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My dear Muslim friends, That Allah does not love the sinner is abundantly clear in the Quran. Note just a few of the many passages in the Quran addressing this topic: “God loves not transgressors.” (2:190) “He loves not creatures ungrateful or wicked.” (2:276) “God loves not those who do wrong.” (3:57, 140) “God loves not the arrogant the vainglorious.” (4:36) Who is a sinner? Certainly the Quran regards anyone who rejects God as a sinner. But there is another person the Quran regards as a sinner. The person who once obeyed God, but turned away. “Say: ‘Obey God and His Apostle; but if they turn back God loves not those who reject Faith.” (3:32) The Quran has dozens of passages like this. It is a fact, nowhere in the Quran is God ever reported to love someone who does not love Him first, nor is Godi´s love ever used as the primary motivation to draw someone close to Him. In contrast, both the Torah and Injeel record that God loves everyone regardless of their sin. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:3-5) Note the contrast between this passage and the Quran in 2:190 “God loves not transgressors.” In both passages, people who have not yet turned to God are in focus. What a contrast! In the Quran, God simply does not love them. But if they turn, then God will love them. Whereas in the Injeel, God loves them and it is because of His love that He pursues a relationship with them. In the Prophets, God’s love for man is illustrated by His willingness to endure our sin as He waits for us to come to our senses about His character. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again and love Gomer, who is loved by her husband [Hosea], yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods….” (Hosea 3:1) It is interesting that such a huge variance in the character of God’s love should exist between the two books? Mohammed claimed He was revealing the will of God, who also sent the Prophets and Isa. Both Moses and Isa characterized God as loving the unrighteous and desiring to draw the unrighteous to Himself by means of His love. This is something the Quran does not do. Take your own normal relationships as an example. Certainly your ability to love and express your love is imperfect, being that you are only human. Yet the Quran ascribes a lesser ability to love, on the part of God, than even normal human beings who have rejected Him. Consider this: The vast majority of parents love their children unconditionally. Even when their children do wrong, their parents still love them and express their love to them in some fashion. There are many parents whose children have turned to gross immorality, or violence as a lifestyle. Some even turn against their parents more directly. Yet in the majority of cases, though those parents know their children have filled their lives with evil, they still love them and hope that their expressions of love will eventually turn their children back from the brink of destruction. Nowhere in the Quran is God ever described in this manner. In fact, the opposite is true. He only loves those who obey or love Him first. The God of the Injeel loves deeply and unconditionally.

To my dear Muslim friends: The Quran and the Injeel (the Gospels) in the Bible reflect very different views of God. God’s love is the basis for all relationships and behaviors. To imagine that God could love someone unconditionally is a concept unique to Christianity. Many of the concepts taught within the Quran appear at their surface to be quite similar, if not the same, to concepts in the Injeel (Gospels). This is certainly true regarding teachings about many moral standards and codes of personal behavior. However, the basic fundamentals of each faith differ sharply. Probably the most important difference is the teaching about God’s love. In the Torah, the Love of God is given as the very reason that God selected a people for Himself to save. “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendents after them…” (Deut. 4:37). The Torah also notes that God loved His people though there was nothing special about them. “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you [were] the fewest of all people….” (Deut. 7:7) Even in the Injeel we see that Godi´s love for man is given as the primary reason He sent Isa as the Messiah. “For God so loved the world He gave His One and Only Son….” (John 3:16). Also, “This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10) These, and many other passages in the Bible portray God as loving those who don’t love Him, and working to redeem those very same people. Some apologists call this, unconditional love. We might also call it, unequalled love. As a Muslim, you know that God is merciful, and compassionate, along with many other of descriptions of His character. It is comforting to know that God has such qualities. That God is compassionate and merciful is not in question, rather, to whom is He compassionate and merciful, and why? This is the key difference between the Quran and the Injeel; especially if these characteristics are qualities of God’s love. The picture painted of God’s love by the Quran is very different from the Injeel. Each section below outlines the main points the Quran gives regarding God’s Love: The Quran: God does not love the sinner. God’s love is reserved for those who do good. God’s love is conditional, based upon our deeds. God’s people love him, but obedience is the requirement. Consequently, God’s people imitate God’s love. The Injeel: God loves everyone, regardless of sin. God’s love is for everyone. God’s love is unconditional, being based upon His character, proven by His deeds. God seeks a personal relationship with us. Consequently, God’s people imitate God’s love.

