The grass is greener where it’s cared for.

Luke 15:11 -31

The younger son believed that things were better on the other side. That’s why he asked for his share of the estate so he could go and explore them.

Changing external environment to satisfy internal needs. It’s so easy to get discontent with our living situation and think the grass is greener somewhere else. The problem is in our own hearts. We do not appreciate the things we have. 

Romans 12:2

Colossians 3:2

When we have the right attitude the grass is green enough. We need to take time to water and nurture what we have.

How to know if you have appreciation for what you have?

Look at your life and see what you’re grateful for. In your conversations with friends do you talk more about problems or things you are grateful for?

Do you put conditions on your happiness? I’d be happy if…

The grass is greener where you water it. The grass is greener where you do your best to improve.

John 13:34-35

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

* Jesus mentions:

* Love one another as He loved

* He loved graciously, unconditionally, sacrificially, honestly (not holding back the truth), and humbly

* By imitating his love, All Men will know who we follow (Christ)

* Not doctrine, how well we know bible, great worship, prayer life

* Our relationships serve a greater purpose than meeting to socialize or have friends

In the scriptures

* love one another, encourage, spur on, confess, submit, forgive, bear with, accept, honour, be at peace with, care for, serve, belong to, teach, admonish, etc.

* One another relationships are absolutely necessary

Mark 3:31-35

31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

* As disciples, we are family

Ancient Culture

* In ancient culture family was everything

* Jesus wanted people to know that the people of God are to be important, priority in our lives

* God was creating a new people, a family, centred around Jesus; brothers and sisters in Christ

* As disciples, we enter into the family of God

* God has expectations on how we treat one another that is different than the world

Requires we think differently

* Some never grasp the concept of one another Christianity

* Together for church, but togetherness is not a lifestyle

* Why?

* See Christianity as a solo endeavour

* No commitment, loyalty, other priorities

* Think not a big deal to be on their own

* Grasp, but an unhealthy view, unrealistic expectations based on how raised

* As a church we are joined together, put together, built together, heirs together, held together

* not created for isolation, but fellowship (connection)

* Accept One Another

Romans 15:7 – Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

* Jesus Accepted Us

* Jesus did say “get your act together and I will love and accept you”

* He loves and accepts us just as we are

* How did Christ Accept us?

* We are all broken people, yet he did not hold it against us; Desire a Relationship

* Some times we have a hard time accepting ourselves;  feel guilty, beat ourselves up

* Jesus accepts us, weaknesses and all

ii. Accept One Another

Romans 14:1-6, 10

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.

Luke 23:18-32

Being on death row is terrifying.

No matter how brace you are, fear and terror consume you as you’re expecting death. Imagine what Barabbas must have felt when prison guards came to pick him up for what he thought was his execution. But instead of taking him to die, they told him he was free.

Barabbas represents all of us. We may object under the pretext that we are good people. With the argument that we do not participate in terrible things or do what we may consider to be worst sins than others. We do not do drugs, murder all adultery, etc.

But we just as as guilty of sin as Barabbas was.

Mark 7:20-22

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

Barabbas did nothing to earn his freedom.  

Ephesians 8:9

How much do we appreciate the freedom that we have?

Romans 6:15-22

Freedom in Christ means being slaves to righteousness.

We don’t use our freedom in Christ as a license to sin. If we do it’s a sad spot to be in.  Using God’s grace in order to sin is like spitting into His face.

1 Corinthians 9:19-27

Having freedom means living with a purpose.  It makes no sense to move aimlessly in life. Every good athlete has a purpose to every move he or she makes.

Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13

Our freedom means that our brother and sisters are absolutely worthy of serving. My actions affect those around me. With that in mind I have to exercise my freedom.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

We need to use our freedom to serve others.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Freedom means that God has a different view of us than the one we have of ourselves.

Matthew 5:13-16

There were so many uses for salt in Jesus’ time. Salt meant so much more to people than it does to us today.

‘He’s not worth his salt’ was even an expression used to describe someone who was not a good worker. 

The only way to test if the salt lost its saltiness was to try it – add it to food.

