04-29-12 AM - Not What You Would Expect

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04-22-12 - Don't be a Yertle

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1. Yertle the Turtle wanted to be the greatest in his kingdom. And the disciples wanted to be considered the greatest in God’s Kingdom.

2. Yertle didn’t care about the other turtles… they weren’t as important as he. And each of the disciples cared less for the others than they do for themselves, for they were more important (in their own eyes) than the others.

Luke 9:46-48 46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.

Matthew 23:11 “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

1st –Yertle’s biggest problem was that he didn’t think anybody should be higher than he was.

HE WAS THE KING… and this was HIS kingdom.
Nothing, and no one, else was allowed to impose on his authority and power.

2nd He felt that what he had was his because he deserved it.

He was king by virtue of his own ability and strength of character.
He was king because he deserved to be.

Matthew 18:1-4 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

When we’re willing to humble ourselves and come before God with the gentle openness of a little child … then God can use us.

Jesus said: “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11

A Humble Servant …
1. Acknowledges their Gifts and abilities are from God.
2. Knows it’s God’s ministry, not theirs.
3. Realizes God’s gifts are to be used for the kingdom, not for personal fulfillment.
4. Gives God and others praise for the victories that was won.
5. Doesn’t feel jealous or threatened when someone else receives the recognition instead of themselves.

Let’s see a Video of someone who needs a humble servant’s heart. Video: A Servant’s Heart / Discussion (?)

So, who are some of the people we can be servants to? We can be……

• Servants to people who can’t contribute anything to make the church strong & influential.
• Servants to children who are too young to fix things, or teach, or lead singing
• Servants to widows who are too poor to contribute to the church budget
• Servants to anyone who is weak, crippled, or handicapped, and is unable to repay our kindnesses.

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can“. -John Wesley’s

VOLUNTEERS AND SERVANTS


Volunteers raise their hand to be called on.
Servants are CALLED by the HAND OF GOD.

Volunteers do work for God.
Servants do WORK WITH GOD.

Volunteers get tired of the work.
Servants are tired IN the work.

Volunteers pray their work will succeed.
Servants SUCCEED as they PRAY for their work.

Volunteers serve from their commitment.
Servants SERVE in their SURRENDER.

Volunteers come and go as they please.
Servants are PLEASED to COME and STAY.

Volunteers are faced with ministry problems.
Servants are faced with MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES.

Volunteers teach the Bible Story to others.
Servants ARE the LIVING BIBLE STORY to others.

Volunteers want to be led in ministry.
Servants LEAD in ministry.

Volunteers love the ministry.
Servants LOVE the JESUS in the ministry.

Volunteers serve under their supervisor.
Servants SERVE GOD ALONE.

Volunteers see their ministry as small.
Servants see the WORLD as their ministry.

Volunteers are excited when they succeed.
Servants are excited to MAKE OTHERS SUCCEED.

Philippians 2:3-11 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

04-22-12 AM - Marriage and the Kingdom

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Ephesians 5:1; 10; 21-33

1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 

10 and find out what pleases the Lord.                                                                                                        

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 

1. THE KINGDOM

The Kingdom of God is a spiritual entity w/ a physical expression.                                                                                    

Luke 17:21 says the kingdom of God is within you.                            

Matt. 6:33 Tells us that the first thing we are to seek is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.                                                                                

Rom. 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. 

2. THE CULTURE                                                                      

The Bible says “As a man thinks in His heart so is he”.                           

George Orwell said “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” 

The flesh is the manifestation of carnal or worldly principles.          

“marriages you wouldn’t expect are being challenged”

Eph. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.                  

Eph. 5:22-23 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

husbands love your wives (the weaker vessel) as Christ loved the Church)

Submission is coming under authority for the common good or completion of a relationship.                                                                                                                     

3. THE “CRAZY CYCLE”

“Don’t change your partner change yourself”.                                   

“well I’m not the problem”

04-15-12 AM - Communion

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1 Cor. 11:23-32 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 

There are two ordinances of the church:

- Water Baptism  1^st Death to our flesh(natural)                                                      

                               2^nd. Alive in Christ (spiritual)

-Communion- 1^st a picture of our oneness to the body of Christ.

