Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Life for Eternity
Sunday services on April 10th
Life for Eternity
Palm Sunday
2nd Corinthians 2:1-10
CIT: Paul talks about how much he is longing to be with Christ; how much he longs for eternal real life and how hard it is to choose Christ.
CIS: Walking with God is not for the weak or for those who cannot fight, it is a struggle that will cost you your whole life.
SO: To help us all focus on the importance of Jesus and his ultimate purpose as he entered Jerusalem
Intro: This morning we are one week away from easter, and 5 days from Good Friday. I want to focus on the final week before Jesus went to Calvary, I want to focus on the importance of what it truly means, and celebrate what Jesus means to me and what he means to us.
I do not want you to miss what God is going to do.
This morning is about heart surgery and it begins in God’s word. Many people this
very same week have died; just so they could read God’s word.
Can we at least please stand for the reading of God’s word?
2nd Corinthians 5:1-5 (ESV)
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human
hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our
heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found
naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the
Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
1. For believers heaven is our home.
Exp: Church we can never become too comfortable here. This world is not your home. You were made for something greater than this place. You were made for heaven.
Nothing in the world is going to bring you satisfaction. You simply cannot find and
were not made to find happiness in this world.
Try as you may look where you want there is nothing that is going to bring you joy
like Jesus.
Some of you know that. You have tasted and seen what it is like to follow Jesus. You know he is good, and you know that he is better. But you still don’t quite comprehend. (You still get stuck in this world.)
Worldliness: Defined as looking like the world. Going after the things of this world rather than the things of God.
1st John 2:15-16
Romans 12:2
Jesus condemned and so do I. But we struggle with this so many times. It can be such a distraction. The truth is that I think the biggest attack of the enemy in our lives is not to cause us pain or bring us trials. But to bring us comfort.
We are too comfortable.
Ill: April 9th 2017. Was a palm Sunday? Some terrorists came in a massacred a small church of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
At Saint George Church, a Coptic church in Tanta, Egypt, the deacons were finishing the final vowels in Evlogimenos (the Hosanna to the King of Israel), when the bomb exploded, leaving 28 worshipers dead and many others wounded. Shortly afterward, a suicide bomber, failing to enter Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, where the Coptic Pope was leading the liturgy, detonated his bomb outside the church, leaving 17 people dead. A joyful day, one where Coptic children compete to turn their palm fronds into the most beautiful of shapes, suddenly became the deadliest day of attacks on this ancient community.
The Atlantic
This kind of thing happens in churches all over the world. We see and hear about it and our shock. But little about it changes who we are. We are much too comfortable.
App: So what do we do? How can we break this comfort and can we truly get real with God? It starts with asking the tough question.
AM I TOO COMFORTABLE IN MY FAITH?
Have I grown fat and lazy in my walk with Christ? How can I change that? Not just get inspired or encouraged but how can I truly take up the cross and follow after Jesus?
T/S: Church we do not belong in this world!
2. Who will help me?
Exp: Who will help me remember this because we have heard this sermon so many times referenced in music, and preacher, and in church. Who will help? We have a helper Jesus literally called him the helper. The Holy Spirit; he is the one who helps us. He is our constant companion in our time of need. Verse 5.
Francis Chan calls the Holy Spirit the “Forgotten God” Because so many Christians live without him.
But the Holy Spirit is our guarantee.
He does 2 things
One: He empowers us and gives us strength to walk with him and to share the gospel.
Two: He convicts us and draws us into a holy walk with him.
Ill: How many of you pray for conviction?
Not Guilt
Conviction? (Express this notion)
Parental discipline
a : the act of convincing a person of error or compelling the admission of a truth b : the state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth
Because the truth is sometimes one of the best ways that I can tell if I am walking in the path of righteousness is my discomfort! There is an overwhelming peace that comes when walking after God. Conviction of the Holy Spirit brings peace.
App: The Holy Spirit is the one who even gives us a desire to follow God in the first place. You will not be able to walk with God; if you are not led by the Holy Spirit. You will always fail if you try to do this on your own.
There is freedom from:
Porn
Addiction
Lust
Selfishness
Pride
Bitterness
Anger
But you must be willing to surrender those things to God and not pick them up again.
T/S: you must be willing to put those things to death.
3. Take courage because it is worth it.
Exp: God has a destiny for you child! You are valuable because God has given you value. He sees you as a treasure even if you don’t see yourself as one. Take heart you who are following after God! Because the day is coming when you will look back and see that is was completely worth is all.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt,[a] the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Matthew 21:1-10 Esv
Ill: If you have grown up in the church then perhaps you can predict exactly where I am going with this. The same crowds that laid palm leaves on the ground in front of Jesus, one week later permitted and called for his crucifixion.
Church I don’t want to be a Christian that just pays lip service! I don’t want to be double minded, or distracted with my own things and miss out on the most important thing.
Walking in the will of God is not easy. It isn’t always fun but it is always worth it. It led Jesus to lay down his life. Nothing was so much sweeter than obedience.
App: Church this week is often referred to the Passion Week; the week before Easter. Church as we reflect on the events that led to our salvation may we take stalk this week and remember exactly what Jesus did for us.
May we reflect on the state of our own hearts, and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us, and to bring us into a deeper walk with Jesus.
May we walk in the grace of God that we are called to live out loud.
May pause and reflect on what Jesus has done; and may this week be a time of refreshing out love and commitment to knowing Jesus better.
Today we are going to partake of the Lords Supper
May we do so in remembrance of him.
17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Matthew 26:17-30
