Chicago Fire - Jesus and a Church with Eyes Wide Open

Acts 8:1-25 1 And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city. 9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” 25After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

We must ask God to open our eyes to see how our trials fit into the divine purposes that He has for you and His church.

1) God is not as interested in your comfortable lifestyle as you are. He wants His will done.

Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

2) People make great boasts in the world. You will have to continually reorient yourself to God's values and what your priorities should be.

Luke 16:15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

3) God will remove whatever you find your identity in outside of Him.

Matthew 6:22-24 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

4) God will not be an additive. He is concerned with His Son's glory, not yours. If you focus on God's glory, it will lead to your good (Romans 8).

5) Repentance and baptism are where you begin to see clearly. Receiving the Holy Spirit is how you are empowered to live differently with God's focus for your life.

Second City Church- Chicago Fire 2015 Sermon Series

Chicago Fire - Jesus and an Enduring Church

Acts 7: 1-60 (NIV) Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. 20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’ 35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon. 44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

God wants to build something through your life that is bigger than you.

1) You are part of a story that was being written before you were here and will continue to be told, if the Lord delays His return, long after you are gone.

2) God's purposes are achieved through His people, not just a person.

3) God is multigenerational in His perspective.

4) God's unfolding plan takes more time than we'd like to give to it.

5) God's plan has to do with people, not just concepts or theories.

How are you being a disciple and helping make disciples?

6) God's plans for you will always lead to Jesus, the cross and the gospel.

Second City Church- Chicago Fire 2015 Sermon Series

Chicago Fire - Jesus and a Theology of the Church

We need a revived theology of what it means to be an active part of the church and not just an attendee in this generation.

History of Acts to Acts 6:8-7:1

The church is described as: 1) Living stones (I Peter 2:4-10)

2) Needing faithfulness (Galatians 5:22)

3) The body of Christ (I Corinthians 12-14)

4) Oaks of righteousness (Isaiah 61:1-3)

5) God's field (I Corinthians 3:5-9) God's building (Ephesians 2:19-22) - You know where to find them.

6) God's household (a family) The pillar and foundation of God's truth in society (I Timothy 3:15)

Truth is important because it determines how you relate to God, your family, your co-workers, neighbors, the opposite sex, friends and the world around you. It determines how you live.

Learn more in our biblical foundations class: Roots. (More information can be found on our web calendar.)

Psalm 92:12-15 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord,they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age,they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

The house of the Lord is a prominent theme in Psalms.

Second City Church- Chicago Fire 2015 Sermon Series

Chicago Fire - 7 Realities of the Resurrection

 

Luke 24:36-53 (NIV) 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. 

1) Jesus was resurrected in the body, not just in the spirit.

You will be resurrected bodily too. Sickness, pain and disease will be put to an end for those who belong to Jesus (I Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:1-5).

2) Jesus died and rose in fulfillment of the Scripture.

God knows the end from the beginning, foresaw your sin, suffering and pain. In advance, He provided a solution for it in Jesus.

Isaiah 52-53 (NIV)

“The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom... It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven."

"The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.”
― N.T. Wright

3) Repentance and forgiveness of sins are inextricably bound.

Make no doubt about it: SIN IS THE ISSUE THAT HAS BROKEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH A HOLY GOD (Isaiah 59:1,2). Sin HAD TO BE PAID FOR by Jesus on the cross or will be paid for by the unrepentant (John 3:16-21).

4) There were original eyewitnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:1-5).

5) Those who were called by God would be empowered and sent by the Holy Spirit to be continual witnesses (Acts 1:1-11).

6) Jesus was then and will forever be worshiped (Philippians 2:5-11).

7) Great joy would mark those that were added and lived as a part of His body, the church (Luke 24:50-53)

“...left to ourselves we lapse into a kind of collusion with entrophy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

DON'T GET DETACHED AFTER EASTER SUNDAY! Remain in the joy of Christ's resurrection by staying connected to God and His local church!

Second City Church- Chicago Fire Sermon Series 2015

Friends with Benefits - Friends Who Fight for You

Ephesians 6:10-24 (NIV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. 21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. 23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Joshua 1:10-18 (NIV)

10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’ ” 12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15 until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.” 16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Second City Church- Friends With Benefits Sermon Series 2015

Friends With Benefits - Friends Who Help You Live Holy

Ephesians 4:17-6:9 (NIV)

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26“In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

1Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

7Therefore do not be partners with them. 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Second City Church- Friends With Benefits Sermon Series 2015

Friends With Benefits - Friends Who Minister Together

Encouragement

Ephesians 3:1-13

"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory."

Engagement

Ephesians 3:14-21

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Equipping

Ephesians 4:1-13

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

This is why it says:“When he ascended on high,he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." - Helen Keller

Leviticus 26:8
Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

Empowering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3gmXMUkQg

Ephesians 4:14-16
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Second City Church- Friends With Benefits Sermon Series 2015

Friends with Benefits - Friendship from God

Refer to these Scriptures alongside the podcast sermon by Pastor Rollan Fisher:

Ephesians 1 (NIV)

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

James 1 (NIV)

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

6But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. 9Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

12Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

19My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Colossians 1 (NIV)

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

24Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Second City Church- Friends with Benefits Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD: Living Proof

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

INTRO: We've come to the conclusion of this series. It's time to look at the impact of God and His grace on Cultures, Countries, and Countless lives of individuals.

VERSE: Acts 1:3 “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.”

1. CULTURES:

John Lennon sang what has become the international anthem of unbelief:

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people…living for today

Lennon made the challenge that if there were no religion, the world would be a better place.

One of the tactics of the new "skeptics" is to try and take every bad thing done in the name of religion and group it together into one monstrous picture. In philosophy this is called a "straw man argument"—painting a false picture of something and then arguing against it.

This is as big a logical fallacy as you can make. It's also grossly unfair. It attempts to remove any distinction between different religions, and also between those who call themselves Christians.

If you get rid of all religion, do you think that evil would end?

That's what happened in the 20th-century communist world of it’s co-founder Vladimir Lenin: Millions of people died...more than all the wars and crusades of history.

While horrible things have been done in the name of religion, the real story is this overwhelming reality: The impact of God and His grace on the world has given us too many blessings to count!

Imagine a world of paganism and darkness 2000 years ago: • No rights for women or children • 1/4 of Rome's citizens were slaves • 1/3 of Athenian citizens were slaves

In fact, God had given the human race the first taste of deliverance (or redemption) from human bondage when He brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

It was God's word that introduced rules for treatment of those called servants or slaves and lead ultimately to their freedom from bondage.

God's purpose from the beginning has been to free men and women on the inside first and then the outside as well. It's called redemption.

The unfolding of the plan of redemption gave humanity the startling picture of a slave becoming free in Christ and becoming a brother or sister to those that formerly enslaved them.

It would be people like William Wilberforce, a committed follower of Christ in England, that would lead the way in seeing the evil practice of the African slave trade abolished.

The impact of grace has been felt in crucial areas of our culture. (More information on pages 195-207, GND)

• Protection of children: Children had no rights or value until Jesus came and talked about the value of children...

“Unless you become like a child” “Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble it would be better to have a millstone around your neck and thrown into the sea”

• Elevation of women: The Bible teaches that women are co-heirs of the grace of life.

• Charity: The concept of giving to those in need came from Scripture.

• Hospitals: …and care for the sick, eg: The parable of the “Good Samaritan.”

• Education: The first 100 Universities in America were built to teach and promote education in the Christian faith.

Overall, it is the Christian concept of the “strong serving and protecting the weak” (instead of the evolutionary mindset of the “strong dominating the weak”) that originated from Jesus, not Darwin, and gave our culture the sense of everyone’s human dignity.

(For more, see the testimony of the Fiji Islands on page 196 of GND.)

2. COUNTRIES: The Growth of Christianity across the world.

VERSE: Acts 19:20 “The Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” The growth of the Gospel around the world has been astounding. This growth flies in the face of the notion that you become a Christian based on being born in America.

• AFRICA In 1900, Africa was 8% Christian…Today it’s almost 50%.

There are gatherings of millions of believers in places like Nigeria and Uganda.

• ASIA The largest Churches in the world exist in this area of the world.

In China, where Western missionary activity is basically illegal, Christianity has grown to over 100 million believers.

One-hundred years ago, Korea had no evangelical believers…Today it’s over 25%.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country and yet has more Christians now than are in Korea.

• SOUTH AMERICA It hosts some of the world’s largest churches as well.

There are massive gatherings of 2 million people in Brazil for simple worship services.

• AMERICA & EUROPE Nominal faith is declining, but there is a growth in churches where Christ is preached and Scripture is valued as the guide to life and morality.

