First Southern Baptist Church

Two ways to Pray – Luke 18:9-14

jde78 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:05:35 +0000

Jesus talks TO them not about them. 9

It’s easier to talk about people because…

their not there to defend themselves
There is no confrontation

The two ways to pray are…

1. Trusting God for your righteousness

2. Trusting in your righteousness.

It’s easier to trust yourself than God. 9

1. Trusting your righteousness leads to a better than you syndrome. 11

This kind of righteousness is compelled to compare because it could not feel righteous any other way.
John Denver’s Song “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” is really saying thank God I’m not a city boy. The same thing is going on in this verse. What the Pharasee means by “Thank God I’m not like other men” is “Thank God I’m a good person.”

2. Trusting your righteousness leads to RCD (Religious Compulsive Disorder). 12

He did religious stuff so he could say thank God I’m a good person.
It’s like those who say, “Oh you did pray before you ate your going to get sick.” As if doing the religious thing would fix everything. God does not want to do good things so we can say we are good people. He wants us to do good things because He is a good God.
Those who do religious things to earn something from God are no better than the person who does no religious thing.

3. Trusting your righteousness leads to the bobble head effect. 9, 11

Boasting is the enemy of the cross.
No body likes to be around some one who brags about their self constantly.
There is no one in this church who is better than anyone else. If you think you’re better just because you’ve given more money, or worked harder and longer, or because you’ve been here longer, then you are acting like the Pharisee in this passage.
5 “I’s” in the Pharisee’s prayer

4. Trusting your righteousness leads blanket dispassionate praying.

When we do righteous deeds to prove your worthy, we tend to be less passionate and just pray in general terms, because after all we just want to be able to say we did the right thing.

God WILL do one of two things… v. 14

1. God will humble the self exalting

2. God will exalt the humble

Love God with All You’ve Got – Luke 10:25-37

jde78 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:30:27 +0000

Loving God with all you’ve got eliminates

1. Loop holes 29

I love my neighbors as my self. All the ones that live within a mile. lol
We look for loop holes everywhere, don’t we. “I love God, but…” “Just because I don’t _______ doesn’t mean I don’t love God.”

2. Coasting

When you begin to coast through life, then you know you are not giving it ALL you’ve got.

3. Racism, Hatred, intolerance

Loving God first leads to loving others. If we have a problem loving others, then we have a problem with our love for God.

Loving God with all you’ve got leads to…

1. Compassion 33

One reason I’m happy to be a Southern Baptist is because we have the second largest disaster relief program in the nation next to the Red Cross.
If you don’t love the stranger, then you don’t love God.

2. Sacrifice

this guy gave his money

3. Stress

If stress meant what you were doing was bad, then I would quit a lot of good things.
If you are going to have stress in your life, have it from doing in the Lord’s work, but worldly things.

Two Ways to Live – Matt. 7:24-27

jde78 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:16:21 +0000

This is the conclusion of the sermon on the mount. The entire sermon on the mount Jesus intends to be culture shifting. He is trying to shatter the major thought patterns of the day and reshape them into kingdom thought patterns.

It is often said that the two ways to live in this parable is a comparison between the good and the wicked, between apples and oranges. A closer look reveals this is a comparison not of the righteous on the rock and the wicked on the sand, but of the religious who call out Lord, Lord while being founded on the sand and the truly saved who obey and trust in Jesus day by day. So it is not a comparison between apples and oranges, but between apples and apples with rotten cores.

What is the same?

1. They both hear word

Jesus is speaking into a religious world. He is not contrasting those who are religious and those who aren’t. He is contrasting those who are religious and those who follow him.

2. They both build a house

Both work hard and look good.
Is seems that might have even used the same substance to build their house.
This is not the story of the big bad wolf come to blow their house down.
Both houses might looked the same from the outside.

3. Both experienced the same difficulty.

Ecc. 9:2 the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked,
When you get squeezed what comes out?
When you get pricked what kind of blood do you bleed?
When you get insulted what kind of words come out of your mouth?

What is different?

1. one obeyed, one didn’t

he is contrasting those who say Lord, Lord and don’t with those who say it and do.

2. One built on rock, the other on sand

you can build the way of Jesus or the way of religion.
Or you can build the way of the religious
“Jesus calls for his audience to decide between himself and the religious establishment” ESV Study Bible
They both follow the city codes and regulations for building a house. Neither one of them took short cuts when in came to the building itself.
Neither of them build with the intention of their house falling apart. They are both confident in their works. If you asked them is your house solid? They would say yes.

3. One house remained, the other fell.

In this parable the difference is the foundation.

Which foundation are you?

