Welcome – 5

Welcome  – 5

Subject – Welcoming Everyone into the Community of God

By Rick Welborne

Genesis 2:18 (NKJV) 18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 

Matthew 18:20 (NKJV) 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." 

–Today I want to speak about the community of God and His invitation to everyone. The small elementary book The All Better Book children are asked to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. 

--“With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely. What do you suggest?”

1. A System Where No One is Lonely.

Kalani (age 8) - People should find lonely people and ask their name and address. Then ask people who aren’t lonely their name and address. When you have an even amount of each, assign lonely and not lonely people together in the newspaper. (Administrative gift)

Matt (age 8) - We could get people a pet or a husband or a wife and take them places. (Makes you wonder about his understanding of marriage).

Brian (age 8) - Sing a song. Stomp your feet. Read a book. Sometimes I think no one loves me so I do one of these. 

–This thing of being lonely is why we attend churches, join hunting clubs, have girls shopping days out.... why so many are joining on line...Find Me Somebody.com. King articulated the need.

Martin Luther King - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!".

 

2. No Pain Like the Pain of Loneliness.

–We would be shocked to know those around us who are so lonely or maybe we would not be surprised because we are. Home makers to CEOs are lonely and hurting. Lonely people in the Villages. Friendliest?

John Ortberg - If loneliness is common for women, it is epidemic among men. One survey indicated that 90% of the male population in America lack a true friend. “No one wants to admit they are lonely, “writes psychiatrist Jacqueline Olds. “Loneliness is something we associate with losers.” Loneliness has such a sting.

Mother Teresa - Loneliness is the leprosy of modern society.  And no one wants anybody to know they’re a leper.

“With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely.”

–We do everything we can to try to avoid being lonely...we stay busy, we marry someone less than our standard, we join clubs, we do things that are crazy to not be alone. Loneliness hurts.

–Anyone who had great success in life and accomplished great things but never had friends died with bitter regrets. Every one of them.

–Other side, I have never known of anyone who succeeded at relationships–who cultivated good friendships, devoted to their families, who mastered the art of giving and receiving love–yet had a bad life.

–We learn that what really matters to us is not how high on the totem pole we get; it is people who matter the most. This beautiful idea of community and oneness. 

3. We Were Made for Oneness. 

Genesis 2:18 (NKJV) 18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 

–Man needed someone to be one with...not a monkey, dog, cat, horse...someone made in His image.

Matthew 19:5-6 (NKJV) 5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 

6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate." 

 

–We were made for oneness. Loneliness is so painful. In v.18 it says man was alone and God said, “not good”.

“With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely.”

This oneness leads us into life giving relationships which makes us whole.

Alameda County Study - A Harvard study of 7000 people over a 9-year period found that the most isolated people were 3 times more likely to die younger than those with strong relational connections. People who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated. In other words, it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone. 

–What is this saying...we were meant for oneness in the framework of community...we desperately need each other. We need each other, Life Church! La Vida Church!

–There has been a steady decline in our American society of what sociologist call “social capital”– a sense of connectedness and community.

Robert Putnam - Bowling Alone: The level of community in America is at its lowest point in our lifetimes, and this loss of social capital results in lower educational performance, more teen pregnancy, greater depression, and higher crime rates.

4. The Answer: The Divine Community.

--“With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely.”

Someone did. That system is called community.  

Ortberg - I believe that if you had to sum up in a single word what God is up to, what His goal is in creating the universe and the persons who inhabit it, that word would be community.

Dallas Willard - God’s aim in human history is the creation of an inclusive community of loving persons, with Himself as its primary sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.

–To show how important community was to God we can go back further than when man existed and see what life was like for Him. This is the doctrine of the Trinity.

--The Trinity turns out to be vitally important because it tells us that God Himself has been experiencing community throughout eternity. Community is rooted in the being of God.

5. Life Within the Trinity - The Great Invitation!

–Frederick Bruner in an essay on the Trinity begins with discussing Holy Spirit.

Bruner - One of the most surprising discoveries in my own study of the doctrine and experience of the Spirit in the New Testament is what I call the shyness of the Spirit...What I mean here is not the shyness of timidity but the shyness of deference, the shyness of a concentrated attention on another; it is not the shyness (which we often experience) of self-centeredness; but the shyness of an other-centeredness.

–Holy Spirit is constantly drawing attention not to Himself but to Jesus. Holy Spirit comes in the Son’s Name, bears witness to the Son, and glorifies the Son.

–It is as if Holy Spirit is hiding but saying…Look at Him, listen to Him, learn from Him, follow Him, worship Him, be devoted to Him, serve Him, love Him, be preoccupied with Him.

–Jesus has this shyness...He didn’t go around promoting Himself...If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. Jesus submitted to the Spirit and was led in the wilderness.

–The Father has this shyness...this otherness as He says at Jesus baptism...This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased. The Trinity has this shyness...they point faithfully and selflessly to each other.

Dallas Willard - The Trinity is a self-sufficing community of unspeakably magnificent personal beings of boundless love, knowledge, and power.

–So what about this great invitation? Imagine with me the Trinity in a circle in perfect love and unity. We get God’s invitation to come into the circle. Everyone is welcome. Jesus explains this:

John 17:21 - 23 (NLT) 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 

23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.  

