Lent - Part 5

Lent for the Needs of the World

James 5:1-11
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Job was a man whose identity was tested. 

"God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede."
- Oswald Chambers

Here James was not attempting to condemn the rich or pit the rich against the poor, but to give both the rich and poor instruction in their situation.  As many of the Jewish Christians were displaced refugees in the Roman world, they would have found themselves in disadvantageous positions as they lived as the Diaspora.  Thus, James was instructing the Christian of means as to how they should live generously with their brethren while exhorting those in trying circumstances to persevere and take heart.  It is the same eternal focus of which God would remind us during Lent and have us live with today. 

We have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because the Lord is my shepherd.
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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

Lent for A Changing of Seasons

James 5:12-18
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

Elijah was a prophet whose insistence for God to show Himself strong was tested. 

We are creatures of habit. Don't quit doing what's right even when you don't feel it.  If you quit, it will become easier and easier to do so each subsequent time so that your life drifts out to sea with no sight of the shoreline. Conversely the same is true of right habits, which God calls faithfulness. Commit to this virtue and the joy that's entangled in the fruit of the Holy Spirit will manifest itself in you. 

Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.
- John Piper

Lent for the Lost

Lent is a season to find God's wandering and lost sheep. 

James 5:19-20
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

We're all in a place where our intentions are tested.

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Lent - Part 4

As we continue through Lent, James instructs us how to humble ourselves like Christ, that the Father might lift us up in due time.  If we follow in Jesus' pattern of daily taking up our cross, we will avoid the pitfalls of fights and quarrels that disrupt God-ordained relationships. Instead, there will be a resurrection of the purposes of God in our lives as we remember that our final destiny is to stand before God having advanced His agenda and kingdom, not our own. 

Fights and Quarrels

James 4:1-10
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

In the NCAA tournament, it's not about individual accolades, it's about the success of the team. 

Do you live this way in your workplace?  In your family unit?  In your city?  In your church?

Family Ties

People often don't commit to deep, stable relationships in society.  In the church, God calls us to do so because we are family. 

James 4:11-12
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

We should be filled with love to believe the best and speak the best about one another. Like God, we should be quick to forgive, slow to accuse or be suspicious.  When we are not slow to do these things, it is the enemy producing insecurity and disunity in the camp. We must fight for a culture of honor amongst us.  

Romans 12:9-13
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

We should be like the Amazon Echo - always listening and always searching for and responding with the voice of God over one another.

The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
- Socrates

The Final Bracket

James 4:13-17
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

We should be those who see from the whole to the part - meaning it's not just about me and my personal destiny.  It's about what God wants to do in his kingdom as exemplified through His gospel.  Lent reminds us to repent of sins of commission and omission - to do the good we need to do today since we will stand before God one day giving an account for it all.

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Lent - Part 3

During Lent, the sanctification process continues as we're shown the source of the restless evil in our lives and the right way of the wisdom of God found in Jesus.   The letter of James gives us guidelines for godly interactions with one another as we hope to share in the life of Christ together.

A Restless Evil

Through Lent, we're reminded that death was produced and directed in our relationships with God and one another by our tongues. 

James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Contain your speech

Say only what is useful for building others up according to their needs.
Ephesians 4:29

Complaints poison the well
Differentiate between your preferences and sin.  Correct sin, corral your preferences. 

Come into agreement with God
Speak the word of faith over others by saying only what God would say about them.  Be redemptive in your speech regarding your family, friends, co-workers, city, leaders, nation and world. 

No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.
-John Chrysostom

A Righted Way

Through Lent we're reminded of the wisdom and peace of God found in Christ. 

James 3:13-18
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Come into the light regarding shortcomings
Don't conceal (hide) them and don't keep them.

Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Continue to repent that you might become a peacemaker

How do I know when I'm walking in a destructive manner/being influenced by the demonic?

It tears down rather than builds.

2 Corinthians 13:10
For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

The fruit of our interactions produce envy, disorder and every evil practice (i.e. - gossip, slander, grumbling, disunity and mistrust).

How do I know when I'm giving/walking in the wisdom of God?

It builds up rather than tears down.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

What are peacemakers?  
They are those who live out the redemptive qualities of and point people to the cross of Jesus Christ. Through Lent we recognize that Jesus came as the Prince of Peace, the very wisdom of God to make peace with God through His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection from the dead. Turn away from sin and put your trust afresh in His saving work today. 

Romans 10:8-13
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” that is, the word of faith that we proclaim; because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

May this be our Lenten cry:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
- St. Patrick

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Lent - Part 2

Lent is a period where we reflect on the person, coming, sacrifice and purpose of Jesus Christ. In doing so, today we will focus on how He came to redeem both our attitudes towards one another and our actions produced by faith (or a lack thereof). 

Attitude

Your attitude towards others reveals your heart.

Lent reminds us not to show partiality in our love/treatment of others. 

