Our Core – World Changers –

Transformation is our Destination     May 15, 2022

 

Introduction:

Who are we? Who is MVC?  Who are we together as a church, not who am I? That is the question we are addressing in this current series we are calling our core!

The value we are going to talk about this morning you might think, “Really.  Come on are you crazy?  Us?  Me? – Let’s get realistic “that is great motivational speech but let’s get realistic let come back down to earth!”

The value for this morning is “world changers! - Transformation is our destination. If you did not notice those are pretty big goals!

World changers – world changers!  That is a pretty big assignment and that is a pretty big aspiration!

Transformation – that is another pretty big goal – we are not just talking about seeing people change their behavior or morals, or switch their political allegiances, or start going to church.   We want to see people changed at the core of their being, turned upside down and inside out!

Big aspiration is not it.  Just how are we going to do that?   

This value tells us three things: who we are, where we are going and how are we going to get there!   Let’s start with who we are…

World changers!

Yes, that is who we are, that is who you are if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that is our identity because as we learned a few weeks ago those are the orders that Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and earth, left for His church.   

Jesus left us a worldwide mission, one that starts at home and goes to the remotest part of the earth!   Making disciples of all the nations, preaching His gospel to all creation.

In Acts 1 he calls us witnesses, in Matthew 5 he says we are the light of the world, 2 Corinthians 5 he says we are ambassadors of Christ.

So we do this not because we are big thinkers or a uniquely gifted church with great capacities and abilities, rather we do that because that is what Jesus called/ordered us to do and be!

Turn and read 2 Corinthians 3:4-6– made us adequate as ministers of the new covenant  

Great commission – promise “Lo, I am with you always”

Acts 1:8 that is why we were given the Holy Spirit to empower us to be His witness throughout the world.

These words, which Watchman Nee says, are the words I live by moment by moment!   Nee quote

The second thing we see in this value is where we are going 

Transformation is our destination.

The Greek word for transformation is metamorpho where we get the word English word metamorphous 

Vines Dictionary explains it this way – “undergoing a complete change which, under the power of God, will find expression in character and conduct; morphe lays stress on the inward change!”  

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 says it’s something that comes from the Holy Spirit as we behold Jesus, and as a result, the Spirit so deeply changes us that the very glory of God is reflected back out of us to others!   

Transformation is not behavior modification or external conformity to standards whether they are the world’s standards, the church’s standards or even the Bible’s standards.  

The Pharisees in the Scriptures were religious people who looked good on the outside but Jesus said on their inside they were full of dead man’s bones.

That is what behavior modification or external conformity produces

Transformation is a change at the level of our essential nature, the core of our being that goes so deep that it changes our attitudes, affections, thinking, desires, and actions!

So where do we start with such a huge task?

One life at a time!

It is kind of like the question – how do you eat an elephant? – One bite at a time.  How do we reach the world?  One life at a time!

It is not a matter of giving up the big dream; it is a matter of breaking the big dream down in to smaller pieces and just starting.

Image of the ladder.  

We need to remember that God has strategically scattered His church throughout the world and we together have this mission and

Our Core – Mission Driven Acts 1; Matthew 28   May 1, 2022    

Introduction:Two weeks ago on Easter Sunday, we learned that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Then the Bible tells us that Jesus walked on earth for 40 days before He ascended back into heaven.   What did Jesus do during those 40 days?Turn to Acts 1 where Luke summarizes for us the three main things Jesus was doing during that time. Read Acts 1:1-3

Three main things:Giving them orders – commands

Presenting Himself alive to them with many convincing proofs

Talking to them about the kingdom of God – Wouldn’t you have loved to be in on those discussions?

I wish the Bible would have recorded those discussions! 

This morning I want to focus upon the orders that Jesus gave them. We do not need to wonder about what those orders were because they are recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and right here in Acts.Yes, Jesus gave them orders, commands, directives, not some ideas or suggestions but some authoritative commands coming from the King Himself!

Today is the second week of 6-week series regarding the core of MVC!   The purpose of this series is to help us understand who MVC is at our core.  Our unique makeup and personality as a church.