Can you protect your child? As parents we often want what’s best for our children – I love what Psychologist Jonathon Haidt suggest about hardships and how they shape us ~ he gives this hypothetical exercise: Imagine that you have a child, and for five minutes you’re given a script of what will be that child’s life. You get an eraser. You can edit it. You can take out whatever you want. You read that your child will have a learning disability in grade school. Reading, which comes easily for some kids, will be laborious for yours. In high school, your kid will make a great circle of friends; then one of them will die of cancer. After high school this child will actually get into the college they wanted to attend. While there, there will be a car crash, and your child will lose a leg and go through a difficult depression. A few years later, your child will get a great job—then lose that job in an economic downturn. Your child will get married, but then go through the grief of separation. You get this script for your child’s life and have five minutes to edit it. What would you erase? Wouldn’t you want to take out all the stuff that would cause them pain? If you could wave a wand, if you could erase every failure, setback, suffering, and pain—are you sure it would be a good idea? Would it cause your child to grow up to be a better, stronger, more generous person? Is it possible that in some way people actually need adversity, setbacks, maybe even something like trauma to reach the fullest level of development & growth? *Condensed from Leadership Journal, © 2009 Christianity Today International. (article author: John Ortberg) So, may you and I be reminded of God’s proximity in the midst of our moments of calamity. May you open yourself to what those moments can produce within you, how they can sweeten you and how it can increase your trust in him! 1 Peter 3:7; James 1:2-4 ~Jack (I’ll leave you with this thought)… “Christianity does not so much offer solutions to the problems of suffering, but rather provides the promise of a God who is completely present with us in suffering. Only Christians believe in a God who says, “Here I am alongside you. I have experienced the same suffering you have. I know what it is like.” No other religion even begins to offer that assurance.” ~Timothy Keller, author & pastor

Sometimes we don’t realize how “far down” Jesus had to go to save sinful man. I guess it’s because we really can’t get a handle on the holiness of God. A story I read really gave me a picture of what Jesus sacrificed to come from heaven’s glory to “earth’s dungeon” and be born a tiny, helpless infant. On June 5, 1978, a seven-year old boy named Martin Turgeon slipped off a wharf and fell into the Prairie River in Canada. At least a dozen adults saw him struggle for a few moments before he sank & drowned. Why didn’t anyone dive in to save him? Just upstream, a plant used to dump raw sewage right into the river. The water was dirty—dangerous to your health. So, nobody jumped in to save Martin Turgeon. SomeONE did jump in for YOU! God thought you were worth jumping in after…that’s what the Nativity proves…unwrap the wonder of that again. John 3:16 / Ephesians 2 Frederick Buechner said “Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of Him again. Once they have seen him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear or to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of man… And, this means that we are not safe, that there is no place where we can hide from God, no place where we are safe from his power to break into and recreate the human heart because it is where he seems most helpless that he is most strong and just where we least expect Him that he comes most fully.” The Nativity – is the profound picture of God – the ONE that notices & responds. As you see a Nativity this CHRISTmas season – PAUSE… Take a moment to thank God for being willing to ‘jump in’ for you. Take a moment to pray & ask Him to show up unexpectedly again into your life. Take a moment to make sure you’re not missing His already unannounced entrances… What did Jesus jump in & save you from? What might he be wanting to save you from now?… ~ Jack

Our assumptions about Paul’s view of women in ministry are surprisingly challenged in Romans 16. God’s desire is for men and women to be restored to their equal standing before the fall of Adam and Eve. Churches can increase their effectiveness when women are allowed to lead and minister as God originally intended. Casas Adobes Baptist Church Romans 16 S-1716 “strong-weak” Christian question from Ladies Retreat yesterday….. SLIDES: TOP 10 FEMALE DRIVERS How many of you think that a woman took those pictures? No, of course not! Men making fun of women. SLIDE: Call it battle of the sexes. It goes on in every culture. Barbara Bacon stuck her head into my office several years ago: “What is the Greek word for ‘woman’?” “‘Gune.’ Why do you want to know?” “I was in Gary Shrader’s office (Gary of the 4 box fame of the last two Sundays) and he told me it was ‘YakYak.'” Barbara left office and returned: “What is the Greek word for ‘man’?” I thought a minute: “courageoso.” Barbara was gone about 7 seconds: “No, it is not. I think it is ‘Ego Ego.'” But, in some ways, the battle is no joke. How many of you believe that women are treated in our society with the same equality as men? How many of you believe that women receive the same pay for the same amount of work as men? How many of you believe that women are treated equally and fairly in the Christian church? This ought not to be! Why the ongoing battle? SLIDE: Genesis 1-3 Reveals God’s Original Design. SLIDE: GENESIS 2:18: The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” “Helper Suitable:” woman is the counterpart of man: interlocking fingers Man and woman are to work together like two finely meshed gears. Then—the Fall into sin. SLIDE: Genesis 3:14-15: So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Is Genesis 3:16 is a Curse on Satan—but, no curse on the women or the man. SLIDE: Genesis 3:16: To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Not a curse, it is a consequence: This is not God’s design and it doesn’t have to be this way. Show you what is happening here. Desire–“You are Turning” God says, “You have turned from me and now you are turning to your husband. He is going to rule over you. “Supposed to turn to me and desire me: Love Lord God with all your heart.” Now look what you have done! No more harmony. No more counter part. Forever after men are justified to rule over women. This is the consequence for first eating the forbidden fruit. Fall also has a consequence for men. SLIDE: Genesis 3:17: To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. The ground is cursed—not Adam—but he has to bear the consequences. In Christ, God’s desire is for men and women to be restored to the place they had before the fall. The glory of Christianity is restoration. SLIDE: No one is more concerned with restoring women to their proper place than the Apostle Paul. SLIDE: Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Do you see the restoration? Probably the most profound New Testament insight regarding the respective status of men and women in the Christian community. In the society of Paul’s day women had little or no standing whatsoever. BLACKBOARD: Jewish Society: A woman was forbidden to learn the law Women had no part in the Synagogue service; they were shut apart in a section where they could not be seen, and were allowed no share in the service. Greek Society The respectable Greek woman lived a confined life. She never appeared on the street alone; she never went to any public assembly; much less ever speak in an assembly. In those days education was the privilege of the men. The Greek language had a special word for almost everything—but there was no special word for “wife.” Same word, “gune” (γυνη) use the context. (By the way, we get our English word, “goon” from this word! Just kidding!) SLIDE: 1 Corinthians 11:11-13: “In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” The companionship between man and woman is broken all over the globe. Paul leaves no doubt through Christ, God has every intention of bringing restoration to the male-female relationship. SLIDE: PAUL’S RESTORAION OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN IS SURPRISING BECAUSE MANY CONSIDER Him A CHAUVENISTIC SEXIST. 