Good morning, CHURCH!

(Church joke of the day)

How many of you ever have pride try to stick it’s ugly head up in your life?

Someone well-known in his early years for arrogance and pride was the boxer, Muhammad Ali.

He self-proclaimed himself (“The greatest of all time”).

I read that he was once so full of himself that apparently he once refused to fasten his seatbelt on an airplane.

“Sir, it is a regulation that everyone fasten there seatbelts.”

Ali said, “I’m not putting on no seatbelt.”

After repeated requests by the flight attendant to buckle up.

Ali finally said, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.”

To which the flight attendant wonderfully replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane!”

Pride is something we all need to watch out for.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Pray (Lord help us to see you as new and fresh through your word today.)

Help us to learn truth where we have believed a lie.

Let us not get puffed up with any knowledge we obtain.

Help us to better understand how much you love us.

Let’s go to the book of John 15:1-3 NLT for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

John 15:1-3 NLT

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.

And he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

Pruning is a very useful and necessary process by which you selectively remove branches to manipulate the plant to grow healthier.

You cut away dead, dying, diseased or damaged parts.

Pruning removes the branches that hinder the tree’s fruitfulness or its well-being.

Without the hindering parts the tree or plant becomes as fruitful as it can possibly become.

With us, as we receive the word of God and renew our minds, we are to become a part of the pruning process in our lives.

How do we do this?

Any action, direction, or habit of sin in our life is a diseased branch and will hinder us from living a fruitful life in God.

You should - Prune it off.

Can I go a little deeper?

Any action or use of energy, time, or resources in your life that produces no fruit, even if it once did, is now a dead branch.

You should - Prune it off.

Let’s take it a step further.

Sometimes trees have branches that block other parts from receiving the necessary sunlight they need to produce.

In your life, anything you do that keeps you from receiving from God, from dwelling in His presence, from spending time in His word, is a hindering branch.

You should - Prune it off.

And finally you sometimes have branches that hang too low.

In your life wherever you have indulgences, pursuits, vices, and actions that drain your time and energy from the higher calling God has for you.

You should - Prune it off.

This is where giving up some things in your life will turn out to better your life.

You’ll become more spiritually healthy and more fruitful to God.

Let’s get into today’s message.

I am in a series titled:

Unbelieving Believers wk.2

Today’s title will be.

A Biblical Worldview

Last week I asked the question, how is it that Bible toting church going confessing Christians don’t believe the Bible?

This week we may see partly why that is.

Almost 20 years ago now, George Barna who heads up the Barna research group wrote a book and revealed some information that was startling.

He stated that the research showed that just 7% of born-again adults and 9% of Protestants had a biblical worldview.

This led him to pole Protestant pastors.

They poled 601 Senior Pastors nationwide and only half or 51% of them had a Biblical worldview.

This seems rather staggering to me.

So, how about we see what they define as a Biblical worldview.

Having a biblical worldview, they define as believing that absolute moral truth exists, that it is based upon the Bible, and consists of six core beliefs.

-The accuracy of biblical teaching

-The sinless nature of Jesus

-The literal existence of Satan

-The omnipotence and omniscience of God

-Salvation by grace alone

-The personal responsibility to evangelize

What does this reveal to us.

Pastors and churches can’t give people what they don’t have.

A church can’t help to provide a biblical worldview to its congregation if it doesn’t possess a Biblical worldview.

Here at FFM we believe the Bible.

We have a biblical worldview.

Even though the pastor may have a biblical worldview that doesn’t mean that people who attend the church regularly share that same view.

In the Barna Groups research even if the pastor had a biblical worldview only 1 out of 7 people who attended the church shared that same biblical worldview.

What should that teach me?

That if most people at my church might not share a biblical view, surely most people in society don’t share it.

The research among people who have a biblical worldview shows that it is a long-term process that requires a lot of purposeful activity: teaching, prayer, conversations, accountability, small groups, and so forth.

In this series and in this church, we will work relentlessly to assist you in your desire to renew your minds towards a biblical perspective or worldview.

Today’s points will include passages that most of you have heard.

I am putting it together all in this one message so that you can refer back to it if you need it to answer questions that the world tries to throw at you.

Point #1

The accuracy of scripture.

Last week we talked about scripture being inspired by God himself.

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Peter 1:16-18 NLT

For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

Also, you’ll find that archaeology has repeatedly confirmed the accuracy of Biblical places, events, and people.

Thousands of archaeological finds have corroborated the accounts of the Bible.

One of the most important findings was the dead sea scrolls.

In 1947, shepherds stumbled upon a cave in a rugged, arid area on the western side of the Dead Sea. What they discovered was soon proclaimed the greatest archaeological find of the twentieth century. Over the next few years, other, similar remote caves in the area were found. What did these caves contain? Over 800 fragmentary documents, mainly consisting of Hebrew writings on leather (with a few on parchment), including fragments of 190 biblical scrolls. Most of these are small, containing no more than one-tenth of a book; however, a complete Isaiah scroll has been found.

This evidence has served time and again to put to rest the allegations that the history recorded in the Bible is make believe or not true.

Now that you know it’s the truth.

What does it say that we should believe?

Point #2

The sinless nature of Jesus.

Hebrews 7:26 NLT

He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

I call this the great exchange.

Point #3

Does Satan exist?

Luke 10:18 NLT

“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!

Revelation 12:9 NLT

This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

Although Satan is real you don’t need to fear him.

James 4:7 NLT

So, humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Point #4

The omnipotence and omniscience of God.

Jeremiah 23:24 NLT

Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord.

Proverbs 15:3 NLT

The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.

Psalms 139:7 NLT

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

Romans 1:20 NLT

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Point #5

Salvation by grace and no other way.

Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Romans 10:9 NLT

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And so that you would know that belief in Him is more than just some head knowledge.

Matthew 7:21 NLT

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

Belief in Him must be accompanied by obedience to Him.

Point #6

We all should be evangelizing.

Matthew 9:37-38 NLT

He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Who are those workers that need to work the fields?

Mark 16:15 NLT

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Not only should we all be evangelizing but we should all be apologist.

1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?