Monday, June 20, 2011

CHANGE TEST - Proof of Life (Part 7) Extended Notes

Absolutely loved Dad's Day at a2 Church this year.

Deborah Wiggins knocked it out of the park with amazing decor that made the foyer look like the coolest Cracker Barrell ever... Old fashioned rocking chairs, checker board and flying mason jars filled with flowers! Total awesomeness!

Caley Goins did an amazing job coming up with a cool theme for refreshments that involved Buffalo Rock Gingerale, root beer, cream soda and cookies with a moustache on it! Coolness!

We also had photo opps for families featuring hand-held moustaches that totally rocked! Thanks Brittney Owens and Chelsea Norton for your help!

Great fun!

The worship experience included the following numbers:

You by Hillsong
You'll Come by Hillsong
Where The Spirit of the Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels

One of the coolest parts of the worship experience was that yesterday our band premiered an a2 original titled, "When I'm In Need" written by Chris Miller and Eric Gay! Yay, God! Big time!

The team also covered an accapello version of "Change In My Life." Great job, team!

Our Guest Services team continue to blow me away by the way they love and care for people - regardless! You guys and gals totally rock! Thanks for being an extension of the amazing love of God!

Finally, here are the extended message notes from yesterday's message. Hope they're helpful. During the message we talked a lot about the importance of the Holy Spirit being active and present in our lives. We also talked about this reality: When God is in us, holiness flows out of us…

Peace!

CHANGE TEXT
Proof of Life - Part 7


THOUGHTS: In the book of 1 John, John lays out three crucial tests or proofs of LIFE…

Three Crucial Tests:

• The TRUTH Test: What do you believe about Jesus? Do you believe the irreducible core of doctrinal truth about who Jesus is and what He has accomplished?

THOUGHTS: Do you believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God (1:1-4)? Do you believe He actually, literally, physically came in the flesh? That He actually, literally, physically died for your sin, in your place and that His sacrificial death has the power to cleanse and purify you from all sin (1:7)? Do you believe that He actually, literally, physically was raised again to life? Do you believe that He is the divinely appointed and anointed King of Israel and King of the world?

• The LOVE Test: Do you genuinely love people? Do you love people inside the church and people outside the church?


• The LIFE Test: Have you seen your life change?


THOUGHTS: This message is about change.

“When [transformation] happens, I don’t just do the things Jesus would have done; I find myself wanting to do them. They appeal to me. They make sense. I don’t just go around trying to do right things; I become the right sort of person… Ordinary people can receive power for extraordinary change.” — John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted


Four Defining Differences Between “Christians” and "Non-Christians"
Romans 8:5-17

• A Changed Mindset.

Romans 8:5 (NLT), Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

THOUGHTS: The mind is important because the way you think determines the way you feel and the way you feel determines the way you act. The most effective way to change a person’s behavior is not by dealing directly with that person’s actions, but by changing that person’s thought life.


• A Changed Lifestyle.

Romans 8:6 (NLT), So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

John 10:10 (MSG), I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.


• A Changed Attitude (especially in regards to your attitude towards God).

Romans 8:7 (NLT), For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.

THOUGHTS: The Biblical idea is the idea of REPENTANCE…

Repentance Defined:
Repentance is the word "metanoeoo" and is from the Greek word for "mind." It is primarily a word about "thinking" and is sometimes used to indicate a "change of mind."

According to Dallas Willard, repentance actually means “to reconsider your strategy for living based on the news of God’s Kingdom that is available in Jesus.”


• A Changed Purpose.

Romans 8:7-8 (NLT), For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.


THOUGHTS: In the next three verses Paul describes THE DEFINING DIFFERENCE in the life of a believer.

THE DEFINING DIFFERENCE IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER IS
THE PERSON, POWER AND PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!



Romans 8:9-11 (NLT), But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.


The Difference The Spirit Makes:

• The Holy Spirit gives us new power for living!

Romans 8:11 (NLT), The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

THOUGHTS: Imagine living life with resurrection power… The power of the resurrection is the power to cancel your past, power to conquer your problems, power to change your personality. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that lives inside you.


• The Holy Spirit gives us a new desire to do the right thing.

Romans 8:12-13 (NLT), Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.


• The Holy Spirit provides an internal GPS system for direction and guidance in life.

Romans 8:14 (NLT), For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.


• The Holy Spirit reminds us of our new relationship with God.

Romans 8:15-17 (NLT), So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

THOUGHTS: The word "Abba" is an Aramaic word. The word for "Father" is a Greek word. The word "Father" shows up in two different languages. In Aramaic and Greek.

If you were to visit the Middle East today, it's very common for children to address their father with the word "Abba." It simply means, "Daddy." It's one of the first words a kid in the Middle East learns. It's the most intimate word you can use when addressing your father.

Paul says that the way God wants you to relate to Him. God wants you to call Him, "Abba, Father" or "Daddy, Papa."


QUESTION: What would take place in your life if you began viewing God as a loving Heavenly Father? How would that affect your prayer life? What would that do to the cold formality that characterizes much of our approach to God?


THOUGHTS: There's something special about adoption. Think about it. It never happens by accident. I've heard of unplanned pregnancies but never an unplanned adoption. I mean when was the last time you ever heard someone say, "I don't know how we got that one. He was adopted."

Adoption is a PREMEDIATED ACT OF LOVE… It’s special because when a parent adopts a child, that parent actually selects or chooses the child to be a part of their family.

Do you realize that God selected and chose you to be a part of His family? God said, "I know your hang ups. I know your quirks. I know your problems and your past. But I want you to be a part of my forever family."


• The Holy Spirit gives us new confidence and security in our new identity as children of God.

According to Verse 16, the Holy Spirit "…speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children."

* * * * *

1 John 2:28-29 (NIV), And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

1 John 2:29 (NIV), If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

1 John 3:1-3 (NIV), See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.


THOUGHTS: The Christian life is a process of becoming more and more like Jesus… That process will not be complete until we see Jesus face to face…

I’m not all I want to be.
I’m not all I’m going to be.
But thank God I’m not what I used to be!



1 John 3:3 (NIV), All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:4-6 (NLT), Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

1 John 7-10 (NIV), Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

1 John 1:8-10 (NIV), If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.


Sin: any action, attitude, thought or behavior that goes against God… It includes both things you shouldn't have done, but did (sins of commission) and things you should've done, but didn't (sins of omission).

Righteous Practice: when you do the right thing for the right reason in the right energy or power.


IMPORTANT THOUGHT: When God is in us, holiness flows out of us…


Three Truths That Can Radically Change Your Life:
Why Christians Want To Do The “Right Thing”


1. God the Father loves you and has made you a part of His family!

1 John 3:1 (NIV), See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 John 3:1 (NKJ), Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 John 3:1 (Phillips), Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God” – and that is not just what we are called, but what we are.

Wiersbe, “Behold, what peculiar, out of this world kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us…”


Ephesians 1:4-6 (NIV), For [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.


2. Jesus came to take away your sin and to completely annihilate the works of the devil.

1 John 3:4-8 (NIV / NLT), Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.


2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV), God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


3. The Holy Spirit lives in you, and He refuses to leave you the way He found you!

1 John 3:9-10 (NIV), No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

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