Love: The Catalyst of Missions

Love: The Catalyst of Missions

Guest Speaker - Jay Armstrong - 10/1/2023

Key Passage: 1 Timothy 1:5

Missions Emphasis Week - Part 1

What do we mean when we say Gospel / Disciple?

- The gospel that you preach determines the disciples we produce.

Axiom: Christianity without Discipleship is always Christianity without Christ

- “Christianity without Discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Better Question: Jesus, how am I doing loving the people you’ve given me to love?

- What are we practicing?

- How are we preparing?

Grow in Grace

- Grace is God at work on our behalf to help us become and do what we could never become nor do on our own for our best good and His highest glory.

- Titus 2:11-15

The Disciple’s Process

1. Believe like Jesus

2. Live like Jesus

3. Love like Jesus

4. Serve like Jesus

5. Lead like Jesus

The Royal Command

- Love God. Love People.

- Matthew 22:32-40

A Divine Example

- As I have loved you

- John 15:11-17

A Disciple’s Duty

- Live as people of love

- Can we ever really say, we love God whom we haven’t seen if we are not willing to love the people he commands us to love who live right next door?

- Information alone doesn’t create transformation.

The Church: a community of faithful love.

- Motivated by relationships built on love, not on traditions, personalities, finances, programs, buildings, or events.

Relationships

- The end

- The means

- The message

Without Wax

- When love is sincere

Defining Love

- Love is the ongoing sacrificial pursuit of God’s best for another person.

Paul’s Purpose

- 1 Timothy 1:5

- The goal of our instruction is love

Two Goals

1. Love more people than we’ve ever loved before

2. Love people longer than we ever have before

Axiom:

- it’s more important to be than do

- It’s more important what happens in you than to you.

- You cannot give to others what you do not posses yourself.

The Hated Six - God Hates Our Pride

The Hated Six - God Hates Our Pride

Paul Trulock - 7/30/2023

Key Passage: Proverbs 6:16-19

Haughty Eyes

• Haughty, prideful, arrogant.

• To have too high a view of yourself and too low a view of others. 

• Eyes

• The eyes convey what is in our hearts.

No exceptions

• God hates our pride.

Why does God hate pride?

Our pride promotes selfishness

• “The world wants proof that Christians are better than other people. The proof is that Christ can change selfish people into models of love and self-sacrifice.”

• Philippians 2:3

• 1 Corinthians 10:24

• James 3:16

Our pride causes us to stop listening 

• Isaiah 28:33

• John 8:47

• Luke 11:28

Our pride steals God’s glory

• Daniel 4:30

• John 15:5

• Isaiah 42:8

How do we overcome our pride?

Recognize our opposition 

• James 4:6 - God opposes the proud…

Repent of our pride

• 1 John 1:9 - if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us…

Rely on the Holy Spirit

• Romans 8:6-7 - …the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace…

Satisfied By God’s Love - Grad Sunday

Satisfied By God’s Love

Phil Woodman • 6/5/2022

Key Passage: Psalm 90

Psalm 90 - A Psalm of Lament

• Asking God for aid in overcoming calamity.

  • We are in trouble! Help us Lord!

• A Psalm of Moses. Possibly the oldest Psalm in the book of Psalms.

God is our refuge

• From eternity past to eternity future.

  • He is God and we are finite.

• Our lives are often filled with sadness and struggle.

  • Our difficulties stand out so much more than the good days.

The Turn

• Teach me to make the most of the time that I have.

• Have compassion on your servants.

  • God had abundant compassion for Moses.

Satisfy us with your faithful love

• The prayer of a person who has experienced this before.

• John 15 - abide in me. Be satisfied by me.

• Psalm 8:5-6 - he has given us so much more than we could ever ask or expect.

What Did Jesus Say About The Holy Spirit?

Message Begins around 24:15

What Did Jesus Say About The Holy Spirit?

Dave Riddle • 05/29/2022

Key Passage: John 15:26-16:15'

The Helper

• John 15:26-27

  • Helper = paraklētos - summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid. One who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate. One who pleads another's cause with one, an intercessor. In the widest sense, a helper, aider, assistant

• John 7

• John 14:16-17

Jesus leaving was to our advantage!

• John 16:7-8

The Work of The Holy Spirit in our Lives

• Convicting

  • John 16:9 - Conviction of our lack of belief.

• Convincing

  • John 16:10 - Revealing the truth about Jesus

• Condemning

  • John 16:11

  • 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

• Guiding Us in All Truth

  • John 16:12-13

  • John 14:26

What Does Jesus Say About Hate?

Hate The World?

Dave Riddle • 05/22/2022

Key Passage: John 15:18-16:4

The “World” Hates Jesus

• John 7:7 (CSB): The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify about it—that its works are evil.

  • Compare to John 15:18-19

A message for those of us who don’t want to be hated.

• James 4:4 - Friend of the world = enemy of God

A message for those of us who enjoy looking for a fight

• Romans 12:18 - as much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

We need to live in the tension between these two passages.

Expect Persecution

• John 15:20

• Matthew 5:10

  • Persecution is a blessing!

• Matthew 5:11-12

  • Rejoice!

  • A blessed inheritance

Hating Jesus = Hating God

• John 15:21-24

  • Jesus makes a claim of divinity.

    • John 10:22-38

• Why did they hate Jesus? For no reason.

  • John 15:25

Jesus sends help!

