Mark 4:23; Luke 8:16 16 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. 17 For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all. 18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.” Matthew 5:14–16 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. The statement that Jesus walks in the midst of the 7 lamp stands is intended to remind the introverted readers that their primary role in relation to their Lord should be that of a witness to the outside world.Leaving their first love is their failing to be a prophetic witness.2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. 4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 6 But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. 7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. So having right doctrine is not enough, defending against compromise and maintaining the church’s purity is not enough. We must maintain a faithful witness to the outside world and to do this we must love people and seek to build them up.Church is personal. Are we careful with people’s feelings? We maintain the balance between our love for God and love for people. Our love for God is expressed partly in our love for people. You cannot have one without the other. We don’t love God and ignore people. We don’t love people and ignore God’s truth, and our witness of that truth to the people we are called to love.Knowledge makes us prideful, but love builds people up.We demonstrate we love God by loving people.We can love people we disagree with.We protect people from feeling rejected by shutting down gossip.Gossip- idle talk or rumors especially about the private affairs of others, tattling. casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true.Is there a conflict? Yes. Is this something we need to bring the other person in here to talk about? No. Then we don’t need to talk about it at all. End of story.You are either seeking to obey the Matthew 18 process or you are involved in being divisive.We only talk to people who are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Either way, we are seeking reconciliation, not division. We protect people from feeling rejected by privately addressing individual issues as they arise.Confidentiality (This is what we’ve been talking about on the last two points)When we love people by demonstrating that we accept them regardless of their behavior or beliefs the result is that they feel safe with us, and they begin to share things with us.Maintaining confidentiality is how we get to the 3rd thing, honesty.People will share things with us that are above our pay grade and we won't know all the answers, but here we need to remember that we are not the Savior but we are here to point them to the Savior, Jesus. When they see us not know all the answers they see us exercising faith and this encourages them to exercise their own faith and to trust ultimately not in us but in Jesus. We must maintain the balance between maintaining confidentiality and knowing when to seek help. This is centered around 3 things. Being hurtHurting othersHurting themselvesHonestyWe we give people acceptance and they know we can maintain confidentiality, the result is we have created an environment where honesty can take place.People will not be honest with us, until we are honest with them.Maintaining our testimony with people doesn’t mean we have to make them think we are perfect people. Rather, they should be able to see our struggles but know that we bring our struggles to Jesus.Parents, create this culture and environment in your home when your children are young, and they will be honest with you when they are teenagers.Honesty means people can be themselves, share their doubts, ask you hard questions, and admit to you their struggles.Getting to the place where people can be honest with us is how we create a culture of discipleship. If people can’t be honest with us, because they will feel rejected or that we can’t keep their confidences, then we will never see where they need the Gospel applied to their hearts. If they can’t share their doubts about their faith with us, and their struggles with sin with us, then they are forced to do the Christian life alone.If people can’t ask us the hard questions, they are going to ask someone else.If they cannot share their struggles, then the struggles stay in the darkness where they can thrive.Church should be a place where you can ask hard questions, not just a place where you have to be very confident in your faith in order to be accepted.Loving people doesn’t mean we have to set them straight on every issue right away, even if we feel strongly about the things they are involved in.Honesty also means we are free to admit when we don’t know the answer to their questions. We can say “I don’t know.” Remember that our dependency is on the Holy Spirit, not to be the Holy Spirit.It’s a ProcessBuilding up people in love is a process. There is no finish line, or trophy that says “congratulations, you are now finished with growing to be like Jesus. Building up people in love is a process that happens over time by shaping, crafting, and molding people by applying the Gospel to their life experiences.So we are seeking to create a church community that is not just for the few and the committed.What if a farmer only planted seeds randomly.What if an athlete only exercised when he felt like it.

