In our text, we are called to remember. Of course, this means that we are to remember what Christ did when He was on earth. I want to share some things with you that we can remember as we partake of the Lord's Supper.
I. Remember what He did for us at Calvary. The crucifixion and resurrection should always we on our minds and hearts. II. Remember what He has done in our lives. All who are genuinely saved can remember the things that Jesus has done in their lives as answers to prayers, etc. III. Remember what life would be without Him. Think of not having Him to go to in times of trouble, etc. IV, Remember what the world would be without Him. Our unbelieving world forgets what has been done in the name of Jesus for the last two thousand years: schools, hospitals, benevolent ministries, etc. Remember all of this and more as you take of the Lord's Supper.
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Psalm 92 begins with "It is good to give thanks to the Lord." We need to look at some of the reasons why this is true from within the text and outside of the text.
I. Two commonsense reasons to give thanks to the Lord. A. It is the right thing to do. We have been taught from an early age to say "thank you." .B. It is good for us to give thanks to the Lord. II Suggestions from the text. A. Vs. 2a - His lovingkindness B. Vs. 2b - His faithfulness (The verse tells us to "show forth" these two things for which we should be thankful. We need to give the Lord's lovingkindness and faithfulness a shout out by how we live and verbally....) C. Vs. 5 - His works Where do we start and where do we stop thanking the Lord for His / wonderful works in our lives? (Preacher, I imagine you have a lot of stories to tell here.) III. Other areas thanksgiving outside of the text. A. Thankful for His presence. B. Thankful for His power. C. Thankful for His peace. D. Thankful for His provision All of what we shown in the text and outside of the text illustrates for us that it is, indeed, "good to give thanks to the Lord." Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians to have the qualities that we will look at today. As we look at them, you will see the importance of these qualities.
I. Vs. 9 - Be "filled with the knowledge of (God's) will." We must be careful daily to seek to know and do God's will.V II. Vs. 10a - Walk worthy of the Lord. It matters how we live, and we need to live worthy lives, being careful to serve as "lights of the world." III. Vs. 10b - Being fruitful in every good work. We certainly want to bear fruit for Him. We can't if we do not seek His will, or live worthy lives. IV. Vs. 11 - "Be strengthened with all might, according to His gracious power." We cannot be fruitful for Christ in our own strength. We don't have that kind of strength, we always depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. He was given to us for the purpose of strengthened and empowering us to do His work and will. V. Vs. 12 - Giving thanks. In all things we are to be thankful for the fact that He will use us to do His will. Of course it means to be generally thankful.... These the Christian qualities that Paul prayed for the Colossians to have and that we should pray that we will have. .When I read this text, the thought began to form that verse 31 gives us some things that we do not need in our lives, while verse 32 gives us some things that we need in our lives. What a difference it would make in our lives, in our churches, and in our community if we who claim the name of Chris would take these don'ts and dos seriously.
I. Vs. 31 - Donts A. Don't be bitter. This is long standing resentment that refuses to be reconciled. Hebrews 12:15 speaks to this. B. Don't let wrath and anger take over you mind, heart and actions. I call wrath anger on steroids. Another word for it is rage. C. Don't speak evil of other people. William Barclay referred to this as "insulting language." To illustrate how bad this is, the Greek word translated "evil speaking" is "blasphemia." That is blaspheme. It takes the form gossip, and speaking rudely to people - and much more.. D. Don't be malicious. Malice is anger, wrath, bitterness and evil speaking all put together and means to do harm to other people. It can be physical harm, but more often, it is verbal harm. II. Dos A. Do be kind to people. This is the opposite of malice. It means to be concerned about people. It means to treat people as Jesus would. Etc. B. Do be tenderhearted. This means to be compassionate and actually feel for other people. It means to have empathy for other people and care about them. C. Do forgive others. It tells us to forgive others because Christ has forgiven us. Christ gave us forgiveness and grace and we are to do the same with people. I know that I need to work on these don'ts and dos, and I'm confident that you do too. Think of the revival that we would have if we really took these don'ts and dos seriously. I want to share with you an idea that came to me as I read this passage in 2 Kings this morning. I'm giving you a sparse outline. I think that it can be developed into a sermon, or possibly a series since the text is so long. At any rate, here it is:
A great soldier, Naaman, had everything going for him, but he became a leper. I think God was in it so that he could go to the man of God, be healed, and be given a greater understanding of Yahweh. I. Vss. 1-9 - Naaman's need II. Vss. 10-14 - Naaman's reluctance III. Vs. 15 - Naaman's enlightenment (Instead of enlightenment you might want to put Naaman's conversion.) Naaman had no idea that his need was going to lead to an encounter not just with Elisha, but ewith the real God - Jehovah, Yahweh. He had no idea what God was doing in his life. That is like most everyone else in this world. This is skimpy, but, man, there is a lot of material in this text to preach. Have fun with it. Bro. Joe People saw in Jesus a source of hope and help. They always came to Him. Today we look at rich young man who came to Jesus for help, and Jesus gave him a difficult challenge.
