OCTOBER 2009
SERMONS
OCTOBER 4
“BOUNDLESS LOVE”
SCRIPTURE READING:
ROMANS 5:1-11
SCRIPTURE TEXT: Romans
5:6-8
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.
INTRO:
How much love is enough?
Can we love
too much?
“When
I stand before my Lord, I hope He’ll say of me that I’ve loved too
many, rather than too few.”1
We often
choose to love or not to love by our personal likes or dislikes.
The boundaries
of our love are often influenced by outward manifestations.
God’s
love for us knows no boundaries.
Ephesians 3:17-19
(NLT) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in
your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the
soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand,
as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep
his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though
it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be
filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
I. GOD
DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE.
NOTE:
God demonstrated His love for us in several ways.
A. HE TOOK
ON HUMAN FORM AND NATURE.
Hebrews 2:17-18 (NLT)
Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like
us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful
High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take
away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering
and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.
NOTE:
How can we begin to understand what it meant for God to take on the
form and nature of man?
He did all
this in order to know what man goes through.
Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus
the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. This
High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of
the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come
boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his
mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.
B. HE SUFFERED
DEATH FOR US.
Hebrews 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and
honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
NOTE:
The whole purpose of God taking on human form and nature was in order
to die for us.
C. HE BECAME
A CURSE FOR US.
Galatians 3:13 (NLT)
But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When
he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is
hung on a tree."
D. HE BECAME
THE OFFERING FOR OUR SIN.
2 Corinthians 5:21
(NLT) For God made Christ, who never sinned,
to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with
God through Christ.
II. HE LOVED US BEFORE
WE LOVED HIM.
1 John 4:10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
A. HE LOVED US WHILE WE WERE UNLOVABLE.
Romans 5:6,
8 (NLT) When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the
right time and died for us sinners…But God showed his great love for
us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
NOTE:
We look on the outside and decide who should be save but God wants all
to be saved.
2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)
The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as
some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not
want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.
Mark 2:17 When
Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
B. HIS LOVE
MAKES US ALL EQUAL.
NOTE:
There are no more boundaries that divide us.
Galatians 3:28 (NLT)
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female.
For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:11 (NLT)
In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile,
circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free.
Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
III. GOD’S LOVE
IS BOUNDLESS.
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee.
Ephesians 3:17-19
(NLT) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in
your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the
soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand,
as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep
his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though
it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be
filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
CONCLUSION:
God’s love is so great it has made a way that we as sinners might
become part of God’s family.
1 John 3:1-3 (NLT)
See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us
to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong
to this world don't know God, so they don't understand that we are his
children. Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children, and
we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But
we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him
as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves
pure, just as Christ is pure.
OCTOBER 11
“WHO IS OUR GOD?”
SCRIPTURE READING: JOSHUA 24:14-18
SCRIPTURE TEXT: Joshua
24:15
And if it seem evil
unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve;
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side
of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but
as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
NOTE:
We may no longer bow down to idols made with wood or stone, yet there
are many gods whom we worship and serve.
There
are many questions in life but the most important one is, “Who is
our God?”
Just what
do we mean by God?
Webster’s
Dictionary gives the following definition for the word god. The supreme or ultimate reality as 1: The being
perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness, who is worshipped as creator
and ruler of the universe. 2: A being or object believed to have more
than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship: one
controlling a particular aspect or part of reality. 3: a person or thing
of supreme value. 4: a powerful ruler.
There are
four things we wish to consider that will help us to determine who our
God is.
- Who or what do we love
the most.
- Who or what do we worship.
- Who or what do we trust.
- Who or what do we serve.
I. WHO OR WHAT DO
WE LOVE THE MOST.
NOTE:
We may love many things but the question we must ask ourselves is, “Who
or what do we love above everything else?”
A. THE THINGS
OF THIS WORLD.
1 John 2:15-16 (NLT)
Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when
you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father
in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure,
the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These
are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.
B. FAMILY.
Matthew 10:37
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and
he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
C. GOD MUST
COME FIRST.
Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Mark 12:30
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is
the first commandment.
We must
make a choice on what or who we love the most.
Luke 11:17 But he, knowing
their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.
II. WHO OR WHAT DO
WE WORSHIP.
NOTE:
We will worship what we love the most.
What does
it mean to worship someone or something?
