As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51

And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 

Luke 9:52-53

1. Am I willing to choose Jesus before tribe?

When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village. 

Luke 9:54-56

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Luke 9:57–58

2. Am I willing to choose Jesus before comfort?

He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:59–60 

3. Am I willing to choose Jesus before security?

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:61–62

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of exen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw  his cloak around him. 

Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’ ‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’ 

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. 1 Kings 19:19-21

Throughout his Gospel, Luke makes it clear that entrance into the kingdom of God is not based on physical circumstances or success, but it is based on accepting the conditions of the kingdom— if you want to get in to the Kingdom, you have to accept how this Kingdom works— and at the center of the kingdom is JesusBut the kingdom of God doesn’t always operate like we expect it to, like we think it should, or even like what we would want it to. In fact, the Kingdom of God works counter to our assumptions.

Luke 6:17-26I love how Luke the doctor, the well-educated, the thorough researcher makes a clear distinction between the sick that were being healed, and the demon-possessed who were being healed.3 times in two verses Luke, the doctor mentions healing— I love itLuke 6:20-26This right here is why Jesus is so challenging, even divisive at times. He’s going to take our assumptions, our metrics, and turn them on their head. That’s what makes Jesus so unreal in His teaching and preaching. He’s absolutely dismantling, replacing and taking everything that we’re taught to believe, that we understand as “success,” and that we assume is the way things work, and he says “no, that’s not it.” He’s completely disruptive.Since when did poverty, hunger, sorrow and rejection become blessing? And when do wealth and abundance, and being thought well of be cause for caution and sorrow? In every great success story, the key component in every inspirational book, everyone who was ever on Oprah, is that they moved from here—poverty, rejection, hunger, despair—and they moved to wealth. Isn’t it? Isn’t every great success story marked by someone who moved from here to here? It moves in this direction. But Jesus shows up and goes, “No, no, no. It moves the other way.”ANd it’s confounding, and it’s hard. But Jesus is making a point. He’s letting his disciples know that His kingdom, the Kingdom of God, works differently than the kingdoms of the world. That the Kingdom of God is for the humble and desperate, not the haughty and comfortable. He’s not speaking against being wealthy, he’s letting us know that there is more to life in the Kingdom than our socioeconomic status. If you’re wealthy, that’s fine, but don’t let that be all your life is about.Luke 6:27-31The Kingdom of God works counter to our offensesIn this moment Jesus is introducing a standard of living that is so counter-intuitive to human nature. Love your enemies…man…Agape love— love that is shown even when the loved one has no merit for that love. It is love that is chosen and willed.. not fallen into. It is the love that was first shown to us by God, through Jesus.And Jesus is saying, if you want to be my followers, if you’re listening, if you’re ready to hear and obey, than you have to let your offenses go— when someone hates you, curses you, insults you, takes from you, takes advantage of you— let those moments go— choose to love those who don’t deserve it.Luke 6:32-36The Kingdom of God works counter to our cultureIn these statements, Jesus is showing how his followers must be different. He says “so what if you love those who love you, or do good to those do good to you, or lend to those who pay back? Everyone does that.” Everyone takes care of their own, that’s not anything new. But to love your enemies, that is something bigger. That is something greater. That makes you children of God, heirs to His kingdom, because He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. He is merciful to the undeserving.Video“You cannot comprehend the deepest love God has for you until you realize that he has that same love for the person or people you most despise.”Love your enemies.. and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Kingdom Come

Generosity Sunday

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled song us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4.

Gospel of Luke: 1,151 verses. 568 of those verses are simply the words of Jesus.

“Our dear friend Luke, the doctor…” Colossians 4:14

“Indeed Luke was an Antiochene Syrian, a doctor by profession, a disciple of the apostles: later however he followed Paul until his martyrdom, serving the Lord blamelessly.  He never had a wife, he never fathered children, and died at the age of eighty-four, full of the Holy Spirit.”

Our only potential is in relation to serving Jesus.

“Most excellent Theophilus.” 

some people go and some people give, but everyone plays a part.

It’s not about how much you make, it’s about what you do with it. 

2 Cor. 9:8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

The only context in which we can apply this to our lives is through sacrificial and generous giving.

BE – Who has God created us to be?

DO – What has God created us to do?

Sweet spot is when all the given factors come together to get maximum impact from a given effort.

The wrong position will forfeit your mission.

But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavily realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. 

Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ESV

How do we get from the top CAN (all the opportunities we have) to the bottom MUST (our divine sweet spot)? Between the CAN and the MUST is a spiral of discovery. You can’t microwave this process. 

Discovery Starts With…

1. The courage to know.

2. The experience to grow. 

Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.

Want to move forward in discovering the sweet spot that God has for you? Ask a close friend this week-

What do you think I am good at but don’t realize it? 

What do I think I’m good at but I’m not?

3. The Value to show.

IG: Incompatibility of values is one of the biggest undiagnosed causes of dissatisfaction.

4. The Risk to go. 

IG: 20 years from now more people will regret the things they didn’t do than the things they did do. What risk is God calling you to take?

6 principles of position 

Where factor.

Who factor. 