To do that we are looking at our values and mission.

The value I want to address today is this:  mission driven – mission is why we exist!   Our mission can be taken all the way back to the orders that Jesus gave to His church during those 40 days that He was walking on the earth after His resurrection and before His ascension back into heaven.

We say this mission drives us because that is what motivates us to do what we do.   We are not driven in the sense of a taskmaster behind us driving us but rather we are internally motivated to do this mission because Jesus gave us orders that this is what we are to be about!  

This is why we exist, this is why we do what we do, and out of our love for Him, this is why we do what we do!

So now that we know that Jesus gave orders to his followers to do this let’s just take a quick look at this mission we were ordered to carry out.

 The missionLook down a few verses to Acts 1:8 – Jesus summarizes for them something that they had already heard on at least three other occasions before He ascended into heaven at the Mount of Olives.    Read  Acts 1:8They were going to receive the Holy Spirit to empower them for this mission!

The mission was to be His witnesses – those who can tell others what they have heard, seen and experienced with Jesus

They were to do it where they lived, the surrounding area and even to all the world!

Basically, a worldwide mission telling others about Jesus!

Listen to how Jesus said it to them before.Mark 16:15  

Luke 24:47-48 

John 20:21

Now turn to Matthew 28 where we see what is called the great commission  Note the context here –on a mountain in Galilee read Matthew 28:16-18

“Therefore” connects v18 to v17.   Note what follows is built off Jesus’ authority over heaven and earth, in other words Jesus’ right to tell us what to do – to give us orders.

Now listen to the mission that Jesus gave us that is based upon His authority.  It is going to sound a lot, like what we already heard with a worldwide mission but He expands on it and clarifies it more for us here. Read v18Make disciples

Three ways we do it – Going – be intentional to go share the gospel both where you live and around the world

Baptizing – those who respond to the gospel should make a public witness through baptism that they are now followers of Jesus

Teaching us to observe and then spend the rest of our lives learning what Jesus taught us and more importantly obeying it.

Thus, all of this brings us back to and explains why MVC is mission driven!

 ApplicationThus, MVC is a church that is driven by the mission Jesus gave to the church!  That is driven, or motivated and shaped by the mission that our King Jesus gave us.   We want to be intentional about making disciples for Jesus.

Our CORE: Better Together

Romans 12:3-6 April 24, 2022

I. Announcement

A. Update on mortgage and Easter offering:

1. Mortgage

a) Christmas 2020 – just 16 months ago, our mortgage was $780,000

b) Christmas 2021 - $358,000

c) End of April – $112,000 that is a $246,000 reduction in 4 months:

2. Easter offering

a) As of today - seed gift of $30,000 plus $56,000 in offering we have

$86,000 in hand

b) There is still a need of $99,000 to complete both projects of the parking

lot and the auditorium lights.

3. My hope by the end of the year is that the mortgage, parking lot and the

auditorium lights will all be completed and paid for!

a) Ongoing funds to continue to give

b) Write either mortgage, parking lot or lights

4. We can begin the work right away because the company doing the lighting

has the time to do it now and is going to allow us to begin the work right

away and we can just pay them as the money comes in.

a) What a gift, but we do not want to abuse their grace to us.

b) So pray and give as God blesses you!

5. When I think of what has happened in these two offerings I cannot help but

feel like Paul did in 2 Corinthians 9:12-15 when speaking about their giving.

Read

B. Pray for offering

II. Introduction:

A. One thing that has always amazed me is that fact that God can be so creative with

so little.

1. The best example of this that I know of is the fact that we all are made up of

the same basic stuff – take a head for instance – we all have two eyes and

two ears, one nose and one mouth and different amounts of hair and some

skin.

a) Look around, we all look so different yet we are all made up of the same

six basic elements.

b) God has nuanced each of these elements and how they interface with

each other to make us all unique!

2. You can say the same about our personalities up as well – we are all unique

in the way that God has nuanced our affections, emotions, intellect, desires,

dreams, etc. - no two personalities are the same.

