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

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

A Call to Pray Together (notes from Wed night)

Pray Mt 9:36-38 passionately & regularly.

3 prayers for us to pray together:

1. God raise up gathers & bringers among us.
2. God open our eyes to the sins, idols, hurts, struggles, & needs of the people in the city around us.
3. God teach us how to communicate Jesus Christ to the people in our city (Teach how to apply the Gospel to #2).

210 in 2010 (Wed Night Notes Pt.2)

7 Things You Can Do When We Gather Together Each Sunday
(my notes from Wednesday night, July 8, 2009).
1) Pray:

• We need men and women who are praying for our Sunday gatherings. Pray for our volunteers, our teachers, our visitors, our attitudes and actions, our singing, our music, our prayers, our giving, our listening to and response to God’s Word, and so on.
• Pray that every one present will adore & praise God, confess sin, give thanks for God’s grace, and talk to God about their needs.
• Pray for conviction of sin, repentance, and the joy of changed lives.
• Ask God to do a great work in the heart of our church, every time we gather together.

“Remember that men and women are not converted, finally, by [our] sagacity, oratory, theological brilliance or homilectical skill. God in his mercy may use all these and many more gifts. But only God is able to bring people to himself. That is ample incentive to prayer” (Carson, Gagging of God, 513).

2) Participate:

• Sing when we sing, pray when we pray, read when we read, listen, fellowship, enjoy church.

• Key: respond to the message: search your heart and apply God’s Word.

3) Interact:

• Talk to people, sit together, pray for one another.
• Find and spend time with our guests.

4) Practice the 3 Minute Rule.

• Ed Stetzer describes this rule, each “member must talk to someone they don’t know for three minutes following the end of worship” (Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, 100).

5) Be a “Seat Shepherd.”

• Seat shepherds “sit in a specific area each week to connect guests with nearby members to make them feel welcome” (Ibid.).

6) Be Here & Be in the Service.

• Make weekly participation at our church a priority. Be here as much as possible.

7) Speak Positively about What God Is Doing at Our Church to Everyone.

• Keep complaints and concerns and questions private.
  
• First, go to the leader of the particular ministry, then come to the pastor(s), and then if you still have a concern or complaint or question, bring it to the church.

210 in 2010 (Wed Night Notes Pt.1)

These are my notes from Wed night (7/1/09).

210 in 2010

Discuss 2 Questions:

1. How do we get there?

2. What do we do well as a church?

Start where we are: (1) Sunday School & (2) Our Sunday Gathering (did not get to #2)

(1) Sunday School

1. Pray for the healthy growth of our church.

2. Make a list

• Anyone you know who would enjoy our church or simply does not participate at a local church
• In-reach: members who don’t participate (not active).
• Out-reach: friends, family, work associates, classmates, anyone you come into contact with on a regular basis.

3. Make it your class goal to contact/visit/connect to everyone on the list before Labor Day.

• 210 is our numerical goal: You work out the details as a group.
• Suggestions: work with deacon’s and deacon’s wives: the list.

4. Participate in a small group. Make it your goal to be here as much as possible.

5. Talk positively about our church to friends, family, work associates.

• Twitter, facebook, text, communicate what God is doing here @ABBC

We did not have time to discuss our Sunday gathering. I will post those notes after we have discussed them as a group.

Vision (My Notes from Sunday Night) Part 3

Our Core Activities: Prayer, Proclamation [& Application], People

Prayer:

God himself calls, sends, equips, empowers, transforms. . . loves, plans, calls, justifies, glorifies . . . In short, God himself is the agent of change & growth.

Proclamation [& Application]:

. . . of the gospel of Jesus Christ because salvation is in the Son.

Important note: our worship (singing, giving, serving, etc) is a form of proclaiming & applying the gospel.

People:

God converts & transforms individuals, forming us into a new community/humanity

And God uses people (his servants) to teach Christ & his way of life.

Listen to and reach new people (part. 20-40)

Key Questions (not in any order)

• What do we do well?
• What are the needs of the community around us?
• Where are the people at and how do we reach them? (inside, out approach)
• What do we need to stop doing, start doing, or rework/refocus in order to be a healthy, growing church?
• Are you willing to change? Insanity is doing the same thing & expecting different results
• DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS?

Core activities from "Growth Groups" from Mathias Media

Vision (My Notes from Sunday Night) Part 2

Our Goal: To Be a Healthy, Growing Church Centered on the Gospel

Healthy

What is a healthy church? (key question that we need to answer)

Here’s two thoughts:

1). What is a healthy church?: Matt 22:35-40

• Love God
• Love each other
• Love our neighbors in the city and around the world

Measures the health of our church as well as our small groups, student & children ministry, etc. How?

• Love God: prayer, Bible Study, worship
• Love each other: prayer, e & discipleship, confession, hanging out together, meeting needs
• Love neighbors & world: evangelism, missions, community events, service projects.

