World Missions a foretaste for this Sunday,

What is the Purpose, the Promise, and the Price of World Missions. The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about "disciples" and something about "nations." These terms are used in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations."  My assumption about "disciples" is that they are people who have seen "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish "God in Christ" as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about "nations" is that they are not geographic, political countries but "tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups" (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church.

   According to one research group are still over 500 peoples in the world with populations over 10,000 which did not have any church planting missionary effort in them. All but less than 200 of these peoples are targeted by mission agencies. This is remarkable progress toward finishing the real missionary task of the church.

   But the real source of hope in world missions is not the statistics of man; it's the promise of God. Namely, Matthew 24:14 - "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations." The "shalls" of God are backed by omnipotence. This great work of spreading a passion for God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church cannot fail. This is the great hope of the missions enterprise. The word of God will not fail.

    But the price will be very high. Not so high that it is not worth it. But very high. Jesus expresses it in Matthew 24:9: "You will be hated by all the nations because of My name." The purpose and the promise will not happen without the price of opposition and suffering. In fact, the price is not just the result but the strategy of the purpose. God has a certain number of martyrs appointed (Revelation 6:11). Jesus said that when you are arrested and taken before governors, "this will be a time for you to bear testimony" (Luke 21:13). The purpose, the promise and the price are all bound together.

    Notice the phrase, Matthew 24:14 "all the nations,"…. in the purpose, the promise and the price? "Make disciples of all the nations." The Purpose

"This gospel . . . shall be preached . . . to all the nations." The Promise. "You will be hated by all the nations." The Price. I call all of you with the writer of Hebrews 13:13 (again!) to "go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach."….. What will this mean for you?

   I do not know, but it will have to do with "all the nations."

Pastor Greg

Loving God and Loving People; The Depth of Christ's Love: Its Freedom John 10:14-18

Some further thoughts from Sunday"s Message

     Since Jesus cared so much that we know how freely and willingly he suffered for us, let's look at just a few other illustrations of this truth. Let the truth sink in…. No one took his life. He chose to give it for us. He embraces the suffering. He was eager and willing. It was—and I risk the statement— It was his joy to live and die for us.

    Do you remember the story in Luke 4 where he comes to the synagogue in Nazareth where he had grown up? He read the Scripture reading that day. Then he said that the Scriptures were fulfilled in their hearing that very moment. But when he pointed out that the blessings of the Messiah were going to include the gentiles and not just the Jews it says in verses 29-30, They rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.

    Now what's going on here? A mob of people, enraged over the local teacher's teaching, carry him to the edge of a cliff to throw him down. And the next thing you see is Jesus walking through their midst—like the children of Israel through the Red Sea—and going his way. Why? The reason is this: his hour was not yet come. No one take's my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. And I lay it down at the appointed time. Not one second before and not one after.

    Later on in his ministry he was on his way to Jerusalem and some Pharisees came up to him (Luke 13:31-32) and said, "Go away and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." But Jesus said, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.'" What does this mean?.... Don't go up there, the king wants to kill you. The king! He has all the authority. He can do anything he wants with people like you. You don't stand a chance.

     How does Jesus respond?.... There was a saying among the rabbis in Jesus day that went something like this, "Better to be a lion's tail than a fox's head" (I. H. Marshall, Luke, p. 571). Here was the lion of Judah being warned that a fox was out to get him. So he says, "Tell that fox that I have ministry to do and I have a plan. I cast out demons, I perform cures, and on the appointed day—not before and not after I reach my goal." In other words, "Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own initiative."

Pastor's Pen 7/24/2013

Pastors Pen,

    Pray everyone is having a blessed week. We remain busy here at the church with many items coming to completion. We will move into the remodeled sanctuary next week and the Children’s wing and young adult rooms will also be complete.

    But just around the corner is a huge event and opportunity for our church. Vacation Bible School is coming and  I’m asking for everyone in any way that they can to help us reach out to the children of our community. We have many volunteer positions still available and would love to have your help.