Salt back then had all kinds of minerals and would often lose its qualities over time. Salt in our day is pure sodium chloride. It doesn’t lose saltiness easily as it did in Jesus’ time.

To stay salty is to live out the beatitudes. To be salty is to be like Christ. When we strive to be like Christ, we help the people around us develop a taste for Christ and be attracted to Him.

Jesus talked a lot about making an impact.

We are not called to become salty but to stay salty. We have an inborn saltiness in us.

We are here to flavor the culture, not bring pollution.

When Jesus talks about throwing tasteless salt away, he doesn’t mean salvation. He’s referring to one’s usefulness to God. Our impact is not visible.

Matthew 5:14

We are called to shine the light of Christ. We have something to offer to the world. We cannot be the people who have private holiness. Christianity is not a covert operation.

Matthew 5:33

Most cities were built on high places and made out of lime that would reflect sunlight and moonlight.

Matthew 5:15-16

We are commanded to let our light shine. The best way to let out light shine is by verbal testimony.

Matthew 28:16-20

God’s great commission is a privilege to work alongside with Him.

No matter where we are we can rekindle the light that we have. We can always stay salty for God.

John 21:15-19

People ask if they are loved out of insecurity when they have doubts. Jesus asked Peter for a very different reason. Jesus wanted Peter to reaffirm his commitment to Him.

John 13:36-38

Peter declared his unfailing love and devotion for Jesus but then went on denying Him three times. He said one thing and did another

John 14:15, John 14:21, John 14:23

Jesus indicated what love for him truly looks like.

Lack of obedience equals lack of love for Jesus.

Jesus expects ‘agape’ love which requires sacrifices and a willingness to obey whether we feel like it or not.

Peter felt too guilty to declare an agape life for Jesus because of all his past transgressions.

Obedience is the make of true discipleship.

If we love Jesus it must go beyond words or feelings.

It’s not always easy to obey. Obedience is not just for the times when it’s convenient, easy or in favorable circumstances.

Obedience unlocks the doors to spiritual blessings in our lives.

John 21:20

It’s so easy to take our eyes off Jesus. There are so many distractions. Jesus wants us to understand that our love and obedience to Him should have nothing to do with other people. It’s all about me and Jesus.

When we look at other people we can always rationalize our lack of commitment to Jesus.

Every single day we need to reaffirms our commitment to Jesus by thinking what He would have done in our place.

John 18:28-John 19:16

We have times when we have to make tough decisions. Some decisions we make have long-term consequences. 

Pilate was struggling with a decision. He grappled with the decision of what to do with Jesus.

The big question is, who has your ear? The people who surround you play a big role in the type of decisions you make. Make sure you don’t surround yourself with people who will tell you what your itching ears want to hear.

There are times in our lives when we need to surround yourself with people whose voice we NEED to hear as opposed to those who will tell us what we WANT to hear.

Pilate was hearing different voices: the Jews, his wife, the crowd, Jesus.

In a modern world an average person hears over 5000 messages and voices. How do we shut out the ones we don’t need? Pilate’s problem was his attempt to preserve himself. Pilot was listening to his own voice.

Luke 9:24

If your goal is to listen to your own voice Instead of God’s, you’ll lose it. Pilate had his career in front of God’s voice.

In trying to expedite the process over Jesus, he missed the opportunity of a lifetime to build his character. He knew the right thing to do.

We too know the right thing to do but we remained indecisive.

Pilate knew Jesus wasn’t a criminal. He sold his sound for position, power and prestige.

Pilate ended up being unemployed, lonely and unwanted. According to history he hanged himself.

When we are indecisive, indecision becomes our decision.

Make sure that when you know the right thing to do you do it.

What drives my indecision? Fear, laziness, insecurities? The foundation for moving forward is in Jesus’ words.

John 18:46

Who would go through everything Jesus went without having faith in resurrection.

John 19:11

Pilate thought that Jesus was on trial. In fact Pilate was. God is in control. We don’t have to remain in perpetual fear. We have God who is in control.

Learn how to take your thoughts captive.