• John 15:26-27

• The Holy Spirit

  • More on this next week.

“Fall away”

• John 16:1-2

  • Fall away, stumble, be trapped

  • skandalizō - to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall. to offend

Outcasts

• John 16:1-2

  • Outcasts: put out of your religious community, academic community, social community.

    • Did it happen? Yes.

      • Acts 26:9-11 - Paul’s testimony.

Why do they do this?

• Because they don’t know Jesus or the Father

  • John 16:3-4

    • Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be caught off guard.

What Does Jesus Command?

What Does Jesus Command?

Dave Riddle • 05/15/2022

Key Passage: John 15:12-17

John 15:12 (CSB): This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.

• Love = agapaō - agape, immeasurable and unconditional love.

John 15:13 (CSB): No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

• He calls us friends when, in reality, we were His enemies.

  • Romans 5:8

John 15:14 (CSB): You are my friends if you do what I command you.

• Abraham: James 2:23

• Us! John 15:15 - no longer blindly obedient servants, but friends.

John 15:16 (CSB): You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 

• Referring back to John 15:1-8

• He chose us!

“These things” I command you, that you love one another. John 15:17

• Possibly: All of His commands boil down to “love one another”.

• Or: the result of all of His commands is that we will love one another.

John 15:17 (CSB): “This is what I command you: Love one another.”

• Not optional.

  • Command, enjoin, an imperative

  • entolē = an order, command, charge, precept, injunction

Everything we do should be deepening our love for one another.

The Vine and the Branches

Message Begins Around 26:00

The Vine and The Branches

Paul Trulock 5/8/2022 • Mothers Day

Key Passage: John 15:1-11

Upside Down Relationships

Upside Down Relationships

03/27/2021 - Phil Woodman

Key Passages: Matthew 22:35-39, Philemon

Matthew 22:35-39

Jesus invited us to live with God 

• Galatians 4:7 - no longer slaves

• John 15:15 - friends of God

• Do you find yourself trying to earn God’s love?

• Genesis 1:27- we are created in God’s image

• 1 Timothy 2:3 - God wants to have a relationship with all of us.

Love Your Enemies

• Matthew 5:43 - have you heard the law that says ‘loves your neighbor’ but hate your enemy?

  • Leviticus 19:18 - what’s missing?

• Matthew 5:43-47

  • Called to something new and different.

  • We shouldn’t have enemies.

Rethinking the way we see others

• Philemon 8-10

  • What would you do if you were Philemon?

• Philemon 15-18

  • What’s our attitude towards the people who have wronged us?

What do you need to do?

• Do you need a heart check?

• Do something

  • How have you made the opportunity to point people to Jesus?

The Impact of Joy

The Impact of Joy

12/19/2021 - Dave Riddle 

Luke 2:10 - Good news of great joy! 

Joy is Not the Same Thing as Personal Happiness

• Happiness is circumstantial

  • Joy is different

• 1 Peter 1:8 - …inexpressible and glorious joy

  • “Joy unspeakable and full of glory“

  • Joy = chara (χαρά) a calm delight

• Pipe dream or attainable reality?

Joy is Commanded

• Philippians 4:4 - Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again rejoice.

  • An imperative.

Joy Requires Intentionality & Commitment

• Colossians 3:2 - set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

  • Set your mind = phroneō (φρονέω) To direct one's mind to a thing, to seek, to strive for

Joy Can Become Our Orientation

• Galatians 5:22 - The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…

How Do We “Set Our Minds…”?

Remember How Loved You Are

• The love we experience on Earth pales in comparison to the love the Heavenly Father has for us.

Remember Who(se) You Are

• 1 John 3:1, 1 Peter 2:9-10 - This is our identity! This is who we are!

Remember What You Have

• 1 Peter 1:3-7 - …an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading…

John 15:11 -  “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

• Complete, full, overflowing = plēroō (πληρόω) - to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim

Joy - God in Our Midst

Joy - God in Our Midst
12/20/20 - Dave Riddle
Key Passage: Luke 2:10

Joy is Not the Same as Happiness

• Happiness and unhappiness are circumstantial.

• Joy is a deep-rooted state of ongoing delight inspired by God himself.

  • 1 Peter 1:8

Joy is Commanded

• An imperative, an exultation, a command.

  • Philippians 4:4

  • We always have a reason to have joy, even when we’re unhappy or disillusioned.

Joy Takes Some Commitment

• Colossians 3:2

  • Is your primary focus on the here and now, or on things above?

Joy Can Become An Orientation

• Galatians 5:22

  • Joy manifests as we walk in the Spirit.

Living Joyfully

• Remember how you’re loved

  • God loves you with an everlasting love!

• Remember who you are and whose you are.

  • 1 John 3:1

  • Remember your identity. Nothing can change your identity in Christ

  • 1 Peter 2:9-10

• Remember what you have

  • 1 Peter 1:3-6

    • New birth ( you are a new creation)

    • Living hope

    • An Inheritance

John 15:11 - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you.

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Generosity Pt. 1

Vitals - Generosity Part 1
Dave Riddle - 08/11/19
Key Passage: Romans 8:32

Definition: Showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: At the core, it’s all about God

Jesus: Perfect example of generosity

• He gave willingly

  • John 10:18

• He gave joyfully

  • John 15:13

• He gave purposefully

  • 1 Peter 3:18

• He gave sacrificially

  • Ephesians 5:25

  • Philippians 2:5-8