Chris Goins

GOING DEEPER - GOD WINS: A Study of Revelation Week Three Devotional

2011-09-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Watch the Throne!

Regardless of what you're going through — loneliness, temptation, depression, stress, financial setbacks, conflict, loss, persecution, the works, — a revelation of the character and glory of God is essential to getting through those periods in life that leave you feeling completely devastated.

In Revelation 4, John, a guy in his mid-nineties who had been unjustly sentenced to solitary confinement on a prison island called Patmos, got a behind the scenes glimpse of the throne room of God. Talk about the ultimate in prison breaks! John was taken from Patmos into God's throne room. The view was staggering.

John's perspective was immediately altered! His frame of reference completely transformed! The centerpiece in John's vision was a piece of furniture referenced at least seventeen times in Revelation 4-5: the throne of God. Everything else was defined by its relationship to the throne. And what was the primary activity taking place around the throne? Unceasing worship!

Revelation 4 reminds us that the history of the universe - from creation to consummation - finds its significance in worship! God is glorious. If we really know Him, see Him and experience Him, we can't help but stand in awe of Him and respond in worship.

The word worship is derived from the Old English word for worth. Worship is an indication of the worth, value, weightiness, significance, importance or prominence we give to someone or something.

John Piper describes it like this: "Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God." — John Piper

Revelation 4 reminds us that regardless of what's going on in life: 1) worship can alter our perspective, and, 2) God and God alone deserves to be worshipped!

Going Deeper: Read Revelation 4:1-11 daily this week. Spend time worshipping God for His power, sovereignty, majesty and holiness.

Sing a "new song" to God during your personal devotions. Turn the song of heaven in Revelation 4 into your own song!

Finally, make every day an adventure in worship, realizing that your heart can become a throne room for God. Make it your goal each day to "intentionally express the infinite worth of God" in your attitude, actions, conversations and character.

Music Suggestions: 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman, Revelation Song by Kari Jobe / Gateway Worship

GOD WINS - Part 3: Watch The Throne

2011-09-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the download on this weekend's worship experience at a2 Church.

The opening worship set included these songs:
You Are Good here (Amazon) by Ricardo Sanchez
Sing Sing Sing (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Chris Tomlin
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) (You Tube) of here (Amazon) by Matt Redman

We jumped right into the message (extended notes included below) and wrapped up our time in worship with an extended worship response that felt like it was going to blow the roof off the worship room. Here are the songs we responded with... The message notes are included below... Make sure you check out the questions by David Powlison that help us to discern whether or not our hearts are centered on God. Also, check out the quotations by Eugene Peterson, John Piper and Charles Spurgeon on worship and singing! Good stuff!

Revelation Song (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Gateway Worship
Hallelujah (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Hillsong United
God You Reign (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Lincoln Brewster

WATCH THE THRONE
GOD WINS - Part 3 Extended Notes
Revelation 4

Revelation 4:1-11 (NIV), After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

NOTES: The book of Revelation was written to a group of churches that were struggling to survive… They were facing threats, intimidation, persecution and political and economic chaos… They were devastated and discouraged and felt like their faith and very lives where hanging by a thread…

John himself, the guy who wrote the letter, was the only apostle still alive… His peers and comrades had all been executed! He was a 90-something year old man who had been ripped away from the church he pastored in Ephesus and placed in solitary confinement on a seemingly God-forsaken island called Patmos… Prisoners were usually taken to Patmos to waste away and eventually die…

God had other plans… John experienced the ultimate prison break on Patmos… In Revelation 4, He went straight from the island of Patmos and was escorted into the very throne room of God…

IMPORTANT: Regardless of what you're going through — loneliness, temptation, depression, stress, financial setbacks, conflict, loss, persecution, you name it… A revelation of the character, glory and sovereignty of God is essential to getting through those periods in life that leave you feeling completely devastated.

Five Keys To A Personal Prison Break:

1. When life seems completely out of control, I may need to change my perspective and alter my frame of reference.

Revelation 4:1-2 (NIV), After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

NOTES: When John wrote Revelation, from an earthly perspective it looked like the enemies of the kingdom of God were winning… The churches in Asia were small and struggling… Christians were being persecuted, imprisoned and martyred… Tragedy, trials and turmoil were commonplace…The might and power of Rome seemed invincible… It felt like the evil one and the Emperor Domitian had the upper hand… They had the church in a choke hold and the church was on the verge of tapping out… Things were going south in a big way…

But in Revelation the Holy Spirit basically gave John this message: “Things are not as they appear… I’m about to show you the way things really are… I’m going to take you into the control room of the Universe – the very throne room of God… Things are not out of control… Evil has not and will not triumph… The course of history will not be determined by a political party, military might or some sadistic world leader with a “god complex”… I am still sovereign and omnipotent… I’m the God who ‘…makes known the ‘end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do what I please…’ (Isaiah 46:10) And I will… And you can bank on this, even when my plans escape your comprehension, I comprehend it all… My plans will not and can not fail!”

2. Regardless of what’s going on in life, God is sovereign! He “on His throne,” large and in charge and remains in complete control!

Revelation 4:2-8 (NIV), At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “’Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

NOTES: The key word in Revelation 4 is “throne.” It gets used 14 times in this chapter alone! It’s one of the key words in the entire book — showing up about 46 times! It appears in almost every chapter in Revelation (the only exceptions are Revelation 9, 10, 15, 17, 18)!

The simple message of Revelation is that regardless of what may be happening on earth, God is still on His throne and He is still in complete and ultimate control!

A throne speaks of “power, control and sovereignty.” God’s sovereignty is a fundamental theme throughout the book Revelation…

IMPORTANT: It’s interesting that everything mentioned in Revelation 4-5 gets defined by its relationship to the throne…

“A throne centers authority. Worship is centering… In worship God gathers His people to Himself as center [where we declare with Psalm 93:1, ‘The Lord reigns, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure…]

Worship is a meeting at the center so that our lives are centered in God… If there is no center, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in our world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.” — Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, pages 59-60

3.The throne of God is established in eternity, the center of human history and must be the center of our lives, individually and corporately.

QUESTION: Want to know whether or not your life is centered in God?

David Powlison, in his book Seeing with New Eyes, ask some great questions that will help us determine whether or not our lives are truly centered in God…

Important Questions:
• What do you love? What do you hate?
• What do you want, desire, crave, lust, and wish for?
• What do you seek, aim for, and pursue?
• What do you fear? What do you tend to worry about?
• What do you think you need?
• What are your plans, agendas, strategies, and intentions designed to accomplish?
• What makes you tick? What sun does your planet revolve around? What do you organize your life around?
• Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, and security?
• On whose shoulders does the well being of your world rest? Who can make it better, make it work, make it safe, make it successful?
• Whom must you please? Whose opinion of you counts? From whom do you desire approval and fear rejection?
• What do you see as your rights? What do you feel entitled to?
• What do you pray for?
• What do you think about most often? What preoccupies or obsesses you?
• What do you talk about? What is important to you?
• How do you spend your time? What are your priorities?
• What would make you feel rich, secure, prosperous? What must you get to make life sing?
• On your deathbed, what would sum up your life as worthwhile?
— David Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes, pages 132-140

4. God and God alone is worthy of worship! The history of the universe – from creation to its consummation – finds its meaning and significance in worship!

Revelation 4:8-11 (NIV), Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “’Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

NOTES: The word worship is derived from the Old English word for worth. Worship is an indication of the worth, value, weightiness, significance, importance or prominence we give to someone or something.

"Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God." — John Piper

5. Singing is the language of heaven. It’s not only a means of worship, it can be an act of worship! When it comes to the people of God the critical question is not, “Do I have a voice?” but “Do I have a song?”

(Scripture References: Revelation 4:8-11; Genesis 2:22-24; Job 38:6-7; Psalm 19:1-3; Exodus 15; 1 Chronicles 9:33, 15:19-22; 2 Chronicles 20:22, 24-25; Isaiah 54:1; 55:12-13; Luke 1:46-47; Luke 2:13-14; Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25-26; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:18-19; Revelation 4-5; Zephaniah 3:17; Hebrews 2:12)

NOTES: A quick word study on variations of the word sing in the Bible reveals that there are more than 500 references to singing… There are at least fifty direct commands to sing to God…

Psalm 47:6 (NIV), Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

QUESTION: Why does music seem to be hard-wired into our framework?

Maybe it’s because we were created in the image of God and as image-bearers of God we were created to sing…

MUSIC IN CREATION:
Job 38:4-7 (NLT), “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. 5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? 6 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone 7 as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Psalm 19:1 (NCV), The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made.

Isaiah 55:12 (NIV), You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

THE FIRST RECORDED WORDS OF A HUMAN BEING – ADAM BROKE INTO SONG
Genesis 2:23 (NIV), The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

NOTES: The longest book of the Bible is not primarily a book of history, teaching, or prophecy, but a book of poems set to music.

Later on, David assigns Levite musicians to sing God’s praises day and night at the Temple as part of Temple worship (1Ch 9:33; 15:19–22). This was all part of God’s design to surround his presence with singing.

In the New Testament, there are more than 20 references to music, and almost all of them have to do with singing.

• Mary sang when she heard the announcement that she would have a child! (Luke 1:46-47).

• The angels sang the night of Jesus’ birth! (Luke 2:13-14).

• Later on, we see Jesus and the disciples singing after their last Passover meal together (Matthew 26:30).

• In Acts 16 we read of Paul and Silas, bound in prison, exhausted after being stripped and beaten. Nevertheless, they are praying and singing hymns to God while the other prisoners listen. Singing was obviously more than a legalistic, lifeless duty for them.

QUESTION: Do you realize that according to Zephaniah 3:17, God sings over you and me?

Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV), The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22, where the Son of God sings the Father’s praise in the midst of the congregation…

Ephesians 5:18-19 (NLT), Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

WHY WE SING:

“The reason we sing is because there are depths and heights and intensities and kinds of emotions that will not be satisfactorily expressed by mere prosaic forms, or even poetic readings. There are realities that demand to break out of prose into poetry and some demand that poetry be stretched into song.” — John Piper

“If the joy of the Lord be your strength, why not express it in holy song? Why should not your joys have a tongue as well as the joys of ungodly men? When warriors win victories, they shout; have we won not victories through Jesus Christ our Lord? When men celebrate their festivals, they sing; are there any festivals equal to ours – our paschal supper, our passage of the Red Sea, our jubilee, our expectation of the coronation of our King, our hymn of victory over all the hosts of hell? Oh, surely, if the children of earth sing, the children of heaven ought to sing far more often, far more loudly, far more harmoniously than they do. Come, then, let us sing because we are glad in the Lord.

“Let us sing, too, because singing is the language of heaven… Heaven is the home of sacred song, and we are the children of heaven…” — Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Women, page 11

“Singing is the God ordained language by which men can express their highest joys. The saints sing the high praises of their God. Singing is the language of the holy angels! Did they not, when they came to Bethlehem, sing concerning the newborn King? Singing is the language of Heaven and most marvelous of all, singing is the highest language that God ever uses! ‘He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing.’ Oh, for more holy singing!” — Charles Spurgeon, Exposition on Psalm 145

Song of the Four Living Creatures – Revelation 4:8

Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy  is the Lord God Almighty,  who was, and is, and is to come.”

Song of the 24 Elders – Revelation 4:9-11

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,  for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

GOING DEEPER - GOD WINS: A Study of Revelation Week Two Devotional

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

One Church. Two Church. Good Church. Bad Church.

Jesus loves the church! Revelation 1 gives us a glimpse of Jesus in all His majesty and glory. Revelation 2-3 give us a glimpse of the church - something not so glorious and at best, a work still in progress. In these two chapters Jesus writes directly to seven actual, specific churches. But since seven is the number of perfection or completeness, Jesus is speaking to all churches — in that time and ours.

A couple of these churches were hitting on cylinders! A few of these churches were a mixed bag of good and bad! And one church pretty much stank!

Each of these letters follow the same basic pattern.

* First of all, we get a snapshot of Jesus that comes directly out of the vision John had in Revelation 1. It's like God is reminding us, "The most important thing is not the church, it's Jesus!"

* Second, we get a confirmation about the reliability of the intelligence Jesus has on the church. Jesus begins each letter by saying, "I know..." That's a humbling thought... Jesus knows...EVERYTHING.

* This is followed by the ultimate performance review where Jesus commends the church for what's going good, and He "calls the church on the carpet" for where they're blowing it!

QUESTION: Some of us really prepare for our annual performance review, but do you ever think in terms of the ultimate performance review? If Jesus gave a2 a performance review, what would He say? If he gave you a personal performance review, what would He say?

* Fourth, Jesus makes the action step(s) the church needs to take crystal clear. He lets the church know what they need to do to get right and stay right, spiritually.

* Finally, each letter concludes with a promise the church can live on and the challenge: "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and what He is saying to the churches."

Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck conclude their excellent book, Why We Love The Church with these words:

“The church is not an incidental part of God’s plan. Jesus didn’t invite people to join an anti-religion, anti-doctrine, anti-institutional bandwagon of love, harmony and reintegration. To be sure, He showed people who to live. But He also called them to repent, called them to faith, called them out of the world, and called them into the church.

“[1 Corinthians 13:7] says, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ If we truly love the church we will bear with her in her failings, endure her struggles, believe her to be the beloved bride of Christ, and hope for her glorification. I still believe the church is the hope of the world — not because she gets it all right, but because she is a body with Christ for her Head.

“Don’t give up on the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me.

“So I guess this is my final advice: Find a good local church, get involved, become a member, and stay there for the long haul… Go to church this Sunday and worship there in spirit and truth, be patient with your leaders, rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed… While you are there, sing like you mean it, say hi to the teenager no one notices, the blue hairs and the nose-ringed, volunteer for the nursery once in a while. And yes, bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everyone else, invite a friend to church, take the new couple out for coffee, give in the offering, be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet, enjoy the Sundays that click for you, pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t, and do not despise ‘the day of small things’ (Zechariah 4:10).”

THOUGHTS: The last paragraph by DeYoung and Kluck contain some excellent and very practical action steps. I encourage you to reach the prayerfully read the paragraph again, and establish your own action steps...

Going Deeper: Read Jesus' evaluation of each church in Revelation 2-3. Focus on one church each day, asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you reflect on Jesus' message to that church. What is Jesus saying to you? What in your life would Jesus compliment? What would He "call you on the carpet" for?

Music Suggestions: Slumber by NeedToBreathe; Awakening by Hillsong; 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman

GOD WINS - Part 2: One Church. Two Church. Good Church. Bad Church.

2011-09-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays at a2 Church! I love it when God’s people get together to exalt God and encourage one another!

Here’s an overview of yesterday’s worship experience at a2 Church. Extended notes of the message follow…

Opening Worship Set:
Let God Arise (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Chris Tomlin
Great, Great God by Gateway (recording not available)
You’ll Come or here by Hillsong

Stephanie Thomas welcomed everyone, shared a couple of important announcements and the intro to the morning message. She shared two great passages of Scripture as a segue into the song the band brought.

Isaiah 52:1-2, Wake up, wake up, O Zion!  Clothe yourself with strength.  Put on your beautiful clothes… 2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck,  O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For this is what the Lord says: "You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed."

Ephesians 5:14-16, Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! 15 So watch your step. Use your head. 16 Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

The a2 band introduced the message with the following song:

Slumber (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by needtobreathe

We shared Part 2 in the series GOD WINS with a message titled, One Church. Two Church. Good Church. Bad Church.

Finally, we responded to the message with a time of prayer and reflection. The a2 band led us in singing, “Awakening” (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Hillsong / Chris Tomlin, and wrapped everything up by baptizing six people! Yay, God!

Here are the extended notes from the message.

One Church. Two Church. Good Church. Bad Church.
GOD WINS: A Study of Revelation – Part 2
September 18, 2011 * Chris Goins

C.S. Lewis in his book, The Screwtape Letters described the church like this: “…spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners… …which makes our boldest tempters uneasy.”

NOTES: Revelation 2-3 are focused on the church…

In Revelation 1 we get a glimpse of Jesus. He’s large and in charge – glorious and majestic — walking in and among His church — supervising, examining, inspecting and evaluating.

In fact, Revelation 2-3 contains seven letters that Jesus wrote or dictated to seven churches in first century Asia — modern Turkey. These were seven actual, specific churches. But in Revelation numbers matter… And since seven is the number of completeness or perfection, Jesus is speaking to all churches — both then and now…

Five Important Realities About The Church:

1. The church is at the heart of God’s redemptive purpose and plan. Jesus holds the church’s leaders in His strong hand —secure in His grip and under His authority. He loves the church and is present and at work in it and through it (1:12-13, 16, 20; 2:1).

NOTES: The churches in Revelation 2-3 are far from perfect… They were messy, because people are messy… People are sinful, imperfect and flawed… These churches were a mixed bag…

Four of the churches got mixed reviews… One of the churches was an absolute wreck… At least two of the churches were struggling with sexual sin… But Jesus refused to dump the church… John said, “He was standing the middle of the seven golden lampstands…”

That’s how committed Jesus is to the church He died to redeem… This is one of the reasons it baffles me when believers get casual about and apathetic when it comes to their commitment to and passion for the church of Jesus Christ…

Article from Washington Post: Some time ago Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck wrote a piece that appeared in The Washington Post. It was basically a synopsis of a great book they wrote titled, Why We Love The Church… The piece in the post was titled, Jesus Loves The Church… I wanted to read some of that piece… I’ve slightly edited and adapted it for our purposes… But here it is…

"Here’s what the haters won’t tell you: Jesus believed in and founded the church… He didn’t start a movement of latte-drinking disciples who excelled in spiritual conversations. He founded the church (Matt. 16:18) and commissioned the apostles to proclaim the good news that Israel’s Messiah had come and the sins of the world could be forgiven through his death on the cross (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:14-36).

"For almost two millennia, it was axiomatic that Christians, like, actually went to church (or at least told other Christians they did). From Cyprian to Calvin it was believed that for those to whom God “is Father the church may also be Mother.” But increasingly Christians are trying to get more spiritual by getting less church.

"Take a spin through the religion section at your local bookstore. What you’ll find there is revealing – there are “revolutionary” books for stay at home moms, teenagers, and Christian businessmen. There are lots of manifestos. And most of the books about church are about people leaving the church to “find God…” It used to be you had to overthrow a country to be considered a revolutionary, and now, it seems, you just have to quit church and go pray in the woods.

