The Book That Inspires Us To Reach Out

Who do you know who isn't in the book?

• Who you know who isn't yet a Christian or on the journey towards making a commitment?
• God is going to judge the earth through the - scrolls, trumpets and bowls judgments. But he will finally come to judge each person individually and the main question is - Is your name in the Book of Life?
• Revelation 20 11-15
• God will judge us all fairly. 
• But we all know some people who aren't in the book of life.
• Matthew 28 v 16-20 - "¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”"
• Jesus calls us to make disciples, discipleship is a process. So I am encouraged when I know I am on a journey with someone rather than just an event where I never see them again.
• Be encouraged if you are on a journey with someone. 
• It's not just about how many hands get raised in a meeting to make a commitment it is about find people who can help you continue to build the Kingdom of God.
• I not going to get depressed or feel like a failure just because there are still so many non-Christians around me who need saving I am just going to keep relationship with them and model something of who God is.
• God loves His creation and wants to be in relationship with everyone but not everyone wants to be in relationship with Him.
• God has given us power to do His work and proclaim His word.
• Mark 16 v 15-18 - "¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”"
• Jesus promises the power of the Holy Spirit to help us with the commission he has given us.
• The Holy Spirit isn't just an empty promise; He is at work in the world today just as much as he was in Acts.
• I think we need two key things to be able to reach more people...

1. A love for what God Loves - if we love God we love what He loves.
2. The power of the Holy Spirit - not just for an event but to do the process/journey.

• Who are you reaching?

The Battle That Never Happens

I think change is great, but why in society and the church do some people like to keep jumping from camp to camp or group to group? How dangerous can this be?

• The devil (Satan) is pretty doomed from starts out doing evil. But he wants to fight until the bitter end.
• Revelation 20 v 7-10
• He has been in captivity for 1,000 years and yet he still wants to fight one last battle, to try and destroy God and His people.
• Yet the battle never happens. God puts a stop to it.
• Satan is very good at recruiting people to something they don't fully understand.
• It says is army was as in number like the sand on the seashore. 
• I don't think this is just a coincidence this terminology is used. 
• Hebrews 11 v 8-12 - "⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore."
• The father of faith was promised by God and God followed through, that he would have children as numerous as the sand on the seashore (v12). 
• Abraham fathered a great nation; he was instrumental in the whole story of the bible and the salvation of the world.
• Yet some of his children eventually become a part of Satan's army.
• John writes Satan's army was as many as sand on the seashore; some of Abraham's promise has been corrupted by us and Satan. The promise is still at work as more descendants are born but how they choose to live is a different matter.
• How we choose to live is our choice. Who we choose to live for is our choice. I know I have made an informed decision to follow God with all I am. 
• People like choice and change, change is great because we constantly need to adapt and grow but never compromise which is what some choices can bring.
• If people jump from camp to camp and reject God they will end up on the losing side.
• We need to pray and be proactive in showing people God and allowing them to make a decision for Him.
• Satan and his army were defeated.
• We have victory in God.
• Help to save people from the dangers of not committing or focusing on God by modelling something real - a relationship with God that is well connected and a life worth living.

Locking Up The Sinful Nature

How can we lock away our sinful nature?

• We regular fight off the sinful nature and yet we always fail at some point, are we focusing too much on stopping the sin rather than focusing on the living in the nature of Christ.
• How can we defeat the dragon?
• Revelation 20 v 1-6
• There are three different views on the 1,000 years that the dragon was bound for...

1. Postmillennialism - There will be 1,000 years of peace which is brought in by the Church. At the end of the time Satan (the Dragon) will be released but Jesus will come and defeat him, this will be the second coming.
2. Premillennialism - There will be 1,000 literal years, but Christ comes at the start to begin His reign. His reign occurs before the final defeat of Satan.
3. Amillennialism - The reign is a millennium between the ascension of Christ to His return and it is the reign of Christ in our hearts. This period will end with the second coming of Christ.

• These are 3 different views may happen during the 1,000 years. But how can fight off the Dragon now and lock up the sinful nature.
• Romans 7 v 14-20 - "¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
• Paul was struggling with his sinful nature; he wanted to do good yet kept slipping up on sin.
• The key to fighting the sinful nature and the dragon isn't just not thinking and storing up evil we have to work on the good.
• Matthew 12 v 35 - "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."
• Here are some thinks which stop us from fighting properly and effectively::

1. We try and do it in our own strength.
2. We have the wrong standard of holiness.
3. We have the wrong motive for fighting the sinful nature.
4. We focus too much on not sinning instead of focusing on God.
5. We compare ourselves to others and try to do things there way.

• The way in which we can best fight the sinful nature is understand that God doesn't want us to sin at all but we are imperfect humans who slip up time to time. But if we are focused on God and not stopping sinning then it is easier to continue on the journey with Him.
• Paul knew he would end up sinning but he says he continues to strive to do what is right.
• What will you focus on?

