3 Things to Do

 "Proclaiming this gospel to rebellious mankind can, of course, seem foolish at times. We can be overwhelmed by the difficulty and the size of the task. Yet, thankfully, God has given us only three things to do and then our responsibility is closed.

• The first is to preach the gospel as clearly as possible, answering all questions as clearly as we can to present the truth about the universe, man, and our dilemma.
• The second is to pray for each individual who hears it.
• And the third is, by the grace of God, through faith in the finished work of Christ, to live a life that in some poor fashion will commend the gospel we have preached. 

When we have done these three things with compassion, amid this world that has turned away from God and is totally dark and vain, some of them will respond."  Francis A. Schaeffer, The Finished Work of Christ, 37. 

Sermon Notes: Sunday, April 10

Text: Rev 14:6-20


Big Idea: God's Judgement Is Coming


Summary: God’s judgment is coming to the earth (vv.6-7). It brings overwhelming destruction (v.8), and consists of God’s undiluted wrath (vv.9-11). God's judgment will come: the time is set (vv.14-16)  . . . with violent destruction beyond anything you dare to imagine (vv.17-20).


How does this message affect us? 

• We try to change God: "Let's just talk about the love of God and forget all this talk about judgment and wrath and hell.
• We try to convince ourselves it's not real, not true.

The Good News that leads us to adore and rejoice in Christ: 

• God’s judgment is coming: it brings overwhelming destruction, consists of God’s undiluted wrath, & it will take place  . . . violent destruction beyond anything you dare to imagine 
• and so Jesus entered wrath & judgment because he would rather go through hell than live forever without you.
• "The Judge of the earth came not to bring judgment but to bear judgment and go to hell for us." Tim Keller
• The Son of God took the cup of God's wrath from us  . . . by willing taking the cup and drinking it to the dregs at the cross so that you never have to taste the undiluted strength of God's anger against your sin. 

Why are we here? Why do we do what we do?

I’m not sure that we can give a more basic, simple, and foundational answer for the purpose of a local church than what we find written in Matt 28:18-20. Jesus makes clear that we are to make disciples. He gives us the guiding principle for why we are a church and what we are to do as a church. He clarifies our purpose and our mission as well as shapes our vision for the future. Jesus expects us to be disciples who make disciples.

We must be disciples to make disciples.

“Disciple” simply means “learner” or “student.” We are called to be students of Christ, but this learning is not simply an educational exercise. Learning who Christ is and what he has done for us and our salvation transforms who we are, why we are, and what we are to do. Thus Eph 4:20 reminds us of how we learned Christ, but also clarifies how what we have learned shapes the way we live.

As disciples, we are learning the good news about who Christ is and what he has done in history for our salvation. We are also learning his way of life as we ask how the person, work, and teaching of Christ effects our thoughts and ideas, our loves and desires, our choices and decisions, even our worship. In short, we are: Learning Christ & His Way of Life Together (Our Purpose).

We must make disciples to be disciples.

Matt 28:19 makes clear: we are to make disciples. Again, this commission clarifies our purpose, but it also describes our mission and directs our vision.

Mission describes what we are to do and flows out of our purpose. So, we are learning Christ and his way of life together, because we want to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to people in our city and around the world through what we say and do (Our Mission).

Whatever else we do as a church, we are seeking to make disciples through communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in our city.

At the core of this mission are: 

1. The Gospel: We must know, love, and speak the Gospel in accordance with the Scriptures; 
2. Prayer: We must ask God to empower us with the power of the Holy Spirit to communicate the Gospel boldly and lovingly; 
3. People: Simply put, God works through his people to call more people into his kingdom. People are at the core of disciple-making.

Finally, why? Why this purpose? Why this mission? What’s the rationale? 

We want to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to see men and women converted, changed, and growing to maturity in Christ together with us (Our Vision). We want to be a community of disciples who make disciples together for the glory of God just as Christ commanded us to do.

To be continued.

Pastor John

A Pastor's Purpose, Mission, and Vision (2010)

The guiding principle for my life is basic, simple, and foundational. I want to learn Christ and his way of life.

And here’s why:

• I want to communicate the good news about Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to people through what I say and do.
• I want to see people converted, changed, and growing to maturity in Christ within a local church.
• I want to entrust the gospel to faithful men who will be able to teach it to others (2 Tim 2:2).

That’s my purpose, my mission, my vision and in the coming weeks I will be blogging about what all of this means and what I believe it means for our church.

E.g., what does it mean to learn Christ and his way of life?; how does the pastor’s purpose, mission, and vision relate to the purpose, mission, and vision of our church?; how do we see such a vision become reality?

My hope is that this purpose, mission, and vision will become your personal vision and the vision of our church.

Pastor John

This Salvation Joins Us Together (The Application)

Text: Eph 2:19-22

Sermon: This Salvation Joins Us Together (God’s Vision for the Church).

Outline

#1, We are Citizens in God’s Kingdom (2:19)

• Together we exist to serve and worship the king.

#2, We are Members in God’s Household (2:19)

• Together we exist to enjoy fellowship with the king and his family.

#3, We are God’s Building Project (2:20-22)

• God himself works and lives among us!

The Application

Think through this with me,

In our country, citizens are tied together by a social contract. . . . but God’s new nation is not a republic, not a democracy.