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 women can’t speak in church. Yet: 1 Corinthians 11:5 talks about a woman praying and preaching in church. Talking about rules for tongues. Integrating cultural practices with liberating Christian truth. SLIDE: 1 Timothy 2:11-15: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. Egnamatic passage: Misunderstanding brought hurt, confusion and bondage to women. There is a sudden change from “women” in verses 9-10 to “woman” in verses 11-15. The Greek makes no distinction between “woman” and “wife.” In Martin Luther’s German version verse 12 reads “I permit not a wife to teach nor to have dominion over her husband,” implying that this is simply a family matter; it has nothing to do with church worship. “Let a women learn…” (culture where they were forbidden to learn) and then he goes on to give Timothy the reason why. His mind goes back to Eden, and he remembers how Eve through her innocence and immaturity had fallen victim to the wiles of the devil and had become “thoroughly deceived.” Yes, she was once deceived, so teach her! She has been restored through the work of Christ on the cross. Let’s get back to headship and counterparts as I designed it. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. This doesn’t mean that if she has kids and remains faithful and loving she can go to Heaven. No, because of the promise that the Messiah would come through woman, because Christ has now come, she can be saved, restored to her proper place with her husband before the Fall. Of course, if she turns from the faith, becomes selfish and unloving and lives an impure life, she will never know the intimacy of partnership God designed for her. Paul Yonggi Cho in 1982 in korea; church of 700,000. Speaking to a group of American pastors. “Biggest hindrance of the American church is the under-utilization of the women in the church. Through a series of beliefs that are more cultural than theological you are attempting to advance the Kingdom of God on earth with one hand tied behind your back. You would double your power, resources, and effectiveness if you would allow women to lead and minister as God ordained them to do.” To that Paul would shout a hearty, “Amen!” I know that is true because of how he commends some precious women as he closes Romans. SLIDE: Romans 16:1-16: Of the twenty-nine people, nine are women. Phoebe Romans 16:1-2: I commend to you our sister, a servant [deaconess] of the church in Cenchrea. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Letter of introduction: sustatikai epistolai. Phoebe was the bearer of the letter to the church at Rome. “Great Help:” The word occurs no other place in the New Testament, but is the feminine form of the Greek word prostatès. According to Liddell and Scott’s lexicon the literal meaning is “one who stands before, front rank man, leader, chief, protector, champion.” Priscilla Romans 16:3-5: Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. The order here is significant: The wife’s name first, because she was foremost, no doubt. Could have been rich woman married to slave. They risked their lives for him and that “all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.” We do not know how they risked their lives for Paul, but it may have been at Ephesus when the mob led by the makers of idols of the goddess Diana were rioting. Mary Romans 16:6: Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Junias Romans 16:7: Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Imprisoned with Paul. Crysostom in his exposition of Romans 16:7 (homily 31) comments: “Oh! how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the name of apostle!” Tryphaena and Tryphosa Romans 16:12: Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. They were very likely twin sisters – he wrote them with a smile. The verb kopian (copius) means “to toil to the point of exhaustion.” Tryphaena and Tryphosa means respectively “dainty” and “delicate”! It is as if Paul said, “You two may be called dainty and delicate; but you have worked your tails off for the sake of the church and for Christ.” Persis Romans 16:12: Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Here he uses the past tense. This probably means that Persis was old; her hardworking days were over. Yet although she could no longer work as she once had, what she did was remembered and she was highly regarded. Paul calls her “my dear friend”. Rufus’ Mother Romans 16: 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Her husband was Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Christ—became a Christian and led his family to Christ Nereus Sister Romans 16: 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them. Nerus and his sister were children of the man who implemented the death of Christians during the Neronian persecutions of the early 60s. Saw the testimonies of dying Christians and became Christians. BLACKBOARD: New Testament tells us of women laboring in the four areas mentioned in Ephesians 4:7-13: pastoring and teaching evangelism, prophesy, acting as deaconesses and leaders in the early church, and even fulfilling the role of apostles missionaries in taking the gospel to foreign lands. Letter From Pliny The Younger (Ad 62-113) SLIDE: “I thought it the more necessary to inquire into the real truth of the matter by subjecting to torture two female slaves who were called “deacons,” but I found nothing more than a perverse superstition which went beyond all bounds…. Pliny chose these two “female slaves” to torture because they, like Phoebe, held some official position as deacons and could reveal what Christianity was all about. SLIDE: PERPETUA was a young married aristocrat who lived in Carthage, North Africa. At the age of twenty-two she was tried before the procurator who asked, “Art thou a Christian?” “I am” she answered. Her diary is preserved: “Then he passed sentence on the whole of us, and condemned us to the beasts…. Then because my baby was accustomed to take the breast from me, and stay with me, I asked my father for my baby. But my father refused to give him. And as God willed, neither had he any further wish for my breasts, nor did they become inflamed; that I might not be tortured by anxiety for the baby and pain in my breasts. Then she summoned her brother and spoke to him: “Stand ye all fast in the faith, and love one another; and be not offended by our sufferings.” The story is finished by Tertullian: For the young women the Devil made ready a mad heifer…Perpetua was tossed first, and fell on her loins….Then, having asked for a pin, she further fastened her disordered hair. For it was not seemly that a martyr should suffer with her hair dishevelled, lest she should seem to mourn in her hour of glory. So revolutionary was the power of the Gospel in early church times that Libanius, the heathen philosopher, exclaimed, SLIDE: “What women these Christians have!” SLIDE: Ephesians 5:21: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. See the restoration… Ephesians 5 relationship: Engaged couple volunteers to illustrate sun and moon. SLIDE: Romans 16:25-27: Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him- 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

