Extraordinary Sermon Notes | Week 2
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The Grace of JESUS CHRIST takes ordinary people (like you and me) and makes them EXTRAORDINARY for the sole purpose of building HIS Kingdom.
Today I want to answer the question, “If we have extraordinary empowerment from God, then why do we face so much pain and difficulty? Shouldn’t we be untouchable?”
Jesus tells us that there will be a day when we are untouchable. That day hasn’t happened you. Until it does, he will empower us to face the pain and difficulty in extraordinary ways!
Living like Jesus might seem like a paradox. He was quite peculiar. Jesus made an impact on the world around him. He made it better. At the same time, he refused to be tempted or sucked up in what the world could offer him: political success, popularity, wealth, safety, comfort. He was at total peace, yet was murdered. His eye was on the eternal kingdom that was present and tangible on earth in spurts and disconnected pockets. Yet, he had a vision and knew that someday the dividing curtain between the eternal kingdom and the earthly realm would someday be dissolved. When in doubt or question, he picked to put the eternal kingdom as a priority over earthly/temporal things.
We are to LIVE LIKE JESUS. Extraordinary! Not just in practice but in principle.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars,
This is one of those phrases in the Bible that really stick out to me. I want to know WHY would Paul use this metaphor of clay jars? Obviously, clay jars were a big part of their culture back then.
He is saying that we store this incredibly valuable truth…the light of God…the glory of God that we see in Jesus in clay jars.
Clay jars were regarded as fragile and as expendable because they were cheap and often unattractive. clay pots that contained everything from wealth to worthless things, from foods to liquids. Because jars, pots, and vessels were made from clay, they were subject to breakage and, therefore, were inexpensive and discarded in short order. He uses an illustration taken from everyday life:
So the paradox Paul is expressing is that although the container is relatively worthless, the contents are priceless. Although the gospel treasure is indescribably valuable, the gospel’s ministers are of little value in comparison.
Jewish rabbis used to say: “It is impossible for wine to be kept in gold or silver vessels but in the most inferior of containers, namely, in earthen vessels. Similarly, the words of the Law are kept only in the person who is most humble.”
An analogy is the valuable Dead Sea Scrolls, which were stored for more than two millennia in ordinary clay jars that were decaying while the scrolls remained intact.
Paul was an example of this as he was beaten up, abandoned, shipwrecked.
2 Corinthians 4:7 …so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
We hold the gospel as it were in clay jars to exhibit the phenomenal power of God, so that everyone may see that not we but God is its source. The original text reads: “the extraordinary (quality of the) power.”
2 Corinthians 4:8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed;
Physical or Psychological Difficulties
Clay pots that do not break even when placed under great strain. To be hard pressed or “afflicted” is to be troubled by physical or psychological difficulties. While Paul and other ministers of the gospel endured many afflictions as did frail earthenware, they were not crushed. They were not overcome by these afflictions because they had the treasure of the gospel of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:8… we are perplexed but not in despair;
Confusion and Discouragement
Perplexed, but not in despair. To be perplexed is to be in a state of confusion and discouragement because of afflictions and troubles. Despair in this context means “utter lack of all hope.” Even though Paul and his company were deeply troubled at times, they never gave up because they had a great treasure.
2 Corinthians 4:9 we are persecuted but not abandoned…
hunted down or chased by others
Persecuted is to be hunted down or chased about by others. Persecution was widespread against the early church. The persecution of the ministers of the gospel indicated how much they were earthenware jars. Yet, Paul insisted that even in persecution they were not abandoned. God never left them alone. He was with them in all of their persecutions. Paul portrays himself as a fugitive hunted down by his adversaries.
2 Corinthians 4:9 …we are struck down but not destroyed.
Setback, Demoted, Fired
When Paul spoke of being struck down, he was talking about a wrestling term. BodySlam! There is a big difference between a bodyslam and defeat.