"We’ve been in the church our whole lives and are not blind to its failings. Churches can be boring, hypocritical, hurtful, and inept. The church is full of sinners. Which is kind of the point. Christians are worse than you think. Our Savior is better than you imagine.

"But the church is not all about oppression and drudgery. Almost every church we know of visits old people, brings meals to new moms, supports disaster relief, and does something for the poor. We love the local church, in spite of its problems, because it’s where we go to meet God. It’s not a glorified social/country club you attend to be around people who talk and look just you do. It’s a place to hear God’s word spoken, taught and affirmed. It’s a place to sing praises to God, and a place to serve others. It’s a place to be challenged…

"We love the church because Christ loved the church. She is his bride–a harlot at times, but his bride nonetheless, being washed clean by the word of God (Eph. 5:25-26). If you are into Jesus, don’t rail on his bride. Jesus died for the church, so don’t be bothered by a little dying to self for the church’s sake. If you keep in mind that everyone there is a sinner (including yourself) and that Jesus Christ is the point and not you, your dreams, or your kids, your church experience might not be as lame as you fear.

"Perhaps Christians are leaving the church because it isn’t tolerant and open-minded. But perhaps the church-leavers have their own intolerance too – intolerant of tradition, intolerant of authority, intolerant of imperfection except their own. Are you open-minded enough to give the church a chance – a chance for the church to be the church, not a coffee shop, not a mall, not a variety show, not Chuck E. Cheese, not a U2 concert, not a nature walk, but a wonderfully ordinary, blood-bought, Spirit-driven church…?

"The Church, because it is Christ’s church, will outlive American Idol, the NFL, and all of our grandkids. We won’t last, but the Church will. So when it comes to church, be like Jesus: love it, don’t leave it. As someone once said to Jake Blues in the huge Christian classic, the Blues Brothers, “Jake, you get wise, you get to church.”

2. The Holy Spirit is still communicating to the church, and the church needs to listen.

Revelation 2:7 (ESV), He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (2:11; 2:17; 2:29; 3:6; 3:13; 3:22)

The Holy Spirit is still communicating to the church…

Seven By Seven: The Basic Pattern of Each Letter

• A snapshot of Jesus that comes directly out of the vision John had in Revelation 1. It's like God is reminding us, "The most important thing is not the church, it's Jesus’ activity in the church!"

• Second, we get a confirmation about the reliability of the intelligence Jesus has on the church.

Jesus begins each letter the same way… He begins by saying, “I know... I know… I know…” That's a profound and humbling thought... To realize that Jesus knows the actual score… He knows everything… He knows it all…

• This followed by the ultimate performance review where Jesus commends the church for what's going good, and He "calls the church on the carpet" for where they're blowing it!

• After His evaluation, Jesus makes the action step(s) the church needs to take crystal clear and rather simple. He lets the church know what they need to do to get right and stay right, spiritually.

• Finally, each letter concludes with Jesus giving the church a promise that church can live on and the challenge, to keep listening…

3. Every church is planted in the context of a culture that in its own way is diametrically opposed to God, and that church will either transform the surrounding culture, or the surrounding culture will eventually transform the church.

Romans 12:2 (PH), Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold…

Romans 12:2 (MSG), Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God…

4. Every church has a tendency to drift towards one of two extremes: separatism or syncretism. Both extremes are dangerous and deadly.

Separatism / Isolationism – We isolate and protect ourselves from culture by hiding out in our own “Christian” subculture. We become fundamentalists who impose our own man-made rules on people in the name of achieving holiness and avoiding worldliness.

Syncretism / Compromise – We become so immersed in and aligned with the values, beliefs and mindset of the culture that we lose our distinctive identity as the people of God and the church of Jesus Christ… We end up abandoning and diluting the simplicity of the gospel in the name of relevance.

Dangers of Separatism: Ephesus / Sardis

[Ephesus] Revelation 2:2-5 (NLT), “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.

Revelation 2:4-5 (NLT), “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.”

Revelation 2:4 (ESV), But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Danger #1: Right beliefs when it comes to doctrine; but a loss of passion when it comes to worship and compassion and action when it comes to people.

[Sardis] Revelation 3:1-2 (NLT), Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.”

Danger #2: Right beliefs when it comes to doctrine; but a loss of mission in the world and impact on the surrounding culture.

Revelation 3:5 (NLT), All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Danger of Syncretism: Pergamum / Thyatira / Laodicea

[Pergamum] Revelation 2:13-16 (NLT), I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.
14 I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

[Thyatira] Revelation 2:19-20 (NLT), I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

[Thyatira] Revelation 2:20 (NLT), But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.

Danger #1: Compromise and rationalization when it comes to personal ethics and sexual purity.

NOTES: The expression Jesus uses for “sexual sin” when He addresses the problems in Pergamum and Thyatira refers to at least three things for our culture:

• Adultery – sexual involvement between a married person and someone he or she isn’t married to…

• Fornication — That’s a different “F” word for some of you… But in the New Testament it’s a “catch all” word that refers to any kind of sexual activity outside the confines of marriage…

• Pornography — which is a growing epidemic for the American church…

Jack Hayford describes the problem like this in his book E-Quake: “To indulge yourself outside the biblical guidelines in terms of sexual behavior is to abandon yourself to demonic influence and thereby to be restricted in your capacities for what the Lord wants you to be. It may not damn your soul to hell, but it will certainly bring so much hell into your life that you won’t do much good for heaven.”

Danger #2: Worship that is marked more by convenience and cultural accommodation than it is by passionate God-centered devotion.

NOTES: Both the church at Pergamum and Thyatira were struggling with the issue of “…food sacrificed to idols…” (2:15; 2:20).

Both of these churches were located in what could be called union towns… In that era, union or trade guild meetings often involved the worship of pagan gods… And if you were a Christian and went to the union hall, but refused to worship the local area deity, you were not considered to be a good union member… The social and economic consequences were pretty high…

What was evidently happening, was that some of the believers in these churches were compromising their faith… They were actually participating in the worship of pagan gods and rationalizing it by saying, “I worship Jesus in my heart, so it doesn’t really matter what I do when I’m in the Union Hall…” God said, “You bet it matters!”

These believers had segregated their lives into the sacred and the spiritual… They behaved one way when they were with family or believers in the local church, and a completely different way when they were at work… They had slipped into idolatry…

Some of us can’t relate to the language of idolatry… But it’s important to remember the way Tim Keller defines idolatry… Keller writes:

“Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God.” ~ Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, page 171.

We may not be able to relate to the false gods the people in Pergamum or Thyatira struggled with, but we have our own false gods we regularly bow down to: the god of money, success, power, being smart, the god of sex, approval, being attractive, the god of relationships, pleasure, work, career or reputation… You name it…

Here’s the problem: You can’t segregate your life in to the spiritual and secular… When it comes to your life, Jesus is either Lord of everything, or He’s not Lord of anything…

[Laodicea] Revelation 3:17 (NLT), You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Danger #3: Convenience, comfort and affluence that dulls spiritual sensitivity and ultimately take precedence over commitment, devotion and total consecration to Jesus Christ.

[Laodicea] Revelation 3:18-20 (NLT), So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

John Piper nails it when he says, “Christ did not die to redeem a bride who would keep him on the porch while she watched television in the den. His will for the church is that we open the door, all the doors of our life.”

5. The church is not meant to merely survive! It’s God will for the church to thrive!

Two Examples: Smyrna and Philadelphia

[Philadelphia] Rev 3:8, 11-11 (NIV), I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.

Book Quotation: I love the way Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck end their book, Why We Love The Church… They write:

“The church is not an incidental part of God’s plan. Jesus didn’t invite people to join an anti-religion, anti-doctrine, anti-institutional bandwagon of love, harmony and reintegration. To be sure, He showed people who to live. But He also called them to repent, called them to faith, called them out of the world, and called them into the church.

“[1 Corinthians 13:7] says, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ If we truly love the church we will bear with her in her failings, endure her struggles, believe her to be the beloved bride of Christ, and hope for her glorification. I still believe the church is the hope of the world — not because she gets it all right, but because she is a body with Christ for her Head.

“Don’t give up on the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me.

“So I guess this is my final advice: Find a good local church, get involved, become a member, and stay there for the long haul… Go to church this Sunday and worship there in spirit and truth, be patient with your leaders, rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed… While you are there, sing like you mean it, say hi to the teenager no one notices, the blue hairs and the nose-ringed, volunteer for the nursery once in a while. And yes, bring you fried chicken to the potluck like everyone else, invite a friend to church, take the new couple out for coffee, give in the offering, be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet, enjoy the Sundays that click for you, pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t, and do not despise ‘the day of small things’ (Zechariah 4:10).”

Closing Illustration:
A few years ago an anonymous author penned some words that I believe describe what life must have been like in that first century church and what God desires life to be like in the church today.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed
I am part of the "Fellowship of the Unashamed." I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I've stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame vision, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals!

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let go, or slow up until I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops. And when He comes to get His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me…my colors will be clear. ~ Anonymous

References:
The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

Vision Weekend - Part 1, September 11, 2011, a message by John Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

Church: Love It, Don't Leave It by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Why We Love The Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Revelation Message Series by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church

Revelation 2-3: Letters to the Seven Churches, Mary 20, 2011, a message by Bob Thune of Coram Deo Church

E-Quake by Jack Hayford

ESV Study Bible

Life Application Study Bible

Revelation 1-11: New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur

Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation by Dennis Johnson

The Returning King by Vern Poythress

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, Grant R. Osborne

Revelation: The Triumph of Christ by John Stott

How To Buy Gold When You're Broke, a message by John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church

GOING DEEPER - GOD WINS: A Study of Revelation Week One Devotional

2011-09-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's All About Jesus!

The book of Revelation begins with these words, "The revelation of Jesus Christ..." This book is not just a revelation that comes from Jesus, it's a revelation about and of Jesus!

The supporting cast surrounding Jesus is colorful and interesting: the four horseman of the Apocalypse, angels, demons, the Great Harlot, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, the mark of the Beast, 666, seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets, two witnesses, the 144,000, cataclysmic disasters, the lake of fire and the awesomeness of heaven... But that's just the supporting cast!

In his excellent book, E-Quake, Jack Hayford describes Revelation like this, "...the book of Revelation is more than just a collection of prophecies; it's a handbook on worship... Revelation isn't an invitation to speculation; it's a summons to adoration! It's a call to focus on the glory, majesty and power of Jesus Christ."

The book of Revelation reminds us that history is really His-Story. In fact, your story is really His-Story. You can triumph, because He has already triumphed!

GOING DEEPER: Read Revelation 1 each morning this week, taking time to reflect on the description of Jesus contained in Revelation 1:12-18. Incorporate this description in your personal prayer and worship time. (See additional notes below for insights into the description.)

SCRIPTURE MEMORY: Revelation 1:17-18
"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

SUGGESTED WORSHIP MUSIC: The First and the Last by Hillsong; Take Heart by Hillsong United; 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Revelation 1:12-16 (NIV), Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Here are a few insights/thoughts about John's vision of Jesus:

• He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest…

John isn’t just giving us a fashion detail. Jesus was wearing the long robe of a Master, not the shorter garment of a servant or slave. John is letting us know that the same Savior who came in humility to serve, seek and to save was now enthroned on high as the Lord and Master over all creation!

The long robe is probably a reference to a priestly robe and a reminder that Jesus is our great high priest… The gold sash is a reminder that He is exalted above everything and everyone!

• His head and hair were white like wool.

In our culture, white hair is usually something to be avoided. It’s a sign of aging or infirmity. In fact, in our culture the only thing worse than having white hair is having “no hair.”

But John’s description of Jesus having hair that was as “white as wool” is remarkably similar to a vision that Daniel had of someone he called, “…the Ancient of Days…” (Daniel 7:9). John wants us to know and understand that our King is the Eternal King! He always has been and He always will be! Daniel called him the Ancient of Days!

• His eyes were bright like flames of fire…

Fire in the Bible is always a symbol of purity. His eyes pierce straight through all lies, deceit and cover-ups. In other words, Jesus is not only a God who looks right at you, He looks right through you… He knows your thoughts, motives, desires, dreams, the works…

• His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace…

The feet of Jesus were once wounded, but now they’ve become feet of dominion.

Bronze is a picture of strength. It’s an interesting material. It’s made up of two elements: iron and copper. Iron is strong, but it rusts. Copper doesn’t rust, and it’s pliable and bendable.

Bronze combines the strength of iron with the endurance of copper. When John says “…His feet were like burnished bronze...” it’s a picture of strength. Jesus Christ is strong and steady. He provides an unshakeable foundation and absolute security.

• His voice sounded like the thunder of mighty, roaring ocean waves.

This is an unmistakable statement that the Word of God is irresistibly alive and still speaks with power and authority above the den of history!

• In his right hand were seven stars…

What do you guys do with your right hand? You pound nails… You turn wrenches… You embrace friends… You lift weights…

What did Jesus do with His right hand? He held seven stars…

“He held seven stars in his right hand…”

Revelation 1:20 tells us that the stars are people. They’re the seven pastors of the churches. This is a picture of Jesus holding the pastor and the people of these seven churches in his hand.

• He spoke with such power and authority that it was as if a two-edged sword was coming straight from his mouth.

That two-edged sword is a picture of the power of His Word that is able to slay every adversary and cut through every attempt at self-deception.

When John sees Jesus, Jesus is ready for war! He is armed and ready to crush His enemies — sin, Satan and death with the power of His Word…

• His face was like the sun shining in all its strength…

John saw Jesus in his unveiled glory… He had seen Jesus like this once before on the Mount of Transfiguration, now he sees him like this again… The effect was staggering…

Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV), When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last,18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

John’s posture was a posture of abject worship. The Book of Revelation opens with the account of a man at worship, kneeling face first, not before a vision, but before the Victor!

GOD WINS - Part 1: It's All About Jesus

2011-09-12T04:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an incredible day at a2 Church. Here's the download of yesterday's worship experience:

The band nailed the opening worship set that included the following songs:

Praise Is The Offering (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Gateway Worship
You Are Good (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Ricardo Sanchez
Our God (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Chris Tomlin

INTERVIEW WITH VANCE MASSENGILL: Yesterday's worship experience also featured an interview with missionaries Vance and Kari Massengill. Vance and Kari are missionaries to the Middle East and Northern Africa. Their passion for God and for reaching unreached people groups was and is inspiring.

SPECIAL 911 REFLECTION: This was followed with a special 911 Reflection by Jessica Hands and featured a worship response by the a2 Worship Team that included the following two songs:

God You Reign - Chorus Only (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Lincoln Brewster

Shelter Me (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Tab Benoit or here (You Tube) and here (Amazon) for the original by Buddy Miller.

We launched the new message series titled, GOD WINS: A Study on Revelation yesterday. It was rather poignant to launch this series on the 10-year anniversary of September 11, 2001. Remembering God's sovereignty is crucial during times of uncertainty. The extended message notes are below...

Finally, we closed the worship experience with this song by Hillsong United.

Take Heart (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Hillsong United

Here are the extended notes from yesterday's message.

It’s All About Jesus!
GOD WINS: A Study of Revelation – Part 1

Two Extremes When It Comes To Revelation:

1. Extreme #1: The “Prophetic Jigsaw Puzzle” Approach.

“…though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

2. Extreme #2: The “Avoid It At All Costs” Approach.

Why Revelation Matters To People Like You and Me:

1. It’s in the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach us…

Revelation 1:1-2 (NIV), The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The NLT reads, “…This is his report of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ…”

2. It carries a special blessing.

Revelation 1:3 (NIV), Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

3. It’s all about Jesus. It reveals, unveils, glorifies and magnifies Jesus!

Revelation 1:1a (NIV’84), The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.

IMPORTANT: This is not just a revelation that comes from Jesus; it is a revelation of Jesus Christ! It’s not a revelation of “stuff”, information or even prophecy! It’s a revelation of Jesus Christ!

“…the book of Revelation is more than just a collection of prophecies; it is a handbook on worship… Revelation isn’t an invitation to speculation; it’s a summons to adoration! It’s a call to focus on the glory, majesty and power of Jesus Christ!” — Jack Hayford, E-Quake

Revelation 1:4-5 (NIV), John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Revelation 1:5b-6 (NIV), ...To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:7-8 (NIV), "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So shall it be! Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Revelation 1:9-11 (NIV), I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

Revelation 1:12-16 (NIV), Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV), When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last,18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

4. It’s a handbook on God-centered, heaven shaking, transformational worship.

What is worship?

“Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God.” — John Piper

“Worship is our response to what we value most.” — Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe

“Worship is responding to all that God is with all that I am.”

“Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god." — Harold Best, Unceasing Worship

THOUGHT: Revelation 1:5, as John contemplates what He has seen, He explodes in a hymn of worship…

Revelation 1:5b (NIV), …To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

THOUGHT: In Revelation 1:17-18, after John gets a glimpse of who Jesus is and how He reigns in falls in a posture of abject worship…

Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV), When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

NOTES: This kind of thing happens throughout the book of Revelation (4:8, 11; 5:9-10, 12-13; 7:12; 11:15, 17-18; 12:10-12; 15:3-4; 19:1-8)… Here’s the point: When I feel deep gratitude or adoration, that somehow has to find expression…

5. It reminds us that God in sovereign. He is large and in charge.

Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV), When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Revelation 1:19-20 (NIV), "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels (messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

CLOSING: “UNDER FURTHER REVIEW:
(Thanks to Pastor Steven Furtick for the idea…)

In both college and pro football, we live in the age of instant review… Sometimes during the course of the game, a play will occur… On the field, the play is called an “incomplete pass, fumble, turnover, etc.” Sometimes that single play can determine the outcome of a game… And it looks like the situation is hopeless… All is lost… The game or opportunity is over…

But then the official will indicate that the play is under review… The officials on the field have to wait for the officials upstairs to determine what actually happened on the field of play… Because the officials upstairs have access to different information… They have access to instant replay, camera angles and slow motion; they can see what the officials on the field can’t see…

Sometimes the drama is amazing… The guys calling the game for the television network will weigh in with their two cents of what the official is going to say… But nothing really matters until the official on the field gives the verdict of the officials in the box…

Sometimes he will walk back on the field and where the situation looked hopeless, the official will say, “Upon further review…” and He will overturn the ruling on the field! In one instant, EVERYTHING CHANGES!

