With One Purpose

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is a time to remember.

This is a memorial service, it is not a time in which our sins are forgiven and we receive grace.

Taking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper, the eating of the unleavened bread and the drinking the of the fruit of the vine in no way gets you any closer to Heaven nor does anything to help you in your standing with God.

Do not partake of this with the hope that it will help save you from sin, it will not.

This is a time to remember the only One who can save you from sin.

Before I ask the ushers to come forward and help me I want to explain a couple of things.

As we remember the Lord’s broken body and shed blood, according to 1 Corinthians we are to also “examine ourselves”.

We are to examine ourselves to be sure we are in the faith.

That our hope in built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and righteousness.

This is memorial time is for believers. If you are not a baptized believer then I ask you not to partake of this meal.

Not only are we to examine our hearts concerning our personal faith in Jesus but also we should be sure that there is no unconfessed sin in in our lives.

(Would right now take just a moment to get everything right with the Lord.”

Pray thanking God for forgivness.

USHERS WILL YOU COME FORWARD AT THIS TIME?

Will you look at that little wafer you hold in your hand?

And will you remember the body that was broken on your behalf.

And with a deep sense of gratitude will you sincerely thank God for his broken body?

Dear God thank you for the broken body of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Bible says, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

*Sit down and eat.*

Jesus gave his disciples drink from fruit of the vine.

Will you look at that little cup.

And will you remember the blood that was shed for you; and again will you with a great sense of indebtedness thank God for the shed blood of Jesus Christ?

Oh God, thank you for the blood of our Savior that was shed so that we might have our sins washed away and have eternal life. Amen.

(20) Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

*Sit down and drink.*

Pray: Lord thank you for this most important time in our service.

Introduction

Junior Church Dismissed

We had a great response to our group sign ups last week.

There were many of you that signed up that are involved in bible study outside fo Sunday morning and that’s great. What’s even better, there are new people in every group we had a sign up sheet for!

We will be in contact over the next couple weeks with everyone to discuss location and times if you need the address and the cost of materials.

I do not want the cost of materials to hinder anyone from attending however I’d ask that if you are capable of paying, please do so. And if you can give some extra to cover costs for someone else, that’s ok to.

We will continue sign ups for the next few weeks. Remember, even if you regularly attend the Wednesday night service, I’m asking you to sign up for the group. I know…it’s not an old school way of doing things but it’s helpful for us in the office.

Today we are going to continue our series better together and look out how we are better together with one purpose.

It was AW Tozer who said

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

Unity doesn’t come we focus on each other and how we can be more unified as people.

Unity comes when a group of people come together around a single purpose and place that purpose above themselves.

John Maxwell said this in his book 17 irrefutable laws of Teamwork

To win in sports, members of the team must always keep the big picture in front of them. They must remember that the goal is more important than their role—or any individual glory they may desire.

Not only does Unity come from this type of mentality so does success. And the greater the unifying cause or purpose, the greater things can be done.

God has given us an amazing purpose to rally around. He has established a cause that cannot be overlooked. He has desires for His people to do great things and what great looks like may be different in your life than in mine but we are all called to something for the Lord.

It’s this purpose that the Apostle’s and first century church rallied around. It’s the understanding and purpose we will see today that set the Apostle’s out to live a life that was glorifying to God, honoring to Jesus, a blessing to them, and ultimately unified them as a church.

We are first going to Look at and talk about where the Apostle’s are there and then we will look back to Matthew 16 and see the accord, the purpose in which they were of one mind on.

on the screen

Acts 2:1 KJV 1900

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

For those that might not be familiar, the book of Acts records the early church after Christ had returned to Heaven.

It’s here in Acts that we find the Apostle’s gathered in the upper room together of one accord. After this verse the events that follow are miraculous, they are amazing, they are wonderful, they are only possible by God, and you’ll notice that wasn’t just something God did. He used the people who were of one mind and one accord to accomplish his goal.

