Sermon Notes for June 13

SERMON NOTES

LET US GROW TOGETHER

OBJECT LESSON: Branch removed from bush (blantanly looking dead)

Question: Do you feel like this spiritually?

Point: It cannot survive without the rest of the bush (John 15: 4 & 5)

CALL TO WORSHIP (Lord, I want to Be A Christian)

What is it that you want this morning?

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.

What is it that the Lord can help you with?

Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Soften my heart to hear how I shall grow. Awaken with me the desire to be more loving and to be more like Jesus.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

SCRIPTURE:

QUESTION: How many years have you been a Christian?

TWO WEEKS AGO: Matthew 22:1 - 9 (Wedding Party: Come as you are - all invited)

LAST WEEK: Matthew 22: 11-12 (to remain at the Party: must receive grace)

kicked out of the wedding for not wearing wedding clothes (metaphor not receiving the grace)

THIS WEEK:

PROBLEM: We Need To Grow

QUESTION: How long (years) have you been a Christian?

GROWTH REQUIRES CHANGE

QUESTION: Who likes change?

IMPLICATION: If I am the one implementing it (my idea). Then change is good

If it is someone else's idea. Then change is bad

SPIRITUAL CHANGE REQUIRES: Good Soil (Puppet Message)

OBSERVATION: To grow good plants

the secret is the soil. (good, rich stinky soil)

fertilize often

POINT: Spiritual growth same way

QUESTION: What kind of soil do people need to become what God intended?

IMPLICATION: Sometimes the most spiritual people have stinky previous lives

NEED: One good reason to OPEN WIDELY THE DOORS

A culture (DNA) allowing stinky lives to enter (my friend)

Requiring: Grace (Come as You Are)

Admitting: No Perfect People Exist

FIRST QUESTION: deep down inside, do you feel that you are all of who

God intended you to be? Fully grown. Fully spiritually mature?

SECOND QUESTIONS:

Do you love like in I Corinthians 13?

Do you serve like the parable of the sheep & goats (Matt 25)?

Do you financial give like David, out of sacrifice and not excess?

Do you give the shirt off your back when asked (Matthew 5)

Do you walk with God like Enoch

Do you have a heart like David?

Do you trust like Esther?

SCRIPTURE: John 10:10b (Jesus said)

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (abundant life)

THIRD QUESTION: is there room for improvement?

IMPLICATION: Cannot improve without change.

POINT: Open Widely the Doors; Come as you are....but don’t stay that way (Mt 22:11)

God loves us, just as we are, as is; but is also looking for us to grow.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:22 - 25

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience … And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.

POINT: a church of authenticity (Come as you are … but don’t stay that way)

QUESTION: So how are we to change?

IMPLICATION: There’s so much more we can be

God wants us to walk with us in this change

GOAL OF THIS CHANGE: Love

PUPPET MESSAGE

SCRIPTURE: Corinthians 3:6-7

Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow

QUESTION: Do you believe it?

SCRIPTURE: John 15: 4 - 5

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

POINT: remain in relationship (disconnected nothing grows)

Then fruit will appear / Growth will happen

You cannot accomplish or become who he created you to be without him. Without staying connected to him, you can gain the whole world—but lose everything of eternal value and worth in the process!

PURPOSE OF LIFE: Relationship with God

QUESTION: How do we do this?

#1 (How do we "know thyself"?)

#2 (How can we be "feed"?)

1. Regular Personal Inventory.

Socrates declared that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139: 23 - 24 (prayer)

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

REQUIRES: Grace

QUESTION: How do we do this?

ANSWER: Many different ways (important: what works best for you)

A. Asking why you do the things you do

B. Spiritual Discipline checklist

C. Scripture: (Sermon on the Mount, etc.)

D. Prayer: ask God, “what do you want me to work on?

E. Covenant Group (triad)

2. Regular Basis Feeding (Puppet Message: Water & Fertilizer)

A. Worship

B. Small Group

C. Wherever you feel feed by God

CHALLENGE: How much do you want to grow this year? and in what ways?

THEREFORE: Pick one of the above and challenge yourself to work on it.

May 23 - PENTECOST

Sermon Notes

Pentecost 2009

Passing of the Peace

Question: What do you do in the midst of a crisis?

Retreat or eat? Hold up or Party? Sleep or Work? Easy or Right thing?

INTRO TO PENTECOST

Today is Pentecost. Pentecost is the 50^th day after Passover. It is both a Harvest Festival and a celebration of the receiving of the law.

INTRO

Question: What are the different images in the OT representing the presence of God?

We are all different and some of the images may resonate over others

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 3:2

EX 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up."

POINT

God often times appears in the form of fire/light

SCRIPTURE: Exodus

21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

POINT

During the exodus, the Hebrews followed by God, when they followed the fire.

OLD TESTAMENT: Ruah (wind/breath/spirit)

NEW TESTAMENT: Penuma (wind/breath/spirit)

SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 16:2

2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

POINT: Aaron (the High Priest) can only enter the Most Holy Place (once a year: Day of Atonement)

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 27: 50 & 51

50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

POINT: The veil no longer separates the ark (God) from the people.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 4:14

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,[e] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

POINT: Jesus is THE High Priest

We can access the throne directly.

