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The Will of God

The Will of God

Charles Bai - 10/13/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2

  • The will of God... is good acceptable and perfect

    • Good: Luke 18:19 - no one is good except God alone.

    • Acceptable: Matthew 3:17 - This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

    • Perfect: Revelation 4:11 - all things created by the will of God

Matthew 6:9-13

  • When we pray we need to think about three things.

    • The name of God

      • Holy

    • The Kingdom of God

      • Will come

    • The Will of God

      • On Earth as it is in Heaven

Matthew 7:21

  • Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.

    • So, what IS the will of God?

1 Thessalonians 4:3

  • For this is the will of God, your sanctification...

    • Sanctification

      • To be made holy

      • To be set apart

How are we sanctified?

  • by the Holy Spirit

    • Romans 15:16

  • Through the truth of God’s word

    • John 17:15-17

      • Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

    • Read the word of God!

Ephesians 4:24/Colossians 3:10

  • “Put on the new self/new man...”



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A Loving Koinōnia

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Romans 12 - A Loving Koinōnia
Dave Riddle - 10/6/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:9-16

koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion. 

Sincerity

  • Romans 12:9

    • Let love be without hypocrisy

    • anypokritos (Greek: ἀνυπόκριτος) - originally used to refer to actors or one playing a part: unfeigned, undisguised, sincere.

Spiritual Sensitivity 

  • Romans 12:9

    • Detest evil

    • Cling to what is good

Affection

  • Romans 12:10

    • Love one another deeply.

    • Be devoted to one another

    • As brothers and sisters

Esteem

  • Romans 12:10

    • Outdo one another in showing honor.

    • Honor one another above yourselves.

Passion

  • Romans 12:11

    • Don’t be lazy, don’t lack zeal.

    • Be fervent - zeō (Greek: ζέω) - to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest):—be fervent.

Resolute

  • Romans 12:12

    • The picture of someone who is determined.

    • Hopefulness rather than hopelessness

Big Hearts

  • Romans 12:13

    • Share with the saints in their needs

    • Emotionally, spiritually, and practically!

Open Arms

  • Romans 12:13

    • Pursue hospitality

    • philoxenia (Greek: φιλοξενία) - love to strangers, hospitality

    • Not just waiting but actively looking for opportunities to show hospitality to strangers.

Unnatural and Unexpected 

  • Romans 12:14

    • Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse

Empathy

  • Romans 12:15

    • Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

    • Not just sympathetic but empathic.

One Accord

  • Romans 12:16

    • Live in harmony with one another.

    • Of one mind.

Down to Earth

  • Romans 12:16

    • Associate with the humble.

Which one or two of these areas is the Holy Spirit highlighting in your own life?


Baptism

Baptism

Dave Riddle - 09/29/19

Key Passage: Matthew 28:19

Why Immersion?

  • Seems to be the regular practice of the New Testament Church.

  • baptizo (Greek: βαπτίζω) - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of sunken vessels); to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe.

    • ancient pickle recipe

Identification

  • immersed into Christ

  • Romans 6:3-4

Declaration

  • 1 Peter 3:18

  • A new identity!

    • 2 Corinthians 5:17

  • Phillip and the Ethiopian

    • Acts 8:36

Reminder

  • A reminder of the call to obedience

    • Romans 6:6-7

    • Galatians 2:20

  • A reminder of Jesus’ great commission for us as believers.

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Intro to Koinonia

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Romans 12 - Intro to Koinōnia
Dave Riddle - 09/22/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:3-8

koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion. 

Humble, wise self-assessment

  • Romans 12:3

  • we need to have an accurate assessment of ourselves.

    • See ourselves as God sees us.


A single body; many pieces and roles

  • Romans 12:4

  • Unity! One body.

Diversity! Many roles.

Deeply connected

  • Romans 12:5

  • Individually members of one another.

Gifted

  • Romans 12:6

    • Different than talent

    • Gifts of the spirit

  • Speaking gifts

    • didaskō - teaching for transformation.

  • Service gifts

Grace and Faith are indispensable 

  • Romans 12:3

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The Surrendered Life

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Romans 12 - The Surrendered Life
Dave Riddle - 09/15/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:1-2

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:” - Romans 12:1 (Message)

An Impassioned Plea

  • I urge you (Romans 12:1)

    • parakaleō (Greek: παρακαλέω) - to admonish, exhort. to beg, entreat, beseech...

To whom? All the family of God.

  • Romans 12:1 - “therefore brothers and sisters...”

On what grounds? God’s mercies.

  • Mercies plural

  • Not because of anything we’ve done, but because the mercy he shows us again and again.

This call has two facets

  • A Living Sacrifice (12:1)

    • Our bodies

      • A shocking statement for Paul’s Roman audience who saw the body as a grave.

    • Our worship

      • Our body is not a tomb, but a tool to worship God in everything we do!

