Jesus.....What do you think?
Notes
Transcript
Lent is a time of examination and in this time we can take time to look at practices in our lives that are seen as good, but our relationship with them is sinful......How can that be? If it is replacing the righteousness we have in a relationship with Jesus and that is our object of worship and righteousness .......it is sinful.
Explanation-
Explanation-
I want us to start reading our text at the beginning of Chapter 3, but our focus for today will be verses 7-11
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Paul, in this text, is writing again about his conversion experience with Jesus.
What was Paul’s previous life? Drug dealer? Club Owner? Wild life of extravagance?
-PAUL WAS A LEADER IN THE CHURCH!!!!!
The transformation that Paul was talking about here....can we hear it? It was his thought life.....he changed the way he related with those things in his life and his experience with Jesus changed the way he thought and related to Jesus. Listen to the language he uses...... CONSIDER
When we place people or objects at the center of our thought like we consider them to be important. We place them in a valued place in our lives and this is what Paul was saying
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.
Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
and we know that the only way we can do this is if these thoughts of praise are in our hearts and minds already.......
But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean. Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others. These things make people unclean; eating with unwashed hands does not make them unclean.”
So we know that what comes out of our mouth is a product of what is in our minds and heart is what we are focusing on and what gets the worship in our lives.
Philippians 3:
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
Paul was so thankful and grateful for what Jesus had done for him in his life that BECAUSE OF JESUS.....FOR HIS SAKE I got rid of the way I thought and lived in relationship with these other things (EMPTIED MYSELF)......SO I COULD GAIN CHRIST AND BECOME ONE WITH HIM.
Paul committed that if there was anything that he disagreed with Jesus about that it would be thrown away and he would adopt the way Jesus thinks in that area of life.
1. Paul wants to be filled AND lead by the spirit ........
-people who consecrate themselves to God and are willing to empty themselves are people who have the promise of being filled with the Holy Spirit
-Just like the people who were filled with the Spirit on the day of pentecost
-But it is those who know the voice of the Spirit and decide to move forward with what God through the Holy Spirit is telling them to do.
2. So that he can experience the power of the Holy Spirit (Finish fleshing out)
-It wasn’t until the people in on the day of pentecost moved out of the room and Peter started preaching that it was realized that they were speaking and all the people from the various places in the world who were gathered could understand what was being said.
3. And in that there is the promise of the resurrection power in our lives (Finish Fleshing out)
says for the wages of sin is death......has anyone ever known someone who it seemed that there was no life in fact it seemed that death followed them around.
-life events, attitude, outlook
-Results of the decisions that were made....living in darkness
this verse in Romans was not meant only for when you physically die.....you can live in death and the results of death and darkness before you die.....many people do.
When we “discard everything” other than our relationship with Jesus as our point of worship.....even the good things of church life....we can’t worship church cultures or environments.....our worship is only for the one who all those things point us to.....Jesus.
-We can wake up daily and live in Jesus......when Jesus becomes our focal point, or our point of worship, listening for his voice and doing, and saying what he does and says we (Emptying ourselves) We can see the power and life that comes from living a life of worship.
This takes us to live in constant communication with Jesus.....
Application
The way we think about God will affect the way we see him
The way we see him will affect the way we do or do not interact with him
The way we do or do not interact with him will affect our ability to hear him talking to us
Our ability to hear him will affect our potential to be lead by him
If our lives are not lead by him we will miss the opportunities and places to he is working and wanting to work through us......(the power of God working through us)