    Many say VBS is a dinosaur of the past and that the money and effort outweigh the results. I say that is a lie of the evil one. I have never had a year pass where at least one child did not receive Jesus and one family not hear about our church and join. As far as I’m concerned that would be well worth our efforts.

    So plan to join us August 12^th -16^th for VBS. There are several meetings planed for training and information.

LATl,

Pastor Greg

From The Pastor Pen

Our only hope of comprehending the incomprehensible love of Christ for us: His Holy Spirit

   Jesus has loved us in ways to a degree that is said to be beyond human comprehension. So let's start there. If that's true then what hope is there that I might help you comprehend the love of God and the love of Christ for you?   

      What is the basis of my hope that through my preaching you might actually experience the incomprehensible depth of Christ's love? The answer is given in Romans 5:3 Paul calls us to exult in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, [brings about] proven character; and proven character, [brings about] hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God [that is, God's love for us, not ours for him, as the next verses will show] has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

     So the hope of comprehending the incomprehensible love of Christ: Is The Holy Spirit and here is the basis of my hope that in my preaching about the love of God and Christ for you, will be that you will actually experience that love, and comprehend in some significant, life-changing measure the incomprehensible love of Christ. The basis of my hope is that God has given you—who are believers in Christ—the Holy Spirit.   

    You can see that at the end of verse 5: " . . . the Holy Spirit, who was given to us." See the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you. He is in you. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." (1 Cor. 6:19)

     If this were not so my aims in preaching about love to this church would be futile. I am preaching to people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the living God. And to some who yet still can be indwelt by this Spirit of God. How? Acts 2:38 says, Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    Now how does the presence of the Holy Spirit give me confidence that my preaching on the love of God for you will result in a real experience of that love? My answer: because verse 5 says that the work of the Holy Spirit is to be the Agent of God in pouring his love out into your heart. Verse 5: Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. One of the main reasons God has given the Holy Spirit to you, is so that HE might pour out God's love into your heart.

    Do you see what this means? It means that without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot experience and comprehend the love of God in Christ. The love of God is a divine and supernatural reality. But you and I, apart from the Holy Spirit, are merely natural and we are unspiritual, and we do not recognize or value the love of God in Christ. But when God opens our eyes to his truth, and the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts by faith, he awakens us to the reality of God's love and begins to pour it out into our hearts.

    This should greatly encourage some of you who feel that your past behavior makes it difficult, if not impossible, for you to feel loved. The fact is, it is not only difficult, it is impossible—and not just for you, but for all of us…. Hear me because this is so important to grasp.    

     Apprehending the love of God for you—experiencing it, being gripped by it, tasting it—is not the product of good preaching plus good behavior. It is not the product of merely natural forces—good or bad. It is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Without that you can have the best behavior, and you will never truly know the love of God. And with that, you can also have the worst behavior, and the Holy Spirit will still pour the love of God into your heart.

    But someone may ask where preaching fit into this does? What does what I am doing, as your pastor have to do with the work of the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God into our hearts? The answer is given in verses 6-8 and the connection that they have with verse 5. Verse 6 begins: For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Notice the connection. In verse 6 what we have is the recounting of a historical fact. "Christ died." And we have the meaning of that fact, which is, God's purpose in it: "Christ died, for the ungodly"—to take the place of the ungodly, to save the ungodly.   

   Now this is different from verse 5. In verse 5 we have Christian experience—the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God in our hearts. In verse 6 we have history ("Christ died"), and we have theology (Christ died to save the ungodly).

    And the connection between the history and the theology on the one hand (v. 6), and the experience on the other hand (v. 5), is that the history and theology are the foundation and context of the experience. What's happening is this. Paul has said that the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts. But then he shows us what that love is. And he bases it on history. This means that the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart is not to describe the love of God to you. It is not the job of the Holy Spirit to describe the love of God to you. That is the job God has assigned to history and to the Word of Scripture that interprets that history, and to preaching which brings them both to bear upon your mind.