APPLICATION: In a very real way, that’s what happens in the book of Revelation… John and the first century church are under the gun… Persecution is rampant… Things are falling apart…

But John has a vision that’s different than the ruling on the field… He sends the situation up to the ultimate official, and in the book of Revelation the ultimate official interrupts the game and says to John and a struggling church, “Upon further review… Jesus is alive! God is still on His throne! You are still in the palm of His hand and Domitian or Hell will not write the final word of your story! God will write the final word of your story!”

Maybe your marriage is falling apart… Maybe the diagnosis of the doctor has left you with a sense of hopelessness… Maybe your struggling from the pain and memory of past mistakes… Maybe you just lost your job… Maybe your situation looks completely hopeless and the opportunity looks dead…

It’s not over as long as God is sovereign and large and in charge… Upon further review…He can restore your relationship, heal your body, supply all your needs… Upon further review, He can forgive your sin and make you whole!

When You Feel Like You’re At The End:

1. You are never in a place where the love of Jesus can’t fine you (v. 9).

2. Your circumstances are never so severe that the Holy Spirit can’t alter or change your perspective (v. 10).

3. It’s not over until Jesus writes the end of your story (vs. 8, 19).

4. Fear and anxiety don’t have to rule and dominate your life. Jesus is closer and more powerful than you can imagine (vs. 12-18).

5. Everything in our world can come completely unglued and fall totally apart, but Jesus provides absolute security (v. 15).

6. I’m never really lost or forgotten, Jesus holds me in His strong right hand (v.16, 18-20).

LONELY ME?

2011-08-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we talked about our deep need for "community" and meaningful relationships.

Genesis 2:18 (NIV), The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.

That phrase, "It is not good for the man to be alone…" blows me away. It's an amazing statement.

Keep in mind, God's assessment of Adam's "lonely" condition took place before “the Fall.” God made creation perfect… At this point, sin and disobedience hadn’t entered the picture… Nothing existed that could mar the relationship between God and man…

Adam lived in a state of perfect intimacy with God… But the word God used to describe Adam was the word “lonely.” And God said, Adam's loneliness was "not good."

IT'S CRUCIAL THAT WE GET THIS REALITY: Adam wasn’t lonely because he was imperfect. Adam was lonely because He was perfect. God created us for community, and it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone…

Here's what this means to us: The ache and longing we all have for community and connection is the only ache and longing we have that isn’t a result of SIN… Every other ache we carry is a result of sin… The ache created by guilt, shame, sickness, rejection, fear, you name it… All of that is a result of sin. The ONLY ache and longing we have that isn’t a result of sin is our ache and longing for community, connection, relationships and friendship…

This is stunning! God created paradise for us to enjoy with our friends! In fact, after checking out all He had created, God’s verdict was, “Adam will never be able to fully enjoy all of this without a friend… He needs a companion…” (Genesis 2:18).

This is one of the reasons being a part of a SMALL GROUP is so essential! We need to connect. We long for deep-level, life-giving community.

Pastor Steve DeWitt over on the Biblical Counseling Coalition blog has an excellent post on loneliness, written from the perspective of a pastor. But regardless of whether you're a pastor, the post resonates with what a lot of us feel.

You can read Steve's entire post by clicking here.

In the mean time, if you're a part of a2 Church, look for the coming info on Small Groups. Prayerfully consider hosting or leading a Small Group. Contact Dan Butcher at groups@a2church.org or 205-370-0541 for more info.

Keep in mind: YOU WERE CREATED TO CONNECT! "It is not good for the man to be alone…"

"Love The Way You Lie? You've got to be kidding me?"

2011-08-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, August 14 as part of our morning worship experience our band will cover the song, "Love The Way You Lie, Pt. II" as recorded by Rihanna featuring Eminem.

Personally, I'm not a Rihanna or Eminem fan... And while I can respect and appreciate Enimen's obvious abilities when it comes to rhyme and verse, I'm also disturbed by some of the thoughts that seem to plague this rap superstar.

"Love The Way You Lie, Pt. II" isn't a song we would ordinarily cover in a weekend worship experience. (Some of the language used by Eminem is harsh and vulgar, to say the least...) It's a song about a toxic, destructive relationship that is literally destroying the people involved... According to Eminem, the song is not autobiographical. It's fictional, but it's real... How real? Well, the song has become a worldwise hit garnering more than 400 million hits on You Tube (this doesn't include the mp3 downloads from iTunes or Amazon).

Why is this song so popular? Evidently, a lot of people — probably even people within the confines of our church walls — can relate to the emotional and relationship pain this song describes.

"On the first page of our story the future seemed so bright,
Then this thing turned out so evil. I don’t know why I’m still surprised.
Even angels have their wicked schemes, and you take that to new extremes.
But you’ll always be my hero, even though you’ve lost your mind."

In an excellent post about this very song, Matt Smay writes: "...why all the interest in songs that portray life from a broken point of view? For me, something seems to be missing from the church culture. Perhaps it's that the church has lost its identity as a place of safey and refuge, where followers of Jesus and [people who don't yet know Jesus] can bring their confessions without condemnation. Instead the church has been pushed aside from deeply troubling and authentic conversations, and now looks outside in shock — even horror at the depth of our culture's issues..."

"Unfortunately, all the heavy issues are not absent from our churches...not unless we've been so judgmental to drive out all but the most disciplined Christians. Songs like these amplify my frustration with the church that is not wading into the deep, creating opportunities for dialogue. The dialogue in itself doesn’t fix anything, but it’s a great place to start DEALING with the toughest of life’s struggles. If we can trust the gospel of Christ to save us, why do we lack the confidence to dive into the conversation with both feet?"

Wow!

This Sunday we'll dive in with both feet... We'll talk about "controlling, unforgiving, reactive, shaming and ego-centered" relationships.

We'll also talk about relationships plagued by "cold shoulders, demeaning comments, explosive arguments, destructive habits, verbal abuse, physical abuse. You name it..."

More importantly, we'll talk about the only thing that can transform our relationships: the gospel of Jesus and the extravagant grace of God.

When it comes to culture, the church should never become trivial or "cute" and use songs, movie clips, etc. for the sake of being "cool, hip or relevant." Our mission is way is too important for that! The gospel is way too important for that!

When Paul entered Athens in Acts 17, he was "...deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere..." (Acts 17:16). The culture of the city bothered Paul. It burdened Paul. But he still quoted some of that culture's poet's in his famous sermon on Mars Hill. In quoting that culture's poet's / artists, I can't imagine Paul doing it for the sake of being "cool, hip or relevant." He did it with a deep burden and as a means of building a bridge, so that he could point people to the only hope we have: the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Mark Driscoll has written an excellent post on a Christian's response to culture over on The Resurgence blogsite. According to Driscoll, there are three possible ways Christians can respond to culture.

Receive – There are things in culture that we can receive as a part of God’s common grace. Whether it’s great music that celebrates a healthy relationship, a movie that is inspiring or uplifting or the Macbook that I’m typing this email on…

Reject – There are some things in culture that are sinful and not beneficial at all… For instance, pornography has no redeeming value and has to be completely rejected by sincere followers of Jesus.

Redeem - Finally, there are some things in culture that are not bad in and of themselves, but can be used in a sinful ways and need to be redeemed by God’s people.

This Sunday, we're going to attempt to "redeem" a song that poignantly speaks to a lot of the relational pain many people are experiencing. We'll use that song as a lauching pad to talk about our only hope: the gospel of Jesus and the extravagant grace of our great God.

Invite a friend to join you this Sunday at a2 Church for a worship experience that could change their life.

Love The Way You Lie, Pt. II (Rihanna featuring Eminem)
The Eseential Every Relationship Needs: GRACE
PLAYLIST - Part 2
Sunday, August 14, 9:45 am
a2 Church
600 Montgomery Highway, Suite 208
Vestavia City Center (Just behind Pet Supermarket)

LOVE TEST 3.0 Extended Notes and Worship Download

2011-07-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

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.

LOVE TEST 2.0 Extended Notes and Worship Download

2011-07-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

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.

BATTLE TEST Extended Notes and Worship Download

2011-07-06T08:38:00.001-07:00

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!"

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

2011-07-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

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...

DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE!

2011-06-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

One of the most important books I've read... Here's a creative video with a poignant story from Piper's book... Challenging.

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

CHEER UP! YOU'RE WORSE THAN YOU THINK

2011-06-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today R.W. Glenn over at Solid Food Media had a great post on how to handle criticism, gossip, slander, misrepresentation, you name it... Ever experienced it?

I've copied the article below and provided a link to the Solid Food Media site. While the article addresses people in pastoral ministry, all of us have experienced criticism and all of us can use Mr. Glenn's wise advice...

Glenn's post reminded me of some counsel I received a few years ago related to criticism and accusation, especially when it comes from the "accuser" or "the evil one" himself. This person reminded me of Jesus' counsel in Matthew 5:25.

Matthew 5:25 (NKJ), Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

Jesus' counsel refers specifically to two people tied up in some kind of legal dispute and he's actually encouraging people to settle out of court, to avoid lawyers and litigation... That's the basic meaning of the text.

But this person pressed for another application. He encouraged me, "When the evil one blasts you with accusation and criticism, simply agree with him! Let him know, you're right! I'm all of that and worse... But I've been cleansed, forgiven and set free because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for me on the cross."

Glenn's post reminded me of this counsel. Here's his article: CHEER UP! YOU'RE WORSE THAN YOU THINK!

CHEER UP! YOU’RE WORSE THAN YOU THINK.
Posted 6/25/2011 | By: R W Glenn

One of the occupational hazards of pastoral ministry is that you are often the subject of people's destructive criticism, gossip, slander, misrepresentation, foolish inferences, ignorant speculations, and the like. And any pastor who's being honest with himself - even a hard-nosed guy like me - will admit that the hurtful things people say are just that - hurtful. They hurt.

How do you heal the hurt? How do you prevent the hurt from festering, from becoming a root of bitterness toward your enemies?

The answer is to remember this: you are far worse than your enemies make you out to be! They don't know the half of it.

Now they may not be correct or truthful in what they are saying about you, but you (and your spouse) could tell them things about yourself that would make their mouths hang open in shock and disbelief. You could tell them things about yourself that would make their petty criticisms pale in comparison. After all, what is wrong with you is so wrong, that it took the one perfect person who ever lived to die for you and suffer God's wrath for you.

Now I know that this may not seem all that encouraging - in fact, you might think that it would only make matters worse. You're already wounded. Why pour salt into the wound?

And let me say that it would be very discouraging if you stopped with bringing to mind what a mess you are. So don't stop short. Go farther. Go all the way to the cross and realize that even though you are far worse than your enemies think you are, Jesus went to the cross willingly. He was not reluctant to die for you: "No one takes my life away from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (John 10:18)! Even though you are a million times worse than any of your enemies know, Jesus does know, and he loves you anyway. The cross proves it.

The late Jack Miller used to put it this way: "Cheer up! You're worse than you think." In a strange way, this does put a smile on my face. As bad as people may think I am, I'm worse than they think, even worse than I think, but Jesus knows me fully and loves me so much that he went to the cross in my place.

LOVE TEST 1.0 Extended Notes and Worship Download

2011-06-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love what God is doing at a2 Church! Yesterday the church “gathered” for worship and renewal, so that we could “scatter” to make a difference in our world. The entire worship experience was about love – experiencing God’s love and sharing it with others.

Here’s the run down on all the action… The worship set was smoking and included the following:

Praise Is The Offering by Gateway Worship
Our God Is Love by Hillsong
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan or Kim Walker

a2 Student Ministries Pastor, Darrell Garrett gave us a glimpse of God’s activity in the life of a2 Student Ministries during their recent missions trip to Cincinnati where they participated in “Week of Hope.”

The band continued worship with:

Like An Avalanche by Hillsong United

The message notes are contained below. We closed out the worship experience with a call to love and Caley covering, To Make You Feel My Love, a song written by Bob Dylan and most recently performed by Adele. Wow! The song provided a perfect backdrop for the extent to which love will go to reach out to and connect with people that matter to us...

I’m pumped about seeing what God continues to do in and through us as the love we “feel in our hearts” moves to our hands, feet, calendars and wallets.

Love one another!

LOVE TEST 1.0 Extended Notes
Proof of Life – Part 8

1 John 3:1 (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!

NOTES: John is describing the idea of adoption… Adoption is a premeditated act of love… God looked at us and said, “I know your hang-ups… I know your hurts… I know you pain… I know your past, but I choose you to be a part of my family…”

ILLUSTRATION: 1 John 3:10-24 describes two kinds of hearts… One is soft, pliable and even playful… One is hard, cold and frozen to the purpose and plan of God…

1 John 3:10 (NIV), 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 3:11 (NIV), For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

John 13:34-35 (NIV), “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must lone one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1 John 3:12 (NIV), Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Envy is “resenting God’s goodness in other people’s lives while ignoring God’s goodness in your own...”

NOTES: In this text, Cain represents at least two things:

• He’s a type of the world and how hearts that are cold, calloused and frozen respond to hearts that are soft, pliable and submitted to God.

1 John 3:12-13 (NIV), Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

• Second, Cain is a type of religious people who forget about what’s really and ultimately important.

NOTES: The rift between Cain and Abel started over worship and how they ought to worship…

It’s interesting that the word John uses for “murder” actually means “butchered” or “slaughtered.” It’s a word that sometimes gets used in the Greek Version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) to describe sacrifice…

According to Gary Burge in The NIV Application Commentary on the Letters of John, this word “…implies a religious butchering – a slaying wed to piety – (religiousness), murder laced with prayer.”

1 John 3:14 (NIV), We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

1 John 3:15 (NIV), Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Love in 3-D:
Acknowledgement: This outline was borrowed from Mike Breaux in an excellent message on 1 John 3:10-24 from a series titled, “Love That Lives Next Door.”

1. Love is a decision.

1 John 3:11 (NIV), For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:14 (NIV), We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other…

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.

2. Love is a demonstration. It acts.

NOTES: Love isn’t really love until it gets demonstrated…

1 John 3:16-18 (NIV), This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

“Love calls you beyond the borders of your own wants, needs, and feelings. Love calls you to be willing to invest time, energy, money, resources, personal ability, and gifts for the good of another. Love calls you to lay down your life in ways that are concrete and specific. Love calls you to serve, to wait, to give, to suffer, to forgive, and to do all these things again and again.

Love calls you to be silent when you want to speak, and to speak when you would like to be silent. Love calls you to act when you would really like to wait, and to wait when you would really like to act. Love calls you to stop when you really want to continue, and it calls you to continue when you feel like stopping. Love requires you to lead when you would really like to follow, and to follow when you really want to lead. Love again and again calls you away from your instincts and your comfort. Love always requires personal sacrifice. Love calls you to give your life.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 188.

EXAMPLE: The Good Samaritan

NOTES: “…He had compassion on him…” (Luke 10:33) is the same word John used for “pity” in 1 John 3:17.

It’s the Greek word, splagchnon. The KJV translates it “bowels of compassion” in 1 John 3:17… It’s that feeling that hits you in the gut when you see a need and it compels you to take action…

IMPORTANT: The Good Samaritan saw a man lying unconscious, stripped, bleeding and left for dead and it hit him… His love for this unknown guy got into his hands, his feet, his calendar and his wallet…

3. Love makes the difference.

1 John 3:19-22 (NIV), This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

QUESTION: Could some of our unanswered prayers be a result of our failure to love?

1 John 3:23-24 (NIV), And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,

NOTES: That’s the TRUTH TEST… Do you believe the irreducible core truths about who Jesus is and what Jesus has accomplished?

1 John 3:23-24 (NIV), And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

NOTES: That's the LOVE TEST.

1 John 3:24 (NIV) The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

NOTES: All of this is made possible by the Holy Spirit!

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV), If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

NOTES: Paul said, “If I don’t have love, I’m nothing but an obnoxious noise… I’m absolutely nothing…”

1 John 3:11 (NIV), For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

EXAMPLE: Kenneth Scott Latourette

“By what steps did [Christianity] win against its admittedly formidable rivals?”

“Against these competitors Christianity seemed to have little chance. The state cults had the support of the government and the latter sought to stamp out any serious dissent.”

“Christianity’s success is to be found in its absolute inclusiveness. More than any other of its competitor religions it attracted all races and classes. The Pagan deities, for example, were often tied and confined to certain regions and nations. Even in the days of its most active proselytizing activities Judaism never overcame its racial boundaries because its converts had to become culturally Jewish. Christianity, however, gloried in its appeal to Jew, Gentile, African, and Barbarian. The philosophers to Greece and Rome, on the other hand, appealed to the educated only and could never win the masses. It was one of the charges against Christianity that it drew the lowly and uneducated multitude that its essential teaching was so simple that anybody could understand. Yet Christianity also developed a philosophy that converted some of the greatest minds in the society. Christianity too was for both sexes and women were active in its work while two if its main competitor religions were almost exclusively for men. Finally, the mystery religions were mainly for the rich and initiation was very expensive. There was no other religion that took in all groups and all strata of society.”

Latourette then asks: “Why did this idea of unprecedented radical inclusiveness appear in Christianity in the first place?” In other words, “Where did Christians get the idea to love like this?”

Latourette’s answer: “The one tenable explanation of Christianity’s inclusiveness was probably its teaching of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. For if Jesus was not a teacher showing the way of salvation, but the Son of God who accomplished salvation, then members of both sexes and all races, the learned and unlearned, the high and the low, the able and the non-able, might all be able to share in the salvation made possible in Christ.” — Kenneth Scott Latourette (Quoted in a message by Tim Keller titled, The Marks of a Christian on 1 John 3:10-18 preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Also researched on-line and quoted in several on-line articles.)

HOMEWORK:
I’ve included 12 Characteristics of Love that Paul Tripp mentions in his book, What Did You Expect? I want to encourage you to walk through those characteristics… Apply them to your relational world… Ask yourself, “How am I doing?”

What Real Love Looks Like:
Adapted from Paul Tripp’s book, What Did You Expect?

• Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of another person without impatience or anger…

• Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental, but instead looking for ways to encourage and praise…

• Love is the daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses…

• Love is being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding, and being more committed to unity and love than you are to winning, accusing or being right…

• Love is a daily commitment to admit your sin, weaknesses and failures and resisting the temptation to offer up excuses, shift the blame or rationalize your sin or mistakes…

• Love is being unwilling to do what’s wrong when you’ve been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good…

• Love is being willing to ask for forgiveness when you’ve blown it with a friend and always being committed to granting forgiveness when forgiveness is requested…

• Love is a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding and active love…

• Love is treating people with appreciation, respect and grace, even in those moments when they don’t seem to deserve it or are unwilling to reciprocate it…

• Love is being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt or wound a friend, and weaken a bond of trust…

• Love is refusing to be self-focused and demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage another individual…

• Love is admitting to yourself, to others, and to God that you can’t love like this without God’s grace rescuing you, His love transforming you, and His Spirit empowering you…

STEVEN FURTICK ON THE "13:13 MOMENT"

2011-06-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a great post from Steven Furtick on what he calls the "13:13 Moment." Never heard of it? Check out Steven's post. It's thought-provoking and contains a much-needed reminder of what we could miss out on by careless disobedience.