The White Knight

How do you imagine the white rider?

• The white horse in this passage probably depicts Christ as the returning warrior Messiah King.
• Do we sometimes just imagine Jesus coming back being all nice on a white horse and taking us back to heaven?
• Revelation 19 v 11-21
• When Jesus comes riding on His horse His name won't even be visible but we will still know it is Him.
• As we know God works in much different ways to us. He doesn't use the Superman model to save the world by swooping and saving us all.
• God makes a sacrifice, which we can choose to accept the forgiveness that comes from Jesus' death on the cross or others choose to ignore this. Then God sends tonnes of warning signs in the way of many years of missionaries and then end times warnings. Then we arrive at this point where Jesus is back and he is taking His followers but no prisoners.
• It is much more like a white knight who is willing to sacrifice anything for the people and His King (Father).
• The picture we see of the rider (Jesus) has many different features.

1. Blazing Eyes of Fire - eyes which can penetrate anything which means He can see us right into our very core and soul. This is so He can judge us fairly.
2. The Name - this name is secret which only He knows, this adds to the power and authority of God.
3. White Robe Dipped in Blood - this is either blood from the battle or the blood of His sacrifice and cantonment for our sin.

• Jesus brings salvation and judgment. 
• By this point the world has already chosen which side they want to be on. God's or the world.
• 2 Timothy 4 v 7 - "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
• God wants us to stand our ground until Jesus returns, to fight the good fight and not to be corrupted by the devil and his army.
• Do we just focus on the superhero moment when Jesus and forget to fight the good fight now?

The Faith Of A Father

 Do you want faith like a father?

• John 4 v 46-54
• But what is faith – Dictionary Definition - Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
• In this case and in the bible it is complete trust and confidence in God.
• Love is a father’s natural reaction towards his children.
• The noble man in the story loves his child so much he is compelled by love to act in faith.
• The man walked over 20 miles to meet Jesus; this is over 6 hour walk. He was willing to done anything to save his sons life. In those days walking was regular but 20 miles was still a fare way.
• This man is willing to do anything to save his son – lose respect, lose dignity and lose his job all by going to Jesus.
• He was a noble man; he had legal authority over Jesus as he was part of Herod’s serving officers. Even so he begged Jesus and called Him Lord. This guy could have just made Jesus heal his son because he had authority over Jesus but because saw who Jesus was – LORD. He gave Jesus respect and reverence.
• The man was desperate and begging because he loved his son. All of what he did that day was out of the ordinary. He did it all because of love.
• Do we give Jesus the respect and reverence he deserves?
• We are created beings who God has put love in. He created us with some of his love for others. Some of the fathers love that God has for everyone.
• Is our faith compelled by a love for God?
• Our Faith grows most when we believe before the miracle happens, than when we believe after the miracle happens.
• Do we wait for a miraculous sign before we believe?
• Jesus’s first response to the man is – “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”
• Jesus sees a faith in the man but knows he won’t fully believe until he sees Jesus heal his son.
• The man pleads again - “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”
• He acknowledges Jesus as Lord again. He is desperate and it is the love that is fuelling his plea.
• So Jesus sees an opportunity for the boy to be healed and the father’s faith to grow. Jesus tells him to go and the boy will be healed. The father has to have faith before he sees the miracle.
• Do we ever wait around until god gives us a sign?
• Actually what God wants us to do is to step out in faith.
• John 20 v 29 - “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
• Jesus is talking to Thomas who doubted the resurrection. Yet we will be more blessed because we believe in a God we can’t see. But we can see Him at work in many people’s lives.
• What do you need to be faithful and trust God with?
• Our response to when God speaks should be obedience.
• Are we always obedient to God?
• The noble man not only believed Jesus could heal; he also obeyed Jesus by returning home and therefore demonstrating his faith in Jesus.
• It isn’t enough for us to just say Jesus can take care of our problems. We need to act as if he can!
• When we pray for a need or a problem we need to live as though Jesus can do what he says.
• The noble man had to put his faith fully in Jesus because he had no evidence his son was healed, until he was met on the road by his servant. But the man set out with faith in something that he could not see. His son was 20 miles away. Yet the boy healed at the exact time Jesus said the words – Your son will live.
• Hebrews 11 v 1 – “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
• The noble man hoped Jesus would heal his son and put his faith in what he could not see at first.
• Because of the Noble man’s faith his and the miraculous sign the whole household believed in Jesus.
• His faith was contagious.
• What is our response to the faithfulness of God?
• The Noble man’s faith grew…
• He believed enough to ask Jesus to heal his son.
• He believed Jesus’ assurance that his son would live.
• He and his whole household believed.
• So let’s be inspired by the father’s faith. The love that compelled his faith, Jesus response to his faith and the father’s response to Jesus’s faithfulness.
• The challenge is to allow our faith to be compelled by love, to be ready for Jesus’ response to our faith and to respond and act to the faithfulness of God.
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