RESULTS OF CHANNEL SURFING

• Decreased attention Matthew 3:1

• Decreased learning ability

• Increased feelings of isolation and passivity

I. WHAT IS / HOW SHOULD WE WORSHIP?

A QUICK LOOK AT UZZIAH

• • He was king for fifty-two years.
  • He was a military genius.
  • He was a great builder.
  • He was a beloved leader.

• • Louis St. Laurent
  • John Diefenbaker
  • Lester B. Pearson
  • Pierre Trudeau
  • Joe Clark
  • Pierre Trudeau (2nd time)
  • John N. Turner
  • Brian Mulroney
  • Kim Campbell
  • Jean Chretien
  • Paul Martin
  • Cam Dailly

 

1.  Authentic worship is our first response when our “Uzziah’s” die.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

What do you do when your Uzziah dies?
Where do you look when the bottom falls out of your world?

2.  Authentic worship helps us see God.

3.  Authentic worship honours God’s ‘holiness.”

Isaiah 6:2-4

Isaiah 6:2-4

4.  Authentic worship sets aside all distractions.

5.  Authentic worship is costly.

6.  Authentic worship is never casual or half-hearted.

7.  Authentic worship is both communal and personal.

 

Holy Holy Holy

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and Mighty
God in three persons, Blessed Trinity

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea
Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and evermore shalt be

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see
Only Thou art Holy; there is none beside Thee
Perfect in power in love and purity

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and Mighty
God in three persons, Blessed Trinity

 

II. HOW SHOULD WE SEE OURSELVES?

 

1.  Authentic worship shows us who and how we really are.

Isaiah 6:5-7

 

2.  Authentic worship is painful.

James 4:8-10

Psalm 51:8

1 John 1:8-9

 

III. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?

1.  Authentic worship reveals God’s mission / our responsibility.

Isaiah 6:8

2.  Authentic worship moves us to obedient action.

Isaiah 49:6

Isaiah 56:3

Acts 8:26-39

Mark 11:17

 

PERSONAL REFLECTION

How is God calling you to share his love with others?

Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. (Matthew 14:22-24)

The disciples are down on the Sea of Galilee in a storm and in darkness; they are in the place of peril. What a picture this is of our own day. Our Lord has gone on to the Father and is seated at the Father’s right hand. We today are down here on a storm-tossed sea in the place of peril.

unto them, walking on the sea. (v. 25)

The fourth watch is the morning watch, from three in the morning until daylight. This is the time the Lord walked on the sea, going to His disciples. And I think that will be the watch in which He will come for us at the Rapture. Christ is the bright and morning star for the church, and He will take the church out of the world. We don’t know the date of His coming. There are men who would have us believe that they know the time, but they don’t know. However, I believe that we are in the fourth watch of the night.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 

This is the picture: Our Lord is up there on the mountain, and He sees the disciples in the storm, toiling and rowing, as Mark’s record has it. Then He comes to them in the fourth watch. When they see Him, they say, “It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” Somebody is going to say, “Well, they were superstitious.” Yes, there may have been a certain amount of superstition in them, but what would you think if a man came to you walking on the water? Many years ago over in Tennessee a fellow said, “I didn’t believe in ghosts either until I saw one!” And that is the position of the disciples. They had never seen a spirit before, but they think they are seeing one now! “But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (v. 25). Immediately He reassured them that He was no ghost!

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. (v. 28)

Peter has certainly been criticized for this. They say that he should not have asked to walk on water. Well, I rather admire the man. William Carey said, “Expect great things of God, and attempt great things for God.” Certainly Peter did that! I am afraid that most of us are satisfied with little things from God. Notice that Jesus did not rebuke Peter for asking:

Christ commanded us to love one another even as . For us to know how to love each other we must understand the character of the rich deep love that Jesus Christ that Paul describes in Ephesians 3 as surpassing knowledge.

I. His love is unmerited

A. 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the .”

B. Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

C. What escapes definition is that even when we reject Him, we disobey Him, we sin against Him, . We call it ‘’, unmerited love from God to His rebellious creation.