1. Where do you get your beliefs.

2. Do you stop doing what Jesus say, when the storm comes?

NFL 7 – The Victory Speech – Gen. 50:19-21

jde78 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:27:43 +0000

Gen. 50:19-21 is like Joseph’s victory speech. It is important to learn how to honor God in our victory speech. What do we say when God blesses are lives? Do we point to ourselves or to our God.

We are not God.

“am I in the place of God”
Adidas – Impossible is nothing
Who died and left you in charge.

Remeber revenge is the Lord’s

Rom. 12:17 & 19 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
revenge says I’m god
revenge destroys the gospel
revenge fail to care
If you seek revenge you are not giving the credit to God.
Just punishment is the gospel

Don’t water down evil, lift up forgiveness.

Joseph didn’t say their sin was not that bad in order to make everything ok.
Jesus didn’t say “Father forgive them” because what they were doing wasn’t that bad.
We diminish love.
When we do this we give the impression that there are some sins that are forgivable and others that are not.
God doesn’t forgive us because are sins are less bad than others. He forgives us even though our sins are evil. That’s love

Remember God is still in control when evil is happening

The purpose is unseen at least for awhile
The purpose here was salvation from famine.
God put me here for you says Joseph
God works all for good!

NFL 6 – The Scouting Report – Gen. 44-46

jde78 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:05:57 +0000

There is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.

Forgiveness is one thing, reconciliation is trusting them again.

How do you know if you’ve forgiven someone?

When you are not seeking revenge.
When you are being kind to them.
When you are seeking reconciliation.

Don’t trust people who have wronged you until they have been tested and found worthy.

1. People who have sinned against you should not be trusted again right away.

Joseph forgave but he didn’t trust his brothers.

2. People who have sinned against you should be tested.

Joseph tested his brothers to see if they were still going to act the way they did when they tried to kill him and then decided to sale him into slavery instead2. .

3. The person who has done the sinning needs to be the one putting the most effort toward making it right.

It was the brothers who had to put forth the effort to show they could be trusted not Joseph. Joseph didn’t need to prove himself.

He is testing their honesty.

42:20
Money in bag passed – 43:20ff
“No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.” ~Abraham Lincoln
On a scale of 1 to 10 how is your honesty?

He tested their jealousy.

By giving one brother more – 43:34
by seeing how they will react when that brother is taken from them. 44

Joseph weeps for his brothers who wronged him. 43:30

Salvation and Joseph

The very thing that we resist is many times the thing we need to do to find salvation. 43:1-10

The brothers dreaded going back to Egypt and they never would have went if they would not have been desperate enough. God lead them to desperation so that they would do what they previously didn’t want to do so that they would be saved from starving to death.
You may say your not going to do what God wants, but you are more in need spiritually than Joseph’s brothers were physically.
When you get to desperation you have a whatever it takes mentality.
“Okay God, whatever you want,” becomes your prayer.

You get what you don’t deserve.

When they finally did what they didn’t want to do they were amazed at what happened.

They got Joseph back 45:3
They got provisions for the journey. 45:16ff
They provision to save their life 45:7
They got a new home 46:6

When we follow God we will be amazed at what God does on our behalf even though we don’t deserve it.

NFL Part 5 – QB Sneak – Gen. 42

jde78 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:47:47 +0000

By Donald Greenfield

Gen. 42 – Joseph is not in charge and he runs a sneak play when his brother come back into the picture.

1. Joseph’s Family was Famished v. 1-5

2. Joseph finds these guys familiar.

3. Joseph’s God-given dreams become fact. v. 6

4. Joseph is fearsome… but just for a little while

5. Joseph is still faithful to God. v. 18

6. Joseph’s brothers are forgiven.

7. Joseph’s family is fearful. v. 26-38

NFL Prt 4 – From Bench Warmer to Quarter Back Gen. 41

jde78 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:53:30 +0000

God is making the Egyptians recognize his power by…

1. Stumping Pharaoh. 8

Are you smarter than a 5^th grader?
Kings our not in control.
Prov. 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Pharaoh was considered a god himself.
You know you are not much of a god if you have to ask a slave what’s going to happen in your kingdom.

2. Showing them that there gods can’t control anything. 8

Some believe in other gods.
The God of the Bible is not a god that people would have created.
They believed in many gods. Polytheism.

3. Showing them that he alone can interpret the revelation he gives. 16

When God reveals something only God can tell us what it means.

4. Showing them that he holds the future 32

Open theism
God’s sovereignty and mans responsibilities.
God was sovereign to show him where he would one day be, but Joseph needed to keep working for the Lord.
God was sovereign over the whether, but people had to respond in order to be saved..

Joseph kept believing God.