James 2:1-13
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

"God's tolerance for sin has not softened around the edges.  And while his only begotten Son has since laid down his life as the ultimate, blemish-free sacrifice for our sins, it does nothing to diminish the directive in this three-word sentence: "Stop doing evil (Isaiah 1:16)."  Don't take a break from evil.  Or fast from evil.  Or be sure to clean up after yourself when you're done.   Stop doing evil."
- Sharon Hodde Miller

Actions

Your actions reveal your faith/trust in God.

Lent reminds us not to piecemeal God's commands. 

James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

In reference to Isaiah 4:2:
"Divine judgment on society begins to manifest itself in the disappearance of solid leadership, and the appearance of immature, capricious leaders."

"Redemption always has the last word.  No matter the darkness and confusion, chaos never reigns.  God reigns.  He is always in control, leading the sadness and mess toward one inevitable conclusion:

HE WINS.

Death dies.

Suffering is extinguished.

Joy comes in the morning.

Whether our present leaders are corrupt, or our personal lives are in shambles, this present darkness is not the end of the story."
- Sharon Hodde Miller

"Heard this today: You don't have to participate with church to be a Christian. You don't have to go home to be married. But in both cases you will have a very poor relationship.
- Charles Kiefer, via Facebook

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Lent - Part 1

Our Trials

Show us our limits

James 1:1-11
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Our Temptations

Show us our need for Christ

James 1:12-25
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Our Target

Shows us God's trajectory for our lives

God's commands give us practical targets in life towards which we can aim. 

James 1:26-27
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Guest Speaker - Peter Ahlin - Five Breakthroughs

Individual (Genesis 38:27-30)

Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in [Tamar’s] womb. And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

Familial (Ruth 4:9-14,18-22)

Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.” And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.” So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!”

Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

National (1 Samuel 17:23-24,45-53)

As [David] talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents.

Global/Eternal (Acts 10:38-40; Hebrews 2:14-15; Colossians 2:13-15; 1 John 3:8)

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

(καταργέω -- to deprive of force, influence, power)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

(λύω – to untie, loose | to dissolve, overthrow, destroy)

Transformational (1 Corinthians 15:57; Romans 5:17; Matthew 28:18; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:29; 1 John 5:4)

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Jesus said to them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

Wishin' and Hopin'

The Bible is so very practical as it God's gift to us to unwrap and explain the most important facets of life.  It is no different as it addresses our deep-seated, God-given desire for intimate love.  Through the Scripture, God instructs us tenderly as we go through seasons of cooing for love, cultivating love and ultimately realizing our need to find contentment in Christ. 

Cooing for Love

Wisdom While You Wait

Song of Solomon 2:7
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

Purity is attractive.  You don't need to go the provocational route. 

Purity is power in Christ.

1 Timothy 5:1-2
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

Prepare for the Day

Proverbs 31:1-3
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

This is referring to women with no love for the Lord.  The same is true for women of God who need to avoid godless or lukewarm Christian men. 

NO
Meghan Trainor
Lyrics
I think it's so cute and I think it's so sweet
How you let your friends encourage you to try and talk to me
But let me stop you there, oh, before you speak
Nah to the ah to the, no, no, no
My name is no, my sign is no, my number is no
You need to let it go, you need to let it go
Need to let it go
Nah to the ah to the, no, no, no
My name is no, my sign is no, my number is no
You need to let it go, you need to let it go
Need to let it go
Nah to the ah to the, no, no, no

Proverbs 31:10-31
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

CULTIVATING LOVE

Keep your eyes on the prize (your spouse).

Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Comparison Kills

You reap what you sow into your spouse. 

The husband is the head of the wife just in so far as he is to her what Christ is to the Church - read on - and give his life for her (Eph. V, 25). This headship, then, is most fully embodied not in the husband we should all wish to be but in him whose marriage is most like a crucifixion; whose wife receives most and gives least, is most unworthy of him, is - in her own mere nature - least lovable. For the Church has not beauty but what the Bride-groom gives her; he does not find, but makes her, lovely. The chrism of this terrible coronation is to be seen not in the joys of any man's marriage but in its sorrows, in the sickness and sufferings of a good wife or the faults of a bad one, in his unwearying (never paraded) care or his inexhaustible forgiveness: forgiveness, not acquiescence. As Christ sees in the flawed, proud, fanatical or lukewarm Church on earth that Bride who will one day be without spot or wrinkle, and labours to produce the latter, so the husband whose headship is Christ-like (and he is allowed no other sort) never despairs. He is a King Cophetua who after twenty years still hopes that the beggar-girl will one day learn to speak the truth and wash behind her ears.
- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Wives respect and love your husbands based not merely on the good you may or may not see presently, but looking past him to who God is calling him to be and the man God ultimately created him to be.

Content in the Love of Jesus

According to Jesus, there will be no marriage at the resurrection, so you need to learn to be satisfied and fulfilled in him sooner rather than later (Matthew 22:23-33). 

