The Seven Marks of Spiritual Maturity - Romans 15:14-21

“The Seven Marks of Spiritual Maturity"

Romans 15:14-21

1.         What does it mean to be a “mature Christian?” What does that look like?

a.    Been a Christian for a long time?

b.    Someone who can recite the bible?

c.    Never missed a Sunday service?

d.    What marks do we look for?

2.         The word carries the meaning of being ripe, fully developed,

a.    In psychology, maturity is the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner.

A mature person understands who they are, what they’re supposed to do, why they’re supposed to do it, how they’re supposed to do it,  and then they do it!

3.         As we come to the middle of chapter 15, it’s like we’ve been sitting in a classroom, the Apostle Paul teaching us, encouraging us, sharing not only his heart, but his knowledge and wisdom,

a.    And most of all the timeless truth of God’s word

4.         But now the class is over, and as the case in a lecture, some of the students have fled the room, busy with their agenda,

a.    While the more diligent students, those wanting more, have gathered around the teacher, and the teacher is giving some final words of encouragement.

b.    and the encouragement seems to center around the theme of being spiritually mature…

c.    Today we’re going to look at Seven Marks of Spiritual Maturity

14 Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you,

 #1 The Mature Christian has their heart in the right place - they were full of all goodness

5.         Paul could sense that the Spirit of love and truth and goodness was at work among them, which is to say the fruit of the Spirit was evident

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Galatians 5:22-23

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Message Notes: The Perfect Will of God - Romans 12:1-2

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“The Perfect Will of God”

Romans 12;1-2

What is the will of God for your life? It's a serious, and a popular question: I Googled it and got 32M hits!)

1.         Typical responses

a.    “I don't know and I don’t care.” (new believer, lukewarm Christian)

b.    “I don’t know, and it’s too overwhelming for me to try to know.”  (the uninformed Christian)

c.    "I don't want to know Gods will, He might send me to Africa." (the earful Christian)

d.    “There is a specific, perfect will for me, I just haven’t figure it our yet.”  (the theory Christian)

e.    “I think I know God’s will for my life, I’m just not there yet, I'm still preparing.” (the “I’m almost there Christian, that never gets there)

f.      “I know God’s will, and I’m doing it today.” (the mature, informed, fearless, willing Christian)

2.         Quest: Which one are you?

3.         FACT:  God’s will for our life is not a mystery, it’s not hidden, its actually quite simple, as we’ll see today.

Our Relationship to God

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God Chooses, We Believe - Romans 10:14-20

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Why Israel is Important – Part 3

“God chooses, We Believe”

Romans 10:14-21

1.         As we continue in our study of Romans, we continue to look at the nation of Israel as a backdrop on Paul’s teaching on righteousness through faith in Christ alone

2.         And as we look at Israel, we see that they are a uniquely blessed people:

a.    Adoption as God’s people

b.    Covenants, the promises given to Abraham

c.    The Promised Land

d.    Law, the oracles of God

e.    Temple Service,

f.      The presence of the Glory of the Lord

g.    Finally, they were the chosen people to bring into this world the Messiah

3.         Clearly God has placed upon this people the greatest of blessings ever given to any nation, t

a.    To which one might wonder, “Why?  Are they really that awesome? “

b.    No, actually as we’ll see, the Israelites were quite stubborn, disobedient, and contrary!

c.    Showing us that God’s choice was based on His sovereignty, His will, and His purposes,

d.    some of which we can understand:

Four Reasons God chose Israel (Scripture gives us four reasons)

4.         Reason #1 was to reveal Himself to the nations

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The Basics of Life - A New Family

The Basics of Life – A New Family

Acts 2:41-47

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1.         Going to start out sharing a few data-points... Church Statistics - A recent study by the Barna group revealed some startling statistics… of those who responded:

a.    Those who say they attend church “regularly” has dropped from 43% in 2004 to 36% today, but that doesn’t tell the whole story….

b.    “Regular” church attendance used to mean 3 or more times per month,

c.    Today people consider themselves “regular church attenders who attend once every 4-6 weeks

2.         Looking at the future generation gives us an even less optimistic picture:

a.    Millennials (30 & under) only 20% feel church is important,

b.    45% of Millennials say church is NOT important

c.    and 35% actually have an anti-church stance.

