Capable Christians (Expecting Pentecost Series)

(Mini Series) Expecting Pentecost: 1.Power; 2.Glory; 3.Revelation 

These all drive purpose! These all promote humility!

The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (Ex 4.21)

(OT figures experienced a phenomenon that allowed them to receive a grace and superhuman capability to perform exploits for God. However, it didn’t remain with them. Some of these characters were Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, etc.)

vs.

But you will receive *power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1.8)

*Strength; Adequate power (alludes us if we hoard it); *Personal Power (it was within their souls…it remained); Perpetual (endless supply) Power

Today’s Message: Capable Christians

*Power (ability, efficiency, and might)

• This power transfuses us when the Spirit comes on us!
• overshadows; overcomes; overwhelms; supersedes; overrides

Power: The ability of God to complete a task that has eternal benefits & repercussions 

However, many of us are merely capable…

Capability implies unrealized potential; Ability, on the other hand, implies possibility…

"John is able to read" means John can read without doubt, whereas "John is capable of reading" means John has all the necessary brain power and whatnot to be able to read but the question of whether or not he can read at the moment is left unsaid (although the fact that someone does say "John is capable of reading" probably means John can't read right now).

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Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. Psalm 78:41NIV)

41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. Psalm 78:41(KJV)

• Limited (Pained. Scrap into pieces. Implies ending a process.)

• What did Israel vex and how did they limit?
• They vexed God by not realizing Who God was
• They also vexed God…and themselves…by not realizing who they were
• They didn’t pass the news of the Covenant (agreement) along to the next generation.

In a society where power and access are often hoarded, and shared only with those who benefit the causes of those hoarding it…God is pleading with us to share in His power!

His power! His purpose! To insure His desired outcomes!!

God’s wishes to accomplish A Divine Plan using your live…

Will you be able to complete the task or merely capable of great things?

Justified Victory (Victorious Living Series)

Sunday, April 26

Theme: Victorious Living!

Message Title: Justified Victory

Message Focus: Victory is personal but never personalized

Message Text: Matthew 12:19-21 (NIV)

→Message Aim: Encourage a posture of victory that spills over to our everyday civic lives.

19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope.” Matthew 12:19-21 (NIV)

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Matthew 14:15-16 (NIV)

7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs 29:7 (NIV)

➣ÖAnd while the church is a visible manifestation of God's kingdom, the church is not all of God's kingdom. God is concerned with making every realm of his creation whole.

Biblical justice involves making individuals, communities, and the cosmos whole, by upholding both goodness and impartiality. It stands at the center of true religion, according to James, who says that the kind of "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). Earlier Scripture says, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern" (Prov. 29:7).

Only as we despair of ourselves and cling to Jesus can we participate in his work of restoring lives, the church, and the world by the Spirit of the Lord. We, the church, are to live now in light of Jesus' restoration of all things.

Both individual transformation and community transformation are part of restoring wholeness. While morality and immorality are birthed in the human heart (James 3:10-18), justice is centered in God's heart. We are to purify our hearts (James 4:8) whose desires lead us to sin. With transformed hearts, we are to extend God's justice to the poor, orphans, and widows, and to show no partiality.

#1 Original message to early church was one of hope in the victory which Jesus had won for them.

They preached the resurrection of Christ because of the victory it confirmed.

People who heard scripture (early times) were anything but comfortable. They were people in need of great comfort because of the hardship of life via persecution of faith and/or culture.

The Word of God and message of hope gave solace to people who’s lives and sanity were on the line.

Today, victory represents something else…

People (of faith) are comfortable and satisfied…we’re pursuing a temporal victory rather then eternal reward.

The message now isn’t “hold out, Jesus is coming back;” but rather, the message is, “let go, Jesus is coming back!”

#2 Another trap is an insatiable desire for knowledge and no desire for application. Studying scripture for knowledge sake re: reverence for it’s author, audience or adherents. 

#3 Focus of Jesus’ Victory should:

• convince us of our helplessness in saving ourselves
• convince us of our chosenness by God
• convince us of our righteousness, established by and confirmed in the risen Jesus Christ, hence creating a worthiness of victory as ratified by the Exalted Jesus Christ
• Aw we worship Jesus, we affirm our God, Chris’t resurrection, Christ’s ascension, Our Intercessor, Our authority. 