Hosea speaks of the Lord as His people's husband. 

Undivided Devotion

Celibacy is a valid option that should not be looked down upon. 

1 Corinthians 7:6-9, 32-38
Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give.
-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Lead Me To the Cross (song)

John 14:1-6
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Super Bowl Sunday - Be the First

We are at the convergence of a potential history-making Super Bowl and the initial weekend of Black History Month where we have the ability to celebrate many firsts. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Tom Brady attempts to become the first NFL quarterback to win 5 Super Bowls. Jesus has areas in which He desires for us to strive to be the first. 

You are part of a larger, uninterrupted story of the kingdom of God advancing, starting its record in the pages of Scripture and continuing with the choices that we make today. How will you be remembered by God? By history? You might be the...

First to stand for Jesus in your family

First to serve Jesus actively rather than nominally in your sphere of influence 

First to lead someone to the Lord

First to take a stand for Jesus in your friendship group 

First person you know to serve and make an impact in your community in Jesus' name. 

What you do in private will eventually make its way public. 

Be the first to be full of integrity

Will your life be marked by an identification with and love for Jesus?

Luke 12:1-12
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Don't live life with an asterisk by your name - barely escaping through the flames.

You will be known for something. What will your legacy be?

Be the first to be generous (rich towards God)

Will your life's contribution have been pleasing to God?

Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

Be the first to seek the kingdom

Will you be able to say that your priorities were in the right order?

Luke 12:22-34 
And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Be the first to serve

Stay ready and leave it all on the field.

Will you be ready to meet Jesus?

Luke 12:35-48
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity. 
- Martin Luther King

Jesus went to the cross that He might take the penalty for our sin and be the firstborn from among the dead.  Through the Father, Jesus reigns as the supreme ruler of Heaven and earth and is now calling us to put Him first (Matthew 28:18-20).

Let's Go! - Pastoring and Preaching

Pastoring

For your healing, you need to be:

• Vulnerable

• Vested

• Have an expectation of victory

Matthew 12:9-21 
He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” 

Preaching

Each One Reach One

Matthew 9:35-38
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 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.”

“It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”
- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
- Mother Teresa

“Why is it that some Christians cross land and sea, continents and cultures, as missionaries? What on earth impels them? It is not in order to commend a civilization, an institution or an ideology, but rather a person, Jesus Christ, whom they believe to be unique. ”
- John R.W. Stott

“We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.”
- Ravi Zacharias

"Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.  It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither."
Quotes from Mere Christianity, Part 44
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins 2001) 134.

Second City Church: Let's Go! Sermon Series 2017

Let's Go! - Lift Up and Link Up

Exodus 17:8-16
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Coming out of a time of fasting, prayer, and consecration, we are imbued with fresh
Power in the Holy Spirit
Perspective
Pruning
Peace.

How do we keep these things once we've left the mountain?

Lift Up

Amalek comes from the root word Amal meaning: wearing effort and worry.

It is what Jesus referenced in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) saying that even when there is understanding and a root system (private life developed in Christ), the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for pleasures or other things come in to choke the Word making it unfruitful in your life. 

This means that God's gospel ambitions and kingdom directives are no longer your own. 

A kingdom principle we will never get around:

As long as Moses' hands were raised, the Israelites were winning; when they were lowered, the Amalekites were winning. 

Consistency counts in the kingdom and in life.  

It is the product of faith in someone (Jesus) being willing and able (Matthew 8:1-4) or that something (laying hold of His throne in prayer) works.  If you have faith, it produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is faithfulness. 

This is the prayer life of the church (I Timothy 2:8) beginning with the leadership on behalf of the people who are in the fight of faith. 

Psalm 121:1-8 
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

If you are going to lead, you've got to go up the hill to have a bigger perspective than just your individual life (Acts 6:1-7).  The staff of God represented God's authority, power, and direction as the good shepherd. 

"Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

How can we make that express the love of God to make things better for people on earth while inspiring the reward of heaven when we stand before Jesus one day?

Link Up

You need to go up with Aaron and Hur.

LinkedIn Profile for your Aaron and Hur:

1) They are with you on the hill. 

Here is a case where proximity matters.

2) They are of the same family (of faith).

Here is a case where the perspective/person you get your counsel from matters.

When attempting to follow Christ, many people continue to indulge on the advice and support of those who have no love for God just because they've known them longer and there is comfort there. The lesson of the gospel though is that Jesus continually builds new communities of faith wherefrom you derive your counsel while you bring others along who you know and love (Moses left the courts of Pharoah to be united to his Hebrew kin who would by faith, go into God's directive of the promised land.) See Psalm 1:1.

3) They are in the same fight.

Here is a case when where people are pointed matters. 

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Joshua overcame with the sword. 

Use the same sword of the Spirit that Jesus uses in the wilderness to overcome the devil's temptations, that you relied on to fight and was bread to nourish you in the time of consecration. 

