I’ve Got to Get Myself Together!
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This Week’s Theme: LET’S GET SERIOUS
This Week’s Word is Repent: It is defined as a change of mind leading to a change of action. It involves a sincere turning from sin to serve God and includes sorrow for, and confession of, sin and where possible restitution. At points, Scripture refers to God changing his plans in response to events.
Memory Verse: 2 Chronicles 7:14 “14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Essence of the Text in a Sentence: Zephaniah commanded Judah to avoid the day of the LORD’S wrath by seeking the face of the LORD.
Sermon Proposition: Avoid the anger of the LORD through seeking Him.
Sermon Objective: I want those in attendance to confess their sins and forsake them for righteousness through the power of Christ
Sermon Text: Zephaniah 2:1-3
INTRODUCTION:
TRANSITION:
1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation,
I. GET HONEST
I. GET HONEST
1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation,
Idolatry
4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, But who also swear by Milcom;
6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord, And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”
Leaders follow Pagan customs
8 “And it shall be, In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, That I will punish the princes and the king’s children, And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 In the same day I will punish All those who leap over the threshold, Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
Greed
11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; All those who handle money are cut off.
Indifference
12 “And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.’
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
II. GET HUMBLE
II. GET HUMBLE
3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger.
3 (A COMMAND: You cause yourselves to) Seek (the face of) the LORD (with intensity pointing towards producing results), all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice.
seek humility.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
III. GET HOLY
III. GET HOLY
3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger.
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.
IV. GET IN A HURRY
IV. GET IN A HURRY
2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!
2 “I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land,” Says the Lord;
3 “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,” Says the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
Don’t Procrastinate
Don’t Procrastinate
25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
DON’T NEGLECT
DON’T NEGLECT
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
"Pull yourself together" "Collect yourself"
"Gather your thoughts" "Regain composure"
"Recenter yourself" "Realign your focus"
"Find your footing" "Reorganize your life"
"Sort yourself out" "Reassemble your priorities"
"Get back on track" "Reclaim control"
"Reestablish balance" "Rediscover your purpose" "Reignite your passion" "Reconstruct your life" "Recompose your mindset" "Rearrange your priorities" "Reorient your path" "Reconfigure your goals"
Respond to the sermon by answering the following questions and completing the exercises.
What new truth did you learn from the sermon today?
After hearing the sermon, what sinful thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, or inactivity did the Holy Spirit convict you of today?
Write out a plan to get better at living for God based on the sermon or a plan to remove your sinful thoughts, feelings, desires, actions and replacing them with scriptural thoughts and/or biblical practices:
The Scriptures: Positive and negative Bible verses on your issue you will read and meditate on in order to align your thinking with God's
a. Write out those positive verses
b. Write out those negative verses
c. When will you meditate on these verses and how often?
The Spirit: Praying in the Spirit for God to help you to hate sin and love righteousness and for God through Christ to help you to live out His Will for your life.
a. Write out a prayer using the Scriptures you wrote above.
b. How often will you pray this prayer 3 times a day, daily, every other day, weekly, etc.
c. When will you pray this prayer or what time during the day will you pray this prayer?
The Saints:Those you will look to as a model of strength in your area of wrong. Those who will hold you accountable in this area and will hold you accountable to keep your plan.
a. Name the saints God wants to help you.
b. How often will they contact you?
c. What time should they contact you?