Psalm 119:106 The Bible is our base.

Psalm 119:106  The Bible is our base.

We have been looking at the command to “God and Make Disciples” from Matthew 28:19&20.
We have talked about everyone’s need for a Barnabas to teach them how to live their faith. And we saw how we need to have a Timothy, to whom we are passing on what we have learned.

Today we will look at the base for everything we teach, the Bible.

Every building needs a cornerstone. It may be an actual stone or it may be just a reference point. Using strings and measuring sticks, or lasers tape measures, we lay out the rest of the building in relation to that point, that cornerstone.

When building our life in Jesus we need a reference point, a cornerstone to work from. This is why I talk so much about what the Bible says. Without the reference point of God’s word we would be lost.

Psalm 119:106 “Thy work is a lamp”
In a world of darkness God’s word is a light to guide where we step. As well as directing us down the road.

We have all had the experience of walking down a stairs and missing a step, or bumping into a piece of furniture in the middle of the night.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law”
The Bible holds the keys to having a prosperous and successful life in Christ. Not worldly success but spiritual success. A life in Christ that works every day.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God… Complete and equipped
In God’s word we find wholeness and the tools we need to not only build our life but the lives of others.

Acts 6:2-4 give up preaching to serve tables…devote to prayer and ministry of the Word.

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching

The Bible is important because with it we know the truth of what we are passing on to someone else.

The Bible helps us avoid false teaching and spiritual fads.

As we work with our Barnabas and Timothy we need to use the Bible as our base, our cornerstone. Make sure what we are learning and teaching is from the Bible.

Acts 16:1-5 Paul finds Timothy

Acts 16:1-5 Paul finds Timothy

Discipleship relationships are meant to naturialy move on. Each person grows and matures to a point where they need to share what they have with a new person. The natural inclination is to stay put. The disciples stayed in Jersualem until God drove them out. Paul and Barnabas stay together but God uses Mark to drive them apart so they can share what they know with a new person. This is part of the reason there are so many church splits. When a church fails to focus out and make new Christ Followers, God breaks them up. So Barnabas and Paul split, Barnabas takes Mark and Paul chooses Silas. But God had another person in mind for Paul, Timothy.

God intends for each of us to share what we know with a Timothy. God has used this way of working for a long time.

Elijah and Elisha 1 Kings 19:19-21  and 2 Kings 2:1-11
Jesus and James, John and Peter Matthew 4:18-22
Paul will send Timothy out on his own. Timothy is in Ephesus
Paul instructs Timothy to share what he knows. 2 Timothy 2:1&2

 

Share what God has given you.
Forgiveness
Grace
Compasion
Hope
Love
James 1:17 every good gift…

 

Believe what you have is useful
Believe what you have is needed
Believe what you have will be accepted.

You can not preach it or teach it in a quick class
It must be shared in time, through the context of life.
As you share you grow.

Home Work: meet with the person you went to have coffee with last week and this week pray together for God to lead you to your Timothy.

Somewhere in your circle is a Timothy, an Elisha. Will you take time this week and pray that God will show you your Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:1&2

Acts 9:26-31 “Building By Design”

Acts 9:26-31 “Building By Design”

A young man gets on a bus and heads to SanDiego CA. He arrives at marine boot camp where during the coming weeks he is yelled at, cursed at, put beyond his physical limits, and runs everywhere so he can wait in line when he gets there. Women get the same treatment in their boot camp. Every part of their life is planned to turn them from ordinary people and into marines.

Jesus took three years took 12 men and turned them into Apostles. They were an unlikely group of fishermen, tax collectors and young men. He would teach them, train then and guide them for 3 years. At the end of that time He died on a cross and trusted the spiritual life of the world to them.

How many of you here today would say that what Jesus did and taught was accidental and not planned? Everything Jesus did was planned even when it did not look like it. Johns 9:1-7

How do we become believers and Christ Followers? How do we learn to pray, read the Bible? Or carry out a ministry? Sadly most of what a Christian learns is by accident and not on purpose.