"A hand upon the throne of the Lord" - The Lord is my banner.

God's design is that through trust in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross and victory in His resurrection from the dead, God will make war on the wearisome effort and worry from generation to generation. 

"It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you."
- Timothy J. Keller

Second City Church: Let's Go! Sermon Series 2017

Let's Go! - Part 2

Church Fast January 16th-20th for Breakthrough

One man definitely familiar with fasting was Moses.  Psalm 90 is the singular Psalm we have attributed to Him (Moses was busy with the Law).  During times of fasting, God provides perspective, pruning, and peace that we might walk with Him in His eternal pleasures. 

Perspective

Psalm 90:1-17
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! 

Pruning

Jesus referred to Deuteronomy (which Moses also wrote) repeatedly during His trial in the desert to overcome Satan's temptations.  It would be good to understand the heart behind God's commandments during moments of humbling/testing.

Deuteronomy 8:1-20
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Peace

Second City Church: Let's Go! Sermon Series 2017

Let's Go!

Please join our Church Fast January 16th -20th and click to use this helpful prayer and fasting guide. 

Luke 4:1-15
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 

The purpose of fasting:
1) Humbling ourselves
2) Acknowledging dependence on God
3) Believing for breakthrough

In the new year, you will have the same temptations face you as did Jesus.

Temptation #1: 
The devil attacked Jesus' identity (If you are the son of God...) and ability (command this stone to become bread), appealing to His carnal appetites.

Have you ever said: I work so hard, I deserve this sin pleasure, break from obedience, etc.? 

What are the carnal pleasures offered in the city?

Will I allow the simple, carnal pleasures of life to satisfy me or will I allow God to draw me into intimacy with Himself, provoking me into the most good for humanity, this city and the world?

You may lay hold of that which you can make with your own hands - see, taste, touch, etc., while inwardly you wither.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying the things God designed us to need in life - you should, just as God says to eat to live physically.  (Plan trips with your family/brothers and sisters in Christ, enjoy events in the city, discover new eateries, but always remember: Man does not live on bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Will my focus be solely working for my daily bread, or will I live on the Word of God which orders my steps and feeds my soul for the eternal purposes of God?

Temptation #2:
The devil tempted Jesus with power and honor.

"I will give you the world's authority, glory, acclaim, popularity..."

Worshiping the devil can be outright, but it can also be more subtle - cutting corners and breaking the commands of God to get ahead.

Appealing to the ways of the world in dress, speech or what you promote to be seen.

Worship also means "service."  

Where is the lion's share of your energy going and what is it building?  

Can you see the touch of Christ on it and would He value it (Luke 16:15)?
(I.e. - making money to provide generously for kingdom endeavors and strengthening the poor, medicine appeals to the heart of God the healer, education to Christ the Rabbi and a good teacher, working construction or doing real estate to His creativity and cultivating the earth....) But what is the end of it?  What does it lead to?

Do not work for promotion, your career and power at the expense of Christ's kingdom, because in it you find your identity.

Worship the Lord your God,  and Him only shall you serve. (see Deuteronomy 6:13/Luke 4:8 ESV)

Temptation #3:
The devil tempted Jesus with an improper appropriation of God's Word. 

You shall not put the Lord Your God to the test.

How do we do this?

"Oh, we can sin when we want, in drunkenness, lust, pornography, harsh words to our spouses, backbiting at work, exasperating our children - because it says God will forgive me...."

Do not take the Lord for granted. You will reap what you sow this year.

After his defeat, the devil left (I Peter 5:9-11) until an opportune time.  It is a cycle and we must be prepared.  Fasting and prayer puts us in such a place as we set our hearts and minds on God, His word and His eternal ends.

The goal is to return to the city in the power of the Spirit, just like Christ, to see souls saved, disciples made and a city rebuilt to His glory.

1 Corinthians 1:28-31
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Second City Church: Let's Go Sermon Series 2017

The Advent - Part 2

Not So Uncommon Struggle - Common Hope

The Advent season reminds all that we have not so uncommon struggles in life overcome by our common hope in Christ.

Not So Uncommon Struggle

We all have a story.  Many times our experiences make us feel isolated or misunderstood.

The good news is that all roads lead to Christ for redemption, healing, hope and salvation. 

Luke 1:39-45
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” 

Elizabeth - years of barrenness and frustration in a culture where posterity defined you. (We are sensitive toward those hoping for children.)

Mary - a scandal of teen pregnancy in a religious culture. (We are sensitive to those who have experienced this.) Joseph almost divorced her.

The Advent brings you into a deeper relationship with the family of God. 

The Advent is a time for family, where those who share your mutual faith come together to rejoice in all that God has promised and is bringing to fulfillment.  Those that you walk with in the birthing season are those with whom you should walk out the promise.  There is a common struggle, vocabulary, and joys when God brings about His promises.