The path to victory for your family will have many setbacks, but you will be victorious over your foes.
2 Corinthians 4:10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
Paul said there were many reasons for him to boast about this spiritual prowess. He was firmly established as a man of God. Had so many amazing visions, dreams, miracles.
2 Corinthians 12:7 So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. 8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Get a vision of how BIG God really is! Believe that he is big enough for your thorn. Believe he is big enough that even with the thorn, your life could be awesome. How could that be? Jesus’ answer: My Grace is All You Need!
For some reason, God knows that you don’t need complete deliverance at this point. At the same time, he won’t leave you alone. He provides his grace to lead you through it in an EXTRAORINDARY WAY!
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:16
In his essay, The Efficacy of Prayer, C.S. Lewis said,
“It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a group of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough to that. And I dare not leave out the hard saying which I once heard from an experienced Christian: “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning; before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.
Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” When god becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent with far less help, to defend fare more desperate posts in the great battle.”
Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Extraordinary Sermon Notes | Week One
These are the sermon notes from Easter 2016. Extraordinary!
One of my good friends who is a pastor in San Francisco sent me a text this week that said, “I feel sorry for the doctors, lawyers, politicians, counselors, news anchors and CEOs who regularly have to give bad reports and bad news to their constituents. We on the other hand get to stand before God’s children and declare every week, wonderful News! We are so blessed for this opportunity.”
All those people get paid more than pastors, but I will gladly make the trade.
We were created by God. He created us in his image.
That means that we WERE extraordinary! We WERE like God!
We looked like God…..we acted like God…..we had his characteristics.
Genesis 1:27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
That is extraordinary! Humans were something else. However, when we take a look at ourselves now…wow! A lot has changed from the original plan. Look at your neighbor. Tell them, “you look good……but you don’t look like God.” Not exactly a picture of God, right?
Look at yourself in the mirror. You’re weird. Pretty ordinary. Needs improvement. Oh, I’m not talking about the façade you put on for everyone else. I’m talking about the real you.
What happened? It is explained in the Bible. Romans 5:17 (great source of answers in life)
In this one passage we see the reason for ‘ordinary’, we see the reason for darkness, and we see the person of light. Our Salvation.
Romans 5: 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous… 21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In that last verse, there is one word that stands out above all else: GRACE
Instead of sin ruling, wonderful grace rules!
The word used for grace in the Bible originally came from the Greek word Charis. Meaning: the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; benefit, favor, gift, joy, liberality, pleasure.
Basically, what it is saying is that: THE GRACE OF JESUS BRINGS BACK “THE EXTRAORDINARY”. We’re bringing it back!
Actually, He brought it back. Grace Brings Extraordinary Back to Humanity. It was locked in sin and death, but Jesus overcame sin and death to unlock the potential of humanity and bring back our God like qualities.
The Grace of JESUS CHRIST takes ordinary people (like you and me) and makes them EXTRAORDINARY for the sole purpose of building HIS Kingdom.
By the grace of God, I am extraordinary.
He doesn’t make us extraordinary to make all of our wishes come true, or be whatever we set our mind to be, rich, famous, whatever…. He is not santa. He is God.
He empowers us to build his kingdom.
His Grace makes us extraordinary in 3 Key ways:
His GRACE Empowers us to face pain and difficulty in EXTRAORDINARY ways.
If you have faced pain or difficulty lately, I have really good news for you. The GRACE of God can empower you to face that pain and difficulty in an extraordinary way.
A few years back, our family was on vacation. We rented a huge RV and went all the way to North Carolina and back! So fun. It was an extraordinary trip. Love family vacays!
