2020.03.29 - God Is Speaking Are You Listening (1 Samuel 3:1-21 by Midway Baptist Church

In Closing:

I know that the Coronavirus is all over the news and has many anxious and distressed. However, I know that for many of you it is the least of your problems. Whatever, you are struggling with I want you to know, “You don’t have to go though it along.” Jesus is just a prayer away!

In this service Pastor Steve had the congregation pin their cards to the cross. Who are you going to evangelize in obedience to the Lord? Who is your one?

Who’s Your One?

Becoming a Fisher of Men

Text: Mark 1:14-20

Opening Statement:

This morning I want to present our 2020 Theme, “Who’s Your One?” Let's examine Christ's calling of these fishermen, it helps us see the question “Who’s Your One?”.

The Pattern of Jesus’ Calling

Jesus was totally sensitive to the needs of those around Him. Jesus always recognized an open heart, a repentant sinner. Jesus never was out of touch, when the crowd pressed around Him, He felt the faith of the woman who touched the hem of His garment. Christ’s Spirit filling us gives us the same Christlike empathy to make us sensitive to others, and to lead us to them or them to us. The question I want to ask you to prayerfully consider is who is someone you will commit to pray for and share the gospel with this year?

The Power of Jesus’ Calling

A fisherman needs to be patient, because he knows that it often takes time to find a school of fish. Fishermen learn to wait. It certainly takes patience to win others to Christ.

A fisherman must have good instinct for going to the right place and dropping the net at the right moment. Soul-winning demands skill too which we want to teach you this year.

A fisherman must have perseverance. It is not simply a matter of waiting patiently in one place, hoping some fish will eventually show up. It is a matter of going from place to place, and sometimes back again, over and over-until the fish are found.

But most of all, fishing demands faith: fishermen cannot see the fish and are not sure their nets will enclose them. Soul-winning requires faith and alertness too, or we will come up empty.

It’s not us its him, and that means we have no excuse!!! no reason to not follow him!!! not to comply! Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Cor. 3:6-8

With that kind of power behind your calling; Who will be your One?

The Presupposition of Jesus’ Calling

The Lord said, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” I am going to be blunt here and say the Church is largely sleeping in this area, which is sad to say the least.

Jesus has called us to be fishers of men – we have no business sitting on the shore when men and women are being lost on the sea.

In Closing:

Well what about you? Are you a fisher of men? Who are you trying to catch for Jesus? Are you praying for the souls of men?

James 1:5-8

James continues his address to his original audience (the 12 tribes dispersed Jam. 1:1) and speaks to them and us about wisdom. It is what we lack. We lack wisdom because we do not ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach. True wisdom can only come from God. Therefore James asks us a very important question about wisdom:

1. Why Don't You Ask?

When we seek wisdom for the difficult things in life we tend to search anywhere and everywhere but from above. James says we should ask of God who will give to us and with generosity. He will not chide us for asking.

He goes on to remind us that when we do ask it must be in faith without doubting. Why would we ask God if we doubted He was able? So James asks us another important question.

2. Why Do You Doubt?

When we doubt that God is able we are not fully embracing and acknowledging God as God. This causes problems in that we ask without faith and because we doubt we are tossed about like the waves of the sea. We have no stability nor are we firmly grounded in the knowledge of God that He is able. Furthermore, James tells us that if you doubt not only will you be tossed about like the waves of the sea but you also ought not to expect to receive anything from the Lord because you are double minded. The last question James asks us is:

3. Why Are You Double-minded?

Being double-minded sounds a lot like this. "I love God ... but..., I will serve God ... but..., I will obey God ... but..." You cannot love God, serve God, and obey God when you are double-minded because to be double-minded is to be two-souled and in constant disagreement with yourself.

Text: 1 Chronicles 29:14 & 2 Corinthians 9:7

Opening Statement:

Stewardship is not fund-raising; it’s basic discipleship. But in a similar sense, each believer must come to understand that giving is not just about “doing their duty.” Giving is actually a deeply personal indicator of our spiritual maturity as well as our love for God.