D. God’s unmerited love is given to us, people who don’t deserve His love to transform and change us into new creations.

E. We are such undeserving beneficiaries of God’s . He reached down to us in our absolute total depravity and lifted us to Himself pouring out His grace to us.

F. Psalm 40:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

 

II. His love is unlimited

A. He, who loved us forgave us, doing so without limit.

1. Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

2. Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots.

B. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son…

C. Every week among the people who worship will be some who are hurting, some who have fallen once again into the old sins, some who are doubting God’s love and others who are craving it. “God so loved the world” is not an impersonal truth, but a comforting one because it impresses on us the unlimited love of God for us. He so loved us – any of us in the world, no matter what we’ve done – that He gave His only begotten Son. Even His gift to us shows His unlimited love. He did not withhold His dearest and His best. – James M. Behringer

D. Jonah 4:2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness…

E. Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, tried to measure an extremely deep part of the Arctic Ocean. The first day, he used his longest measuring line but couldn’t reach bottom. He wrote in his log book, ‘The ocean is deeper than that!’ The next day, he added more line but still could not measure the depth, and so again in his record book he wrote, ‘Deeper than that!’ After several days of adding more and more pieces of rope and cord to his line, he had to leave that part of the ocean without learning its actual depth. All he knew was that it was beyond his ability to measure. So too, we cannot plumb the unlimited depths of God’s love, because our human measuring line is too short.

 

III. His love is unselfish

A.

1. 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 Love “Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”

2. Jesus is the perfect example of selflessness. Matthew 20:28 says, ‘Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.’

B.

• 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

• John 10:10 ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it] more abundantly.

Review

This series is an of our study on parenting and discipleship.

Spiritual parenting and discipleship are a to a focus on the original decree: be fruitful and .

In sum, God wants, lots of them.

One of the things that distinguishes other creatures is how much baby humans require compared to other .

While most baby mammals become in a relatively short period of time, it takes to

This accentuates the need of .

God designed humans in such a way that sustained care from theirmothers and fathers is.

This is no less true about parenting.

Natural parenting is spiritual parenting. A natural parent’s spiritual children just happen to be biologically assigned to them.

In the end, spiritual parenting is really what matters because the bond between a natural child and parent is only . The relationship between a spiritual parent and child is . (John 8:43-44)

Satan children. This is why we must be born again (John 3:3).

This is also why people without children are still responsible for parenting and why the natural and spiritual unit, as prescribed by Scripture, is vital.

The essential necessary to thrive in life natural and spiritually are given to us by our natural and spiritual parents.

This is why we’ve been emphatically addressing patterns of human behavior that exceed the scope of God’s boundaries for activity.

God created these holy to preserve human flourishing and to extend his to his offspring.

Jesus’ account of marriage in Matthew rules out , marriage, adultery and as things that God originally from the beginning.

There were three individuals whose hope was not only deferred,

1. Mary Magdalene was desperate, 20:1,2. (page 89 in pew Bible) and she helped prepare the body for burial, but they weren’t finished and had to wait until Sabbath was over. So she comes at dawn on that first day to finish the job but His body is gone! Here’s a woman whom Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her. She has come to show her last act of love and
2. 1. Thomas, Jesus’ disciple doubted- Haven’t there been times when you have doubted? You have doubted yourself. Doubted what others believed. Jesus appeared to the disciples that evening but Thomas wasn’t there.  Thomas is like the Eeyore of the disciples.  When Jesus wanted to go into Jerusalem when they were threatening to kill him, Thomas said, (Slide) “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.” John 11:12.  Now when they told him that Jesus was alive, he doubts them, John 20:25.
   2. But it’s Peter the disciple who publicly and repeatedly denied the Lord.  Let me ask you a question, “Have you ever lied?”  Of course you have! We’ve all told lies- to our family, to our friends, to others, to ourselves.  We kid ourselves to think that our lies will never catch up with us, but they do. God hears us in our lies.  Peter denied the Lord and it was killing him. (Slide) “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” Luke 22:61.

