Will We Make Adjustments?

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God required all his people to make adjustments: Abraham, Moses, etc. He expects us to make adjustments too.

The Gospel never changes but it changes us . God calls on us, if we are to follow Him, to take up our cross and change.

The Rich Young Ruler approached Jesus and asked, "What else must I do? What adjustments should I make?" He had come a long way and was much closer to truth than many. But he lacked one thing he needed to adjust. Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor. He refused to make the change that he Son of God requested. The man was unwilling to let God sit on the throne of his heart. He held onto the god of money.

Handling the Word Rightly (2 Tim 2:15)

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Those who belong to God handle the Word accurately. 

 

Seek to Know and Understand It

  • We have to open the word of God to seek and know it. Those who belong to God seek to read and understand what God wants us to be and know. 
  • As the Psalmist says, those who meditate and engage God's word are rooted like a tree by God's stream of life-giving water (Psalm 1).
  • We renew our minds and test and discern the will of God by the word (Rom 12:1-2). 

 

 

Seek to Learn from It

  • Some people open the Bible to prove that their life and choices are ok. They read and twist until the Word supports their sinful life. Others open the Bible before they even act or make a choice — to see what God would have us do. 
  • The Ethiopian Eunuch was reading Isaiah and seeking to be taught by Philip. He wanted to learn but didn't understand.  (Acts 8:26-39)
  • We don't know everything, but God will help us understand and learn from those more knowledgable than us. 
  • Those who belong to God want to learn from Him and His Word. 

 

 

Remain Steadfast in What it Teaches

  • Be steadfast in the work of the Lord. Your labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58).
  • Life is always a work in progress but we need to find the salvation in Christ and stand on it. 

 

Refuse to Twist it to Fit our Purpose or Agenda

  • There is no way to the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; 1 John 5:12). Christians are exclusive because Jesus is exclusive. We should never twist this verse to accommodate culture.
  • We should not pick and choose verses in isolation to believe and disregard others: Rom 10:9-10 vs Acts 2:38 or both?

Peace WITH God

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Peace WITH God while Under Pressure

 

Spiritual peace is ours ONLY when we have a right relationship with God through Christ Jesus (Rom 5:1).

 

How Can I Have Peace?   (John 14:6)

  1. There is a WAY to Spiritual Peace (Matt 7:13-14).  Choose the difficult, narrow way and not the broad, easy way. People headed down the broad narrow way are "feeling just fine" and don't even know where they are headed.
  2. I must find the TRUTH that leads to Spiritual Peace  (John 16:33) — we need to find the TRUTH that leads to the WAY.
  3. Spiritual Peace is not a destination, it is a LIFE (Isa 26:2-3) — peace is not a goal or objective, it is a lifestyle integrated into our daily routine. It is a journey. We don't have to wait for peace, we can't have it now if we want it.

 

 

Avoid and Shun Wrong

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 “Let everyone who names the name of Christ  depart from iniquity”  (cf. 2 Tim 2:15–19).

 

 

Shun, Run Away From, Avoid:

1. Profanity

Col 4:6; Eph 4:29. If you speak profanity it's from your heart, therefore it reveals that you are a profane person.

 

2. Idleness

If a person does not work, they do not eat (2 Thess 3:6–15). 

 

3. Because More Ungodliness Follows

Psalm 1. More ungodliness follows. Sin is not just a mistake or error in judgement. It is a serious cause for separation from God. Sin is costly.

 

4. Because Influences Spread

It influences us to sin more and it influences others too. 

 

ARMing Our Children (Pt. 3)

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Rom 13:10-14; 1 Pet 4:1; Eph 6:10-11; Luke 2:52

 

Muscle

  • Luke 2:52. We need to do more than just sit around and be idle.
  • We need physical and spiritual muscle and we strengthen these by challenging ourselves to grow stronger.
  • We need muscle in our emotions: appropriate strength, appropriate sensitivity, and appropriate humor.
  • We need social strength: how to act around people and how to behave when our parents or spouse aren't there. 

 

Manners

How to sit and stand and act in public. How to behave in everyday life.

  

Maturity

Heb 5:12.

ARMing Our Children (Pt. 2)

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Resolution

Children need a firm determination to live life as they should (1 Cor 15:58). 

 

Respect

Our children need to be taught to show gratitude and respect when they are served (Eph 6:1–3).  But this respect has to be modeled by the parents  and not only “told.” Arm ourselves to arm them for life.

