The God That Brought Us Out

Good morning. Welcome to CCC

Over the next 13 weeks we are going to be in a series called The God That.... Each week we will look at something that God does so we may know Him better and so we can be more like Him.

You and I as Christians are His ambassadors and are called to be holy as He is holy. My prayer is over the next 13 weeks you know God better and your relationship with Him deepens

Pray

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The God That Brought Us Out....that is our first message in this series The God That.....

Brought us out of what? That is exactly what we are going to look at today!

Deuteronomy 6:23

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“And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.”

He brought us out to bring us in!

We are the church

We are the called out ones

This morning I want to look at what God brought us out of and in to

Sin to Salvation

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Romans 6:23

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“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Sin equals death

This is the truth

Many today argue that truth and refuse to believe it

They try to water down or justify away that truth

But it is still true sin equals death

Eternal life is a gift from God only obtained or received through Jesus Christ

Again truth....absolute truth....never changing truth

Jesus is the only way to salvation

I Timothy 1:15-16

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“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

You and I were born sinners

We deserve death and hell because of our sin

Through Jesus Christ God brought us out of the grave and into eternal life.

Praise God....what a priceless gift

Death to Life

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To take this a step further.....we don’t just get to go to heaven but through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we once were dead in our sin but are now alive in Christ

Romans 6:12-13

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“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Sin no longer has power to reign in your body.

Let me say that again.....Sin no longer has power to reign in your body.

That should get a resounding Amen because that is the truth....that is the result of believing the Gospel and accepting Jesus into your life

Sin no longer has power to reign in your body.

YOU ARE FREE!

Some of you live like you are a slave to sin but are free in Christ!

The more you ignore God’s Word

The more you justify away conviction

The more you stay away from church and God’s people

The more you allow sin to reign in your body....that is not a Jesus problem that is a YOU problem

Jesus defeated sin

By accepting Him you die to sin and live from Christ!

Because you live from Christ you are to use your body for righteousness because God brought you from death to life!

So many Christians miss this.

They live a life enslaved to sin and the enemy when neither have any power to reign in their body

God brought you from death to life.......do you live like it?

Darkness to light

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Psalms 68:6

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“God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound with chains: But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”

God delivered you from your chains when you accepted Jesus Christ.....he setteth you in families both physical and Godly.....we are family here at CCC

Any Christian in the world is family with all other Christians in the world

We are the body of Christ......we are co-heirs with Jesus.....we are family

I want to get on a soap box for just a moment. Church attendance matters. Not in a salvation type of matters because you do not need to attend church to be saved.

No salvation is a gift from God. The Holy Spirit awakens you to the fact that you are a sinner and because of that sin you will die and go to hell someday. He also awakens you to the fact that there is nothing YOU can do to save yourself.

He then awakens you to Jesus, you realize the love of Christ on the cross where He shed His blood to cover YOUR sins. He died in your place to pay your penalty. He rose again to offer you eternal life

The only part you play in all of this is accepting Him.

When you accept Jesus you become a blood bought member of His family!

That was the Gospel truth now back to my soap box

Only Jesus saves not church attendance

However, church attendance should be non-negotiable to you. Sure you will go on vacation a few times a year. Sure you will get sick here and there.

Non-negotiable church attendance means you are attending somewhere. Not to be saved but because you are saved

Jesus died for the Church, not this particular body CCC but all who accept Him are the Church

Jesus also established the church, a body of local believers doing life together, studying the Word together, breaking bread together, carrying out our mission to shine the light of Jesus into a dark world together.

You and I were created for community. You grow in church where the Bible is taught and proclaimed. Period end of story and if you do not want to grow closer to God I would question if you are saved.

Everyone in here just said in their heads I want to grow closer to God......really how important is it to you to being here to have the Holy Spirit teach you

I could care less about numbers, we look at them as the data that they are but my concern is your growth in Christ.

You can grow on your own sure but never as much or as fast as you do with other likeminded believers diving into God’s Word.

God has blessed this body CCC with wonderful teachers who teach the Word of God. I hear quite often I have never learned and grown nearly as much in other places as I do here.