God Raises the Dead

Acts 26:19-27

Introduction

~1mo ago in SS we wtchd DTS Tbl Podcast on Nicene Creed Darrel Bock&Scott Horrell

Nicene Creed written AD325 to affirm Christian belief in trinity, partic deity of JS

Bock sd off handedly, we don’t gv enuf emphasis to role of God the Father in res of JS

JFS Easter/Resurrection Messages from 1991 to 2018 – I have not had one!!!

Today, I would like to look at the role of God the Father in the resurrection of JS

I. Research

A. Banter with Pastor Lucid, survey commentaries,

=> very little on the role of the Father in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

B. So I did a word study, consisting of all the words used w/r to the resurrection

Rise, risen, raise, raised, raising, rose, resurrection, brought up [fm the dead]

II. Results

A. JS died, he was buried in a tomb, rose on the third day 1Co15:1-6

B. JS spoke of His death and rising in all 4gospels: Mt16:21; Mk9:31; Lk9:22; J2:19

C. all 4gospels record resurrection encounters: Mt 28:6; Mk16:8; Lk24:6,7,34; J20:9

D. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are mentioned w/r to Jesus rising from the dead

Jesus – J2:19 and 10:17,18

Holy Spirit – Ro8:11 and 1Pt3:18

I fnd othr vss cited 2spprt JS and the Holy Spirit rol in JS res, bt context not spprt

E. ~38vss state that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead

• ~26vss, 100%clear – including Ac2²⁴ 17³¹ Ro4²⁴ 1Co6¹⁴ Ga1¹ 1Pt1²¹ Hb13²⁰
• 6vss, Nearly Certn, implied by passiv voice – including M16²¹1Co15¹²Mk14²⁸
• 6vss, High Probable fm context –including J21¹⁴ Ro6⁹ 1Co15¹⁵ 1Pt3²¹

F. Almst all th refrncs in th NT indicat God th Father raised Jesus the Son from the dead

3 passages in the OT note raising the dead is divine prerogative Dt32³⁹ 1SM2⁶ 2Kn5⁷

III. God the Father Raises Jesus From The Dead In Acts

A. Th gospels have many references but Acts has the most direct refs To Father raise Son

B. Ac 2:24,32 – Peter’s Pentecost sermon

C. Ac3:15,26 – Peter and John healing of lame man in temple and witnessing after

D. Ac13:30,33,34,37 – Paul at Pisidian Antioch, evangelistic sermon

E. Ac 17:31,32 – Paul at Mars Hill evangelistic sermon

F. Ac 26:8, 23 – Paul B4 Agrippa and Festus at Caesarea shortly before P sent to Rome

1. Festus hears P and Jews, P appealed to Caesar 25:11

2. Festus Presents the Case of Paul to Agrippa 25:13-22

3. Festus Explanation to Agrippa and Assembly 25:23-27

4. Paul’s Defense 26:1-23, note ref to God raise the dead v8

5. Festus and Agrippa’s response to Paul’s Defense

Festus – You’re mad, 24-26 1Co 1:23,24

Agrippa – You almost persuade me to become a Christian, 27,28

IV. What Are Some Things That Come With God The Father Raising Jesus from the Dead

A. I have tried to show you there is a major emphasis of God the Father in raising JS

B. Now this is obvious and yet I and many others hv not given this the proper emphasis

C. Let me share a few of th practicl and import implications that come fm this emphasis

1. Assurnc tht in th Day of Jdgmnt, th rghtsness of JS blngs 2blvrs. Ac17³¹ Ro4²⁴

2. We should walk with newness of life, enthusiasm for life with God center not

preoccupied with death and dying. Ro6^4,8,11-12

3. Hvng bn rsd w Christ, we shld set our minds on hvnly and eternal things Co3^1,2

4. We shld have a living hope. Hope that comes through in everyday living. 1Pt1³

5. The precs blood of th Lamb spilt and raised is th fndn of ur faith&hope 1Pt3²¹

6. We are works of God in progress and we need to do works with God’s will in

mind Hb13^20,21

7. U ar not ‘mad’ 2blv in the resurrection. Words of truth and reason Ac26:^23-25