However, there was one day on that trip that stands out from all the rest. We were at some friends’ house on the outskirts of Atlanta. We were swimming, having fun and decided to load up all the family in the RV and leave. We headed to downtown Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium. About an hour drive through traffic to the aquarium. Trying to find a parking spot in downtown Atlanta for a 32’ Winnabago. Not easy! We finally found a spot on the rougher side of the area. Just before we parked, we started getting ready to go and I said, let’s get Kennady in her chair so that when we park, we can simply hit the door and go to the aquarium. (our daughter is unable to walk so she is in a wheelchair.)
Erica gets up to get Kennady in her chair and she looks around…. “Where did you put the chair?” “I didn’t get the chair, I thought you did.” WE FORGOT KENNADY’S CHAIR at our friends’ house. What do we do? I had the bright idea! Maybe the aquarium has a loner chair. We could go get her chair tomorrow when we head back home. So we park the RV. I pick up Kennady and carry her 4 blocks to the aquarium. When we get to the aquarium, we get the wheelchair and it is the size for a small elephant. Kennady is very thin. So, I sit in the chair and hold her and we tour the place.
We actually had a really good time in the aquarium. We stay until closing time and start our long journey back to the RV. I’m carrying, huffing and puffing. Rocking it! When we get like a block from the RV, I’m starting to fade, I say, “babe, why don’t you get the key from my pocket so you can unlock the door.” I going to drop when we get there. She starts digging in my pockets. “What pocket did you put the keys in? I Can’t find the keys.” We had lost the keys! We looked all over the ground. At the RV. We went back to the aquarium asked them to let us in, we walked all around the aquarium. No Keys.
We went back to the RV and called a locksmith. He picked the lock to get in the outside of the RV. But there is a separate key for the inside with a special chip. Oh no, we aren’t getting this done anytime soon. Got the kids inside. It’s dark outside. Not a very safe place to be. No key. Can’t go anywhere. Locksmith gives up. We have to call another one. It takes 2 hours for him to get there. In the meantime, it’s midnight, we hear: bump bump bump. We look out of the curtains and see a scantily-clad woman dancing on a car in the alley way. There were lights, cameras. They were filming a rap video next to the RV. Finally, at 1:30am and $350 later, we got a key. We drove off to a Walmart parking lot and spent the night. Vacation! Yeah! Extraordinary!
BUT THE extraordinary thing about that story is not that we found a wheelchair or a locksmith finally got us a key. The extraordinary thing about that story is that none of those “bad” things had anything to do with the fact that our 14yr old daughter is not able to walk, talk, eat, sit up, or do anything on her own other than watch TV. Our other two kids are deathly allergic to eggs, wheat, and all nuts.
It is extraordinary that our marriage is healthy. The divorce rate is high in America, but it is even higher for parents of special needs kids. It extraordinary that we love each other. That we love our daughter. That we aren’t bitter or angry or upset. It is extraordinary that people have no clue we have a daughter with such severe special needs until we finally tell them. Then, you can see their face go…….?
I AM NOT BRAGGING ON ME AND ERICA. I am bragging on the GRACE of God.
If it wasn’t for the GRACE of God I would be a wreck.
2 Corinthians 4:7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who live are always given over to death because of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.
Jesus’ life revealed in my mortal flesh is extraordinary. I’m speaking to some people who can’t seem to get ahead in life and the news seems to keep getting worse.
HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!
His GRACE Delivers us from the grip of sin addiction, illness, and demonic influence.
I could try to tell you about the Grace of God in Jerry McDonald’s life, but not as good as Jerry. Take a look at what God has done in his Life!
Jerry and his lovely wife Jo were the backbone of PromiseLand’s flood relief last year.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
If God can set Jerry free, he can set you free. He God can heal Jerry, he can heal you. We have people all across this congregation today that have been healed, saved, delivered from addiction, heartache, depression, divorce, bankruptcy and all kinds of diagnosis.
His GRACE Excels us in our talents, skills, and abilities beyond our experience or education.