Whether you are a person who is:
Trying to make ends meet,
Dealing with physical sickness or the
Loss of a loved one, 
Trying to restore a strained marriage,
Navigating parenting issues, sin issues,
Attempting to overcome depression, mental illness, insecurities or fears, Trying to find work-life balance that allows you to prioritize the most important people and things in life,
Putting your life back together after an addiction or run-in with the law, or Trying to find your true north finding purpose in your workdays....
Jesus is the common solution despite our varying cares.  

The Advent reminds us that we are not alone.  You have a Heavenly Father who cares.  You have Christ - Emmanuel.   You have the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in you as a believer. You have His people.

Psalm 68:6
God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. 

Practical Instruction:  What you begin to walk in during the Advent season because your heart has been turned toward God, continue to pursue with the people of God thereafter.  They are integral to your unfolding redemptive story in Christ.  John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth, would literally prepare the way for Jesus' (Mary's son's) ministry in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies.  

Isaiah 40:1-2
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 

You can imagine the days and content of John the Baptist's preaching (in addition to repent and believe the good news):

Isaiah 40:3-27
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. 

Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. 

Common Hope

The Advent brings you into a deeper realization of the reality of God.

Luke 1:46-56
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.   

I've heard it said that our life experiences can explain us.  In Christ, they never need to define us.  Because of the advent we have the hope of becoming a new creation in Jesus.

There is an answer and instruction for every condition that we might meet and truly live in Christ.

What Jesus' younger half-brother James learned from the Lord:

James 5:13-16
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 

Peter, after three years of discipleship in Jesus' inner circle, would encourage the people of God with these words:

1 Peter 5:6-11
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

Jesus' cross to take away your sin and resurrection to provide new life were the culmination of the first Advent.  Meet Him there in repentance and faith today. 

Second City Church: The Advent Sermon Series 2016

The Advent - God Is a Promise Keeper

Luke 1:26-38 
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. 

Therefore, we should live holy lives.

2 Peter 3:1-18 
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Second City Church: The Advent Sermon Series 2016

Guest Speaker - Cole Parleir

Advent

Preparing for God's Promise of Christ

What is Advent?

Growing up in a plethora of Protestant and Charismatic churches in NC, I had no idea what ‘advent’ was.  It was either because we didn’t talk about it or I was just caught up in the kids Christmas play and didn’t realize what was happening.  Learning of different denominations of Christianity and the traditional Christian calendar, I now know what Advent is. My life has more structure now in general, praise the Lord!

In case you are like me and don't know what the Advent season is and the word advent, it comes from the Latin word ‘advenire’ which is two words, ‘ad’ meaning ‘to’ and ‘venire’ meaning ‘come.’  Together we get the word advent meaning: something to come.  Think “arrival,’ no not the aliens and their language.

Dictionary.com says it’s a noun meaning
A coming into place, view, or being; arrival.
the coming of Christ into the world.

The period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, so welcome to the advent season -  since it started last Sunday!

Synonyms
Onset, beginning, commencement, start.

What is the “Christ” or the “Messiah”?

Messiah
Hebrew for ‘anointed one’

Christ
Greek translation of messiah meaning, ‘anointed one’

The anointed one
anoint means to “smear or rub with oil”
Synonymous
Consecrate, bless, ordain, hallow

Anointed to do what?
To be the victor over Satan and sin prophesied since the fall

“And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.””-Genesis‬ 3:15‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”-Romans‬ 16:20‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The blessing to all peoples through Abraham, the father of faith:
““I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.””
--Genesis‬ 12:2-3‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

““Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.””---Acts‬ 3:24-26‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Passover Lamb of God

“Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.”--Exodus‬ 12:21-23‬ NIV‬    ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is Godʼs Chosen One.”--John‬ 1:29-34‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Prophet like Moses

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”---Deuteronomy‬ 18:15-19‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”--John‬ 6:14‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Suffering Savior for the sins of the world

“See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord ʼs will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”--Isaiah‬ 52:13-53:12‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”--1 Peter‬ 2:21-25‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”--Isaiah‬ 9:1-7‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Immanuel – God with Us

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”--Isaiah‬ 7:14‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”--Matthew‬ 1:21-25‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

‬‬The Son of God and The Son of Man

“Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”--John‬ 1:49-51‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Light of the world

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbandʼs will, but born of God.”--John‬ 1:9-13‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Word

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”--John‬ 1:14-18‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬

Who is the Christ?

Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one.

“And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him (Jesus). He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."--Luke‬ 4:17-19‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Peter, by revelation from the Father:
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”--Matthew‬ 16:13-19‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬
 

One Solitary Life by Dr. James Allen Francis (Son of Man)

“Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend.

Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life…”

This one solitary life is the only life. He is the beginning and the end, the way the truth and the life, the only way to God the Father, the savior of the world, the Lord of heaven and earth, the healer, the redeemer, the vine, the king of all, the Christ, the Messiah, the teacher, the giver of the Holy Spirit….and the soon to return king, savior, and judge.  