Step #1 Learning to Trust God through Giving

The ultimate outcome is that those who give as stewards experience a sense of intimacy with God that all followers of Christ long for. Giving becomes worship. Giving becomes a way of saying thanks to God for His grace and promised provision. Giving becomes a deep part of our personal connection to God.

Consider these Three Widows who grew in knowledge of God through giving

The Widow of Zarephath – 860 BC (1 Kings 17:7-14)

It should be no surprise to us that God uses the area of financial giving to test our heart and then to draw us close as we trust and obey Him.

Let’s just make a few observations about this widow that might fit our situation:

She was a believer in the true God.

She had serious financial needs herself.

She was asked to give away a big part of the little she had.

She heard God’s promise to provide for her if she gave.

She believed God’s promise and first gave obediently to God.

God show His care by providing for her needs miraculously!

The Widow and Jesus at the temple – 30 AD (Mark 12:41-44)

This is how God views giving today. God always sees the sacrifice of giving. That’s where the worship of giving really happens. It costs. King David once said, I will not sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing (1 Chronicles 21:24).

Again, let’s learn some basic lessons from this incident:

We are never too poor to give.

Giving generously means trusting God for the future.

God is honored by our degree of sacrifice, not the amount.

Giving is worship that expresses our relationship to God.

The Widow and God’s business (1990’s)

This story took place in modern times. It’s told in Ron Blue’s book, Generous Living (published in 1997). It’s the story of Christian woman named Ruby.

Step #2 How Giving connects us with God personally

These stories are not just about God’s reward for giving. They pull back the curtain on God’s desire to connect relationally with us.

Giving was the crucial element that connected each of them to God as they stepped closer to Him in personal trust.

Giving connects us to God relationally in a several significant ways.

Giving establishes our humility before God.

Giving is about me expressing to God that He is my superior. Giving is about me putting myself into a rightful humble relationship with God because He is the Owner and I am the steward. I am simply giving something to Him to express that I understand His ownership.

Giving establishes our worship before God.

Giving is literally worship. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops." The Hebrew word “honor” means to “glorify” or to acknowledge the importance of something. When applied to God, honoring Him means that we ascribe to Him the significance that He deserves as God.

Giving expresses our trust in God.

Giving is a test. (Malachi 3:10) “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Giving really is about trusting God. Trust is always based on a relationship. Do we know and trust God?

Step #3 Personal Story of God’s Faithfulness

Share your story with others and if you don’t have one yet; Start writing it today!

Opening Statement:

Discipleship is not a class; discipleship is a relationship.

To all that are listening to Jesus that day He is offering them a choice. He is asking them to choose to deny themselves and follow after Him or not deny themselves and follow the things of this world. This is an important matter in understanding what discipleship is all about.

Individual Invitation

“Then He said to them all. If anyone…” Jesus offers a universal invitation. Anyone is invited, but everyone who chooses must accept the terms of discipleship which is to follow.

Jesus gives an individual invitation saying, “you come follow me!” Jesus seeks us. He is inviting us to be His disciples—His followers. You and I are receiving an individual invitation to deny self and follow Jesus.

Drastic Devotion

Remember this is not some form of radical Christianity this is just how regular Christianity that should be lived out every day. In this text Jesus doesn’t give three distinct commands about following Him when He said, deny self, take up your cross, and follow me but instead this three-fold command to be synonymous with the radical idea to follow Jesus. Jesus set the example of drastic devotion when Jesus denied Himself by leaving Heaven and come as one of us. Jesus told the disciples, “I have not come to be served, but to serve.”

We also know that Jesus took up His cross. These are commands that leave us with the basic notion of what it means to be His disciple—to follow Him with a drastic devotion.

Paul said, as is recorded in Romans 8:29, that we are “to be conformed to the image of Jesus.” So that is the root of all that Jesus is saying here as is recorded here in Luke 9:23.

Definitive Direction

“Come follow me” is the command. There is a definitive direction. We follow Him. We are following a person not a philosophy. And where did He ultimately lead us to? To the cross.

Daily Decision

Jesus tells them this is not a one-time action but something that must be done every day. I have to deny myself every day. I have to take up my cross and be willing to sacrifice every day. I have to follow Him every day and I have to decide to that every day.