In 2006, the devil had Tony on the ropes. Little did he know what the Grace of God could do. Check out his story. (video)
1 Corinthians 2:9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 John 4: 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
I’m not sure what your story is. You might relate more to Jerry, or Dr Cedrone, or me or you might be totally different from all of us. REGARDLESS, the Grace of God is ready to start redefining your character. The Storyline of God is ready to adopt your storyline.
Have the faith today to start seeing your life in the lens of God’s grace and start praying about how you could complete this sentence:
By the Grace of God, I _________________
By the Grace of God, I will finish school.
By the Grace of God, I will raise good kids.
By the Grace of God, I will support my family.
By the Grace of God, I will overcome this addiction to pain pills
By the Grace of God, I will success at my job.
By the Grace of God, I will be a man or woman of integrity.
Over the next few weeks we are going to continue this sermon series. I want to encourage you to attend next Sunday. Remember that verse I just read, “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect..”
PromiseLand is a great place for your life to continue in God and grow stronger in his love.
His Grace is REAL.
His Grace is AVAILABLE to anyone who would surrender and trust in Him.
Let’s pray!
People of Peace | Week One Sermon Notes
WHO ARE PEOPLE OF PEACE?
Very clearly in the Bible, Jesus sends us on a mission: Go make disciples.
This includes 2 parts: Evangelism (new people) and Discipleship (maturing people).
In this series, we are focusing on evangelism portion of the great commission. The next three weeks we are going fully equip you to become effective evangelists. Evangelism sends cold chills down my back. Scary. All my life it has been taught a certain way and that way went totally against my personality.
In this sermon series, we are going to look at Jesus’ model of evangelism.
You love Jesus, but you aren’t nailing it when it comes to reaching people. Speak!
- How often do you consciously think about reaching the lost for Jesus?
- How easy is it for you on a scale from 1 to 10?
- Is there anything intimidating to you about helping someone be saved?
Luke 10:1 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.
Verse 1 tells us that Jesus was strategic. He had a plan. It was not random. It also tells us to do it with others. We are not on our own. This still happens today. “Will, get a group of guys and go play basketball in Buda. See who shows up. Steven, go workout in the gym see who shows up. Joy, go jogging with students around the river.”
On Friday night, I will be gathering with people at Kreuz Market (eating delicious BBQ) but the main message of the night is the strategy of evangelizing and discipling people in Lockhart.
Luke 10:2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.
This passage is so important. It gives us the picture of what is happening with evangelism. It is the same as planting seeds, watering, waiting, harvesting. Evangelism is farming.
There are times that you will converse with people and will simply be planting seeds. You might be doing that with words or you might be doing that with the way you live your life. The way you respond to challenge. The way you respond to gossip. The way you respond to success. People are looking at you and reading you. You are planting seeds when you are living your life.
Francis of Assisi “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
Sometimes our farming is with words. We are there to love people. Listen and then pray, share truth. They are not ready to fully believe Jesus and trust him with their life, but they are receptive to the message you are living and speaking about.
Then, there is harvest time. This is when a person is ready to surrender everything and walk with Jesus. As the first century believers would say, “They are now a part of The Way.”
AND from Jesus’ perspective the challenge is not the sinners. The challenge is getting more farmers.
There will always be a plethora of people outside of God’s plan. There is plenty of soil. You don’t have to pray, “God, please let me be around sinners today.”
What we do need to pray is, “Lord, allow me to participate in growing your kingdom today. Give me the words to say. Let me know when to say nothing at all. Give me courage. Lead me by your Spirit. Anoint me for today’s journey. I want to be a harvester.”
Luke 10:3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
Ok, reality check. There are going to be some challenges. There are some people out there that appear to be safe, but they are not. At the same time, don’t trust in your ability to take care of yourself!
Theologian Darrell Bock “Mission must be marked with prayer and dependence.”
When the harvest is ready, it is game time! It gets first priority. Cancel other stuff if there is a good thing going in a conversation/relationship.