 

Resilience

2 Cor 4:8-18. Children look to parents, family, and role models to see how they handle life situations especially whether we do it in a Christian way. When we succeed in Christian resilience then children see that they can too.

 

Restraint

When Peter lopped off the ear of Malchus he failed to show restraint (John 18:10–11). James and John sought the destruction of a city after they rejected Jesus (Luke 9:54). Jesus, in both instances, commanded restraint.

Our children need to know when to act and when to restrain themselves. Sometimes we should speak and other times keep silent. 

ARMing Our Children (Pt. 1)

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Authority

Children need to recognize, acknowledge, and accept authority. They must recognize the authority of God and others over them. They must recognize the authority of God (2 Tim 3:16–17).

 

Accountability

We are accountable to one another and ultimately to God (2 Cor 5:10). We are also accountable to the authorities God put into place (Rom 13:1-7). Every day we need to take an account of who we are. Our children need to remember that they are accountable for their choices.  You will reap what you sow — you have to account for your actions.

 

Acceptance, Approval, and Appreciation

Our children need to know that we accept and love them just as God loved His Son (John 3:16–17). This does not mean we accept and approve their sin, for sin is opposed to God.

 

Answers

Our children need answers to life's questions, about making right choices. They need answers from someone who loves them, trusts them, and will tell them the truth. If the answers don't come from us or from God's Word they will go to their friends and the Internet. 

 

An Unashamed Worker (2 Tim 2:15)

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Those who are His are consistent. They are not two different people at home/work vs the church. Those Who are His are the same. They are workers who do not need to be ashamed.

 

We Do Not Need to Be Ashamed because...

1. We Come to Hear God's Word

Luke 6:46–49. Our desire is to live approved by Him and not be ashamed. 

 

2. We Worship Him with Our Lips and Heart

Mark 7:1–23. Some people attend church because it's a fad and go to churches because “everyone goes there” : the prestigious members of the community, the poor, and rich. Those Who Are His follow the Father not the fad, fun, or friends. God wants us to honor Him with our words and  our hearts (Mark 7:6).

 

3. Say What We Do and Do What We Say

1 John 5:1–7. Those Who Are His only speak of what they do and they do what they say. Ideals are meaningless unless practiced.

 

2. We Seek Only to Please Him

Gal 1:6–10; 1 John 3:22. God knows those who seek to please Him and they will not be ashamed.

 

Diligence for God's Approval (2 Tim 2:15–19)

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The Lord Knows Those Who Are His: Those Who Diligently Seek God's Approval

  1.  By Hearing and Obeying God's Word    (Matt 7:24–28) 
  2.  By Worshipping in Spirit and Truth  (Matt 15:8–9; John 4:23–24) — in God's house we must worship according to His will and not set our own rules.
  3.  By Matching Our Walk with Our Talk   (Matt 7:21–23) — doing what we say that we should do and being who we say we are.
  4.  By Seeking to ONLY Please Him (Gal 1:10; 1 John 3:22)

The Lost Son (Luke 15:11–24)

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In this parable, Jesus teaches us about the Father's love for us through the parable of the lost son.

 

Notice the Father's Heart and Action:

  1. The Father Loved the Son When He Was Home (Ps 100)
  2. The Father Loved the Son When He Left Home (2 Cor 5:14)
  3. The Father Loved the Son When He Came Home   (2 Pet 3:9)  — God desires that all people come to repentance.

 

Speaking in Parables

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  • Jesus spoke about seeds, farming, pearls, and other “figures of speech” to teach lessons to us about God and himself (John 16:25–33).
  • When Jesus “tells it like it is,” we don't always want to listen.  That's why he spoke in parables: to help us see  deeper things.
  • When the time comes for us to speak plainly, we must do so, and allow God to take care of the rest.

The Lost Sheep (Pt. 2)

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  1. There was one lost sheep — we don't know how or why they are lost or whose fault it is. They just need to be found. God desires all people to be saved (2 Pet 3:9)
  2.  The shepherd left the 99 to find one  — he is scared and worried, but hope overcomes all these fears. The shepherd understood the value of one. Who will go? We will and we need to have compassion for the lost. Are we willing to be uncomfortable to teach the lost? When will we feel what we need to feel to reach out to our loved ones who are lost?
  3. Oh the joy in heaven and in earth when one lost person is found!   — they joy of the shepherd when he finds his sheep. It's like the joy of Mary and Joseph when they found Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:41–52). Think on their desperation as they sought out their son. Where is our desperation? We come and go in the world without a thought of the lost people in it.