3.         Of the reasons Millennials cite for not holding church to be important:

a.    35% say irrelevance, hypocrisy, moral failures by church leaders

b.    20% say they feel God is missing from church

c.    10% say they feel legitimate questions are not tolerated.

4.         NOTICE what they younger generation is NOT saying…

a.    Not saying that they don’t believe in God, or that they have no place for God in their lives…

b.    They’re saying that they have no place for church in their lives

5.         Last data point is what people who actually attend church say about the church they attend.  Of the people who attend regularly, they give the following reasons for attending church:

a.    44% want to be closer to God

b.    27% want to learn more about God

c.    20% say they want fellowship with other believers

6.         OK, so how is the church doing at meeting those expectations?

a.    44% want to be closer to God, only 20% actually feel closer to God

b.    20% want fellowship, only 10% of those who attend church say that they experience fellowship.

c.    27% say they want to learn more about God, only 6% say they actually learn more about God

What does all of this tell us? 

The Basics of Life - A New Worship Part 2

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A New Worship - Part 2

1.         Last week looked at john 4 “worship in spirit and truth” (missed clayritter.com)

a.    this week we’re going to unpack the definition of worship, how it's described in the bible, relationship of music, and the result...

2.         What is Worship?  [Merriam Webster Dictionary]

a.    Reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; an act of expressing such reverence

Origin

3.         Old English weorthscipe, meaning “worthiness, respect, reverence...

4.         In essence, worship is when something has great worth to us, we give devotion, honor, and reverence to it, I.E. we “worship” it.

5.         It is a responsive word; we worship something or someone as a response to what that thing or person means to us, or what it does for us.

The Words of Worship

Look at some of the words in scripture that are translated as “worship” or "praise" as the two are interchangeable

Old Testament

6.         Two words, yadah and todaw are closely related, and account for most of the times the word ‘praise’ appears in the Old Testament.

a.    Both of these words give us the idea of ‘casting’ or to ‘shooting’ - in a sense lifting our praises up to God!

b.    One example is Psalm 54:6

‘I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.’ Psalm 54:6

The Basics of Life - A New Worship (Part 1)

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A New Worship (Part 1)

John 4:5-24

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

1.         Last week we talked about archeology, and the cool fact that not a single biblical reference has been disproved by archeology (pretty good record!)

a.    Well there’s another interesting fact that archeology has unearthed: Every ancient civilization that has been discovered/unearthed worshiped something.

b.    Whether its the Aztec’s worship of the sun God (Huitzilopochtli), the Roman gods, Stonehenge, apparently there were no atheists in the ancient world!

c.    Some would say the reason is that “humans have always needed a crutch,” they need something to explain the world around them, why it exists, how it come to be.

d.    (which I find to be interesting in that even ancient, supposedly “ignorant” people understood that our world couldn’t have just sprung up from nothing, there had to be a creator.  Apparently we needed to become much smarter to determine that there isn’t a creator!).

2.         Here’s my theory:   “Humans need a relationship with their creator,” which is why, in the absence of worshipping the true God, they will worship something.

The Basics of Life - The New Spirit

The Basics of Life - Session 2

The New Spirit

Roman 8 / John 16

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But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:9-11

1.         If our church were a community that lived on a remote island, and were ignorant of spiritual things, we’d never heard the gospel.

a.    And say a missionary airplane flew over, and dropped bibles to us, and we read them and became Christians, what would our lives be like?

b.    I believe, based on reading our bibles, we would expect that the Holy Spirit of God would be an integral and powerful part of our lives!

c.    We would expect our lives to be radically different from how we were before we became Christians

2.         If we look at God’s word, there are very clear declarations regarding the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit

a.    So the question is "I have new life, but does my life reflect the new life of Christ that is now in me?”

A Heart for the Lost - Romans 8:35-9:5

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 “A heart for the lost”

Romans 8:35-9:5

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1.         What an awesome promise to us from God.... that NOTHING can separate us from His love for us!!

a.    And after reading in 2 Corinthians 11 what Paul went through for the sake of the gospel, I'm sure that promise kept him going through many difficult and trying situations.

b.    But this passage of scripture isn't just a stand-alone promise for you and I; it's also a setup for chapters 9, 10, & 11.

2.         A lot of people wonder why Paul would take what seems like a off-topic tangent right in the middle of his letter.

a.    Chapters 1-8 presents the solution to the problem of sin and death - our hope - God’s plan of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ

b.    Chapters 12-15 contain practical instructions for everyday living

c.    But in chapter 9, Paul suddenly starts talking about Israel, and the fact that they sort of missed the Messiah! Where's that coming from?

d.    But I believe Paul knew what he was doing...