3. COUNTLESS LIVES:

The God’s Not Dead book records the testimonies of 7 people who went from atheism to faith. For more, see those stories to share with others about the many lives that have been changed through the Gospel.

CONCLUSION:

The Cross and Resurrection set Christ apart from every other philosophy or religion.

VERSE: Revelation 1:18 “I was dead, but am alive forevermore.”

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD - Jesus and the Resurrection

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

While we have examined the scientific and philosophical evidence for God’s existence in this series, there is also the historical witness that provides for us firsthand evidence for His existence—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

C.S. Lewis said that Jesus claimed to be the son of God. There is no way you can simply give Him lip service as merely a good man or even a great man. He offered this tri-lemma; Jesus was either a...

LIAR - because He knew He wasn’t the son of God, but perpetrated the lie anyway (which certainly wouldn’t make him a great man).

LUNATIC - because He thought He was the son of God (which wouldn’t give us a credible reason to trust Him with our lives and eternal destiny).

LORD - He was who He said He was—the only begotten son of God sent from the Father to save the world.

We will now look at Jesus and answer three questions:

“Was He MAN, MYTH, or MESSIAH?

MAN:

It’s critical that we understand that Jesus did indeed exist. He was a real person.

Books have been written such as “The Quest for the Historical Jesus” that cast doubt on the reality of Jesus ever living.

History records just the opposite:

As one of the greatest skeptics of our time, Bart Ehrman attests to: (Refer to the Bart Ehrman quote from the top of page 144 of God’s Not Dead.).

Not only do the Gospels (which we will discuss in a moment) give the testimony of His life, words and actions, but ancient historians and writers do as well:

- The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentioned Jesus and John the Baptist toward the end of the first century.

- Among the many non-biblical references were Pliny the Younger in a letter to the Roman Emperor Trajan in AD 112. (See quote on page 145 of GND.)

- And then there are the Gospels. Remember the Bible isn’t one book, but 66 books written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors. Historians and scholars compiled them into one place so we can conveniently carry them around.

The Gospels were written by four different authors, and are the firsthand accounts of the events of Jesus’ life and death. What distinguished them from other spurious accounts is that these Gospels were all written in the first century while the events and people mentioned would have still been living.

The overwhelming conclusion is that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed real. To quote Bart Erhman again: (See Ehrman’s quote from the top of page 139 in GND).

MYTH:

Skeptics will concede that maybe Jesus lived, but they claim that all the miracles and wonderful deeds were merely evidence of Him being mythologized.

Some have tried to dismiss the Gospel as a fairy tale...a legend or myth. It’s curious; 106 out of the first 108 Universities in America were started to promote the Christian faith...There is no Disneyland University!

Thomas Jefferson had a Bible where he cut out all the miracles of Jesus and simply kept His teachings.

Others have asserted that the Jesus story wasn’t original, but copied from other stories from the Egyptians and Persians that also had gods that were born of a virgin on Dec. 25th, performed miracles, had 12 disciples, were crucified, and then rose again.

First there are no ancient records of any of this being true. There was no similarity between the life of Jesus and ancient gods and myths. The truth is that the success of the Gospel caused people to rewrite ancient history centuries later, and try to retell their stories to sound like the Jesus story.

Even skeptics like Richard Carrier admit this (See quote on page 148-149 GND).

As Josh McDowell said (See quote on top of page 139 GND), “That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic, and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels.”

MESSIAH:

Finally, we must look at the reality that He was and is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world.

His Words were like no other. “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” When prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah spoke, they said “Thus says the Lord.” But when Jesus spoke He said, “Truly I say to you” and “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Why? Because the Lord was speaking!

His miracles; raising Lazarus from the dead, walking on water, and feeding 5,000 with just a few loaves and fish, caused people to say, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2:12)

But His resurrection from the dead was the proof that He indeed is the Messiah.

Lee Strobel, a former journalist with the Chicago Tribune, examined the case for Christ with a critical eye. He summarized the evidence that this indeed happened in 5 E’s:

1. Execution - Jesus was indeed executed on a Roman cross.

2. Empty Tomb - Three days after His execution, His tomb was found empty by a group of His women followers. This is significant because the testimony of women was usually dismissed in the ancient world.

3. Eyewitnesses - After His resurrection He was seen alive by over 500 eyewitnesses… overwhelming evidence that He indeed had been raised from the dead.

4. Early Records - The Gospels were the key witnesses, as well as numerous writings by the early Church fathers, that He had been raised from the dead.

5. Emergence of the Church - The sudden emergence of Christianity in the first 30 years has no other explanation than the fact that Christ’s resurrection birthed a worldwide unstoppable movement.

As one historian wrote: (See quote at bottom of Page 156 to top of 157 GND).

Conclusion

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15)

If you really believe He is the Creator of the universe and Savior of the world...

THE ONLY LOGICAL RESPONSE IS TO FOLLOW HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART!

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD - Life is No Accident

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

KEY VERSE: Psalm 139:13-16

INTRO:

1) There is a skeptic in your future! You'll be amazed at who God leads into your life if you're prepared. Most of you believe in God, but have not been able to give the specific reasons for your faith to unbelievers. You KNOW God is real – but need to be able to SHOW that He's real.

2) Strengthen Your Foundations. We’re hoping to strengthen the foundations of your faith. Jesus said when storms come to the house with a weak or missing foundation, it will collapse. (Luke 6:46)

There may even be a skeptic growing up in your house.

Every day you hear about someone who used to be strong in faith walking away because of tragedy, calamity, disappointment or disillusionment.

The fact is: More people turn away from God because of emotional reasons than intellectual ones. They find the intellectual reasons after they decide to walk away from God.

3) Build Your Spiritual Immune System. There are specific attacks and arguments against God's existence that are strategies of the enemy to get you and your children to let go of your faith. This book and series “God’s Not Dead” addresses those arguments specifically. It's like a flu vaccine for a specific strain of the flu virus.

Also, by learning the evidence for God, you are bolstering your spiritual immune system. There is a danger that in ministering to people who are skeptics, that their ideas will end up negatively impacting you (like a ‘well’ person catching the flu from someone they are around).

4) Prepare you for the coming crisis. Crisis is coming to people and cities around you. We want to help people turn to God, not turn away from God!

Remember, the existence of evil isn’t evidence of God’s absence from the universe, but evidence of His absence from our lives.

So far we've talked about how real faith isn’t blind. We are to use our reason as a key part of our faith. All faith has reason and all reason has faith…they are inseparable. God has given us evidence for our faith—from the beginning of the Universe, to the reality of good and evil, to the historical proof of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead.

This week we have one the most exciting topics in the series..

LIFE IS NO ACCIDENT

We’re going to look at 3 areas of evidence for this:

1) Scientific 2) Philosophical 3) Psychological

1. SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: There is no greater impression of the human mind than the existence of design in nature. It is so overwhelmingly present, that skeptics try to tell us it is just an illusion!

QUOTE: “Biology is the study of living things that appears to be designed” - Richard Dawkins. Dawkins called it “the illusion of design.” (The reason they say that design is an illusion is because they have to.)

If something is designed, then there has to be a Designer.

So they (skeptics) ask “Who designed the Designer?” as if that question should end the debate. (pg. 100, GND)

Our response? No one designed the Designer. You don’t have to have an explanation for your explanation.

Dr. Daniel Came, an Oxford professor and atheist pointed out this fallacy in Dawkins’ thinking...

QUOTE: “Darwin maintains that we’re not justified in inferring a designer as the best explanation of the appearance of design in the universe because the new problem surfaces; who designed the designer? This argument is as old as the hills and, as any reasonably competent first-year undergraduate could point out, is patently invalid. For an explanation to be successful we do not need an explanation of the explanation. One might as well say that evolution by natural selection explains nothing because it does nothing to explain why there were living organisms on earth in the first place; or that the big bang fails to explain the cosmic background radiation because the big bang is itself inexplicable.” (GND pg. 100)

So the evidence for God could be demonstrated if living organisms could be proven (beyond a reasonable doubt) to be designed intentionally and not the product of random processes.

That’s why macro-evolution (one species changing into another) has to be true in their eyes. If there isn’t a natural explanation for the obvious complexity and design in living things, then God or a Creator has to exist.

In Darwin’s day, the cell was seen as more or less a blob of protoplasm (goo). Today we can see that a cell is like a small city. The complexity and order of the systems that are functioning are staggering. You have everything from UPS trucks (delivery systems) carrying messages to and fro, to intricate factories and engines that make the cell function properly.

Then there is DNA…DNA is like the software that runs every living thing.

