"Card Declined"- You Can't Buy God

Slide #1- Purpose: The Purpose of the message is to show you that the God can’t be bought, controlled, or manipulated. God allows the Holy Spirit to be freely given but not to be freely used for our own purposes and intentions.

Slide #2:

Acts 8:9–14 NIV

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.

Slide #3:

Step 1 in declining what God has given:

Simon: Simon allowed people to be amazed by his sorcery by his works and not by who he was as a creation of God

Us: We can confuse our achievements for our identity in Christ

Say this: Okay let me give you example- So it’s like if I were doing a magic performance in front of you and I’m doing the classic rabbit out of a hat trick, I have the hat right here in my hand and I say the magic words abracadabra or if your hispanic you say abra-ca-da-bra (look to the audience as if I’ve just pulled a rabbit out of a hat ) you all start clapping but your clapping out of what I achieved but you know nothing about who I am. I can achieve something and still be selfish, I can achieve something and still be prideful, I can achieve something and still be lustful. I can achieve something I define as (finger quotes) good and not be godly. Simon achieved Sorcery, amazed the people and allowed himself to be associated with God when in reality inside he was doing it for his own intention and purposes, for praise. Does that familiar to you? Have you ever been caught in this cycle of achievement in exchange for identity, (raise your hand) I know I have but there is a way to change and I’ll go into that later on

Slide #4:

Acts 8:12–13 NIV

But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Slide #5:

Step 2 in declining what God has given:

Simon: Simon believed, got baptized, and followed a godly man yet internally his intentions did not change and he did not become a new creation in Jesus

Us: Sometimes we say we believe in Jesus, we get baptized in the name of Jesus in water in front of others, and follow godly people but internally we are the same person as before we met Jesus

Say this: Your probably thinking to yourself sheesh pastor that’s pretty harsh but in reality it’s true we like to claim Jesus as our saviour in our own timing, we like to do this solo bargain where we say okay Jesus I said your my saviour, everyone saw with their own eyes me get baptized in your name in water at Lake Elmo on August the 18th on that nice summer day and have a someone who says there a pastor, not really sure what that means but I got one. And and I got the gold chain with the cross on it look at it 24 karats Jesus so it’s official your my saviour now Jesus congrats you got me. Noooooo that’s not what it means to follow Jesus, Jesus can not be obtained through achievements or by your own actions Jesus is given to you by grace, freely given, all Jesus expects is that you make an effort to follow him as he changes you from the inside out

Slide #6:

Acts 8:18–24 NIV

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Slide #7:

Step 3 in declining what God has given:

Simon: Simon tried to exchange money for favor, power, and authority with the Holy Spirit

Us: We do what Simon did for a lot less nowadays we try to exchange a little bit of our money for Jesus, we try to give a little bit of our time for Jesus, and we try to give up some of our unhealthy relationships at best for favor with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God

Say this: I know all of things I’ve said so far sounds really negative but I promise there’s hope before Simon had done this we are given the right way to receive what God has given to us

Slide #8:

Acts 8:14–17 NIV

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Slide #9:

How to not get declined from what God has given:

Samaritans: They came not to Peter and John to exchange their achievements, intentions, and purposes for the Holy Spirit. They came with an open heart to receive what was already available and given them with open hands, right intentions, and the right heart posture.

Us: We can receive what God has given not through our own will power but by simply receiving what has already been given by Jesus with open hands, right intentions, and the right heart in affect changing our life from the inside out.

Conclusion:

Let me close with this example, have you ever walked into the store and gotten a cart full of stuff and go to the checkout confident you have enough money in your account just to put your debit card in the reader and get declined. It sucks, it’s embarrassing, so you pull out your good all shiny credit card. If you don’t know what credit is it’s never truly your money it’s borrowed money. This is one of those special credit cards with no limit to how much you can borrow. But the cashier still rejects your payment. Borrowed money represents our own attempt to pay for the things of the Lord. I believe that many times we go to the Lord and we try to pay him out of our own actions. So we try to buy grace, declined! So we try to buy the Lord’s love, declined! So we try to buy our identity declined! So we try to buy peace declined! and Lord’s looking at us like what are you doing son or daughter I already bought all this for you through Jesus, everything in this store is free no charge everything you want or need in life through the Lord is free just be ready to receive it and believe you can have it, and live in the grace, love, identity, and peace that I already paid for on the cross.

Pray- Do a salvation prayer