November 3 2013 Called To Be Sent

CALLED TO BE Sent - Live Your Calling: What On Earth Am I Here For? – Part 6

GOD’S PLAN FOR HISTORY: He’s gathering a Family that will love and live with him forever! (Ephesians 1:5)

Romans 10:13-15 (NLT) “‘Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being SENT? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!’”

MY FIFTH PURPOSE & CALLING IN LIFE: I’m sent to bring others into God’s family.

HOW TO SHARE WITHOUT FEAR

Memory Verse: I Peter 3:15-16“If you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it, but you must do this in a gentile and respectful way.”

1. Confirm my own faith.

John 5:13 “I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

2. Pray regularly for my friends.

Romans 1:9 “God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by telling others the Good News about his Son.” –

3. Tell others that I am Christian.

Romans 1:16 “I am proud to be a Christian, because the Good News is the power God uses to save everyone who believes. . .”

4. Invest in others by serving them.
Matthew 20:28 It's the same way with the Son of Man. He didn't come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give away his life for other people."

5. Invite my friends to church.

Luke 14:23 “"Then the master told his servant, 'Go to the roads and streets! Urge the people to come to my house. I want it to be full.”

6. Share the story of Jesus.

Ephesians 3:8 “Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling others about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.”

Luke 22:19“Then (Jesus) took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’"

October 6 2013 Called To Be Loved

CALLED TO BE LOVED - Live Your Calling: What On Earth Am I Here For? – Part 2

“Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT) 

• The first purpose of my life is be loved by God

“This letter is from Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who are CALLED TO LIVE IN THE LOVE OF GOD the Father and in the CARE of Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:1 (NLT) 

• My first calling is I’m called to enjoy a relationship with God! 

“Dear friends in Rome, God loves you dearly, and he has CALLED you to be his very own people.” Romans 1:7 (NLT) 

• That relationship is to be  His son or his daughter!

“What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we should be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are!” 1 John 3:1 (Amp) 

“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.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (LB, NLT) 

WIDE ENOUGH to be everywhere.

LONG ENOUGH to last forever

DEEP ENOUGH to handle anything.

HIGH ENOUGH to overlook my sinsWHAT CHANGES HAPPEN IF I STAY AWARE OF GOD’S CONSTANT LOVE FOR ME? 

1. I feel accepted rather than ashamed.

“By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God.” Romans 5:1 (CEV) 
 
“If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed!” Romans 8:33-34 (CEV) 

2. I am bold in bringing my needs to God.

“All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God! So, you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family—calling him ‘Father, dear Father.’ ... And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too.” Romans 8:14-15, 17 (NLT) 

“Let 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.” Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

3. I have peace in pain I don’t understand. 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV) 

4. I gain the courage to take risks.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” 1 John 4:18 (NIV)

March 17 2013 Learning To Love Christ Back

LEARNING TO LOVE CHRIST BACK

Rev. 4:116 - You (God) created everything and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.
Romans 12:1 - Because of God’s great mercy to us, offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His Service and pleasing to Him. This is your true Worship that you should offer.
I Peter 4:2 - From now on, live the rest of your lives controlled by God’s Will, not by human desires.
Romans 6:13 - Give yourselves completely to God, every part of you, you want to be tools in the hands of God to be used for His good purposes.

1. Why Love Christ Back?

He shaped us for a specific reason.

Gal. 1:15 - For even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His and He called me, what kindness and grace.
God Knows what’s best for me.
Jer. 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.
I Am grateful for our salvation.
II Timothy 1:9 - Christ saved us and called us with a Holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.

God Promises to reward our commitment.

Proverbs 7:6 - In everything you do put God first and He will direct you and brown your efforts with success.

WHAT KEEPS US FROM LOVING CHRIST BACK

1. Short term values.
Mark 4:19 - The attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and love of nice things came in and crowded out God.
I John 2:17 - The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear, but anyone who does the Will of God will live forever.

2. Past failure.
Phil 3:13-14 - Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.

3. We are self motivated.
Prov. 14:14 - The back slider is bored with himself, but the Godly man’s life is exciting.
Mark 8:35 - If you insist on saving your life you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.

4. Fear.
Psalm 37:5 - Commit everything you do to the Lord, trust Him to help you do it and He will.

HOW DO WE LOVE CHRIST BACK

1. Consider the cost.
Luke 14:27-28 - No one can be My disciple who does not carry his own cross and follow Me, but don’t begin until you count the cost.

2. Come just as you are.

3. Do it now.
Hosea 10:12 - Sow for yourselves righteousness, break up the follow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord.

4. Give all we have.
Romans 12:1-2 - Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His Service and pleasing to Him. This is true Worship, then you will be able to know the Will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

C.S. LEWIS “THE ONLY THING CHRISTIANITY CANNOT BE IS MODERATELY IMPORTANT.”