As you have heard us say, and have read, in the book, the information in the human genome is too staggering to have developed by chance. It’s like getting a pocket text 3 billion letters long.

Then comes the question of where did life come from? Evolution only tells you what happens after you get life—no one knows where the first living cell came from.

Two atheists wrote a book they called “Evolution from Space.” They said the probability of life starting itself was 1 chance in 1040.000.

That’s the same probability they say that a tornado could blow through a junkyard and throw up the debris and it fall to the ground and piece together a 747 airplane, full of gas, ready to fly.

Their response has become a standard atheist response when faced with such overwhelming evidence for design: “Maybe it came from aliens.”

Notice what Dawkins says on camera when interviewed by Ben Stein in the movie “Expelled”: (There’s a great clip from YOU TUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoncJBrrdQ8)

You can see that any explanation other than God is acceptable.

The resounding testimony of the design of living things is that, “we are fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Because life is most certainly designed, then logically, there must be a Designer.

2. PHILOSOPHICAL EVIDENCE:

This leads to the philosophical evidence for life having meaning and purpose.

This is a vital area of knowledge. Radical skeptics try to say that science can answer every question...but science can’t answer the most important questions: Why are we here? Why do we exist? That’s why philosophy is a vital branch of learning.

For you see if there is no God, then life can have no ultimate meaning and purpose. How could it? If we came into existence for no reason and we are headed for an oblivion where there is no purpose, then how could this existence of ours having any real meaning?

QUOTE: “Nature is not cruel, only pitilessly indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous- indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.” - Richard Dawkins (pg. 118, GND)

Yet we know life has meaning and purpose. It is seen in not only the order and complexity of living things but in the fact that everything that exists seems to have been made for a purpose. Purpose fills our existence—whether the eye to see or the ear to hear…the fish to swim or the bird to fly.

Skeptics have pointed to things like the appendix as evidence that there are things about our existence that don’t seem to be needed, therefore it’s evidence for a poor design. But the more we learn, we are finding out that things like the appendix actually have a purpose after all. (It has a large part to play in our immune system.)

Here is the logical thinking process: • If there is no God, then there is no ultimate purpose or meaning in life. • There is purpose and meaning in life. • Therefore…God exists.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE:

The final area of evidence for the reality of purpose and meaning in life—pointing to God—lies inside of us as humans.

QUOTE: Harvard evolutionist Stephen J. Gould said: “Wind life’s tape back and you will never get human life again.” (pg. 126, GND)

QUOTE: Lawrence Krauss who Dawkins hailed as the “Darwin of Physics” wrote: “We constitute a 1% bit of pollution in the Universe...we are completely irrelevant.” (pg. 114, GND)

Deep inside we know that we are not merely freaks of nature as evolutionary dogma suggests. We also know that we as humans are not just another animal. In the atheistic world view, when you’re dead, you’re dead.

Is that really true? Is this the only life there is?

If that was the case, why should anyone be asked to sacrifice the only life there is for anything or anyone else? Every funeral becomes almost a cruel joke.

The Bible tells us we are made in the image of God. When we lose our sense of purpose and significance, not only can we expect a cloud of despair to settle over our souls, but also one that will settle over the nation.

VERSE: Ephesians 2:12 “Remember when you were strangers to the covenants of promise...without hope and without God in world.”

CLOSING STORY from Rice Broocks:

“Lessons from an atheist funeral”

This past week, my friend Pastor Dale Evrist conducted a funeral of a life long atheist in California. The family who were not believers, still wanted Dale to do the funeral. A life of ignoring God, was suddenly forgotten when they faced the finality of death. Dale said that he was open with the people and said, “This man was not a believer, but I am. I’m here to offer you the hope that belief in God gives us…that life doesn’t end at the grave.”

No one was offended. In fact they came up to him and thanked him for being there.

Is this the only life?

The answer to that question should define your beliefs and your focus in life. I am asking you to recognizing the fact that this life is an amazing gift. God has designed and fashioned you to make a unique impact while you are here on this earth.

Don’t waste any more time listening to the voices telling you otherwise.

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD - There Was A Beginning

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

KEY POINTS FROM OUR SERIES: 1) Good and evil are real and only understood in light of God and His Word. This means that without God there really wouldn’t be any evil...It would just be the way things are.

2) When we are touched by tragedy, it makes us long for a world where evil doesn’t exist. The only hope for such a world is found in Christ.

3) Evil will not win.

4) The Bible says, “overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

We have the power through the gospel to see evil vanquished...one heart at a time.

This is why this message of God's Not Dead is so important. Because we can be sure that God exists, we can have real hope that His promises of overcoming evil are true.

1) THE UNIVERSE WAS BEGUN BY GOD.

To know God exists, you can start at the very first sentence in the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

It’s vital to understand that science only recently came to understand that the Universe had an absolute beginning a finite time ago.

From Aristotle to Einstein the consensus was the universe has always existed. If there was no beginning, then the question of who or what began it was not relevant.

It was a Catholic priest and physicist from Belgium, Georges Lemaitrae, that first proposed the theory that is known as the “Big Bang.” The term “Big Bang” was in fact a derogatory term coined to discredit this notion of a beginning.

As Fred Hoyle—scientist and atheist—admitted, “The notion of a beginning is tantamount to allowing a ‘divine foot in the door.”

Noted Bible scholar Dr. Dan Wallace says that though the Bible is not a science book, it is true when it touches on science.

Scientists tell us that at the moment of this beginning, all matter and energy, as well as space and time itself, came into existence. Not only that, but the Universe that resulted contains rationality as well as personality.

Belief in God is logical and rational

When someone claims that faith in God isn’t logical they are simply hurling an insult.

Here is the simple logical progression: (GND pg 70)

• Premise one: Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

• Premise two: The Universe began to exist.

• Conclusion: The Universe has a cause.

The cause must therefore be space-less, time-less, uncaused, rational, and personal.

2) THE UNIVERSE BEGAN WITH HUMAN LIFE IN MIND Let’s look at one of the most startling pieces of evidence for the existence of an Intelligent Mind behind Creation:

THE FINE TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE (pg. 78- 79, GND)

The Universe was “fine-tuned” from the very beginning.

EXAMPLE: Imagine a “Universe Starter Kit”...Imagine it looking like a huge sound board with a bunch of knobs (say 50 knobs) that have to be adjusted within a fantastically small range, but the possibilities are almost infinite. What are the chances of each one of these knobs being set precisely right? (All of them!!!!)

EXAMPLE: It’s like winning the lottery a million times in a row and thinking that you simply have “extremely good luck.”

That’s exactly what the atheists believe, that there is in fact an infinite number of universes. But if you are truly dealing in science and not science fiction, this is the only universe we observe or there is evidence for!

So the Universe was begun by an intelligence beyond human comprehension.

We know enough to know how amazing this God is.

Another way to see this is through what is called the Anthropic principle. (pg. 81, GND)

Scientists admit “our universe” (implying there may be others) is a universe that seems to be designed with human life in mind.

EXAMPLE: The example of going to a hotel room and all of your favorite things are already there. Therefore, someone must have known you were coming...In a similar way, the Universe knew we were coming.

This is so fantastic that atheists can dismiss this with a yawn and say “no big deal...There are an infinite number of possible universes.”

It’s almost comical to hear people gazing at the wonder of the heavens and saying things like “we should thank the universe” for this wonder.

Thank the Universe?

I would no more thank the Universe than I would thank the gift someone gave me on my birthday, or thank the present someone gave me at Christmas. (You thank the giver not the gift).

THERE ARE 3 KEY POINTS THAT WE NEED TO NAIL DOWN:

Summary so far.....

1) The Universe was begun by God.

2) It began with human life in mind.

Now the final point...

3) HE DID IT THROUGH HIS WORD.

Is God’s Word true? This is one of the most important questions of this generation.

So much of western civilization is hanging in the balance. (ie: marriage, civil law, etc.)

The unraveling and rewriting of the moral codes of our society have been the consequence of trying to erase or at least marginalize the impact of the Scripture on our lives.

Many skeptics will concede the existence of a Creator or Designer, but balk at the thought of any kind of clarity as to who or what that God is like.

EXAMPLE: The Bible mini-series (on the History Channel) was popular, but are these stories true?

(Chapter 8 of GND gives the details of why the Bible can be trusted as historically reliable and not a book that was tampered with and changed over the centuries.)

God’s revelation to man in creation is called “General Revelation.”

His communication through Scripture is “Special Revelation.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word.” God tells us in Genesis how He did it...He spoke it.

Think about how our world works... Our world is created and shaped by information...LOGOS is the root word for logic.

