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The other side of adoption…
Powerful message of going All In!
As I was reading a Christmas devotional about Christ coming to redeem those under the law through our adoption (Galatians 4), I was struck by the other faith in adoption.
For much of our adoption story, we have focused on one side of it – ours. We were the ones who felt called. We saved and raised money. We left home to go to a foreign place. We struggled. We wrestled. We believed. We loved. We pursued. We fought. We won. We adopted our daughters. It was the biggest test of our faith that we have ever experienced, and our lives will literally never be the same. It’s easy for us to talk about our faith in our adoption process, but in one sense that didn’t even matter.
On the other side of our story are two sisters who had lived in an institution for the better part of…
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All In | Week Two | Sermon Notes
(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 1st 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.
2013 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
No Show Sunday | Sermon Notes
Core ideas that message is based on. (not spoken about on Sunday)
- What happens at PSM changes lives forever. This is not a social club or a religious death trap.
- Faithful people humbly make a difference every week. Some every week, some biweekly. Some once a month.
- It takes a little jolt or ‘ask’ from someone else to motivate into serving.
Thanks to Steven Furtick for the inspiration on this message.
NO SHOW SUNDAY
Today, Worship is a lot different from a normal Sunday.
If you are a guest today, normally, you would have had people helping you in the parking lot, you would have had folks giving you a worship guide and helping you find a seat.
The grass would have been mowed.
The Student Center would have been unlocked! Teachers would have been over there to welcome your family, check in the kids and teach them about Jesus!
Loving Volunteers in the Nursery that have passed an extensive background check would have been loving on your babies and changing their dirty diapers while you worshipped over here.
WHAT HAPPENED??
Jesus came back and raptured all the real Christians! We are the only ones left.
TODAY IS CALLED NO SHOW SUNDAY
WE ASKED ALL THE VOLUNTEERS TO NOT SERVE TODAY!
Sermon Notes | Declare Your Independence
Here is a sermon I preached in 2005. Basic premise: we celebrate July 4th as ‘Independence Day’, however it is important to realize that this day was NOT the day we won the battle. It was simply the day we DECLARED our independence. There was a lot of blood shed and battles that continued after July 4th.
What is July 4th – Independence Day.
A battle was not won. A Document was voted on. It wasn’t even signed.
We celebrate our Independence Day as the day our make-shift congress voted on a document.
It was more than a document. It was a declaration!
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
- They made it known formally or officially. They revealed or made it manifest. They stated emphatically or authoritatively.
- Not longer will we be dictated, ruled, controlled, by the King of England.
The king didn’t have their interest in mind.
When you declare something it begins to manifest.
Digestion begins when food is placed in your mouth.
What do we need to be independent from?
Declaration – a statement asserting or protecting a legal right.
WE DECLARE TO OURSELVES, OUR PEERS, OUR ENEMY
I. Declare independence from SIN.
The Lord Forgives and then asks us to stop sinning.
take the mind into captivity.
2 Corinthians 101By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
John Piper says that sin (lust for example) “gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.”
Charles Spurgeon says What settings are you in when you fall? Avoid them. What props do you have that support your sin? Eliminate them. What people are you usually with? Avoid them. There are two equally damning lies Satan wants us to believe: 1) Just once won’t hurt. 2) Now that you have ruined your life, you are beyond God’s use, and might as well enjoy sinning. “Learn to say no.”
Benjamin Franklin said It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
Romans 13:14, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
Physical Consequences of Sin
- Broken Homes – divorce, abuse
- Broken Bodies – Addiction- Satan has used alcohol, drugs, sex, to addict God’s people.
Health- As a result of our sin, our health is often affected. - Broken Relationships-Sin messes up our relationship with him and others.
II. Declare independence from your minds
Satan knows the battle for our souls begins in the mind.
The book of James clearly tells us that we sin when we are enticed and dragged away by
our sinful desires which start in the mind.
THE DARKEST PLACES OF THE WORLD ARE NOT BACK ALLEYS OF HARLEM, PARIS OR MEXICO CITY, BUT THE MINDS OF PEOPLE. A dark alley is just a dark alley until a dirty mind enters it.
California trip – gas 3.26/gallon – A dirty mind can pollute the streets of Beverly Hills.
Satan would love nothing more than to enslave us to our thoughts and desires, so that we
cannot love the Lord with our mind.
God wants us to be free mentally. Phillipians 4:8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things
God instructs us to think on whatever is lovely, whatever is noble, whatever is admirable.
We can only experience freedom in Christ mentally when we fully give our minds to God.
John 8:35 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
III. Declare independence from your Emotions
not just talking to the women! Men and their trucks
Satan also tries to enslave us to our emotions.
Anger– he loves for us to be filled with anger and hatred toward others.
Jealousy– he loves for us to envy and lust after other things.
Guilt- he loves for us to dwell on our sins even after God forgives us.
IV. Declare independence from Spiritual Apathy
another area of attack by satan is apathy. He doesn’t care if we are church-goers so long as we aren’t effective Christians. He doesn’t want us reading our Bible, praying, witnessing, worshipping.
He wants us to be Christian in label only.
God’s goal is to make us free in heaven with Him for eternity. God tells us how we can
become free:
**Believe in Jesus. **Confess Jesus. **Repent of our sins. **Be baptized into him.
TRUE FREEDOM COMES WHEN YOU ARE INHABITED BY GOD’S SPIRIT
God can free us, His Holy Spirit can help us live a controlled life. When we love him with all our heart (the seat of the emotions.)
He gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us, to encourage us, to rebuke us, to help us grow spiritually.
Do you know John Dickinson or Robert Livingston? They both did not sign because they clung to the idea of reconciliation with Brittan.
Robin Steele 