(sermon notes posted every Monday)

ALL IN | Week Two

We are going ALL IN on the Gospel of Jesus! 

We welcome anyone to come with us.  Go ALL IN.  However, today is a disclaimer.

We want you to know that you are getting into. This is not a sales pitch for your “best life now”. This is an offer for you to follow the Lord of Creation and be a part of setting up the kingdom of God that will rule and reign forever.

It will bring immense peace to your life, not because it solves all your problems, but because you will die to the present life and be reborn for a future.

At PromiseLand San Marcos we are ALL IN with God meaning we are not satisfied with the solution to problems and issues.  We are dead to the present world in order to be alive for eternity!

Let’s talk about it!

Elijah was a powerful prophet of God.  He brought difficult news to the Israelites.  He could see the end of this life/ministry on the horizon and God instructed him to visit with Elisha who was a farmer in the Jordan valley.

As Elijah crests the hill, he sees Elisha plowing with a set of oxen.  He goes up to Elisha and puts his cloak on him (sign of transfer of anointing).  Elisha accepts the call. Tells his parents goodbye…

I Kings 19:21 So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.

Jesus said in

Luke 9:23 “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 SO THAT one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul talks of the heroes of the faith starting from Abel and continues to present day (faith chapter)

Hebrews 11:33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.  But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

Listen to the way the 1^st Century apostles existed this realm…

• Luke was hung by the neck from an olive tree in Greece.
• Doubting Thomas was pierced with a pine spear, tortured with red-hot plates, and burned alive in India
• Philip was tortured and crucified because while he preached the ruler’s wife was converted
• Matthew was stabbed in the back in Ethiopia.
• Bartholomew was flogged to death in Armenia.
• James the Just was thrown off the southeast pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, then after surviving was clubbed to death by a mob.

A century ago, a band of brave souls purchased one way tickets to the South Pacific and took no suitcases. Everything was packed into coffins.  They said goodbye to everyone.

AW Milne, one the missionaries, knew the headhunters had killed all the missionaries sent there.  He did not fear for his life because he had already died to himself.

He lived there for 35 years. The tribe buried him 35 years later at the center of town with this posted on his grave: “When he came there was no light, when he left, there was no darkness.”

There are a handful of people in a group this size that God could be calling to leave your secular job that pays well and live a life of service to full time ministry (meaning the pay is a whole lot less).

However, for most people the message today is that God is calling you to stay in the avenues you are currently in, but LEAN NOT to the sources of strength that have propped you up.  SEEK NOT in the solutions that have been the goal.

There are 2 questions and answers I want you to ponder.  Ask yourself:

• What has brought me this far? Kill it!
• What will take me from here? Feed it!

What would I kill?

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

As we walk through his time of testing, We allow the Word of God to do a work in our hearts and minds.

Start with Matthew 5, 6, 7. 

Once you have nailed that, then move on. Ha!

Instead of worrying about dissecting the Word of God, let the word of God dissect you! – Mark Batterson (All In)

What Should I Feed?

Anything that leads to humility. Death

Anything that takes you closer to Jesus. A lifestyle of Worship

Kill bitterness
Feed Forgiveness
Kill Revenge
Feed selflessness
Kill Greed
Feed Generosity
Kill Pride
Feed a life of Servitude

Stay humble and stay hungry.

This is the cross that Christ is asking us to carry.

Not to perform supernatural feats, but die to self.

If Jesus hung on his cross, we can most certainly carry ours.   It’s not just our highest responsibility, it is our highest privilege.