Access Church

John 12:12-20 // The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

What Happens When Jesus Shows Up:

1. The Excited CELEBRATED

John 12:13 // They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”

2. The Curious CONTEMPLATED

John 12:16 // At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

3. The Shook Up SPREAD HOPE

John 12:17 // Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.

4. The Prideful PLOTTED

John 12:19 // So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

John 11:48 // If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

 

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It’s hard to keep GOOD NEWS to yourself

Evangelism Stereotypes:

The bad tipper

The street corner shouter

The “holier than thou”

The “only acknowledges God at award shows”

Acts 16:22-24 (NIV) // The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Acts 16:25-33 (NIV) // About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

God’s calling on our lives isn’t circumstantial

Mark 16:15 NIV // He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Wherever you are, preach the word

Evangelism should be natural

2 Timothy 4:1-2 // In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:  Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Preach the Word

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Mark 16:15  // He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Why did Access grow?

Someone invited you.

Invest and Invite.

John 1:29 // The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:35-42 // The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Evangelism: Just means spreading good news.

Evangelism: An enthusiastic advocate.

Jesus needs to be experienced, not explained.

275,000+ People in 338_ _

220 - 250 churches @ 200 each is 50,000 in church

19.7% of our city goes to church.

Over 200,000 are not going to church in our city.

County is 660,000+

530,000 people in our county do not go to church.

Do you care?

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I was born for this!

Ephesians 2:8-10 // For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8 // For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith

Grace: God’s power in you to do what you can’t do on your own.

Ephesians 2:9 // not by works, so that no one can boast.

Grace is opposed to earning, but not to effort.

We are not saved BY works, but we are saved FOR works.

Ephesians 2:10 // For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Poiema

We > Me

You don’t think we have any needs.

You did it before and hated it.

You don’t see yourself the way God sees you.

God wants you to serve

1. Every Christian is a MINISTER

1 Peter 2:9 // But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

2. Every task is IMPORTANT

"Just"

1 Corinthians 12:27 // Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

3. Every person is UNIQUE and NEEDED

1 Corinthians 12:4-8 (MSG) // God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful.

Access Kids

Access Youth & Young Adults

Access Groups

Host & Hospitality

Next Steps

Worship & Production

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Joshua 4:1 // When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe.  Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”

Joshua 4:19 // The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River. Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’  Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.”

Altars remind us that the God who did it before can do it again.

If we do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things.

We can live with a holy confidence.

The greatest indicator of what God will do is what He has always done.

Our faith is in the faithfulness of God.

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When we lose our why, we lose our way.

There is a pull toward making church all about the church people. Good things can replace the great things God has for us.

Family on Mission

If the message of Jesus is for EVERYONE, the church should be for EVERYONE.

The church does not exist only for the sake of the people who are inside, but for those who are not inside yet.

Acts 2:46-47 // Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Mark 2:1-13 // A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

We are Access and we are:

Chosen

“Let there be a law that no deformed child shall be raised.” - Aristotle

Son: Hapax Legomena

We are Access and we are:

Forgiven

“Son, your sins are forgiven…”

“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

We are Access and we are:

Healed

We are Access and we are:

Roof Crashers

We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Jesus.

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People typically view sex as:

Gross

God

Gift

Eden: Pleasure and delight

Intimacy: Inner closeness and depth of relationship

Genesis 1:28 // God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Genesis 2:20-25 // So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

4 Elements of Intimacy

1. Value

…leaves his father and mother

Do your words validate and add value?

Proverbs 18:21 // The tongue has the power of life and death…

2. Energy

…and is united

Ephesians 5:21 // Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

3. Sacrifice

…the two become one flesh

4. Trust

…naked and not ashamed

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In Jesus, I find security in my singleness.

Self-control is the manner in which we should live our lives.

Titus 2:2-6, 11-12 // “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled...For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…”

Single or not, self-control is the manner in which I should live my life.

How does a lack of self-control show up?

Be careful using your body as bait to fish for a relationship, you might not like what you catch!

Gratefulness for the gift is the right perspective.

1 Corinthians 7:7-9 // I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Whether single or not, gratefulness for the gift God has given me, should be the perspective of my life.

Close proximity to Jesus is the goal

John 3:16 // 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.

Single or not, my ultimate goal is to be as close to Jesus as possible.

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Questions answered in today's service:

Everyone in my life is divorced (or heading toward divorce). How do I make my marriage last?

I'm struggling with the verses about wives submitting. How does that work in your marriage?

I know my spouse's love language and try to love in that way. What do I do if they don't reciprocate?

How do you know that you know? How do you put yourself out there?

What are good boundaries in a dating relationship?

How do you keep the fire alive when it seems like your life is wrapped up around your kids or a busy job?

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77% of men said they’d remarry the same woman

51% of women said the same

How far would you go to keep a promise?

Love - What I’m supposed to do.

Cherish - Focuses on the wonder of my spouse.

Love is about being gracious and selfless.

1 Corinthians 13:4 // Love is patient, love is kind.

Cherish is about being enthusiastic and enthralled.

Song of Songs 4:10 // How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!

Love tends to be quiet and understated.

1 Corinthians 13:4 // It [love] does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Cherish boasts boldy and loudly.

Song of Songs 5:10 // My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.

Love thinks about others with selflessness.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 // it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.

Cherish thinks about its beloved with praise.

Song of Songs 2:14 // Your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.

Love doesn’t want the worst for someone.

1 Corinthians 13:6 // Love does not delight in evil.

Cherish celebrates the best in someone.

Song of Songs 1:15 // Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful.

Love puts up with a lot.

1 Corinthians 13:7 // Love always hopes; always perseveres.

Cherish enjoys a lot.

Song of Songs 5:16 // His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.

Love is about commitment.

1 Corinthians 13:7-8 // Love endures all things. Love never fails.

Cherish is about delight and passion.

Song of Songs 1:3 // Your name is like perfume poured out.

The goal of cherishing is to develop a mindset, attitude, and actions that make me hold my spouse in the highest regard.

The Commitments of Cherish:

1. Remember my promise

Song of Songs 4:9 // You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,

2. Have a cherishing mindset

Stop comparison

Song of Songs 6:9 // My dove, my perfect one, is the only one.

3. Showcase their beauty.

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