Tuesday, July 19, 2011

LOVE TEST 3.0 Extended Notes and Worship Download

Killer worship set this morning by the a2 team featuring three covers.

Jason Helms nailed, “All About Love” by Steven Curtis Chapman.

The team then jumped into two great worship numbers:

Our God Is Love” by Hillsong
How He Loves” by Various Artist.

Stephanie Thomas closed out the worship set in prayer, and Darrell Garrett shared an important announcement and creative video on giving. You can check out the video by clicking here. The video was created by a church in CA. Very, very good!

To set up our message, the team covered two item numbers back to back.

First up, Jessica Lamb killed an acoustic cover of “Everlasting Light” by The Black Keys.

The keyboard the segued into “In The Name of Love” by U2. Pure awesomeness.

Chris shared the morning message from 1 John 5:12-21. You can check out the podcast by clicking here or here.

We closed out our worship time by praying for one another as Janet led the song, “Healing Is In Your Hands” by Christy Nockels.

I love what Jesus is doing at a2 Church, and love being a small part. God is good and His Spirit is alive and well at a2! Yay, God! Big time!


LOVE TEST 3.0
PROOF OF LIFE – Part 1

July 17, 2011
Chris Goins

John 10:10 (NIV), The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

QUESTION: Are you experiencing that kind of life?

Factors That Put The “Squeeze” On Life and Joy:

• Relationships that are all “investment” with little, or no apparent return.

• A decreasing capacity to love.

• Chronic worry and hurry.

• Financial pressure. Way too much “month” and far too little “money.”

• A sense of stagnation or superficiality in my relationship with God.



Options:

You can become brittle, dry, barren and lifeless… You’ll eventually just fall apart… It will happen… You can’t sustain that kind of life over the long haul…

Or, you can stop relying on your own strength, ability and power to manage these factors, and start relying on the strength, ability, person and power of the Holy Spirit…


NOTES: 1 John 4:12-21 is all about the Holy Spirit ability to empower you to live and love TO THE MAX…

1 John 4:12 (NIV), No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:13-16a (NIV), This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

1 John 4:16b-18 (NIV), God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:19-21 (NIV), We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.


How to Live and Love To The Max:

1. You were never meant to do life and love on your own, the Holy Spirit can live and love in you and through you!



1 John 4:12b (NIV), …God lives in us and His love is made complete in us…

1 John 4:13 (NIV), This is how we know that we live in him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit…

1 John 4:15 (NIV), If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

(AMP), Anyone who confesses (acknowledges, owns) that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides (lives, makes His home) in him and he [abides, lives, makes his home] in God.

1 John 4:16b (NIV), …God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.


What “God Living In You” Means:

• The Holy Spirit is the source of life.


Genesis 1:2 (NIV), Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 2:7 (NIV), Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.


EXAMPLE: Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37)

QUESTION; “Can these bones live? Can there be life where life has totally departed? Can strength, movement, energy, awareness and responsiveness somehow reappear in bones that are disconnected, bleached, lifeless and dry? Is a miracle possible?”

Ezekiel 37:9-10 (MSG), He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘GOD, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’”
10So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.


Ezekiel 37: 11-14 (NLT), Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone.’ 12Now give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live…

2 Corinthians 3:6 says, “The Spirit gives life…”


• The Holy Spirit is an internal sin detector.

John 16:8 (NLT), And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

NOTES: The word convict means "to refute an adversary completely, to prove guilt so as to bring an acknowledgment of the truth of the charge. It implies a successful action against an opponent that results in establishing guilt."


• The Holy Spirit is the real extreme makeover artist.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NIV), Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.


• The Holy Spirit gives you power to be all that God created you to be.

Acts 1:8 (NIV), But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…

1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 (NLT), A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other… 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.


• The Holy Spirit will pray for you and through you when you’re overwhelmed and in over your head.

Romans 8:26 (NIV84), …the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.


2. The big goal of the Holy Spirit is to make you more and more like Jesus.

1 John 4:17 (ESV), By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.


3. Insecurity and fear sabotage and undermine relationships, but the perfect love the Holy Spirit produces deals a death blow to them.