 –We have been invited into this fellowship of love...this community of love.  Why Jesus says:

Mat. 18:20 (NKJV) 20 Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." 

Ortberg - At enormous cost to every member of the Trinity, you and I have been welcomed to the eternal circle, to be held in the heart of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Therefore, to fail to prize community; to tolerate disunity with the people God loves–particularly disunity in the body of Christ; or to do things that could lead to disunity is unthinkable.

Spiritual Warfare – The Full Armor of God - 2

Spiritual Warfare – The Full Armor of God - 2

Subject: Fleshly Weapons Verses Spiritual Weapons

By Rick Welborne

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NKJV) ¹⁰  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
¹¹  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
¹²  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
¹³  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

--Let me say from the beginning of this message that there will be many who hate this message and many who will appreciate it…it all depends on how you fight spiritual warfare.

--There are many who, instead of magnifying the victorious work of Jesus over the powers of Satan and darkness, choose to add to the redemptive work of the cross of Jesus.

--In reality, all they are doing is changing one form of bondage for another but the second bondage is more dangerous because it is cloaked in a guise of being spiritual.

1. We Do Walk in the flesh.

2 Corinthians 10:2-5 (NKJV) ² But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
³  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
⁴  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
⁵  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

--Paul is saying, Hey guys, I am flesh, I am human, and I have no other choice but to live and operate in this fleshly tent God has given me. I eat, sleep, think, walk, and operate in this flesh.

--He was saying that we are bound to these earthly bodies until the rapture of the church or until we pass from this life into the glorious next life.

--This should give all of some consolation…Paul said, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh…He was aware of the weakness of his own natural man.

2. We Do Not War According to the Flesh.

--Paul wanted us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we do not war according to the flesh…according to his carnal natural body.

Rick Renner: The word “war” is taken from the word strateomenos, and it refers to the militant attitude of a trained soldier. It was particularly used to denote the committed attitude of a heavily dressed, trained to kill Roman soldier. 

--Roman soldiers, were no doubt, the finest military machines of their day and among the most skilled soldiers in the history of the world. They were trained to kill. 

--It was well known that these Roman soldiers had such a taste for blood that they requested being put on the frontline of a battle. That wanted to be able to strike first. Navy seals of that day.

--So what would Paul be saying to us about spiritual warfare…We do not war according to the flesh:

--His attitude was that of a Roman soldier and that he was determined to win the victory.

--He had no fear of being placed on the frontlines of the battle and going wherever God sent him.

2 Corinthians 10:15-16 (NLT) ¹⁵ Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended.
¹⁶  Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done in someone else’s territory.

--Paul was willing to go to places like Ephesus and Corinth where there was much sensuality and demonic activity. Paul was a frontline soldier of Jesus Christ. 

--As a soldier of Jesus he knew he could not war according to his own flesh.

--Please keep in mind that Paul was very educated and impressive naturally speaking. Yet, he knew that all of his worldly qualifications would gain him nothing in spiritual warfare.

Philippians 3:4-6 (NKJV) ⁴ though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
⁵  circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
⁶  concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

--He was the man but he said this fight…this fight with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places cannot be fought with just education and experience.

--Let me say here…this is not an invitation to be uneducated or to not learn from experience.

--Paul did not depend on his education to do spiritual warfare but his education submitted to the will of God made him more effective in his ministry (debating in cities of pagan gods).

--The point here is this…our flesh regardless of how impressive it is, is no match for a spiritual enemy.

3. We Must Fight This Fight with Spiritual Weapons.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (NKJV)
⁴  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
⁵  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
⁶  and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

--As we do this series we need to pay attention especially to these three words in this verse…weapons, warfare, and carnal. Let’s look at weapons first.

--Paul lets us know from the beginning that we have powerful weapons at our disposal but they are spiritual weapons. These weapons are offensive and defensive. Eph. 6 the armor of God.

--We are dressed to kill with the full armor of God and that is wonderful but we must be willing to pray in the Spirit until we get a divine strategy on how to fight spiritual warfare.

Rick Renner: This, in fact, is the primary reason most believers don’t experience victory in their personal lives. It isn’t that they lack the proper weaponry, God has already given them what they need! However, they don’t have a strategy that tells them how to attack. Hence, their weapons are of no avail.

--In order to receive a divine strategy, you must be willing to hear from the Spirit of God. This means you will have to spend time in praying in the Spirit, reading the Word, and seeking wisdom from God.

--Think about this verse again from the perspective of spiritual warfare…think about the weapons and the warfare we are in and how God helps us.

Romans 8:26-28 (NLT) ²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
²⁷  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
²⁸  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

--Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak from the attacks of the enemy. We don’t know how to pray against this spiritual warfare…Holy Spirit prays for us according to the will of God.

--When I read this verse about our standing with God my mind raced back to Eph. 6 where it says: When you have done all to stand, stand therefore…This standing is a military term.

--As they stand there in right standing with God, praying in the Spirit, God will surely defeat this enemy. Again think of these verses in light of spiritual warfare:

Romans 8:31-35 (NLT)
³¹  What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
³²  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
³³  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
³⁴  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
³⁵  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 

--We know God is for us in a spiritual battle, He will give us everything we need, He will take care of the accuser of the brethren. He will not allow the enemy to separate us from God.

Romans 8:37-39 (NLT)
³⁷  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
³⁸  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
³⁹  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.