• It’s a kingdom—and in a kingdom, the citizens are connected through their allegiance to the king.
• We serve the king together; we obey the king together; we worship the king together.

But God says we are more than citizens in his kingdom, we are members in his household. So that . . .

• We enjoy the presence of the king together, we eat at his table together, we love the kind and he loves us. . . . we grow to know, love, and enjoy the king as our Father as we also grow to know, love, and enjoy one another.

Together we are a building—a Temple—in which the glory of God dwells.

• His royal presence enters our lives and takes up residence in us and connects us to one another.

Here we have God’s vision for the church . . . for our church. It’s a vision for a “better future.” In your head, you and I must carry this image of what the future could be, and let this image drive us as a church. Meditate on this vision:

God has put us together to serve: This means ABBC exists to serve & worship the Father through the Son by his Spirit.

• Are you with us serving according to your gifts?
• Are you regularly and consistently here to worship with us?

God has put us together for fellowship: We exist to know, love, and enjoy God together & God has put us together to know, love, and encourage one another: that’s fellowship.

• Are you growing spiritually? Can you honestly say that you are growing to know, to love, and to enjoy God through Jesus?
• Are you making strong efforts to know, love, and encourage the men and women sitting around you? I.e., are you praying together, studying the Bible together, eating together, sharing with one another, helping one another, talking about life and God and sin and struggle and the Gospel together?

God has put us together to work among us: Therefore, we should expect and ask God to work every time we gather.

• Are you asking God, pleading with God, to do a great work here at ABBC?

This Salvation Changes You (The Application)

Text: Eph 2:8-10

Sermon: This Salvation Changes You

The Application

In general, the “good works” of v.10 are the way of life Paul describes in chs.4-6.

So #1 read Ephesians 4-6.

These three chapters show us how God wants us to live:

• Friendship, church, marriage, family, work, the XN life are all addressed.
• Read chapters 4-6, ask: how would my life be different if I really believed what God says in Ephesians?
• Write down your answers. Then pray & repent that life into reality.

More specific:

#1 God wants you to know the riches of his grace

God wants you

• to trust who he is & how he works through his Son for our salvation
• to trust who you now are through faith in Christ

God wants you to believe, trust, and know that he is the God who initiates love toward you, lavishes grace on you, accomplishes his purposes toward you . . he is both willing and able to change you.

God wants you to know who he is & how he works through Jesus.

So pray for one another:

“O God, let this woman, my sister, know you. Amid everything else, do not let this man, my brother, miss the best: to know Christ. Lord, open our eyes. Show us, teach us, unveil who you are to all of us. Don’t let us gloss over this. Don’t let us content ourselves with knowing a bit about you. Don’t let us busy ourselves w/ other things, throwing our lives away.” From David Powilson, Seeing with New Eyes.

2d: God wants you to know the depths of his love.

Over and over in Ephesians we read about the great love with which God has loved us (2:4).

He wants us to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that we may be all that God wants us to be (3:19)

God wants you to know his love . . .

• . . . “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2)

Ephesians shows how: You walk in love . . .

• . . . when you love one another (1:15, 4:2)
• . . . when you are kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph 4:32)

And even more specific,

• Husband you walk in love, when you love your wife sacrificially just like Christ loved the church . . . you love her as you love yourself, nourishing and cherishing her (Eph 5:25-33)

3d: God wants you to speak the truth in love

God wants you to speak the truth (4:25)

• not simply because it’s a good habit or a good thing to do
• Rather speak the truth “because we are members of one another” in Christ (4:25).

God wants you to speak the truth in love to one another (4:15)

• And he tells us why: “speaking the truth in love we grow mature in Christ.” (Eph 4:15 paraphrase).
• So “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (4:29).
• As the NLT puts it: “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (4:29, NLT).

God wants us to speak the truth in love as we instruct, correct, encourage, and rebuke one another in learning Christ.

4^th God wants you to walk worthy of your calling

Walk is just a Bible way of describing the way you live your life: so live, live a life worthy of your call to salvation and new life in Christ

• walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (5:2)
• walk as children of light . . . seeking what is good and right and try, carefully discern what is pleasing to the Lord (5:8-10)
• “be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act foolishly or thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” (AND do it) 5:15-17 NLT.

This salvation doesn’t leave you the same: God changes who you are and leads you in a new direction with a new purpose.

He wants you to know the riches of his grace and the depth of his love,

• so that together we can love one another, speak the truth into one another’s lives, and encourage one another toward love and good deeds.

May we be such a church.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

6 Questions from 1 John

1 John 5:13, “these things I have written to you, that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who are believing in the name of the Son of God.”

6 questions from 1 John to test your heart so that you can know that you have eternal life.

1. Are you sensitive to sin? (1 JN 1:8, 10)
2. Do you obey God’s Word? (1 JN 2:3-5, 29)
3. Do you see a decreased pattern of sin in your life? (1 JN 3:9, 5:18)
4. Do you love other Christians? (1 JN 3:14; 4:7-8)
5. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, sent into the world to accomplish total salvation for us? (1 John 5:1, 5).
6. Are you overcoming your over-desires & the devil as your love for the Father grows? (1 JN 2:13-17, 5:4)

You can listen to the sermon here