God communicated to us through Christ.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14)

We can know that God’s Word (Christ) is dependable because of His resurrection from the dead. He verified His identity and showed that His words could be trusted.

CONCLUSION:

The same God that spoke in Genesis 1 and brought light out of the darkness is able to bring light into the darkness of our hearts and our world today. (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6)

1) The god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving...

There is a spiritual battle that takes belief in the existence of God beyond a mere mental or intellectual exercise.

You can have all your questions answered and still not believe.

2) They can’t see the light of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. God came down and demonstrated His reality and His character in Christ.

3) The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness. In other words, He is the only One that can make something out of nothing.

His Word can change you into a new creation!

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD - Good and Evil are No Illusions

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

Without question, the biggest stumbling block to many people believing in God is the existence of evil and suffering. Even those who believe in God have turned their back on Him because of negative, tragic circumstances in their life or in those they love.

WHY? (Why do bad things happen?) This is the most frequently asked question of God.

Skeptics claim that God is either not loving because He allows evil, or not all–powerful because He can’t stop it. (But God is also all–wise, which means that in His wisdom, a world like ours, with all it’s suffering, is also a world with great joy and happiness, and we are created in such a way that we can understand this.)

Evil is not just an issue to debate — it is the central struggle of the human race.

Evolution has no answer for the problem of evil. That’s because (looking through the eyes of Darwin) the struggle for survival is what pushes all of life forward. Therefore how could you curse the process that actually caused humanity to exist? No two world-views could be as opposite: Darwin says the law of life is “the strong survive and eliminate the weak.” Jesus said, “Let you who are strong bear the burden of the weak and the helpless.”

Which is really true?

Richard Dawkins: The world’s most famous atheist says we are simply here to propagate our DNA. DNA just is...and we dance to its music. He also says that we shouldn’t look to Darwinian evolution as a model as to how to set up our values.

But if that’s the way we are then how can we go against our DNA?

Shouldn’t we just accept our fate as merely evolutionary beings with no real right and wrong?

This is the kind of world where a good God can make Himself known as far as His nature and character.

1) IF GOD IS AN ILLUSION, THEN GOOD AND EVIL BECOME ILLUSIONS TOO. (simply things we imagine or invent)

But we know good and evil are no illusions; therefore, there must be a transcendent Lawgiver behind this very real moral law.

QUOTE FROM C.S. LEWIS (Page 48 of GND)

“These, then, are the two points I want to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.”

2) “WITHOUT GOD, ALL THINGS ARE PERMISSIBLE.” (Famous quote from the Russian writer Dostoyevsky, pg 53 GND).

The quote was written amidst the backdrop of the Russian culture being in upheaval and reflection of the implications of throwing God out.

Legendary atheists such as Nietzsche acknowledged the connection between the existence of God and the reality of evil. They would admit that in reality, good and evil were not real.

Note: The phrase “God is dead” was coined by Nietzsche. He wasn’t saying that God had actually died, but that the concept of Christian morality had been killed by the hypocrisy of those that claimed to believe in God.

3) IF THERE IS NO GOD, THEN THERE IS NO EVIL. (pg. 42 GND)

If there is no God, then there is no such thing as evil. You can’t describe the world we live in without borrowing the Bible’s descriptions of reality.

4) AS THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD DECREASES IN A PERSON OR A CULTURE, EVIL RISES. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ACTS LIKE AN IMMUNE SYSTEM THAT HELPS A SOCIETY RESIST EVIL. (Romans 1:28-29)

5) THEREFORE, THE EXISTENCE OF EVIL DOESN’T INDICATE THE ABSENCE OF GOD FROM THE WORLD, BUT THE ABSENCE OF HIM FROM OUR LIVES.

6) BELIEVING IN GOD WON’T GUARANTEE THAT PEOPLE WILL DO RIGHT THINGS.

People who don’t acknowledge God can do good things, just like people who do acknowledge God can do bad things.

EXAMPLE: Just because you believe in the existence of the police as well as the speed limit doesn’t mean you won’t break the law.

7) ATHEISM DOESN’T TAKE AWAY THE PAIN, IT JUST TAKES AWAY THE HOPE. People turn away from God because of pain and suffering in the world. It’s more of an emotional decision versus a logical or rational one.

8) THE GOSPEL IS THE CURE FOR EVIL. (pg. 60-61)

•God defines evil…He tells us what it is.

•God denounces evil…He tells us to stay away from it (while allowing us the chance to choose).

•He defeated evil at the Cross.

1 Peter 2:24 “He bore our sins in His own body at the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

He will destroy evil totally from the world in the near future.

The story of the Bible is, from start to finish, the beginning and end of evil from Genesis to Revelation.

The choice is still set before us...

Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ they are new creations, the old is gone and the new has come.”

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

GOD'S NOT DEAD - Real Faith Isn't Blind

(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)

INTRODUCTION:

1 Peter 3:15 - “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 - “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

NOTICE THAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS “DEMOLISH”....THAT MEANS THE TRUTH WILL HAVE THAT KIND OF IMPACT ON THE DECEPTION AND MISINFORMATION OF THIS SKEPTICAL AGE.

As we embark on this important series “God’s Not Dead”, let’s look back briefly on the some of the Historical drama that has contributed to the current challenge:

1) CHARLES DARWIN: The scientific world was overturned in 1859 by his radical theory of evolution through natural selection. He proposed that all of life arose from a common ancestor, completely by natural processes. There is no question that the world was changed by the presentation of this theory. It provided another explanation, other than a Supernatural agent, for how life emerged.

It’s important to remember that evolution only tries to explain what happens after you get life—it can’t tell you how life began. (We will deal with this fully in a message called “Life is no Accident.”)

2) FREDRICK NIETZSCHE: The phrase “God is Dead” was introduced by this German Philosopher at the end of the 1800’s. He wasn’t saying that God had actually died, but that the idea of God was now dead and with it all the moral restrictions that went with that faith. He was well aware of the connection between belief in God and morality.

3) SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES: Gave false impression that God wasn’t necessary to explain the Universe.

A. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity —redefined the way we understand the BIG PICTURE of TIME AND SPACE. B. Quantum Theory  —revolutionized our picture of the subatomic world. At the smallest level, particles don’t seem to follow the same cause and effect rules of the larger world of planets. C. Big Bang Theory —of the beginning of the Universe…contrary to the prevailing view of the time that the Universe simply had always existed, this discovery told us that there was an absolute beginning of space and time.

All of this added to the feeling that Science was now giving us the explanations that we used to look to religion to give us.

4) TIME MAGAZINE: By the 1960’s this skeptical worldview had become entrenched into academic circles and the philosophy of naturalism with it, which prompted to ask on it’s cover edition on Easter of 1966, “Is God Dead?”

Atheism, though never officially more than around 5% of the American people, has affected the view of reality of many Americans as well as the laws of the land. Prayer was banished from public schools and a radical secularization of society continued to grow.

5) SEPTEMBER 11: After the tragedy of 9/11 there was a surge in the writing of books that condemned religion as the reason for the attacks.

Men like Richard Dawkins, a biologist from England wrote “The God Delusion.” The late Christopher Hitchens work was called “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” Sam Harris called for “The End of Faith” and Bill Maher said “religion must die.”

All of these types of writings demonstrated that extremism is just as prevalent among skeptics as it is among religious extremists.

For the most part the average Church-goer goes along un-phased by books like these. Where the impact is really felt is among young people. Through these kinds of books and the proliferation of atheist blogs and YouTube channels, young people get assaulted by their peers with questions and accusations against belief in God and the Bible that they are not prepared for.

THE NEGATIVE IMPACT IS UNDENIABLE:

In 2007, Millenials (age 18-29) were asked, “Do you ever doubt the existence of God?” 83% said NO. In 2012, they were asked the same question and 68% said NO. It was a change of 15 points in just 5 years!

Young people (and everyone for that matter) are going to need more than an EXPERIENCE if they are going to withstand the SKEPTICAL ONSLAUGHT that awaits them once they leave high school.

What is tragic is that the evidence for God and the truth of the Christian faith is overwhelming while much of the skeptical challenges are baseless and even absurd. Many times they are the equivalent of a ‘drive-by shooting’ intellectually, or better yet, a sensational super-market tabloid headline…fabricated yet attention getting.

Just as the English reformer William Wilberforce (who almost single-handedly ended slavery in Great Britain) said, ”Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed.” (Quote from Introduction of GND).

As we embark on this series we want to give you the evidence for God in a way that you can grasp it and share it with others. As Rice Broocks told his own teenagers, “This stuff may be over your head, but it’s not out of your reach.”