"Oh, God, please help me to completely follow YOU. To devote all I am to 'one pure and holy passion.' I don't to look back with regret, thinking about what could have been if only I had honored and pursued YOU."

Thanks for the important reminder, Steven.

TO SPANK OR NOT TO SPANK

2011-06-22T16:14:00.001-07:00

Denny Burk shares an excellent article on the subject of spanking over on his blog. You can check it out by clicking here.

Janet and I have three girls - ages 22, 19 and 11 - and we've always believed that wise, consistent, loving discipline is crucial in the life and development of a child. At one time or another, all three of our girls received a spanking. It was never our first option. We attempted to never spank when we were frustrated or angry. It was usually reserved for cases of "willful defiance." We always attempted to follow a spanking with a hug and loving affirmation. And finally, as our children grew older the frequency with which they received spankings declined.

Denny quotes an article by Paul Wegner that suggests several different levels of discipline. I've included Wegner's comments below, but check out Denny Burk's blog for some additional insights on the subject of discipline and spanking.

By the way, on July 31, a2 Church will host its first FX — that's a cool abbreviation for Family Experience — a special combined worship experience where children can take their parents to learn more about God. During our first FX we'll share some thoughts about how a2 wants to "partner with parents in their mission to lead their children into a personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ." Make plans to join us on July 31.

Here's a portion of Wegner's article:

In an article titled, "Discipline in the Book of Proverbs: To Spank or Not To Spank," Paul Wegner shows from scripture several different levels of discipline, one of which is corporal punishment (#6).

Level 1. Encourage proper behavior: A wise parent encourages a child to behave properly (Prov. 1:8-9; 2:2-5; 3:13-15; 4:7-8).

Level 2. Inform of improper behavior: A wise parent is proactive and addresses certain issues before the child might be confronted by them (Prov. 1:10-15; 3:31-32).

Level 3. Explain the negative consequences of sin: A wise parent points out the negative consequences that lie along the path of life (Prov. 1:18-19; 5:3-6).

Level 4. Gently exhort: Wise parents will, on an ongoing basis, advise and exhort their children against sin that can easily become a pattern and encourage them to use wisdom (Prov. 4:1-2, 14-16).

Level 5. Gently rebuke or reprove: The wise parent knows when to use rebuke properly (Prov. 3:12; 24:24-25).

Level 6. Corporal punishment that does not cause physical harm: A wise parent knows when to use corporal, non-abusive punishment (Prov. 19:18; 13:24; 23:13-14; 29:15).

Level 7. Corporal punishment that causes physical harm: The book of Proverbs does not suggest that parents use this technique for discipline, but that serious sin can lead to serious punishment (Prov. 20:30; 10:31).

Level 8. Death: The book of Proverbs also does not include this in the realm of parental discipline, but in the realm of consequences meted out by government or society’s leaders (Gen. 9:6; Prov. 19:18).

THE CELLO SONG

2011-06-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, I like music and this instrumental totally rocks! Here is Steve Sharp Nelson with "The Cello Song."

IMMIGRATION AND THE GOSPEL

2011-06-20T18:38:00.001-07:00

Here's an excellent post by Russell Moore on IMMIGRATION AND THE GOSPEL.

Thumbs up to Russell for this excellent post.

EVER HEARD OF JOSH GARRELS?

2011-06-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Now you have... This is an amazing performance of a terrific song. Enjoy

Mason Jar Music Presents... Josh Garrels from Mason Jar Music on Vimeo.

TOP TEN THINGS YOU WILL NEVER HEARD DAD SAY...

2011-06-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

In honor of Father's Day, here are the TOP TEN THINGS YOU WILL NEVER HEAR DAD SAY.

10. I'm craving a salad...

9. Sure, you can keep my daughter out as late as you like!

8. You kids don't need a job! I make PLENTY of money!

7. Here's my credit card and car keys. GO CRAZY!

6. Do these jeans make my butt look big?

5. Your mother’s coming to stay for two weeks? I wish she could stay longer…

4. Your mom and I are going out of town this weekend. You kids should throw a party!

3. Well, if all of your friends are doing it, then OF COURSE you can, too!

2. Here… You can have the remote, I don't need it.

1. I think we’re lost… Maybe we should stop and ask for directions...

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

2011-06-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

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.

PIPER AND WARREN

2011-05-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Love this dialogue between two "heavy hitters," John Piper and Rick Warren... This interview is largely focused on Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life" with a view towards doctrine.

I love hearing these two guys talk about doctrine in a way that reveals a deep passion for God's Word and doctrinal purity, and a deep love for one another.

We need more interviews and exchanges like this. This kind of dialogue grows the intellect and provides a great model for what civil debate and exchange can look like...

Enjoy...

QUOTES THAT MAKE ME THINK (5-23-11 Edition)

2011-05-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Quotes that have challenged me over the past few days...

"What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over half a century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia (the city where Barnhouse pastored), all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday…where Christ is not preached." — Michael Horton, Christless Christianity

“The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.” — Cyprian, Treatise on the Unity of the Church, 6.

"It's only a broken heart that will lead to a breakthrough faith." — Unknown

"I can honestly say that I've staked my life on an empty tomb. Everything I am, everything I own, everything I've done or hope to do hangs suspended on whether or not Jesus rose from the dead. The decision I made decades ago to put my trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is only as good as the tomb is empty. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, my life is a sham. I've invested everything in, stake everything on, entrusted everything to the historical fact of the empty tomb of Jesus. If his body and bones are still buried somewhere in Palestine, or have long since disintegrated under the force of time and the laws of physics, nothing has meaning for me, nor do I have meaning for anything or anyone else." – Sam Storms, quoted by Adrian Warnock, Raised with Christ, page 31.

Life Test: PROOF OF LIFE - Part 3

2011-05-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

May 22, 2011

Today's worship set included the following items:

Praise Is The Offering, Gateway Worship
Hosanna!, Hillsong United
Marvelous Light, Christy Nockels Version
Forever Reign, Hillsong
With Everything, Hillsong

Life Test
PROOF OF LIFE – Part 3
May 22, 2011 • Chris Goins

1 John 2:1-11 (NLT), My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a…brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.
10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. 11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.

Four Groups Of People Who “Make Up” The a2 Fam:

• Christians – Biblically Defined Believers.

• Non-Christians Who Think They Are Christians.

• Authentic Christians Who Lack Confidence.

• Non-Christians Who Know That They’re Non-Christians.

Three Goals For Every a2 Worship Experience:

• Increase assurance in the lives of believers.

• Tear away false assurances in the lives of people who think they have the “real thing,” but are holding on to a counterfeit.

• Share the simple message of the Gospel that describes how non-Christians can come to know Christ personally.

NOTES: The issue that John takes on in 1 John 2 is the issue of certainty or assurance

QUESTION: Suppose a person hangs out at a2 Church for the next five years… What do we expect? What do we think ought to happen in their life? What do we believe a person who is completely devoted to Jesus Christ ought to look like?

2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV), And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Illustration:
Check out the lyrics of this song penned by Gary S. Paxton in the 1970’s…

Evidence
Gary S. Paxton

If you were arrested
For being a Christian
Would there be enough evidence,
Hey, to help convict you?
If they took you in front
Of a panel of judges,
Could they find a staunch witness,
Hey, to help convict you?

Or would they find somebody who’s seen you in shadows
But they couldn’t reveal all the naked truth they know
Would the prosecution have the affidavits to hang you?
Or would the master suffer by your show?

If you were arrested
For being a Christian
Would there be enough evidence,
Hey, to help convict you?

If they took you in front
Of a panel of judges,
Could they find a good witness,
Hey, to help convict you?

Evidence, evidence, does your life show enough evidence?
Evidence, evidence, could they put you away?
Evidence, evidence, do you live enough of that evidence?
Evidence, evidence, what does your life say?

If they put you in prison
For being a Christian
Would they have enough evidence
Hey, to help confine you

If they gave you a chance
To obtain your freedom
Would you stand your faith
Or would you deny him

Would you cop a plea just to save you earthly body,
And let Satan win the soul Jesus bought to save?
Would the Prince of Darkness win you for his gallows,
Would the judgment day see God send you away?

If you were arrested
For being a Christian
Would there be enough evidence,
Hey, to help convict you?
If they took you in front
Of a panel of judges,
Could they find a good witness,
Hey, to help convict you?

How You Can Know That You Really Know God:

NOTES: John gives three tests or three proofs that can authenticate a person’s relationship with God…

1. The Trust Test: When you blow it and sin, you trust in, rely on and cling to what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

1 John 2:1-2 (NLT), My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin…

NOTES: According to John MacArthur, this sentence could actually be translated, “If anyone sins, and it will happen…”

1 John 2:1-2 (NLT), My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

QUESTION: Are you trusting in, relying upon, clinging to what Christ accomplished on the cross when He died for your sins, in your place? Have you bet the whole farm on grace?

2. The Life Test: Your attitudes, actions, life and character are progressively being transformed (vs. 3-6).

1 John 2:3-6 (NLT), And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

“The Christian no longer loves sin; it is the object of his sternest horror. He no longer regards it as a mere trifle, plays with it, or talks of it with unconcern. He looks upon it as a deadly serpent whose very shadow is to be avoided… Sin is dejected in the Christian’s heart, though it is not ejected. Sin may enter the heart, and fight for dominion, but it cannot sit upon the throne… The head and the hands of the Dragon are broken, although the stump remains…” — Charles Spurgeon

John 14:15 (ESV), If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Galatians 5:22-24 (NLT), But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

2 Peter 1:4-7 (NLT), In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

2 Peter 1:10 (ESV), Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

QUESTION: Are you progressively becoming more and more like Jesus Christ? If the question, “What would Jesus do?” more than a slogan, are you living your as Jesus lived?

3. The Love Test: You find yourself growing in genuine and unconditional love for other people – even people who are unlovable (vs. 7-11).

1 John 2:7-11 (NLT), Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a…brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.
10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. 11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.

NOTES: The true indicator of spirituality is a growing ability to love God and other people!

Matthew 22:36-40 (NLT), “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

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.

What Real Love Looks Like:
Adapted from Paul Tripp’s book, What Did You Expect?

• Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of another person without impatience or anger…

• Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental, but instead looking for ways to encourage and praise…

• Love is the daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses…

• Love is being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding, and being more committed to unity and love than you are to winning, accusing or being right…

• Love is a daily commitment to admit your sin, weaknesses and failures and resisting the temptation to offer up excuses, shift the blame or rationalize your sin or mistakes…

• Love is being unwilling to do what’s wrong when you’ve been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good…

• Love is being willing to ask for forgiveness when you’ve blown it with a friend and always being committed to granting forgiveness when forgiveness is requested…

• Love is a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding and active love…

• Love is treating people with appreciation, respect and grace, even in those moments when they don’t seem to deserve it or are unwilling to reciprocate it…

• Love is being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt or wound a friend, and weaken a bond of trust…

• Love is refusing to be self-focused and demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage another individual…

• Love is admitting to yourself, to others, and to God that you can’t love like this without God’s grace rescuing you, His love transforming you, and His Spirit empowering you…

QUESTION: Are you becoming a more loving person? Do you find yourself growing in unconditional love for the people in your world?

Light Test: PROOF OF LIFE - Part 2

2011-05-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

May 15, 2011

Today's worship set list included the following items:

The Time Has Come, Hillsong United
Praise Is The Offering, Gateway Worship
With Everything, Hillsong

The band also covered two item numbers:

Lifegiver, Hyper Static Union
In The Light, Charlie Peacock and DC Talk

We also continued the series, PROOF OF LIFE based on the Letters of John with a message of 1 John 1:5 - 1 John 2:2. Here are the extended notes.

Light Test
PROOF OF LIFE – Part 2
May 15, 2011 • Chris Goins

John Ortberg has written an excellent book titled The Life You've Always Wanted. Ortberg begins that book with these words. See if you can relate.

“I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed now so much with particular things I have done as with aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

“Some of this disappointment is trivial. I wouldn't have minded getting a more muscular physique. I can't do basic home repairs. So far I haven't shown much financial wizardry.

“Some of this disappointment is neurotic. Sometimes I am too concerned about what others think of me, even people I don't know.

“Some of this disappointment…is…the sour fruit of self-absorption.

“But some of this disappointment in myself runs deeper. When I look in on my children as they sleep at night, I think of the kind of father I want to be. I want to create moments of magic, I want them to remember laughing until the tears flow, I want to read to them and make the books come alive so they love to read, I want to have slow sweet talks with them as they're getting ready to close their eyes, I want to sing them awake in the morning. I want to chase fireflies with them, teach them to play tennis, have food fights, and hold them and pray for them in a way that makes them feel cherished…”

But Ortberg goes on to admit that at the end of the day, he doesn't end up doing the things he wanted to do.

[I'm disappointed.]

Ortberg continues.

"And it's not just my life as a father. I am disappointed also for my life as a husband, friend, neighbor, and human being in general. I think of the day I was born, when I carried the gift of promise, the gift given to all babies. I think of that little baby and what might have been: the ways I might have developed mind and body and spirit, the thoughts I might have had, the joy I might have created.

The next line carries the real "stinger."

"I am disappointed that I still love God so little and sin so much. I always had the idea as a child that adults were pretty much the people they wanted to be. Yet the truth is, I am embarrassingly sinful. I am capable of dismaying amounts of jealousy if someone succeeds more visibly than I do. I am disappointed at my ability to be small and petty. I cannot pray for very long without my mind drifting into a fantasy of angry revenge over some past slight I thought I had long since forgiven or some grandiose fantasy of achievement. I can convince people that I'm busy and productive and yet waste large amounts of time watching television…"

"These are just some of the disappointments. I have other ones, darker ones, that I'm not ready to commit to paper…

"Where does my disappointment come from? …my failure to be the person God had in mind when he created me." — John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pages 11-13.

“The glory of God is man fully alive.” — Saint Irenaeus

QUESTION: What does that kind of life look like?

1 John 1:1-2 (NLT), We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.

life – zoe: a) the absolute fullness of life, b) life in the absolute sense, life as a principle, life as God has it, c) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous.

1 John 1:3-4, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

NOTES: John believes that it’s actually possible for people to experience ZOE LIFE… He believes it’s possible for us to experience…

• …a life that gets lived out in the context of a deep, authentic, life-giving relationship with God and with other people.

• …a life filled with supernatural, defiant, unstoppable joy even in the face of adversity.

• …a life so full and overflowing that you can’t possibly keep it to yourself… You’ve got to share it with someone else…

1 John 1:5-10 (NIV), This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 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.

1 John 2:1-2 (NIV), My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Four Realities:

1. Our biggest problems: darkness, denial and self-deception.

“One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that most people tend to think of sin, especially their own, as not much more than a parking infraction… But according to the Bible, sin is a lot more than just the violation of some impersonal, arbitrary, heavenly traffic regulation. It’s the breaking of a relationship, and even more, it is a rejection of God Himself – a repudiation of God’s rule, God’s care, God’s authority, and God’s right… It is the rebellion of the creature against His Creator.” — Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? Pages 47-48

“Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from [God].” — Tim Keller, The Reason for God, page 162

NOTES: Most of us think of SIN as primarily “breaking rules” or “doing bad things.” But the very FIRST of the Ten Commandments is to “…have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7)

According to the Bible, the primary way to DEFINE SIN is not just in terms of doing BAD things, but making GOOD things into ULTIMATE THINGS.

Tim Keller writes, [sin is] “…seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…” — Tim Keller, The Reason for God, page 162

Three False Claims (lies we believe):

“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (v. 6).

The Lie: Sin is no big deal… I sin… So what?

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (v. 8).

The Lie: Sin isn’t really something I struggle with… I’m beyond that…

“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and His word is not in us” (v. 10).

The Lie: We’re all basically decent and good… Sin isn’t really an issue…

Why Darkness Is So Dangerous:

• It wrecks our relationship with God.

"The essence of sin is not primarily the violation of laws, but it is a wrecked relationship with God." — Barbara Brown Taylor

• It sabotages our relationships with people (1 John 2:8-11).

“Sin turns us in on ourselves. Sin makes us shrink our lives to the narrow confines of our little self-defined world. Sin causes us to shrink our focus, motivation, and concern to the size of our own wants, needs, and feelings. Sin causes all of us to be way too self-aware and self-important. Sin causes us to be offended most by offenses against us and to be concerned most for what concerns us. Sin causes us to dream selfish dreams and to plan self-oriented plans. Because of sin, we really do love us, and we have a wonderful plan for our lives.

What all this means is that sin is essentially antisocial. We don’t really have time to love our spouse [friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, employer, employee, etc.], in the purest sense of what that means, because we are too busy loving ourselves. What we actually want is for our spouse to love us as much as we love ourselves, and if our spouse is willing to do that, we will have a wonderful relationship. So we try to co-opt our spouse into a willing submission to the plans and purposes of our claustrophobic kingdom of one.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 47

“I have said this and will continue to return to it throughout this book: the big battles in marriage are not the ones you fight with your spouse. No, the big battles are the ones being fought in your heart. All of the horizontal skirmishes between a husband wife are the result of this deeper battle. Remember, there is still sin remaining in your heart, and the DNA of sin is selfishness. Since sin in its fundamental form is selfish, then sin is essentially antisocial. This means that you and I must recognize there is something that still lurks inside us that is destructive to marriage.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 127

• Sin robs us of the defiant joy God intended.

2. Our great need: a life-changing understanding of God’s character.

“In these verses, John presents two crucial doctrinal tests to determine who is genuine: an accurate belief in the nature of God, and a genuine belief in the certainty of sin.” — John MacArthur, Commentary on 1, 2 and 3 John, page 22-260.

• God is light (1:5)!

- God is absolute truth (no fine print or hidden agendas).

- He is blazing holiness (without sin, darkness or imperfections).

• God is love (4:8)!

