Category Archives: theology
Hunger For the Moment | Sermon Notes
11/4/2012
Disclaimer: my sermon notes are a rough outline. Not intended for grammar perfection. If you have questions about certain parts, please comment and I will respond.
Hunger for the “Moment”
Based on last week: ‘at that moment’ God and Man connected and great things happened.
Why do so many believers have a shallow relationship with God? Why don’t they dive into a deeper, more consistent relationship with Him? What holds them back? What would ignite and cause them to respond to His call to draw near?
Revelation 3- shows us a letter to a church that is very similar to the American church of 2012. It was in a town called Laodicea. On the outside, they looked very successful. On the inside, they were wishy-washy.
1. GOD IS INTERESTED IN ME
Sermon Notes 10/28/12
These were the notes I used on Sunday. As you can tell by reading them, they are not intended to be example of great grammar or editing. 🙂
They are spotty and have some elements missing. I usually fill those in from my mind. Also, I leave some of this content out of the sermon when it is not necessary to the particular audience.
2 Chronicles 5: 13 The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words: “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!” At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. 14 The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God.
Surverys show the: Reasons for not going to church: Boring, Not relevant, people feel judged
Surveys have recorded: What would make you come to church? “If I knew I could experience the presence of God or know what he we like.”
Relevant is a means to an end. All churches were relevant at one time. Today’s relevance is tomorrow’s religion.
What makes a church grow and have life is a transformational environment.
All the cool stuff, musicians, style, practical teaching, list goes on and on…Is not the power.
Solomon knew that all the pomp and circumstance is not the power. The priests were purified. We are all purified/royal priesthood.
1 Peter 2:9 … You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession…for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
Everyone is gathered together. 120 in both this covenant and the upper room. Harps, cymbals, stringed instruments, forgiven people, finished works, sacrifice of sins. Singing, dancing, celebration, focus on God… Corporate Worship to God.
There is something powerful about people gathering together and worshipping God in one place.
For those of us who have been around a while, we forget and take for granted what it is like in the presence of God on Sunday morning. For those who are new to church, you might be struggling to figure out what the big deal is about gathering every single week, and reshaping our weekend to make sure that we don’t miss Sunday. We shouldn’t do it just to do it. That is laborious.
We forget the effect of the power of God on the lost.
Worshipping together as a group is different than missions, and social fellowship, and classes, All those are important and have a place in our discipleship.
However, we can not forget the power of getting together as a group and having an “At that moment” Experience.
‘At that moment’ – No flesh could stand or function in that moment. We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we engage God in sincere worship, it is the only time this side of heaven, every part of our sinful flesh brokenness, sin, pain, has to be paused! The only time this side of heaven. When we are in the moment.
1 Corinthians 1:29 …no flesh should glory in his presence.
Your flesh – that which is prone to sin and opposed to God, the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin. It is not a process or a part of growth. It is not like serving or discipleship. The world fades away and there is a reprieve of the flesh. We spiritually kiss in that moment the face of God. We get a tiny drop of what heaven will be like. There will be like no more sickness and no more pain forever!!
We learn to surrender to the presence of God. At that moment it is impossible to sin.
John 4:24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Jesus teaches at the well the lowest of the low. Half breed, woman, her only connection to power was 7 broken men, it was this woman that God brought this revelation of worship to. I will give you living water. She needed a release from the pain. She needed to experience the reprieve.
2 Chronicles 20: 21 After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!” 22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. …not a single one of the enemy escaped.
Jehoshaphat king leading people. Singing the same song as earlier. Something had been taught to them. How to worship. At that very moment.
No flesh or enemy of god could stand in the glory of God. Worshippers set the atmosphere for the evil to perish.
Took three days to gather all the stud foreshadowing of resurrection.
Psalm 84: 5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. 7 They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
turn your mourning into dancing
Valley of blessing.
God wants to turn your valley of battle/mourning into a valley of blessing. He inhabits the praises of his people. Stop fighting your battles and start worshipping god. Keep coming to church and start letting loose a little bit.
walking through the valley of weeping it will become a place of refreshing springs
You will remember places of blessing forever. You will want to return to physical places because if the deliverances
The only way for trials to become triumphs is through worship.
3 simple principles for “at that moments”
What is the most important commandment?
Mark 12:29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
We can love him with all our heart soul and mind, strength “at that moment”
1. Engage God Physically. Strength You start with all these issues. Get your body moving. Your mind follows your body. Start clapping. Start dancing. Move something. Raise hands. Sign of surrender.