In order to find purpose and meaning in life, we must learn to recognize God’s will. The Bible identifies six principles that are explicitly the will of God for us. When these are in place, we can learn the specifics of God’s will for our lives with some practical how-to’s: responding in obedience, humbling our hearts, searching the Scriptures, gathering pertinent facts, seeking wise counsel, prayer and listening for God to speak. “R U RUNNING?” S-1769 Funny Skit on priorities and the things in life we are chasing BUMPER VIDEO: ●SLIDE #1: Are You Thirsty? Jesus’ Living water I have chosen four things that can stem the living waters that Jesus’ promised from flowing out through our souls. ●SLIDE #2: ●We began three Sundays ago with “R U Stressing? ●SLIDE #3: ●Two Sundays ago “R U Pretending?” ●SLIDE #4: ●Last Sunday “R U Bitter and Unforgiving?” Preach it Teach It sermons and CDs on sale. ●SLIDE #5: ●Are You Running Aimlessly?” A lot of people don’t have life figured out. Most can’t define success beyond paying the bills or whether or not my favorite football team made it to the super bowl. Some of us have no idea what is the clear-cut purpose of our lives. We haven’t thought much past next month. Want to tell grandchildren what your life was really all about. Here is what I set out to do. What I am all about—what will you say? Mom: My purpose in life is to raise you boys with proper character and values for life.” Some of us are still struggling with the basic questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?” ●SLIDE #6: What is God’s will for my life? ●SLIDE #7: Rhonda Sprunger: “To give Him glory in whatever way He chooses for me.” They told Jesus, you mom and brothers and sisters are waiting out side to see you. ·SLIDE #8: MATTHEW 12:50: “For whoever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother. The Bible Identifies Six Things That Are Explicitly The Will Of God For Us. ·SLIDE #9: 1. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOR AND LORD. READ 2 PETER 3:9: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER DRAW SLIDE #10: three circles and darkened spirit which is cleaned up at conversion. Spiritual radio receiver ready to hear from God. In order to fine purpose and meaning for life we must include God in the equation. We cannot find the will of God or the purpose of life alone. ●DRAW SLIDE #11: Godel’s Incompleteness Theory: There are limits to what we can know in any system. There will always be truth outside of the system. Need the truth outside of the system to figure out the system. Transcendance: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: Quantum level: Can know position or velocity but never both: Limits to quantum mechanics. Something has to come from outside the system to solve the problems—can’t solve the problem. Entanglement issues and transfer of information tell us the limits of relativity theory. Touring Computers: Theory of incomplete computation: Feed computer unsolvable problem and it will run forever and never solve the problem. Needs help outside the system to solve. We are in Box System: Theory of incompleteness applies here as well. ·SLIDE #12: Colossians 2:8-9: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you are complete in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Story of 80 year old man so excited about coming to Christ at Casas. Wife was overjoyed—first person I have ever helped lead to Christ. ·SLIDE #13: 2. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE KEEP ON BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. READ EPHESIANS 5:17-18: Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. “Foolish” So if you don’t understand what His will is, what are you? Ah, that’s hard to say. Well, what is the will of the Lord? Read the next verse. DRAW on title slide: draw circles and filling of spirit fill middle circle Contrast: When drunk with wine, in control of an inside agent. As Christians, must yield control of life to inside agent. Only this agent is not alcohol – it is the Holy Spirit. Like take glove and say “Glove, go play piano.” What is it going to do? Nothing. Gloves can’t play the piano. Have 5 fingers and are flexible – but it needs a hand. Now if I pick up glove and put my hand in it and try to play piano, what happens? Chaos. Julie plays Point is, if put hand in glove, it just goes. Doesn’t get pious and say “Oh fingers, I’ll follow you forever. I’ll do your commands.” If just goes. As Christians, we’re like a glove. A lot of gloves are lying around groaning and wondering why they haven’t gone anywhere – and I’ll tell you why – it’s because they’ve never been filled with H.S. Notice – it’s one thing to have the Holy Spirit. It’s quite another thing to keep on being filled with the Spirit. ●DRAW SLIDE #14: three circles with Sin and Self clog the pipeline Draw Picture of Bucket being filled up: potatoes—gold balls—marbles—grave. At what stage of filling are you? DUI: Breath analyzer: breath out alcohol—or breathe out Jesus into people’s lives. ·SLIDE #15: 3. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE BE PURE AND HOLY—SANCTIFIED = SEET APART FROM WHAT DIRTIES UP OUR LIVES. READ 1 THESSALONIANS 4:3-7: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, …. The Lord will punish men for all such sins … For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.” “Sexual sin is any sexual perversion from adultery to homosexuality to bestiality to pornography to indecent exposure to … Here some young person saying “How far?” – now that’s a good question – very practical. Stay far enough away to be what? 99 44/100% pure? – Well – no – far enough away to be pure. Now, some people never indulge in sex sins but they certainly don’t mind watching other people do it. It is one thing to do it and another thing to be entertained by it! NO! As far as your Christian purity is concerned, it is the same thing. Hidden dirt: Julie doing laundry: No napkin: wiped mouth on sleeve: Wiped chocolate under arms. STORY: Anatomy of Lust: Have God or have luscious Cheryl Teiggs (Heidi Klum; Angelia Jolie) ·SLIDE #16: 4. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE SUBMIT TO EVERY AUTHORITY—EVEN WHEN SUBMITTING BRINGS PAIN OR SUFFERING. READ 1 PETER 2:13-15: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Obey speed laws. Ouch! To Chip Brigham, “If you caught me speeding, would you give me a ticket?” “If you caught me sinning, would you confront me about it?” It’s God’s will that we submit to government! What if government comes out with law I don’t agree with – Doesn’t matter – obey. Obey your boss. “Yeah but you don’t know boss that I have.” Doesn’t matter – Submit. You have a perverse one. Obey him. “Put to silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” Where is first contact which people have with Christianity? Not at church – but on job or in neighborhood. Must be submissive to state & employer because this shows true character of the believer. Chaplain in state prison tells of interviewing a new prisoner. Prisoner: “Say, I’m a minister, too. I was a preacher before I came here.” Chaplain: “Then what are you doing with that number?” Prisoner: “Man, that’s a long story.” Chaplain: “Well do me a favor, tell me a little of it and then don’t tell anyone else that you were a preacher…you’re bad advertisement Dr. Harold Fickett, 1st Bapt. of Van Nuys, California tells of seeing this happen in a traffic jam. Guy pulled up behind Christian in traffic jam. Began to honk: BEEP BEEP BEEP, Christian was just fuming, you know how you get – BEEP BEEP BEEP. Finally Christian got out of his car, fuming mad and came around: “Why don’t you stop that!” “Why I just saw your bumper sticker “Honk if you love Jesus.'” ·SLIDE #17: 5. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE SUFFER FOR DOING SOMETHING GOOD—NOT SOMETHING BAD. You say, “Well, I finally qualify. Boy do I suffer. I suffer like crazy.” 1 PETER 3:17: It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 PETER 4:19: So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. ·SLIDE #18: Randa leading woman’s meeting in country I can’t mention. She is at podium. She has a ministry to girls raped and thrown out of family. 72 Muslim women so stifled and confined are surrendering to the freedom of life in Christ—facing rejection when they get home. Possible death. It’s God’s will that we suffer for well being. Rest assured that when you live a godly life in an ungodly society that you’re going to suffer. That’s His will. ·SLIDE #19: 6. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT WE BE JOYFUL, PRAYFUL AND THANKFUL ALWAYS. READ 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18: Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Attitude: follow an old sour-puss Person others like to be around Eric Army Children Moms: Kids who are forced ot move often have two extreme. Life is a great adventure or Angry at bitter. Eric: My observation is that it all depends on the mother! If she looks at it as an adventure so will they. If she is angry and bitter about always moving, so will they. If you are doing these 6 things, – you just do whatever you want. That is right, do whatever you want. ·SLIDE #20: PSALM 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” “Delighting in the Lord” is following His will for your life—these six things! Hear this verse so misused. People say “Just Praise God and He’ll give you whatever you want?” NO! NO! Hebrew construction reveals differently! It’s not that He gives you what you want, He gives you the correct wants. He puts the right desires in your heart! “You mean, if I do these 6 things and I want a new car then it’s God’s will for me to buy the new car?” Yes, but just remember, when you’re doing these things God may change your priorities and you may not want that car after all. None of us do these six things perfectly. We are working in partnership with God to get his will ·SLIDE #21: PRACTICAL “HOW TOs” FOR KNOWING GOD’S WILL ·SLIDE #22: 1. Commit To Doing God’s Will Whatever It May Be (John 7:17). Otherwise, don’t bother with the rest of the suggestions below. READ John 7:17: Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. Man in my office: “Will you commit to do God’s will whatever It might be. “First, I want to see what it is. Prior to their wedding, David and Susan met with the minister to discuss their marriage ceremony and various traditions, such as the lighting of the unity candle from two individual candles. Couples usually blow out the two candles as a sign of becoming one. Their minister said that many people were now leaving their individual candles lit to signify independence and personal freedom. He asked if they wanted to extinguish the candles or leave them burning. After thinking about it, David replied, “How about if we leave mine lit and blow hers out?” ·SLIDE #23: 2. Humble Your Heart In Trust Before The Lord A little boy walked down the beach, and as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand. He walked up to her and said, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes.” “Do you read your Bible every day?” She nodded her head. “Yes.” “Do you pray often?” the boy asked next, and again she answered, “Yes.” With that he asked his final question. “Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?” ·SLIDE #24: 3. Search The Scriptures To Find Passages Applicable To Your Situation And Then Interact With The Holy Spirit In Discerning How They Apply. Most of the situations, opportunities, and decisions the average person encounters in life are already dealt with in the Word of God. A girl once asked me to pray with her for her life’s mate. Said, “I’ve prayed and agonized and can’t find out for sure. I want to marry a fellow who’s not a Christian and I want to know whether or not that is His will.” You can stop praying. God’s already revealed it!” “Really? Where?” “in the Bible – Be not equally yoked with unbelievers.” – Don’t even need to waste time with that one. God says, “No.” Well she went ahead—and she shouldn’t have. ·Slide #25: 4. Gather Pertinent Facts And Make A List Of Pros And Cons. As we seek to know God’s will, we must gather all the facts we can and assess them, because our decision must be based on knowledge and not hearsay. ·SLIDE #26: 5. Seek Wise Counsel Proverb 15:22: Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. A loving and wise friend can often see dangers and detours that are hidden from us. Buck and measuring tape. Not every friend is a good counselor, so we must choose wisely. Three men were marooned on an island. Suddenly a genie appeared and said, “What would you like to have? Any wish is yours.” One man said, “I miss my family in L.A.” Whoosh – and he was gone. Another said, “I miss my brokerage in Boston. I wish I were back at my desk. I wish I were at work.” Whoosh – and he was gone. Then the third man said, “I’m lonely. I wish my friends were back here.” ·SLIDE #27: 6. Pray for God to make the plan so clear that we can’t miss it. ·SLIDE #28: 7. Listen And Wait Quietly For God To Speak a. In Bible Verses B. Through God’s People C. By Providential Circumstances D. During Worship And/Or Prayer E. Through Trials And/Or Sufferings F. By laying out “Fleeces” (Judges 6:17-40) (Only If God Invites You To Lay One Out) G. Through Inner Promptings In The Human Spirit We are back to where we started. So, when we have a decision to make, ·SLIDE #29: Do Whatever Your Heart Leads You To Do PSALM 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Paul learns contentment in a Philippian jail. The apostle encourages us to rejoice in three things: the hope of glory in heaven, our sufferings and our intimacy with God in Christ. The strength to rejoice comes from God, even in our most dire or mundane circumstances. Paul learns contentment in a Philippian jail. The apostle encourages us to rejoice in three things: the hope of glory in heaven, our sufferings and our intimacy with God in Christ. The strength to rejoice comes from God, even in our most dire or mundane circumstances.