Response

If today you have realized for the first time the grand story of God's plan to save the earth, to save you by washing your sins away because of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the Lord forevermore, respond today.

Jesus says,

““All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”” - Matthew‬ 11:27-30‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Father has chosen to reveal Himself to you today. Will you accept God's invitation to come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus to give you eternal life and bring you into a relationship the Father?

What Now? - Part 2

How to Reconcile With Family and Friends After the Election

The Wall Street Journal article

Psalm 62:1-12
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

Exodus 25:8
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

Numbers 35:6
“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

Numbers 35:9-29
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died, or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. “But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

Model Christ

The church is to be like a city of refuge.

1 Peter 2:9-10 
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

Proverbs 31:8-9
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. 

Leviticus 19:33-34
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Perhaps second-hand cares, like second-hand clothes, come easily off and on.
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The Church has largely replaced the Gospel of the Kingdom with the Gospel of salvation. It's the beauty of the salvation message that makes it so easy to miss the fact that it is only a part of the whole message that Jesus gave us. The Gospel of salvation is focused on getting people saved and going to Heaven. The Gospel of the Kingdom is focused on the transformation of lives, cities, and nations through the effect of God's present rule- this is made manifest by bringing the reality of Heaven to earth. We must not confuse our destiny with our assignment. Heaven is my destiny, while bringing the Kingdom is my assignment. The focus of the Kingdom message is the rightful dominion of God over everything. Whatever is inconsistent with Heaven- namely, disease, torment, hatred, division, sin habits, etc.- must come under the authority of the King. These kinds of issues are broken off of people's lives because inferior realms cannot stand wherever the dominion of God becomes manifest. As we succeed in displaying this message, we are positioned to bring about cultural change in...
- Bill Johnson, God is Good, p. 67

Point People to Christ

Exodus 4:27-31 
The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Hebrews 7:23-25 
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 

Galatians 3:27-29 
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Ephesians 2:11-22
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 

What do I do with people who are insensitive?

Luke 23:32-43
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Second City Church: What Now? Sermon 2016

What Now?

What Now?

Our Trust

Psalm 146:1-10 
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!  

Joshua 5:13-15
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. 

I know that many people are disappointed, scared and hurt.  God is not a xenophobe, mysoginist or racist.  He is no respecter of persons and He is righteous, loving and just.  God is and forever will be on His throne.  So do not fear, but pray.  As the church, we had work to do before the election and we have work to do after.  The world was fallen before November 8th, separated from a holy and just God, and it is separated today.  The gospel was God's peace making, reconciling and restorative answer before shifts in power, and it is continually our mission now.  Let's unify to heal and to be peacemakers who sow in peace that we might raise a harvest of righteousness to the honor of God.  This is Jesus' charge to the church.

Matthew 5:2-9
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 

Romans 13

Exodus 22:28
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people." 

2 Chronicles 7:13-16
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 

Christ stands in the gap as our intercessor.  He cares about all the issues. 

We undoubtedly have work to do as the church, because neither side fully represented the kingdom of God.

Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:30
No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.

Our Temperment

1 Timothy 2:1-6
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

The issue is what is in people's hearts. This is what we depend on Jesus to change. 

Our recent events expose issues that were under the surface of our society for years but now are brought to the surface.  The events expose the idolatrous notions of our hearts and where we place our ultimate trust, to whom we look to fix our world. 

In issues being exposed, this can be our finest hour. 

Our responsibility now is to be the church and do our part, in humility, faith and grace, to help economically, academically and socially to bring about the order that Christ's kingdom represents. 

May God be seen as in charge, that it is our responsibility to pray and the focus should forever be the gospel.

Romans 12:14-18 
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

James 1:19-21 
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 

Avoid the poison - take a break from the inciting that comes from social media if it is causing you to sin. 

Second City Church: What Now? Sermon 2016

Guest Speaker - Reggie Roberson

Prevailing Through Prayer

It would be crazy of me not to mention and congratulate the city for a winning an amazing World Series. In winning the World Series Cleveland was prevented from capturing two of the major sports titles. It was nerve wracking and yet at the same time a wonderful thing to prevail and win.

That's what I want to talk about this morning -prevailing. The specific title of this message is going to be prevailing through prayer.

Prevail

1. Having superior power or influence.

2. Effectual

So the focus this morning is on prayer that brings in the superior power and influence of God that produces a dynamic effect.

As I was praying for you, Second City Church, I felt by the Spirit of God to encourage you that God is going to move in some blatant and subtle supernatural ways in your life and the lives of those you know and in those who you have never met. The way we like to say that in church terms is that there's going to be a harvest. God is on the move yet He is inviting us to move with Him. You may find yourself in a place where there is a personal challenge that seems impossible or you may look around and become overwhelmed by the culture in Chicago and lack of receptivity and responsiveness to the hope of the gospel. With God all things are possible and we are able to prevail over personal challenges and culture. One of the keys to this supernatural move is in fact prevailing in prayer.