Also, we want to give you answers to the challenges that skeptics are raising in this generation. This message is addressing an overall claim that faith in God is blind, meaning it is without evidence as well as unreasonable. This is closely connected to the charge that you must choose between faith and reason as well as God or science. Of course this entire series is addressing this and giving the evidence for God.

Let us look at 7 important FOUNDATIONAL POINTS:

1. GOD COMMANDS US TO USE REASON!

Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

KEY PHRASE: “WE COME TO GOD THROUGH REASON, NOT AGAINST IT!”

Isaiah 1:18 “Come let us settle the matter...” Most translations say “come let us reason together...”

We are called to reason, think, consider, and then act on what is reasonably true.

SCIENCE ROSE OUT OF A CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW because the first scientists believed the Universe was rationally understandable.

“Men became scientific because they expected law in nature and they expected law in nature because of a belief in a Lawgiver”- CS Lewis

“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that the universe is comprehensible” - Albert Einstein

2. EVERYONE STARTS WITH A WORLD VIEW… a lens of a framework through which you interpret the facts and phenomenon around you. Yet, if you’re committed to a philosophy of naturalism, then no amount of evidence for God is enough. Naturalism is a world view that everything arose on its own by strictly natural processes—there is no reason behind the universe or life and no purpose looking forward. But if you are really willing to follow the evidence where ever it leads as Socrates suggested, then you are willing to follow it if it leads to an intelligent uncreated mind behind the Universe.

None of the discoveries in the past 150 years, in any way, disproved the existence of God. It all comes down to the philosophical grid (or “worldview”) that you are looking through. This is why, if you are committed to the philosophy of naturalism, no amount of evidence will convince you.

3. UNDERSTANDING HOW SOMETHING WORKS DOESN’T MEAN THAT A DESIGNER OR CREATOR ISN’T NEEDED. We certainly applaud the advances in Science but none of the discoveries means God isn’t necessary.

Scientists recently heralded the discovery of the “God Particle”…the name doesn’t mean what it suggests. It was the missing piece in sub-atomic physics for 50 years.

Science knew a particle existed for over 50 years because of it’s impact on the surrounding particles, even though it was undetectable and still is virtually undetectable.

Remember, just because we know how a car engine works doesn’t mean Henry Ford did not exist.

We must know what we are looking for when we are looking for evidence for God.

If we are looking for Steve Jobs we won’t find him by breaking down an iPhone or an Apple computer!

When skeptics assert “there is no evidence for God”, our response should be, “What experiment did you run that proved God doesn’t exist?” or “What was the evidence you were looking for that you claim you didn’t find?”

It’s like the Russian cosmonaut that went into space in 1968 and reportedly claimed he didn’t see any God. We aren’t looking for something physical we are looking for a uncaused, non-material, uncaused, intelligent mind that designed and created everything.

It’s like looking for the evidence of the existence of an actor by tearing apart the TV set or the evidence of an artist by tearing the painting apart. We see the marks of their brilliance, creativity, and intentionality in the things they made.

4. GOD HAS GIVEN US ENOUGH REASONS TO BELIEVE! Our problem is not a lack of information or evidence, but a lack of willingness to acknowledge what is obvious.

Rice told his atheist brother in law school (Chapter 1 of GND), “It’s not what you don’t know about God that’s keeping you from Him...it’s what you DO know.”

Romans 1 says that men “suppress the truth” in unrighteousness…like someone trying to hold a beach ball under the water. Or better yet, a lawyer who tries to suppress evidence that hurts the case he or she is trying to prove.

Sigmund Freud said that belief in God was really a wish-fulfillment. He claimed that people with faith simply wanted a “father-figure” in the sky that could straighten everything out. In reality, atheism is the ultimate wish-fulfillment. Most atheists don’t want God to be there. If the God who created the ear can hear and the eye can see then there will be an ultimate accountability.

5. INSULTS AREN’T ARGUMENTS. Contrary to perception of atheism being a deeply scientific and intellectual position, much of it boils down to a series of emotional rants against religion.

Pastor Rollan Fisher shared the story of Rice Broocks going to a Global Atheist Convention in Australia where the opening night speakers were four comedians! (pg. 19) Richard Dawkins, perhaps the world’s most famous atheist, told a crowd of atheists at the US atheist gathering a few weeks before: “Mock them, ridicule them in public...” (pg. 25)

It’s important to remember that Jesus was the biggest critic of empty religion. You can’t take all the mistakes done in the name of religion and build a “straw man” that isn’t real.

THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SUICIDE BOMBER AND A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER!

SKEPTICS FAVORITE INSULTS:

1) Believing in God is believing in a fairy tale. It’s like believing in the tooth fairy or Richard Dawkins personal favorite, ”The Flying Spaghetti monster.”

RESPONSE: There are no good reasons to believe in the tooth fairy or the Flying Spaghetti monster...there are good reasons to believe in God!

THINK ABOUT IT: 106 out of the first 108 Universities in America were founded to promote the Christian faith. No one has raised a university to a fairy tale.

2) The Bible is full of contradictions. As you can read in Chapter 8 in GND...the Bible stands head and shoulders over every other ancient writing.

RESPONSE: Nothing comes close to the Bible in terms of it’s Historical accuracy. We also have more manuscripts of the Bible than any other ancient document. (We will deal more on this as the series goes forward).

3) The miracles in the Bible couldn’t have happened. (i.e: Parting the Red Sea, Jonah swallowed by a whale, the Virgin Birth, Walking on water etc...)

RESPONSE: Miracles aren’t a violation of the laws of nature. Because God is the creator, He is free to inject a unique event into the system. Here is where the philosophy of naturalism is seen…“Miracles don’t happen because they can’t happen.”

THINK ABOUT IT: It’s because we understand the laws of nature that we know when something different has happened. It’s because people knew in Jesus’ day that dead people usually stay dead, that they knew a miracle had happened at the resurrection. It also explains why so many of His disciples had a hard time believing the news. Even seeing Him alive, the Bible says “When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted” (Matt 28:17).

6. FAITH IS THE PRODUCT OF THINKING—UNBELIEF IS A PRODUCT OF NOT THINKING (pg. 31, Chapter 2)

Unbelief is, many times, the result of a lack of EFFORT not lack of EVIDENCE!

Either a person hasn’t heard the truth or they simply don’t want to hear something that might challenge their beliefs and especially their lifestyle.

Unbelief is not just a lack of information. You can answer people’s questions and they will still not believe.

Prior to this Easter, six pastors had a panel discussion with 6 atheists before the American Atheist convention in Austin, Texas. One of the pastors asked the atheists’ panel, “What would it take to make you believe?” They said that witnessing an undeniable miracle would make them believers.

We know there are millions of people that have claimed to have had an undeniable miracle...the problem is that if you are skeptical, no amount of evidence is enough.

Luke 16:30-31-  Pastor Rollan Fisher gave an overview of the story of the rich man in hell who asked that Lazarus (not the one Jesus raised from the dead), a poor man who had died as well, be sent to the rich man’s family to tell them to repent.

If they don’t believe the Word, they won’t believe even if someone rises from the dead. (Luke 16:31)

7. FAITH INVOLVES 3 KEY INGREDIENTS: (pg. 28-30 for more)

i) KNOWLEDGE: The Knowledge of God is not just in Scripture, it’s in Creation all around us. Like entering into an agreement with someone, knowledge of the terms of the agreement is essential in business, marriage, or life. God wants us to have knowledge of Him and His covenant.

ii) ASSENT: We must want to obey and follow what we know to be true. Our will must be exercised, and choices must be made. God isn’t coercing you into a relationship with Him.

iii) TRUST: Commitment of the heart. This is what most people think faith is...trust. But our trust has been earned through Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection. He has earned our trust!

What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died...in our place. Three days later, He rose from the dead, proving that He is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation to all who repent and believe the gospel.

Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015

An Unexpected Journey - Fire That Burns

Last week, we looked at a picture of the early years of Jesus. As He asked Mary and Joseph, "Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?" we saw a key to His growth and eventual world changing ministry. At the same time, in the wilderness of Judea, Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, was developing the same type of relationship with God the Father, which had very specific results. Today as we look at the beginning of John's service to the Lord, we will discover what a holy fire looks like in our lives and the practical means for keeping it burning hotter, brighter, stronger and longer.

Starting a Holy Fire

God wants to start a fire of salvation that will burn through you to the city in which you live.

Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Governments, cultures and rulers change, but the Word of the Lord to people will always remain the same.

God wants to bring His salvation to all people. The Word of the Lord for family members, co-workers, neighbors and friends will come to you as you continue to walk with and honor Jesus.