INTRO TO SCRIPTURE (Acts 1)

The book of Acts is what the church did after Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:4

4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:8 (theme verse for the book of Acts)

Jesus said (after resurrection) before ascending to heaven:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

WHERE: “to the ends of the earth.” (NEW SERMON SERIES: OPEN DOORS)

NOTE: Matthew 28: 19 – 20 GREAT COMMISSION (purpose of the church):

Jesus said (after resurrection):

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

QUESTION: How will this be achieved?

ANSWER: When the (church) individual receives POWER.

INTRO TO SCRIPTURE (Acts 2)

The disciples were waiting for the power as they gathered together in worship.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 2: 1 & 2

AC 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 2: 3

3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

REMEMBER: Matthew 27:51 (curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom)

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 8:6

But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 9:15

HEB 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 12:4

4 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

SCRIPTURE: Romans 5:2

RO 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God

SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 2:18

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

QUESTION:

What did this do them?

4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

POINT

Pentecost is the birth of the church. Pentecost is a reminder that each of us have direct access to God.

PROBLEM:

Acts 1:4 - WAIT (until they receive the POWER)

Acts 1:8 - GO (When you receive the POWER)

Acts 2 - STAYED (did not go, instead they Party On in Jerusalem)

OBSERVATION: Sometimes the church does not DO until it is in CRISIS

US

Sometimes we as individuals are the same way. Sometimes we do not DO the right thing until we are in the midst of crisis. Sometimes it is is crisis that causes us to do the right thing.

CHALLENGE

On Pentecost we celebrate each of us having been called into ministry to be the church. If you feel like God is calling you into a deeper ministry here at the church, Or if you wouLd like to participate in the ministry of helping others get more involved in ministry contact LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.

Sermon Notes: April 25, 2010

SHOWING INSTEAD OF TELLING

Sermon Notes

John 15

INTRO

Today is CHANGE THE WORLD Sunday.

So, we are going to talk about one of the essentials to CHANGE THE WORLD.

Question: Do you want to change the world? Why? To what?

Passing of the Peace

Scripture:

When an EMT arrives on an accident scene, they check for vital signs:

(pulse, breathing, etc.)

Question: Imagine yourself as an EMT and you arrive at a church

and you check for vital signs, what do you check for?

What is one vital sign of the church?

Call to Worship

What does God call us to do?

To Love God and others.

To be love driven and sharing that love beyond ourselves into the world.

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, we are called to be love driven. We are called to emulate the full extent of

your love. Help us to Change the World through your love. Amen.

LAST WEEK

John 13: “full extent of his love” = CROSS

PUPPET

There are many reasons to attend worship

A. Tradition

1. Obligated
2. Fun
3. Inspirational

There are many reasons to be a part of a church

1. Relationships
2. Involvement

INTRO TO JOHN 15 (Farewell Discourse)

This section (Book of Glory: the path to the cross), Jesus is teaching the disciples that he will still be connected (remaining in relationship) with the disciples even though he is going to the cross. In moments: Garden of Gethsemane

CHANGE IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE: 3 years of relationship with Jesus / cross

Jesus speaks about three relationships that involve the disciples:

1. their relationship with him,
2. their relationship with one another, and
3. their relationship with the world around them.

John 15:1-11 is about the relationship of the disciples with Jesus. The very existence of the group depended on the union of each individual with Christ. Jesus uses the analogy of the vine.

VINEYARDS - are cool (Napa & Paso)

orderly and they are pruned ???

In Judaism, Jewish people were quite familiar with vines and their maintenance. Most likely they could have easily seen the vines of Israel during this discourse. And even possibly the great golden vine, the national emblem of Israel, on the front of the temple.

SCRIPTURE: John 15

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

Last of the “I am” statements (Exodus 3:14

2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

4 Players

Vinedresser (God)

Vine (Jesus)

Branches (Us)

Fruit (works)

NOTICE: Cannot bear fruit, unless we are in relationship with God (connected).

POINT: Need to remain connected to the vine,

the disciples need to remain connected to Jesus

we need to remain connected to Jesus

point: if we remain connected, we will bear fruit

Question: what is the fruit that you bear?

a grape vine produces grapes

A GOD vine produces what kind of fruit?

And when we are not bearing fruit, does that mean we have severed ourselves from the god vine?

Are there times that we feel severed from the vine?

TO PRODUCE FRUIT

we need to remain connected

a grape vine produces grapes

what are you producing

to grow spiritually, we need to remain connected and produce fruit

NOTE

This is the last “I am” statements of Jesus. Notice that the vine is not the People of God in this case, but Jesus.

SCRIPTURE: John 15:4

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

POINT: The following verses remind us that we cannot bear fruit unless connected to THE VINE.

QUESTION TO PONDER

How connected are we to God and to each other

POINT: GENUINE/AUTHENTIC Followers of Jesus bear fruit

IMPLICATION: Not pew warmers (called to be in the game: GO!)