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go and Make….” God gave us a direct command to make disciples and teach. Our Session is developing a blue print for the ministry for our church. A plan for how we can deliberately accomplish God’s goal of making disciples. A plan for how we can build each person up to become Adult, mature, and ministering followers of Jesus.

Proverbs 27:17 As Iron sharpens Iron….

How do we do this? To get an answer we will start with the life of Paul.
a. extreme hate for the church
b. confronted by Jesus
c. becomes an evangelist
d. Builders of churches
e. the writer of much of our new testament

Paul had Barnabas.
a. Barnabas is the “son of encouragement”
b. Barnabas sticks up for Paul
c. Barnabas trains Paul
d. work, study, pray, reflect on life, and work together.

We all need a Barnabas
a. A person to teach us what it means to be a follower of Jesus
b. A person who will show us how to live and think like Jesus
c. a person who will encourage us to grow
d. A person who knows you
e. A person who teaches you to read your Bible, how to Pray, etc.

When I look out I see a group of people who should be Barnabas and very few Paul’s. But the truth is there are more of us that are in need of a Barnabas. So you will need to be Barnabas for each other.  Over the coming weeks I am going to teach you how to be a Jesus Follower and how to be a Barnabas for each other. I call it “Building by Design”

What I ask of you is going to take time every week. What I ask will take courage to get out of your comfort zone. Some of you will think you don’t need to do this because you’re to old. But I tell you our church needs you to do this. Someone else in our church needs you to do this. And You need you to do this.

The first step in doing this is to choose one other person in the church to go through this process with. Men with Men, Women with Women. Once you have decided who you will meet with take time this week and go out for coffee together and just talk. No Bible, No agenda, just coffee and a friendly conversation. What we do and learn in the coming weeks depends on you partnering with another person.

Don’t you need a Barnabas in your life? Someone who will believe in you even when others do not? Don’t you need someone to encourage you in your walk with Jesus instead of brining you down? If you’re going to have a vital Christian faith you need a Barnabas. Right now in your life there is someone that needs you to be a Barnabas for them.

Please don’t let your church down. Please don’t let me down. But most of all don’t let yourself down. Team up with one other person this week and be a Barnabas for each other.

Luke 19:28-40 “Even the Rocks Cry Out”

Luke 19:28-40 “Even the Rocks Cry Out”

What a skeptical it must have been. People lining the road trying to see Jesus. Spreading their coats on the ground and waving palm branches while shouting Hosanna (give salvation now) “Hosanna blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel”  Liberal scholars say that the crowds always did this at Passover but that is a Christian tradition that started long after Jesus died. But I want us to get a feel for the day.

1.      The setting

a.      While Jesus knew what was going to happen the disciples had no clue.

b.      He had sent two of them to get the donkey and its colt.

c.       Since leaving Jericho Mark 10:46 crowds have followed and lined the roads to see Jesus

d.      Mark 8:31 Jesus plainly tells of His coming death

e.      John 11:16 the disciples agree “Let us go and die with Him.

f.        John 12:7 “she has kept it for my burial

g.      John 12:16 The disciples do not understand

h.      John 12:19 “the whole world is going after Him”

i.        Luke 19:39&40 the Pharisees want Jesus to silence the crowd

 

2.      Silence Today

a.      Laws against nativities

b.      Laws against the ten commandments

c.       Laws against prayer

d.      Political correctness

e.      Social etiquette

f.        All telling us to be quite.

 

3.      How can we be quite

a.      Luke 19:40 “even the rocks cry out”

b.      Romans 1:20

c.       Isa 6:3 the whole earth is full of His glory

d.      How much greater is our motive

e.      We who have been freed, forgiven, and transformed

f.        Let the whole world know

g.      Do not be replaced by a rock

h.      Shout Hosanna!!! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”!!

i.        SHOUT IT WITH ME

 

Hosanna!!! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”!!

Hosanna!!! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”!!

Hosanna!!! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”!!

