Stories to Glory

 1. Elder Prayer 2. Introduction a. Connor & Delaney b. Melody c. Me – Chaplain 3. Service with ADRN a. 180+ Church b. Equip, Empower & Mobilize c. Northlake a part of ADRN 4. Missionary a. Disaster Field is the mission field b. Chaos, Confusion and Destruction 5. Since 2016 – Served on staff 6. Oversee all the boots on the ground 7. Primary mission is Emotional & Spiritual Care leading to recovery 8. What we do a. ICI b. CISM c. Fancy way of saying – Ministry of Presents, LISTEN TO STORIES 9. Oh Boy do we hear stories a. That’s really our lives 10. Oh – and did I mention that we see some crazy things also… a. Great Stories…. 11. Stories to Glory a. John Chapter 3 (Bibles, Apps, Grab Bible in the Back) b. Pastor Mike ask – I knew – Conversation between Jesus & Nicodemus 12. Story of Nicodemus and Jesus a. Probably the most important story in the Bible – the Reason God Sent Jesus to us. b. First Year of Jesus’ Earthly ministry c. Plan of Salivation i. We have been saved (justifications) ii. We are being saved (sanctification) iii. We will be saved (glorification) d. The Objectives of the Lesson i. Our Redeemer Lives and He has a purpose for our life ii. His love is so great for you, He provided a way for your Salvation, He provided His Son so that you could be BORN AGAIN. iii. He just wants you to BELIEVE and obey. 13. To get to the beginning, we have to start at the end (3rd year of Jesus Earthly Ministry) a. Empty Tomb b. How did He get there? c. As a criminal, Roman’s had no respect for the body 14. The Crucifixion – On the Cross a. During those 6 hours on the Cross – there was a negotiation going on in the background. 15. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate to seek permission for the Body of Jesus 16. And He brought along – other, and one of the others was Nicodemus a. John 19:39 - “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.” b. Nicodemus only shows up in scriptures 3 times – Only in the Gospel of John c. He is Pharisee (the word Pharisee means to be separate) d. He is A Ruler of the Jews – meaning he was a member to the Sanhedrin (The very Council that turned Jesus over to be crucified) e. He is THE Teacher – not a teacher but THE TEACHER of ISREAL (He knows his stuff) f. Tradition says he was the third richest man in Jerusalem at that time. g. And he is afraid, he is in fear that his life, his deeds are not measuring up to God. 17. Catchup with the Story – First year of Jesus’ Public ministry – gets baptized 18. Gathering he disciples, He ends up at a wedding fest in Cana, performs first recorded miracle – turning water into wine. 19. Comes to the temple for His first Passover of His public ministry – and cleanses the temple. 20. The Story (John 2:23-3:21) Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. a. People where believing in His signs or miracles – not who He is. b. Play on words – They Believe in Him – He does not ENTRUST himself to them – Entrust is the same Greek word as believe. c. Omniscience – He knew what was in their heart. The New Birth Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” 21. Breakdown a. Verses 1-10: The Work of the Holy Spirit – BORN AGAIN b. Verses 11-21: The Requirement of the Sinner - BELEIVE 22. Verses 1-10: The Work of the Holy Spirit – BORN AGAIN a. 5 times Jesus talks about being BORN AGAIN b. Nicodemus does not ask a question – Jesus knew what was on His heart. c. Born Again, or Born from Above d. Nicodemus is confused – How can an old man be born again – answer: YOU CAN’T e. You had nothing to do with your physical birth, and you have nothing to do with your spiritual birth – that’s GOD’S WORK. f. This Born of the Water and the Spirit can be bit confusing, I can’t fully develop it – John symbolically uses water as the Word of God – what Jesus is saying is that being born again is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of the Word of God. Paul details this in Romans10:11-15 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved (YOU ARE THE WHOEVER) Believer, here is you purpose…. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?.... i. To my Born Again friends – YOU ARE THE PREACHER – This is GOD’s PURPOSE for YOU. We are to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES. g. For those who are still searching – who have not believed, Paul gives you hope Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, h. It’s all right there and but Nicodemus didn’t understand, and he says to Jesus “How can these things be?” Here is a story to help us understand poor Nicodemus – because his worldview has been rocked at this point 23. Sherlock Holmes Tent Story Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson decide to go on a camping trip. After dinner and a bottle of wine, they lay down for the night go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Watson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets." "Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo." "Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three." "Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant." "Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow." "What does it tell you, Holmes?" Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke: "Watson, you idiot. Someone has stolen our tent!" a. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again. b. 11 different times, Jesus asked His listeners, “Have you never read?” Of course they had – they just didn’t understand the scripture. 24. Look at Ezekiel 36 – and notice the I WILL Ezekiel 36:24-27 For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. a. This is New covenant salvation in the Old Testament… amazing. 25. Verses 11-21: THE REQUIREMENT OF THE SINNER – BELIEVE a. When I come to this section of the conversation, I am really overwhelmed by what Jesus is saying. When I teach the Bible, one of the comments you inevitably get is that the Bible is too hard to understand, that it doesn’t relate to us today. That comment, it’s too hard to understand and it doesn’t relate to us today is more a reflection of the reader then the writer. Jesus is so crystal clear, so clear in fact that He is downright blunt. Seven times in these 10 verses Jesus uses the work “BELIEVE”. Pretty clear what He trying to get Nicodemus to understand. Listen to Jesus Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? b. It’s pretty clear, Nicodemus doesn’t get it – we should feel some hope here – Nicodemus was a brilliant man – and it took him a bit to understand and let go of his pride and fear No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. c. The statement “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” comes from Numbers 21 (Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.) This is a preview of the Jesus on the Cross. Believe and have life. d. This is also a great point that the Old Testament points to Jesus, points to the cross. e. And don’t miss that Jesus is confirming His deity, right here in the first year of His public ministry when He’s says No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: The Son of Man. f. And also, don’t miss the key word that would have rocked the worldview of Nicodemus – “WHOEVER” Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life – this is a shocking statement to a Pharisee. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. g. This is the most recognized verse in the Bible, Martin Luther calls this verse “The Gospel in miniature”. This is it, this is the Good News. This is the Gospel message. h. Grasp this – because the world will tell you that the God of the Bible – especially the Old Testament is a God of Judgement, a God of punishment of the unrighteous, a God of Rules and Laws – and that is true, we will be judged for our unrighteousness based on God’s rules. BUT - The reason that God makes salvation available to anyone who believes and the reason that anybody can believe is because God actually loves the world. We are made in HIS IMAGE – we are HIS IMAGE BEARERS. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” 26. Michael Jordon Puma Story For as long as Michael Jordan played basketball, Fred Whitfield had been by #23’s side. Across the years, Whitfield served Jordan as an agent, a consultant, a business partner, and more. In the book Driven From Within, Whitfield recounted an experience that sprang from a visit MJ paid to Whitfield at his home in Greensboro, NC. After catching up, the two of them decided to go out for dinner. Jordan said to Whitfield, “Man, it’s kind of cold. Can I borrow one of your jackets?” Being a good friend, Whitfield obliged and told the basketball star to grab anything he wanted from his closet. MJ ducked into the bedroom to grab a jacket while Whitfield waited. And waited. Finally, MJ emerged from the closet in the other room carrying not just one jacket, but several, along with a few pairs of shoes, and other articles of clothing, as well. Each of the pieces had one thing in common: the Puma logo, a competitor to MJ’s Nike brand. Jordan tossed the clothes into a pile on the floor and then disappeared into the kitchen. When he returned a moment later, Jordan was wielding a butcher knife. According to Whitfield, Jordan took the knife and began cutting and ripping the Puma gear into tiny little shreds. When he was satisfied with their destruction, he picked up every scrap and walked it out to the dumpster. When Jordan reappeared in the door, he said, “Hey dude, call my Nike rep tomorrow and tell him to replace all of this. But don’t ever let me see you in anything other than Nike. You can’t ride the fence.” You can’t ride the fence. 