Ultimately what our lives individually and corporately should be lived for the purpose of accomplishing the goal God has for us.

What if we don’t know that goal? What if we don’t understand the purpose? What if we don’t see the benefit?

Those are great questions that I’m glad you asked. Because I’m going to see to answer them today so that you will see how the Bible teaches that we are Better Together with one Purpose.

Follow along as I read in

Matthew 16:13–28 KJV 1900

13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

PRAY

Let me give you the backdrop to our text today. (Photo)

Jesus and His disciples are in a place known as Ceserea Phillipi. It is a city that is known for it’s worship of false gods. There are Baal temples, greek god temples, and even a temple for Ceaser.

It’s here in this place, a place where people worship all sorts of different things that we hear the Apostle’s Announcement

Notice first here the Apostle’s Announcement

I. The Apostle’s Announcement

Peter is the Apostle we will be focusing on today. He is the one that makes the proclamation we will exam and the one who makes a misguided statement we will look at.

A. A Simple Question

His announcement is in response to the Lord’s Simple Question

A. A Simple Question

Jesus starts by asking them “Who do people say I am?”

He’s essentially asking, what are people saying about me? What do they think about me?

He asks them to set them up for what I believe is the real question he wants to ask.

However this question should not be dismissed. Have you ever asked yourself what others think of Jesus?

We can come up with a variety of answers but let me rephrase the question a bit.

If a person was to base who Jesus was based on how you live out your faith…who would people say that he is?

(REPEAT) If a person was to base who Jesus was based on how you live out your faith…who would people say that he is?

Here are the Apostle’s being asked this question and they say that people believe he is some sort of prophet reincarnated. They believed He was a good person but they didn’t know who he really was.

Now I’m not laying that at the Apostle’s feet and I don’t believe Jesus was either. However, as I read over this text I believe the Lord impressed that question on my heart as a 21st century believer.

If a person were to base who Jesus was on how I’m living out my faith, who would they say He is?

You see a prophet was known to be a messenger of God. He was known to teach good principles. He was known to pronounce the judgement, wrath, grace, and love of God.

A prophet wasn’t a person who could change lives or give his life for others. But, Jesus can.

After their response Jesus’ turns to them again and asks “Who do you say I am?”

Now here is the question we all must answer for ourselves.

Who is Jesus to me?

Is He a prophet? Is He a good teacher? Is He a fictitious character in a book? Who do you believe Jesus is?

Peter knew. Peter announced right then to all who would hear “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”

He accepted Jesus as the Son of God and his savior in that moment.

Jesus is the Son of God. The Savior of the world. The one who loves you enough to lay His life down for you.

He’s also the one that looked to Peter and gave him a sovereign response.

B. A Sovereign Response

Matthew 16:17–18 KJV 1900

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matt 16:

Matthew 16:17–19 KJV 1900

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Jesus said to Peter like He would say to any of us that put our faith in Him. Blessed art thou. You are blessed is what that means.

God revealed it to us not flesh and blood. Just like Peter at this point in time, we have not seen Jesus. We didn’t see Him raised from the dead and we believe.

Then Jesus goes on to lay a foundation for what the church shall be built upon.

Here in this passage He tells Peter and the Apostle’s that are hearing Him and us through the scripture, that He, Jesus, is the rock that the church will be built on.

This can be a little confusing reading it in english but when we go to the Greek, the original language, we will find that Jesus is pretty clear in His statement and it’s not something new. He’s actually just confirming prophecies of the Old Testament.

Look with me on the screen.

Verse 18 He says

“and I say unto thee, that thou art Peter (petros, piece of rock, small rock, stone), and upon this rock (petra, mass of rock, large rock) I will build my church.”

We know that Jesus was speaking of Himself here because of the different greek words being used and the implication of them.

The conversation went like this “Who am I? You are Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Right. You are Peter, little rock, and upon that Big Rock, that truth of who I am, I will build my church.”