This is where we need to be careful with how much entertainment we get sucked into. There is nothing wrong with rest, entertainment, and goofing off for an appropriate time, but when you get addicted to apps and shows and a large part of your evening or day is wasted with fluff, then you need to reconsider your priority.
Jesus says the kingdom is priority!
Luke 10:5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’
When you first enter a relationship, you bring peace. Not just their physical home, but when you enter their life, you are to be known for your peace.
This is tied intrinsically to the message a couple weeks back on Jan 31. Our baptism identities. When we are baptized into him, we are take on this identifying factors.
BC – Before Christ, you enter conversations or relationships posturing and establishing your persona/identity. Your authority, your clout, your experience, your strength. You are constantly trying to size yourself up with someone else. What are they wearing? Purse? Car?
After Christ, you enter a relationship with one thing: peace. I bring peace.
Luke 10:6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.
This is the core of this whole sermon series. Jesus is saying, “Find people of peace.”
A Person of Peace is one who is prepared to hear the message of the Kingdom and the King. They are ready to receive what God will give you to say at that moment.
Over the next two weeks, we will be sharing with you how to specifically identify people of peace in different surroundings and how to appropriately respond.
Luke 9:5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”
Luke 10:16 Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”
This message is so freeing and at the same time empowering.
Freeing because the power does not come from us. Our charisma is not the answer. Our biblical prowess is not the answer. We bring Jesus. Jesus is the answer.
It is freeing because it says from the beginning that some people will not receive it and that is not your fault. That is between God and them. God can handle it. It is empowering because he has called us. It is empowering because he has equipped us. There is a mission. It does matter. We participate with God in building his kingdom.
As we approach March 27th, Resurrection Sunday (Easter), put these sermons to practice.
- PRAY – Start praying, “Lord, help me today see with your eyes. Let me know when it is time to sow and reap. Lord, give me the courage and power to LIVE a life that preaches the gospel.”
- LIST – write a list of people in your life that seem to be people of peace.
- ACT – Bring PEACE. Make it a priority. Share truth. Invite them to your community gathering. The easiest thing you could do is invite them to Easter Sunday morning.
For the Love of God, I Worship!
Since the beginning of time, people have been gathering to worship God. In the garden of Eden we see Adam and Eve communing with God. All through the Old Testament, we see people gathering in caves, in tents, temples, by rivers, in homes on a weekly or daily basis to commune with God. People would talk amongst themselves and talk to God.
With profound intensity and intimacy interchanging thoughts and feelings. People would talk to God. God would talk to them. God would talk directly, through other people, through the written word, through Psalms, hymns, songs.
People would express themselves through singing, dancing, poetry, art, humor. Communicating to God exactly what he meant to them. They would come with the heaviness of the world on their shoulders and leave the meeting with a lightened load.
In these meetings, while people were expressing themselves to God. Declaring their faith in him, thanking Him for their blessings, asking him for assistance. In return, he would boldly manifest his presence. An ambiguous God would become palpable.
While the intent of the humans was to communicate with God and express themselves to Him, his intentions were the same.
To be made known to his people when they gathered to worship.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
Today, hundreds of millions of people will gather today to worship Jesus Christ. They will bring their thoughts, wins, loses, success, heart ache to the local gathering and offer up their sincere, heartfelt prayers. As they surrender their schedule to God, put off the parties, recreation, laziness, and even family time, they put GOD first.
They are making a statement to God, to themselves, to the devil and anyone else watching their life. Gathering with other believers matters. One thing we need to understand about going to church is that it is not really about if you need it or not.
Going to church on the weekend is all about you as a human being a part of a bigger movement. I am a human. I gather with humans and with one voice we declare to God that we are thankful for his creation. We are thankful for his redemption. We are thankful for his adoption, second chances, and fresh starts. We sing with one voice to Jehovah, Lord of the Earth, Jesus the Messiah we are here, we choose to return love to you. We choose to return our resources, our time, our talent, our money back to you!
