Who Does God Say That I Am? Pt. 2
Notes
Transcript
Elections 10/10
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Pray about small groups/discipleship
Pray about where you would like to serve
Recap from last couple of weeks:
A. What does God see when He looks at us?
When He looks at us, He sees the blood of His only son, poured out on the cross, and made whole again through the resurrection and empty tomb!
B. Who does God say that I am?
Chosen
Before you even had the chance to mess anything up, God chose you!
You see, before the world was even created, God put together His dream-team. He knew that He was going to create people with a purpose - and, remember from last week, that His purpose is perfect!
The perfect God of the universe, who spoke the world into existence, and who rose Jesus from the dead...chose you!
2. Loved
Jesus gave up all glory and authority in heaven for you....
God loves you so much, that He came, and died on a cross for you.
The love that is expressed in the relationship with Jesus is unlike the love that we see anywhere else in the world! His love always has been, is now, and will always be, perfect!
Today we will look at three more things that God says that we are...
Forgiven
Redeemed
Holy
3. Forgiven
3. Forgiven
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
By His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus is the one who forgives your sins!
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He took on your sins, don’t take them back from Him!
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
When you confess your sins and repent of them – to turn away from them – they are forgiven!
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
What God has taken and from us, destroyed on the cross, and removed from us as far as the east is to the west is dead. Do not take it back on!
4. Redeemed
4. Redeemed
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Redemption takes on two different meanings:
Redemption definition: The release of people, animals, or property from bondage through the payment of a price.
We because of our sin, have been sold into slavery, or bondage....
Because of that, there must be a price paid....
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus came to pay the price for sin....that we sold out to...
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Through the blood of Christ, the debt has been paid! Jesus paid the price and set us free from the bondage of sin!
Webster online: To offset the bad effect of or to make worthwhile
Jesus’ repayment isn’t just the payment for our sin! It is also His transformational work.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
Reconciliation means to move from one position to another…to make friends again. Because of sin, we became enemies of God, but by the blood of Christ, we can now be friends with Him again!
And when we are friends, we are transformed! - we are a new creation! The old is gone, the new has come!
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
When we believe in Jesus, He doesn’t give up on us! He redeems us, He takes those things that were once hostile towards God and uses them as strengths to do what He has called us to do!
Hear this this morning:
If He can redeem David, the great King, the man who had an affair and then had the husband killed…He can redeem you
If He can redeem Jonah from turning from Him and literally running in the opposite direction to proclaiming His word and creating a revival, He can use you!
If He can redeem His best friend, Peter, from denying Him three times during the time that He needed Him the most to using Peter to boldly proclaiming His word - 3,000 people came to know Jesus through Peter’s first sermon!
and, btw, Peter never denied Jesus again - history tells us that Peter even refused to be crucified like Christ - as he didn’t feel worthy so they crucified him upside down...
So, please, tell me....what can God not redeem in your life?
God wants to take those broken parts of your life and use them for His glory!
That is God, the redeemer!
College:
small group leader’s retreat
Dr. Fine
Problems with the Church
3 greatest fears > 3 greatest strengths
Secure
Competent
Worthy
Man of God
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God wants to continue His work in your life! He wants to continue to redeem you!
5. Holy
5. Holy
Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love...
Holy definition: set apart for the deity
To be set apart from the ways of the world. To be set part from sin.
14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
God has set us apart. We are to be different.
It breaks my heart when I meet Christians who act no different from the rest of the world.
We are called to be different.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
To be holy means to keep our focus on Jesus!
In the words of the Petra song, Why Should the Father Bother?
“Once we were lost out on the ocean with no direction or devotion Tossed about by every wind and wave
Now we are in the world not of it and we can surely rise above it
Because the Lord has risen from the grave”
God’s gift to us is holiness!
So the question is: are you walking in holiness, different from the ways of the world?
You have been:
Chosen
Loved
Forgiven
Redeemed
Holy
So, this is who God says that you are! What other excuses do you have for not doing what He has called you to do?
Worship Team
Are you 100% all in for Jesus?
I want you to think about and pray about that this week...
Responsive song.