It confirms Old Testament passages

Psalm 118:22 KJV 1900

22 The stone which the builders refused Is become the head stone of the corner.

Isaiah 28:16

Isaiah 28:16 KJV 1900

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, A tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: He that believeth shall not make haste.

Jesus’ response to the announcement Peter gave was one that established Him as the Sovereign Son of God that has a desire for His people to be built up and overcome the powers of darkness,

This is the purpose Jesus gave to the Disciples. He said “I am Jesus the Son of God, I will build my church, and your gonna be apart of it”

We continue on and see the Apostle’s Aduacity

II. The Apostle’s Audacity

Jesus goes from this great proclamation to begin telling them what must happen for those things to come to pass.

Peter misunderstood it as an earthly Tragedy

A. An Earthly Tragedy

Matt 16:21-

Matthew 16:21 KJV 1900

21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Imagine the disciples when they first heard that. They must have been devesated. The one they had chosen to follow, the one who is the Son of God, the one who is supposed to usher in His Kingdom and restore the Jews to prominence and take away the roman oppression, would die...

They still lacked the understanding of the resurrection.

They only saw what man was capable of, dieing. They concetrated on the things of earth and not on teh things of God.

If they had understood the things of God Peter woudl not hav reacted like he did.

Matthew 16:22 KJV 1900

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

He just looked at the one He called the son of God, took him aside, and said “Lord that’s not going to happen to you”

What audacity. Then Jesus reveals to Him the Heavenly victory He’s missing.

B. A Heavenly Victory

Matthew 16:23 KJV 1900

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Matt 16:23

Peter your too focused on the things of this world, the things of man, and you are not seeing what God can do. You are not seeing what can be done when God moves.

When God moves, the dead can be raised. When God moves, the lame can walk. When God moves, depression can be lifted. When God moves, relationships can be restored. When God moves, great things can happen. The question is which one are you focused on?

What man can do or what God can do?

I’ve heard a term in ministry called “Pastoral Care messages” Those the messages we preach to remind us all of the grace of God, His love for us, and are basically your feel good messages. I’m not opposed to those. I probably need to preach one soon.

However, something I’ve learned is that as a Christian my situation in life does not improve simply because of my meditation on the love of God and his goodness. I’m able to come out of my saddened state because of my understanding of who God is and then doing something with it. It’s knowing He loves me so I keep going. I keep working. I keep focusing on others.

Sure, it’s great to be reminded about God’s goodness and his love for us but that will only last as long your emotions will allow you to react to it. But when you leave this place and only think on it without doing something with it you’r mind will take you right back to the place you are in.

Have you considered the affects living out the love of God towards others would have on your life?

Have you considered the implications of not thinking about just what can happen when man is involved but focusing on all that God could do and then becoming a part of it?

Having your life changed takes something dramatic happening. It doesn’t have to be an emotional experience, it doesn’t to be a big scene, but something has to change inside of you.

I believe that change, must be a change in purpose. Your purpose in life must change. When your purpose changes, your entire life changes.

So, what’s your purpose right now? What do you live for?

What would happen if you changed your purpose to what Jesus has for you? Notice what he says to His disciples in what I’ve called the Apostle’s Accord

III. The Apostle’s Accord

Matthew 16:24–28 KJV 1900

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Matt 16:

An Accord is something that a group of people are in agreement to.

The disciples were in agreement with what Jesus was saying here.

He tells them of an Atypical Sacrifice

A. An Atypical Sacrifice

Jesus told them, if you want to follow me, if you want to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross, and let’s go.

Jesus calls us to be His disciples. He doesn’t call us to be Christians. That was a name given by the world to those who believe in Christ. He called us to be disciples.

to be a disciple we must deny ourselves, lose our lives for His sake.

He said if you do this you will find it. What’s it? Your real life if I can say it that way.

That can come in many different forms

In America it’s often said to find what makes you happy and do that…the problem is we don’t know what makes us happy from moment to moment.