It is our honor to consecrate our week. Surrender everything back to you. We recognize your sovereignty, your all encompassing knowledge and ability. We are thankful for your love, mercy, and grace.
You are sitting in one chair with others, in the _______ service, in one building of about 20-30 different buildings here in San Marcos, across the state of Texas, across the United States, across the Western Hemisphere. It is transcontinental. Reaching across Africa, and Asia, and Europe, and Australia. Not only are we joining 7 continents this morning in worshiping our Savior, but we are joining with believers over the time line of existence, kneeling at the throne of Jesus in one voice.
This concept was really set in my heart when I went to Jerusalem and stood outside the eastern wall of the city. I saw a vision of me standing in the midst of the rest world, we were worshipping the one true God on the eternal throne of Mount Zion.
We were living in a glorified body in a glorified world. Heaven and Earth were together, inseparable. When we gather here on Sunday, this is happening. We pray, “God, may the line that separates heaven and earth dissolve as we sing, pray, listen, dance, clap.”
Sunday worship is bigger than you. Sunday Worship transcends the week you had or the week you wanted. This is enormous. This is about a GOD that is eternal, immortal, and omnipresent. He is interested in you. He is capable of healing you and helping you.
This is about a God that loved you so much he would go to he greatest extent possible to bring you back. When you join with others and worship God several incredible things happen to us.
We are Awakened on Sunday!
Often we come into corporate worship feeling a sense of spiritual fog. During the rough and tumble of the week, the hard knocks of real life in the fallen world can disorient us to ultimate reality and what’s truly important. We need to clear our head, recalibrate our spirit, and jumpstart our slow heart.
Martin Luther found corporate worship powerful in awakening his spiritual fire: “at home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through.”
Psalm 73:2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. 3 For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
In a fog! Deceived by what we see.
Psalm 73:17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
He was embattled. The spiritual haze was thick. But the breakthrough came in the context of worship. Which then leads to this climactic expression of praise:
We BREAK THROUGH the fog in corporate worship. “Praying Through”
“Worshipping Through”
ONE THING THAT IS IMPORTANT: if you haven’t gotten this yet. Corporate worship isn’t a show to you to watch. It is a show, but every human is a participant. The only spectator is JESUS CHRIST. Everyone who participates gets in on the action. There happens when we express our emotions thoughts, and concerns to Jesus. When you come into PromiseLand San Marcos, you are going to hear singing, clapping, dancing, shouting, and other sorts of expression. This has been happening for millennia.
Psalm 150:3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! 4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! 5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. 6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the lord! Praise the lord!
Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing to the lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. 3 For the lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
Psalm 98:1 Sing a new song to the lord, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his saving power!
Psalm 47:1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! 2 For the lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth.
There was a time when King David was worshipping and dancing in such an expressive way that his wife was embarrassed.
2 Samuel 6:21 David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the lord, so I celebrate before the lord. 22 Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” 23 So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life.
In corporate worship, we experience an accentuated joy of deeper adoration and awe. Our perception of Jesus grows as we magnify him together with others.
Science and Medicine have actually shown fascinating results when studying people who worship regularly together on a weekly basis.
Bjorn Vickhoff, a Researcher of the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied the heart rates of choir members as they joined their voices. What really struck him was that it took almost no time at all for the singers’ heart rates to become synchronized. The readout from the pulse monitors starts as a jumble of jagged lines, but quickly becomes a series of uniform peaks. The heart rates fall into a shared rhythm guided by the song’s tempo. He says, “The members of the choir are synchronizing externally with the melody and the rhythm, and now we see it has an internal counterpart.” There is actually a Swedish proverb says, a shared joy is a double joy.
In How God Changes Your Brain, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg shows that meditation/prayer improves memory and helps improve the aging brain, and can interrupt the devastating effects of depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of stress-related disorders.