3. God’s ultimate solution: Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:7 (ESV), if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:9 (NIV), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:1-2 (NIV), My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

4. Our daily, life-long decision: walk in the light.

1 John 1:7 (ESV), if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The Life You’ve Always Wanted: PROOF OF LIFE – Part 1

2011-05-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

May 8, 2011

Today's worship set list included the following:

You, Hillsong
Forever Reign, Hillsong
I Will Exalt You, Hillsong

Chris Mileski and Shannon Johnson had a lot of fun with announcements and Mother's Day. The band blew away two item numbers:

Everybody, Ingrid Michaelson
Lifegiver, Hyper Static Union

We launched a brand new series on the Letters of John today titled, PROOF OF LIFE.

Extended message notes are included below. (Thanks to Mosaic for the really cool graphic...)

The Life You’ve Always Wanted
PROOF OF LIFE – Part 1
May 8, 2011 • Chris Goins

1 John 5:13 (NLT), I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13 (AMP), I write this to you who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) the name of the Son of God…, so that you may know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have life, yes, eternal life.

1 John 1:1-4 (NLT), We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

1 John 1:2 (NLT), This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life.

NOTES: Don’t miss what John says in Verse 2… “I know what LIFE looks like… I’ve seen it up close and personal…”

1 John 1:4 (NLT), We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

“The glory of God is man fully alive.” — Saint Irenaeus

NOTES: Listen to the way John describes Jesus in His gospel…

John 1:4 (NIV), In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 3:16; 6:35; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6; 17:3-4; 20:31)

NOTES: According to John, the defining characteristic of Jesus’ life and ministry wasn’t His amazing miracles, transformational teaching or unconditional compassion…

John says, “When I saw Him… When I met Him… When I got up close and personal to Him… This is what I saw… This is what blew me away… In Him was LIFE, and that LIFE was the light of all mankind… That life was so powerful that it radiated light that illuminated the darkness, and the darkness could not overpower the light and life that was and is Jesus.”

When John writes, “In Him was LIFE…” He’s letting us know that everything else paled in comparison to the LIFE that just flowed out of Jesus… He’s saying, “I experienced something / someone who made everything else seem like LESS…”

life – zoe: a) life as a principle, b) the absolute fullness of life or life in the absolute sense, c) life as God has it, d) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous.

NOTES: One of the over riding narratives of Scripture… A narrative that is so simple that sometimes it can seem almost simplistic, but it’s the narrative that THIS IS ALL ABOUT LIFE and DEATH… Not “life” and “death” and then “eternal life.”

No! This is all about “LIFE” – LIFE the way God intended it and DEATH – which is basically being a walk on cast member of The Walking Dead…

This has been one of the overriding narratives of Scripture since the beginning…

John 1:1-2 (NIV), In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:4 (NIV), In Him was life…

NOTES: In Genesis 2:7, the Bible begins in the key of life. It wraps up in the same key in Revelation 22.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20, This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you LIFE and DEATH, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE LIFE, so that you and your children may LIVE 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him, for He is your LIFE and the length of your days…

NOTES: Life is the central theme in the writings of John. In fact, the word “life” gets used at least 36 times in the Gospel and 10 times in the Letter of 1 John.

John 1:4 (NIV), In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 3:16; 6:35; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6; 17:3-4; 20:31)

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.

In John 6:35 Jesus said that he was “the bread of life.”

In John 7:35 Jesus promised, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of LIVING WATER will flow from within them."

In John 11:25 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the LIFE…”

In John 14:6 Jesus said that He alone is “…the way, the truth, and the LIFE…”

John 17:3 (NIV), …this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 20:31 (NIV0, But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 10:10 (AMP), The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

The Life You’ve Always Wanted:

1. A life that gets lived out in the context of authentic, deep-level, life-giving relationships with God and people (1:3).

1 John 1:3 (NLT), We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

2. A life rooted and grounded in objective truth (1:1-2a).

1 John 1:1-2 (NIV), That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched…

3. A life so full that you can’t possibly keep it to yourself. You’ve got to share it with someone else (1:2-3a).

1 John 1:2-3a (NLT), This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard…

4. A life filled with supernatural, defiant joy in the face of whatever life throws at you (1:4).

1 John 1:4 (NLT), We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

“The glory of God is man fully alive.” — Saint Irenaeus

Jesus Pays My Debt! AT THE CROSS - Part 4

2011-04-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hosea 1:1-3 (NIV11), The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord." 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Hosea 3:1-3 (NIV11), The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you."

Hosea 3:4-5 (NLT), This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! 5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.

Ransom: What God’s Love for People Like Us Cost God

Hosea 1:2 (NIV11), …the Lord said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord."

Hosea 1:2 (MSG), The first time God spoke to Hosea he said: "Find a whore and marry her. Make this whore the mother of your children. And here's why: This whole country has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God."

“Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as ‘Careful! This might lead you to suffering.’”

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one…lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable…” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, as found in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, 278-279.

Ransom: What God’s Love for People Like Us Cost God

1. Life-changing love always includes the risk of being hurt. God’s love for us cost Him the pain of our betrayal, unfaithfulness and rejection.

Hosea 2:5-7 (NIV11), She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.'
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'

Hosea 2:8 (ESV), And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

“Remember, this marriage is a microcosm of God and His people. Once more, the reader is confronted by a mirror rather than a window because Israel’s sin is humanity’s sin…” ~ Derek Kidner

Hosea 2:14 (NIV11), Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

2. Life-changing love is relentless. God’s love for us cost God the persistence to refuse to give up on us, regardless of how many times we’ve sinned and rejected His love.

Hosea 3:1 (NIV11), The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

Hosea 3:1 (MSG), Then God ordered me, "Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who's in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy."

Hosea 3:2 (NIV11), So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

3. Life-changing love is always sacrificial. God’s love for us cost God the life of His own son, Jesus Christ.

“Who can explain the sanity of true love? Love is of God, and it is infinite. Love is sovereign. Love is apart from reason; love exists for its own reasons. Love is not according to logic; love is according to love. Thus it was with Hosea, for he was playing the part that God has played with you, all your life, and with me.

“The pursuing love of God is the greatest wonder of the spiritual universe. We leave God in the heat of our own self-desire and run from His will because we want so much to have our own way. We get to a crossroads and look back in pride, thinking that we have outdistanced Him. Just as we are about to congratulate ourselves on our achievement of self-enthronement, we feel a touch on our arm and turn in that direction to find Him there. ‘My child,’ He says in great tenderness, ‘I love you; and when I saw you running away from all that is good, I pursued you through a shortcut that loves knows well, and awaited you here at the crossroads.’

[When we] have torn ourselves free from His grasp and rushed off again, through deepest woods and farthest swamp, and as we look back again, we are sure, this time, that we have succeeded in escaping from Him. But, once more, the touch of love is on our other sleeve and when we turn quickly we find that He is there, pleading with the eyes of love, and showing Himself once more to be the tender and faithful One, loving to the end. He will always say, ‘My child, my name and nature are Love, and I must act according to that which I am. So it is that I have pursued you, to tell you that when you are tired of your running and your wandering, I will be there to draw you to myself once more.’

“When we see this love at work through the heart of Hosea we may wonder if God is really like that. But everything in the Word and in experience shows us that He is.

“[God] will give man the trees of the forest and the iron in the ground. Then He will give to man the brains to make an axe from the iron to cut down a tree and fashion it into a cross. He will give man the ability to make a hammer and nails, the Lord will allow man to take hold of Him and bring Him to that cross; He will stretch out His hands upon it and allow man to nail Him to that cross, and in so doing will take the sins of man upon Himself and make it possible for those who have despised and rejected Him to come unto Him and know the joy of sins removed and forgiven, to know the assurance of pardon and eternal life, and to enter into the prospect of the hope of glory with Him forever. This is even our God, and there is none like unto Him.” ~ Donald Grey Barnhouse, quoted by James Montgomery Boice in The Minor Prophets – Volume 1, pages 24-25.

Mark 10:45 (NLT), For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Ransom: “…to buy the freedom of a slave or a prisoner.”

“Jesus came to pay that kind of ransom. But since the slavery he is dealing with is of a cosmic kind – that is, cosmic evil – it required a cosmic payment. Jesus is saying, ‘I will pay the ransom that you couldn’t possibly pay, and it will secure your freedom.’ The payment is Jesus’ death on the cross.” ~ Tim Keller, King’s Cross, page 140-141

"God Himself came to pay our debt… The cross is the self-substitution of God! The only way Jesus could redeem us was to give His life as a ransom... God created the world in an instant, and it was a beautiful process. He re-created the world on the cross - and it was a horrible process. That's how it works. Love that really changes things and redeems things is always a substitutionary sacrifice." ~ Tim Keller, King’s Cross, page 140-144

1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV11), For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

The NLT says, “…He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.”

1 Peter 1:18-20 (NLT), For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

Hosea 3:4-5 (NLT), This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! 5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.

Our only logical response: surrender and worship.

Three Life-Changing Truths:

• Jesus is our mediator.

• Jesus is our redeemer.

• Jesus paid our ransom.

Death By Love Recommended Reading
Chapter 9 – “I Am Going To Hell”: Jesus Is Hank’s Ransom
Pages 183 - 195

Jesus Wins My Victory! AT THE CROSS - Part 2

2011-03-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

Here are the extended - and I really do mean EXTENDED NOTES,from yesterday's message (March 20, 2011) at a2 Church. This is Part 2 of our series At The Cross. As always, the downloadable mp3 of the message is available on a2's website or via iTunes.

Jesus Wins My Victory!
AT THE CROSS
Part 2
Extended Notes
March 20, 2011

Revelation 12:1-6 (NIV ’11), A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who "will rule all the nations with an iron scepter." And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

NOTES: John is using some vivid and even disturbing images to give us a glimpse – a little snapshot – behind the curtain, at the war taking place between God and the evil one. He uses three images.

FIRST IMAGE (vs. 1-2, 4-6): A WOMAN representing the messianic community / the community of faith / the people of God… Israel in the Old Testament and the church of Jesus in the New Testament.

SECOND IMAGE (v. 5): A SON OR MALE CHILD representing the Messiah or Jesus.

THIRD IMAGE – AN ENORMOUS RED DRAGON:

Verse 9 identifies the dragon as “…the ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world…”

QUESTION: What is this dragon attempting to do?

NOTES: This is one of the most horrifying images in the Bible… Here’s the picture… The woman is in intense labor… Her feet are basically in stirrups… She is pushing to give birth to the Messiah… And Satan – this enormous Red Dragon – is standing in front of her, nostrils flaring, drooling; waiting for the baby to be delivered so that he can immediately devour and destroy it… This is vivid and unsettling imagery…

John wants to give us a glimpse of the hostility and rage of Satan… He’s letting us know that Satan means business… He’s out for blood… He was determined to destroy or wipe out the Messiah…

This is the language of war… It’s brutal, obscene and rated “R” material…

Cross Reference the Attacks of Satan on the Life of Jesus:
Matthew 2:13-18 – The rage of Satan working through Herod…
Luke 4:13 – The rage of Satan in the wilderness temptations…
Luke 4:28-30 – The rage of Satan in a group of people in Nazareth…
John 8:59 – The rage of Satan in a group of Jewish opponents…

The rage of Satan in Jesus’ Gethsemane experience, His arrest, trials, torture and crucifixion…

An Ancient Prophecy
Genesis 3:15 (NIV ’11), “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

NOTE: God basically said, “Satan, you’ll strike at the Messiah’s heel… But don’t have any doubts about it… He will CRUSH YOUR HEAD… It’s only a matter of time!”

NOTES: Back to Revelation 12… In Revelation 12 John doesn’t mention the triumph of the Messiah… He doesn’t have to… Because he had already thoroughly covered it back in Revelation 4-5.

See Revelation 4

Revelation 5:5 (NIV ‘11), Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

Revelation 5:6-7 (NIV ’11), Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Revelation 5:8-12 (NIV ’11), And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: ”You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.12 In a loud voice they were saying: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

NOTE: Revelation 4-5 serve as the backdrop for Revelation 12.

Revelation 12:7-10 (NIV ’11), Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

Revelation 12:11-13 (NAS), "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

NOTES: John is letting us know: “There’s a battle going on, and it is a spiritual battle. It is a battle between good and evil, between life and death, between heaven and hell, between our Savior and God – Jesus himself and the evil one – ‘that great dragon and ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan…’”

IMPORTANT: The reason Satan is so ticked off, frustrated, angry and filled with rage and the battle has become more intense isn’t because Satan’s so incredibly strong and believes that victory is within his reach… According to Verse 12, it’s because he KNOWS he’s DEFEATED… He knows that the CROSS sealed his fate… He knows the END is in sight… He knows the fat lady is about to sing… He knows that in principal he’s already done!

“We should not take it personally when we’re attacked or tired or depressed. Things like that go with the territory. We’re in a spiritual battle. When a soldier is shot at he isn’t shocked. His feelings aren’t hurt. He doesn’t peek over his foxhole at his adversary and shout, ‘Was it something I said?’ He expects it. He plans on it. That’s spiritual realism.” ~ Ben Patterson, The Pastor’s Soul Volume 7: Deepening Your Conversation with God

Three Weapons in the Enemy’s Arsenal:

• Intimidation (vs. 3-4)

NOTES: Throughout the Bible, Satan used intimidation against people who knew better… They knew they could trust God... They knew they could bank on God to have their back… But the moment Satan started talking smack, individuals and entire generations caved under the pressure…

EXAMPLES:

• It was intimidation that caused 10 of the spies to see themselves as grasshoppers and an enemy nation as giants…

• It was intimidation that caused Aaron to cave and create a golden calf for the people of Israel to worship…

• It was intimidation that caused Peter to cave during the trials, interrogation and torture of Jesus…

IMPORTANT: Satan understands that sometimes, the greatest sins in life aren’t the wrong things we do, but the great things that we leave undone… Courageous words that get stuck in our throat… Generous gifts that never leave our pocket… A bold witness that remains silent…

QUESTION: Has the evil one come at you with intimidation… Magnifying your insecurities, inadequacies and idiosyncrasies?

• Deception (v. 9)

NOTES: Deception is Satan’s habitual and continual activity… He is, by nature, a deceiver… Earlier in life, John described Satan like this:

John 8:44b (NLT), He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

NOTES: Satan’s agenda is to attempt to get you to believe his lies over God’s truth… He knows that every chain of sin begins with a link of deceit… So he attempts to paint false pictures in your mind day in and day out…

Question: What are the false pictures Satan is planting in your mind?

• Accusation (v. 10)

“…the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down…”

NOTES: Satan accuses men to God, God to men, and men to other men… He’s a malicious and relentless prosecutor of God’s people…

In fact, part of what’s probably going on when Satan prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), is that he’s looking for junk… He’s looking for your dirty laundry… He’s looking for some sin he can use to accuse you before God and accuse you before your own conscience…

There’s something inside all of us that is so vulnerable to the voice of accusation… The accusation of the evil one will make you want to despair, give up, run, hide, give in, give out, throw in the towel, quit…

Question: Are you struggling with accusations? Has Satan pounded you with memories of past sin, mistakes, failures, opportunities to the point of despair?

Three Realities That Assure Your Ultimate Victory:

Revelation 12:10 (NIV ’11) Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

Revelation 12:11 (NAS), And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

1. The finished work of the cross!

Revelation 12:11 (NAS), …they overcame (defeated – NLT; triumphed – NIV ’11; conquered – Holman) him because of the blood of the Lamb…

NOTES: The redemptive act that freed us from our sin (1:5), and gave us the right to reign as priests and kings (5:9), is also the act that gives us authority over Satan and enables us to overcome very attempt he makes at intimidation, deception and accusation…

You can bet, Satan will continue to accuse us… This chapter says that he accuses us day and night… He’s relentless in his assault… He wants us to feel dirty, guilty, weak, ugly, defeated, depressed, and discouraged… And sometimes his accusations are spot on…

QUESTION: How do we respond to his accusations and lies? Do we buy the line of popular self-help books and say, “Oh, I’m not that bad… I’m okay… You’re okay…” Not if we want to defeat him!

Instead, we look him in the eye and say, “Satan, I’m even worse than you can think… But the amazing thing is that God loves and accepts me anyway… Not on the basis of what I’ve done, but because of the blood of the Lamb… Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross when he died for my sin, in my place…”

IMPORTANT: Get this: Every blessing, resource and good thing we enjoy as the people of God is grounded in the blood of the Lamb… It’s all been secured by Jesus’ cross of Christ!

Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV ’11), When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:15 (NIV ’11), And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15 (MSG), [God] stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

2. The bold declaration of God’s Word.

Revelation 12:11 (NAS), And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony…

NOTES: This is a reference to the only offensive weapon we have… It’s the Word of God… The sword of the Spirit…

How do we activate the Word of God in our personal lives?

Four Practical Ways to Declare God’s Word:

• Share the gospel!

NOTES: “The word of our testimony” is a reference to the gospel or good news about Jesus! The ongoing proclamation of the gospel is a means of taking back territory from the evil one.

• Affirm your identity in Christ!

