Not A Fan. - am i just following the rules?
Fan:
\ˈfan\
noun
an enthusiastic admirer
Follower:
\ˈfälō(ə)r\
noun
an adherent or devotee of a particular person, cause, or activity.
ADAPTIVE SELF
FALSE SELF
HYPOCRITE
hyp·o·crite:
\ˈhipəˌkrit\
noun
An interpreter from underneath.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matthew 23:1-3
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
• You could not spit on the Sabbath because it would disturb the dirt and you would be guilty of plowing.
• You could not swat a fly on the Sabbath because you would be guilty of hunting.
• If your house was burning down on a Sabbath, you could not carry clothes out of it. However, you were allowed to put on several layers of clothes as the house was burning down. You could leave without breaking the law because you were wearing them instead of carrying them.
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 23:4
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Matthew 23:13
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Matthew 23:23-24
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Matthew 23:27-28
When we aren’t willing to share our brokenness, we never get to share our witness for God’s grace and mercy.
Not A Fan. - knowledge about him or intimacy with him?
Fan:
\ˈfan\
noun
an enthusiastic admirer
Follower:
\ˈfälō(ə)r\
noun
an adherent or devotee of a particular person, cause, or activity.
Are you a Follower of Jesus?
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Matthew 15:8
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
Luke 7:36
A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.
Luke 7:37
As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
Luke 7:38
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:39
Do you do what you do for God out of duty?
or
Do you do what you do out of a desire to honor Him?
Do not confuse Knowledge about Jesus for intimacy with Jesus.
A Biblical word for intimacy is “Know”
And Adam knew Eve his wife
Genesis 4:1 (KJV)
Now the man was intimate with his wife Eve
Genesis 4:1 (ESV)
YADA (Hebrew Word for Knew)
To Know completely and to be completely Known
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
Psalm 139:1-4
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Luke 7:44
You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
Luke 7:45
You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
Luke 7:46
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Luke 7:47
Who are you most like in this Story?
Do you know about Jesus, or do you Know Jesus?
Not A Fan. - Do you believe or are you committed?
Fan:
\ˈfan\
noun
an enthusiastic admirer
Follower:
\ˈfälō(ə)r\
noun
an adherent or devotee of a particular person, cause, or activity.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23
• So how do you start determining if you really are a follower of Jesus?
• How do you decide if this is even something you would want to consider?
We must define the relationship.
Have you made a DECISION for Jesus, or Have you COMMITTED to Jesus?
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
John 3:1-2
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
John 3:3
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
John 3:4
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
John 3:5-6
You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.
John 3:7
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
John 3:8-9
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
John 3:10-11
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
John 3:12-13
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
John 3:14-15
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:18
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 5:19
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
John 5:20-21
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
John 5:22-23
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
John 5:24
Not A Fan. - The Cross
Fan:
\ˈfan\
noun
an enthusiastic admirer
“Jesus never asked us to sit on the sidelines and cheer for His cause…”
~ Craig Groeschel ~
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…”
John 10:18
What have we sacrificed in return???
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him-Come and Die…”
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18
Why would God use a symbol of torture, of death, of weakness to save the world?
Does the cross represent WEAKNESS or does it represent STRENGTH …?
“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles… for the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:22
Who else but God…
• …could take a cross that represented defeat-And turn it into a symbol of victory?
• …could take a cross that represented guilt-And turn it into a symbol for grace?
• …could take a cross that represented condemnation-And turn it into a symbol of freedom ?
• …could take a cross that represented pain and suffering-And turn it into a symbol of healing and hope?
• …could take a cross that represented death-And turn it into a symbol of life?
When you are at your weakest - you are exactly where you need to be for God to be the strongest!
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
1 Corinthians 1:27
“I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in…” (and Paul gives us this list of “not so comfortable” things) weakness, insults, hardships, persecution and difficulties) and he concludes–“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Strength comes when we realize our weakness.
Will you, like Christ did before us, trust God enough to let your weakness be His strength, will you trust Him to make all things new for you???
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15
There’s no comfortable way to carry a cross…
“For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for Him…”
Philippians 1:29
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4
Christ says, “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.”
~ C. S. Lewis ~
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Matthew 16:25