In 2002, there was a study published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine were they studied the affects of Religious attendance over a 31 year period. They wanted to the relationship between religious attendance and mortality. They did this by examining 6545 people that went to church over a 31 year period from 1965 to 1996. They found that people that did not attend church weekly had significantly higher rates of death from circulatory problems, cancer, digestive and respiratory issues. Their conclusion: Weekly Religious Involvement is a general protective factor that promotes health through a variety of causal pathways.
We Advance on Sunday!
WE Grow! We Listen! We Learn! We are discipled! We are shaped and molded!
Corporate worship also plays an indispensible part in our sanctification — our progressive growth in being conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
When you hear a sermon, it is like a seed sown into the soil of your heart that bears fruit in season. However, sanctification can happen “on the spot” as we sit under gospel preaching and engage in corporate worship. There are times — may God make them many — when the Holy Spirit takes the Scripture read, the prayer spoken, the chorus sung, or the truth preached and presses it right to the point of our need, and not merely informs our Christian walk, but heals us in that moment.
When we join in corporate worship, God loves not only to change our minds, but irrevocably change our hearts “on the spot.”
1 Corinthians 14:3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.
Look at the change that happens to all of us. I love the plurality of this passage:
2 Corinthians 3: 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
Rose Ellis’ sister that said last Sunday, “Your sermon in 2005 changed my life.” She went into detail about the parable I used and I could not remember one facet of the sermon. She went on and on. You never know what one sentence in one sermon will do for your spiritual journey and health.
OK, here is my SPRING CHALLENGE for you. I know that there is something on this list that you can jump into:
- Commit to Public Worship Weekly
- Get out of your Comfort Zone
- Invite Others to Participate with You
Racism and Reconciliation
For the Love of God, I RECONCILE!
Because of the love of God I reconcile. I restore relationships.
I coexist in harmony with others.
This message will be extremely helpful to those of you that are struggling in a personal relationship. Maybe a marriage or business partnership. Some of you might actually have an issue with someone in the church. If you are in a difficult relationship, please hear God’s word today. Let it work its way into your heart.
However, today I am going to take a different application. We are going way back in time and going to talk about a chasm that runs deep and wide. Americans thought that we could solve the racial divide with war. The civil war was fought in order to defeat or defend slavery. Yeah, yeah, yeah it was about state’s rights, but the right that the states were trying to defend was the right to own another person and treat them like dirt. Slavery is wrong. War ended the legality of slavery but it stopped way short of dealing with racial equality. To this day, racism permeates almost every part of our society.
“But, not me, pastor. I’m not racist. In fact, look at what church I go to. I go to a multicultural church. That proves that I’m not a racist. I know and like brown, white, and black people.”
While it is true that our church is culturally diverse in many ways. I do not believe that it has happened in order for us to sit back and look at this trophy of diversity and feel accomplished. While I do feel proud of who we are, I believe that God has strategically placed me and you here for a specific purpose and we are FAR from FINISHED. We are to participate in the reconciliation of every part of this community.
For a second, let’s talk about the future: Heaven will be perfect. Everyone will love everyone. No one will be profiled or shoved into a corner. No one will be elevated above anyone else. We know this will be a reality in Heaven!
Jesus is sending us to the world to show the world what that type of life will be like.
New movie Risen does a good job of illustrating this.
I feel like PromiseLand San Marcos is on the right path. I have a vision of a public forum, events, and relationship with other organizations that will make a difference. However, I believe our biggest impact will be how you and I treat our black co-worker, our Pakistani neighbor, the poor, the uneducated, our Hispanic customers, the powerful, the rich, the middle class.
There is a systematic problem and an individual problem.
We aren’t in Ferguson, New York, Charleston. The majority of us will never go there or be able to do anything in those locations, but WE ARE HERE. What could we do here?
- African American slaves were moved to our area around the 1840s. Many stayed here after the Civil War. Texas, being in the south, saw a lot of horrible things.
