EASTER 2011 SERMON SERIES - The worst of humanity were crucified back in Jesus' time, but the very fact that He was placed along side sinners and then the unthinkable, Jesus had an honourable burial, is what ushered in the glorification of His resurrection and triumph over the grave to His rightful place along side the Father.

LOVING GOD WITH YOUR MIND - Has Christ made a massive, comprehensive difference in your life? Is this new life pushing its way out into everything else about you? Or are you just trying to solve a few stubborn, particular problems, hoping that Jesus will help you out as you may need Him from time to time? There is no other way to start the Christian life, but to be born again. That’s why Jesus likened living for Him to a new birth. Birth means no part of you remains in the womb. There’s a definite start and it includes all of your being.

ORDINARY PEOPLE MEETING AN AMAZING GOD - Before God could accomplish what He wanted to with Israel, before He could bring them out of Egypt, He had to get them in. This is what God was doing in the circumstances of Joseph’s life. In spite of all appearances, God was not absent. Nor was He inactive. When life is seeming unfair and a million questions surround you, the trick is to remember not to judge God by isolated events, but what He can do with them.

LOVING GOD WITH YOUR MIND - There is an ongoing interplay between the mind, feelings and will and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. Images appeal to feelings and desires. Catering to these forms ideas - a world view - in the mind. And the mind then effects the decisions of the will. The cumulative effect of these together is the forming of character. Living life out of the character of Christ is the only way to rise above the lusts of the flesh.

ORDINARY PEOPLE MEETING AN AMAZING GOD - Bad choices are so much easier to make than good ones. We need to gear our actions toward eternity. We need to make each day count for God. Bad choices don’t just enter your system and leave. Sin isn’t like a bowl of soup. Sin changes you permanently inside and that is what Esau discovered in our discussion today.

LOVING GOD WITH YOUR MIND - It's true that wrong desires must be very strenuously denied. But this will not, in itself, replace wrong desires with right. Feelings must be changed at another level entirely. And here’s the key - feelings can only be changed through the renewing of the mind. You reach your feelings indirectly through what you give your mind to. Again, this is why John tells us that the very first sign of loving God is tuning out the world. To starve false affections and feed righteous ones is the first step to changing where you're placing the desires of your heart and with a people after God's heart, that's a step in the right direction.

ORDINARY PEOPLE MEETING AN AMAZING GOD - Worship is forever stamped with the offering of our lives and what is most precious in our own esteem. You and I can never earn God’s favour by any sacrifice or offering we make. God wants no fall backs to complete devotion, therefore, man’s worship must be commensurate with the Lamb God provides in Jesus Christ, God the Son.

LOVING GOD WITH YOUR MIND - When your heart is dedicated to God in the genuine sense of separating yourself from the mind-set of the world the result is God’s Word is no longer perceived as a threat. It’s heard with grace rather than condemnation because you've learned the feel of it. Until this is accomplished, Christianity will only be seen as a performance or raw duty and God has come to bring us something better than that, life and peace.

THE THINGS WE MUST NEVER FORGET: LIFE LESSONS FROM SECOND PETER - Don’t be caught trying to preserve or maintain your relationship with Jesus. You will die a slow spiritual death that way as would any relationship not built on growth. Keep your attention on Jesus and his saving work. Not just in worship choruses or through your actions, but by growing in the knowledge of Him. His truth must be learned before His Person can be properly loved. His truth must be carved into the mind before we can obey it with our will.

LOVING GOD WITH YOUR MIND - The Apostle Paul tells us very specifically that our thoughts run wild if left to themselves. Think of all the images and ideas we're presented with in a day, a week, a month. How many of those thoughts are kneeling before almighty God? Our thoughts are the entry point of the Holy Spirit and that which can lead us astray. Make them the first object of repentance, discipline, and diet in your walk with Jesus!