Praise

"All praise to Thee, eternal God,
Who, clothed in garb of flesh and blood,
Dost take a manger for Thy throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.
Hallelujah!"
Martin Luther

Worship

Tim Keller writes, "The Bible uses three basic metaphors to describe how people relate to the idols of their hearts. They love idols, trust idols, and obey idols" (Keller, Counterfeit Gods, xxi).

These three verbs--love, trust, and obey--seem to be at the heart of worship. I might also add know, enjoy, and glorify. Nevertheless worship seems to be about a living relationship of love, trust, and obedience toward God.

Praying for Our Church in 2012

"As a consequence of prayer, people will come to recognize Jesus for who he is, they will learn what it is to be his disciple, and they will be equipped to serve him well" (Helm, One-to-One Bible Reading, Kindle loc. 161).

Helm gives us three prayers for our church.

1. God use us to lead other people to see Jesus for who he is.
2. God use us to teach one another what it is to be a disciple of Jesus.
3. God use us to equip one another to serve you well. 

What if each day this year we committed to ask God for these three requests? How would it change (1) your life, (2) our church, and (3) our community?

Sermon Notes: Sunday, August 7

Rev 21:1-8

God is making all things new

Why Is God Making All Things New?

• THINK: Creation—Fall—Redemption
• God is making all things new because all things have been corrupted by sin.

How Does God Make All Things New (vv.1-2)?

• Vv.1-2 emphasize at least 3 differences b/t our world and the new world.

What Makes the New Heaven and Earth “New” (vv.3-4)?

• God will live among his people (v.3).
• God will give his people everlasting gladness and joy (v.4).
• God makes all things new by wiping out the tears of suffering.
•  God makes all things new by removing the sources of hurt and pain.

But How Can We Know This New Life in This New World Is Real? How Can We Know That God Will Make All Things New?

• You can KNOW God is making all things new, 
•   . . . because you know who God is (vv.5-6).
• . . . because you know that God has committed himself to do it (vv.5-6).
• You can TRUST that God is making all things new, 
• . . . because you know who God is (vv.6-8).
• . . . because you know what God has committed himself to do for you (vv.5-8).

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