You may think to yourself, "How can this be?"

In the wilderness, John was able to spend time seeking God just as you and I are.

Even in obscurity, you can walk with God, find His pleasure, and learn His ways. You can increase rather than decrease in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. John and Jesus learned to lead this way pleasing their Heavenly Father 30 years in obscurity prior to their public ministries.

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
― John Wooden

This is important because who you are in the private place will eventually make its way public.

Jeremiah 30:18-22 “This is what the Lord says: “‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tent and have compassion on his dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place. From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained. Their children will be as in days of old, and their community will be established before me; I will punish all who oppress them. Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me—for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me? ’declares the Lord. “‘So you will be my people, and I will be your God.’”

The key to true biblical leadership is devoting yourself to being close to the Lord.

The environment may be different, but God and His ability to meet with you is still the same.

In God's presence, you develop:

1) Heat for God's honor and mission

It is a clear sign that God wants to bring you out of the mundanity with which you live when you light up more about news regarding celebrities that you don't know or the events of your favorite sitcom series rather than your real life.

When you seek God, you will find Him. You will then see that His honor and purposes are worth far more in regard to your time, efforts and resources than anything else that you can give yourself to.

2) The ability to hear God's message.

As it was with John the Baptist, God will give you a message to deliver to the people.

"A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."

This word is summarized in the gospel that there is a Creator God who is perfectly good, loving, pure, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent who made humanity by His power and for His pleasure. We have all as humanity been estranged from God by going our own way in our actions, thoughts and pursuits. This is what the Bible calls sin and is the destructive consequence that the world is now enduring in all types of hatred, greed, fear, oppression, addictions and the like as a result of separation from God. The gospel is the good news that in the historic period of Tiberias Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was ruler of Judea in Israel, God became flesh and would rescue humanity through Jesus' sinless life, miracles, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. As we turn away from our sins choosing to trust and follow Jesus, we receive forgiveness of sins.

3) The heart of God for people and ministry.

God is so loving that He will raise up every person who trusts in Him out of the valleys in which they find themselves - both here and in eternity.

God is so holy that He will level every person full of themselves living in prideful rebellion. It is because these people are destroying their lives and others.

The goal of your meeting with God is not to merely cultivate a private spiritual life, but to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus.

"Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak."
-John Piper

Thus, we must find God's wisdom to keep the fire burning.

Burning Hotter, Brighter, Stronger and Longer

Once you start a fire, you've got to continually feed it for it to burn.

Mark 12:28-31 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Once you find Jesus, you must keep your eyes on Him.

Walking with Jesus means that you are learning to love Him with all of your:

1) Heart You nurture this through worship and prayer, both private and corporate. This is how you burn hotter for Jesus. It is where the flames of passion are stoked. Guarding your heart with the words that come off of your mouth is a key to maintaining that heart of worship.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

Practical Each day, set aside time to speak with and listen to God. Download songs that we worship with at church and sing them to God in your own private moments with Him. Write down what you feel like is impressed upon your heart during that time as a point of instruction and action. If you want to learn to pray for others, follow a daily guide like Stormie Omartian's, "The Power of a Praying..." book series.

2) Soul - Meditate on God's Word and practice obedience.

This is where you burn brighter for Jesus as a star while you hold out the word of life.

Jesus was a man of the word.

He studied it in community through the synagogues of the day (community groups), in the temple (church) and privately. All three are important and have different functions.

What you meditate on comes out of you.

Practical Begin a Bible reading plan from You Version. Read a passage from the Bible and write down what speaks to you. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you and how will you apply it?

3) Strength - You grow in this through service.

Service around kingdom purposes helps facilitate true biblical fellowship and is the essence of a shared life. A shared life is not just having a cup of coffee together, but building something tangible and of eternal significance together with your lives.

This is where you burn stronger for Jesus and that strength is felt by others.

Practical Where is your place of service within and through the church in this new year?

4) Mind - Read things inspired by Scripture.

“Tell me how you read and I'll tell you who you are.”
― Martin Heidegger

This is when you burn longer in God because you develop a depth in your faith established in your intellect and reasoning capacity rather than in mere emotion or momentary zeal.

Practical God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty by Rice Brooks: Read this book. This book will help provide real world answers as to why everyone should trust in, love and follow Jesus.

As the greatness of God is conceptualized you are able to understand why David Wilkerson would have this sentiment in reaching out to those who are not walking with Jesus:

“You win over people just like you win over a dog. You see a dog passing down the street with an old bone in his mouth. You don't grab the bone from him and tell him it's not good for him. He'll growl at you. It's the only thing he has. But you throw a big fat lamb chop in front of him, and he's going to drop that bone and pick up the lamb chop, his tail wagging to beat the band. And you've got a friend. Instead of going around grabbing bones from people... I'm going to throw them some lamb chops. Something with real meat and life in it. I'm going to tell them about New Beginnings.”
― David Wilkerson, The Cross and the Switchblade

"Each one reach one" has been a theme for us here. It essentially means, in every season of your life, to "be a disciple and help make disciples." Despite your trials, who are you praying for and making efforts to see come to Jesus this new year? As a professional who lives in the city? As a man or woman fighting to raise a godly family? As a student returning to school?

If you'd like to lead a community group around this material as an outreach to friends during or after the series, we have material for you. Talk to John. If you need to repent of sin and be baptized, we have our next baptism scheduled Jan. 31. Let's all commit to allowing God to light a fire that will burn within us in ever-increasing measure this new year!

New series: Everyone get their New Year's gift today!

Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2015

An Unexpected Journey - Finding Jesus

When the Holy Spirit has birthed something in you, don't ever let anyone dissuade, discount or diminish what you are doing with your daily life in connection to the eternal purposes of God. Mary, a stay-at-home mother, and Joseph, while working a blue collar job, were both devoted to Jesus and were helping to raise God incarnate, the Savior of the world. Like these parents, we all want to be faithful and productive in our lives before the Lord, but ironically, in the midst of our daily pressures and routines, we can unexpectedly find ourselves in a place where we feel that we've lost our connection with Jesus, the relationship which was our greatest responsibility of all. As we begin the new year, we will look at how Mary and Joseph found Jesus when He went missing.

Finding Jesus

If you are not careful, your connection to Jesus can be lost.

Luke 2:41-52 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Every year Jesus' parents made the trip to the temple. It was regular and according to custom. It is good to have God honoring customs in your life that will set you up for necessary frequencies of spiritual health and development.

For Jesus' parents to get to Jerusalem would have taken sacrifice - time off work, money, and energy to travel. If you want to meet with God in your daily routine, do not expect it to happen for you without sacrifice.

You can think that you are in the company of Jesus when really He is somewhere doing something else.

Mary and Joseph lost God but were confident enough to travel because of the community dynamic. Walking with others in a church family is great and how it is supposed to be, but never mistake having community for having Jesus.

Mary began looking for Jesus when He was missing. It is because He belonged to her. We need to position ourselves to look for three categories of people in the new year: 1) For Jesus our Lord; 2) Our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone missing and fallen out of fellowship; 3) The lost, which we'll speak about more next week.

To make the trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph would go from a town of hundreds to about 100,000 at the time. In such a setting, it is easy to get distracted, much like in Chicago, and in the meantime lose Jesus. It took Mary and Joseph three days to find Jesus. If you have been disconnected for a while, don't get discouraged if it takes you time to develop a rhythm in your time with Jesus.

People often wonder why they can't "find Jesus" in their everyday life. It is often because we think that He will follow us into the pursuit of our own personal ambitions and dreams rather than Him being about what He said that He is always about, the advance of His kingdom. When you recognize that we are to be submitted to Him and His purposes rather than Him being submitted to ours, we'll be able to reconnect with Him and know where to find Him.

Just as we discovered last week that Simeon and Anna were able to be introduced to the Messiah in the temple courts, Jesus again validated the fact that His purposes will always begin in and through His house, the church.

The best place to get reconnected is in the temple courts. Keep showing up– you at least know He's there.

"Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" We must have the same mentality as Jesus if we are to have our identity grounded in and our trajectory centered on the purposes of Jesus Christ.

It was a given that He needed to be in His father's house. Not only do you become what you behold, but you become like the company that you keep (1 Corinthians 15:33).

A person's ability to understand God, His gospel and its application to the season of life in which they find themselves does not depend on their age. Begin teaching your children how to relate with Jesus now.

Jesus wasn't so spiritual that He had no practical application of the Word of God. Jesus put the Word of God to "honor your father and mother" into practice by going home with Mary and Joseph. Obeying rather than merely being familiar with the commands of God will make you a better son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, employer, employee, sibling and friend.