Revelation 2:1–7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: 20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Angels- 19:10; 22:9; 8:3–4Churches- Revelation 11:3–7, 10 Lampstands refer to those who are God’s prophetic witnesses.Mark 4:23; Luke 8:16 16 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. 17 For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all. 18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.” Matthew 5:14–16 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. The statement that Jesus walks in the midst of the 7 lamp stands is intended to remind the introverted readers that their primary role in relation to their Lord should be that of a witness to the outside world.Leaving their first love is their failing to be a prophetic witness.2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. 4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 6 But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. 7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. So having right doctrine is not enough, defending against compromise and maintaining the church’s purity is not enough. We must maintain a faithful witness to the outside world and to do this we must love people and seek to build them up.Church is personal. Are we careful with people’s feelings? We maintain the balance between our love for God and love for people. Our love for God is expressed partly in our love for people. You cannot have one without the other. We don’t love God and ignore people. We don’t love people and ignore God’s truth, and our witness of that truth to the people we are called to love.Knowledge makes us prideful, but love builds people up.We demonstrate we love God by loving people.We can love people we disagree with.We protect people from feeling rejected by shutting down gossip.Gossip- idle talk or rumors especially about the private affairs of others, tattling. casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true.Is there a conflict? Yes. Is this something we need to bring the other person in here to talk about? No. Then we don’t need to talk about it at all. End of story.You are either seeking to obey the Matthew 18 process or you are involved in being divisive.We only talk to people who are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Either way, we are seeking reconciliation, not division. We protect people from feeling rejected by privately addressing individual issues as they arise.Confidentiality (This is what we’ve been talking about on the last two points)When we love people by demonstrating that we accept them regardless of their behavior or beliefs the result is that they feel safe with us, and they begin to share things with us.Maintaining confidentiality is how we get to the 3rd thing, honesty.People will share things with us that are above our pay grade and we won't know all the answers, but here we need to remember that we are not the Savior but we are here to point them to the Savior, Jesus. When they see us not know all the answers they see us exercising faith and this encourages them to exercise their own faith and to trust ultimately not in us but in Jesus. We must maintain the balance between maintaining confidentiality and knowing when to seek help. This is centered around 3 things. Being hurtHurting othersHurting themselvesHonestyWe we give people acceptance and they know we can maintain confidentiality, the result is we have created an environment where honesty can take place.People will not be honest with us, until we are honest with them.Maintaining our testimony with people doesn’t mean we have to make them think we are perfect people. Rather, they should be able to see our struggles but know that we bring our struggles to Jesus.Parents, create this culture and environment in your home when your children are young, and they will be honest with you when they are teenagers.Honesty means people can be themselves, share their doubts, ask you hard questions, and admit to you their struggles.Getting to the place where people can be honest with us is how we create a culture of discipleship. If people can’t be honest with us, because they will feel rejected or that we can’t keep their confidences, then we will never see where they need the Gospel applied to their hearts. If they can’t share their doubts about their faith with us, and their struggles with sin with us, then they are forced to do the Christian life alone.If people can’t ask us the hard questions, they are going to ask someone else.If they cannot share their struggles, then the struggles stay in the darkness where they can thrive.Church should be a place where you can ask hard questions, not just a place where you have to be very confident in your faith in order to be accepted.Loving people doesn’t mean we have to set them straight on every issue right away, even if we feel strongly about the things they are involved in.Honesty also means we are free to admit when we don’t know the answer to their questions. We can say “I don’t know.” Remember that our dependency is on the Holy Spirit, not to be the Holy Spirit.It’s a ProcessBuilding up people in love is a process. There is no finish line, or trophy that says “congratulations, you are now finished with growing to be like Jesus. Building up people in love is a process that happens over time by shaping, crafting, and molding people by applying the Gospel to their life experiences.So we are seeking to create a church community that is not just for the few and the committed.What if a farmer only planted seeds randomly.What if an athlete only exercised when he felt like it.