Matthew 5:21-22

Thoughts have power. Jesus knew this and warned us about the power of thought.

James 3:5-6

How do we control our thoughts? How do we keep them captive ? We have 12,000 thought per day and God knows every single of them.

How many of those thoughts are about God?

Do you think of Jesus’ death outside church?

Colossians 3:1-2

Why is it important to set our minds on things above? Because setting our minds on things above is how we protect our hearts. Focusing on the things above is what helps us control our thoughts.

Proverbs 4:23

Our thoughts can fall into two folders: good and bad. Different triggers in life can send our thoughts into these two directions. The idea is to learn what those triggers are for us and channel our thought process in the right direction.

Hebrews 10:16-18

God doesn’t live in the past. He wants us to have childlike hearts.

We can choose to control our hearts, remembering that God forgave us. All we need is to keep our hearts pure.

Temptations will come but we need to be ready. The way to do this is to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 3:1

Having a positive mindset is important as it shapes the way you look at life. How you start your day is important as it will most likely have an effect on how your day goes and the decisions you make.

A practical tip for this would be to memorize a scripture. Have an anchor thought that will help you keep your thoughts captive.

The process isn’t easy but we need to start somewhere.

Philippians 4:8

Luke 7:7-10

When you stand next to a dying person who you love you feel powerless.  

The centurion had faith and Jesus’ authority. All he needed was Jesus’ word. This kind of faith amazed Jesus.

Why was the centurion’s faith was so great? Because he was a centurion? Because he wasn’t a Jew? No.

The centurion put all of his trust into Jesus’ authority. If we are to imitate this centurion we need to have a complete faith in Jesus’ authority.

Trust Jesus’ authority to forgive sins.

Matthew 9:6

Jewish Religious leader not only disbelieved Jesus’ authority they actively resisted it.

Often we act like those leaders. We follow unbiblical protocol of forgiveness. We withhold forgiveness as means to control relationships.

We are slow or unwilling to forgive someone before they fulfill all our conditions.  We make them earn our trust back with blood, sweat and tears.

At the same time when we sin, we don’t apply the same kind of right rules to ourselves. We expect other people to forgive in the blink of an eye.

If you’re ready to forgive, you’ll be able to forgive no matter if they follow all the rules.

Matthew 18:21-22

Jesus wasn’t giving Peter a number. Forgiveness is a matter of mercy, not numbers. When we are merciful, our forgiveness is quick and unlimited.

Flash forgiveness. Lightning repentance.  

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

Paul understood the concept of forgiveness.

Lack of forgiveness is one of the Satan’s schemes saying: ‘It’s ok not to forgive. As long as you have a good excuse – it’s fine.’

Forgiveness in Jesus’ church is not optional. We have to trust in Jesus’ authority to forgive sins.

-Jesus has authority on heaven and earth

Matthew 28:18-20

God in Control? No one likes to be coerced or forced to do something. The more you know God, the more you understand that forcing humans to do something He wants is not God’s style.

-In Control vs In Charge

God doesn’t control. He creates rules and they are the same for everyone. God’s rules are meant to keep us safe and prevent in from ruining our lives.  

Philippians 2:9-11

Credentials of Jesus

Exalted to the highest place

Given the name that is above every other name

Every knee should bow

Every tongue will acknowledge Jesus is Lord

Those are great credentials! Why would we bow to submit to anything else?

Colossians 1:18

If Jesus is the head we’d better follow him.

Matthew 6:24

Jesus is referring to the master who is charge of our lives. It doesn’t have to be money. Anything that comes between us and God.

Sometimes we struggle in our faith. This is different from rebellion. Struggling means you’re still fighting but you’re still not in the right place. I don’t care that you’re struggling but I care that you’re fighting.  As long as you keep trusting Jesus when you look back you will see valleys and deserts. All of them are required to shape you.

Luke 4:5-8

Typical scheme of Satan. Claims complete authority but delivers empty promises. They are all designed to distract us from worshiping God.

We have to be single minded in our devotion. Don’t serve any other authority other than Christ.