Encounter God's Transforming Love (3)

Our theme for 2024 is “Possessing the Land”

We have been reading and studying through the book of Joshua.

However, last week and this week have been a break from our usual study to celebrate!

Last week we celebrated Palm Sunday and Purim.

This week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

Today is Resurrection Sunday.

He is risen! (He is risen indeed!)

It is the day when Jesus Christ arose victorious over sin, over satan and over death.

Nobody expected Jesus to die.

God’s plan was purposely hidden from the powers of darkness.

Even his disciples didn’t get it, though afterward they would remember that he tried to explain it to them.

The plan was woven throughout Old Testament prophecy, but only from hindsight would it be observed and explained that Messiah had to die and to rise again.

1 Corinthians 15:12–22 ESV

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Within decades after this earth-shattering event, Paul is writing to a group of believers who are not sure what to believe anymore.

Did the Resurrection really happen?

Is the supernatural real?

Is God all powerful, loving and victorious?

Of course, there would be an attempt to cover it all up and to rewrite history.

They would simply say that there is no resurrection - it was just a story

Like ancient mythology, we are so far removed from the events that shaped the stories that we no longer expect that it has any basis in reality.

We only trust what we can observe for ourselves.

We believe what is current thought, what is trending on the internet and what is touted over and over again on the news.

Our vision at SCF is to “Encounter God’s Transforming Love.”

That is what we are offering to everyone who comes here.

Encounter God’s Transforming Love - It is the promise of resurrection.

It’s not just an idea - it’s an experience.

Whoever you are and whatever you have been through, there is hope.

You can say that God is real and that God is good because you are living proof!

Each year I want to remind us of who we are as a church and why we exist.

Remember the four R’s?

They are part of our vision statement.

And together they expand and explain the vision.

Respond

Encounter God

We have many ways of describing the initial experience of coming to faith in Christ.

We call it “getting saved,” implying that escaping punishment is the central idea.

For a while it was popular to use the term “born again,” that speaks more of the transformation.

Evangelists have used the language of “accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior,” which seems to cover all of the bases.

I prefer to call it a “God encounter.”

It’s that moment when you realize the truth about God and about yourself.

It’s when you come face to face with who Jesus is and what He has done for you.

An encounter demands a response.

The three crosses on our logo remind us that there were two men crucified with Jesus, each had a different response,

Luke 23:39–43 CSB

39 Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? 41 We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

So which of these responses do you identify with?

If you were there when Jesus was crucified, (keep in mind that none of them knew about the resurrection yet) what would you have done?

A divine encounter is when you see the truth.

That was a divine encounter and the response of the second thief was a God-inspired moment.

There are those moments in life when we have the clarity to see that God is real and reaching out to us.

Rhett Walker has a song out call “ The man on the middle cross” which he wrote in response to a famous sermon by the preacher, Alistair Begg. In it he identifies with the one on either side of Jesus.

I've been the one on the left full of guilt and regret Long-gone on the wrong side of living I've been the one on the right always looking for a fight Thinking I could never be forgiven I'm standing here today overwhelmed by grace 'Cause I know who paid my cost Thank God for the Man on the middle cross

Maybe you can identify with this song or with one of these two guys?

What was the difference between the one on the left and the one on the right?

The difference was their response.

Are we seeking God or running from God?

Are we tuning in to God or tuning Him out?

What do you actually do with that realization when you have it?

So what if I did sense God at some time in my life, what should I do?

The appropriate response to a divine encounter is obedience.

The Hebrew word for obey simply means to listen?

Shema Israel - “Hear O Israel and obey what you hear.”

It is implied that when you hear what you are supposed to do, you will of course, do it.

How will you know when God is speaking to you? You’ll know!

When you know who Jesus is and what He has done for you, you will want to know what you can do in return.

The short answer is that you can live the rest of your life saying, “thank you!”

Responding to God becomes the goal of your life.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Maybe you thought that you would add a little Jesus to you life?

You know - like we add cream to our coffee.

Maybe you were promised that if you gave your life to God, He would make it better?

Maybe you thought you would give religion a try?

It’s like Yoda says, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

If you haven’t figured it out by now, you will. - It’s all or nothing!

Our attempts to partially respond to God never yield the results we are looking for.

If Jesus is Lord, He must be at the center of our lives.

If Jesus is who the BIble says He is, then life doesn’t revolve around me, it’s all about Him!

