Sermon Recap - March 1, 2015 - Ephesians Week 2 - Pastor Matt Crawford
1. In Ephesians 3, Paul writes about the mystery of the faith that he is sent to preach to the Gentiles.
2. Paul tells us that we know the mystery because it has now been revealed through Jesus Christ.
3. We see God's plan to have mercy on sinners and justify us before himself in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
4. Now that the mystery of grace has been revealed in Christ, the rest of the world should know it by how we live as believers and followers of Christ.
5. Ephesians 3:8-13 shows us 3 aspects of God's divine plan to send Christ to Earth:
a. Jesus accomplished God's eternal plan
-God's grace is on display in that he knew that we would rebel against Him, yet he chose to create us and send Jesus to save us.
b. Jesus offers confident access to God
-Anyone who knows Christ as Savior has equal and direct access to God through prayer.
c. Jesus' sacrifice changes our perspective on suffering
-Faithfulness in the midst of suffering leads to the glory of God.
-Affliction in this life pales in comparison to the eternal weight of God's glory that he is working out through His gospel.
For more resources, you can check out our Ephesians devotionals.
TEN POINTS FROM UNWRAPPED WEEK ONE
1. We know Bethlehem as the town where the Christmas story takes place.
2. Bethlehem is famous for the birthplace of Jesus, but historically it was not a well-known or important place before the birth of Christ.
3. The Old Testament prophesied that Bethlehem, a place that was considered small, would be the place God would choose to usher in his big plan to save the world through Jesus. (Micah 5:2)
4. Throughout the Bible, God has a way of using what is small and humble to accomplish His will and bring glory to Himself.
5. Jesus is the ultimate example of humble servanthood, making Himself small and sacrificing Himself for the glory of the Lord and the salvation of man. (Philippians 2:7-9)
6. The way to God is only through Jesus--beginning with a humble manger and achieved through His sacrifice on the cross.
7. God uses the lowly and humble, because He refuses to share his glory with the proud and mighty.
8. God shows grace to the humble, to the sinners who admit their need for a Savior.
9. The Christmas story should lead us to acknowledge our total dependence upon God.
10. Our response to the Christmas story is: a humble rebirth as we surrender to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and experience victory in Him as we wait for His return.
TEN POINTS FROM CHRISTMAS ON THE MOON:
1. The Christmas season can often become more about characters we play to celebrate a season.
2. More than simply celebrating Christmas, when we choose Christmas we are choosing to believe Jesus as the Son of God.
3. In Christmas, we see more than warm fuzzies of the holiday season. We see the power of God's love for us in sending His Son for us.
4. We were separated from God in our rebellion by sin, and Christmas was the only solution to this problem.
5. Because of our unbelief and rebellion, we could not get to God. Christmas is the story of God coming to us, choosing us first.
6. Christmas is about God's plan to display his loving power through sending Jesus as the Savior to the world.
7. God's Word tells of "peace on Earth." We cannot achieve peace on Earth without attaining peace with God.
8. Peace with God only comes through the forgiveness of sins.
9. We cannot attain this on our own, but Jesus came as the sacrifice for our sins, and through Him we are reconciled to peace with God.
10. To choose Christmas is to choose Christ, who did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Himself.
TEN POINTS FROM LEFTOVERS WEEK TWO:
1. A Christian who loves his or her church and is committed to being a part of it, should have a plan to financially support it.
2. Most people do not give to church for 1 of 2 reasons:
a. They don't have a giving plan
b. They think "The church doesn't need my money!"
3. There are two extreme approaches to giving in the church, and neither one shows true generosity:
a. "God wants 10% of your money, and after that you can do whatever you want.
b. "God's only plan for our money is that we give it away."
4. There is a third way to understand generosity, and that is through the gospel.
5. God did not give us His leftovers--He gave us His very best, His one and only Son.
6. Jesus' radical sacrifice and generosity for us should be a model and a motivation to be radically generous toward others.
7. Our responsibility is to give up our self-serving ways and pour out our lives to follow Jesus.
8. We are not to trust in riches or define our lives by an abundance of possessions.
9. Money is the top competitor in our lives for 2 things:
a. Security
b. Meaning
10. True generosity starts when we stop trying to "tip" God and begin to worship Him.
TEN POINTS FROM TITUS WEEK 3
1. After coming to faith in Christ and being taught by Paul, Titus began to demonstrate maturity and ability as a leader in Crete.
2. Paul placed Titus to lead the Cretan church, to protect the doctrine and health of the church.
3. A healthy church is a faithful witness to the world around it, which needs to hear the message of Jesus Christ.
4. These Christians that Titus was to lead could accomplish the mission of reaching non-believers in Crete with the gospel.
5. Christians witness to the culture around them through gospel proclamation and gospel application.
6. Paul writes to Titus that the church can also serve as an example by living out Biblical gender roles.
7. Paul explains that women are called first to order their hearts and then their homes, being devoted first to caring for their family and duties within the home.
8. At the same time, men are called to exercise self control and display spiritual maturity as the heads of their households.
9. Paul teaches Titus that this counter-cultural way of living serves a purpose for the church that goes beyond simply being a healthy church.
10. Christians are called to display the life-changing truth of the gospel to all people because it is the hope of their salvation. Living distinct lives will point to a distinct God, from the Christians on the island of Crete to our own lives serving as witnesses today.
