Norm Miller  | Philippians 1:3-8

TITLE: God is taking care of us Part 2

TEXT: Psalm 23:4-6

Corrie Ten Boom - “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.”

God is taking care of us:

1 – WE DON’T NEED TO BE AFRAID – V.4

2 – WE DON’T NEED TO BE ANXIOUS – V.5

3 – WE WILL NEVER BE ABANDONED – V.6

TITLE: Fathers Day

TEXT: Ephesians 6:4

Ephesians 6:10-11 - Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

Christian Fathers…

1 – DO NOT PROVOKE YOUR CHILDREN TO ANGER - V.4a

John MacArthur – “By Roman law, the father had virtual life and death power not only over his slaves but over his entire household. He could cast any of them out of the house, sell them as slaves or even kill them -and be accountable to no one. A new born child was placed at its father’s feet to determine its fate. If the father picked it up, the child was allowed to stay in the home; if the father walked away, it was simply disposed of – much as aborted babies are in our own day. Discarded infants who were healthy and vigorous were collected and taken each night to the town forum, where they would be picked up and raised to be slaves or prostitutes.”

I know I’m provoking my children to anger when…

- I’m overprotective

- I play favorites

- I criticize harshly

- My standards are too high

- My discipline is excessive

2 – DISCIPLINE & INSTRUCT YOUR CHILDREN IN THE LORD – V.4b

How exactly does a Father “put the discipline & instruction OF THE LORD” in His children?? A few thoughts:

- My time: They need to have it – Proverbs 22:6

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

- My example: They need to see it – Ephesians 5:1

Ephesians 5:1 - Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

- My Forgiveness: They need to receive it – Luke 15

- My Compassion: They need to feel it – Psalm 103:13

Psalm 103:13 - As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

- My Correction: They need to experience it – Hebrews 12

Hebrews 12:7-9 - For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.”

TITLE: God is taking care of us – Part 1

TEXT: Psalm 23:1-3

GOD IS TAKING CARE OF US

REALITY #1: Our God is the LORD! – V.1a

REALITY #2: This God is our Shepherd! – V.1b

Dr. James Boice – “Day and night, summer and winter, in fair weather and foul, they labored to nourish, guide, and protect the sheep. Who in his right mind would choose to be a shepherd? Yet Jehovah has chosen to be our shepherd….The great God of the universe has stooped to take just such care of you and me.”

6 ways our God is taking care of us today:

1 – HE GIVES ME REST WHEN I’M BURDENED - V.2

2 – HE RESTORES MY SOUL WHEN I FALL – V.3A

3 – HE GUIDES MY PATH WHEN I’M STRAYING – V.3B

Isaiah 53:6 – “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.”

TITLE: The Sin We Have Learned to Ignore

TEXT: James 2:1-13

The authenticity of our faith & community is proven by:

1 – COMPLETE IMPARTIALITY - V.1-4

I know I’m committing the sin of partiality when…

1A. I make distinctions in the way I view people

1B. I make distinctions in the way I treat people

2 – CORRECTING INJUSTICE – V.5-13

J. Alec Motyer – “…the Lord’s concern is shown for those who are towards the bottom of the world’s heap. This appeared in the Old Testament’s fundamental historic event, the Exodus. In Egypt the Lord chose out for himself a slave people…In other words, love of the poor, the downtrodden and helpless is written in the divine nature. If we would follow the Lord Jesus then it must be our glory, as it was his, to be incessantly on the side of the poor, the underprivileged, the disadvantaged, and the oppressed. To do this is to identify ourselves with the very heart of God…”

Correcting injustice STARTS WITH ME:q

2A. A Heart of Love – V.8

B.B Warfield – “[Jesus] was led by His love for others into the world, to forget himself in the needs of others…. Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows; it means absorption in them. It means forgetfulness of self in others. It means entering into every man’s hopes and fears, longings and despairs…”

2B. A Heart of Obedience – V.9-13

TITLE: Set free to serve

TEXT: Galatians 5:13

Through Jesus Christ we have been set free:

1 – FROM SERVING OURSELVES - V.13a

Galatians 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 1:6 - “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel….”

Two destructive ways of viewing the Gospel:

- The lens of LEGALISM

- The lens of LIBERALISM

2 – TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER – V.13b

Gene Getz –“As believers, we are to give ourselves totally to one another – to literally become slaves to one another. What a contrast to modern society! Look at the newsstands and survey the titles of current magazines with their focus on “me” and “myself”. The thrust of these publications are that I am important; my rights are what are the most significant thing. If my rights conflict with your rights, I come first.”

TITLE: Getting to the heart of forgiveness

TEXT: Matthew 18:21-35

Henri Nouwen – “Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”

Ephesians 4:32 – “ Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Colossians 3:12-13 – “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Getting to the heart of forgiveness…We must be:

1 – ACQUAINTED WITH OUR OWN DEBT TOWARDS GOD - V.23-26

R.C Sproul – “It was an extraordinary sum of money. In Herod’s whole Kingdom, his annual revenue for the whole Kingdom was 900 talents. So this servant owed the King more than 10 times the annual revenue of King Herod.”

2 – AMAZED AT GOD’S GREAT MERCY TOWARDS US – V.27-35

What to do when someone hurts you?

FORGIVE.

D.A Carson – “In rabbinic discussion the consensus was that a brother might be forgiven up to three times; on the fourth, there is no forgiveness. Peter thinking himself big-hearted, volunteers ‘seven times’ in answer to his own question…”

TITLE: Now more than ever before

TEXT: Hebrews 10:24-25

Now more than ever before, we must:

1 – SERIOUSLY CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER - V.24

Donald Guthrie – “Something more than individual effort is needed if love & good works are to be fostered.”

Two points of application:

1A. We need help to love each other

1B. We need to help each other to love

Three simple ways to stir up one another to love & good works:

Learn together

Pray together

Go together

2 – CONSISTENTLY MEET WITH ONE ANOTHER – V.25

TITLE: A Word to Mothers

TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

As a fellowship, we must never underestimate the power of…

1 – A MOTHERS INFLUENCE - V.14

2 Timothy 3:10-11 - “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra…”

2 Timothy 1:5 – “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

Acts 16:1 – “He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek.”

Let’s make some application…

1A. Mothers of small children: You feel it’s too chaotic

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 - “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

1B. Mothers of adult children: You feel it’s too late

Luke 19:10 - “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Matthew 19:26 - “But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

John 6:44 – “No one can come to the Father unless I draw him…”

2 – THE WORD OF GOD – V.15-17

TITLE: Love one another

TEXT: 1 John 3:11-18

Rediscovering the necessity & power of life together…

1 – WE MUST NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF LOVE - V.11

John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

2 – HATRED MUST BE IMMEDIATELY PUT OFF – V.12-15

Genesis 4:3-8 - In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

Matthew 5:21-22 - “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

3 – WE MUST BE A COMMUNITY THAT’S MORE THAN JUST TALK – V.16-18