                2^nd our oneness with Christ Himself.

The tabernacle (picture) in the wilderness was a type of the temple (picture) 

1. Submission to authority- Vs. 24 “… do this in remembrance of me”

2. Unity- Vs. 23-24 The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it…

Our level of unity depends upon our level of humility and our level of humility will determine the power and presence of God in our midst.

Paul later in 1Cor. 11:33 says when you come together to eat wait for each other. 

3. Servitude – Vs. 23-25 Jesus took the bread and He took the cup. Jesus took the lead in serving his disciples here at this last supper. 

Matt. 20:27 -28 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

THE WHY BEHIND THE WHAT

The programs we have changed we believe will allow us to more effectively help people on the journey of discipleship as well as being better stewards of time and finances. The programs we are launching are making a difference in people’s lives.

Esthetically, it's about making our environment one where guests can feel welcome, and we are proud to invite people into.  

Ill. Visual with overhead projector and Ken’s new projections.

FaceBook had zero users in 2000, but 750 million in 2010,

Wikipedia had no articles in 2000, but 19 million in 2010

Active blogs went from 12,000 to141 million in10 yrs, 

tweets from zero to 25 billion

iTunes downloads from zero to10 billion.                                                                                                      Daily emails have grown from 12 billion in 2000 to 247 billion in 2010, and text messages from 400,000 to 4.5 billion. And over 2.2 billion people are online. 

“Almost no one is ready for the amount of change that lies ahead. But, the younger generation is going to make changes much more rapidly than we, for they have been conditioned to change.”

• They had to carry on the message and work of Jesus without Jesus being physically present.

• They had to learn what it meant to be filled with the Spirit.

• The original group of 120 had to learn how to incorporate 3,000 new believers in a single day (a challenge for anychurch!).

• They had to add a new layer of governance (deacons) to assist in keeping the church healthy.

• They had to learn how to adapt to suffering and martyrdom.

• They had to flex and adapt to the inclusion of Gentiles.

• They had to recognize new leaders such as Paul and Barnabas who expanded the church geographically and culturally.

These were no small changes. Four things I’ve learned about change.

First, change is not easy.

04-08-12 AM - Easter is Restored Hope

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Rom. 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.                                                                                                     

I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Mt. 16:18.

Rom. 8:11  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 

1. His Power Becomes Your Power                                                      

A. Those who grew up in a family that didn’t work well.                              

“True Christian maturity is forged in the crucible of relationships.” 

B. Those in need of healing because of devastating loss.                      

“Come unto me if you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

C. Those crippled by a destructive secret habit.

D. Those who have a case of the ordinaries.

Someone needs to help those who are so full of hatred and bitterness to experience God’s transforming love, which can turn such a heart into a heart of compassion.                                                                       

Someone needs to invite people out of their isolation and loneliness where they can be loved and learn to love in return.

Someone needs to touch those who are fearful of death and dying and 

There are people who need YOU! 

Come as you are… Family, Loss, Habits, Ordinaries.

04-01-12 AM - A Fresh Look At The Passover

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John 12:12- 19 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 

"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, 15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."  16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. 17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" 

Saying: Familiarity breeds contempt- (lack of respect or reverence for something).                                                                                                          

John 12:9-11 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.  

1. We See a Strong Declaration of Love

A. This event was out of character for Jesus.

John 11:54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 

B. It was organized by Jesus himself.
Luke 19:30-31

"The Lord needs it".

First; It was time. 

"the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified." 

Second; Jesus wanted it to be clear that this was a voluntary act.      He chose to come to Jerusalem.

"Come to me, all you who are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. "

Realize, that the Savior who gave his life for you, loves you with a depth of love that is unfathomable. 

See Him as he goes willingly to the cross on your behalf and in your place.                                                                                       

God is the Master at taking trials and turning them into triumphs. 

1. We See a Strong Declaration of Love
2. We also See a Strong Reason for Hope

John writes " Jesus found a young donkey and set upon it, as it is written  " do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion; see, your King is coming, seated on a donkey. "

King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s.                                                                    

16 "at first his Disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him."