      • Our physical bodies become a spiritual act of worship.

  • Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (12:2)

    • Don’t just be like everyone else. (Conformity)

    • Allow yourself to be transformed.

      • Daily and continually, not a one time event.

      • metamorphoō (Greek: μεταμορφόω) - to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.

    • The world’s standards and God’s will are so far apart that you cannot just take a little bit of each.


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The Servant

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The Servant

Dave Riddle - 09/01/19

Key Passages: Colossians 3:22-25, Ephesians 6:5-8

doulos (Greek: δοῦλος): a slave, bondman, man of servile condition

The Command? Obey

  • hypakouō (Greek: ὑπακούω) - listen, used of one who, at a knock on the door, comes to listen for who is there (duty of a porter). To listen to a command, to obey, be obedient to, submit to.

The Way of Obedience

In All Ways

  • Colossians 3:22 - ...obey your masters in all things.

With the proper attitude

  • Ephesians 6:5 - ...obey ...with respect and fear

At All Times

  • Ephesians 6:6 - obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you.

      • Emphasized again in Colossians 3:22

With the Right Heart

  • Ephesians 6:6-7 - ...doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly.

Committed to Excellence

  • Colossians 3:23 - In all the work you are doing, work the best you can.

Having a Spiritual Focus

  • Colossians 3:24 - you are serving the Lord Christ.

Maintaining a Kingdom Perspective 

  • Colossians 3:24 - Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord.


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Generosity Pt. 2

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Vitals - Generosity Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 08/25/19
Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Generous: the readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: at the core it’s about God giving to us.

Embracing a lifestyle of generosity...

  • A Reflection of God

    • John 13:34 - Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

      • Jesus is the perfect picture of generosity for us to emulate.

  • A Display of Gratitude

    • Mark 12:44

      • Even though she had very little, she realized that she was blessed.

    • Hebrews 12:28

      • We’ve received a kingdom that can’t be shaken. Our response should be an outpouring of gratitude.

  • An Assertion of Trust

    • Mark 12:44

      • She gave everything and, trusted that God would provide for her.

        • Not a suggestion that we are all prescribed to do the same.

        • But a challenge for us to examine the way we give.

      • Do we give out of our surplus, or do we give sacrificially?

  • An Attack on the “King”

    • We are our own biggest enemies: our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our greed. We are the kings of our own lives.

    • Matthew 6:24 - ...you cant worship God and money both.

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Generosity Pt. 1

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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

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Authenticity Pt. 2

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Vitals - Authenticity Part 2
Dave Riddle - 08/11/19
Key Passage: Romans 12:9

Key Aspects of a “Being Real” Culture

  • Honesty

  • Simplicity

  • Clarity

  • Sincerity

  • Humility

  • God’s Grace & Power

Four Areas to Consider

  1. Identity

  2. Emotional Health

  3. Spiritual Failure

  4. Convictions

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Authenticity Pt. 1

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Vitals - Authenticity Part 1
Dave Riddle - 08/04/19
Key Passage: 1 John 1:5-10. 2:1-2

Key Aspects of a “Being Real” Culture

  • Honesty

  • Simplicity

  • Clarity

  • Sincerity

  • Humility

  • God’s Grace & Power

Bona Fide Believers

  • We know who we are

  • We know what we’ve done

  • We know the necessity of confession

  • We know Jesus

    • Advocate

    • Holy

    • Answer

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Spiritual Formation Pt. 2

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Vitals - Spiritual Formation Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 07/14/19
Key Verses: Philippians 3:10, Galatians 4:19

ginōskō (Greek: γινώσκω) - to know by experience, in contract to an intellectual or intuitive type of knowledge.

  • it’s one thing to know what sunburn is, it’s another thing completely to ‘experience’ sunburn.

symmorphizō (Greek: συμμορφίζω) - to receive the same form as; to be conformed to.

  • Luke 6:40 - ...everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

  • We are being transformed, not by our own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Practices & Rhythms

  • Not obligations, but invitations!

Study

  • Philippians 4:8 - “...dwell on these things”

  • Repetition, conversation, reflection

Meditation

  • Psalm 63:6 HCSB): When I think of You as I lie on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches

  • On scripture, on the works of God, on the things we see happening around us.

Prayer

  • “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the father.” -R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Fasting

  • Luke 4:1-2 - Jesus fasted.

  • “More than any other discipline fasting reveals the things that control us.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

  • Matthew 6:16 - not a requirement, but it does appear to be an expectation. “when you fast”

Solitude

  • Mark 1:35

  • Solitude =/= loneliness

  • Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.” - Bonhoeffer ‘Life Together’

Simplicity 

  • “The central point for the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in it’s proper order.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Submission

  • To God, to the cross, to scripture, to our family, our neighbors, to the needs of others, to the body of Christ.