King Solomon teaches many valuable lessons about love and romance in the marriage relationship. We learn from him that love is pure, love protects and love is passionate.  In the marriage relationship, God portrays the intimacy that He wants to have with us. The divine romance is Christ laying down His life for His bride, the church. Bring Your Sexy Back Song of Solomon 8:6-7 S3-1749 Roger SLIDE 2: Turn in your Bibles to Song of Solomon 8. God called King Solomon the wisest man in history. His poem “Song of Solomon” is one of the most passionate and intense expressions of love and devotion (between and husband and wife) in literature. Forget eHarmony or any other on-line matchmaking service. If you need some tips on finding a wife, maybe these examples from the Old Testament will help. JULIE SLIDE 3: Don’t be so picky. Grab as many as you can get.. SLIDE 4: Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3) Roger SLIDE 5: Even if no one is out there, just wander around a bit and you’ll definitely find someone. SLIDE6: Cain (Genesis 4:16-17) JULIE SLIDE 7: Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she’s yours. – SLIDE 8: Any old Hebrew Guy (Deuteronomy 21:11-13) Roger SLIDE:9. Cut 200 foreskins off of your future father-in-law’s enemies and get his daughter for a wife – SLIDE 10: David (I Samuel 18:27) JULIE SLIDE 11: Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife. – SLIDE 12: Benjaminites –Those party animals.(Judges 21:19-25) Roger SLIDE 13: Or, you can do it like our daughter Bronwyn Bron’s wedding dress: Ricky, this dress will go with any guy.. JULIE Read and explain passage: SLIDE 14: Song of Solomon 8:6: “Put me like a seal over your heart, lid Like a seal on your arm. Protective cover For love is as strong as death, fierce, unrelenting. Jealousy (to possess) is as severe as Sheol; cruel Its flashes are flashes of fire, lightning, arrows The very flame of the LORD. Fire of Jehovah SLIDE 15: 7 Many waters cannot quench love, put the fire out Nor will rivers overflow it; floods wash it away If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised. No cost is too high, love is priceless. ROGER Solomon tells us how to have hot, burning love. If you follow his advice, “til death do us part” is possible. This passage has three powerful lessons about true love. He teaches that: SLIDE 16: Love is pure. Verse 8:6: “Place me like a seal over your heart . . .” SLIDE 17: Love is protective. Verse 8:6: “Place me . . . like seal on your arm.” SLIDE 18: Love is passionate. Verse 8:6-7: Its flashes are flashes of fire—the very flame of the LORD. JULIE SLIDE 19: LET’S LOOK AT HOW LOVE IS PURE. “Set me as a seal upon your heart.” How do you value someone you love? You seal and protect from contaminants and impurity. The Hebrew word chatham (khaw-tham’); to close up; especially to seal up: SLIDE 20: It’s Tupperware love. Tupperware keeps mold and bacteria out of food so that it won’t spoil. For example, you protect your loved one’s virtue, you guard her honor by keeping her sexually pure until the wedding. Women, Here is Solomon’s injunction regarding sexual purity for you. She chooses to save herself for her husband. SLIDE 21: Song of Solomon 8:12: “But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.” Solomon tells us that our virginity is the most precious gift we can give our husband or wife—is worth 1,000 shekels! You can only give your virginity once. It’s kind of like a Safety deposit box. You have a key and you fiancé has a key. It takes two keys to unlock the treasure. When you are dating or engaged, both of you have the “key to save your precious treasure”, your virtue, for marriage. Protecting the virginity of your loved one is one of the greatest ways you can protect her trust foundation, your spiritual growth, and your sexual freedom in marriage. If you have not stayed pure, you can receive God’s forgiveness today and start from this moment on to wait for God’s right person for you. We waited four years to be together. We knew we wanted to be married the first month we met. Never have regretted having only one partner. Sex just gets better. There’s nothing like broken trust to spoil sex-no greater pain than infidelity. ROGER SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER SLIDE 22: OVERHEAD: You have heard the phrase: “Those two have chemistry.” Chemistry: couple comes together—oxcytosin moment Mother’s milk—binds mom to child and child to mom Monogamy Parenting SWITCH BACK TO TECH COMPUTER SLIDE 23: Song of Solomon 8:8-9: We have a young sister, and her figure is not yet developed. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? 9 If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. This is an illustration of what Solomon is teaching in this poem. The young innocent girl is protected by silver towers and enclosed with cedar—her dad and her brothers! Guys, It is also a good injunction for fathers to protect their daughters. Now we all tease about locking them away in a closet until they are thirty (a little harsh), but we must preserve and prepare them for life. We teach them about sex and marriage. We know their friends, pray for them, listen to them and stay involved in their lives. Otherwise peers and media give them sex education. SLIDE 24: For example, here is another example of purity. A husband is keeps his wife pure by example as spiritual head of the home, and by keeping uncleanness out of the marriage. SLIDE 25: Ephesians 5:25-27: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Examine the language and attitudes you bring into you home. Guys, Solomon also warns us in Proverbs 5 to seal off our hearts guard our hearts, from sexual impurity, from coarse language, from pornography and impure influences in the home. JULIE Love is pure. Love also protects. SLIDE 26: Love protects. “Set me as a seal upon your arm.” A seal over your arm-your wife guards her physical and emotional well-being. SLIDE 27: It’s not like Angelina Jolie’s tattoo. She tattooed her previous husband’s name, Billy Bob Thornton, on her arm, and when they broke up, she filled in the B’s so it looked like a chain. SLIDE 28: The Covering of Protection for the wife is perfectly illustrated in the love story in the book of Ruth. Ruth was a beautiful young widow from Moab. When her husband Chillion died, she chose to follow her mother-in-law to Israel. Sons were supposed to provide for