I. The kind of man that he was: A. Vs. 17 - He was serious. "He came running...." B. Vs. 17 - He was sincere. He "kneeled to Him...." C. Vss. 19-20 - He had a moral conscience. He could be called a "good man," and a good prospect for our church. D. Vs. 22b - He was rich....Here is where the catch is and where the challenge comes from. II. Vs. 21 - The difficult challenge (Notice that Jesus didn't brag on his legalism, and made an appeal to him to act on faith.) A. "Sell all you have." What he had was his problem. B. "Give to the poor." Jesus went to where his real need was - he was selfish. C. "Take up your cross and follow me." A step of faith from worldliness, selfishness and greed. III. Vs. 23- What he did. A. He was sad. B. He went away grieving. C. He was unwilling to take the challenge. Did he come back. We don't know what he did afterward, but we know what we can do after hearing his story. We need to rid ourselves of the things that are keeping us from entering the kingdom, or being better witnesses of the kingdom. I just jotted down these quick notes and thought maybe you could make something out of them for your congregation.
In the text, Jesus is referred to a "Alpha and Omega." In our vernacular this would be A to Z. We might say that Jesus has it covered, that He is the answer - period. This is something we want the rest of the world to know. A to Z in what way? I. Jesus is the A to Z in victorious living. Look at His experience on the Mt. of temptation Matthew 4. II. Jesus is the A to Z in truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." He is the truth about God. Refer to Hebrews 1:1-3 III. Jesus is the A to Z in faith. Jesus teaches us to live by unseen realities: Hebrews 11:1 The most important things in life are spiritual -- unseen.... IV. Jesus is the A to Z in love. "No one ever cared for me like Jesus...." Think of what He did in love for us. V. Jesus is the A to Z in power. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. VI. Jesus is the A to Z in peace. John 16:33 Question: Is Jesus the A to Z in your life? Today will begin at the bottom. Verse 7 mentions a "sound mind." The Greek word means a "right mind" or a "sane mind." If you want to be in your right mind, you will need deal with fear, power and love. I'm not suggesting that you are crazy, but that if you want to have a sound mind as far as the Bible is concerned, you need to deal with these three things.
I. Fear: Do not be afraid. A. The word carries the idea of being cowardly. B. ....of being timid. C. Of being controlled by fear. 1. Fear is not always bad. There are things that should make us afraid, the problem with many people is that they are controlled by their fears. 2. Two illustrations: (1) An acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real (2) Charlie Brown: "I've developed a new philosophy, I will only dread one day at a time.....Terrible way to live! II. Power: Use the power that God has made available to you. A. It is the power of the Holy Spirit. 1. If you are saved, you have Holy Spirit power in you to help you live unafraid and in your right mind. 2. Think of it: It is the power of God in your heart - your inner sefl. B. It is the power of the faith in Christ, who saved you. Jesus said that if you have faith the size of the tiny mustard seed, you can move mountains. C. You are in your right mind if you are living with the realization of the power that God has given you to live. III. Love: Practice God's love. A. The Greek word is Agape (ahgahpay) which is the word used in John 3:16, 1Corinthians 13, etc. B. It is God's kind of love as shown in the life of Jesus Christ: 1. Sincere 2. Sacrificial 3. Selfless C. We need to practice this love even in a hostile environment...... Based on these three points, are you in your right mind? In the Bible, light is good and darkness is bad. We live in a dark world that desperately needs light. Our two texts point us to the light, and what it has to do with us.
I. John 8:12 - Jesus is the light of the world. A. We see the challenge of walking in the light: "He that follows me....." If we plan to be the light, we will have to follow Jesus. B. We see the fact of the light: If we follow Jesus, we will not walk in darkness.... C. We see the promise of the light: "but shall have the light of life.... If we follow Jesus in faith, we will have Jesus, the light of the world, in our lives. II. Matthew 5:14-16 - We are the light of the world. A. First, it is not our light, but the light of Jesus shining on, in and out of us. The source of moonlight is the sun...The source of our light is "Son" light. B. Second, if we have His light we reflect it by sharing it and by living the light before the world. 1. We can reflect Christ's light by our attitudes... Sour attitudes do little to make us shine. 2, We can reflect Christ's light by our actions. Example: How we treat those who serve us, etc. 3. We can reflect it by what we say to people. Dr. R.G. Lee saw this epitaph in a cemetery in England: "Here in silent clay, Lies Miss Arabelle Young, Who on the 21st of May, Began to hold her tongue." C. Third, when we reflect Christ's light, we bring glory to God: "glorify our Father which art in heaven. Jesus is the light of the world, and He enables us to be His lights in our dark world. Based on how you live your life, are you one of Jesus' lights? Our text is what I call some of Paul's last minute advice. He closes out his letters with some wise advice for the church or person to whom he is writing. In this text I saw the advice as Paul telling the people that this is what they should do.
I. Verse 13a - Watch - Be alert A. Be alert about the devil... 1 Peter 5:8-9 B. Be alert about people who can lead us astray. C. Be alert about the world system that always works against us. II. Verse 13b - Act Wisely A. Stand - Take a stand on the gospel, and the biblical message. B. Stand fast - Stand firm..."I shall not be moved." C. Stand fast in the faith... III. Verse 13c - Stand on the courage of your convictions. "Quit you like men..." A. I see this as act like a mature man instead of a youth - be mature. B. Derive your mature faith from the leadership of the Holy Spirit, not on your own opinions, etc. C. "Quit" here does not mean give up, it means to act in courage. IV. Verse 13d - Be strong in faith in Jesus Christ. A. Today's world does not call for "weak kneed" Christian faith. B. Paul always stands an example of this. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 C. Again, derive strength from the Holy Spirit. V. Verse 14 - Love like Jesus A. The word translated "charity" is also translated love. B. It is the Greek word agape (ahgahpay) which is the word used in John 3:16, 1n Corinthians 13, and other places as in 1 John. C. "All things" means to always love and always react in love. All means all. I think you will agree that this is good advice, and it is advice sorely needed today. |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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