B. The same is true with churches!

1. We are all basically made up of the same stuff: the Bible, worship,

fellowship, communion, prayer, a mission, vision, values, strategy, goals, and

theology!

2. But just like every person is unique so each church is unique and different

from others by the way the things that make up church are nuanced within

each church!

3. In my way of thinking, when it comes to Bible believing, Jesus trusting

churches it is not a matter of one being better than the other but rather an

issue of each being gloriously different for God’s unique purposes for that

unique church in that location at that time!

C. So today starts a six week series where we can better understand just who MVC

is, how we are unique from other churches that are like us and what is at our core

that makes us who we are!

1. Thus we are calling this series “our core”

1. “Our” because it is both personal and plural. This is not about an individual

as to who they are but who we are as a church, the people of MVC what

makes us unique as MVC

2. “Core” because that talks about the core, the heart, the foundation or the

central part of who we are.

a) Just like the core muscles in our body control and stabilize our bodies so

the other parts of it can do what they need to do so the core of MVC

controls and stabilizes who we are in everything else we do!

D. In this series I am going to just introduce us to our mission and values.

1. Power points that overview each point.

a) Mission

b) Values

• Today I want to start with …

II. Together strong – together is our vehicle

A. Power point of this value

1. A vehicle is simply the means by which you get from one place to another.

a) Each person is equally valued and each person is equally needed at MVC

to get us to be a church where people are following Jesus and impacting

others!

2. We see three areas in particular where our community together impacts us:

a) Discipleship – reaching others for Christ and becoming more Christ-like

ourselves!

b) Carrying one another’s bu

Evidences of the Resurrection

April 17, 2022

A. Easter Sunday! This is Super Bowl Sunday for the Christian and causes

Christianity and Jesus Christ in particular stand out from all other religions in the

world!

1. Did you know there are 4200 religions in the world but only one empty tomb?

2. Of those 4200 religions   of the world’s population practices one of the five

major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

3. Main person/being and or prophet

a) Buddhism - Siddhartha Gautama who is known as Buddha,

b) Hinduism - Brahman,

c) Judaism – many put Moses at top,

d) Islam – Muhammad ,

e) Christianity – Jesus Christ

B. Out of all the religions of the world April 17, 2022

C. And all the religious leaders in the world, only one has a leader who died and rose

again from the grave. No other religion or religious leader claims that.

1. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes Christianity and Jesus Himself stand

out from all other world religions and religious leaders.

D. Christianity stands or falls on the validity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1. John Stott says, “Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion.

The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is

destroyed!”

1. The Bible itself says this in the strongest of ways! – Listen 1 Corinthians

15:14,17-19

B. Thomas Arnold (professor of modern history at Oxford) said, “No one fact in the

history of mankind is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort [than the

fact that] Christ died and rose from the dead!”

1. Listen to what this Cold Case detective and former atheist, J. Warner Wallace

said:

2. Many people who have been totally hostile against Christianity and have set

out to disprove the claims of Jesus were converted in the process. To do so

they almost always focus upon disproving the resurrection of Jesus Christ

3. One, a lawyer Josh McDowell and the other a journalist Lee Strobel were

converted to Christianity and faith in Jesus through the indisputable evidence

of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

4. They both wrote books about their experience:

a) McDowell

b) Strobel

C. If you want to look into this more for yourself, you can follow up by looking at the

tract that we handed out to you when you came in this morning “Looking for the

Truth about Easter.” We also have a limited amount of copies available at the

Welcome Center of the two books I just mentioned.

● This morning I want to share with you, just three evidences that helped persuade

people like this. Let’s start with the

II. Historical records

A. We need to remember that the Gospels, the place where the resurrection is

recorded, are not just stories but actual historical events.

B. I do not know of any book that has been more closely examined by critics, both

those who are friends and foes, both believers and non-believers, than the Bible to

see if its records are accurate.

1. The outcome of those who study it closely is that the Bible is the most reliable

writings of antiquity!