their wives and mothers-so Ruth and Naomi were destitute. But Naomi was clever and Ruth had moxy. Naomi advised Ruth to glean for grain in the field of her rich relative, Boaz. When Boaz saw Ruth, he was bitten by the love bug. Boaz didn’t just give her day-old bagels, he gave her the whole bakery. Naomi saw Boaz’s generosity and devised a plan. Ruth followed Naomi’s advice. She put on her prettiest dress, spritzed with Chanel #5 and then slipped down to the barn (granary) where Boaz was snoring away. As Naomi had instructed her, Ruth lay down at Boaz’s feet and used his robe as a blankie. When the rich farmer awoke in the early morning, he smiled and said in Ruth 3:10-12: SLIDE 29: Ruth 3:10-12: “The LORD bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character This was an OT custom. When a blood relative died, man was responsible for caring for his relative’s wife—often by marrying them. Boaz was testing out her character. Young Ruth had respectfully asked for Boaz to marry her-to cover her with his loving protection as her husband. ROGER This kind of “covering” is the protection Jesus gives to His bride as described in Ephesians 5: SLIDE 30: Ephesians 5:28-29: In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— JULIE Roger was always concerned to take care of me physically. Worked as a janitor cleaning potties to have enough money to take me out. After a few months, the church made him associate pastor and the nursery ladies still kept coming to his office for toilet paper. But Roger took any job he could find to provide for me. He protected me by financial planning, keeping us out of debt. By buying sufficient insurance, wills, saving for our children’s education. If a man says he loves God and does not provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel. Roger even protects me by treating me like someone special. He is always walking on the outside of the sidewalk, opening the door for me, pulling out my chair, carrying heavy bags, etc. By those simple acts of kindness- he is showing methat I am valuable and that he cherishes me. Guys, if you want for a girl to fall for you, try treating her like a queen. She will love you for it. ROGER: Avril Lavigne Cinderella lyrics SLIDE 31: I hate it when a guy doesn’t get the door Even though I told him yesterday and the day before I hate it when a guy doesn’t get the tab And I have to pull my money out and that looks bad. Where are the hopes, where are the dreams My Cinderella story scene When do you think they’ll finally see… JULIE Here’s the fun part. SLIDE 32: Passion is a mighty flame. SLIDE 33: Old Flames. George McCaleb-first grade gave me a cracker-jack ring and kissed me on the playground. I tattled to the teacher and he had to stay after school. I got into a kissing contest on the playground in second grade, and I had to stay after school. ROGER Janet Burnet was the first girl I ever kissed. I was 7. My flame in 5th grade was Hara Hunt. Her uncle owned the Kansas City Chiefs NFL football team JULIE You only loved her for her money. Remember Molly Parker? ROGER She threw up in my car. I don’t know if she had flu or just was sick of me. I never dated her again. Remember Marshall Millsap? You and he were pretty close. JULIE Well, I looked him up on the internet and he’s global vice president of Chase Bank. ROGER Ricky told me you really traded down! Remember two-timing me with Stuart Depew? I thought I was the only one. Now I know you were dating Stuart and Bill and that guy up in Wisconsin and we all thought we were the only ones. You had a lot of old flames. JULIE I was a little ADD. You’ve heard the expression “He’s an old flame…well if he’s an ex-boyfriend, according to Solomon, he may be a flame—but certainly not an eternal flame. SLIDE 34: BECAUSE REAL FLAMES LAST FOREVER. Love burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. This is spontaneous combustion here. Blazing fire has the connotation of lightning or arrows being shot. Cupid’s arrows are not too far off the real description of this verse. Passion in sex. Let’s read the romantic words Solomon and his bride said to each other. Roger, you be Solomon, and I’ll be his Shunnamite bride. ROGER SLIDE 35: Song 4:1-7: How beautiful you are, my darling! (you’re so hot) Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. (feathery eyelashes) Your hair is like a flock of goats (the dow jones stock market going up) descending from Mount Gilead. SLIDE 36: 2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, Coming up from the washing. (she brushes her teeth) Each has its twin; not one of them is alone. (she has all her teeth) SLIDE 37: 3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate (pomegranates have red seeds-did she have pimples in her temples.) SLIDE 38: 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance; on it hang a thousand shields, (elaborate necklace) all of them shields of warriors. SLIDE 39: 7 All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you. SLIDE 40: Remember, the good news is, love is blind! JULIE SLIDE 41: Song 5:10-16: My lover is radiant and ruddy, (Solomon could have been a red-head like his father.) outstanding among ten thousand. (I can pick him out of a crowd.) 11 His head is purest gold; (I’ll go for silver) his hair is wavy (I’m glad he has some) and black as a raven. SLIDE 42: 12 His eyes are like doves (gentle and sparkling) by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice (nice aftershave) yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh. SLIDE 43: 14 His arms are rods of gold (he works out at LA fitness) set with chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory (buns of steel) decorated with sapphires. 