27. C.S. Lewis Quote C.S. Lewis quotes from his book The Great Divorce: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done.” "All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.” a. It’s a cause and effect: i. Believe in Him = Not Judged ii. Not Believing in Him = Judged already iii. Light came into the world = Men love the Darkness iv. Fear of the Light = Because of their Deeds v. Practice truth = Come to the Light b. It’s Either – Or – You can’t ride the fence. 28. The Rest of the Story for Nicodemus What happened to Nicodemus? I’ll tell you what happened. God came down, gave Him life, gave him a new heart, a new soul, washed him, regenerated him. What about the rest of the story • Tradition says that he was the only person who stood up at Jesus’ trial before Pilate and defended Jesus. • Tradition says he was baptized by Peter and John. • Tradition says that his confession of the Lord Jesus was so bold that it led him to being deprived of his office, deprived of his position as a teacher and deprived of ◦ all his fortune, ◦ all his property ◦ all his possessions, ◦ and he was banished from Jerusalem by the Sanhedrin which he had served. ◦ He was reduced, living outside the city, ◦ and his family left inside the city to abject poverty. There’s a wonderful little traditional story that his daughter was so poor that she reached the shame of digging in the dung piles for pieces of grain to eat and survive. And a rabbi came by and saw her and felt compassion for her and said, “Who are you?” And she said, “I’m the daughter of Nicodemus.” And the rabbi said, “Whatever happened to your father?” And she said, “He came to be a follower of Jesus and was banished.” And the rabbi refused to help her. Some centuries later a man named Photius (FOTEOUS) refers to an ancient document that records that Nicodemus was martyred in the first century for his devotion to Christ. How he was beaten to death by a mob. And that’s the rest of Nicodemus’ story. He lost everything in this world, But gained everything in the world to come. 29. San Marcos “Man in White Story” Friday morning July 20th around 4:30am, an apartment fire started by the campus of Texas State University. It started in what has been called building 500 at the Iconic Village apartment complex. It ended up spreading to multiple building, eventually effecting 110 apartment units and impacting over 200 people, mostly students. There were multiple injuries with kids having to jump out 2nd story windows to safety. Our team provided Emotional & Spiritual Care to about 90 students, and we heard their stories. It was tragic… These stories hit close to home, because these kids were around the same age as my son. I had the opportunity to talk with 2 of the families who’s kids were killed by the fire, and the one family whose son is still in critical care with burns over 70 percent of his body. 30. This is what building 500 looked like after they put out the fire. a. Tell the story.. 31. As the band comes up….. I’m here to tell you my friends – the Man in White, our REDEMER, HE LIVES! Everyone has a story, everyone has to a choose of what their story will be: ◦ Believe or Not Believe ◦ Be in the Light or Be in the Darkness You can’t ride the fence. BECAUSE THERE IS NO FENCE. What will your story be? If you believe already – My prayer for you is that you shout from the mountain “I know YOU rescued my soul, YOUR blood coved my sins – I Believe, I Believe! Share your testimony, share the Good news If you don’t believe do you see “That God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that IF I believe in Jesus, I shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Are you saying to God “Thy will be done”? Repent and Believe. The heart of the Gospel story is that YOUR REDEEMER LIVES, you have PURPOSE in Him. You can’t be BORN AGAIN, by yourself - that’s the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Believe! Let us pray: We love you God, and we love You because You first loved and called us to Yourself. We thank for this story of Nicodemus as an example for us to be born again by believing in Your Son. Thank You for sending Your Son to live a perfect life, die as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and be resurrected as our perfect Redeemer and allow us to be made clean through the regeneration of Your Spirit and made righteous through Your Son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My prayer is that if there is one out there today that having not come to You before, will come to You today, that today be the day that they surrender to Your perfect love by believing. Lord, Peter said it best “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” The Man in White Lives – our Redeemer Lives! Amen! As we stand to celebrate the love of our Redeemer in this last song – there are elders in the back that are here to pray with you, if you need help figuring it out, I’d love to talk with you – your story starts today!