Revelation 2:4 4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.This is going to be a cultural message. What is culture? Culture is the values and the expression of those values in a people group. So if you are new here u get to hear about the culture we are trying to create here at GL and we invite u to be a part of creating our culture. 1 Corinthians 8 (NLT)Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. 1 Corinthians 8 The Message (MSG)1-3 The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.1 Corinthians 8 English Standard Version (ESV)Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.Should you eat food offered to idols? How should you treat those who do or don’t?There is a kind of Knowledge-Pride-Lovelessness-destruction (hurts people)There is an imaginary knowledge that leads to pride.There is a true knowledge that leads to building people up.Loving God is interchangeable with a true knowledge.So true knowledge leads to two things-loving God and loving people.James 3:13–18 13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. Romans 14:19 19 So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Romans 15:1b–3a We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didn’t live to please himself.2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of ChristKnowledge makes us prideful, but love builds people up.We demonstrate we love God by loving people.We can love people we disagree with.The Servant Leader has priorities in order:Divine PerspectiveChurch PerspectiveIndividual PerspectivePersonal PerspectiveWe are not going to do away with conflict in our lives or in the church, so what’s important is how we manage it.In order to build each other much we must value at least 3 things:AcceptanceConfidentialityHonestyAcceptance, but is acceptance of people, especially sinners, biblical?First, we are ALL sinners. Second: Romans 5:8 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.If people are going to be honest with us, the 3rd thing, they must experience acceptance, the 1st thing.Acceptance means we can love people we don’t agree with.If you can’t love and accept people that you have things against or that you don't agree with how will you ever be able to love your neighbor, or your enemies?Acceptance of people can be demonstrated by:Remembering their nameRemembering the details they share with youMaking eye contact.What does it mean when someone won’t make eye contact with you? It means they so associate you with your actions that they disagree with that they cannot look at you. Failure to make eye contact can be an expression of rejection.Being positive with the person and celebrating them and their accomplishments.People’s accomplishments are really the image of God being worked out in them, so in celebrating their accomplishments we are really celebrating God, and in this way our love of God flows out into a love of people.What is the opposite of Acceptance? Rejection. Without Acceptance of those we disagree with community cannot happen. “Us 4 and no more, bar the door.” Its only us 4 because I could only find 3 other people who agree with me on all points, but I even have my doubts with them. This is sometimes why a small church is small. Creating an environment of acceptance is how we create a safe environment, an environment where discipleship can happen. Creating an environment of acceptance is how we leave conditional love behind. Its says, “I will love you, even though I don't agree with you.”If you can only love and accept people who are just like you, you are not going to have anyone to build up or disciple, and you eventually will end up alone.Acceptance is a fragile thing.We protect people from feeling rejected by celebrating everyone equally.When we only hang out with our friends at church, yes we are accepting those people but this requires us to reject everyone else, and the result is that we have cliches in the church. Our God is a pursuing God. He leaves His cliche to pursue people who are more unlike Him than like Him. When we form cliches, we deny Romans 5:8.When we understand what Romans 5:8 says about God, do you know what we do when we come to church? We look around for the persons who are new, or who are by themselves, or who are walking out the door because no one is talking to them. Why? Because the love of God seeks to bring people in to community, the love of God pursues people. This is why we give up the idea that we can’t talk to people because we have nothing in common with them. No, its not easy to talk with people you don’t have a lot in common with but neither was it easy for Jesus to get up on that cross and die for people that He didn’t have a lot in common with. Do you realize that when we create exclusive cliques we are actually passively abusing people? How so? The essential property to any relationship of abuse is that one of the parties has a privileged status, that is to say, one person is superior and the other is inferior.You say, “Yes, but this person does evil things.” We all do evil things but guess what, one of the gracious things God has done for us is that He has established that HE is the righteous judge. We don’t have to be the ones that exercise judgement or vengeance, because He promises that He will do it. The result is that we are left with a dependency on the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I think the Holy Spirit doesn’t work because He sees that we have taken things into our own hands, and in doing so we actually deny the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s timing. Acceptance means we are going to be patient with people because God is patient with people. Sometimes the judgement He brings takes generations.We protect people from feeling rejected by shutting down gossip.Gossip- idle talk or rumors especially about the private affairs of others, tattling. casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true.Is there a conflict? Yes. Is this something we need to bring the other person in here to talk about? No. Then we don’t need to talk about it at all. End of story.You are either seeking to obey the Matthew 18 process or you are involved in being divisive.We only talk to people who are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Either way, we are seeking reconciliation, not division. We protect people from feeling rejected by privately addressing