One minute its coffee, one minute its cnady, the next thing you know we are on a diet and in the gym drinking only water, then we get bored and start sleeping more and watching tv....we like this artist today and that one tomorrow…we are finicky people.

Jesus didn’t say do what you want He said do what I’ve called you to do and there is true joy.

It’s not typical in our day for someone to tell you “give up everything to follow Jesus”

Give up pride, Give up personal desires, Give up this that or the other.

Some say it’s a sacrifice but as a living testimony to the grace of God and the amazing things He can do when you find your purpose in him and pursue it, I stand before you today and say I’ve not sacrificed anything. I’ve only gained.

Talk to me sometime about the transition from military to ministry and about the cross country move. God’s been faithful and blessed through it all.

You see when Jesus’ calls you to give what some might deem an atypical sacrifice you’ll see an atypical result.

B. An Atypical Result

There is a story used in motivational speaking of a young man who finds a guru in southern California and tells him “I want to be succesful”

The guru says meet me at the beach at 5am tomorrow.

The next day the young man puts on his suit and tie, his best shoes, and meets the man at the beach.

The young man shows up ready to be taught the secrets to success. The guru tells him to follow him and they walk towards the water.

They continue walking as the water level is rising…above his feet, above his knee, above his waist, and finally at his neck.

They begin to

The guru turns to the young man and puts his hhead beneath the water and holds it there.

The young man begins fighting and flailing trying to get above the water. Trying to breathe so he won’t die.

After a little bit of that the guru let’s go and the young man comes above the surface gasping for air.

After he collects himself a little bit, he lashes out at the guru “What was that for? I couldn’t breathe!”

The guru said “When you want to be succussful as much as you wanted to breathe, you will be.”

You’ve learned from a young age that success comes as a result of hardowork and dedication...

When you work like no one else you experience success like no one else.

Why don’t we apply that to our Christian lives?

Why do allow our dedication and service to the Lord faulter? Is it becuase we are too focused on the earthly purposes we have for us and forgot about the eternal rewards HE has for us?

When you will make a sacrifice to the Lord with your life like no one else, you will see a result other people don’t.

That only comes from being driven by a purpose greater than yourself and is aided by the people you have around you being of the same accord.

Consider what your life could if you made that sacrifice.

Consider the impact we as a group of people could have we were all willing to make that sacrifice. If we would all spend more time focused on matters of eternity rather than on earthly matters.

Imagine if we all were desiring to be succesful for the Lord like that young man who wanted to breathe…what great things could God do through us if we all desired Him like that young men desired air.

We are better together with one purpose driving us as individuals, as a church, and as a community.

Conclusion

Are you here this morning and you don’t know what it’s like to have your life changed by Christ?

have you heard this message and thought “My life isn’t what I want it to be.”

I know how Jesus has changed my life and I want you to experience the life giving and life changing gospel like have.

That all begins with putting your faith in Christ.

The Bible says in that God loves you so much He sent Jesus to die for your sins. In that same verse Jesus said that whosoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Eternal life in Heaven with Jesus is based upon your belief in Jesus’ death burial and resurrection paying for your sins.

It’s that simple. Believe on Jesus…have a relationship with Him.

Christians, whose purpose are you living for? Does your day to day actions reflect a purpose focused on Christ…or are you struggling in that area?

It’s ok to struggle, we all do. It’s not ok to keep struggling without trying to do something about it.

Take a moment and ask the Lord to reveal how you could better serve Him. Seek His will for your life and don’t say no. Decide to make the sacrifice others won’t make to have the result others won’t have.

Do you believe this morning? If you made the decision to trust in Jesus this morning I want to invite you to confirm that with prayer. The words of the prayer mean nothing if you don’t believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and was raised from the dead.

If you want to make the decision to trust Jesus as your savior this morning please pray after me

“Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner, I believe you came to die on the cross and rose from the dead. I put my faith right now in you and ask you to come into my life and change me from the inside out. Amen.”

PRAY

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