1O POINTS FROM "FOMO" WEEK TWO
1. There is a lie we believe that says we have more to gain by disobeying God than there is by being faithful to Him.
2. This is the second lie we believe as a result of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). We also often believe the lie that we must go around God, and not to God, to find life.
3. The choices we make that are fueled by a fear of missing out are often the result of idolatry in our lives.
4. When our idols are challenged, we become defensive and feel the need to protect those idols.
5. The truth of idolatry is that idolizing something prevents one from being able to enjoy that thing at all.
6. Gaining and worshiping idols only heightens a sense of fear in us, because only God can truly sustain the weight of our souls. Idols cannot sustain us and increasingly demand more from us.
7. There are 2 realities we need to understand about idols in order to see what FOMO does to us:
a. Idols need to be protected
b. Idols demand sacrifices to keep them happy
8. It is impossible to live our lives in total freedom without worshiping someone or something.
9. The gospel tells us that though we were once slaves to sin, if we are in Christ we are now liberated from sin and are free to worship God.
10. The gospel kills FOMO in us because we will not fear missing out on other idols when we are worshiping and living for the one true God.
10 POINTS FROM "FOMO" WEEK ONE
1. There is a lie we believe that says we must go around God, not to God, to find life.
2. We all have a fear of missing out on other options in life by not obeying God.
3. This fear has to do with idol worship, when we worship something other than God.
4. An idol can be anything that promises happiness, comfort and security apart from God.
5. Idols often start out as good things, but when these good things become ultimate in our lives, they start to control us.
6. An idol is something we so desperately need that we feel we cannot have a fulfilled life without it.
7. God's Word warns us to guard ourselves from idols.
8. There are three ways to guard ourselves:
a. Remind ourselves of the Gospel
b. Have real relationships with people who are allowed to ask us honest questions.
c. Guard our hearts against the world.
9. We can know the one true God in Jesus Christ, and find eternal life in Him.
10. The Gospel frees us from the fear of missing out by leading us to a truly fulfilling life in relationship with Jesus.
In October, we'll be launching a new campus at 1200 W Tharpe Street.
Following a unanimous vote by Forest Heights Baptist Church to merge with City Church, we'll begin a church revitalization work by legacy planting a new City Church campus.
You can join the Launch Team here.
And make sure to take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions below.
City Church Tharpe Street: 55 Years in the Making
FAQ's
Q: What's the Launch Date?
A: We're shooting for Sunday, October 12 at 11:00 AM. We'll have a live band and full City Church Kids, mixed with live and video teaching from Pastor Dean.
Q: What's the Launch Team all about?
A: We're praying for 100 City Church Leon attenders to view themselves as Tallahassee missionaries by committing to making Tharpe Street their City Church home.
Q: How did all of this come about?
A: God. No really, he's been in every detail. Forest Heights approach City Church. The Holy Spirit blessed our Elders and the Forest Heights Leadership Council with unity, and a few months of discussion lead to a unanimous vote last week.
Q: How will staffing and leadership work?
A: It's going to take lots of volunteers! Our central staff will be helping replicate the City Church experience at Tharpe Street and Leon, and our elders will lead and shepherd both campuses for now. We our hoping to bring a campus pastor on board for Tharpe Street soon.
Q: What about Sessions Road?
A: Sessions Road is still on track to open next year, and our Leon High Campus will move to Sessions Road then.
Q: I've got an un-frequently asked question. How can I ask that one too?
A: Email our Executive Pastor, Matthew Robinson, at matthew@citychurchtallahassee.com
10 POINTS FROM LATCH WEEK ONE
1. Almost everyone has some kind of a dream about marriage, and what their own marriage will be like.
2. If our dreams are not in line God's design, they will never be fully realized and lead us to discontentment and being unfulfilled.
3. God's design is that a man and a woman join together in marriage to become one flesh.
4. In marriage, a husband and wife have a primary relationship with one another. They will each leave their own mother and father and join together as one.
5. Every marriage is intercultural, because it involves the joining of two people from different family cultures and traditions.
6. A husband and wife are not called to smother one another with expectations and comparisons, but to build a new life together.
7. A man and woman become one flesh in intercourse, but that continues daily in their work together for oneness in marriage.
8. God's design for marriage is not random. It is to give a human display of what He has done for us in the gospel.
9. Just as marriage is a covenant, God has made a covenant with us to unite us to Himself through Jesus Christ.
10. The covenant of marriage helps us understand the covenant God has made with us.
1. God has a specific design for our lives.
2. This design is for all aspects of our lives, from family to relationships to careers, and beyond. It is for God's glory.
3. Something inside of us has a desire to depart from God's design for our lives and go our own way.
4. The word for our rebellion against God's design is "sin."
5. When we rebel against our Creator, God, and practice sin, we end up in a state of brokenness.
6. We try to find a way to escape our brokenness, but we often continue in sin and try to numb the pain of brokenness.
7. There is another way to escape our sin, and that is to believe in Jesus Christ and to repent from our sin.
8. "Repent" is God's word for change.
9. Because God loves us, he doesn't leave us in brokenness. Instead, he offers the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins.
10. When we believe the gospel and repent, we are renewed by God and become new creations to live in God's design for our lives.
{Download the 3 circles app that Pastor Dean mentioned at sendnetwork.com/3circles}