Joseph believed what he could not see and acted like it was going to be.
Joseph believed what he could not see and ended up being the guy everyone will come to see.
Joseph believed what he could not see and ended up being the one everybody wanted to be.

Joseph’s senior year at the school of hard knocks he was voted least likely to succeed, but God had other plans.

Joseph was the least likely because…

He was a prisoner.
He was a foreigner.
He was a slave.
He was only 30 – v.46

NFL Part 3 – The Bench Warmer – Gen. 40

jde78 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:28:38 +0000

The Bench Warmer – Gen. 40

At this point in Joseph’s life he was in the whole he was dressed in prison God waiting on God’s plan to move him forward. Many of us may feel like Joseph. Sitting on the sidelines waiting for the time when things will turn around. There are some lessons we should learn from Joseph when we are in that situation.

1. Do you wait patiently when you’re on the sidelines? 1

Joseph’s theme songs could have been “While I’m Waiting” by John Waller from the Movie Fireproof.

I’m waiting, I’m waiting on You, Lord, And I am hopeful, I’m waiting on You, Lord, Though it is painful, But patiently, I will wait, I will move ahead, bold and confident, Takeing every step in obedience, While I’m waiting, I will serve You, While I’m waiting, I will worship, While I’m waiting, I will not faint, I’ll be running the race, Even while I wait

The way to be patient is to remember

God does not owe you anything?
God is in control
You are here to live for God no matter what.

Don’t be God’s back seat driver.

2. How are you doing at telling the truth?

When the truth is good its easy tell 12-14 – That’s why Love spreads quicker
When the truths is bad its hard to share. 18-19
The Gospel truth. – If the gospel doesn’t first make you feel bad about your sin, then you didn’t get it.
What made Joseph different than his brothers was that he always told the truth.
Sometimes you will suffer for telling the truth?
Do you tell the truth when it could hurt you?

3. How is your boasting? 8

“interpretations belong to God”
“I could do better than that”
Do you give yourself all the credit? Or do you give God the credit?
“It’s all about me” or “It’s all about God”
We Can’t help people, but God can.
Gal. 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

4. Do you show concern for others? 7

Concern for others leads to opportunity for God to use you.
When things aren’t going well for us it’s hard to be concerned about others.

5. Do you get forgotten with humility? 23 41:1

Phil 2:3 humility count others more significant than yourselves
the humble don’t criticize others to bring themselves up

It all about Jesus

Jesus is humble.

Phil. 2:8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus is put others first.

Jesus Gave credit to God.

John 6:32 but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

Jesus is patient.

1 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Jesus is the truth.

On Mission Facebook Style

jde78 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:28:12 +0000

NFL (New Found Life) 2 – Tackling Sin

jde78 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:30:17 +0000

Tackling Sin- Gen. 39

If the Man of God is going to tackle sin he must…

1. know his sin is against God

any explanation of sin that say, it want hurt anyone so its okay is acting like an atheist. Sin is not defined by who it hurts, it is defined by what God says and who God is. If we try to define sin any other way we are acting like God doesn’t exist.
We need at the torture of the cross to see how serious our sin is against God.
Excuses for sexual sins
we are both consenting adults
My husband is gone a lot.
No one will know
we are not getting along anyway.

2. Know what he puts on the line. 8

when Michael Vick got caught in illegal dog fights what he needed to know was what he was putting on the line. Being away from his 3 kids, his football career, and filing bankruptcy etc.

3. run from sin.

don’t think about it, don’t negotiate, don’t consider, run

4. live so that others know He worships God. 3

Which means he works hard at his job for the Lord. Others will not notice your God if you are lazy and an employee that cuts the corners, spending most of your day texting, surfing the internet, or hiding somewhere so you don’t have do the work while your at work.
Joseph was a God honoring worker and God blessed him for it.

5. persevere to the end 8

Joseph had every reason to quit and give up, but he kept doing what God wanted him to do.
Joseph was all alone – no other Christians to support him, but he still followed the Lord.

6. Not have a victim complex.

The only difference between a faithful follower of God and one who is not is not bad circumstance, but how they respond to the bad circumstances, because everyone has bad circumstances.
Joseph could have got mad and let his anger lead him to make your choices, while claiming “I’ve been wrongly treated. Hey I’m the victim here.” He could have went to his prison cell and got depressed and slept all day, but instead he continued to work for the Lord as far as he was able in Jail.

7. Not live for the blessings, but for God.

It is easy to become bitter when God allows things that are out of our control to happen to us.
It is not always true that if you honor God everything is going to go your way. The question is will you honor God if everything doesn’t go you way.
If we live for the blessings then when they get taken away, we will not worship God. If we worship God then when the blessings are gone, we will still worship God.
God is faithful. The question is will Joseph be faithful to God. Will we be faithful to God.