NOTES: One of Satan’s primary weapons is the lie or deception… He’s committed to deceiving you into believing that you are not what, in fact, you are… He wants you to believe that you can’t do what, in fact, you can…

In his book, Victory Over the Darkness, Neil Anderson writes: “No person can consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with the way he perceives himself.” ~ Neil Anderson, Victory Over The Darkness

That’s why Satan uses deception and accusation to attempt to convince you that you’re a failure, a fool, of no use to God or His church, worthless, an embarrassment to Christ, inferior to others, inadequate to the task, helpless to change, a pathetic excuse for a Christian, you’ll always be what you are right now, things will never change…

Instead of listening to his accusations, remind yourself of the truth of God’s Word! Affirm what God’s Word says about you on a regular basis… Affirm your identity in Christ…

Who Am I?
Our Identity In Christ

I am completely accepted...
• I am a child of God... I can call God “my Father”... (John 1:12; Romans 8:14, 15; Galatians 3:26; 4:6)
• Because I’m God’s child, I am an heir of God and I am a coheir with Jesus Christ... (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:6-7)
• I am a friend of God... (John 15:15)
• I have been justified by faith have peace with God through Jesus Christ... (Romans 5:1)
• I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit... (1 Corinthians 6:17)
• I have been bought with a price and I belong to God... (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
• I am a member of Christ’s body... (1 Corinthians 12:27)
• I have been chosen by God and adopted as God’s child... (Ephesians 1:3-8)
• I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins... (Colossians 1:13- 14)
• I am a new creation. The old is gone. The new is come. The past is forgiven. The old life is forgotten. Everything is new... (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• I have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and translated into God’s wonderful kingdom of light... (Colossians 1:13)
• I am complete in Christ... (Colossians 2:9-10)
• I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ and can be confident that He will hear me when I pray... (Hebrews 4:16)
• I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people... (1 Peter 2:9-10)
• I am a saint... (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2)

I am totally secure...
• I am free from condemnation... (Romans 8:1)
• I am sure that God works all things for my ultimate good, regardless of my present circumstances... (Romans 8:28)
• I cannot be separated from the love of God in Jesus Christ... (Romans 8:31-39)
• I have been established, anointed and sealed by God... (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
• I am hidden with Christ in God... (Colossians 3:1-4)
• I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me... (Philippians 1:6)
• I am a citizen of heaven... (Philippians 3:20)
• I have not received a spirit of fear... I have received a spirit of power, love and of a sound mind... (2 Timothy 1:7)
• I am born again in Jesus Christ – and the evil one can’t possibly touch me... (1 John 5:18)

I am deeply significant...
• I am the salt of the earth... (Matthew 5:13)
• I am the light of the world... (Matthew 5:14)
• I am part of the true vine - Christ’s life flow in, through and out of me... (John 15:1, 5)
• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing... (Ephesians 1:3)
• I am chosen and appointed by Jesus Christ to bear fruit... (John 15:16)
• I have the mind of Christ. He enables me to make right and wise choices... (1 Corinthians 2:16)
• I am a Holy Spirit empowered agent and witness of Jesus Christ giving the mission and assignment of telling everyone possible the good news of the Gospel... (Acts 1:8)
• I am a temple of God... God’s Spirit lives in me... (1 Corinthians 3:16)
• I am a minister of reconciliation... (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
• I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly places... (Ephesians 2:6)
• I am God’s workmanship... (Ephesians 2:10)
• I can approach God with freedom and confidence... (Ephesians 3:12)
• I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me... (Philippians 4:13)
• I am right now a child of God, you can’t yet see what I will be, but when He appears I will be like Him. I will see Him just as He is... (1 John 3:1-2)
• I can overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb, through the word of my testimony and because I don’t love life so much that I shrink back in my commitment when I’m faced with death... (Revelation 12:11)
• Greater is who lives in me than He who is in the world... (1 John 4:4)
• I am a king and priest unto our God... (Revelation 5:10)

“The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity.” (Dr. Neil Anderson, Victory Over the Darkness)

• Go audible with your praise and worship!

See Psalm 50:23; 2 Chronicles 20; Jonah 2:9; Acts 16:25

• Remember that prayer is a big part of the battlefield.

See Ephesians 6:10-20

3. A “fasted” lifestyle.

Revelation 12:11 (NAS), And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

(NLT), …and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

NOTES: What’s being described in the last part of Verse 11 is a value judgment… It’s the description of a guy or gal who has made Jesus the ultimate priority of their life, and this decision has affected every area of their lives…

They love Jesus more than their job, more than pleasure, more than convenience, peace, prosperity, comfort, you name it…

They’re willing to give up good things for the sake of better things? They’re willing to sacrifice it all, because what’s most valuable to them is not their life… Instead, they would rather die than yield one inch of their hearts to the world or Satan…

POSSIBLE APPLICATION: a2 Observes Lent 2011

QUESTION: Has the evil one come against you with deception, intimidation, or accusation? Do you wonder whether or not you’ll make it?

Revelation 12:11 (NAS), And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Death By Love Recommended Reading
Chapter 1 – “Demons Are Tormenting Me”; Jesus Is Katie’s Christus Victor
Pages 37 – 56

Jesus Takes My Place! AT THE CROSS - Part 1 Extended Notes

2011-03-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here are the extended notes from Part 1 of our new series, At The Cross. We shared this message at a2 Church on Sunday, March 13, 2011. The entire podcast or downloadable mp3 is available via a2's website or iTunes.

Jesus Takes My Place!
AT THE CROSS
Part 1
Extended Notes
March 13, 2011

The Big Idea: The mysterious and incredible Jewish “holy day” called Yom Kippur or “Day of Atonement” powerfully demonstrates what Jesus Christ accomplished for us through his death on the cross. On the cross, Jesus became our substitute, dying for our sins, in our place, so that we could be forgiven and our sin could be forgotten.

“The CROSS of Jesus is a GORY STORY of shame and pain, violence and silence.” ~ Andrew Wilson, God Stories

NOTES: This series is about the cross. We believe that the cross is the center of history and eternity. It’s the center of our Christian faith, Christian life and Christian worldview…

In Galatians 5:11, Paul the Apostle indicated that the cross is “an offense.” The Greek word is skandalon. We get our English word scandal from it… Paul basically said, “The cross is scandalous....”

In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul indicated that “…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”

And in 1 Corinthians 1:23, Paul says that the cross “…a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness or nonsense to Gentiles.”

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (NIV ‘11), …but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV), For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…

A PICTURE OF SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT: THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Leviticus 16:29-30 (ESV), …in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work...

Three Major Themes (in Leviticus 16):

• God is holy.

• Sin is serious.

• Grace really is amazing.

Leviticus 16:29-30 (ESV), …in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.

NOTES: The word atonement means “at-one-ment.” In other words SIN has separated us from God, and atonement is the means whereby God seeks to be AT ONE with us again… ~ Mark Driscoll, Death By Love

The word also means “to cover over or propitiate.” One theological dictionary says it means to be “obliterated.” ~ Blue Letter Bible.com

Atonement is the arrangement of God whereby an innocent third party stands in the place of the guilty sinner and absorbs the penalty for sin due the sinner. The demands of holiness and justice are satisfied, and the guilty party is allowed to go free.

It’s a word used to describe how sinful, guilty and messed up people like you and me can be restored to a relationship with a perfect, good and holy God by having our sins forgiven and forgotten…

AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Leviticus 16:2 (ESV), "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:3 (NLT), When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

Leviticus 16:4-6 (NLT), He must put on his linen tunic and the linen undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself in water before he puts them on. 5 Aaron must take from the community of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 6 Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord.

Leviticus 16:7-10 (NIV ’11), Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

Leviticus 16:15-16 (ESV), Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.

THE FIRST GOAT: The high priest slaughtered an innocent goat… This is a picture of the doctrine of “SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT.” This goat was not guilty of sin. In fact, it was INNOCENT. But this goat assumed the PENALTY for sin that the people rightly deserved. This is all a picture, foreshadowing or type of what Jesus Christ accomplished for you and me…

The priest sprinkled some of this goat’s blood on the mercy seat, which sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies, indicating that the sins of the nation were COVERED… They were “atoned for…” They were obliterated…

This goat became a sin offering for the people… It’s blood represented life given as payment for SIN…

The doctrine is called PROPITIATION, and it’s the concept of God’s wrath against sin being propitiated, satisfied or taken away from us, because of a sinless substitute… This is an amazing picture of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross…

Leviticus 16:10 (NIV ’11), But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

THE SECOND GOAT: The second goat remained alive, but had an important assignment… This goat was called the “scapegoat.” The Hebrew word for scapegoat is “azazel.” It’s not a proper name. It’s a rare Hebrew word… Scholars debate the meaning of it…

Some say it comes from two Hebrew words… One word, which means “to depart or go away” and the other word, which means, “goat.” You put them together, it means, “the goat departs” or the English equivalent, “scape goat…”

Other scholars say it literally means “to dismiss, remove or TAKE AWAY.” That it’s an ancient technical term for the entire removal of sin and guilt…

Leviticus 16:20-21 (NLT), When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place and the Tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat. 21 He will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness. 22 As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.

NOTES: This aspect of the ceremony was PUBLIC. Everyone could see Aaron, as the representative and mediator between sinful people and a Holy God… They could see him lay his hands on the head of this goat… They could hear as Aaron confessed the sins of an entire nation over the head of this goat.

IMPORTANT: And these people literally and actually believed that God was capable of REMOVING their sins and TRANSFERRING their sins onto the head of this goat. They believed that when the GOAT left the camp, that their SIN left with the goat!

QUESTION: What sin, guilt, weakness, addiction, habit, pain, hurt, junk, garbage or sickness have you been carrying, that from this point on, you need to place at the foot of the cross and allow Jesus Christ to carry for you?

Psalm 103:12 (NLT), He has removed our sins as far from us  as the east is from the west.

Micah 7:19 (NLT), Once again you will have compassion on us.  You will trample our sins under your feet  and throw them into the depths of the ocean!

Unpacking The Text:

• Jesus Is Our High Priest!

Hebrews 9:11-12 (NLT), So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

Hebrews 10:1-2 (NLT), The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

Hebrews 10:11-14 (NIV ’11), Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

• Jesus is our SIN OFFERING…

On the cross, He willingly took upon himself the penalty for our sin… His blood obliterated our sin!

• Jesus is our AZAZEL or SCAPEGOAT…

He took our place and bore our sin so that we could go free!

Isaiah 53:4-6 (ESV), Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

John 1:29 (NLT), The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Romans 5:8 (ESV), …but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV ’11), God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 3:13 (ESV), Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"…

1 Peter 2:24 (NLT), He personally carried our sins  in his body on the cross  so that we can be dead to sin  and live for what is right.  By his wounds  you are healed.

On the cross Jesus – God in the flesh - willingly took our place…

“The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; [but] God…puts Himself where we deserve to be.” ~ John Stott quoted by Tim Keller in The Reason for God, page 195

Three Major Themes:

• God is holy.

• Sin is serious.

• Grace really is amazing.

NOTES: On the cross, Jesus became our SUBSTITUTE. He was made to be the WORST of what we are… He NEVER SINNED, but on the CROSS He was MADE SIN for us…

On the cross, Jesus became the most ugly, wicked, defiled, evil, corrupt, rebellious and hideous thing in all creation.

Martin Luther called this, “…the GREAT EXCHANGE …”

On the cross, Jesus EXCHANGED HIS perfection for OUR imperfection, HIS obedience for OUR disobedience, HIS intimacy with the Father for OUR distance from God the Father, HIS blessing for OUR curse, HIS life for OUR death… Jesus died FOR our sins, IN our place…

QUESTION: What sin, guilt, weakness, addiction, habit, pain, hurt, junk, garbage or sickness have you been carrying, that from this point on, you need to place at the foot of the cross and allow Jesus Christ to carry for you?

a2 Observes Lent Devotional Blog

2011-03-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

a2observeslent.com Devotional Blog

During Lent, a2 Church will post daily devotionals (Monday - Friday) from March 9 - April 22 on a2's special Lent blog @ a2observeslent.com. Our purpose is to assist the a2 family in focusing on the work of the cross by reinforcing the weekend message.

If you would like to submit a devotional piece for consideration, please email your submission to dan@danbutcher.com. Each submission should be no longer than one, single-spaced, type-written page. Our At The Cross Devotional Review Team, led by Dan Butcher (UAB Department of English) will prayerfully consider your devotional, and reserves the right to edit, tweak, use or not use the devotional.

Submitted devotionals should help support the following topics.

March 13 - 18
Jesus takes my place!

March 20 - 25
Jesus wins my victory!

March 27 - April 1
Jesus gives me freedom!

April 3 - 8
Jesus pays my debt!

April 10 - 15
Jesus forgives my sin!

April 17 - 22
Jesus makes me clean!

Your submitted devotional / devotional stories can be a significant part of a2's Lenten spiritual journey. For more information on submitting a devotional blog, email Dan Butcher at dan@danbutcher.com.

a2 Observes Lent

2011-03-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

a2 Observes Ash Wednesday and Lent
a2observeslent.com

Ash Wednesday is a day set aside by many churches for prayer, repentance and fasting. It is also the first day of Lent, a 40-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday, Mary 9 and culminates on Good Friday, April 22.

The observance of Lent offers us a great opportunity to deepen our commitment to Christ and grow in our relationship with God… During Lent believers step back from the busyness of life, turn off the noise, see through the superficiality, reflect on how we got here and re-focus our attention on Christ and what He accomplished on the cross.

Many writers see the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness (Luke 4) as being a model for what Lent is all about…. During His wilderness experience Jesus prayed, fasted, was tempted, but ultimately emerged with power!

Lent is a time for 1) focused prayer, 2) intentional fasting, 3) personal repentance, 4) and random acts of kindness (Isaiah 58:5-12). And just as Jesus stepped out of His desert experience in the “power of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:14), we make ourselves available to be filled with and empowered by the same Holy Spirit. We also prepare ourselves to more fully experience the miracle and power of Jesus’ victorious resurrection on Easter Sunday!

Lent represents a great time for us to:

1) Focus on all that Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Sometimes the busyness and superficiality of our world keeps us from really thinking about all that Jesus accomplished on the cross. That’s why throughout Lent our weekend worship experiences will focus on the cross (At the Cross) and include the opportunity to worship each Sunday by receiving Holy Communion.

2) Pursue God for the freedom, deliverance, healing and wholeness made available at the cross.

Perhaps there are self-defeating, sinful habits that have held you in bondage for years. When Jesus stepped out of the wilderness, He stepped out with an announcement of “freedom for the captives and setting at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). The next forty days could represent a defining moment for you to believe God for complete healing and total freedom! Your complete freedom really is possible!

3) Finally, Lent represents a great time to seek God for personal direction and guidance.

Sometimes we can’t hear God simply because we don’t get quiet and still enough to listen. Lent is a season to “be still and know that [He} is God” (Psalm 46:10).

We really believe Lent can represent one of the most meaningful church-wide experiences in the short history of a2 Church, and a strategic opportunity for spiritual growth and breakthrough.

Make certain you check out a2’s special Lent devotional blog with daily devotionals (Monday – Friday) from members of the a2 family. It’s our prayer that these devotionals help our church family to focus on Christ and believe God for breakthroughs in every dimension of life.

a2observeslent.com

WIRED FOR WORSHIP - Part 1

2011-03-07T06:24:00.001-08:00

Here are the extended notes for Part 1 of a four part series we will present over the next nine months at a2 Church. The complete mp3 of the message is available for download via a2's website by clicking here or on iTunes by clicking here.

Thanks for your interest in the teaching ministry of Chris Goins and a2 Church.

WIRED FOR WORSHIP - Part 1
What It Is and Why The Wires Get Crossed
March 6, 2011

“Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god." ~ Harold Best, Unceasing Worship

Hebrews 13:15 (NLT / NIV), Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.

Hebrews 13:16-17 (NLT), And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. 17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say...

According to Mark Driscoll, this passage indicates that worship includes rubber meets the road stuff like:
(1) praise;
(2) proclamation;
(3) humble acts of service or random acts of kindness;
(4) generosity;
(5) sacrifice; and,
(6) submission to or respect for the godly authority God has placed in our lives. ~ Mark Dricoll, Doctrine, Chapter 11, Worship: God Transforms

“Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God.” ~ John Piper

"Worship is our response to what we value most." ~ Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe

"Worship is responding to all that God is with all that I am." ~ Unknown

Three Facts About Worship:

• Worship is a response. It includes both acts and attitudes.

Worship is a verb.

Psalm 96:1-3 (NLT), Sing a new song to the Lord!  Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! 2 Sing to the Lord; praise his name.  Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. 3 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.  Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

Psalm 96:7-9 (NLT), O nations of the world, recognize the Lord; recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. 8 Give to the Lord the glory he deserves!  Bring your offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.  Let all the earth tremble before him.

• Worship is a response to the truth about God.

“Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God.” ~ John Piper

• Worship involves every aspect of our lives.

Romans 11:36 (NLT), “For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”

Then Paul says, “Guys, in light of who God is, all that He has done and that fact that all glory (weight, prominence and preeminence) go to Him and Him alone…” Paul makes the following statement…

Romans 12:1 (MSG), So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

You are wired for worship!
Worship is central to who God made us to be.

Four Reasons Our Wires Get Crossed In Worship:

1. Our wires get crossed in worship when allow it to become casual and routine.

Example: Rehoboam replacing “shields of gold” with “shields of bronze.”

2 Chronicles 12:9-10 (NLT), So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes…

Example: Israel’s worship in the aftermath of God’s faithfulness, His intervention in their lives, and His presence.

Exodus 14:31 (NIV ’11), …when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Exodus 15:21 (NLT), And Miriam sang this song:  “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”

Exodus 19:16 (NLT), On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.

Exodus 19:17-20 (NLT), Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. 20 The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

Psalm 96:9 (NLT), Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.  Let all the earth tremble before him.

Hebrews 12:18-23 (NLT), You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command… 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22 No, you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself…

Three Practical Actions To Keep From Crossing Your Wires
and Getting Casual and Routine:

1.) Prepare your heart for worship.

2.) Invest or engage yourself fully!

Psalm 66:2 (NIV ‘11), Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious.

3.) Don’t ever lose the wonder.

2. Our wires get crossed when we become consumer oriented.

IMPORTANT: Worship isn’t primarily about what I can get out of it, but worship is about what I am able to give to God! Worship is not about ME or YOU; it’s about GOD!

OUR GOAL when it comes to CORPORATE WORSHIP at a2 Church:

We’re going to respond to ALL THAT GOD IS with ALL THAT WE ARE! We are going to respond to God’s holiness, righteousness, passion for justice, honor, goodness, compassion, tender mercy, amazing love and extravagant grace! We’re going to respond to the fullness of God’s being, every facet of who God is, with every resource we have at our disposal! We’re going to respond with our hearts, minds, voices, bodies, the arts, the spoken Word, prayer, dance, art, silence and reverence! We will never put God or our response to Him in a box! But we will never be consumers when it comes to our worship!

Examples: Isaiah 6; Luke 7; 2 Samuel 6; Psalm 47:1

3. Our wires get crossed when our worship gets out of balance.

John 4:23-24 (NLT), "But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

IMPORTANT: Worship should always strike a balance of being “in spirit” and “in truth.”

4. Our wires get crossed when our worship gets disconnected from real life.

Isaiah 29:13 (NIV ’11), The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

Isaiah 29:13 (MSG), “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren’t in it… …they act like they’re worshipping me but [they] don’t mean it…”

Isaiah 29:14 (NIV ’11), Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder…

IMPORTANT: Worship is not meaningful because of the words that come off our tongues or the actions of our body. Worship is meaningful to God only to the extent that it’s a reflection of WHO we really are and WHAT we’re really about… Worship is only meaningful when the actions and words are connected with the way we are living our lives.