    You learn the nature and content of the love of God from the way that love acted in history in Jesus Christ, and you experience that love as a present life-changing reality as the Holy Spirit pours it out into your heart. Both of these are crucial. If we make claims to have experiences of the love of God without solid foundations in history and its God-given meaning, we become cultic, emotionalistic, fanatical; and if we claim to understand the history and the meaning of history but we don't experience the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we become barren and impotent and intellectual.

   The point is this; my message, from God’s Word, cannot take the place of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the Holy Spirit will not do the work assigned to the Word of God.

My calling is to describe the love of God to you. His calling is to pour it out in your hearts. …

My calling is to point you to what Christ did; His calling is to open your eyes to see it as glorious and personal. …

My calling is to make it plain; His is to make it precious.

Mine is to make it clear; His is to make it dear.

Mine is to take you on a tour around the deep and scenic lake of the love of God; His is to plunge you in and saturate your life with the love of God—to baptize you in it.

LATL

Pastor Greg

Pastors Pen July 10, 2013

     The key to believing the love that God has for us is seeing it revealed in the word of Scripture. A few people were allowed to see Jesus in the flesh and touch him and watch him teach and heal and suffer and die and rise. We might feel jealous that our faith in the love of Christ can't be based on that kind of first hand sight and touch.   But that was not God's plan. When Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17:20, he said, "[Father], I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word." It was the plan of God that we come to faith, not by seeing the love of Christ in the flesh, but by seeing the love of Christ in the word of those who knew him.

    The focus of the next four weeks sermons will be the depth of Christ's love for us. I hope this will help you prepare yourself in prayer and meditation for what's coming. And I hope it will help you know when God is moving you to invite others to attend church with you. My aim in this series is that our love for one another and for those outside would grow and deepen. But this will happen only as we are rooted that is, as we believe—more and more deeply in the love of Christ for us. And that belief comes by seeing the depth of Christ's love for us revealed in his Word. So for four weeks I want to direct our attention to the depth of Christ's love for us.

    As I have pondered the love of Christ for us, and the different ways that the Bible presents it to us, I have seen four ways that the depth of Christ's love is revealed. We will spend a week on each of these.

Small Group

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

 

Living Above The Line- Introduction

 

1.  What would you say is the Pastors main purpose in leading this emphasis and preaching these sermons?

 

2.  Why do most Christian emphases run the risk of being man-centered?  How is that problem avoided?

 

3.  What is the Father’s overarching plan throughout the ages?

 

4.  What does “Christ in you” have to do with this plan?

 

5.  What effect does it have on our lives to know that we exist for God’s glory?  This being the case, how might God want your life to change?

 

6.  In what sense was the cross God’s work on His own behalf?  What is the result of Christ’s work on the cross?

 

7.  How does God want us to cooperate with Him in that result?

Christ in you, the hope of Glory.

In fact Christ in us is our only hope of eternal Glory!

    Galatians 2:20 says It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  No other verse captures the truth of the indwelling Christ, living in us, through us, as us, so well.

   Now Let me just also disclaim any originality for what I plan to share with you. It all comes from the Word of God. It is my deepest prayer that trough my teaching on the union of the believer with Jesus Christ that it be for the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. And I pray that you drink deeply of the water of life who is Christ, knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all fullness of God.

   Jesus Christ living in us and through us, as us, is the only hope we have of experiencing the Glory God intends for our lives. I want everyone; I want to help everyone, to enter into Christ’s fullness in their life. So that is our goal…. Christ’s fullness in your life

   Now there is a flip side to “the hope of Glory,” Yes, Christ in us is our only hope of experiencing God’s glory ourselves. But we must understand that it is also the way that God has chosen to eternally manifest His glory by living His life in and through a host of sons and daughters. I want to begin this emphasis, the emphasis that I pray this series of sermons explains, with a discussion of not the Glory we receive from God, but the glory He receives through us.

