Live Diffrently

Welcome

Opening Prayer

Luke 13:1–9 (NIV)

13 About this same time Jesus was told that Pilate had given orders for some people from Galilee to be killed while they were offering sacrifices.

2 Jesus replied:Do you think that these people were worse sinners than everyone else in Galilee just because of what happened to them?

3 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don't turn back to God, every one of you will also be killed.

4 What about those 18 people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse than everyone else in Jerusalem?

5 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don't turn back to God, every one of you will also die.

A Story about a Fig Tree

6 Jesus then told them this story:A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn't find any.

7 So he said to the gardener, “For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven't found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?”

8 The gardener answered, “Master, leave it for another year. I'll dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow.

9 Maybe it will have figs on it next year. If it doesn't, you can have it cut down.”

Worship song

Offering

Junior church

Joys and concerns

Worship song

Apostels creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth;

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I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;*

He descended to the dead

on the third day he rose again

he ascended into heaven,

is seated at the right hand the Father

and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

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I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Penitence

This is the third in our series of seven Lenten series titled live differently.

When we look at what penitence means in the dictionary and in the bible dictionary they mean the same thing. Someone feeling sorrow or regret for ones action or offences. often accompanied by desire to make up for those wrongs. Also a willingness to accept responsibility for ones actions. It is followed by self reflection and acts of restitution. In the bible definition is the same as this but adds the turning away from sin and turning back to God.Willing to live according to Gods will.So if we look at

Acts 3:19

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

So you see Jesus tells us to repent so your sins may be washed away. We need to understand when Jesus died for our sins it was so we did not have to do so. This was not done with no action required on our part. The word repent meant turn away and turn back to God. It does not say we are not to pay restitution or be held accountable for what we have done. We are to do all these things but if we do not turn back to God then have we really repented? in

2nd 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

You see the lord promises to forgive our sins and heal our land if we turn back to him. You see we are like the fig tree in our opening scripture if we are not turned back to the lord to be nurtured and fed we will die. but if we allow ourselves to turn back to the lord and be fed and nurtured we will produce fruit for the lord. If we do not, we just as the fig will be cut down and cast away. you see everything in life has a cost even salvation. if we desire to be at one with the lord for eternity we need to ask for forgiveness and turn away from our wicked ways and rejoice in the lord as it says in

Luke 15:7

7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

This does not mean the sinner is the most important but the Lord rejoices when one sinner repents, for it’s another example that the devil can not win. We need to remember Jesus ask us to let our old life die and follow him. when we do this we are reminded in

1 John 1:9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We as Christians sometimes seem to forget once we give our life to Jesus Christ, that’s when the work Just begins. When we repent we start to see opportunities where God can use us to help others in times of struggle. I want us to watch this video/listen to and see a time when someone helped two people in need after giving their life to Jesus Christ.

Play Video/Listen to

So you see when we turn back to Jesus it is evident what he has for us to do, in this case the carpenters job is to build bridges where fences once stood. Let us ask God how we can repent for our sins and experience his grace through Penitence.

AMEN

Doxology (RNHC)

Worship song

Walk to the back

Benediction