2-23-14 Livin’ the Love & Live in the Love

2014 THEME INTRODUCTION

Scripture                                          1 John 4:7-12

          Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 

Noun:  a word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality.

Verb:  a word or phrase that describes an action, condition or experience.

Many people I would call loving VERB.

But only one who I would call LOVE as a noun = God. God is love.

My wife shows me love in some ways that others have; Praying for me, spending time with me, tending to my wounds, etc. She also loves me in ways that no one else in the world does.  I experience love with or from others in many ways, a gift or card on my birthday or Christmas, assistance building something, food provided after a surgery, etc. God loves me by putting people and things in my life for my benefit, like others do, however God loves me in ways that no one else does. God lives in me by His Spirit, God has forgiven my sin and given me eternal life through the greatest act of love in human history. No one else can do that.

 

Name                            Religious tradition founded       Life of founder

c. 11^th to 9^th c BC           Zoroaster                                       Zoroastrianism                                       

c. 5^th century BC           Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha        Buddhism                                              

551 BC – 479 BC         Confucius                                      Confucianism                                        

early 7^th century            Muhammad                                Islam                                                     

1511–1553                    Michael Servetus                        Unitarianism                                         

1805–1844                    Joseph Smith                              Mormonism, aka LDS

1817–1892                    Bahá'u'lláh                                 Bahá'í Faith                                           

1852–1916                    Charles Taze Russell                  Jehovah's Witnesses                        

1884–1964                    Gerald Gardner                          Wicca                                                    

1911–1986                    L. Ron Hubbard                         Church of Scientology                    

1920–2012                    Yong (Sun) Moon                      Unification Church                               

1930–1997                    Anton Szandor LaVey                Church of Satan                                

c. 4 BC - Eternity         Jesus                                        Christianity                   

 

No one else by their death could bring life. Jesus proved the power of love to forgive by his resurrection.  Let’s think about that one for a moment. Adam and Eve thought about sin; which was not sin - that is called temptation.  Then they ate the forbidden fruit and that “act” was the first sin. But it was much more, it revealed our sin nature. When Jesus sacrificed himself for me on the cross, it was not primarily for my sins, rather for my sin nature.  Sins are not our greatest problem. Most who think about God think that way. If I stop the acts of sin and do good God will be pleased with me. If I keep doing acts of sin, God is always watching and will keep zapping me. The fruit is simply a sign of the root. It is getting rid of the root of sin that Jesus died for.  Simply trying to change behavior is never enough. You MUST seek forgiveness for your sin condition as well as your sins. There are many people who do good things who will never see heaven and many people who have lived wretched lives who will, if they have truly received the love gift of forgiveness - like the thief on the cross who, moments before he died was forgiven of his sin condition and by Jesus for his sins, yet still paid the earthly price for being a thief.

Does that help you recognize what took place in a nano second 2000 years ago? While Jesus still breathed, we were still dead in our sin condition.  The moment Jesus breathed his last breath forgiveness of sin was made possible for those who would put their lives into his care.  John 3:36  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.  God’s wrath has been on us since the fall - when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  That wrath is removed by the obedience of Jesus.  His obedience to the Father is pure love toward us. We are invited to live in that love…This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 

          We need to learn how to live in that love. We have got to stop living in fear and start trusting that God desires the best for us in love.  1 John 4:16-18  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 

How do we live in this love?  How do you live in anyone’s love.  While my mother was living, I knew there was nothing I could do that would remove her love from me. How did I know that?  Because she caught me smoking as a kid, and she still loved me.  Because horsing around with my brothers we broke her bed - multiple times, she still loved me.  Because when I got caught shoplifting at age 12 - on her birthday, she sat me down, grounded me for two weeks, told me she was disappointed in me and also told me how much she loved me.  I couldn’t do anything to lose my mother’s love.  I got to live in that love. I 100% trusted that love.  I didn’t have to be perfect to live in my mother’s love.  I don’t have to be perfect to live in God’s love through Christ.  Romans 5:8   But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We will examine both parts of this theme all year, but I really want you to begin to get how much God wants you to live IN his love.  It is only then that you can live out the last part of our theme text - Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2-16-14 What do you know about John? or - Who’s in ‘your’ framily?

Scripture                                         John 15:9-17

Back on November 13^th I spoke about your Oikos.  I want to revisit that from a more personal experience.

What do you know about John?

James and John sons of Zebedee (thunder) and Salome were the high school QB and tight end, basket ball center and point guard, baseball pitcher and short stop, class and student council presidents but also starred in the school plays and musicals, played piano and first chair violin for the school orchestra, and dated the head cheerleader and prom queen.  These guys were tough but tender, ambitious but loyal.

Think about it, their father was referred to as Thunder and their mother was considered brash as the one who approached Jesus to ask him to have her sons sit at Jesus’ right and left in the kingdom of heaven.  One parent is a bull in a china shop shouting about everything and the other is a campaign chairman to get you elected president whether you want it or not. That means you have a lot to live up to, along with ensuring the success of the family fishing business.  Part of John’s Oikos is his family: Mom, Dad and brother James.  Then he has his business Oikos Luke 5:8-10 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.  Matt 4:18-19 Jesus saw Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. John’s business Oikos included his brother and father as well as Peter and Andrew.  His friend Oikos would eventually include Nathaniel/Bartholomew, Phillip, Judas Iscariot, James son of Alpheus, Simon the zealot, Thaddeus/Jude, Thomas and Matthew.