   If we do not begin from God’s point of view, we end up with man at the center. That is true even in the way we approach the Word of God. For instance we often begin our study of the Bible with the fall of man into sin. We then perceive that after mans fall the entire Bible is a chronicle of God’s redemption of man. That is true, it is. It can appear however and is often preached, that God’s ultimate purpose is the rescue of man. So the whole matter focuses on us.

   But if we just back up, and begin as the Bible does with before the foundation of the world, before Gen. 1:1, we start from another point of view. We start with the question: what is God’s intent? Galileo and Copernicus discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe, or at lest our little solar system. The Sun is. My dear friends IM here to remind you today we are not the center of the universe. The Bible says the Son is. The SON

     It is very easy to live as if we are the center of the universe. We would not ever say it, or even think it consciously, but it is easy to live as if God is here for us. That sort of teaching has in fact become very popular the past few years. That God is here to bless you that we ought to be wealthy, prosperous. We are due it, we are owed success, owed getting ahead. That God must respond to our faith. God has obligated Himself to bless us if we just do the right things. All of which means we are the center of the universe.

   But if we start before the foundation of the world, we discover that God has a plan, a plan conceived before time began. Paul revealed God’s plan I think most clearly in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.

 

 

Ephes. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, …  Is it God’s intent to bless us. Yes, that is an absolute fact. In fact,

He has already blesses us with every possible blessing

in the heavenly realm. V.4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world  God had a purpose for us before the foundation of the world. He chose us for that purpose. that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love V. 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, Gods plan involved having many sons and daughters who would be holy and blameless in His sight. Through the subjection of the Son to the cross, God intended to bring many children into glory. Why? Paul continued, … according to the purpose of his will, V. 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 

And just to make sure we do not miss the point, he repeated it six verses later: V. 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  And again two verses later V. 14 the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

See here, We exist for the praise of His glory. God works all things according to the council of His will, v.11, to accomplish that purpose. And what exactly is it that glorifies God? What has He set out to accomplish from before the foundation of the world? V. 8-10 he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which

he set forth in Christ  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 

 

 

 God’s plan was to bring into being many sons and daughter whom He would indwell; through whom He would live and manifest Himself; and in and through whom Christ would reign supreme. We Christians, are the beneficiaries of that plan. God, in His love and grace, has made us a part of His plan. But…we are not the center of it; Jesus is. We are participants in the plan, participants whom God loves and cherishes, and nourishes, as a husband does his bride. (Eph 5:25-32)
   We are God’s inheritance. We tend to focus on what we inherit in Christ. We are God’s inheritance: V.18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 
   His inheritance is His body—the Body of Christ—accomplishing His purpose. And though the Bible records mans fall, that calamity has not done one thing to delay or change God’s purpose. His intention was always to have a vast family of sons and daughters. The fall did not deter that plan. God incorporates our redemption into that plan, but the plans goal is still the same. We are here for the praise of His glory. Romans 11:36 says this so well, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

 

From-Everything comes from God.

Through – By means of God.

To—The ultimate end is unto God. Not Him unto us, but us unto Him.

 

   Everything we need to know for experiencing God’s abundant life is found in the cross of Christ. We look at the cross and see what God did for us there. I praise God for this truth. That was Christ’s work on our behalf.

   Even more than that though, the cross was Gods work on His own behalf. Through the cross God accomplished what He needed to fulfill His own eternal purposes,  that all things might be summed up in Christ.
    Christ in you, the Hope of Glory is primarily His glory. Christ lives in us to manifest His life through us, but His plan encompasses more than just that. He is working toward His own ends, and we are the vessels through which He works. We are the visible manifestation of what God is doing, with Himself as the ultimate goal, what is it, that God may be all in all. (1 cor. 15:28)
  That is why the Father wants us to be filled up to the fullness of God. And that is what this emphasis, Living Above The Line is all about; our being filled to all the fullness of God, to the praise of His Glory

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New Blogs from Pastor Greg Byrd, Pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church Dallas Texas