- Over 20,000 KKK members marched in San Marcos in 1920
- According to oral history accounts, the local Ku Klux Klan burned the sanctuary on Guadalupe Street in an attempt to capture a black man who was thought to have been hiding in the church.
- 1924 the First Missionary Baptist Church put an ad in the San Marcos Record: “100 voice choir to be heard at the Colored Baptist church”. “Special Seats for White People Reserved”
- Lucious Jackson was born in San Marcos in 1951. He was an incredible basketball player. Played 8 years in the NBA. Was a gold medalist for the US basketball team. Was allowed in school but not to play on the basketball team.
- In 1963, Texas State Desegregated. Dana Jean Smith, who is still a San Marcos resident, walked onto campus.
- There haven’t been incidents in recent years that have made the national news in San Marcos, but to this day, there are reports of minorities facing discrimination.
- Probably one of my proudest moments as a pastor was in 2013, I was first white preacher to speak at Greater Bethel Baptist. 133 years old. Founded by former slaves.
How racist are you? What do you think your racist quotient is?
No one thinks they are racist. No one admits it. As I have been talking this morning, have you been making excuses in your head?
Have you been thinking about how this doesn’t affect you?
There is an incredible article by Dr Robin Diangelo – 11 ways White Americans Avoid Taking Responisbility for Racism
She says, “The two most effective beliefs that prevent us (whites) from seeing racism as a system are: 1. that racists are bad people and 2. that racism is conscious dislike;
We know that racism is bad and we don’t think we are bad people.
We think that racism is only a conscious dislike for others and we don’t consciously dislike someone because of their color.
Desmond Tutu was an instrumental leader in ending the Apartheid in South Africa. He often used the a South African word, Ubuntu (uuboontuu) to describe our unity as humans. Ubuntu is a philosophy that considers the success of the group above that of the individual. “I am what I am because of who we all are”
In his book, No Future Without Forgiveness, he stated, “A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are.”
White South Africans would never be truly free until we blacks were free as well. The Defiant Ones, in which Sidney Poitier was one of the stars. Two convicts escape from a chain gang. They are manacled together, the one white, the other black. They fall into a ditch with slippery sides. The one convict claws his way nearly to the top and out of the ditch but cannot make it because he is bound to his mate, who has been left at the bottom in the ditch. The only way they can make it is together as they strive up and up and up together and eventually make their way over the side wall and out.”
We are all in this together and we all need each other whether you are on the front lines or the back row!
First, we understand and rest in the core value that:
Reconciliation IS the Gospel
Galatians 3:14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. (NLT)
Galatians 3:26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. (NLT)
Reconciliation is the Gospel. Jesus went to the cross and grave so that every human being on the face of the earth, past and present could be united together in him. One Family.
To live in a segregated society is anti-christ. To live in a culture that demeans or belittles other humans is anti-christ. It goes against the very nature of the Gospel to in any way position yourself higher or push others lower.
Not only does Jesus do the work to accomplish reconciliation, he teaches and models how to deal with being a victim of discrimination and victimization.
Matthew 5:11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. (NLT)
Matthew 5: 38 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. 40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. (NLT)
For the Love of God, I reconcile. For the Love of God, I am reconciled.
Second, we see that:
Reconciliation is Natural, First Response to the Gospel
Matthew 5:23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny. (NLT)
What about the golden rule? We know what it says, but we often interpret it wrong.
Most of the time we think it means: “don’t do to others as you would not want to be treated.” We think, I’m not doing bad so I must be living by the rule. However, the rule is not about abstaining evil, it is about doing good.
Matthew 5:12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
To examine whether we have actually said or done anything racist or discriminatory or not is really not the examination of the Christian. The Believer is to deeply examine whether they have proactively built walls to those who are on the outside looking in.
Martin Luther King said
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes, love—which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies—is the solution to the race problem.”
“I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.”
“True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know. “
Robin Steele 