That is because of God and the Holy Spirit not us but God has gifted several in this body to be His teachers.

When you choose to be somewhere else you choose to miss what God has for you. What a shame

Back to God brought you out of darkness and into light.

I Peter 2:9-10

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“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

I Peter also speaks to this, chosen generation…royal priesthood....Praise God

When you accept Christ you are transformed. Not you should be transformed but scripture says you are transformed.

If you accepted Christ and are not transformed

Are not different than before

Are not a new creature

I would again have to question if you truly accepted Jesus

Before Christ we lived in and were filled with darkness.

People who are lost are in darkness

I hear all the time....they aren’t saved but they have a good heart.

That is a false statement…Impossible according to God’s Word

Jeremiah 17:9

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“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

God through His scripture just said there in no good heart

Our nature is sinful

Our nature is evil

Our nature is full of darkness

Without Jesus you are in darkness

Period End of Story

We must return to standing on the Word of God

I love I Peter.....This shows you the transformation from darkness to light.

When you accept Jesus you join the chosen generation

You join the royal priesthood

You are a holy nation

Those are not physical things but spiritual

If you are saved you are a Spiritual Israelite

Chosen by God and co-heirs with Jesus

What a blessing!

What a gift!

You are born a sinner with a sinful dark nature

When the Holy Spirit awakens you and calls you to salvation and you accept Jesus you move from darkness to light

God called you out of the darkness and into His marvellous light

How beautiful is that? If you still live in darkness God is calling you out this morning.

Bondage to Deliverance

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Psalm 34:17

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“The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, And delivereth them out of all their troubles.”

Deliverance may be from physical troubles

Addiction is an example

Sober is awesome. I will never be mad at sober but sober is not delivered

Jesus delivers

Only Jesus delivers

I have some dear friends who believe in 12 steps. 12 steps can help you be sober and stay sober but they will not deliver you from addiction

Only God will deliver you from addiction because addiction is not a disease

It is not something your environment causes

It is a symptom of a sin problem and no 12 step program can ever deliver you from a sin problem

Only Jesus can deliver you from a sin problem

it doesn't matter if it is addiction, porn, greed, pride, lust, love of money, idols, etc etc etc the only deliverance is through Jesus Christ

The Lord delivers out of troubles

Now this does not mean when you are delivered you will no longer have problems or troubles

No sir you will always have trouble

I John 4:4-6

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“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

When you were in the world you were in bondage to sin

You were guilty

You were condemned

You were going to go to hell when you died

However Jesus delivered you

Jesus paid your price

His sacrifice was enough

He redeemed you

He delivered you out of the bondage to sin

Somebody needs to hear this.....listen closely

JESUS IS ENOUGH!

Stop chasing anything other than Jesus!

God called you out of fear into faith

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II Timothy 1:7

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“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

If you are a Christian here this morning you do not have the spirit of fear.....

Some of you live in constant fear instead of power and love and sound mind

Stop building your house upon the world’s foundation and start building it upon the Word of God

God did not give you the spirit of fear so if you live in fear you are not living in the Spirit of God!

Faith destroys fear.

Logan went with me to Sheldon yesterday morning for Men’s breakfast and I was asked to bring the message. Men it was such a great time of fellowship you missed out if you didn’t go

Logan you heard a bit of this next part but bare with me

Hebrews 11:1

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“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith comes from a Greek noun meaning credence…moral conviction....truth…assurance…belief

Substance comes from a Greek noun which means concrete....assurance

Things hoped for....comes from a Greek word meaning to expect.

Let’s look at 11:1 again

Truth…moral conviction is the concrete assurance of things expected.

What is your hope?

What should you expect

Romans 8:24

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“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”

Here is the deal…Jesus is our hope

Forgiveness is our hope

Heaven is our hope

When you accept Jesus you expect that the cross was indeed enough

That Jesus did in fact go an prepare a place for you

and

That He will return one day and you and I will be perfect just as He is perfect!

John 3:17

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“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Jesus came to save not condemn. Jesus came to give life and life abundantly

Not wealth but life

What life.....life with Jesus, growing in your faith and love of the Father

A life where others matter

A life where sacrifice is the norm

A life where building God’s kingdom is the only thing that matters.....that is life abundantly because that is a life full of Jesus!