individual issues as they arise.Confidentiality (This is what we’ve been talking about on the last two points)When we love people by demonstrating that we accept them regardless of their behavior or beliefs the result is that they feel safe with us, and they begin to share things with us.Maintaining confidentiality is how we get to the 3rd thing, honesty.People will share things with us that are above our pay grade and we won't know all the answers, but here we need to remember that we are not the Savior but we are here to point them to the Savior, Jesus. When they see us not know all the answers they see us exercising faith and this encourages them to exercise their own faith and to trust ultimately not in us but in Jesus. We must maintain the balance between maintaining confidentiality and knowing when to seek help. This is centered around 3 things. Being hurtHurting othersHurting themselvesHonestyWe we give people acceptance and they know we can maintain confidentiality, the result is we have created an environment where honesty can take place.People will not be honest with us, until we are honest with them.Maintaining our testimony with people doesn’t mean we have to make them think we are perfect people. Rather, they should be able to see our struggles but know that we bring our struggles to Jesus.Parents, create this culture and environment in your home when your children are young, and they will be honest with you when they are teenagers.Honesty means people can be themselves, share their doubts, ask you hard questions, and admit to you their struggles.Getting to the place where people can be honest with us is how we create a culture of discipleship. If people can’t be honest with us, because they will feel rejected or that we can’t keep their confidences, then we will never see where they need the Gospel applied to their hearts. If they can’t share their doubts about their faith with us, and their struggles with sin with us, then they are forced to do the Christian life alone.If people can’t ask us the hard questions, they are going to ask someone else.If they cannot share their struggles, then the struggles stay in the darkness where they can thrive.Church should be a place where you can ask hard questions, not just a place where you have to be very confident in your faith in order to be accepted.Loving people doesn’t mean we have to set them straight on every issue right away, even if we feel strongly about the things they are involved in.Honesty also means we are free to admit when we don’t know the answer to their questions. We can say “I don’t know.” Remember that our dependency is on the Holy Spirit, not to be the Holy Spirit.It’s a ProcessBuilding up people in love is a process. There is no finish line, or trophy that says “congratulations, you are now finished with growing to be like Jesus. Building up people in love is a process that happens over time by shaping, crafting, and molding people by applying the Gospel to their life experiences.So we are seeking to create a church community that is not just for the few and the committed.What if a farmer only planted seeds randomly.What if an athlete only exercised when he felt like it.

Revelation 2:4 4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.This is going to be a cultural message. What is culture? Culture is the values and the expression of those values in a people group. So if you are new here u get to hear about the culture we are trying to create here at GL and we invite u to be a part of creating our culture. 1 Corinthians 8 (NLT)Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. 1 Corinthians 8 The Message (MSG)1-3 The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.1 Corinthians 8 English Standard Version (ESV)Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.Should you eat food offered to idols? How should you treat those who do or don’t?There is a kind of Knowledge-Pride-Lovelessness-destruction (hurts people)There is an imaginary knowledge that leads to pride.There is a true knowledge that leads to building people up.Loving God is interchangeable with a true knowledge.So true knowledge leads to two things-loving God and loving people.James 3:13–18 13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. Romans 14:19 19 So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Romans 15:1b–3a We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didn’t live to please himself.2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of ChristKnowledge makes us prideful, but love builds people up.We demonstrate we love God by loving people.We can love people we disagree with.The Servant Leader has priorities in order:Divine PerspectiveChurch PerspectiveIndividual PerspectivePersonal PerspectiveWe are not going to do away with conflict in our lives or in the church, so what’s important is how we manage it.In order to build each other much we must value at least 3 things:AcceptanceConfidentialityHonestyAcceptance, but is acceptance of people, especially sinners, biblical?First, we are ALL sinners. Second: Romans 5:8 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.If people are going to be honest with us, the 3rd thing, they must experience acceptance, the 1st thing.Acceptance means we can love people we don’t agree with.If you can’t love and accept people that you have things against or that you don't agree with how will you ever be able to love your neighbor, or your enemies?Acceptance of people can be demonstrated by:Remembering their nameRemembering the details they share with youMaking eye contact.What does it mean when someone won’t make eye contact with you? It means they so associate you with your actions that they disagree with that they cannot look at you. Failure to make eye contact can be an expression of rejection.Being positive with the person and celebrating them and their accomplishments.People’s accomplishments are really the image of God being worked out in them, so in celebrating their accomplishments we are really celebrating God, and in this way our love of God flows out into a love of people.What is the opposite of Acceptance? Rejection. Without Acceptance of those we disagree with community cannot happen. “Us 4 and no more, bar the door.” Its only us 4 because I could only find 3 other people who agree with me on all points, but I even have my doubts with them. This is sometimes