Joining Jesus On His Mission And In My Transformation Part 3

SERMON NOTES:  

“Joining Jesus” is an invitation for my participation in His Mission and my Transformation!

Matthew 11 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11  28-30 “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. Walk 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. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

We “Join Jesus” in our Transformation by engaging in “unforced rhythms of grace”!

·         “Engaging in Rhythms” is a freeing and inspiring way to grasp how spiritual formation actually happens in the kingdom of God.

·         Transformation is much more about “training well” than “trying hard”!

·         Spiritual Rhythms are Holy Spirit encounters – making room for God to work in us.

·         Some rhythms are “essential commands” others can be “creative options”!
(Think “together & alone”, “daily & weekly”!)
 

·         What is a great next step for me?

http://www.faithgateway.com/lent-ask-god-what-to-fast


Solitude, Scripture, Prayer – Guide


Find a quiet place and 15 minutes.  Solitude (5) … … …Ask the Holy Spirit to speak!  Scripture (5) Listen, reread, dwell, notice words & phrases you are drawn to!  Ask, “Jesus, what are You saying?  What are You asking me to believe about You and me?  How do I join You today on Your mission and in my transformation?”…… Pray (5)

 DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Matthew 11:25-30
Tuesday:  1 Corinthians 9:24-26
Wednesday:  Psalm 42:1-5
Thursday:  John 14:23-27
Friday:  John 15:5-8
Saturday:  Psalm 95

Joining Jesus On His Mission And In My Transformation Part 2

SERMON NOTES:  

“Joining Jesus” – is His invitation for my participation in His Mission and my Transformation!

Matthew 11 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11  28-30 “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. Walk 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. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Romans 12 1-2 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. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

“Joining Jesus” Helps:

·         Joining Jesus is not natural ….it’s faith.

·         As Jesus invites me to join Him every day in my transformation I will have to deal with the competing invitations of rebellion and resignation.

·         Joining Jesus in transformation takes effort….. which is different than earning!

·         What do I need to believe about Jesus and myself in order to join Him in changing me!

·         Daily and weekly spiritual rhythms create space in our lives for God to do His work. 


DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Matthew 11:25-30
Tuesday:  Romans 8:1-4
Wednesday:  Romans 8:5-11
Thursday:  Romans 8:12-17
Friday:  Romans 8:22-27
Saturday:  Romans 8:28, 31-39

 

Joining Jesus On His Mission And In My Transformation

SERMON NOTES:  

“Joining Jesus”   -   an idea and an invitation!        

Matthew 4. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 11 27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Actually Joining Jesus means taking the steps of faith in responding to Jesus’ initiative!

            What does it mean for me to Join Jesus on His Mission?

            What does it mean for me to Join Jesus in my Transformation?

                        Remember, grace is not opposed to effort …… it’s opposed to earning!

                        As Jesus invites me to join Him every day in my transformation I will have to deal with the competing invitations of rebellion and resignation.    


DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Matthew 4:18-22
Tuesday:  Matthew 11:25-30
Wednesday:  Romans 12:1-2
Thursday:  Colossians 3:12-17
Friday:  Philippians 2:12-18
Saturday:  Psalm 84

 

He Wins! Part 2

SERMON NOTES:  

Matthew 3-4   17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,  and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. 

We live in a world at war and Jesus invaded enemy territory on a rescue mission!

Satan’s primary strategy (with Jesus and with us) is to create doubt:

·         that by faith in Jesus I am given a new “child of God” identity!

·         whether my Father in heaven is good and for me!

·         so I will take matters into my own hands …… justifying myself along the way!

 

Jesus, what is going on in me when I return to my default which is doubt instead of trust?

Jesus, how can I order my life so that trust is fed and doubt is starved?               


DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  John 1:6-13
Tuesday:  Ephesians 6:10-13
Wednesday:  Ephesians 6:14-20
Thursday:  Colossians 1:9-18
Friday: Colossians 3:1-11
Saturday:  Psalm 130

He Wins! Part 1

SERMON NOTES:  

We have and an amazing capacity and propensity to doubt!   This is not good!

But it is so natural for us to live in doubt and promote doubt-full living for ourselves and others.

And to make matters worse we have a vicious enemy that knows it.

Matthew 3-4   17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,  and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We live in a world at war and Jesus invaded enemy territory on a rescue mission!

Satan’s primary strategy is to create doubt in our identity as a child of God through Jesus!
Implications? 

How does Jesus help?              

 


DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Matthew 4:1-11
Tuesday:  Revelation 12:1-9
Wednesday:  Revelation 12:10-17
Thursday:  1 Peter 5:6-11
Friday:  James 4:1-10
Saturday:  Psalm 77

 

The Big Reveal! Epiphany 2018

SERMON NOTES:  

Why Epiphany???

Scene 1 - Luke 2:21-38  28 Simeon praised God, saying:   30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:32 a light for revelation to the Gentile”

Scene 2 - Matthew 2:1-23  11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. 

Scene 3 – Luke 2:41-52 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Scene 4 – Mark 1:1-8 4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins….all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 And this was his message:
               “After me comes the one more powerful than I,…  8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Big Reveal – Mark 1:9-11 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open  and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 

In the Baptism of Jesus, God is making an unequivocal declaration (to me)…

This Jesus, the ONE who gets in the sinner’s line with me,

             the ONE who hears “Beloved Son with You I am well pleased “, is

             the ONE for me to trust, follow and consecrate myself to!

    

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Luke 2:21-38
Tuesday:  Matthew 2:1-23
Wednesday:  Luke 2:41-52
Thursday:  Mark 1:1-8
Friday:  Mark 1:9-11
Saturday:  Matthew 3:1-17

 

Starting Again! New Year's Eve 2017

SERMON NOTES:  

A New Year means __________________________!       It’s good the New Year starts during the Christmas season! 

However, we are not starting over we are starting again! 
God has designed life to move in only one direction – FORWARD!  Life with Jesus is progression not repetition!
 

Galatians 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; … 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

So what has Jesus shown you in 2017?

 

 

Remember: He is not starting over with us … He is making progress!
 

Ephesians 3 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power,  to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Jesus is powerful to redeem every part of our story!  Nothing wasted! 
                We ask Him into every nook and cranny and receive the wholeness He has for us!

Jesus is powerful to love, lead and transform us in 2018!
               We consecrate ourselves and our new year to Jesus and Jesus alone!           

 
DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS:

Monday:  Galatians 4:4-9
Tuesday:  Luke 2:21-35
Wednesday:  Luke 2:36-40
Thursday:  Philippians 3:7-14
Friday:  Ephesians 3:14-21
Saturday:  Psalm 111