2) What is a healthy church?

• I think here is where the marks of a church come into play: e.g., worship, prayer, evangelism & discipleship, fellowship, ministry (Look @ Dever, 9 Marks, for lists)
• Six signs of a “healthy church”: Study, community, worship, mission, service, prayer (McKinion)

Growing

Spiritual & Numerical

Important: Growth is measured by the rule of the Gospel not numbers, activities, programs, etc.

Yet numerical growth can be a valid goal: 210 in 2010 is our numerical goal, but our focus is on healthy, Gospel growth.

• Jesus said follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17)
• Matt 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (ESV).
• Acts …look at the numerical growth.

Bottom line: We live in a growing city . . . we should be growing numerically.

Centered on the Gospel

How does everything we do connect, flow, center on the gospel?

• If it does not, should we/will we stop, change, rework? REFOCUS?

Vision (My Notes from Sunday Night) Part 1

These are my notes from Sunday Night.

Our Purpose: To Learn Christ & Live His Way of Life Together

Learning Christ

a disciple is a learner (background is theme of learning all that Christ is and all that he has done for us….as well as how to live in light of this good news from the Gospel of Matthew. Summarized in Matt 28:19-20 (Make disciples, baptizing and teaching them )

• Also Eph 4 contrasts the old life without Christ and the new life in Christ (4:17ff). Point is that learning Christ leads to transformation and re-formation & renewal in God’s likeness . . . true righteousness and holiness

• Also Col 1 & 2 with 2:6-7 being key.
• “Receive” has to do with being taught: applying the teaching to their lives.

Point: learning & embracing who Christ is & what he has done for us (all that he is & all that he has done for us)

• Key: Learning does not end when you become a Christ-follower, it’s just beginning.
• Note: evangelism/discipleship are not necessary linear nor are they separated

Living His Way of Life

• remaining faithful to & applying the Gospel to every sphere of life/relationship in life
• asking how does who Christ is and all that he has done for us shape, direct, and restrain the way I do marriage, family, work, sports & recreation, politics, money . . . all areas of life.

Together

• community commitment:
• 1 John and fellowship: partnership, sharing in the life, love, and truth of God

A Call to Work Together toward Church Renewal & Gospel Growth

Here’s what you can do as we look to God to send the “fire” of spiritual renewal & growth to ABBC.

1) Prepare to Represent Christ Well.

• At what major points does your life fail to represent Christ?
• Think about your speech, your conduct, your love, your faith, your purity?
• Think about your heart—your thoughts & ideas, your loves & desires, your choices & decision, even your worship & spirituality.
• Think about your relationships to family members, church members, co-workers, and so on.

• What habitual sins do you need to stop?
• What are practical ways that you can practice righteousness, pursue holiness, and love one another?
  

2) Preach the Gospel to Yourself.

• Are you struggling with self-righteousness? Trusting who you are or what you do for Christ instead of trusting who Jesus is and what he has done to achieve salvation for you?
• Are you struggling with persistent guilt? Trusting how you feel and what you think instead of trusting what God says and how he sees you in Christ?
• Do you fail to believe your standing in Christ?
• How will you deepen your understanding of who Christ is and what he has done for us? How will you apply this to your heart?

3) Pray.

• Ask for a sense of God’s presence and reality at ABBC.
• Pray for the growth of our church in godliness; pray for your own growth in godliness.
• Pray for opportunities to communicate to others who Jesus is and what he has done to achieve our salvation.
• Pray that many men and women will turn from sin, turn to Christ, and join us in learning Christ and his way of life.
• How will you make your prayer life more centered on seeking God and his will (rather than centered on your needs and problems).

4) Lead.

• How will you find accountability and relationships to others in our church who are more mature than you? From whom can you better learn Christ and his way of life?
• Is there anyone you can meet with each week for Bible study and prayer? Maybe lunch, Bible study and prayer (You got to eat), or maybe coffee, Bible study and prayer. The opportunities are endless.
• How do you need to change in order to be a leader? How do you need to change in order to follow the leadership around you?
• Humility is key.

As always, I write from what I read and study: The Bible, T. Keller, J. Bridges, C. J. Mahaney, and many, many more.

Everyday 1 John

Everyday 1 John will be a series of tweets during the week this summer. These tweets will challenge you (1) to apply what God is teaching us through 1 John, and (2) to become who God is calling us to be as a church family. It is one more way that we can learn Christ and his way of life together. Moreover, it is a way to extend our Sunday worship throughout the week. Take these tweets, talk about these tweets, and ask God to transform you and our church. Together let’s learn to apply God’s word to our hearts. 

 Connect at http://twitter.com/abbcfellowship. Be sure to read the terms and conditions.

Or use the link, ABBC on Twitter, on the church's webpage to see the last 20 updates posted on twitter. You can also see the last 4 updates at our homepage, www.abbcfellowship.com.