How are you applying, not just being exposed to the Word of God?

Because of Jesus' study of and adherence to the Word of God, He grew in:

wisdom - the proper application of knowledge;

"The internet is full of information and empty of thought."
Tim Keller

and stature - the weight of a person's respected presence;

and favor - pleasure from and. therefore, the benevolent backing of someone;

with God - the most important and our constant pursuit;

and man - grows as we follow Jesus, even when people disagree with or reject our positions.

It will be the same for you as you search for Jesus daily and are set apart for His purposes. He went to the cross to pay the penalty for your wrongdoing and bridge the gap between you and God. As you repent of your sin and believe the good news of Jesus' resurrection, you can find Jesus, be cleansed and begin a new year with Him today. It will be a second chance and the beginning of a second life.

Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2015

An Unexpected Journey - The Old Man and the Prophetess

 

As time goes by, the unexpected circumstances of your existence can push you into the slump of reactionary rather than intentional living. This can happen in your relationships, your career, your use of your resources or your walk with Jesus. To truly live an intentional life in the grand design of God, you must arrange your life based on two things: your worldview and your place within that story. As we look toward a new year, we will continue to reflect on the implications of the arrival of Jesus, taking our cues from an older righteous man named Simeon and an elderly prophetess named Anna. In them, we will find the manner in which God expects you to posture yourself to participate in His overarching purposes.

What Are You Waiting For?

Simeon was waiting with eager expectation for God's salvation.

Luke 2:22-35 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

God had promised Simeon that he would be able to see the consolation, the comfort, of Israel after years of oppression at the hands of foreign empires, though Simeon had no idea how God would bring it about. The four Gospels and the book of Acts give us clues as to how God will bring His salvation to our city in our times. Read them as Simeon did the Old Testament Scriptures and expect Jesus to bring His salvation.

To better understand Simeon's joy at meeting Jesus, we need to understand the storyline upon which Simeon was placing all of his hopes. Why was he so enthralled when he met the person of Jesus and why should we be?

Timothy Keller expressed it well in a 2012 post explaining the reality of the Christian worldview and storyline in which the world finds itself:

Look again at the uniqueness of Christianity. Only the Christian worldview locates the problem with the world not in any part of the world or in any particular group of people but in sin itself (our loss of relationship with God). And it locates the solution in God’s grace (our restoration of a relationship with God through the work of Christ). Sin infects us all, and so we cannot simply divide the world into the heroes and the villains. (And if we did , we would certainly have to count ourselves among the latter as well as the former.) Without an understanding of the gospel, we will be either naively utopian or cynically disillusioned. We will be demonizing something that isn’t bad enough to explain the mess we are in; and we will be idolizing something that isn’t powerful enough to get us out of it. This is, in the end, what all other worldviews do.

The Christian story line works beautifully to make sense of things and even to help us appreciate the truth embedded in stories that clearly come from another worldview. The Christian story line, or worldview, is: creation (plan), fall (problem), redemption and restoration (solution):

The whole world is good. God made the world and everything in it was good. There are no intrinsically evil parts of the world. Nothing is evil in its origin. As Tolkien explained about his archvillain in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the beginning ‘even Sauron was not so.’ You can find this ‘creational good’ in anything.

The whole world is fallen. There is no aspect of the world affected by sin more or less than any other. For example, are emotion and passions untrustworthy and reason infallible? Is the physical bad and the spiritual good? Is the day-to-day world profane but religious observances good? None of these are true; but non-Christian story lines must adopt some variations of these in order to villainize and even demonize some created thing instead of sin.

The whole world is going to be redeemed. Jesus is going to redeem spirit and body, reason and emotion, people and nature. There is no part of reality for which there is no hope.

- Timothy Keller post 12/26/12 on The Christian Storyline, http://kellerquotes.com/the-christian-story-line/

Simeon had been waiting for the predictions of the prophets to be fulfilled for the entirety of his life. Upon meeting Jesus with Mary and Joseph at the temple, Simeon rejoices in the fact that everything God promised the people of Israel was finally coming to pass. He quotes the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6), who wrote about the Savior of all the world 700 years prior to Jesus' arrival.

In the midst of all that Jesus would do, Simeon accurately prophesied about Jesus:

1) He would be a great source of controversy amongst the people.

2) Jesus' work would expose the thoughts of people's hearts and pierce their souls.

Jesus does this as He reveals His unique identity as the only living God, the Messiah who comes to make all wrong things right as He delivers His righteous commands that are to be obeyed.

3) He would be the source of salvation for the Jews and the Gentiles.

This is what Jesus is through His sinless life, death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for sins, and His resurrection from the dead. Jesus offered Himself for all of humanity and turned the known world upside down as He brought men, women and children to repentance and faith.

As it was with the shepherds' finding Jesus in the manger, all things that God has said will turn out exactly as He said they would be. To find ourselves in right standing with God and ready to be a part of His redemptive story, we want to have the same posture of expectation that Simeon had.

Peter, one of the inner circle of disciples during Jesus' earthly ministry, exhorted us to be like Simeon in this manner:

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Looking with expectation prepares you to see what God is doing and how you can be involved.

What To Do While You Wait

Anna was preparing for God's salvation with faithful fasting and prayer.

Luke 2:36-40 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Anna would have hardly expected to have lost her husband at such an early age. Despite this tragedy, Anna found her refuge in the house of God and built her life around the coming kingdom of God through fasting and prayer.

What do fasting and prayer do?

Fasting humbles you before God when you acknowledge your deep need for the Holy Spirit to move in and through your life. It intensifies your sense of dependency upon Him.

Prayer involves you in the purposes of God by preparing you for action.

In the midst of her loss, Anna's response enabled her to play a special role in announcing the arrival of the Messiah that, undoubtedly, prepared the people of Israel for the redemption of Christ. With fasting and prayer, you can take part in Jesus' gospel purposes in your family, city and the nations today.

Anna never left the temple. We should never leave these two postures of a lifestyle of fasting and prayer. The kingdom of God is not to be an interesting or a beneficial part of your life; it is to be the central thing. It is those who are looking for the redemption of Christ that will be a part of what He is doing when the times will have reached their fulfillment.

Being devoted to God and righteous like Simeon and Anna does not at all mean entering a convent and spending the entirety of your days there. It does mean devotedly doing business, relationships and life according to the leadership of God's Word and counsel. It means they stayed connected to the house of God, were able to meet the Messiah and be involved in announcing His redemption that Jesus would one day bring to the world, particularly to all of those who have been waiting for Him.

This was part of the inspiration behind the name "Second City."

Why Second City Church? (Pastor Rollan shared the vision behind Second City Church.)

“At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Let's welcome Christ this holiday season with the same expectation and devotion that the old man (Simeon) and the prophetess (Anna) displayed. If you've never repented of sin and put your trust in God as they did, do so today and watch Him bring His redemptive purpose to your life. If there are sin cycles in your life of which you have not repented as a believer, do so today. Let's build expectation for what the Lord will do in every area of your life and this city in the new year!

Next week we will speak about how to, like Christ, grow in strength, wisdom and the grace of God on our lives.

Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2014

An Unexpected Journey - An Unexpected King

After 400 years of Scriptural silence, God once again pierces history in dramatic fashion by the first Advent of the Savior and His heavenly kingdom. The unexpected journey would be epitomized by Jesus Himself. The literal king of the world to be born to parents of seemingly insignificant pedigree, in a small town, amongst various animals with His first bed being a manger used to feed them. With such a paradoxical beginning, it is clear that we need to learn to find Jesus in the details and be ready for unexpected challenges in our life that are meant for God's glory and our good.

Jesus in the Details

God is sovereign and controls world affairs unto His ultimate ends. You better believe that He is in the business of supernaturally directing your life as well.

Luke 2:1-7 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

The Nativity story is a picture of the sovereignty of God and His perfect placements.

Seven-hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Micah would deliver with supernatural accuracy the birthplace of Jesus and reveal important details about His identity.

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

What this means is that:

1) Jesus is the eternal God.

Jesus has been around the block several more eons than you. Therefore, when He gives you commands through the Bible that are to obeyed for your good, you can trust that He has the wisdom to know what He's talking about.

2) God moves sovereignly throughout history.

The fact that Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, would be of the line of King David confirmed the covenant made to David (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89), where David was promised that God would raise up one of his descendants after him, who would reign forever on his throne. This promise to David was made 900 years before Jesus' arrival and became the foundation for Israel’s hope for a coming Messiah. God is faithful to watch over and fulfill His promises over a long period of time.