Let every part of you every day shout out Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord

2 cor 4:16-18 Transformation never ends.

2 cor 4:16-18 Transformation never ends.

We started at a wedding and six stone Jars that were filled with water by servants who obediently filled them with water. In side those jars Jesus turns the water into wine. Jesus turns our water into wine, our death into life, our sinfulness into righteousness.

 

1.      Jars that were old, hard, chipped in places, and deep.

a.      We continue to struggle with our sins

b.      We fall, we feel disappointed, we feel like failures. We feel broken

c.       2 Cor 4:8-10a

d.      Romans 7:18-25 pauls struggle.

e.      The woman crawling on her hands and knees to finish a marathon.

f.        Falling forward. Football players stretch out toward the goal even as they fall.

 

2.      But we have this treasure in Jars of clay

a.      To show that the power is God’s not ours.

b.      Vs 16 says we are renewed day by day.

c.       2 cor 3:18

d.      Rom 12:1&2

 

3.      Press on Phil 3:12-16

a.      Romans 6:5-7

b.      Romans 8:31-39

c.       The wedding rings.

Jesus is still turning our water into wine, even in our broken, chipped and even dirty Jar. The transformation never ends, it is new every morning. And the great things we see God doing today they are just a start.

Mark 6:34-44 “Your Give Them Something To Eat.”

Mark 6:34-44 “Your Give Them Something To Eat.”

Last week we looked at the need to be a ministering part of the church. Today we are going to consider the needs of our community.

 

1.       Understand their need

A.      Mark 6:34-44 People are hungry for Jesus

B.      John 4:34-38 the field is ready

C.      People are headed to hell

D.      Do we see it

E.       Do we see them as possibilities 5000, people

a.       The 5000

b.      The Samaritans

2.       Pour in the water

A.      Be in the community

B.      Making connections

C.      Pray for your community

D.      The in creditable shrinking net.

3.       Draw out the wine

A.      When people ask you 1 peter 3:15

B.      Times of trouble

a.       Emergency people

b.      Others homes first

c.       The people going in while others are trying to get out

C.      Live loudly for Jesus

a.       “set yourself on fire and people”

b.      Bass baits

D.      Dare to fail

Will you be a part of the healing of broken people in our community? Will you prepare for the moment when they ask about your faith? Will you dare to be running in while others are trying to get out? You can be used by God to change the lives of the people that live around you., if you only set yourself on fire. Will you commit to live loudly for Jesus?

The Friendship Jar Ecc 4:9-12

The Friendship Jar Ecc 4:9-12

In our study of Jesus turning six stone jars of water into wine, we have considered the Personal Jar and then our Family Jar. This week I want us to consider the Friendship Jar. True deep lasting friendships are becoming more rare. Many settle for Facebook friends and tweets, where you only share what you want the whole world to know. You only have to get burned on Facebook a couple of times and you learn to watch your words. Time, distance, age, life events, etc... All work against deep lasting friendships. Like the family, friendships are intended to help keep us grounded in our faith.

1.       The Power of Friendships

a.       Ecc 4:9-12 Power to Protect

b.      Proverbs 18:24 & 17:17

c.       1 Cor 15:33 Bad company corrupts

d.      2 Cor 6:14 do not be unevenly yoked

e.      Your choice of friends can make or break you.

2.       Filling the Jar

a.       Cast your bread Ecc 11:1-2

b.      Prov 12:26 Choose them carefully

c.       You pour in Time, Trust, energy, emotions, and faith.

d.      Like hauling water to pour into the Jar, friendships  can be a burden and inconvenient

3.       Drawing out the wine

a.       Ecc 11:1-2

b.      Ecc 4:9-12

c.       Proverbs 17:17 and 18:24

Satan wants us alone in a dark alley where he can work us over. A few strong and faithful friendships will protect us in times of trouble. Pour the water wisely into the Jar of friendship and God will transform it into new wine, which protects us, encourages us, and picks us up or even carries us in our time of need.