This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles…Acts 9:15

3. God factor

 Genesis 45:5, And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Phil 1:14. 

4. Stuck Factor

5. Job factor

6. 40-hour factor

The wrong position will forfeit the mission. BUT Being in the right position will accelerate the mission.

IntroMade for More. Comes from the realization that many, many people are living with an underlying tension of- there has to be more than this. We may look at what someone else has achieved and ask, we may have a sense of this in our own selves that you just know you’re capable of more or has to be more to life than what you see or what you have or what you have experienced. Comes from a deep longing. IN the series we are going to answer three questions:

BE – We want to discover who God created us to be?DO – What has God created us to do?And, GO – Where has God positioned us to go? 

These three questions/words are the sweet spot of God’s calling for a life of More.

I would say that this gnawing sense of being made for more is caused by two things:

first, we never discover who God has made us to be. As a result, we drift along trying to make sense of who we are based off of accomplishments, status, accumulating things or even worse, we base it on mistakes, what has happened to us or was done to us or spoken to us. second, we allow the do to take priority over the be and in essence become human doings instead of human beings. And as a consequence, what we do never aligns and flows out of who we are called to be. The result being frustration.

But in this series we are discovering…

when you know who you are, then you know what to do

Last week, we saw 3 key identity statements from Genesis 1.

I am made in the image of God, therefore I don’t ask how this will make me look, I ask how will this reflect the goodness of God to those around me. 

I am humbly honored, therefore I am not the center of the universe, God is. I don’t exist for my fame but for God’s. Also, God has created me and I am not a mistake or an accident or a lucky evolved animal with thumbs- he has a purpose for me and I will take it seriously. 

I am blessed to be a blessing, therefore what I have is a gift to be used for others.

And that’s just the beginning. There is a wealth and abundance of statements made in Scripture about who we are, what our identity is, or rather who are identity is in, and the reality that we are in fact made for more.

Child of God– 1 John 3:1. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! —A child of God lives a life that reflects God.

Ambassador– 2 Cor. 5:19-20. that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.—sent by God, from heaven to earth. Earth is not our home. You’re sent to represent the King from the kingdom that sent you. you were not elected by people, but you were chosen and appointed by God. you never represent yourself, you always represent God.

Masterpiece– 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. work of divine creation.

— “handiwork”poiema— workmanship, craftmanship, masterpiece, work of art, even poetic— “poem”

Paul says over, and over, and over, 35 times in the book of Ephesians, “In Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ.” Why? Because in Christ, God takes a mess and makes it a masterpiece. Genesis 1, says humanity is made in His image. But when we are in Chirst, we’re formed into something with fantastic prupose. Then, it follows, that what you (what we) do is all done in relationship to who we are with Jesus. 

So what it is we do? As God’s handiwork, made to be more, what is our purpose? Ephesians 2:10 again— For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

— “good works” agathos— doesn’t just mean “good”. It carries wit

Every day, countless people are sold into slavery, as slave owners make a profit off their misery.

International Justice Mission is a global organization with a plan to eliminate the slave trade everywhere.

BE – We want to discover who God created us to be?DO – What has God created us to do?GO – Where has God positioned us to go? 

When you know who you are, then you know what to do.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the seas and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature the moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:26–28

I am…

#1 …made to mirror. vs. 26a, 27

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:9

#2 … humbly honored. vs. 26b

#3 …blessed to bless. vs. 28

-Your identity is received, it’s not achieved.

-You’re value is the same as every other person.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the other wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say . . . ?’” Genesis 3:1

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

How would you complete the sentence: “The Son of Man came…” 

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10)

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking… (Luke 7:34)

Acts chapter 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

Devoted: to be firm, persevere, remain faithful, effort that never lets up. A continual action. (προσκαρτερέω)

vs. 43 ”Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” 

vs. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 

vs. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 

vs. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 

Why do so few experience community?

1.  culture of independence.

IG quote: It’s easy forget that to be independent is to be distinctly non-Christian. 

2. work patterns.

3. modern conveniences.

4.  individualized forms of entertainment. 

5. the rise of social media

39% of Americans interact more online than face to face. 

“Fundamentally, technology and our use of it isn’t – as we’ve all hoped – bringing us closer together. In fact, it may be driving us farther apart, as we know more and more people, but know less and less about each of them.”

“The Christians were devoted to themselves and occasionally got to church when they had time. No one was filled with awe because there were no signs and wonders performed by the believers. Very few of the believers were together and they had almost nothing in common because they had no real time for each other. If they sold something, they used the money to buy something better for themselves. They ate on the run, kept to themselves, and were too rushed to enjoy one another or give praise to God. They claimed to love God but they didn’t really love each other and they felt very empty and alone. As a result, most people disliked them and very few people were ever saved.” 

If we want community:

1. We need to share life with others at church. 

Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” 

vs. 25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

2.  We need to share life with a small group of people.

Community never happens by accident. “They devoted themselves…”

Community is powerful.”The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” 

Worth the Interruption

Mark 5:25-34

Mark 5:25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 

26- She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 

vs. 27-28 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

vs. 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

vs. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

vs. 31 “You see the people crowding against you,”his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

vs. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

vs. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”