(NCCU story)

Let's take an exclusive peak into a prayer that prevailed in Acts 4 to discover these dynamics of prevailing prayer.

Luke begins the book of Acts with a story about the resurrected Jesus telling His disciples to wait in the city until they receive a special endowment of power. They do what they know to do which is pray. One day while they are praying during the celebration called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes in power and fills each of the 120 gathered. Because it was a celebration, many nations were gathered there and Peter shared the gospel and 3000 people got baptized. Sometime shortly after this, Peter and John are going up to the Temple at the hour of prayer and they see a man at the gate called Beautiful who is lame. They reach out there hands to him to help him get up in Jesus' name and he gets miraculously healed. Many people witness this healing and know this man because he was lame for 40 years. They marvel at Peter and John and the miracle they performed. He shares the gospel with them and many believed and became followers of Christ -approximately 2000 more men bring the number to 5000 in men alone and plus 120. The rulers in Jerusalem came and heard them telling people about Jesus and were angry because they thought they already dealt with him. They arrested them and asked them by what power did you heal this man. Peter shares the gospel again. The rulers confer with each other and have nothing to say and decide to release them but warn them to not speak in the name of Jesus any more or something worse will happen. The Christ followers tell them that they can't stop speaking about what they’ve seen and heard. This is where our story picks up:

Acts‬ ‭4:23-33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”‭‭

Main point: There are four dynamics of prevailing prayer that this passage reveals:   

Together

Persistent

Biblical

Faith

Together v. 23, 24

Our text says that Peter and John went to their Christ-following friends. They lifted up their voices together.  Why did they pray together? A fuller display of Christ comes when we pray together and dynamic power in agreement. It is true that God lives in the individual person who receives Christ in his or her life. However, much of the Bible is written to groups of people who Paul says Christ lives in you plural.

Colossians 1:27 Christ in you all is the hope of glory.  
Colossians 2:9 in you all is the fullness of the Godhead

In other words, a fuller expression of Christ’s wisdom and power is displayed when we pray with other followers of Christ.  There is dynamic power released when believers agree in prayer. We are better together!  

Engagement Testimony Prayers

Do you have friends who you tell what you're facing and pray with them?

Action point: Get with family members, husbands and wives, co-workers, friends. We are better together.  

(Story of two women who were going to pray at work).

If you are going to see prayers that prevail you will need to have people who are praying for you and with you.  

Persistent v. 24

They lifted their voices immediately. The didn’t sit around wondering what to do.  Prayer was a familiar thing for these followers of Christ.  Persistence is both passion and consistency. This particular passage in Acts 4 is not the first time disciples prayed.

Jesus taught them in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:5-14 how…

Prayer is conversation in which you invite God to be involved in your world in a direct way- nothing more or nothing less (doesn’t require a special position- body or organizationally, some special clothes, nonverbal expressions, or vocal tones or language changing).  It’s you speaking like you would to someone you honor and who you knew loved you.  This prayer or conversation that Jesus taught them was not only about speaking but also and even more so about listening.

There all types of prayers or conversations you can have...adoration, confession, petition, intercession, thanksgiving and heavenly tongues-praying in the spirit.  

These Christ followers became aware of all of these types of prayers before our main passage in Acts 4.  There is actually a mention of these followers of Christ praying in each preceding chapter:

They prayed at all times and seasons:  

Exciting times

“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”‭‭ Acts‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭ESV
‬‬Expectation from risen Christ about power!

Mundane times

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:42‬ ‭ESV‬

“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.”‭‭Acts‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Challenging times

Acts 4 (main text)  

Crisis should not be the only time we pray because it can be hard to receive God’s guidance. Anxiety and confusion may prevent us from hearing God’s answer for the crisis (airplane story). When you’ve created a familiar space where you’ve heard God before, then it’s easier to hear despite the crisis.  Yet if a crisis is where you start to pray, then continue during the mundane times, and the exciting times as well.

Do you have daily scheduled times of prayer?

Action point: We need to schedule regular moments of prayer throughout the day before you start work, when you arrive at work, before you eat a meal, before you go to bed.

When you pray with others and pray persistently, you set yourself up to experience prayers that prevail.

Biblical v.25-26

Something incredibly profound takes place in our main text.  These followers of Christ are having a conversation with God and in the middle of their prayer and they use a Bible passage in Psalm 2:1-2 as a reference point for their prayer.  

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed...” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Psalm 2:1-2 they believed talked about what Christ experienced and what they were experiencing from these rulers.  Why did they use a Bible passage in prayer? The Bible helps us to understand God’s plan and reveals His will.