The good news…or gospel…isn’t merely that Jesus died for the world any more than a bag of ingredients from the grocery store is a gourmet meal.

Next Steps:

• Find out what scripture states about how injustice breaks God’s heart & find ways to help address a particular issue
• Find out where God is at work and join in (Henry Blackerby)
• God told Israel to remember its humble beginnings by helping others who are in similar situations. 
• Pray for understand that you are vehicle for God’s solutions!
• Take the next leap of faith in your faith journey

Relentless Victory!

Sunday, April 19 ~Theme: Victorious Living!

Message Title: Relentless Victory

Message Focus: We need to develop the attitude that victory is already and always, ours!…handed to us by God!

See it is I who have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon fit for its purpose; I have also created the ravager to destroy. No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord. Message Text: Isaiah 54:16-17 (NKJV)

→Message Aim: Our victory is challenged but it isn’t ever overturned

Thoughts about Relentless Victorious:

Start with the victory in mind 

• Nothing can overpower our victory
• Nothing can separate us from God
• The Holy Spirit cannot be outsmarted
• Scripture talks about the once-and-for-all nature of Jesus’ sacrifice!
• Victory calls for victorious living! It anticipates the next victory and the need to be on “standby”
• Victory is omni-directional. In one fell swoop we are reacting to a current victory and preparing for the next.
• Shout and praise with the victory in mind 
• God never loses…our victory is dependent upon our ability to hitch a ride with him.

1 Samuel 4:5-8 (NLT)  

When the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud that it made the ground shake! "What's going on?" the Philistines asked. "What's all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?" When they were told it was because the Ark of the Lord had arrived, 7they panicked. "The gods have come into their camp!" they cried. "This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before! 8Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness.

as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion. Isaiah 29:8 (NIV)

“All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Isaiah 41:11(NIV)

→What happens that we seem to lose the victory?

• Our desired outcome competes with God’s desired outcome (pos or neg)
• Our frame of mind that we know what’s best, actually gets us off center and offers wiggle room for the enemy to play with
• The enemy’s weapons hit us, but they don’t proser (fulfill it’s intended purpose)

→Questions to ponder:

• What does our victory look like to God? What’s the connection btw victory/witness?
• How many times does Scripture refer to Jesus as victorious BEFORE Jesus’ death/burial/resurrection?
• Why were those in Hebrews 11 referred to has heroes if they didn’t receive what they were looking for? (Because the acted the way God wanted them to.)
• Why do we confuse obedience and perfection? We don’t need to be perfect…just synced with God’s plan. (Not mystery if we’re instructed in what to do! Coaching example…)

→Victory:

• Israel was aware of the Covenant it had with God. This Covenant is why victory was assured…if they obeyed…and denounced… if they did not obey.

• (Is 54.17 reference to heritage:)
• This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. 
• God’s servants are his sons~ He has provided an inheritance for them… 
• God’s promises are their heritage for ever (Ps. 119:111); and their righteousness is of me…
• God will clear up the righteousness of their cause before men…for he will plead it. 

Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. (Ps 119.111)

Victorious Support (Series: Victorious Living)

Theme: Victorious Living!

Victory is one of those strange church words that’s thrown around. I want to help the  FOL family to understand the mechanics of victory: What is it? Who is it for? How was it gained? Who maintains it? How does it materialize in our lives? I desire us to experience the abundant supernatural influence of God’s power in our lives that’s called victory; the power that allows us to overcome obstacles and setbacks.

12 Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. 13 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Psalm 108:12-13 (NIV)

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

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#2 Sunday, April 12th

Theme: Victorious Living!

Message Title: Supernatural Support

Message Focus: Why be defeated by a defeated enemy?

Message Text: Psalm 60:11-12 (NIV)

11 Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless.12 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Psalm 60:11-12 (NIV)

✺ Message Aim: Understanding that our enemies are not defeated and then re-released!  They are destroyed by God!

Supernatural: of, relating to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal. 2. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or attributed to God or a deity.