It is not a mistake that you are here or with the people with whom you find yourself - in your family, church, workplace, school or neighborhood. It is all part of God's overarching plan.

The times and places that you were born, live and are now reaching out to find Jesus are part of the design of God. You are in the right place. Settle down allowing Him to do His work in and through you there until He says otherwise.

As a lesson from the specificity involved in the birth of Christ, two great questions to ask are:

1) Where are you now that you did not expect to be?

2) How has God arranged the exact times and places in which you now find yourself for the birthing of His kingdom purposes through your life?

The answers to these questions reflects the unexpected challenge that Jesus brings to follow Him both then and now.

An Unexpected Challenge

Jesus comes to rule your life because He can do it better.

However, this reality posed a threat to the:

1) Romans

Caesar Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar who had transferred political power to Augustus and two other men. After his defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Augustus' ascendency to the throne was complete, and through his Pax Romana, he would provide unprecedented unity and safety of travel for those of the Empire. This would be a perfect environment for the spread of the gospel which would highlight the worship of Jesus rather than the Caesars in their imperial rule.

2) Jews

The Zondervan Bible commentary gives us a picture of messianic expectations in the time of Jesus:

"In the century leading up to Jesus’ birth, when the powerful Roman empire dominated Palestine, hope for the coming Messiah to free God’s people from their oppressors became particularly intense. Though these expectations were diverse in the various strands of first-century Judaism, the dominant hope was for a messianic deliverer from King David’s line. In the Psalms of Solomon, a pseudepigraphic work (written under an assumed name) from the first century B.C., the following hope is expressed: See, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel…. Undergird him with the strength to destroy the unrighteous rulers, to purge Jerusalem from gentiles who trample her to destruction; in wisdom and in righteousness to drive out the sinners from the inheritance; to smash the arrogance of sinners like a potter’s jar; to shatter all their substance with an iron rod [cf. Ps. 2:9] to destroy unlawful nations with the word of his mouth; [cf. Isa. 11:4] At his warning the nations will flee from his presence; and he will condemn sinners by the thoughts of their hearts. (Pss. Sol. 17:21–25). The Gentiles who “trample [Jerusalem] to destruction” are the Romans. It is not difficult to see why such excitement surrounded Jesus and even John the Baptist (Luke 3:15), when people suspected either might be the Messiah, the Son of David."

It was disconcerting to many that the first order of business for the anticipated deliverer would not be to overthrow the Romans, but the autonomy and rebellion in their hearts. It is the same for us today as Jesus looks to bring people first to repentance so that He might forgive us of our sins and free us of the internal oppression of sin that has ruled our lives.

3) Us

We like to piecemeal our devotion to Jesus, but relationship with Him is an all or nothing proposal. He came to marry a bride, His church. Jesus does not come to make happy suggestions for your life, He comes to benevolently rule it. As you repent of sin and meet Him at the cross you receive His abundant life.

“Men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust.”
― Charles H. Spurgeon

Jesus came in fulfillment of God's specific promise to the chagrin of the Caesars who hoped to be deified. Jesus brought bigger plans than the Jews of the time anticipated. He would bring an eternal kingdom to rule in the hearts of men and women with His first coming. This is the purpose of the first Advent as He provides an avenue of reconciliation between God and humanity through the cross. The second Advent of Jesus the Messiah will come and overthrow the enemies of God. He will be the long-awaited king of both Jews and Gentiles alike coming to assume His throne. Therefore, let's worship Him now and forever give Him the throne in our lives.

Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2014

An Unexpected Journey - The Pregnancy and the Promise

Transforming Truth: Our plans are not always God's plans, but Jesus' plans are always bigger and better.

Who in here is a planner?

We all have plans and dreams of what we want and expect our life to look like in regard to: your career, your spouse, the number of kids you'll have, your achievements, financial portfolio, etc.

Mary and Joseph more than likely had plans of their own to be like all of their young Jewish friends. Growing up in the lackluster town of Nazareth scholars estimate to have had a population at the time between 300-1000 people, the young Joseph would aspire to start his carpentry business. Mary, a girl between twelve and thirteen years old, would be looking to have a nice, respectable Jewish man between twelve and eighteen years old who would provide well for a home and allow them to be a part of the normal happenings of the culture. It is not much different today as people aspire to establish a career, 401K, go on select vacations each year, have a nice donkey or car, beautiful home and settle down like the rest of the American landscape. Yet things still seem to go awry.

The good news is that God always has bigger, unexpected plans!

What We Know About Jesus

There is no plan B with God. God's promise has always been and will always be to send Jesus to be the answer for this broken world.

Luke 1:26-33 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

What we know about Jesus is:

1) His entire life would be great and a sign from God.

All the world and history looks to Jesus as a signpost of what is good, true and right. God expects that you acknowledge the signs and serve Him with your life.

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

2) Jesus would be born of a virgin; thus, 100% human as well as 100% God.

He would literally be God incarnate, meaning He came in the flesh and would be named Immanuel, meaning "God with us." God would not remain distant amidst the hurt and pain of the world's fallen state, but would get His hands dirty and come near to rescue.

Jeremiah 23:5-6 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.

Jesus is the "righteous Branch" (a Messianic reference) who would rescue the people from the powerful consequences of their rebellion and be their "Righteous Savior" from the penalty of their sins. You may not think that you need a Savior, but you will when the day of judgement comes.

“Knowledge of God without knowledge of man's wretchedness leads to pride. Knowledge of man's wretchedness without knowledge of God leads to despair. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is the middle course, because by it we discover both God and our wretched state.”
― Blaise Pascal

3) He will be the one to assume King David's throne with a kingdom that never ends.

This meant that Jesus would somehow live and rule forever. This is exactly what He does today after offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross and rising from the dead.

How we fit into that clear plan today beyond our personal salvation is often a surprise.

What We Didn't Realize God Was Doing

God's plans will unite you with specific people to fulfill His promises.

Luke 1:34-38 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

The relational joining of the Lord often takes place when you are not even looking for it. You, like Mary and Elizabeth, get joined to other Christians in the purposes of God when the Holy Spirit is birthing something in you.

Mary had no idea what had been gestating in her relative Elizabeth for the past six months. The beautiful thing is that God places one piece of the puzzle in your spiritual womb (like Elizabeth) which will only find its fulfillment when joined to what God has birthed in your brother or sister's womb (like Mary).

Lessons from the Immaculate Conception:

What God does in your life will be:

1) Stretching

The call of God will pull you beyond your personal ambitions, life goals and dreams.

2) Require Interdependence

Mary and Elizabeth each had vital roles in fulfilling biblical prophecy. The relationships that God places you in play an indispensable part in the redemptive plans of God for our times.

3) Take Faith

Mary's pregnancy had to be conceived by the Holy Spirit and carried out through confidence in God's Word.

"I'm willing to do whatever you say, God, whatever is going to glorify you," is the attitude that Mary had. It is the posture that God is looking for from you.

Surprising Complements

Who you walk with is just as important as what you are pursuing.

Luke 1:39-45 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

These are the types of intentional conversations we need to have, asking those in the church, "What has God called you to do for His Kingdom and how can we accomplish it together?" As with Elizabeth, a great deal of the joy that God has for you will only be found as you respond to God's purposes with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The call of God will force you to depend on relationship with the people of God. Mary, a teenager, may not have been expecting to hang out with her elderly relative Elizabeth, but she's exactly who she needed during the pregnancy.

No one but the people of God will fully understand, hold you accountable to or encourage the things that God wants to do because ultimately they are all centered around the person of Jesus Christ.

It will take encouragement from other Jesus loving, kingdom-oriented believers.

Abilities wither under faultfinding, blossom under encouragement. 
- Donald A Laird

It is only when we come together with these Holy Spirit inspired ambitions that the fulfillment of God's promises take place. This is to happen in and through Christ's church and is the power He releases in fellowship, biblically defined as a shared life.

Browsing vs. Belonging

Part of our culture's economic engine is run off of the rewards program for loyalty to particular businesses.

Cash Back Featuring Samuel L. Jackson- Capital One Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWfpEjc7XVw

Instead of asking, "what's in your wallet?", we need to ask, "Who's in your life?"

1) When you belong to a church family, you are able to make plans with other believers for your growth, safety and success. When you are simply browsing, you often stand alone.

2) When you are grounded in a church community, people can walk with you through the highs and lows of life. When you are simply passing through, you lack the friendship that God has for you to follow-up your victories and defeats.

Don't try to go it alone. Again, there is great joy in the relationships God forms as His people pursue Jesus and His promises together.

How can you come together to exalt the person and gospel work of Jesus Christ this holiday season and new year?

Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2014