Every time we gather for worship, our worship is not complete until we have responded to what we have heard.

Responding to God means letting God change you and that brings us to our next point.

Restore

Encounter God’s transforming (or transformation)

God did not save you just to leave you the way He found you.

Are people basically good or evil?

We are both.

We are created in God’s image - so that’s good.

But we are all effected by sin - so we are all capable of evil.

We are like gold that has been buried on the bottom of the ocean.

You may be dirty and tarnished and barely recognizable, but underneath it all you are still precious and even more so because you have a story.

Jesus brought you from darkness to light.

Colossians 1:13–14 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The darkness to light language is meant to show the contrast between what you were and what you are becoming.

I say ‘becoming’ because, in reality, we are not all there yet.

Positionally, we are already restored - God sees us as perfect because of Jesus.

Conditionally, none of us is perfect. We are people in process.

The question is - are you going to stay in the process?

The sinful nature is selfish. - It wants what it wants.

Knowing who you are in Christ and focusing on that means that you set your sights higher.

You can choose to feed the flesh or you can feed the spirit.

You can choose to be selfish or you can be generous.

You’re not living for yourself anymore; you’re living for Him!

The Bible uses the analogy of the river of life that flows from the throne of God.

As it flows it increases.

Everywhere it goes it brings life.

That is what the presence and power of God in your life will do.

Personal restoration leads to restored relationships.

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

All of us have suffered relational damage, but healing also comes through relationship.

God wants us to be agents of His healing as we are being healed.

That means forgiving because you have been forgiven.

It means we stop passing the hurt around and let it go to the cross where Jesus took it himself so that it could be effectively removed.

It means that we exchange our pain for Christ’s love.

I know I can make it sound so simple, but its not easy.

Forgiveness is one thing, but trust is another.

It only takes one person to forgive, but it takes two to be reconciled.

It may seem like too much to suggest that you can undo years of hurt, pain and dysfunction, but change needs a place to start.

You can make a choice to begin and then see where God takes it.

If you can let God do the work in you, it will eventually impact the lives of those around you, because we are all interconnected.

Made in God’s image means that you represent God.

You were created in God’s image.

First and foremost, that is a status, you represent God regardless of who you are.

But representing God well involves attributes- becoming more like God.

We find out who we are when we learn to know who God is.

The best way to know God is to follow Jesus; who is the exact representation of God.

When God looks at you, He sees Jesus.

So while you are getting your life back together, just know that God already has you covered.

Don’t look at all the pieces, keep your eyes on Jesus and let Him help put you back together again.

You are a child of God!

Those old sinful habits are not consistent with who you are and who you are becoming.

Even if you slip up, it doesn’t change who you are.

You can get back on track if you keep your focus on the truth of who you are becoming and not on where you have been.

We look back to find out where we are broken so that we can be healed, but God is already looking ahead to see where He wants to use us to bring healing to others.

Release

God’s Transforming Love ( or God’s Love Transforms!)

We have talked about how the life of God flows to us, but this is about how the life of God flows through us.

God wants to release you!

Jesus released his disciples to go into the towns of Judea ahead of Him.

Luke 10:3–9 ESV

3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Notice that they did not call the people together and hold meetings.

They ate and drank with the people.

They accepted their hospitality, once they found someone who was hospitable.

And in the course of all of that, they would have shared their story.

Then they did the things that Jesus did, healed the sick, cast out demons and taught about the Kingdom of God.

The point is: they didn’t have to be anything other than who they are, and “who they are” is people who have been transformed by being with Jesus.

You are to release the Holy Spirit.

Jesus ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers.

John 14:16–17 ESV

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The reason that you and I can do the things that Jesus did is because we have the Holy Spirit in us.

Jesus said He would baptize us with the Holy Spirit.

What that literally means is that we can be immersed in or saturated with the Holy Spirit.

This is not just a one-time experience, we should be continually asking for more Holy Spirit!

Because of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to carry out the calling that God has on our lives, whether that be ministry, missions, running a business or raising a family.

God has his people everywhere, and when you are filled with His Spirit, whatever you do becomes a divinely empowered calling.

God also gives us spiritual gifts with which we serve one another and the world.

Your gift is like your super-power.

It doesn’t make you invincible; every gift has its corresponding weakness or vulnerability.

But when we all work together, using our gifts, we can accomplish so much more.

Together we release the Kingdom of God.