Isaiah 29:14 (NIV ’11), Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder…

WORK - Game Plan Part 8 Extended Notes

2011-03-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

Here are the extended notes to Part 8 of our series GAME PLAN presented at a2 Church on Sunday, February 27. Sorry about the delay in getting this up...

The entire podcast of the message is available on the website of a2 Church or via iTunes by clicking here.

WORK
Game Plan - Part 8
February 27, 2011

Acknowledgement: Thanks to John Ortberg and his message, “Life’s Too Short To…Work All The Time” for most of the insights contained in this message, especially the concepts of "abounding" and "abiding."

FIRST IMPORTANT WORD: “ABOUND”

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV), Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NLT), “Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 (MSG), “…don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master…”

Colossians 3:23 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men… (See Colossians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:31)

Colossians 3:23 (NIV ‘84), Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…

Genesis 2:15 (ESV), The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

iMPORTANT: This was before sin, before the fall and before the curse… God created man, placed Him in the garden and commanded him to work… Before there were bills to pay, a family to support or a child to put through college, God put Adam to WORK…

“Before God gave Adam britches, He gave Adam a job…” ~ Max Lucado

THOUGHT: Unfortunately, when sin entered the picture, it changed the nature of work…

Genesis 3:17, “From this point on, all your life you will struggle to scratch a living… You will labor by the sweat of your brow…”

THOUGHT: Work is part of what God Himself does… God creates… He works… He likes it when we work… Over and over again throughout the Bible, God says, “I want you to excel at what you do… I want you to abound… I want you to take the gifts, talents, abilities and experiences I’ve given you and develop them to their fullest potential… I want you to discover the deepest passions that have been hard wired into your make up, and I want you to fan those desires into burning flames… I want you to make a difference in this world…”

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV ’84), For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (ESV), Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

SECOND IMPORTANT WORD: “ABIDE”

John 15:4 (ESV), Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

John 15:4 (AMP), Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you…]

John 15:4 (MSG), Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you.

Psalm 23:1-3 (NLT), The Lord is my shepherd;  I have all that I need. 2 He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. 3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

Matthew 11:28 (NLT), Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Two “Larger Than Life” Goals:
I want to abide and to abound…

Four Important Questions:

1. When can I expect the tension between “abounding” and “abiding” to go away?

Answer: When you die…

Mark 1:35 (NIV 2011), Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

2. Who is responsible for balancing the tension?

Answer: I am. You are.

3. What are the consequences of ignoring the tension?

Example of Consequences: (See Elijah – 1 Kings 18-19)

1 Kings 18:21 (MSG), Elijah challenged the people: “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If God is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!” Nobody said a word; nobody made a move.

1 Kings 18:45 (NLT), Then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.

Five Consequences of Ignoring The Tension:
(Getting Out of Balance)

• Fear That Becomes Overwhelming

1 Kings 19:3, Elijah was afraid and fled for his life…

• Frustration

• Fatigue (Emotional and Physical Exhaustion)

• Isolation and Loneliness

• Failure

4. What practices will help me balance the tension between “abounding” and “abiding”?

• Keep focused on the stuff that matters most.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV), But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT), So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

• Develop the art and habit of being fully present.

• Do life in community.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV ’84), Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

• Plan and prioritize your leisure time.

• Live with a sense of rhythm.

Exodus 20:8-10 (NLT), Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work.

Example: Elijah (1 Kings 18-19)

1 Kings 19:12 (NLT), And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

Matthew 11:28-29 (MSG), Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Recommended Resources:
Choosing To Cheat by Andy Stanley
The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg

WHEN TO CORRECT AND WHEN TO KEEP THAT BIG MOUTH SHUT!

2011-02-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

Justin Taylor, over at The Gospel Coalition, shared an excellent post today on "When An Issue Is Important Enough To Correct Someone?"

This is an excellent piece with some real practical insight that anyone can benefit from... Really good stuff... Enjoy.

When An Issue Is Important Enough To Correct Someone?
Justin Taylor

In the appendix to Sam Crabtree’s Practicing Affirmation he reproduces a helpful grid:

(Beevers’ Grid copyright 1986 by Ernest Beevers. Used by permission.)

Crabtree explains (pp. 161-162) how this can be used to help determine when to correct someone and when to let it go.

The vertical axis indicates the importance of the issue being considered. The bottom reflects issues of low importance such as trying to resolve whether President George Washington ever wore socks that didn’t match. It is an issue of virtually no consequence. Moving up the axis, toward the top we reach issues that are important, issues that have life-and-death significance, perhaps for a great many people. Between the top and the bottom is an array of issues and their relative importance or unimportance.

The horizontal axis indicates my certainty that I am right. Toward the left are issues about which I don’t have the foggiest clue (what is the name of the dog owned by the bit player in that 1938 movie that no one saw?). Toward the right are issues about which I am sure that I’m sure before God, the angels, and all the witnesses that could be summoned that I am right. Most people find that there are surprisingly few of these issues.

Any issue of controversy can be plotted on this matrix.

The lower-left quadrant contains issues that meet two simultaneous criteria: (1) they are of low importance, and (2) I do not know much about them. For example: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Who knows? And who cares? Here’s the point: it wouldn’t be worth consuming relational energy to argue about this issue or to correct someone else’s viewpoint.

The upper-left quadrant contains issues that meet two simultaneous criteria: (1) they are of high importance, but (2) I still don’t know with certainty what the truth is. For example: When is Jesus returning? That is of crucial and everlasting importance to every person who lives or ever has lived! And yet I don’t know when he’s coming back. One of the things about which I’m certain is that I am not certain about exactly when he’s returning. The point is: arguing about it or correcting others is not worth the relational energy it would consume.

The lower-right quadrant contains issues about which (1) I’m certain I’m right, but (2) they are of low importance. For example: how many knots are in the log I am now looking at? I know the answer, but why make an issue of it?

And now we arrive at the main observation to be derived from Beever’s Grid. The upper-right quadrant simultaneously contains the issues (1) that are important, and (2) for which there is virtually no possibility that I will be shown to be mistaken.

And here’s the point: reserve your conflict, your arguments, and your persistent corrections to that quadrant.

Here’s its corollary: keep that region small. The fruitfulness of correction tends to come from a smaller region than we assume. We default to making that region larger than is fruitful. We wear people out by putting more issues in the upper-right quadrant than belong there.

"GOD IS STILL GOD AND GOD IS STILL GOOD!"

2011-02-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

Some time ago I shared the video testimony of Zac Smith, who at that time was battling with cancer. Below is the video testimony of Zac's wife, Mandy, one year after Zac's passing.

One describes Mandy's story: FAITH. Dynamic, resilient, immovable, steadfast, firm FAITH.

God will no doubt use Mandy's story to strengthen some who have wondered what to do when God doesn't "come through" the way they had hoped and dreamed that God would "come through."

A Story | Tears of Hope from Adam Kring on Vimeo.

BODY - Game Plan 7 Extended Notes

2011-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Here are the extended notes from this morning's message at a2. This message focuses on the fourth area in life where a GAME PLAN is absolutely essential: our physical body. You can check out the podcast of the entire message by clicking here to go to our website or here if you prefer to access it via iTunes.

BODY
GAME PLAN Part 7

“Americans are fat and getting fatter by the year…”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than one third (34%) of all adults, that’s over 72 million people, were obese in 2005 – 2006.

Another report indicates that 65% of Americans are overweight…

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled… If we don’t deal with this growing problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will eventually suffer from diabetes… Others will suffer from stuff like obesity-related heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma…

Alabama now has the second worst eating habits in the nation, only following behind Mississippi. Alabama has the seventh highest obesity rate in the nation, and the second highest diabetes rate…

Unfortunately, Americans who struggle with obesity are “more likely to have diabetes, coronary artery disease, strokes, and certain forms of cancer.”

The journal “Health Affairs” reported that last year overall obesity health spending reached $147 billion in the U.S. That’s double what it was a decade ago…

According to the CDC, tobacco use has long been the leading preventable cause of death in America. But some research indicates that obesity is has now taken the lead as the leading preventable cause of death in America…

We are literally eating ourselves to death…

On top of that, we’re just down getting down right lazy…

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 60% — well over half — of all Americans are not regularly physically active… And even worse, 25% engage in little or no physical activity at all…

“Everybody ends up somewhere. Few people end up somewhere on purpose.” ~ Craig Groeschel, Chazown

This is especially true when it comes to your body…

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT), Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

NOTES: The phrase “…God bought you with a high price…” contains the idea of redemption… The word isn’t used in the verse, but the concept is clear… In fact, sometimes the word “bought” ends up getting translated “redeemed” (Revelation 5:9; 14:13-14).

The word "redeemed" is the idea of buying someone back from bondage by the payment of a price… It’s the idea of setting someone free by paying a ransom… “Redemption” was the technical term for money paid to buy back a prisoner of war… ~ See ESV Study Bible

Mark 10:45 (NLT), For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

1 Peter 1:18, “…you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

1 Peter 2:24, He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds  you have been healed.

Matthew 8:17 (NIV), "…He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases."

Infirmities:
"1) lack of strength, weakness, frailty or infirmity
a) of the body
b) of the soul
1) …want of strength and capacity requisite
(a) to understand something,
(b) to do things great and glorious,
(c) to restrain corrupt desires,
(d) to bear up under trials and troubles…” ~ See Blue Letter Bible

NOTES: When Christ paid the ransom price for His people, He also bought our bodies back from sin, slave and bondage…

Why We Need A Game Plan For Our Body

1. God cares about your body.

1 Corinthians 6:13 (NLT), You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV 2010), Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

2. The Holy Spirit lives in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NLT), Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

NOTES: When God purchased or bought our freedom, He didn’t buy us out of slavery to sin and Satan, to make us His own personal slaves … God’s goal in redemption wasn’t to make us work for Him, but to make us FULL OF HIM… ~ John Piper

Ephesians 3:19 (ESV), …know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:19 (AMP), [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ… …that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

3. Your body will ultimately be raised from the dead!

1 Corinthians 6:14 (NLT), And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 (NIV 2010), But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (NIV 2010), So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

4. Some choices you make with your body can lead to freedom, and some can lead to slavery. You have the power to choose freedom.

1 Corinthians 6:12 (NIV 2010), "I have the right to do anything," you say—but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Two Questions To Ask:
• Is it helpful?
• Will it make me a slave?

5. Your body was not made for sin or immorality.

1 Corinthians 6:13b (ESV), The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (NLT), Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.

Titus 2:14 (NLT), He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

6. Your body was made to glorify God!

1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV), …you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

According to John Piper, to “glorify God in your body” means to, “…use your body in a way that will show that God is more satisfying, more precious, more to be desired, and more glorious than anything else your body craves…”

A Few Practical Tips:

• Eat healthy.

Here are some simple steps that basically all nutritionists agree upon…

(a) Eat smaller portions…
(b) Drink lots of water and avoid soft drinks…
(c) Learn to make wise, sensible, healthy choices…
(d) Substitute healthy snacks for junk food garbage…

• Exercise consistently.

• Get the proper amount of rest and sleep (Psalm 127:2; Exodus 20:8).

Psalm 127:2 (NIV), In vain you rise up early and stay up late… for [God] grants sleep to those he loves.

• Ask God to set you free from self-defeating habits and addictions.

1 John 4:4 (NIV 2010), 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.

• Release your stress and anxiety through prayer and worship.

• Claim God’s promises for healing.

Psalm 103:3 (NLT), He forgives all my sins  and heals all my diseases.

Psalm 107:20 (NIV), He [God] sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Isaiah 53:5 (ESV), …he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

Malachi 4:2, …the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy…

James 5:15-16 (NIV), And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV), …you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Romans 12:1 (AMP), …make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God…

MONEY - Game Plan 6 Extended Notes

2011-02-07T06:06:00.002-08:00

Here are the extended notes from yesterday's message at a2 Church. This is Part 6 in our series titled, GAME PLAN. It focuses on the third major area in life where a GAME PLAN is crucial. You can check out the podcast of the entire message by clicking here to go to our website or here if you prefer iTunes.

MONEY
Game Plan - Part 6

77% (almost 8 out of every 10) Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck. That’s up from 61% in 2009. ~ CareerBuilder.com

One in five (22 percent) indicate that they’ve missed paying bills within the last year. ~ CareerBuilder.com

Most of us are one setback away from economic disaster…

The average American household carries almost $16,000 in credit card debt. ~ creditcard.com

According to frugaldad.com, the average American consumer has about:

* $6818 in credit card debt
* $193,036 in home mortgage loans
* $52,559 in home equity loans
* $14,449 in car loans, and,
* $26,368 in student loans…

Craig Groeschel has accurately said:

• Everybody ends up somewhere.
• Few people end up somewhere on purpose.
• Maybe that’s why, most people end up in the hole. ~ Craig Groeschel, Chazown

NOTES: In Matthew 25 Jesus told a story about a wealthy CEO and three of his employees… All three of the employees where given an incredible opportunity and all three of them had to make a decision about what they wanted to do…

This story teaches us five facts about God, money and you and me… It starts in Matthew 25:14.

Five Facts About God, Money and You and Me:

Matthew 25:14 (NLT), …the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone.

Matthew 25:15 (NIV), To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

NOTES: One talent was equal in value to about 10,000 denarii. In the first century, the average worker would work an entire day for one derarius. But a single talent was worth about 10,000 denarii. So, one talent was the equivalent somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen years’ wages…

The majority of people in this time period lived from day to day... They didn’t have a savings account… They didn’t have a 401K… One talent or ten thousand denarii represented a staggering fortune….

If you or me were one of these employees and something like this happened to us, it would have totally changed our life… This was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Matthew 25:16 (NIV), The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work…

FACT #1: We’ve All Been Given the Opportunity of a Lifetime.

NOTES: God has entrusted His property to you and me... Everybody receives a gift… We’ve all been given the opportunity of a lifetime… This isn’t a story where some are gifted and others are not. We’ve all been given the shot of a lifetime… The question is, “Will we prize and appreciate the gifts and resources God has given us? We will respond ‘at once’ to the shot that is before us…”

The third servant took the greatest gift he had ever be given and buried it in a field…

Matthew 25:18 (NIV), …the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

QUESTION: “Who did this money belong to? Did the money belong to the CEO or the Employee?”

This was the Master’s money! The Master was the Owner and the servant was the steward.

FACT #2: Eventually Every One of Us Have to Come to Terms with the Issue of Ownership.

Ownership is a myth. Stewardship is a reality.

Stewardship Defined: The biblical concept that describes our management of the resources and assets God brings into our lives is the word “stewardship.” A “steward” is a manager. When it comes to our resources (things like our time, energy, abilities, finances and possessions) we are managers, not owners.

Stewardship is about using God-given resources according to God-given principles, purposes and goals. It's about managing everything God brings into my life in a manner that honors God and impacts eternity.

NOTES: Every one of us have to come to terms with the issue of ownership. From beginning to end, Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the fact that it all belongs to God…

Deuteronomy 10:14 (NLT), Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God.

Job 41:11 (NLT), Who has given me anything that I need to pay back?  Everything under heaven is mine.

1 Chronicles 29:11-14 (NLT), Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. 13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!

Psalm 24:1 (NLT), The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to him.

Haggai 2:8 (NLT), The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

NOTES: Stewardship begins with the realization that everything we have has been given to us by God and that ownership still rests in his hands. The way we think about our money and possessions hinges on this reality… Because if it’s really true that God owns it all, then God has the rights and I have the responsibility.

IMPORTANT: If God really owns it all, then maybe I need to implement a plan that will allow me to wisely manage the assets God has placed at my disposal…

The 10-10-80 Plan

1) Honor God with the first ten percent of your income.

Malachi 3:10 (NLT), “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse…”

2) Set aside ten percent of your income for savings.

3) Live on the rest!

APPLICATION: Settle the ownership issue and implement a plan!

NOTES: One day the wealthy CEO returned to settle accounts…

Matthew 25:19 (NLT), After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money.

FACT #3: Ultimately, We Will All Give An Account To God For The Way We Steward or Invest Our Time, Energy, Abilities and Money.

NOTES: A performance review is coming my way that will make every other performance review pale in comparison. We won’t be able to finesse or charm our way out of this one… This is what the third employee forgot…

Here’s what the one talent guy said to the Master…

Matthew 25:24-25, “Then the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.’”

FACT #4: The Biggest Obstacle Most of Us Face When It Comes to Practicing Biblical Stewardship Is Fear.

Matthew 25:25, I was afraid I would lose your money…

NOTES: This servant wanted a promise that nothing would go wrong… That’s not part of the deal…

Fear makes a lot of people bury the treasure God has given them. This is one of the reasons Jesus taught so often about the subject of money… Because when you get down to brass tacks, the real issue when it comes to the way you manage your money is all about TRUST… What or who am I going to put my trust in?

Matthew 25:24-25, “…I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.’”

Here’s the way the Master responded…

Matthew 25:26 (NLT), But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant!’

NOTES: When Jesus used the word “lazy” He was not necessarily talking about “inactivity.” You can look busy and still be lazy… The word Jesus used for “lazy” refers to the refusal to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done...

QUESTION: What did this guy do that was so bad?

Jesus said the guy simply did nothing… GET THIS: the servant wasn’t judged for the bad things he did. He was judged for doing nothing. He didn’t steal, embezzle or defraud, He just took his gift and buried it…

Matthew 25:26-30, “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You think I’m a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn’t plant and gathering crops I didn’t cultivate? 27Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. 28Take the money from this servant and give it to the one who has ten talents. 29To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. 30Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

FACT #5: One Day We Will Be Rewarded For Stewarding God’s Investment Wisely.

NOTES: In Verse 20-23, Jesus calls the five talent guy and the two talent guy in and this is what He says to them…

Matthew 25:20-23 (NIV), The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’

Can you imagine hearing that from God?

Matthew 25:21-23 (NIV), “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things…

Matthew 25:21-23 (NIV), ‘…I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Your adventure is just getting started…”

The Master is still looking for people He can trust with His stuff…

REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION

2011-02-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

Ever so often I have the privilege of speaking at a Lee University Chapel or Convocation… I love these opportunities, and usually walk away feeling as if I’ve received so much more than I was ever able to share…

What do I love about sharing at Lee? I love this age group… I love the idealism… I love their passion… I love their desire to do something, to go out and change their world…

The church I pastor has a growing number of young adults that make up our church! For instance, most of the members of our band are in their twenties or late teens… (Yeah, we have a couple of people just in their thirties, and we also have my wife who leads the team… I think she’s still 29…) My wife and I love these guys and gals!