3.         See, after the proclamation that nothing can separate us from God's love, the bible student might ask "What about the Jews? Are they separated from His love?  Aren't they lost?"

a.    Romans chapter 9 - 11 answers that question, as Paul paints a beautiful illustration of the love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness of God,

b.    With the Jewish nation being a living example of these attributes.

c.    Israel’s Rejection of Christ (or how to have a heart for lost people)

Our Hope - Romans 8:18-29

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 “Our Hope”

Romans 8:18-29

When I was a young boy, one of things I looked forward to the most was going to “Uncle Rogers.”  See, my cousins lived on a farm, and whenever my dad took us for a weekend, I knew that weekend would be filled with AWESOMENESS: Exploring the woods, playing army, riding motorcycles, hunting, and fishing. Man, it was heaven for an eight-year-old boy! It took about two hours to drive there from our home, and the entire time I would be so excited, it felt like I was going to jump out of my skin!  Every week, I would wait anxiously to find out if we were going to Uncle Rogers, because I knew that no matter what problems I had that week, what bully picked on me, not matter how lame school was, some magical things were going to happen that weekend!  I looked forward to it. 

Roman’s chapter 8 paints a similar picture, when Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Vs 18).  See saints, while this world may throw rocks at us from time to time, something better is coming, Heaven! 

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1.         One of the thorniest questions that Christians face is, "Why do Christians suffer? “

a.    Why does a God of love and power permit his loved ones to go through any anguish here on the earth?"

b.    You’d think that our Heavenly Father would put some type of protective shield (bubble-wrap kid) around us so that we’d never have to suffer.

c.    Fact is many of us have suffered through trials, or have watched a loved one suffer, and so you’ve felt the full force of that question…  WHY?

Its all Good - Romans 8:26-37

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Overcoming Depression Part 3

“It’s All Good”

Romans 8:28-37

Have you ever read the account of Joseph in Genesis (starting in chapter 41)?  Young Joseph is the ‘favorite’ of his dad Isaac, but he ends up having one bad thing after another happen to him.  He finally ends up an an Egyptian jail, under false charges.  There is a glimmer of hope as a cupbearer promises to remember him when he gets out, but of course he forgot!

1.         That account is a setup for our message today, because we could all relate to Joseph at some point in our life.

a.    When it seems like everything is working against us.  Nothing is going our way. 

b.    And we wonder, "can anything good come from this?"

2.         There are some times in our life when bad things happen, and we can see the good that came out of it.

a.    There are other times when bad things happen, and maybe we don’t see the good, but we trust that something good surely will come from it...

b.    Then there the those times when when something hits us right between the eyes, - trial- travesty - tragedy - and we think to ourselves “NOTHING good will come of this at all!”

3.         And the question always comes up in our mind “What is God doing?  How could God let this happen? Is He even paying attention?

a.    The answer to that question is yes, but we have to realze that sometimes there's a bigger picture, a greater good in motion.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Overcoming Depression Part 2 - The Material World - Romans 8:3-17

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Overcoming Depression – Part 2 “Material World”

Romans 8:3-17

Back in 1984 the singer Madonna released a song titled “Material Girl”

They can beg and they can plead

But they can't see the light, that's right

'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash

Is always Mister Right, 'cause we are

Living in a material world

And I am a material girl

You know that we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl

1.         Catchy tune, and it was a hit because it resonated with the essence of our world:

a.    “Hey you’ve got to live this life to the fullest, cause this is all there is!”

b.    It describes the deep human need for fulfillment, to find happiness, and peace.

c.    The only problem is that they’re looking in the wrong places.. (lookin for love in all the wrong places!)

2.         See, as Christians, those “in Christ,” we know that this world isn't all there is. 

a.    We know there’s an eternity waiting for us, it is our blessed hope.

b.    But until that eternity comes, we’re stuck here in this place… this material world.

3.         Now, last week we learned that there are three prime culprits that get us feeling down and depressed:

a.    Haunted by something from our past

b.    Weighed down by something in our present

c.    Anxious about something in our future

4.         We learned that when you’re haunted by the past, when those depression bombs start going off in your mind,

a.    You have an arsenal of your own, the powerful truth that “in Christ,” there is NO condemnation! (none, zero, not one bit!)