I John 4:18

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“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

When your faith is in Jesus there is no room for fear

When you accept Jesus there is in fact no fear

You have to make a choice faith or fear

Fear here is from a Greek word meaning fear…dread…terror

This is a hard one for most Christians to truly accept

Many will say pastor I can’t believe this....everyone is fearful of something

This is more than just being startled or scared of spiders

This is fear that grips you

Makes it impossible to move

Why do we have fear....because we believe whatever or whoever we fear can hurt or destroy us

If you have Jesus....perfect love…your fear is driven out because you can’t be destroyed on a spiritual level

You can be tortured

You can be hurt

You can and will be persecuted

You can and may be killed

But with Jesus you can’t be destroyed

Some of you don’t realize that what you fear is fearful of Jesus

You give power to sin

You give power to the devil

You give power to the world

You fear sin

You fear the devil

You fear the world

You are choosing fear over faith

JESUS IS ENOUGH

Have faith in that

Build your life on that and watch your fear flee

So many today live in fear

Fear of failure

Fear of debt

Fear of addiction

Fear of being exposed

Fear of shame

Fear of uncertainty

Fear of the future

Fear of losing a job

Fear of death

Fear of illness

Fear of stepping out into what God has called you to do

etc etc etc

Faith drives out those fears because God has called you out of fear and into faith

God is love....perfect love....He casts our your fears if you will just have faith that He is who He says He is and He does what He says He does!

God has called you out of despair into praise

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Psalms 40:2-3

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“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”

Some of you love your horrible pit and miry clay more than you love God

Most of you said what in your head....others said he ain’t wrong in your head

You love sin more than you love God

God I know you say this in your Word but I can’t do that. Whatever you can’t do you love more than God!

If you have accepted Jesus you have been brought out of the despair of the pit and the pull of the clay

You have been delivered from your former life

Your former choices

Your former sin

Your former nature

Your former self

You past has no control on your future

Your mistakes have no impact on your identity

The world says what you do defines who you are

God says whose you are defines your identity

If you struggled with addiction but are sober the world calls you an addict. Once an addict always an addict.....that is the exact opposite of the Gospel.....in Christ you are a new creature the old is dead and the new has come!

If you were an alcoholic and have been delivered the world says you are still an alcoholic

If you have been to jail the world says you are an ex-con

I see the results of this day in and day out.

I see broken kids who are broken because the world defines them as broken

Their parents and friends and teachers define them by their mistakes not their identity

I stress to my kids in trouble all the time that I want them to understand they are not a bad kid they just made a bad decision

Some of you live your life in despair because you believe the worlds lies

You are divorced you are beyond salvation

You were addicted to porn you are a pervert

You stole so you are a thief

You did this you did that

That is who you are

Remember I Peter you are a chosen generation

You are a royal priesthood

a royal nation

You are a co-heir with Jesus

You are a member of the body of Christ as a Christian

Jesus defines you

not your sin or your past

but so many chose to live in despair because they don’t have the faith or truly believe that God pulled them out of that horrible pit and miry clay

If this place was full of delivered Christians who realize they have been pulled out of the pit and clay worship in this place would be so loud.....so moving....such a draw that this place would be full because people are desperate to get out of their pit and out of the clay

YOU PRAISE BECAUSE GOD BROUGHT YOU FROM DESPAIR TO PRAISE!!!!!!!!

Your life is praise

Your words are praise

Your worship is praise

This morning I pray that you know what God brought you out of and in to!

Maybe you are still lost

Maybe you are still living in darkness

Maybe you have not ever accepted Jesus

Today is the day

You have heard the truth of God proclaimed now it is your time to decide am I in or out

Maybe you are saved but God revealed through the Holy Spirit that you are choosing to live in something God has brought you out of and it is time to give that to Him

It is time to leave that at the altar

It is time to move into what God has for you

I would love to pray with you

Our elders would love to pray with you

Our leadership would love to pray with you

The question is do you believe....have faith that God wants to bring you out of the world and sin and death and into Him?

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