19/07/2015 Sermon Note (Ps Prince)

Thank God for our LORD Jesus Christ.

When Ps walked down the via delarosa, Pastor thought about the many times Jesus fell. When we understand that he carried the cross after he was scourged (not just back but whole body was lacerated), and there are two main veins that help support our weight and if cut, we cannot stand. Yet he braved it and he carried the cross. He fell and got up again many times. And all the time, His thought all the way to Calvary was He will make it there. He fell so we will not. He fell stumbling so we can walk in the Spirit a walk that is Christ exalting and honours God. We owe it all to Him.

Christ became our sin so that we can bear His righteousness. He did not do anything to become sin on the cross. He was sinless. In the same way we become righteous having done no righteousness. God sees us righteous when we receive His righteousness. God unleashed all the punishment and judgment on Christ at the cross when He was bearing our sins. God did not treat Him with favour. In the same way you have received His righteousness, God will treat you as the object of His blessings. God the Father sent His Son so that this beautiful love story can be actualised. This is the good news. This is life changing. Changes the way we do life and relationships. We are a people loved and not abandoned. The very breath that blasphemers blaspheme Him with is given them by God and He can stop them anytime but He doesn’t because He isn’t that kind of God. He loves mercy, loves to love. Is there justice with God? Yes. Because if no justice, the whole universe will collapse. Nothing will run.

Lawlessness will happen if our courts have no justice. Criminals will abound, lawlessness will increase… no law and order = no harmony and prosperity or full life. U want your court system to have justice.

BUT the God delights in showing love and not punishing us.

If u live during the Old Testament days – Which is the holiest nation to God (set apart to Him)? Israel. Which city most holy? Jerusalem. Which is the holiest place in the holiest city? Temple mount. And which is the most holy part of the temple? Holy of Holies. What is the centrepiece of the entire Holy of Holies? The mercy seat. Not judgment seat. At the heart of God, the holiest place is mercy.

Micah – God has shown u what is good. To love mercy and to show justice. As leaders u will have to dole out justice but love mercy. U cannot dole out justice and love justice. That is not the heart of a true leader.

Today everyone wants to pray for the wolf but the wolf should not have attacked the sheep. Today the wolf has a cracked skull but u cannot blame the shepherd and side the wolf. The shepherd will defend His lambs.

God will defend His people.

Ananias and Safire came to con the church, Not believers but pretending to be it. They dropped dead.

U don’t want to be on the wrong side. U want to be on God’s side. U don’t want to be on the side of Pharaoh as he crosses the Red Sea.

To be politically correct today, you cannot even scold the wolf for attacking the sheep. U understand? In some countries in the world, if a thief comes into your house and he didn’t see a furniture piece and he breaks his leg as a result, he can sue u. Why did u put that piece down there? U stopped my thieving from being successful. But they can sue u and have a right to sue u for breaking their leg. That is how gone this present world is. We have lost sight of common sense. God loves u. God hates sin but loves the sinner. U love the person who has cancer – how much u hate the cancer is how much u love the person.

In life u don’t even think about it.

Some believe they came from tadpole to frog and slowly become human beings.

In life, you leave a hot coffee becomes colder. Everything left to itself degenerates. It doesn’t become better or ascend to a higher order. Human reasoning and the THEORY of evolution – it is a theory, an assumption based on the subject under discussion, an ignorance of the subject. The bible does not deal with speculations and conjectures. It deals with thus says the LORD. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. He said light be and light was. And God loves us.

God wants to bless. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom. His hands are so full of blessings He wants to shower on us and He is looking for people to bless. He is waiting for someone who will take it and when He finds that someone, He calls that faith. Faith allows God to bless u. Faith says I take it. Must believe His disposition is to bless us. God’s hands are not shut. It is open wide. Jesus ascended with His hands lifted. Posture of blessing and prayer. Still blessing us this way.

God always wants someone healed more than she wants herself healed. Parents, when your kids are ill, do u not want your kids to be healed more than the kid wants to be healed? U would love to take on the sickness on yourself if you could- that is what Jesus did.

Descending love is always greater than ascending love. The child cannot love the parents more than the parents love the child. It is always that way. U can never love God the way He loves u. It is not even that our prayers started something in Him that He never thought of. When I pray, my greatest response is faith. I know He wants to bless. Then I pray and am in alignment with His heart and disposition.