2. Listen to what Luke said about his gospel read Luke 1:3-4

3. Sir William Ramsay, a Nobel Prize recipient, spent fifteen years seeking to

undermine Luke’s credentials as a historian and to refute the reliability of the

New Testament.

a) He finally concluded “Luke is a historian of the first rank … this author

should be placed along with the very greatest of historians!”

C. Even authors outside the Scriptures who were non-believers in Jesus Christ have

referred to His resurrection. One of those was a man named Josephus who was a

first century Roman-Jewish historian. He said this:

1. Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a

man, for he was a doer of wonderful works…He was [the] Christ; and when

Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned

Him to the cross, those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him, for He

appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine pro

Palm Sunday SAVIOR KING 

Matthew 21:1-10 & Luke 19:38-44

April 10, 2022  

Introduction:  

Many of you know and experience me as pastor, my wife knows and experiences  me as husband, my three daughters know and experience me as dad, and my  grandchildren know and experience me as grandpa.  

Recently my grandson, whose name is Johnny, who also comes here to MVC,  asked me “Are you a pastor?” and I said, “Yes, I am” Then he said, “I’m  going to call you Grandpa Pastor.” That is because Johnny knows me as both  a grandpa and a pastor.  

Actually the name Jesus Christ is the joining together of two different  identities and works that Jesus does, just like I am Grandpa Pastor to Johnny  so our Lord is Jesus Christ to us.  

a) Jesus means savior and refers to Him as the one who delivers us from sin  and danger  

b) Christ means Messiah – or simply referring to the one that God promised  throughout the Old Testament to send to be both their savior and their  king.  

(1) John 1:41  

(2) Listen to what the Jews said about him in the trial before Pilate -  Luke 23:2-3 (king)  

(3) Listen to what the chief priests and the scribes said about the Christ  at the cross Mark 15:31-32 (savior and king)  

c) If anyone understood the concept of what the Messiah was, the Christ  who was promised to come as their king to be savior, it would have been  the Jews and the religious leaders of the Jews.  

That is what Palm Sunday is all about – the triumphal entry, the time when Jesus  came to present Himself to them as the Christ, their king and savior and they 

rejected him which began a week of rejecting Jesus repeatedly as their king and  savior.  

My concern this morning is that many Christians know Jesus as their personal  savior but they do not recognize him as their personal king! We do it to our own  hurt.  

The triumphal entry was one of the major turning points in Jesus’ life and actually  in the larger story of the Bible as the long awaited Messiah/Christ had come and  presented himself to them as their king and they rejected him.  

Turn to Matthew 21 where we see the story of the Triumphal Entry  II. The Triumphal Entry  

Matthew 21:1-9  

Read 1-5  

a) V5 – king coming on a donkey – Matthew is putting in an editorial  comment on this story to let us know that what Jesus was going to do  was predicted by Zechariah 9:9 – that their king would come to  

Zion/Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  

b) Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey should have been a picture that  was worth a million words that every Jew should have known especially  their religious leaders.  

c) Story of Al Richmond at Easter musical and play – a full blood Jew who  was trained in Jewish schools all his life was radically saved when he  saw the one portraying Jesus coming down the aisle on a real donkey!  

Read 6-9  

a) Matthew tells us here how the crowd responded as they shouted out  praises to Jesus calling Him the Son of David.  

(1) That phrase is important because the Old Testament identified a  coming king who would save them as coming from the line of  

David.  

b) On top of that, the Old Testament made it clear that this Christ who was  coming to save them and be their king was going to be God Himself.  

So while Matthew shows us the response of the people, Luke shows us the  response of the religious leaders, those who should have understood best just what  was going on. Turn to Luke 19:37 

Read v37-38  

a) Again, we see the crowd responding with praise to God and here we see  that some in the crowd were actually calling Jesus the King who comes  in the name of the Lord.  

Read v39 -40  

a) But the religious leaders had a very different response as they told Jesus  He should strongly denounce what they are saying and correct them.  

b) Jesus response shows that what is happening is so big that if the crowds  themselves do not shout out in praise then the stones themselves will cry  out!  

Note Jesus’ response to this – read 41  

a) Note