why a small church is small. Creating an environment of acceptance is how we create a safe environment, an environment where discipleship can happen. Creating an environment of acceptance is how we leave conditional love behind. Its says, “I will love you, even though I don't agree with you.”If you can only love and accept people who are just like you, you are not going to have anyone to build up or disciple, and you eventually will end up alone.Acceptance is a fragile thing.We protect people from feeling rejected by celebrating everyone equally.When we only hang out with our friends at church, yes we are accepting those people but this requires us to reject everyone else, and the result is that we have cliches in the church. Our God is a pursuing God. He leaves His cliche to pursue people who are more unlike Him than like Him. When we form cliches, we deny Romans 5:8.When we understand what Romans 5:8 says about God, do you know what we do when we come to church? We look around for the persons who are new, or who are by themselves, or who are walking out the door because no one is talking to them. Why? Because the love of God seeks to bring people in to community, the love of God pursues people. This is why we give up the idea that we can’t talk to people because we have nothing in common with them. No, its not easy to talk with people you don’t have a lot in common with but neither was it easy for Jesus to get up on that cross and die for people that He didn’t have a lot in common with. Do you realize that when we create exclusive cliques we are actually passively abusing people? How so? The essential property to any relationship of abuse is that one of the parties has a privileged status, that is to say, one person is superior and the other is inferior.You say, “Yes, but this person does evil things.” We all do evil things but guess what, one of the gracious things God has done for us is that He has established that HE is the righteous judge. We don’t have to be the ones that exercise judgement or vengeance, because He promises that He will do it. The result is that we are left with a dependency on the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I think the Holy Spirit doesn’t work because He sees that we have taken things into our own hands, and in doing so we actually deny the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s timing. Acceptance means we are going to be patient with people because God is patient with people. Sometimes the judgement He brings takes generations.We protect people from feeling rejected by shutting down gossip.Gossip- idle talk or rumors especially about the private affairs of others, tattling. casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true.Is there a conflict? Yes. Is this something we need to bring the other person in here to talk about? No. Then we don’t need to talk about it at all. End of story.You are either seeking to obey the Matthew 18 process or you are involved in being divisive.We only talk to people who are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Either way, we are seeking reconciliation, not division. We protect people from feeling rejected by privately addressing individual issues as they arise.Confidentiality (This is what we’ve been talking about on the last two points)When we love people by demonstrating that we accept them regardless of their behavior or beliefs the result is that they feel safe with us, and they begin to share things with us.Maintaining confidentiality is how we get to the 3rd thing, honesty.People will share things with us that are above our pay grade and we won't know all the answers, but here we need to remember that we are not the Savior but we are here to point them to the Savior, Jesus. When they see us not know all the answers they see us exercising faith and this encourages them to exercise their own faith and to trust ultimately not in us but in Jesus. We must maintain the balance between maintaining confidentiality and knowing when to seek help. This is centered around 3 things. Being hurtHurting othersHurting themselvesHonestyWe we give people acceptance and they know we can maintain confidentiality, the result is we have created an environment where honesty can take place.People will not be honest with us, until we are honest with them.Maintaining our testimony with people doesn’t mean we have to make them think we are perfect people. Rather, they should be able to see our struggles but know that we bring our struggles to Jesus.Parents, create this culture and environment in your home when your children are young, and they will be honest with you when they are teenagers.Honesty means people can be themselves, share their doubts, ask you hard questions, and admit to you their struggles.Getting to the place where people can be honest with us is how we create a culture of discipleship. If people can’t be honest with us, because they will feel rejected or that we can’t keep their confidences, then we will never see where they need the Gospel applied to their hearts. If they can’t share their doubts about their faith with us, and their struggles with sin with us, then they are forced to do the Christian life alone.If people can’t ask us the hard questions, they are going to ask someone else.If they cannot share their struggles, then the struggles stay in the darkness where they can thrive.Church should be a place where you can ask hard questions, not just a place where you have to be very confident in your faith in order to be accepted.Loving people doesn’t mean we have to set them straight on every issue right away, even if we feel strongly about the things they are involved in.Honesty also means we are free to admit when we don’t know the answer to their questions. We can say “I don’t know.” Remember that our dependency is on the Holy Spirit, not to be the Holy Spirit.It’s a ProcessBuilding up people in love is a process. There is no finish line, or trophy that says “congratulations, you are now finished with growing to be like Jesus. Building up people in love is a process that happens over time by shaping, crafting, and molding people by applying the Gospel to their life experiences.So we are seeking to create a church community that is not just for the few and the committed.What if a farmer only planted seeds randomly.What if an athlete only exercised when he felt like it.