Reverent honor and
homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded
as sacred. Adoring reverence or regard. The object of adoring
reverence or regard (any person or thing) to
feel an adoring reverence or regard honor, to pay homage, adoration,
idolatry. To honor, venerate, revere, adore, glorify, idolize, and put
on a pedestal.
Based on the Random House
Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
NOTE:
There are many people and things that our society worships today.
- Sports figures
- Celebrities
- Political figures
- Things (cars, clothes, houses,
etc.)
- Education, pleasure, power,
fame, etc.
We reveal
what we worship by what we spend our time, energy and resources on.
God is the
only one worthy of worship.
Exodus 34:14
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God:
Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for
thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were
created.
III. WHO OR WHAT DO
WE TRUST.
NOTE:
To whom or do we put our trust in when we make plans or face times of
difficulties.
Isaiah 31:1 (NLT)
Destruction is certain for those who look to Egypt for help, trusting
their cavalry and chariots instead of looking to the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel.
- For advice.
NOTE:
There is nothing wrong with seeking advice from others, but when their
advice and the Word of God disagree, whose advice do we follow.
Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psalm 118:8
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Proverbs
3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding.
- When facing difficulties.
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember
the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 56:3
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT)
This is what the Lord says: "Cursed are those who put their
trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
on the salty flats where no one lives. "But blessed are those
who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach
deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by
the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green,
and they go right on producing delicious fruit.
IV. WHO OR WHAT DO
WE SERVE.
Luke 16:13 (NLT)
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the
other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
both God and money."
We will
seek to please whomever or whatever we serve.
John 12:42-43 (NLT)
Many people, including some of the Jewish leaders, believed in him.
But they wouldn't admit it to anyone because of their fear that the
Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human
praise more than the praise of God.
We will
not serve someone or something we are ashamed of.
Mark 8:38 (NLT)
If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and
sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when
I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels."
Mark 15:43
Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved
the body of Jesus.
Acts 4:13
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that
they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took
knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus.
Those who
make God their God are not afraid to serve Him.
CONCLUSION:
Whom we love we worship, whom we worship we trust, whom we trust we
serve. LET US MAKE GOD OUR GOD!!!
OCTOBER 18
“FRIENDSHIP WITH
JESUS”
SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 15:1-17
SCRIPTURE TEXT:
John 15:14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
INTRO:
We all have many acquaintances but do we have many friends, or better
still, are we friends to many.
Today we
want to discuss our friendship with Jesus.
The question
we must address is not whether or not Jesus is our friend but are we
His friend.
Jesus has proven His friendship by His coming to earth to live, die
and be resurrected on our behalf.
Romans 5:6-8 (NLT)
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and
died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person,
though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially
good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to
die for us while we were still sinners.
“He died
who needed not to die, and died in agony when he might have lived in
glory: never did man give such proof of friendship as this.”
(Charles Spurgeon)
The Bible
tells us that Jesus is a friend of sinners.
Matthew
11:19 (NLT) And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say,
'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!'
But wisdom is shown to be right by what results from it."
Jesus is
a friend of sinners so that sinners might become the friend of Jesus.
Friendship in its full sense
is mutual, it is not one sided.
What is required for us
to become the friend of Jesus?
I. FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS IS BASED
ON OBEDIENCE.
Jesus values
his friends, not by what they have, or what they wear, but by what they
do.
John 15:14 (NLT) You are my
friends if you obey me.
NOTE:
Our obedience is the key to our friendship with Jesus.
Sinners
are not Jesus friends till their hearts are changed.
It is the
highest honor in the world to be called the friend of Christ.
James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and
it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend
of God.
NOTE:
Why was Abraham called a friend of God’s?
- Abraham believed God
- Abraham obeyed God
2 Chronicles 20:7
Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land
before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend
for ever?
Isaiah 41:8
But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed
of Abraham my friend.
Faith and obedience are interwoven with each other; you cannot have
one without the other.
“If ye are obedient ye are my friends.” This is the point by
which our friendship with Jesus shall be tested.
John 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
him, and will manifest myself to him.
John 14:23
Jesus answered and said unto him,
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him,
and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
1 John 2:3
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
II. FRIENDSHIP WITH
JESUS IS BASED ON FELLOWSHIP.
NOTE:
The bond of “friendship” is based on relationship.
We can not
be friends if we do not have a close relationship.
David and
Jonathan.
True
friendship stands in spite of times of trouble in fact; times of trouble
will strength true friendship.
