This past Sunday (July 3) we celebrated FREEDOM at a2 Church - the freedom we enjoy as Americans and the freedom we have in Jesus Christ!
Here's the rundown on the worship set:
The Freedom We Know by Hillsong
Freedom by Eddie James
Freedom Reigns by Various Artists
After "Connect Time," the worship continued with a2's first original worship song titled, "When I'm In Need." I love this song and love the fact that God is allowing artists in our own church family to write songs that lift up and exalt Jesus.
Just before the message, we included this video from Flood Gate Productions titled, "In Their Own Words." This is one of the most moving video segments I've seen related to the men and women who serve our country. It is moving and powerful and available via Sermonspice.com.
The extended message notes are included below. We closed out our worship experience with an invitation to experience the freedom found in Christ personally and by responding in worship with "Where The Spirit of the Lord Is" by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels.
Here are the extended notes...
BATTLE TEST
Proof of Life – Part 9
July 3, 2011 / Chris Goins
NOTES: More than seventeen hundred years before the signers signed the Declaration of Independence, one man made another important declaration.
After forty days of prayer and fasting, Jesus himself stepped out of the wilderness, and walked into the local synagogue in which He was raised. He took the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in his hand and opened to what we refer to as Isaiah 61. In his first public sermon, Jesus spelled out the mission statement of His entire ministry by making this declaration.
Luke 4:18-21 (NIV), The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
NOTES: The subject of 1 John 4:1-6 is to test the spirits…
Two Necessities for Guarding the Truth:
• Know the truth — (Sound doctrine is not your enemy. It’s your friend.)
2 Timothy 1:13-14 (Holman), Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching [doctrine] that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you.
• Develop your discernment — (Wise people know how to discern between the truth and a lie.)
NOTES: John begins with a directive…
1 John 4:1 (NIV), Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…
NOTES: Teaching about God, about Jesus, about so-called “spirituality” is never benign… There is a “spirit” behind every teaching… It either comes from the “the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of God” or it comes from some “demonic spirit.”
NOTES: John immediately gives us a reason to be discerning…
1 John 4:1 (NIV), Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Three Tests We Filter Every Teaching Through:
• The first test is the “Jesus” test. What are they saying about Jesus?
1 John 4:2-3 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
QUESTION: What do they believe about Jesus? Do they believe the irreducible core essentials about who He is and what He accomplished?
Do they believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God (1:1-4)? Do they believe He actually, literally, physically came in the flesh? That He actually, literally, physically died for our sin, in our place and that His sacrificial death has the power to cleanse and purify you from all sin (1:7)? Do they believe that He actually, literally, physically was raised again to life? Do they believe that He is the divinely appointed and anointed King of Israel and King of the world?
• The second test is the “Spirit” test. What is the Holy Spirit saying to me as I listen?
1 John 4:4 (NIV) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
NOTES: John says, “You are a partaker of divine life… The Holy Spirit lives in you… The incorruptible seed of God’s word lives in you and He will alert you to error and deception… He will also remind you of the truth about who Jesus is and what He has done…”
1 John 2:20 (NIV), But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth...
1 John 2:27 (NIV), As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
• The third test is authority test… Is this teacher submitted to biblical truth?
1 John 4:5-6 (NIV), They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
* * * * *
1 John 4:4 (NAS), You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Devotional writer, A.W. Tozer said it like this:
“So, it becomes the devil’s business to keep the Christian’s spirit imprisoned. He knows that the believing and justified Christian has been raised up out of the grave of his sins and trespasses. From that point on, Satan works that much harder to keep us bound and gagged, actually imprisoned in our own grave clothes. He knows that if we continue in this kind of bondage…we are not much better off than when we were spiritually dead.” ~ A.W. Tozer quoted in Waking The Dead by John Eldridge, Page 154
1 John 4:4 (NAS), You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS ABOUT YOU!
Why should I ever say, “I can’t,” when Philippians 4:13 tells me, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength…”
Why should I ever be afraid when 2 Timothy 1:7 tells me that, “God has not given me a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power, love and of a sound and disciplined mind.”
Why should I worry or fret when 1 Peter 5:7 tells me I can “…cast all my anxieties on Jesus Christ, for He cares for me.”
Why should I ever live in bondage when 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells me that “…where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty / freedom.” and John 8:36 says, “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Why should I ever feel condemned when Romans 8:1 tells me that “…there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ…”
Why should I feel alone when Matthew 28:20 tell me, “I am with you always even to the end of the age.”
Why should I feel inadequate or inferior when Ephesians 1 says that “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family…” and 1 John 3 says that “…now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, when will be like Him.”
Why should I be paralyzed by regret over past sin, failures and mistakes when 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
Why should I ever be confused when 1 Corinthians 14:33 tells me that “…God is not the author of confusion.”
Why should I ever feel like a failure when Romans 8:37 tells me that “…in all these things I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Why should I let the world threaten, intimidate or hassle me when John 16:33 tells me, “Be of good cheer, in this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world.”
And why should I ever allow Satan to bully or harass me when 1 John 4:4 tells me that “…greater is the one who is in me than the one who is in the world.”
Closing Illustration:
Several years ago Bob Moorehead wrote an incredible letter to Satan some time ago… I want to read it… Maybe this needs to be YOUR FREEDOM DECLARATION…
"Satan, take note and listen well… You will not conquer me… I am blood-washed, daily delivered, strongly sanctified, Spirit-soaked, and Word indwelt… You are wasting your energy on me…
"I’ve set my face… I am linked with a sovereign and eternal power… You’re a deceiver, but you won’t deceive me… You’re a roaring lion, but I will not be devoured… You’re extremely subtle, but I’m on to your ways… You parade as an angel of light, but I walk in a stronger light… Your days of deception are over with me…
"I won’t be detoured, derailed, distracted, distorted, discouraged or disillusioned by your schemes… Your influence will not cross the “NO TRESPASSING” sign on the gate of my life… I’m off limits to you now… My doors are closed to you… You won’t walk in, crawl in, sneak in, slither in, pry in or barge into my life. I have a permanent guest who now lives inside and He will not share my temple with you…
"You may lure, lie, linger, lurch, laugh, but you won’t come in! You’re days are numbered! You’re kingdom doomed! Your designs are dwindling! Your evil eroding! Your devilishness dissolving! Your designs decaying! Your progress is poisoned! And your “ultimate victory” party has been canceled!
"You can’t trap me with your teasing, soil me with your subtlety, or defeat me with your deception, because “He that is in me is great than You!” So, get off my property!"
No comments:
Post a Comment