Point of Grace Online Worship - October 13, 2024

Point of Grace – 10.13.24 Sermon Notes

Jesus dreams His church to be

“A Safe Place to Belong”

and

“A Grace Place to Become”

Four Priorities for Being Such a Church

Colossians 3:15-17 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Peace of Christ….

The Message of Christ …

The Name of Christ …

… and be Thankful

Priority 1            The Peace of Christ

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-14 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

All true forgiveness is rooted in the sacrificial death of Jesus where the debt for all sin was paid for. God offers forgiveness to all because He paid the debt.

When I forgive, I relinquish the right to make you pay because Jesus already paid.

 “Being judge, jury and prosecuting attorney is too big a job for us – it will destroy us. Forgiveness trust’s God with that job. Forgiveness makes reconciliation possible. Forgiveness given sets us free … forgiveness received brings us together.”

If it’s worth an “I’m sorry” …… it’s worth an “I forgive you”

Let the PEACE of Christ RULE in your hearts …

Priority 2            The Message of Christ

16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

The Parable of the Offset Smoker

Priority 3            The Name of Christ

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus “… in the name of the Lord Jesus” living is filled with His Presence and under His Authority

Priority 4            Thankfulness

… And be thankful. … with gratitude in your hearts. … giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Point of Grace Online Worship - October 6, 2024

Point of Grace – 10.6.24 Sermon Notes

Jesus dreams His church to be

“A Safe Place to Belong”

and

“A Grace Place to Become”

Jesus and Becoming

John 8:3-11 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

“God loves you too much to leave you the way you are!”

John 20 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:15-16 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Grace + Truth x Time = Transformation

“We each need a “grace place” to become

And together we can be a “gracious place of becoming”

Colossians 3 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We each need a safe place to belong and a grace place to become…

And together

We get to provide that safe place of belonging and grace place of becoming for someone else.

Point of Grace Online Worship

Point of Grace – 9.29.24 Sermon Notes

Jesus dreams His church to be

“A Safe Place to Belong”

Does humanity need this?

“Our sense of meaning comes from loving connections with God and others. We are born to connect, and we need to belong. We receive love that ultimately stems from the beautiful love among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which has existed for all eternity. We then give that love out of gratitude for the love we have received, this becomes a virtuous circle. But sometimes we get stuck. There are forces at work in our culture and in our hearts and habits that disconnect us from ourselves and others….. But in our most honest moments we know this is what we need: to know and be known, to love and be loved.

“The Connected Life” by Todd W. Hall

Jesus and Belonging

John 8:3-11 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Matthew 9:9-13 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus’ revolutionary message was that all people “Belonged” to Him …. He paid for us to be with Him even with all our baggage … guilts, gunk and grief … which so often isolate us. The community He inspired (the church) has the same message “belonging is possible in the Body of Christ”.

The Jesus Community – A Safe Place to Belong

Ephesians 2 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ…… 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The presence and love of Christ released in His church gathered in His name under His reign makes “a safe place of belonging” possible.

1 John 4 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.

We each need a safe place to belong and together we get to be that place of belonging for others.