Tonight, our home will be jammed with a small group for couples who are either engaged in the first two years of their marriage… All of them are in their twenties… We’re pumped about doing life with these guys and gals for the next 10 weeks…

We believe that reaching and discipling the next generation is something we are called to do! It's critical! It's crucial! And we are passionate about it! We have two daughters who are in this age category (18 and 22). We so want these girls to keep living “lights out” for Jesus!

Here’s the question: How do we reach the next generation?

In the new book, Don’t Call It A Comeback, Kevin DeYoung lays out a strategy for reaching the “next generation.”

I really like DeYoung’s strategy! I like it because it’s not based on programming, musical style or really cool media… It’s based on a few…basics… Here’s a brief summary / overview of DeYoung’s strategy for reaching the next generation…

How do you and your church measure up?

(1) Grab Them with Passion.

You can have formal services, as long as you don’t have formalism. You can have casual services, so long as you do not approach your faith casually. Your services can have a lot of different looks, but young people want to see passion.

If our…faith is boring to us, it will be boring to others. If the gospel is old news to you, it will be dull news to everyone else.

We cannot pass on what we do not feel…

QUESTION: How are you and your church doing when it comes to passion?

(2) Win Them with Love.

Give up on relevance, and try love. If they see love in you, love for each other, love for the world, and love for them, they will listen. No matter who “they” are.

Talk to people. Notice visitors. Invite new people over for lunch. Strike up a friendly conversation at the greasy pizza joint. Let your teenager’s friends hang out at your house.

Love won’t guarantee that young people will never walk away from the church, but it will make it a lot harder. It won’t guarantee that non-Christians will come to Christ, but it will make the invitation a whole lot more attractive…

QUESTION: How are you and your church doing when it comes to loving the next generation? Do you create opportunities to hang out with twenty-somethings? Do you genuinely love this age group from the heart?

(3) Hold Them with Holiness.

If nothing of spiritual significance is happening in your church, your Bible study, your small group, or your family, it may be because nothing spiritually significant is happening in your life.

19th Century Scottish Pastor, Robert Murray M’Cheyne once said: “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.”

My congregation needs me to be humble before they need me to be smart. They need me to be honest more than they need me to be a dynamic leader. They need me to be teachable more than they need me to teach at conferences. If your walk matches your talk, if your faith costs you something, if being a Christian is more than a cultural garb, they will listen…

Far too much ministry today is undertaken without any concern for holiness. We’ve found that changing the way we do church is easier than changing the way we are. We’ve found that we are not sufficiently unlike anyone else to garner notice, so we’ve attempt to become just like everyone else instead.

Ouch!

QUESTION: Are you and your church passionate about living a transformed and holy life? Does your life and lifestyle speak louder than your words?

(4) Challenge Them with Truth.

When it comes to reaching outsiders, bold, deep, biblical preaching is not the problem. It’s part of the solution.

The church in the twenty-first century must go big on truth or go home…

QUESTION: Are you and your church bold when it comes to preaching and teaching the truth in love? Or, do you acquiesce to political correctness?

(5) Amaze Them with God.

The gospel is not a message about what we need to do for God, but about what God has done for us. So get them with the good news about who God is and what He has done for us…

Give them a God who is holy, independent, and unlike us, a God who is good, just, full of wrath, and full of mercy. Give them a God who is sovereign, powerful, tender, and true. Give them a God with edges. Give them an undiluted God who makes them feel cherished and safe, and small and uncomfortable, too… Give them a God worthy of wonder and fear, a God big enough for all our faith, hope and love.

Do your friends, your church, your family, your children know that God is the center of the universe? Can they see that he is the center of your life?

As you try to reach the next generation for Christ, you can amaze them with your cleverness, your humor, or your looks. Or you can amaze them with God…

QUESTION: Are you blown away by God? Do you present people with a God-sized vision of God, or have you placed God in a box?

Check out Kevin DeYoung’s book, Don’t Call It A Comeback… The book basically contains an overview of what Christians ought to believe and what we need to do. Good stuff.

Now, let’s put this stuff into practice and go out and reach the NEXT GENERATION!

TWELVE QUESTIONS TO ASK OF ALBUMS...

2011-02-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

I love music! Absolutely love it!

In fact, one of my favorite days of the week is New Release Tuesday, when I log on to Amazon or iTunes to find out the mp3 albums or singles that are available...

Here's a good little article on 12 questions to ask of the albums you purchase and listen to... I found these questions really helpful in evaluating the stuff I allow over the bridge of my hearing into my mind and heart.

Think. Enjoy.

THE GOSPEL AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

2011-02-01T08:02:00.001-08:00

Here's an important article by Justin Holcomb over at The Resurgence on the devastating effects of sexual assault and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ answers the need or challenge of anyone who has ever been victimized sexually.

This is a short, but important article... Read it, and share it... Click here for the article.

Grace and peace.

THE TRUTH WITHOUT PHOTOSHOP

2011-02-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most moving spoken words I've ever heard... Poet Janet from Passion for Christ Movement shares the story of the sexual abuse perpetrated on her and her subsequent healing and freedom in Christ...

WARNING: portions of Poet Janet's story are somewhat graphic and heart-wrenching... Ultimately, her story is a story of Christ's victory and Poet Janet's freedom and healing. (Thanks to my daughter, Caley, for sharing the link.)

A few thoughts:

First, this spoken word is an example of how some of the most moving pieces of art are born out of our deepest agony and pain.

Second, this spoken word is an amazing example of 2 Corinthians 1 on display.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT), Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Third, let's pray for anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse, that they will find the grace and healing that Poet Janet has experienced.

Peace and Grace.

RELATIONSHIPS - Game Plan Part 5 Extended Notes

2011-01-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

Here are the extended notes from yesterday's message on RELATIONSHIPS. Keep in mind, you can download the entire podcast on a2's website by clicking here, or you can find us on iTunes. Just type "a2 Church" into the iTunes search engine... Enjoy!

RELATIONSHIPS
Game Plan - Part 5
January 30, 2011

George Gallup has said, “Americans are among the LONELIEST PEOPLE on the planet.” ~ Randy Frazee, The Connecting Church

STAT: According to one study by the Washington Post, one out of every four Americans say they don’t have ANYONE they can discuss their personal problems with… ~ Shankar Vedantam, Washington Post, June 23, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201763.html

STAT: Another study in the American Sociological Review indicated that Americans are more socially isolated than they were two decades ago and one out of every four say they don’t have anyone to stand with them in a time of CRISIS. ~ McPherson, Miller; Smith-Lovin, Lynn; Brashears, Matthew E (2006). "Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades" (PDF). American Sociological Review 71 (3): 353–375.

Before her death, Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness is the leprosy of modern society. And no one wants anyone to know they’re a leper.” ~ John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal Til You Get To Know Them.

THOUGHT: With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely.

Somebody has! That somebody is God. And God’s answer is COMMUNITY! God’s answer is deep-level, life-giving RELATIONSHIPS…

This week we’re going to talk about a GAME PLAN for connecting with people…

John Ortberg describes the importance of connecting with people in his book, The Me I Want To Be: He writes: “Part of what it means to be made in God’s image is our capacity for connectedness… …we flourish when we are connected with God and people, and we languish when we are disconnected. Emotionally isolated people are more prone to depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, substance abuse, sexual addiction, and difficulties with eating and sleeping.

People who are socially disconnected are between two and five times more likely to die from any cause than those who have close ties to family, friends, and other relationships. People who have bad health habits like cigarette smoking, overeating, elevated blood pressure, and physical inactivity — but who still remain connected — live longer than people who have great health habits but are disconnected…

We were designed to flourish in connectedness.”

In another book on relationships titled, Everybody’s Normal Til You Get To Know Them, Ortberg describes some important research on the subject of relationships.

“One of the most thorough research projects on relationships is called the Alameda County Study. Headed by a Harvard social scientist, it tracked the lives of 7,000 people over nine years. Researchers found that the most isolated people were three times more likely to die than those with strong relational connections.

People who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated.”

SIDE: In other words, it is better to eat Tortugas pizza, Krispy Kreme donuts, and Starbucks “whatever” with good friends than it is to eat broccoli and cauliflower and drink purified water all alone.

Furthermore, “Harvard researcher Robert Putnam notes that if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, ‘you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.’” ~ John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal...

THOUGHT: Based on that study, instead of going with the LIVE UNITED Small Groups Campaign, we almost went with something like this, “Join a Small Group or DIE…”

Finally, Ortberg says, “For another study, as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 276 volunteers were infected with a virus that produces the common cold. The study found that people with strong emotional connections did four times better fighting off illness than those who were more isolated. These people were less susceptible to colds, had less virus, and produced significantly less mucous than relationally isolated subjects. (I’m not making this up. They produced less mucous. This means it is literally true: Unfriendly people are snottier than friendly people.)” ~ John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal...

The book of ACTS gives us an amazing picture what COMMUNITY can look like…

Acts 1:14 (NLT), They all met together and were constantly united in prayer…

Acts 2:1 (NIV), When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

NOTES: Immediately on the heels of what Acts 2 describes as a dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which also miraculously birthed or launched the church, the Bible gives us a snapshot of what relational life looked like in this first century community…

Acts 2:42-43 (NAS), ...they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Community in the first century church seemed to be based on at least three essentials:

• The Word of God was central! “…they were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching…”

• Fellowship or Community was important. “…they were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread…”

NOTES: The Greek word is “koinonia” and it refers to deep level relationships – relationships that go past the surface to the heart… The word actually means to “share” or “participate.” This is where we get the idea of “doing life together.”

Then it says that this first century community was devoted to “…the breaking of bread…” Most scholars believe that refers to both the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion), as well as just getting together to eat and hang out…

NOTES: There’s a great passage that shows up three chapters later, in Acts 5:42. It gives us a picture of how the first century church did life…

Acts 5:42 (NIV 2010), Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Two Important Types of Church Gatherings:

o The Large Group — “…they…[met] together in the temple courts…” (Celebration)

o Small Groups — “…they broke bread in their homes…” (Community)

NOTES: Believers in the first century church formed “little communities.” They formed small groups where believers gathered to do stuff like:

• CONNECT with God and with one another,
• to ENCOURAGE one another to live light’s out for God,
• and, to CARE for one another in a way that honors God and inspires people.

Rom. 16:5, Acts 2:26, 8:3, 16:40, 20:20, 1 Cor. 16:19 and Col. 4:15, Greet the church that meets in their home.

THOUGHT: Believers in the first century church understood that both contexts were essential…

Every believer needs to be part of a small group.

Finally, community was also based on this third essential:

• They were God-centered in their focus… “…they were continually devoting themselves to…prayer…”

Acts 2:43 (NIV 2010), And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles…

Paul Tripp, in his excellent book on marriage titled, What Did You Expect?, makes this statement about relationships…

“…marriages are fixed vertically before they are ever fixed horizontally. We have to deal with what is driving us before we ever deal with how we are reacting to one another. Every relationship is victimized in some way when we seek to get from the surrounding creation what we were designed to get from God. When God is in his rightful place, then we are on the way to putting people in their rightful place.”

THOUGHT: The relationships that developed in the first century church weren’t centered around “me” getting “you” to meet “my” needs… These relationships were God-centered!

As believers stood in the aftermath of what God had accomplished on the cross through His Son, Jesus Christ, they were blown away by God’s love for them, and God’s love for them enabled them to love one another…

Acts 2:44-47 (NIV 2010), All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Four Essential Keys to Life-Giving Relationships:

1. ACCEPTANCE: “You belong… You are welcome… I love you, regardless…”

THOUGHTS: Acceptance isn’t synonymous with approval… Acceptance doesn’t mean that I “approve” of everything a person says or does… Acceptance basically looks at other people the same way Christ looked at us and says, “Come exactly as you are. I like you. I love you, regardless.”

Romans 15:7 (NLT), Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

John Burke says, “Acceptance is the most tangible out-working of grace…” ~ John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed

“Acceptance means you are valuable just as you are. It allows you to be the real you. You are not forced into someone else’s idea of who you are. It means that your ideas are taken seriously since they reflect you. You can talk about how you feel inside, why you feel that way, and someone really cares." ~ Gladys Hunt, Eternity Magazine, October 1969.

John Ortberg writes, “Acceptance is an act of the heart…To accept someone is to affirm to them that you think it’s a very good thing they are alive. We communicate this in a hundred ways, but the most powerful way is to listen with patience and compassion…”

Finally, John Burke nails it when he compares the world’s value of tolerance over the biblical value of acceptance. Burke says: “…the world can’t offer grace, in its absence, it found an inexpensive substitute: tolerance.

…The very idea of toleration implies enduring or putting up with something you don’t like or value. Our culture diets on the candy of tolerance, but what it really craves is the meat of grace. Tolerance doesn’t value people but simply puts up with their behavior or beliefs…” ~ John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed

2. AUTHENTICITY: “You can be real… You can be vulnerable… You never have to fake it when we’re together…”

NOTES: To be authentic means to be real, the genuine article, “what people see is what they get.”

Authenticity means “self-disclosure, transparency, and ruthless honesty…” It means who we are on the INSIDE is consistent with the way we present ourselves on the OUTSIDE…

We refuse to paste on plastic smiles… We refuse to wear masks or play relational games… We value truth above making a good impression…

People in deep-level, life-giving relationships get past the superficial give one another person permission to BE REAL…

John Ortberg writes: “In the church, we have a sin problem. The problem is not just that we sin — everyone has that problem. Our problem is that we can’t talk about it. Our problem is that we pretend we don’t have a problem…” ~ John Ortberg, The Me I Want To Be

THOUGHTS: And that’s too bad… There’s a great phrase that shows up in Acts 2:46.

Acts 2:46b (NIV 2010), They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts…

NOTES: Underline the word “sincere.”

There’s a great story about where the word “sincere” came from… The ancient Romans used to prize Greek sculptures for their aesthetic excellence. The statues were already a few centuries old, however, and some of them had cracks or gaps where marble was missing…

Vendors discovered… Retailers discovered that if they put wax in the sculptures, these figures looked great — at least for a while… The wax looked like real marble, but over time, the wax would turn yellow and harden until it became apparent that the statue was not totally authentic…

So, when vendors wanted to sell a statue and it was all marble – when it was the “real deal” through and through – they would mark it “sine,” which is the Latin word for “without,” and then “cera,” which is the Latin word for “wax.”

“Sine cera.” “Without wax.”

Acts 2:46b says that in the first century church, people met together in their homes “…with glad and sincere hearts…” These believers were “without wax…” This group of believers cultivated a “come as you are” kind of culture!

These believers never forgot their roots… They knew that Jesus started with a group of rugged, independent and crusty fisherman and said, “Come, follow me…”

They knew, Jesus started with a woman who had failed at marriage five times and was presently involved in a “live in relationship” with potentially number six. Jesus offered her living water and gave her a new lease on life. His message: “Come as you are.”

They knew, Jesus started with a woman caught in the very act of adultery and accepted her just as she was and then said, “Go now, and sin no more.”

People in the first century church understood that in Jesus’ day people didn’t get themselves together, clean themselves up, wash themselves off and straighten out their character and then come to Jesus. They came to Jesus just as they were... So they decided to create the same kind of culture…

Relationships soar when we give people permission to be authentic… When we say to people…

Come as you are…with your doubts!
Come as you are…with your agnosticism!
Come as you are…with your atheism!
Come as you are…with your broken heart!
Come as you are…with your family problems!
Comes as you are…with your alcoholism!
Comes as you are…with your addictions!
Comes as you are…with the divorce that has scarred you life!
Come as you are…with your financial meltdowns!
Come as you are…with your skin color and social standing!
Come as you are…with your sins, mistakes, imperfections and flaws!

I love what C.S. Lewis said about this… He wrote:

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

3. DEVOTION: “You can count on me. I am completely devoted to you. I am ready and willing to share my time, energy and even my possessions with you.”

Acts 2:42 (NIV), They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

NOTES: Circle the phrase, “They devoted themselves…” This is one of Luke’s favorite expressions. He used it in Acts 1:14 when he said that the disciples “…devoted themselves to meeting together…”

He used the same Greek word in Acts 2:46 when he wrote, “Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together…”

But in Acts 2:42 he uses it to say, “…they devoted themselves to…the fellowship…”

The first century church was marked by deep levels of devotion and loyalty. Here's what the word “devotion” means. The Greek word means “a binding promise” or “a pledge…” “…a binding promise or pledge…”

The believers in the first century church were people of the promise. They were people who had bound themselves to GOD and bound themselves to ONE ANOTHER. They had made a vow.

In fact, the word “devotion” carries the idea of “enduring” or “sticking to and with something” even when it would be easier to give up and give out.

“A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you’ve been, accepts who you’ve become, and still invites you to grow.” ~ Stu Weber

4. UNITY: “I’m committed to unity and oneness. I refuse to tolerate unresolved conflict, walk in bitterness or resentment and settle for quasi-community.”

Acts 4:32 (MSG), The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind!

QUESTIONS: Is there unresolved conflict between you and someone else? Some other member of the body of Christ? If so, why? What are you going to do about it?

Do you ever speak negatively about someone behind their back to a third party? Do you ever do that?

Do you ever expect other people to be tolerant and forgiving of you, because after all, you’re human; but you refuse to offer the same kind of patience and forgiveness towards them?

Do you ever shut people out by giving them the “cold shoulder”? It’s not that your openly hostile, you just make it so uncomfortable that it’s obvious as to where you stand.

CLOSING QUESTIONS:

• What relationships need to be initiated?

• What relationships need to be nurtured?

• What relationships need to be restored?

• What relationships need to be ended?

Note: Thanks to Craig Groeschel and his excellent book, Chazown for these questions…

WISH I COULD DRIVE LIKE THIS!

2011-01-26T06:49:00.001-08:00

Here's what a professional can do behind the steering wheel of a car... Pretty awesome stuff!

Warning: the first minute is advertising. After that, the action starts. Enjoy!

CHRISTIANS GET DEPRESSED, TOO...

2011-01-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

Some time ago I spoke openly on a Sunday AM @ a2 Church about my personal battles with depression... This book sounds as if it could be very helpful for those, who like myself, have struggled with depression.

Dr. Wes Brendenhof reviews David Murray's book, Christians Get Depressed Too. Check out the review by clicking here. Here's a link to the book as listed on Amazon.

Hope this helps...