Monday, November 23, 2009

Forever Free

Sunday Sermon
November 22nd 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Christian Liberty (The Doctrine of Faith alone)

Sermonic Tension: Freedom always entails danger. (W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868-1963 Intellectual & Activist)

Sermonic Sentence: To be saved is to be set free.

Sermonic Objective: The sermonic objective is to instruct against the dangers of religion for religion works to enslave Christians.

Sermonic Help: Liberty, Christian NLT Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies.

The NT clearly shows that God gives Christian’s liberty, a freedom to choose that grows out of a person’s own commitment to Christ and understanding of Scripture. Yet this freedom has obligations. Christians have a responsibility to learn of God from the Bible and to pattern their lives after His character, relating to others in a way that witnesses effectively to a lost world.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17 (Amplified Bible) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Colossians 1:13-14 (Amplified Bible) Col 13 [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, Col 14 In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins.

1 Corinthians 6:12 (Amplified Bible) Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

1 Corinthians 10:23 (Amplified Bible) All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].

Christian liberty is vast, yet it is not license. It recognizes that not everything is constructive, for when we engage in activities harmful to others or ourselves, we actually destroy the freedom God has given us.

Freedom of the Will: The freedom to act and to be responsible for our actions. In creating us in His own image, God made us rational creatures, which necessarily means that He has delegated sovereignty to us. Our very experience of life tells us we have free choice: We can consciously deny ourselves even to the extent that we can willfully starve to death. Human freedom places no restriction on God’s power. Exactly the opposite is true: We are free only because God chose to give us free will. A God who is truly sovereign must be able to create free creatures. It would be a greater threat to God’s power were He unable to delegate freedom.

Sermonic Title: “FOREVER FREE

Sermonic Structure:

I. I AM SET FREE (Christ has set us free…)

II. I AM STANDING FIRM IN MY FREEDOM (Stand firm therefore…)

III. I AM BY FAITH STAYING FREE (do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Be who you are

Sunday Sermon
November 16th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:17-31 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Saved by faith alone not works.

Sermonic Tension: Hagar or Sarah (Slave or Free)

Sermonic Question: Who are you moreover; whose are you? Are you a child of Hagar or Sarah?

Sermonic Objective: The objective of this sermon is to affirm the fact that Christ Jesus has set us free to live genuinely.

Sermonic Help: apologetics from the Greek apologia or apologetikos, “to speak in defense of.” The word is used eight times in the NT: Acts 22.1; 25:16; 1 Corinthians 7.11; Philippians 1.17; 16; 2 Timothy 4.16; & 1 Peter 3.15 the classic text: (Amplified Bible) But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.

Apologetics is the area of Christian theology, or philosophy, which aims to intelligently defend the Christian faith in areas such as the relationship of faith and reason, proofs for the existence of God, miracles, the problem of evil, evidence for the resurrection of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture, prophecy, and the defense of creation. It includes both positive arguments for the truth of Christianity and rebuttals of criticisms leveled against it.

Occasionally called eristics, apologetics is the formal defense of the Christian faith. Historically, Christian theologians have differed as to whether apologetics is appropriate to the presentation of the gospel, and if so, how it should be accomplished. Depending on how they have answered these questions, apologists have appealed to rational argumentation, empirical evidence, fulfilled prophecy, authorities of the church or mystical experience in defending such beliefs as the existence of God, the authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ and the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection.

Sermonic Title: “BE WHO YOU ARE

Sermonic Structure:

I. WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V. 17-20)

II. WE PROTECT WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V. 21-25)

III. WE PRAISE GOD FOR WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V.26-31)

Monday, November 2, 2009

When we first met

Sunday Sermon
November 1st 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:12-16 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: The dynamics of Pastoral ministry

Sermonic Tension: The honeymoon is over. (The local church has a moral obligation to live in harmony with her Pastor.)

Sermonic Question: What causes people to relate to you differently than when you first met?

Sermonic Sentence: There’s a fascinating phenomenon associated with first. (First impressions are lasting impressions.)

Sermonic Objective: Let’s get back to the way we were at first. (The church at first is the church at best.)

Sermonic Title: “WHEN WE FIRST MET

Sermonic Structure:

I. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU DID ME NO WRONG (V.12)

II. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU RECEIVED ME & THE WORD (V.13,14)

III. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU WERE SO WILLING (V.15)

IV. WHEN WE FIRST MET WE WERE AT PEACE NOT WAR (V.16)