An Extreme Makeover

There are antichrists around, trying to lead us away from God, but we, those who believe in Jesus in a way that leads to action, they have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, who leads us to cry out in worship of our father in heaven

This week, An Extreme Makeover

You have seen the shows -

you get a terrible, run down house, bad foundation ext…

you get a few hundred thousand dollars and a private contractor and they remodel this house for you

knocking out walls, taking the house to the studs, making it look so easy that there are people all over the country that start knocking out walls in their own house

then there is the big reveal where they have this beautiful, perfect house that is all decorated just for them

as these houses that have been rebuilt, we in Christ are also an extreme makeover, some of us more extreme than others

1 John 2:28-3:3 So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

We can be confident in the return of Christ and that we will be be made complete when he gathers us up.

PRAY!

A Confident Outlook

It seems that the only confidence that anyone has right now is that things are crazy

there is not a lot of people that are confident in what the future brings

election coming up...

spoke to somebody that thought if one candidate wins, the country may come to an end

if the other candidate wins, people will burn the country down

these are not positive outlooks

I think that we as believers should be the most excited about the future, the most hopeful above all people

1 John 2:28 So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Remain in Him

this word to remain means to abide, or to live

I am guessing that if I took a pole what this means that we would get a lot of different answers

I am sure that we would get some different rules

reading your Bible, going to church, sharing your faith

we would get ideas about worship

maybe some, after last week would give us some ideas about the fruit of the spirit

the reason for this is because we have made living with Jesus as a set of rules

based on the writings that we have had so far, I would say remaining in him is to be in fellowship with Him

we have defined this word, fellowship, as a one that means to participate

it is an active relational word

active on both parts

that is what your bible reading time is to be like, you read take in what God has for you

how does Jesus describe this

John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

our fellowship with him produces fruit

what is the fruit of a Christian…

Matthew Henry - “we must produce fruit. Christian fruit is more christians that point to Jesus. they produce Godly things.”

there is only one way to produce fruit, and that is remaining in him

“you can do nothing without me”

you cannot produce godly things without God, you cannot simply work harder or be stronger

is your life producing godly things

this does not mean that we are to be all work and no play

but we are to be relational with a purpose of glorifying him

He is Coming

We get excited at this thought, that this chaos is going to end, that He is going to return and we will be with him in the sky

that he will come and defeat evil, that he will take us to the place that he has prepared for us

just thinking of it makes me want to cry out, “COME QUICKLY, Lord Jesus!”

There has been some that I think use the return of Jesus as a way to scare people into behavioral change

you don’t want to be drinking when Jesus comes back and be drunk when he calls us up

I feel like it would be the type of experience that would sober you pretty quickly

if you follow that logic, if that is what you believe, then please make sure that when you go to bed at night, please make sure that you sleep in some PJs

Have Confidence and not be ashamed

John is telling the church of Ephesus that they can be confident when Jesus returns

being ashamed refers to guilt and terror of God’s judgment

I said earlier, “come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

that is only something that you can say when you are confident in him

if there is even a doubt in your mind, you do not want to stand in front of him at the judgment seat

this is so much greater than one activity

I do not want God to see me doing that when he comes back

as if he cannot see you now

that thought simply reveals our hearts, I do not want to be living like that at all, I want to live for him

not for myself except for when he might come back to get us

John’s desire is for those reading to see the return of Jesus and be like a small child running to the father!

excited for his return, not able to wait to see the place he has prepared for us, and just to be in his arms

A Certain Identity

I lost my debit card this week…

no money was stolen, I did even have to cancel it, it was found almost as quick as it was lost

Identity theft is a big deal in our country

people being scammed all the time, money drained from their account

even now, protection companies have sprung up all around so that we can pay people to tell us if there are people out there trying to be us and steal our money

1 John 2:29-3:1 If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.

What we can be confident of is our identity

He is righteous… that word means that he is in right standing with God

Jesus did not need to be saved… Satan had no hold on him

he was tempted in every way that we have been,

lust of the flesh

lust of the eyes

pride of life

yet, he did not fall, he was not a slave to sin and death

yet he died a sinners death anyway

John tells us that anyone who does right can be sure that we have been born of God

John is using the language from John 3, where Jesus told Nicodemus that you must be born again to see the kingdom of God

so what is right mean… if you do the correct deeds? or good works?

no, John is not offering up a works salvation now,

the word right means righteous or just

if you are living a righteous or just life

if you are living in Christ

what he makes clear is that the new birth comes before the righteous living

this is how we can tell that we are born again, living a righteous life

This leads to worship… what great love the father has for us!

we didn’t have to change first

Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

while we were rotten sinners, lost and enslaved to sin, bound for Hell, Jesus died for us

God allowed us to be called his children

we were able to take his name

we should never be ashamed of that name… Christian

our father allows me that name, I dare not take it for granted, but humbly wear the name

we are not just called his children, we are his children

but the world calls us hypocrites… it is because they do not recognize us, just as they did not recognize the messiah when he was with them

but the world recognizing us or not does not change who we are

A Conformed Life

Some people do not like change

it doesn’t matter what changes it is

some cannot handle even the smallest change, or they think that they cannot

the truth is, as we live and grow with Christ we grow and change more and more to be like him

the technical name for this is sanctification

the process of God molding and shaping us into the image of his son

as much as we may want to be like Jesus

and as much as we can see God changing us over the years,

we will never be completely like him until we are with him

1 John 3:2-3 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

God is not making you into his child, you are his right now, and nothing can remove you from his hand

you have all rights as a child

you get the name

you also get the discipline

You will be so much more

I remember watching baseball on TV as a kid

we didn’t always have color TV, it was before cable, satellite or internet TV was in every house

this was stand just right with the rabbit ears and get the signal just right

kids were the remote control when it was time to change the channel

as much as I loved watching baseball on TV, I will never forget the feeling of walking into Royals stadium and seeing it with my own eyes

the perfect field with the perfect lines…

the colors were bright and the were no wiggly lines all over

I always thought the return of Christ would be similar but on a much gander scale

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

when we are called up with Jesus we will see him as he truly is

know him as he is

not limited by our ideas, agendas or misinterpretations

we will see him in all his glory

we will be conformed to him

our sanctification will be complete and we will be like him

we will be pure as he is pure

There is no sin to great, no person to far gone for God not to change them, conform them to the image of his son