Some people think Pastor should not be preaching about God blessing people and just about Jesus.

After u win others to Jesus, what do u tell them? To win others to Jesus? Sure but it seems like people are saving to save to save but is anyone living the abundant life to reflect how much God wants to bless them? 

God wants you blessed more than u want to be blessed & healed more than u want to be healed. 

Gospel means good news. 

There is one heresy that has come into the church- works salvation. Lordship salvation. If u want to get saved turn away from sins and be saved. Notice Jesus is not in the equation. Not based on finished work of the Christ. 

If turning from your sin before u are saved can cause u to be saved, then no one is saved. Even 50yo Christians are sinning. 

Some think u become a better man to get saved. Wrong. U get saved to become a better man. This needing to be better in order to be saved has made it hard for people to come to Jesus, to live the so-called Christian life. Before they are saved, they already feel they can’t. If u have the power to stop the things destroying u then why did Jesus come? 

U cannot stop it because u cannot. U can receive the gift to change u from the inside and out. 

Some people think their sin is more respectable than another’s. 

The voice of sin is loud but the voice of forgiveness is LOUDER

Do not make repentance a barrier btw salvation and the sinner. There is no middle road. U come to Jesus as u are and He will change u from the inside out. 

Metanoia- change your mind. 

Eg. I wanted vanilla but I think I want Choc instead. —> metanoia

Metanoia is not about feeling remorse or repentance. U can feel all this and still go to hell. 

Hell is real. Heaven is real. 

U use a tissue, u will throw it away. God doesn’t throw the defiled. He loves the defiled. It is a love not found in this world. 

Believing in Jesus requires someone to turn from the world and to focus on Christ. No one can believe in Jesus without turning from their sins. 

Mark 1:14-15 – Repent and believe in the gospel. 

Metanoia comes first- change your mind first in order to believe. 

Acts 20:20-21
Paul preached this publicly and from house to house. Repentance toward God – change your mind about how He sees u- Understanding He is for you and He loves you. 

Repentance after salvation (changing our wrongful ways), but not repentance to have salvation. 

Someone comes up to u. Gives u Lambo. Says it is totally free. But all u have to do is pay $1 a month. Just like the mixed messages in Church—> have to pay means it isn’t free. If it is free it is free. No buts. 

Easy for us to believe but easy doesn’t mean cheap—>  it cost God His Son and Jesus, untold agony. Just the thought of becoming sin on the cross, he perspired blood. 

All of us are wicked sinners. Not just Hitler. 

Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of ?? and Lazarus—> all raised up to life by Christ. Was one more dead than the other? They were all dead. No degrees of dead. 

U cannot decide how u die. We all die breathing out our last breath. 

Lordship salvation presupposes men’s strength. No one can do it. U don’t clean yourself before u take a bath. U take a bath then u can become clean. 

Repentance in Greek means changing your mind. The word repentance appears 46 times in bible –  37 times God repented. God is a God that waits to be entreated. God has no sin to repent from. Only 9 times is repentance used for men. 

Teshuvah – turn to hei (grace)

Every time u turn to grace= repentance 

Luke 14- Jesus with the crowd. His spirit not with them. The crowd saw him as an example, a teacher, a celebrity. We can learn from Him and still depend on me. But then drew near the sinners- here he was at home. When people turn to Him as Saviour, He likes it. 

When Jesus says He is the bread of life, what does He want u to do? We are hungry not just physically but also spiritually. Feed on Him. When he says He is the water of life, He expects u to drink Him. 

He is a better Saviour than I am a sinner 

Only one shepherd will leave the 99 to find the 1. Every one of us is precious. 

When pastor preaches and it speaks to u, it is the Shepherd applying to u.

And when He finds the sheep, does He hit and scold the sheep? No. That’s normal. He rejoices instead and He throws a party. Luke 15:5-7

Only Jesus. 

This is a lesson on repentance. The shepherd sought, found, carried, rejoiced, threw the party. The shepherd did everything. So what is repentance? The sheer consented to be loved, to be carried, to rest in the power of another, to be rejoiced over. That is repentance. 

Prodigal son. Asked for his inheritance disrespectfully, wasted his inheritance away and ended up having to work as a person tending to pigs. Luke 15:16-20

How many of my father’s HIRED servants…
Bread enough to spare in the Father’s house

Was he thinking of his dad? No. He was thinking of his stomach. His motivation for coming home was to have food to eat. Gave up becoming a son. Just hungry. 