           Tom Mercer pastor’s a church in Southern CA where he teaches that every member of the congregation are the greatest resource for sharing the gospel through their own Oikos, the 8-15 people God has supernaturally and strategically placed in your life in relationships that have a unique fingerprint that no one else has with those same 8-15 people. Another way to put it is by watching a Sprint commercial.  You and up to 10 others can save money with Sprint by developing your own WHAT kind of plan?  A FRAMILY plan.  You and 10 of your closest Friends + Family = your Framily which is like 10 of the same people who make up your Oikos of 8-15 - Oikos = extended household.

          Jesus had an Oikos. Can you name them?  Peter, Andrew, James, John, Nathaniel/Bartholomew, Phillip, Judas Iscariot, James son of Alpheus, Simon the zealot, Thaddeus/Jude, Thomas and Matthew.  It also might include his mother Mary, as well as Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  That puts him at 16 till you take away Judas.  You get the idea, even Jesus could only be close to and ultimately have an impact in the lives of so many people.  Why do you think he sent them out two by two; they went places he couldn’t.  Why do you think Jesus said, John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Because Jesus could only be one place at one time, because the infinite God was clothed in a finite body fenced in by time and space just like us.  But his spirit can reach the world through each of his disciple’s Oikos/families. Like John’s.  What was unique about John? What made him special in his Oikos? He was the disciple Jesus loved.  Just ask him. According to John’s own words:

John: The disciple whom Jesus LOVED

John 13:22-25

His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means." Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

John 19:25-27

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"  and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Mary became part of his extended family - his Oikos.

John 20:1-2

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

John 21:6-7

Jesus said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!"

John 21:20-23

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. Peter asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."  Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" As far as we know, John is the only disciple that died of old age.

 CONCLUSION

The story of Jonathan (JaiLai)

John 15:9-17

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

2-9-14 Nobody likes me, but many live with me!

Scripture                                       Revelation 2:1-7

DRAMA:  Al Z. Heimers describe what Alzheimer’s is like.

Moses:        Rod,  Hand leprosy

Moses & Aaron & Pharoah     10 plagues

Israelites     Death angel Passover,    Parting the Red Sea

                   (After this Moses & Miriam were so overjoyed at God that they sang: ^{Ex 15:1-2} this song to the Lord: "I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.)

          God saved them and they were happy…all the people. "happy happy happy”

          Then they came to the desert of Shur where they could find no water.  So the people began to grumble…I guess they weren’t “shur” God was looking out for them.  God told Moses to throw a stick in the rotten water and it became clean drinking water.

          Then they came to the dessert of “sin.” The people grumbled about no food.

          God sent them quail at night and manna (bread) in the morning.  God said don’t keep any till the following morning.  Some did [sin] and it was full of maggots. God said make extra of Friday so you won’t work on the sabbath and it was still good in the morning, but some people went and gathered more on the Sabbath [sin].

          Then they left sin and wandered and again had no water, so they grumbled.  God had Moses come to the foot of Mt. Horeb (the mountain of God) and told him to strike the rock with his rod - he did and clean water flowed.

          Then they were attacked by the Amalekites but as long as Moses held up his hands they were winning the battle - god gave them the victory with Aaron and Hur holding up his arms - great team work.

Then they get the 10 commandments and many more plus festivals to celebrate.

Then God said come and worship me and I will make this a covenant with you. The leaders went to the mountain for a week and God said Moses needed to come to the top of the mountain where he entered a cloud for 40 days and nights.  The people below thought the mountain top was on fire.  Moses received instructions for the Tabernacle where God would dwell and the people were to give offerings to build it and provide for its furnishings. Down to the altar, priestly garments and breasts plate, oil and lampstand.  Consecrate the priests. Altar for burnt offering and one for incense offering.

This was chpt 24-31    Ex 31:18   When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

THEN:  Spiritual Alzheimer’s began to set in…

Jumping ahead:    Ex 32:15-24     Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp." Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.  And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?"  "Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil.  They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'  So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"

IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED? Back it up…

Exodus 32:1-4

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him." 2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

          After 40 years of wandering God took Moses to a mountain and showed him the promised land and Moses died without entering it.

Jer 2:32       Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

This could have been you and me - let’s look at NT examples of Spiritual Alzheimer’s.

Peter walk on water - fall in water

Peter willing to die for Jesus - Denies Jesus

Peter is the rock - Peter is Satan

Disciples feeding 5000 then wondering about bread.

Jesus washed their feet then fell asleep

How does Jesus address our Spiritual Alzheimer’s?

Revelation 2:1-7

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Ps 103:2-5

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits —  who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Open my eyes, that I may see

        glimpses of truth thou hast for me;

        place in my hands the wonderful key
        that shall unclasp and set me free.
        Silently now I wait for thee,
        ready, my God, thy will to see.
         Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

 2.      Open my ears, that I may hear

        voices of truth thou sendest clear;
        and while the wavenotes fall on my ear,
        everything false will disappear.
        Silently now I wait for thee,
        ready, my God, thy will to see.
        Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

 

3.      Open my mouth, and let me bear

        gladly the warm truth everywhere;
        open my heart and let me prepare
        love with thy children thus to share.
        Silently now I wait for thee,
        ready, my God, thy will to see.
        Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!

2-2-14 pick it up AND throw it down

Scripture                                1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7, 27

1 Corinthians 12:1

Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:27

 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

 Exodus 3:1-4:20

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."

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

And Moses said, "Here I am."

5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

16 "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.'

18 "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.' 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

4 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?"

2 Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

3 The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you."

6 Then the Lord said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

8 Then the Lord said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

10 Moses said to the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

11 The Lord said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

14 Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive."

Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."

19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

 MOSES drama-song by Ken Medema, recorded by Bryan Hitch, performed by Jeff Cooper.