Not here to be entertained, but to SERVE

VITAL SIGNS OF THE CHURCH: FRUIT

SCRIPTURE: John 15:8

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

QUESTION: What kind of fruit?

SCRIPTURE: Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.

NOTICE: First on the list is LOVE

This is probably why, we see:

SCRIPTURE: John 15:9

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

AGAPE/LOVE/CHARITY

Agape was a generic word for love (greeks have a word for everything). They like specific/exact words, thus agape was hardly used because it was generic. when Christians were talking about love, they wanted a word for love that was different than the usual greek words for love, and pulled agape “off the back shelf of the closet” and redefined it as: grace/unconditional-love.

CELSUS: Critic of Christianity (2nd Century)

In one of the oldest literary attacks on Christianity

True Discourses

“These Christians love each other even before they are acquainted.”

John 13:

they will know we are Christians by our love

TODAY

WHAT IS YOUR CRITICISM OF US?

NO FRUIT, NO LOVE

NO LOVE, NO FRUIT

IF NO FRUIT,

WHAT THEN?

GET CONNECTED TO THE VINE (ReJesus)

Return to your first love (Rev 3)

Some folks act like a branch

that does not want to be connected to vine

and they are trying to bear fruit

BACK TO JOHN 15:1

"I AM the TRUE vine

I don’t know what that means to you,

but to me....it means, I need to be connected to Jesus

if not, i won’t produce fruit.

And then he connects TRUE,

i suppose there are a lot of vines, and things that look like the vine

but Jesus is THE TRUE VINE

we can’t do it on our own, we need to be connected to Jesus

and to each other.

JESUS IS LORD!

Sermon Notes: April 18, 2010

Sermon Notes

April 18, 2009

A New Commandment

PASSING OF THE PEACE

Scripture: Luke 10 (Good Samaritan)

Question: Which one are you? Being helped onto the donkey? Or helping?

CALL TO WORSHIP (John 13:34 & 35)

Jesus Gave us a New Commandment

Love One Another

Question: How well do you “love one another”?

LAST WEEK, Greg preached on “love our enemies”?

How well do WE, as a church, “love one another”?

INTRO TO JOHN 13

Beginning of a new section in John (2nd half of the gospel). The first half, Book of Signs (regarding Jewish institutions/festivals) (public ministry); the second half Book of Glory (the cross) (public ministry). Thus the Book of Glory is focused on one sign, one event; the cross. The cross is not a tragedy, but New Wine. CROSS is a new paradigm

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 13:1

1It was just before the Passover Feast.

PASSOVER

A new feast for Jesus to reinterpret or fulfill (old wine to new wine).

LAST SUPPER/Holy Communion

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

TIME HAD COME (hour had come)

prior to this moment (“my hour had not come” (john 2? etc.?) (1st half: book of signs)

But now, it’s time!

The focus is now on the disciples (as before it was beyond the disciples)

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

FULL EXTENT OF HIS LOVE - you ever hold back your love?

There are many good reasons to hold back your love (full extent of his love)

1. risk

2. vulnerability

REMEMBER: Call to worship

how wel do you love one another

how well do WE love one another

However, if love is unconditional, does that impact the issue of risk?

Jesus is preparing the disciples for his “full extent of his love”

First Act of “full extent of his love” - Foot Washing

SCRIPTURE: John 13: 2 - 17

Foot washing is a menial task.

According to some Jewish sources,

Jewish slaves were exempt (only Gentiles)

Jesus washes the feet of his disciples,

by first wrapping a towel around himself(13:4)the posture of a slave

serve:

Jesus is to serve us as a ransom (CROSS)

A NEW COMMANDMENT: LOVE

SCRIPTURE: John 13: 34 & 35

34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

POINT: We are to love as Jesus loved. Jesus is the model (WWJD)

And, as Jesus was about to show his “full extent of his love”

we are to show the extent of our love

In other words, don’t hold back: RISK

35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

POINT: The Litmus Test for Church & Us as followers: LOVE

In other words, what is a christian? someone who loves like Jesus

What should Christians do better than non christians: love

The reputation of each church should be love (above anything else)

GREG Preached on this last week: Love Your Enemies

POINT: Followers of Jesus are to show a quality of love unparalleled in the world

IN OTHER WORDS: The full extent of our love

INTRO TO LUKE 10

Let’s go back to the bulletin cover and look at the story

and ask these two questions:

is this a model for us to live our lives?

Is it also a model for us as a church?

OBSERVE THE RISK in this act of love

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10: 25 - 37

QUESTION: DID THEY SHOW THE FULL EXTENT OF THEIR LOVE?

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]"

28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." (Love thy neighbor) Greg: Love our enemies

FINAL QUESTION: WHAT DOES FUL EXTENT OF LOVE LOOK LIKE?

Jesus talked about it and the Jesus did it.

SCRIPTURE: John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

POINT: The full extent of his love, is to lay down his life for us.

Why? Because the purpose of life is RELATIONSHIP (God and others)