His father spotted him from a great way off. The father was looking out for him. 

Saw his son and said give him the best robe, the signet ring (like an olden day credit card, charged to the father)…
Under law, take shoes off it is holy ground
Under grace, put on shoes coz u have the right to stand before Him. 

Regardless of your reasons, when u come back He runs to u. 

When we came to Jesus we didn’t know His beauty and excellencies. So many of us receive JESUS for wrong reasons (eg. Come to church to find a mate, come to church as ‘fire insurance’ in case hell is real…). And yet we make demands of others before they can be saved. 

If repentance is feeling remorseful, Judas Iscariot was called a devil and a son of perdition. Matt 27:3- Judas felt remorse/ repented of himself. Restitution was made- brought the 30 pieces of silver to the Pharisees. Admitted he sinned against innocent blood. 

The devil hates u. God loves u. 

Peter caught no fish. He gave his boat to Jesus to preach. The same boat that caught nothing, Jesus stepped into it and they preach net breaking, boat sinking load of fishes. Became a blessing magnet. When u give ur strength and youthfulness to Jesus, He keeps u strong. Give your brain to God and He gives u wisdom. Whatever u give to God, He multiplies. 

Serve to receive, to be at a posture to receive. 

Matt 27:5- judas hanged himself. Rather pay his debt than to let Him pay it for him. Presumptuous pride. 

If someone received Christ and committed suicide, the suicide cannot undo what Jesus did. Still saved. 

The only thing u come to God with is ur sins. U come with empty hands and nothing & He fills u up. 

Judas did a lot but didn’t receive Jesus, not saved. 
U can do nothing and are alcoholic and receive Jesus & be saved. And as u are saved, the changes in your lives will happen.

Gospel of Grace is not another gospel. It is the gospel. 

Acts 10:43-44 

Peter preaching here. “Repent” not used. Just “believe”. 

“… All who believe are justified of all things…” – repent not used in Cornelius’ house. 

Acts 11:2-4
Acts 11:15-18

If we preach repent repent repent then nothing there to change people’s minds about. 

John 20:31— why was the gospel of John written? So believing we may have life in His name. In the entire gospel of John, the word ‘repent’ was never used. Believed used 85 times in comparison. 

U cannot believe without repenting. 

Acts 2:41- in one day about 3000 souls were added to them. 3000 conversions. Saved and baptized on the same day. 

Don’t confuse the root with the fruit. 
If root is real, fruit is real. Not right to tell people they received Jesus but aren’t ready yet to be baptized. 

A pastor once said he was baptized but not sure if he was saved yet. Face palm. 

We like to make it hard. What is the impression we give the world?

“We can’t live the Christian life. It is too hard.”
Yes. It is too hard. Only one man can live it, Jesus. And we receive from Him. 

All of us are former ‘somethings’. 

Jesus was crucified btw two thieves. Why? So we won’t be robbed left and right. Lol. God always puts Jesus in the centre. If we put Jesus in the centre of our lives, everything will work. 

For those who say Pastor teaches easy believism… One of the thieves saw the grace of Jesus, turned to him and asked to be remembered. Did Jesus ask him to get down and go make restitution before he can be forgiven? No. Jesus told him today he would be with Jesus in paradise!! 

Easy believism accusations. Easy does not mean cheap. Jesus paid a hefty price. 

Pastor’s grandfather used to make fun of the Christian faith. In his old age, was in hospital suffering and resisted calling out to Jesus despite his daughter’s telling him to. But as he took his last breath, he said Jesus forgive me. The suffering stopped and a peaceful expression came over to him. When his grandma saw it, she received Jesus too. 

Those of us who believe on Jesus, our house will be saved. 

Narrow is the way and few find it—-> present tense. Jesus was referring to the time he was there. Cannot apply it to now. 

Book of revelation- John saw a multitude that no man could number in heaven but didn’t say there was a multitude in hell. Jesus made it easy to receive him. Lying there, can’t move and u are asked if u want Jesus and u wriggle a finger to say yes, u are saved. Can’t speak but u grunt, u are saved. 

Not universalism. Still must believe in Jesus as Saviour coz whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.  

You are saved when u receive Him, but your growth in wisdom- learning to repent from the wrong thinking of God, change the way you live that is ongoing process.