1 John 4:18a (NIV), There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…

1 John 4:18a (AMP), There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!


4. The Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to love beyond all reason.

Romans 5:5 (NIV), …God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

1 John 4:19-21 (NIV), We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.


“Common, too common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit. This is folly and ingratitude… As God, He is good essentially… He is good benevolently, tenderly, bearing with our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills; quickening us from our death in sin, and then training us for the skies as a loving nurse fosters her child… He is good operatively. All His works are good in the most eminent degree: He suggests good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to good results. There is no spiritual good in all the world of which He is not the author and sustainer… They who yield to His influence become good; they who obey His impulses do good, they who live under His power receive good… Let us revere His person, and adore Him as God over all, blessed for ever; let us hourly seek His aid, and never grieve Him; and let us speak to His praise whenever occasions occur. The church will never prosper until more reverently it believes in the Holy Spirit.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Closing Story: The Seminary Student and a Lost Axhead

1 Kings 6:1-7 (NIV), The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”
And he said, “Go.”
3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”
“I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

LOVE TEST 2.0 Extended Notes and Worship Download

What an amazing day at a2 Church! Here's the rundown on today's worship set:

Go by Hillsong United
We kicked off the worship experience with this new song from Hillsong United and it rocked the house!

Our God Is Love by Hillsong

Here Is Love by Bethel Live
I loved hearing our people sing, "Here Is Love." What an amazing hymn. My favorite line in the song?

"Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And Heaven's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love."


Wow!

After prayer and announcements, worship continued with another new song from Hillsong United.

Like An Avalanche by Hillsong United

Since we're walking through 1 John and focusing in on John's challenge to "love," Kevin and Shannon Johnson led us in a2's own LOVE QUIZ. Stephanie and Eric Thomas did a great job writing the quiz, and Chelsea Norton and Caley Goins did a great job on the answer key. If you want a copy of the quiz, shoot me an email at cgoins@a2church.org.

After the quiz, and just for fun, the band kicked into an abbreviated version of Michael McDonald's version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Their cover was "smokin'!"

Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Michael McDonald

This morning's message may have been one of the most important messages I've delivered. I really felt passionate about the message. Here are the extended notes. As always, you can check out the podcast on our website or via iTunes.

Have a great week!


LOVE TEST 2.0
Proof of Life - Part 10

July 10, 2011 * Chris Goins

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.


The Directive: “…love one another…” (1 John 4:7, 11, 12)


The Basis: “…God is love.” (1 John 4:8, 16)


NOTES:
This passage contains one of three great statements that 1 John makes about the nature and character of God…

1 John 4:5, “God is light…” — God is absolute truth and blazing holiness, completely without sin, darkness or any kind of imperfection.

1 John 4:24, “God is spirit…” — God is not bound by time or space…

1 John 4:8, “God is love…” — God’s very nature is love. Love is at the root of all He does, even His judgments are an aspect or result of His love.


1 John 4:7 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

NOTES: If we’re really “children of God,” we ought to bear the family resemblance… We ought to take on some of the characteristics of our Heavenly Father…


1 John 4:8 (NIV), Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

NOTES: The word “know” is the same verb that is used in the Bible to describe the intimate union between a husband and a wife… It refers to intimacy or to “know by experience…” Deepening intimacy, growing closeness, a dynamic connection with God is impossible, if you’re not walking in love.


John 13:35 (NIV), By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

NOTES: “[loving] one another” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to love the people in your own house… People who don’t believe aren’t going to be impressed by the way we love them, if we don’t love each other all that much…


What It Looks Like When We Really Love One Another:

1. Real love will always cost you something. It always involves sacrifice.


1 John 4:9 (NIV), This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

John 3:16 (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A Definition for Love:
Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 188.


Recommendation: How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt


2. Real love is radically inclusive. It kicks down barriers and reaches out to those who are difficult or challenging to love.

1 John 4:9 (NIV), This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Romans 5:8 (NLT), But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

"Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives." — Henri Nouwen, quoted by John Ortberg in Everybody’s Normal Til You Get To Know Them


Philippians 1:6-7 (NIV), “[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…”

THOUGHT: Have you ever noticed that if you don’t have people “IN YOUR HEART” they tend to GET ON YOUR NERVES?

NOTES: Understanding is crucial if we are to really love difficult or challenging people.

3. Real love does the hard work of extending forgiveness when you’ve been hurt, wronged, wounded or sinned against.

1 John 4:10 (NIV), This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.


“In this phrase we find the deepest meaning of the term ‘love’: love means forgiving the sins of the beloved and remembering them no more. This is what God has done for rebellious mankind: he pardons their sins against himself at his own cost.”I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, page 215.


Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT), Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

1 John 4:11-12 (NIV), Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.


4. The Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to love beyond all reason.

1 John 4:13-15 (NIV), This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

Romans 5:5 (NIV), “…God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

1 John 4:7 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11 (NIV), Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 (NIV), No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

BATTLE TEST Extended Notes and Worship Download





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!"

Friday, July 1, 2011

SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY! REALLY! SAY IT!!!

Absolutely love this rant by Taylor Mali on communication. "Contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You've got to SPEAK WITH IT, too." This is terrific and great reminder...