NOTE:
Times of trouble does not test Jesus’ friendship with us but rather
our friendship with Jesus.
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loveth at all times…
Do we still
love God when things do not go the way we want them to go?
Do we still
love God when He does not answer our prayers the way we think He should?
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
NOTE:
It is during the times of adversity that our friendship with Jesus grows
stronger.
III. OUR FRIENDSHIP
WITH JESUS IS BASED ON OUR FRIENDSHIP WITH
THE WORLD.
John 14:24
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which
ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
James 4:4 (KJV)
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of
the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God.
NOTE:
We cannot be a friend of Jesus and be a friend of the world.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
NOTE:
We can be a friend of sinners, as Jesus was, but not a friend of this
sinful world.
Friendship
of this world means we;
- Obey the lust there of
- Fellowship in its sinful
activities
The more
friendship we have with this sinful world the less friendship we have
with God.
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
CONCLUSION:
God invites us to come from the sinfulness of this fallen world and
walk in friendship with Him.
Isaiah 1:18-19
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Revelation 3:20 (KJV)
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me.
Remember
this verse is speaking to the Church.
OCTOBER 25
“A RENEWED LOVE”
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 2:1-7
SCRIPTURE TEXT: Revelation
2:4
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love.
INTRO:
The best of relationships if not keep fresh can fall into stagnation.
You are
just going through the motions.
This can
happen in a marriage, a friendship even our relationship with God.
Many Christians
are just going through the motions in their relationship with God.
When our
marriage relationship become stagnate we say put a little romance back
into your relationship.
Jesus is
telling the Church of Ephesus the same thing.
Revelation 2:4-5
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left
thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly,
and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
I. THEY WERE NOT UNGODLY.
Rev. 2:1-3,6 (GW)
To the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write: The one who holds
the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven
gold lamp stands, says: I know what you have done—how hard you have
worked and how you have endured. I also know that you cannot tolerate
wicked people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles but
are not apostles. You have discovered that they are liars. You
have endured, suffered trouble because of my name, and have not grown
weary...But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes,
which I also hate.
NOTE:
On the surface this Church seemed to be a Godly church.
- They were not involved
in sinful activities.
- They worked hard and labored
for Christ.
The word labor (kopon) means to labor to the point of weariness.
- They patiently endured.
- They could not bear those
who were evil.
- They rejected false teachers.
- They had endured suffering.
- They had not grown weary
in their serves to Christ.
They did
all this but they did it without love for God.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
(ASV) If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have
not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And
if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love,
I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
We often
consider this Scripture as referring to our love for others but it also
refers to our love for God.
We can go
through all the motions of being a good Christians and do it without
the proper love for God.
II.
THEY WERE SERVING BUT DOING SO WITHOUT GOD BEING FIRST IN
THEIR LIVES.
Revelation 2:4
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left
thy first love.
NOTE:
Often people live in a marriage like this. They do not cheat on
their spouse, they do everything that is expected, but they do it without
love.
This church
had replaced their love for God as being first and had place a love
for something else in His place.
- A love for the Church.
- A love for the work.
- A love for the recognition.
- Out of a sense of duty.
Their love for God had grown cold.
Matthew 24:12
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
There are
many who are in the church today whose love for God has grown cold.
III. HOW CAN WE RENEW
OUR LOVE FOR GOD?
Revelation 2:5
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
first works;
- They were to remember when
they had fallen.
Isaiah 51:1-2
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the
Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the
pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah
that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased
him.
NOTE:
They were to remember two things.
1. They
were to remember what God had delivered them from.
NOTE:
Sometimes we forget what God has saved us from.
2.
They were to remember the love that filled their hearts when
they accept Christ as their Savior.
NOTE:
We need to remember the excitement and joy we experienced when we accepted
Christ as our Savior.
- They were to repent for
allowing their love for God to be replaced with love for something else.
NOTE:
We need to re-evaluate the reason for what we are doing.
This might even mean stop doing something in the church if your motivation
for doing what you doing is not because of your love for God.
- They were to do their first
works again.
1. Spend time in prayer.
Praising
God for Who He is.
Thanking
Him for what He has done.
Telling
Him how much you love Him.
2.
Spend time reading and reflecting on God’s Word.
3.
Share your faith with others.
4.
Seek to walk as close to Jesus as you can.
Song
of Solomon 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath
brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we
will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands,
ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
CONCLUSION:
God has promise us a great reward if we will return to our first love.
Revelation 2:7
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
