Acts Sunday, February 15

The Urgency of Evangelism

Jeremy

Matthew 25:14-30

Context: Matthew 24, where JESUS is talking about the signs of the end of the age. Verse 42: you don't know what time the Lord is coming. 

Note: look up the answer to the question of why Yahweh is not used in the New Testament (or just inquire if it is or not) 

Are you living your life in expectation of Christ's return? 

Revelation 22:20, He's coming quickly! How does John respond? Amen. Let it be. Come Lord Jesus. 

In our country we're so comfortable, we think we know the right answers, and we know it so well, that we are just on auto response. But what about our heart? Not the mind answer, but your heart. Proverbs Ch. 4 says guard your heart. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 

JESUS says it is not what goes into a man that defiles him- it's what comes out of a man. 

Whatever our heart is truly about, it will be known because it will be seen in how we live our life. 

A tidal wave is coming, and some people have been building a sandcastle on the shore. Instead of preparing for his kingdom, we've been preparing for ours. Our heart will betray us. 

Be watchful and pray, lest you fall into temptation. 

^^^Does "fall into temptation" mean to succumb to it, and sin? Why shouldn't it just say fall into sin? Temptation is not wrong, but giving into it is. I wonder why it uses that diction as opposed to using the term sin. 

Matthew Ch. 25:14 =

Three points to get out of this parable. 

1. We have been entrusted with something, the kingdom of God. 

2 Corinthians 5:18

We are ambassadors for Christ 

What are we doing with what He has entrusted to us? We've been given this commission, and if tomorrow is not guaranteed, how are we spending today? 

We need to start storing up treasures in heaven. 

2. At some point, we'll stand before JESUS and give an account of what we've done. 

Ezekiel 33:8-9

Oh man. 

Well that's intense. 

Are we proclaiming the truth or did we bury it? Beneath football and our house and our car- how could we? Why would we do that? 

We have a responsibility to all who have been entrusted to us. 

3. There is an unequal joy in sharing the Gospel. 

Do you think about standing before JESUS, and Him saying "well done"? 

***well done, well done, im GONNA chase You Lord, im GONNA show the world Your love. I'll run, I'll run, im gonna run this race to hear You say well done.

We live in a world that is broken and hopeless and we have a message of ETERNAL life. We don't have silver and we don't have gold but what we do have we give to you. 

The most lasting thing we could ever do is tell others about JESUS. 

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:17)

Acts Sunday

Acts Sunday, February 8

Troy {Bolton}

Psalm 103

There are five things stated that we should bless the Lord for, but we will focus on the fact that God forgives all your iniquities. 

We should not forget all of His benefits. Sometimes we still live a life as if we are trapped and in chains. We need to live a life completely free from sin. 

Three types of sin: iniquity, transgressions, sins. 

Iniquity derived itself from a word that means "warped, distorted, or bent" 

You can say you don't struggle with lust, but there IS something else that you bend towards. That's your iniquity. This is the inward stuff, the things we keep in secret. 

When you have something going on in your head all the time, satan uses it against you, constantly. 

The place of God's Word is the place we need to be, because if we don't then we'll never do ministry outside. 

He has not punished us according to our thought life. 

"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed." 

Transgression- from where we get our word trespass. To go beyond a limit. 

This is when pornography turns into adultery, or anger and malice turn into a fist fight. 

How far has God removed our transgressions from us? As far as the east is from the west. Infinitely. 

Verse 9

He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever. 

If God removes your sin, then He has absolutely nothing to accuse you of. 

He has not dealt with us according to our sin. 

Sin- to miss the mark. 

What's the mark? Jesus Christ. He's the standard. So we've all missed the mark. Sin is also lawlessness. 

Lamentations

It is through the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed... His mercies are new every morning. 

Romans 8:31

Passion, session 6

Session 6, Louie Giglio

February 1

Hebrews 10

We began with "it is finished", but it's closing with "it has just begun". 

Tetelestai. What's finished? The system. Sin. Shame. Self. 

One more thing is finished. Satan's power and reign is finished. 

Sitting down- a posture that indicates you are finished with the work you have to do. JESUS sits down at the right hand of God. He finished the work He came to do. 

In Acts, when Stephen was proclaiming JESUS, he was about to die and He looked up in heaven and He saw JESUS standing in heaven. He acknowledged that you have done well and have accomplished what He had for you to do. 

Jesus is seated, but He's not yet reclined. When He's REALLY finished He will put his feet on the footstool of our enemies, and He will be reclined forever and ever. Satan is done. 

The big miscalculation on the part of the enemy is that if they shut JESUS down they can shut everything down. But when Jesus was dying He was shutting THEM down. This reminds me of the chronicles of Narnia, how they thought that the death of ASLAN was such a significant and triumphant event when really He had a plan and knew that He was winning the entire time. 

He's talking about football and that's the best. He said the referee's hands went up... And they stay thereee, and they stay thereee... But yeah, laquan treadwell who plays for ole miss had a touchdown but he broke his ankle... There was so much celebration, but it was complex with the fact that he was seriously hurt. We're gonna win, but treadwell got seriously hurt... And JESUS died. It wasn't a fakeout. He died. What the enemy didn't fully understand was, they weren't killing JESUS, Jesus was killing them. Something did die that day, and it was the reign of satan. At the end of the story JESUS sat down, and in the final chapter He's going to recline and the enemies will be made His footstool and all will be completed. 

Even after a snake is dead, you can still get snakebit by the fangs. And that's the enemy. Satan is dead but we can still step on his mouth and get the poison of his fangs. How creepy is that? He's dead, but he's still talking. We don't understand that he's dead. "He roars around like a lion, seeking someone to devour". He's making us think that he has more power over us than we have over him. But he doesn't. His days are numbered. 

***greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city*** 

Treadwell didn't get the touchdown. 

Upon further review, the ball didn't break the plane of the endzone. Auburn recovered the ball. Upon further review... The enemy did not make it into the endzone. He did not score the final score. Upon further review, TETELESTAI.