They understood that praying in light of the Bible, in reference to the Bible, or using Bible Scriptures meant that they were praying in agreement with God's will and plan.  Praying in agreement with God’s will and plan makes for a prayer that will prevail.  God is not going to release His power and wisdom into something that is not His will. Prayer is really about praying God’s will back to Him.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 John 5:14

Deuteronomy 6 story

That Psalm 2:1-2 Bible passage came out of them because they put it inside of their hearts before the challenge and crisis came.  What Bible passage or verse have you put in your heart? Do you read the Bible daily? Do you learn about, and memorize scripture?

We should put Bible Scriptures in us and pray them.

When you pray the Bible you can pray boldly because you know that God hears you and will agree with what you are praying because you pray His will. Biblical prayers are likely to be prevailing prayers.     

Faith

The choice to pray in Faith: Faith is placing your confidence and trust in God. The depth or strength of your faith is directly related to your view of God.

(Paul)- My God will supply all your needs Phil. 4:13
-according to my gospel my God will judge the living and the dead 2 Tim. 4:1
 All things were for him and by him Col. 1:16

Let’s look at how their view of God is expressed through this Acts 4 prayer that prevails:

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said….‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is personal

He's not an it or an energy, influence, or a force.  He is a person that communicates and connects with us.

Prayer strengthens our relationship and connection with God.  Prayer provided space to experience God in a real way although He is invisible.    

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord... ‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is sovereign

Their perspective of God was that He is on the throne and has superior power and influence over even the nations or leaders.

He has the authority and right to determine affairs, events, and how their prayer got answered.

We have to let God answer our prayers the way He wants to.  We often get in trouble when we create a picture in our mind of how God should do something.  Most of the time life never ends up the exact way you pictured it.  This is the mercy of God -He withholds from you some things that would not have been good for you at the time you asked for them. The mystery of prayer is that God allows us to partner with Him to see His will take place in our life and in the lives of others, yet He does it they way He wants to do it.  

(Debt reduction story)

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,”‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is great

They acknowledge God’s infinite power as the creator.  Surely if He makes the heavens and the earth then He can make our situations right and/or make us right in the situations.

Acknowledging God’s greatness lifts us out of impossibilities to possibilities and out of weakness to strength- out of heaviness into joy -out of fear into faith.  

(Getting into NCCU with Reverend Page)

Our prayer should not magnify our problems but should magnify God! God deserves the glory because He is great!

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." 4:29-30

God is helper

They understood they needed help and that they could access God's wisdom, power, and goodness as they were faced with challenging situations.  As a result, they were a humble people. Humility is a critical part of faith because humility in a person recognizes a need for God and attracts His grace or power.   

“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."”‭‭James‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

One reason why people don’t prevail in prayer is because they think they got it.  That is, they don’t need God to help them.  You're trusting in your own strength and ability to fulfill your God given purpose.  This is a great misunderstanding of God’s plan for your life and His plan for those you serve (in your different vocations). God’s plan for your life is always going to transcend your natural abilities and talents.  What God wants to do in your careers, work, relationships, and your heart is too great for just your own abilities. The Gospel says that no matter how much we try we can never fulfill God’s plan for our life on our own.  We need His strength and power.  You don’t just need natural, you need you supernatural. When we turn away from trusting in ourselves and our own ability and put our trust in God, He sends the Helper or Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. God is a helper.  In whatever challenge you are facing you must believe that God is a helper.  

(There was a woman...Story with my mother and noonday prayer and my testimony...)

Conclusion: Don't be discouraged by not seeing immediate results and delays - a harvest is coming. Let's partner with God.

Let's prevail in prayer as we pray…

Together

Persistently

Biblically

Faith

Second City Church: Guest Speaker Reggie Roberson 2016

Unstuck

Change of Heart

Psalm 51:7-13

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 

Change of Sight

2 Kings 6:15-19

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria. 

Change of Direction

John 8:1-11  

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Second City Church: Unstuck Sermon Series 2016

Guest Speaker - Peter Ahlin

(1)    What will the world do?

a.       Living without awareness

(Matt 24:37-39) -- 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

b.      Lawlessness spreading

(Genesis 6:5) The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

(Matt 24:12) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

c.       Laughing at any concept of judgment and accountability

(2 Peter 3:3-6)  In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

(2)    What is God doing?

a.       Preserving the heavens and earth for the day of judgment

(2 Peter 3:7,10) -- 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.  10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

b.      Preparing new heavens and a new earth

(2 Peter 3:13) 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

c.       Patiently waiting that as many as possible would be saved

(2 Peter 3:8-9) With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

(3)    What should we do? 

a.       Stand firm

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

(Matthew 24:12-13; II Peter 3:17)

b.      Spotlessly live

(2 Peter 3:11,14) 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives! … Since you are looking forward to this [i.e. news heavens and new earth], make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  (both judgment and reward motivate this)

c.       Speed His coming!

(2 Peter 3:12) 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

Second City Church: Guest Speaker Peter Ahlin 2016