We as humans, do not determine the supernatural acts of God. Gideon did not ask God to do what God did. Nor did Moses. Yet, we have this rich history… Not so that we can tell God what to do… But that we know what God is capable of, so that we can prepare our hearts to receive what God is offering supernaturally.

Big News: We have a victory that was won for us by God!

(Picture of Selma; Picture of service leaders; 

What is the enemy’s power? (Deception. He no longer rules over death/grave)

What is a stronghold (mind)? (A concept that controls reality & shapes action)

How are we delivered? God’s role? Role of Truth? Role of constant renewal?

Let’s Look at 2 stories of supernatural defeat of the enemy:

1. Moses & Pharaoh
2. Elisha’s Servant (2 Kings 6.17)

MOSES

• The purpose of the signs of the plagues was to impart knowledge" and a wonder "basically points to something extraordinary…

• (Exodus 3:20). This confirmation was to serve at least two purposes: to show the Israelites that the 1. God of their fathers was alive and worthy of their worship and 2. to show the Egyptians that their gods were nothing.

• They believed He existed and worshiped Him, but they doubted that He could, or would, break the yoke of their bondage.

➣The Lord Almighty broke the backs of the natural-phenomenon gods…..

➣The Lord Almighty broke the economy by messing with the Nile, the blood of Egypt.

➣The fourth plague, flies, was a judgment on Uatchit, the fly god. In this plague, God clearly distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians, as no swarms of flies bothered the areas where the Israelites lived (Exodus 8:21–24).

➣God's creation-wide concern is explicit in the plagues as is his ability to act even in the middle of "enemy territory” (Thou prepares a table for me in the presence of…)

➣Last 3: Let indelible impressing with Pharaoh (specifically) of Who he (god) was dealing with!!

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Message Insights!

• Miracles make statements. Statements that are meant to be heard!

• Take roads signs for example…points to something coming up…won’t repost a sign just because you weren’t looking.

• Do we more need more miracles or more faith in & knowledge of our God?

• The miracles in Egypt taught something about God’s nature without God having to redo them…we simple re-play them in our hearts. (We have to sit with Truth!)

[It’s time to believe in God and God’s victorious hand, again!]

ELISHA & HIS SERVANT

2 Kings 6:17New International Version (NIV)

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots(A) of fire all around Elisha.

• Victory was present, but he was oblivious to it
• His eyes were open! Not to merely view victory as a reality, but to view God Almighty as his Protection and Promise Keeper.

Takeways:

• If I had a choice of walking in the miraculous and walking closely with a miraculous God, I’d take the latter.

• God wants to change the landscape of your horizon (how you function!)

• Your victory is in your Miraculous God…not in your miracle, per se.

• I am spending time meditating on the goodness and nearness of my Miraculous God rather than waiting on my next miracle. 

• If in fact, you have received a miracle…you’re not waiting waiting on your next miracle…God is waiting for you act/react appropriately in light of that miraculous interaction.

Next Steps:

• Get prayer today that your eyes will be opened to the reality of God around you!
• Ask for God to open your eyes to His Miraculous Power and Constant Care for His people as you read/study scripture

Reconciliation

Reconciliation (Unified with God without record of any lapse) 2 Corinthians 5:18 

2 Corinthians 5:16-20The Message (MSG)

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

• Focus: Explain what it means to be reconciled with the Creator of the universe and what that looks like in our everyday living.

➣How does our reconciliation with God shape our relationships with others? How does this become a lifestyle? How can you personally help FOL live this out cross-culturally?

Incarnation—> Atonement—> Justification —> Reconciliation 

✺

• The entire process of offering us Heaven’s Best was an act of love~

• *Image of parents looking for a lost child ~ this process was actually a vigil

• What The Father did for us through Christ was out of love!

• This is extremely important if our faith in God is going to last an eternity!

• It was our conscience God can to clear…not His!

• He came to deal with the way sin had dealt with us. He didn’t only come to deal with the ultimate enemy

✺

If we don’t understand the love that motivated God’s pursuit of us, we miss the power and strength of our gift of salvation.