5.         This week we’re going to learn how to respond when we’re weighed down with something in our present…

a.    Today we’re going to look at one of the ways Christians to lose their peace, and that’s when we “walk according to the flesh”

The Secret to Overcoming Depression - Romans 8:1-7

The Secret to Overcoming Depression

Romans 8:1-7

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1.         Don’t raise your hands, but has anyone ever struggled with depression, or you’ve known someone who has?

a.    NIH reports 2% of the population suffers from severe depression, and 16.5% some depression related disorder.

b.    It has touched almost every family in our country.

2.         In this chapter not only will we learn the final piece of Gods plan to walking in victory, we’re also going to learn the secret to overcoming depression!

3.         See, depression stems from one of three areas:

a.    1 - We’re haunted by something from our past, something we've done, or something that was done to us.

b.    2 - We’re weighed down by something in our present, some heavy situation, a trial, or some sin we're dealing with

c.    3 - We’re anxious about something in our future

4.         In this chapter we’re going to learn that God is sovereign over ALL of these areas of our life:  past, present, future!

Who will Save Us? Romans 7:8-25

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Who will Save Us?

Romans 7:8-25

1.         Remember - Romans 6-7-8 is the key to overcoming sin

a.    Today is the day that Paul is going to reveal the final piece of that key

b.    But before we get there, he has a few final words about - THE LAW.

2.         What is “The Law?”

a.    Most people when they think of the law, think of the Ten Commandments (which Jesus summarized)

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.  Matthew 22:37-40

3.         True - if you love God, you won’t break the first four commandments,

a.    if you love others, your won’t break the last six!

b.    Love God, love others, who would get upset about those two statements?

4.         But people do get uptight about the Ten Commandments

Mr Perfect Must Die - Romans 7:1-6

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Mr Perfect Must Die

Romans 7:1-6

There was once a woman that was a perfectionist in everything she did, and so prayed “Lord, please send me the perfect man.”  And the Lord answered her prayer.

One evening a young man knocked on the door, politely asked if he could speak to the young women, and she first laid eyes on him, she knew “this is my perfect man!”

Romans 6:12-23 - We Are Free!

We Are Free

Romans 6:12-23

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1.         Last week we learned some powerful truths:

a.    When a person enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ, that person is born into a new reality:  An eternal link to Jesus Christ.

b.    Because of that relationship with Christ, everything that is Christ’s is now available to that new Christian

c.    Christ died, we died, and thus sin no longer has any power over the Christian.

d.    Christ lives, we live;  The  Christian has been given new life, they’re alive to God!

e.    The Christian has been set free from the bondage of sin, and the bondage of the law!

2.         Last week: "Sin is dead!"

3.         This week: We are free!

4.         It’s critical that the Christian not only KNOW these things, but that we accept them as FACTS, and walk in FAITH based on these facts

a.    Remember what happens when Faith takes his eyes off of Fact!

b.    We have a NEW REALITY “in Christ” and we can now walk in that new reality!

c.    That’s why Paul tells us...

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:1-14 - Sin is Dead

Sin is Dead

Romans 6:1-14

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1.         Question:  Have you ever had sin that you couldn’t overcome?

2.         These next three chapters are the most powerful sections of scripture when it comes to overcoming sin.  

3.         See in the context of what we learned in chapters 1-5:

a.    Chapter 1-5 helped us understand the positional truth of justification,

i.      in 6-8 we’ll learn the practical truth of sanctification

b.    1-5 taught us we were dead IN sin,

i.      6-8 teaches us we are now dead TO sin.

c.    1-5 taught us we were free from the penalty of sin;

i.      6-8 teaches us we are free from the power of sin.

4.         Chapters 6, 7 & 8 will teach us three important truths:

a.    Through Christ, the power that sin had over us has been broken

b.    Through Christ, we’ve been released from the bondage of the law

c.    Through Christ, we’ve been given the Spirit of the Living God to guide us, to help us, and the reveal to us God’s love for us!

5.         These truths that we’re about to learn are so important for the Christian, especially the new Christian, because all too often, Christians try to fight sin by saying “no, no, no!”

a.    Guess what, that only works for a short time – eventually our willpower weakens, and we give in…

b.    Paul is going to teach us a new way:   “Know, know, know!”

5:20 But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord 6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?