Jesus gave his church, His called-out ones, the authority to decide what they will allow or disallow on earth.

That may be hard to believe; that we actually have that much influence.

Perhaps it is because we use so much of our energy fighting one another instead of battling to forces of darkness.

This is why is is so important that we become Kingdom-minded.

If we are only thinking about our interests; our own calling, our own church or even our own ministry; we may win the battle but loose the war.

If on the other hand we learn to build the Kingdom, where it doesn’t matter if I get what I want, or who gets recognized, then we can only win in the end, even if it feels like we are loosing.

We win whenever God wins.

We believe that each person has a calling from God and we want to help them both to discover what that is and to do it, even if it means sending them out to another church or mission field.

And we have done that!

Jesus sent his disciples to be an influence.

Just go and release who you are into the environment.

If people are blessed, then you are bringing the Kingdom.

If they give you such a hard time that you are not able to be a blessing, then move onto anther more receptive place.

When you release the Kingdom, you aren’t just in the river of life; you become part of the river of life!

God’s life is flowing through you.

Relate

Encounter God’s Love (through each other)

So now we come to the fourth and final step: relate - represented by the circle on the logo.

The circle of the wedding ring is a sign of covenant - an unbroken union showing a continuous relationship.

Our relationships in the church are covenant relationships in that we are joined to one another through our common union with Christ.

The first three R’s are somewhat sequential in that each one naturally leads to the next.

Relationship, however, permeates everything that we do and continues even after people are sent out.

We love because God is love.

1 John 4:7–8 NLT

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

We all need to love and to be loved.

When you love, you resemble your heavenly Father.

Because God is love - that is His defining characteristic.

God is the one who gives us the love that unites us.

God is revealing Himself through humanity and unity is the evidence, the visible sign, of God’s Presence.

When we love each other, that is the culmination of God’s revelation.

That’s when people see God!

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Whenever believers from different backgrounds, denomination and ethnicities get together and praise God there is a powerful Presence in that gathering!

We want to be that expression of Divine love.

We function as one body.

The analogy is that we have differing gifts and functions, but that we are all interconnected like parts of a body.

We have many parts but we function under one head - Jesus Christ.

We start by submitting to Christ in humility and then we can begin to bring out the best in each other.

It takes work, but we put effort into our relationships.

We take time to listen and understand one another.

We try to see from another’s perspective.

In the end, we really need each other.

We need what each person brings.

So we encourage their strengths and help them with their weaknesses.

We are a TEAM - together everyone achieves more!

We are part of God’s family.

God wants a family - He’s relational.

We are to be like the Trinity - one in essence and purpose.

A family is an analogy for “oneness of essence and purpose”.

A family has the same DNA - one in essence.

And they function as a household - one in purpose.

As you are being united with other believers especially those from other places and cultures, you will find that people do things differently.

We need to be open to learning new ways of doing things.

We have our rules which serve a purpose, and that the purpose is more important than the rules.

If we are going to have a sense of common purpose and know what we are to do, someone has to lead.

We need to help our leaders lead by praying for them.

And we unite around the vision that God gives them.

The best part about being a family is not having to do life alone.

You are surrounded by people who love you with God’s love and who deeply care about you because you matter to God and to them.

We serve a God who raises the dead.

Sometimes its the death of a relationship.

Sometimes it’s the loss of a loved one.

Sometimes it’s the death of a vision.

We all experience death at times and of various kinds.

But those who follow Jesus also experience resurrection!

Romans 8:11 The Message

11 It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!

God is raising his church to life.

We as a church are coming back to life with fresh vision and renewed purpose.

This message is condensed from a series of sermons that I preached three years ago.

If you want to go back and listen to them, they are on our YouTube channel.

You can also find a link on our website: Springcityfellowship.com/ about us.

If you have been attending and would like to see our membership packet - that goes into more detail about or vision and how you can be part of it.

It’s Resurrection Sunday!

What is God bringing to life in you?

Questions for reflection:

How are you responding to what Jesus Christ has done for you? That response is not supposed to be a one-time event. So how are you continuing to encounter God in your daily life?

How is God restoring you? Are you aware that you are in a process? How are you intentionally engaging in and encouraging that process? How can we help one another in that process?

What are you releasing? Do you know that as a child of God you are called to represent Him? Are you aware of the Holy Spirit's presence and power in you and working through you? How can we help you to do what God has called you to do?