When this happens, we:

1. Underestimate the Father's love for us
2. Overestimate our ability to distance God from us
3. See God as only punitive ~ not as loving
4. Our misperceptions about God is what hinders our relationship, not the Father’s misperceptions or misgivings about us

✺

The Concept of Heaven’s Best is mind boggling because…

• It assumes that God offers us something that is ultimately supreme
• It is a gift and we cannot earn, create or manage it

Hebrews 9:11-15The Message (MSG)

11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.

Hebrews 10.19-25 The Message (MSG)

19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.

22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Ezekiel 36:24-28 The Message (MSG)

24-28 “‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!

Story lines to consider:

• Debt forgiven, debtor forgetful (Matt 21:18-35)
• Jesus washing disciples’ feet (St. John 13)

Challenge: Stop living in fear of God. Stop living out of the reach of God's love.

Next Step: 1. Put yourself around people who can help you grow and make that transition. 2 Live out your understanding of God's reconciliation by reaching out to those you’re distant from; and by learning to share your faith with others.

Justification: Made Right (Heaven't Best Series)

Justification (Offered right standing in God) Romans 8:30 (NIV) ➢(Made Right)

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Rom 8.30

Focus: Exploring what it means to have a right standing with God and how that is lived out in our faith.

How would we live if we fully lived into the knowledge of impeccable status (VIP) with God? How will this cancel self-righteousness in our lives?

Acts 13:38-40New International Version (NIV)

38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.(A) 39 Through him everyone who believes(B) is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.(C) 40 Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

Romans 4:24-25New International Version (NIV)

24 but also for us,(A) to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him(B) who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.(C) 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins(D) and was raised to life for our justification.(E)

Romans 4:6-8New International Version (NIV)

6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”[a](A)

Romans 5:15-19New International Version (NIV)

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man,(A) how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,(B) overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death(C) reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life(D) through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,(C) so also one righteous act resulted in justification(D) and life(E) for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man(F) the many were made sinners,(G) so also through the obedience(H) of the one man the many will be made righteous

Romans: Need for Justification: 1:18-3.20; Way of Justification 3:21-4:25; Fruit of Justification 4.6

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We Statements  (Heart of this message): Paul’s language reminds us that what he has in Christ is also ours.

• We have peace with God
• Absence of War
• God offers Himself to us. 
• What is justification without reconciliation?
• (Let us have peace with God…please!)

• We have gained access…into grace
• Position of acceptance
• Access = introduction (suggests our unfitness to enter & the need for someone to introduce us.)
• Stand! (no occasional appearance here…we live in the palace!)
• This relationship is not haphazard…it belongs to us via Christ

• We rejoice in hope of the glory of God
• joyful and confident expectation based upon the promises of God
• We hope for the Glory of God, fully disclosed
• Jesus will appear and we shall be changed, redeemed and fully sharing in God’s glory (817)

Past (Forgivness). Present (Stand). Future (Glory)

• We rejoice in sufferings
• Not merely endure…rejoice in them!
• Find the divine rationale and lean into it
• Suffering leads to maturity, productivity if we avoid bitterness
• Produces hope, which is no fantasy…=

• We shall be saved
• “Already and not yet”
• What Christ accomplished in appearance #1 & what’ll happen in appearance #2
• We share his life now and will share his resurrection
• The best is yet to come
• We rejoice in God

• In v.2.17 Paul rebukes the people who “brag” about their relationship with God
• Exulting in God is different from bragging/boasting
• Boasting as if God were your trophy, or, you have a monopoly on Him, is wrong
• Exultation=  we have no claim on God. His claim is on us..and begin while we were yet sinners/outsiders
• Exultation is to rejoice in God’s merciful exploits to us and not in our possession of Him.

➤Justification breeds joy!

“We rejoice in Christ-centered worship & not self-centered triumphalism” ~ John Stott in Romans, God’s Good News For The World

Closing: We Statements

• We have peace with God
• We have gained access…into grace
• We rejoice in hope of the glory of God
• We shall be saved
• We rejoice in God

Only if we confidence in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, and acceptance of us!

Good works can’t get you close. Bad deeds can’t push you away.

God’s gift to us is Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Your faith in what Jesus Christ has done for you will change your life and destiny.

How will you now live, knowing you have VIP status with God that is based on God’s love, and work on your behalf?