Competing Conclusion

Notice the competing conclusion we read in these two verses. When you serve self, you end up losing. When you submit to God, you end up gaining what you thought you were giving up. When you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus, you gain more than you lose.

Crucial Question

Jesus ask a rhetorical question in verse 25. Does it make sense to follow the world for the time that appears like vapor in this life and reject Christ for eternity? Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14 This is the crucial question for all of us.

Remember what’s in our two hands? In one hand all that we can have in this world but ultimately lose in the end. In the other hand all that we get from having a relationship with Christ as we follow Him all the way into eternity.

We all must answer this critical question.

So, what about you, which hand is more important to you?

In Closing:

“Discipleship is not a class; discipleship is a relationship.” It is a call to follow Jesus to become a disciple, to become like Him.

What about you? Would you call yourself a Disciple? Will you take Christ, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him? Or will you continue to hang on to the things that you are going to lose one day anyways?

2020.02.02 - Is Hell Real (Luke 16:19-31) by Midway Baptist Church

Midway Baptist Church seeks to glorify God by building the church of tomorrow today, through fervent prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and family ministry. In order to do this, Midway is prayerfully focused on three main components as detailed and commanded in Scripture:

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Family Ministry

Evangelism

Discipleship

On Family Ministry:

Midway Baptist Church seeks to grow the family unit as originally ordained by God in His providence and wisdom by teaching, equipping, and providing resources that encourage family discipleship in the home.

FM Objective: to train, equip, and encourage parents/guardians/grandparents/spiritual parents to be the intentional primary influence over their child's spiritual growth.

FM Goal: to see the church of tomorrow raised in the fear and admonition of the LORD, today!

On Evangelism:

Midway Baptist Church seeks to obey the "Great Commission" as given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20 through teaching & equipping God's people to evangelize the lost and dying world.

EV Objective: to train, equip, and encourage the body of Christ to execute the will of God by sharing the Gospel with unbelievers

EV Goal: to see disciples made of every nation, tribe, and tongue

On Discipleship:

Midway Baptist Church seeks to help both the new and seasoned believer alike grow in a more robust, deeper, and sanctifying truth, namely God's word. This is in obedience to the Father, to look more like the son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

DS Objective: to train, equip, and encourage the body of Christ; to train, equip, and encourage the body of Christ (Disciples making Disciples) in faithful obedience to God and growth in sanctification

DS Goal: to see the body of Christ look more like their precious savior each day until He returns or calls us home.

Opening Statement:

Paul appeals for us to live with godly wisdom and to make the most of every opportunity.

Wake up!

‘Wake up!’ Paul says.

There are a lot of sleepy churches and sleepy Christians. Paul gives us some reasons for waking up and walking in the light.

Because ‘The Days Are Evil’

Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The Bible teaches us that Satan is the ‘god of this world’ and the ‘prince of the power of the air.’ John also says that the whole world lieth in the wicked one. In addition, we learn from scripture that we are currently engaged in spiritual warfare with the power of darkness. Ephesians 6:12.

Because ‘The time is short’

Paul says in Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time …”

I don’t know what your plans or dreams are, I can only tell you this – “You’ve only got a limited amount of time to get it done.” Life is short and it takes hard work and intentional effort to turn dreams into reality. There are only a certain number of opportunities in life and that is especially true when it comes to leading others to Christ. Today there is an open window of opportunity; yet tomorrow it may be closed.

Live Wisely

Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Paul tells us to live wisely we must do two things:

Walk Circumspectly

To walk circumspectly means to live carefully. In other words, live with purposeful intention. The Psalmist said – So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

The thought is not so much – ‘count your days’, as ‘make your days count.’ Know what needs to be done and make plans to do it. Make the most of this life God has given you. Don’t waste it with foolishness.

There are at least three ways to live foolishly:

In defiance to God’s will

Independent of God’s will

Indifferent to God’s will

“Redeeming the time”

To redeem something is to recover it from the power of another. We live in a world where many are addicted to painkillers. Unfortunately, many are also addicted to ‘time-killers’; things that rob them of their most precious time and life.

In Closing:

The state of the church is the need of the church. Listen again to the warning that God gave to His people over two thousand years ago and consider how it speaks to the need of the church in 2020.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:14-17