Our church is the big messy mix of humanity. We have all shades Of all kinds of cultures and issues.
We know the power of the presence of God. We have to carry the banner!
2. Encounter God Mentally– Mind- encounter God. Mind follows spiritually minded is life and peace. You focus on Him
3. Experience God – soul
Should it Hurt to Give Money to God?
PromiseLand’s Online Giving Website
Giving money to God often hurts.
We make a conscious decision to take money that we would normally spend on something else, invest, or save and give it to our local church. It can sound like a great decision on Sunday morning when the preacher lays out the scripture and vision of the local ministry. However, the truth is that later in the week or month, you will FEEL THE BURN.
When you look at your bank account online and see that there is a significant amount of money “missing”, your mind begins to struggle. This is normal. We often feel the weight of any investment. Any sacrifice whether it is physically working out, ‘doing the right thing’ with a relationship, or exerting time to study for a test will at some point be really tough to walk through. A pressure point. Tension. Questions…should I have really done that?
I’m not talking about giving God a tip. When we give God a minimal amount that is not a sacrifice or significant to our overall income, it does not take faith. In fact, you need minimal motivation (and no scripture) to make this type of contribution. We can put a litte in the offering and in the back of our minds, think “if this doesn’t work or if they don’t spend it correctly, then it doesn’t really matter. There is no real loss to me.”
Because of the Old Testament standard, we often use 10% as a guide today. Giving the first 10% of our income to God immediately gives us a different viewpoint of God and our money. All of the sudden we are relying on God. We are believing that when we start ‘feeling the burn’ of missing finances, that His grace is sufficient. He will carry us with our remaining 90% better than we could have handled 100% by ourselves. Not only will God deal with us individually (in a positive way) because of our personal commitment to him through sacrifice, but our local church will have financial resources to reach others.
+Robin
Sermon Notes: The LifeBoat!
Here are the notes I used for Sunday, Sept. 16th, 2012.
Genesis 6: 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth…
17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
3000 years later, Jesus was speaking to his disciples and said this about the last days of the earth:
Matthew 24: 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Several weeks later, Peter’s words in the first sermon echoed the same message as Genesis 6 to Noah.
Acts: 2:40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
2 Corinthians 6: 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
We live in a perverse generation. God is currently beckoning us out of this ‘world’ and into the kingdom. When we place our faith in the gospel: life/death/burial/ resurrection of Jesus Christ, then He saves us from this God forsaken world. Baptism ushers us into this ‘lifeboat’ with a new conscious.
Get in the boat that God has provided! Church services, baptism, PromiseGroup, volunteering to serve, mentoring/pastoring.
Immediately, our journey begins to the kingdom. We are in the world, but not of the world. Think of salvation today, not just something that begins after you die, but that you are entering your salvation now. Save yourself from this crooked generation. Be saved from this perverse world. Step out of this mindset, this rat-race,
Preach Specifically
A prevalent preaching philosophy is that the Sunday message must appeal or relate to everyone in the congregation. So, we go through a laundry list of applications to include everyone or applications are watered down.
What about preaching scripture that hits one group directly and deeply? If we do that, what will happen to all the folks that fall outside of that direct application? We are scared that they will be bored and disengage.
For example, if we preach a specific message to men, what will the woman do? If we preach on marriage, what will the singles think? If we preach on money, what will the unemployed think?
Here are my 3 reasons that it is ok to Preach Specifically.
- Every sermon should reveal God – If our sermons do not reveal the image and at least one attribute of God, then we have failed. No matter what the application, our congregants should be shown what God looks like and how he acts and reacts to humanity. That in and of itself should be a meaty morsel for anyone.
- He/She might be in this situation in the future – one the best messages a single person can hear is one on how God created marriage and what He expects. We need to GO into situations prepared. Instead of preachers bailing people out with sermon messages, we should be preparing and preventing sin and difficulty. When we preach specifically about life situations in the future, we are setting people up for success. (Remind them to thank you later)
- He/She needs to know to relate to and minister to others – Women need to know what God thinks and expects of Men. Men need to hear about God’s role in women’s lives. I may not be going through divorce, but my neighbor might. I need to know how to listen, minister, counsel people in other life situations. This shows people the responsibility we have in the lives of others.
We are cultivating selfish/self-centered congregations when we try to cater to every current situation going on their life. We are telling them that the church service is all about them personally.
Broad strokes painted in sermons are often bland strokes. Scripture is so rich and deep in flavor and power. Let’s not be afraid to go strong. I believe it will lead to quicker life change.
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Robin
Robin Steele 