Service

  • John 13:15 - "For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. "

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Out (Our World)

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A Family on Mission - Out (Our World)

Dave Riddle - 06/30/19

Key Passage: Matthew 9:35-38

A Quick Review

  1. One Calling

    • Help people follow Jesus together

  2. Two Commandments

    • Love God, Love Others

      • Mark 12:28-31

  3. Three Dimensions

    • Up, In, Out

Living on Mission like Jesus

He went.

  • Matthew 9:35 - “Jesus continued going...”

    • Teaching

      • didaskō (Greek: διδάσκω) - teaching with the purpose of transformation.

    • Gospelling

      • kēryssō euaggelion basileia (Greek: κηρύσσω ευαγγελιον βασιλεα) - preaching the good news of the Kingdom.

    • Healing

      • Jesus understood that people needed healing and he provided it.

He Noticed.

  • Matthew 9:36 - “when he saw the crowds...”

    • He didn’t overlook them or look past them. He saw them.

He felt.

  • Compassion

    • Matthew 9:36

    • splagchnizomai (Greek: σπλαγχνίζομαι) - to be moved as to one's bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)

He Explained

  • Matthew 9:37

    • The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few

Our Response

We Embody Jesus

  • Luke 6:40

  • We want to be like Him.

We Proclaim

  • Acts 1:8

  • Witnesses for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit

Two Outcomes

  1. Redemption

    • Ephesians 1:7

  2. Restoration

    • We can make a difference in a world of chaos.

The most important thing to remember is how desperately God loves you.

  • The world is full of individuals that God loves individually.

  • Do we see the world through God’s eyes or do we see faceless/nameless masses?

Up (Our Father)

A Family on Mission - Up (Our Father)

Dave Riddle - 06/16/19

Key Passage: Acts 13:22

The most important thing

  • Mark 12:28-30

Captured by the concept of worship

  • Romans 12:1

A rhythmic response to God’s self-revelation

  • 1 John 4:19 - “we love because He first loved us...”

A matter of our hearts

  • Mark 7:6

—-—-—-

David

  • 1 Samuel 16:7

    • “...the Lord looks at the heart”

  • Acts 12:22

    • “...a man after my own heart”

    • We are called to align our hearts with God’s heart.

Allow God to be first

  • Philippians 3:7-14

  • Make God the object and pursuit of your life.

Rely on God’s power

  • 1 Samuel 17

  • Romans 8:11 - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you!

Rest in His authority

Live in full transparency

  • Psalm 139 - you have searched me and know me.

Two Outcomes

  1. We are loved

    • The creator of the universe loves you!

    • 1 John 3:1 - his love is so great that we are called His children!

  2. Called to live in obedience!

    • John 14:15 - if we love God we will desire to keep His commands.

God’s Household

A Family on Mission - God’s Household

Dave Riddle - 06/09/19

Key Passages: 1 Timothy 3:15, Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 6:40

Our mission: Helping People Follow Jesus Together!

  • A family on mission!

1 Timothy 3:15 - ... I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God,  the pillar and foundation of the truth.

  • Household = oikos (Greek: οἶκος) - an inhabited house, a physical dwelling place. Also, the inhabitants of a house, all the persons forming one family - a household. 

    • In the New Testament: the family of God: Where God has made his home. Us!

Matthew 28:18-20 - Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  19 Go, therefore, and make disciples  of  all nations,  baptizing  them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember,  I am with you always,  to the end of the age.” 

  • Disciples = mathēteuō (Greek: μαθητεύω) -  to be a disciple of another, or to make someone a disciple. 

  • mathetes (Greek: μαθητής) - pupil/leaner/student - a disciple. In the New Testament, a disciple is one who not only learns, but accepts and adverse to the instruction given to them, making it their personal everyday way of living .

Luke 6:40 - A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

  • we are called to become like Jesus and help others become like Him too!

Three-Dimensional Discipleship 

  1. Up (Father)

    • Reconnect with our Father God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. 

  2. In (Family)

    • We are connected. We can’t do this apart from our brothers and sisters. United in Christ. 

  3. Out (World)

    • Salt and light, ambassadors and witnesses to the world! We exist to reach out into the world to see them become like Jesus too!

Be Bold - Grad Sunday 2019

Be Bold

Phil Woodman - 06/02/19

Key Passage: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Steps to a bold life that impacts the world for Jesus.

Bold Trust

  • You have followed my teaching

    • 2 Timothy 3:10

  • Continue on in it

    • 2 Timothy 3:14-15

Consistent Choices

  • Conduct - manner of life

    • 2 Timothy 3:10

  • Living sacrifice

    • Romans 12:1-2

    • Transformed, not conformed

Embrace our Purpose

  • Testify to the gospel of God’s grace

    • Acts 20:24

Expect Opposition

  • “All who want to live a godly life will be persecuted”

    • 2 Timothy 3:11-13