15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. (He didn’t need a pedicure-Guys, do us girls a favor-Cut your toenails) His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. SLIDE 44: 16 His mouth is sweetness itself; (gargle occasionally) he is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend, (Don’t just chase me around the bedroom, be my friend) SLIDE 45: Remember, love is blind! Speaking of lovers and friends…Can you imagine that the love map for a guy is different than the love map for a girl? SLIDE 46: LOVE MAP EXERCISE: Answer this question: “From my point of view, a perfect romantic encounter with my spouse would include:” (What would you enjoy receiving from your husband or wife?) Then you write them down and exchange them with one another. Put them in a brown envelope, out of the reach of the children. Let me tell you why this is so important. In our work it is amazing how many couples we counsel who never talk about sex. If it is hard to communicate about spiritual matters, if it is hard to communicate about financial matter, it is real hard to communicate about sex. SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER SLIDE OVERHEAD 47: Julie draw on computer One of the first couples we did and the lady’s list looked almost verbatim like this: #1 Wednesday night, home on time for dinner. That is item 1 on her passion list. #2 Thursday night, go for a walk. #3 Friday night, take me out on a date. Then from there on, starting on Saturday night they got sexually explicit ROGER I have never seen a man’s love map look like that! Most men would say, “That’s wasting time!” God wired us so that what it takes to turn on a man is so different from what it takes SLIDE 48: to turn on a woman. JULIE Its flashes are flashes of fire, lightning, arrows The very flame of the LORD To be sexy is to be godly. After, He invented it! ROGER Here’s what real love looks like. SLIDE 49: (Draw diagram of man, woman and God.) It’s Jehovah’s fire that keeps romance alive! SLIDE 50: The Divine Romance God has pictured for us in the marriage relationship the intimacy that He wants to have with his people. So today we are going to take the Lord’s Supper and remember the Divine Romance-Christ laying down His life for His bride, the church. LORD’S SUPPER

Encouraging Love This practical explanation of what real love looks like from 1 Corinthians 13 will provide you with ways to meet the needs of those around you with Christlike caring. Encouraging love is patient. Patience is the ability to be wronged and wronged again, and to have the power to retaliate, but refuse to strike back. Kindness gives to one’s enemies. Encouraging love catches people doing right and makes a big deal out of it. It shelters others from the storms of life, and always gives the benefit of the doubt. Love perseveres, never withers, never fades. ENCOURAGING LOVE 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4 Bronwyn’s brush with “death” when she tried to feed a sea gull. When one sea gull sees another with a piece of meat, sea gulls will fly straight at the second, blasting into him like a linebacker into a full back, doing all he can to dislodge that piece of meat. He has absolutely no concern for the welfare of his fellow bird. Sea gulls do not care and do not share. Honking geese have an entirely different understanding of community. Flying in a “v” is intended to conserve the energy of the entire group. They save 71% more energy than they would if they flew individually. And they rotate that leadership in that “V” so that not one goose is ever too exhausted. If a goose begins to fall, that team of geese knows how to dispatch a second one to keep the fatigued goose company until the bird can re-join the flock. Geese know how to take care of each other. Sea gulls are always picking and pecking and colliding with each other. Geese are always watching out, caring for each other, encouraging one another. In fact, many scientists say that the incessant “honk” of a goose is really a way of keeping the slow birds encourage so they won’t lose their way and they won’t fall too far behind. Three-part series on encouragement: I want to accomplish that today in the context of agape love. The essence of divine agape love is encouraging others to get along well in life—meeting the needs and navigating the storms of life. “Man doesn’t live by bread alone. He needs buttering up.” Love is a verb. All verbal participles. Children definitions of love—all action oriented. ·SLIDE: When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love. ·SLIDE: Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday. ·SLIDE: I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones. ·SLIDE: Love is when mommy sees daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross. ·SLIDE: You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget, and it’s good for them to get reminded. Teenagers move toward defining love in terms of feelings Girl at youth camp: “an inward ishness, outward ishness; all over ishness, ness” Watch her wiping fevered brow of 1st baby: 2:00 am. Diarrhea, alcohol baths. Ask her: “Are you enjoying this?” “Are you kidding?” Ask her to define love. This is love!” Love is not a feeling. It is not something that happens to us. Love is something we do. Love is a commandment. It is not an emotion, it is a product of our will. The preeminence of Agape love in the first three verses. ·SLIDE: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Verses 4 to 8 is divided into three movements. ·SLIDE: First movement sets the tone for the deeper dimension of agape love. 1 Corinthians 13:4: Love is patient; love is kind. ·SLIDE: Second movement describes Love’s attitude: eight “nots” 1 Corinthians 13:4-6: It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil ·SLIDE: Third movement returns to the opening note of positive action. 1 Corinthians 13:6-8: [Love] rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Understand that Love is Personified. Put in your own name. “I am …” ·SLIDE #: LOVE IS PATIENT. Patience Is The Ability To Be Wronged And Wronged Again—And To Have The Power To Retaliate—But Refuses To Strike Back. We usually think of patience: A clock and time. But this word has little to do with that. It is talking about patience with people. The word literally means – “long tempered”. It has a long fuse. Listen to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: ·SLIDE: Matthew 5:38-39: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Hank Gunlock bruised face—turn the other cheek. Jesus never said if we turn the other cheek we would not get hurt. What He says is that when we turn the other cheek ·SLIDE: we look more like Jesus than at any other time in our lives. ·SLIDE: LOVE IS KIND. Patience says, “I’ll take anything from my enemies.” Kindness says, “I’ll give anything to my enemies.” Of course, not just enemies. This is the flip side of Patience. Patience endures the injuries of others. Kindness pays others back with good deeds. Let’s talk about Tips—tip good service. What if you get bad service? What do you do? Anyone tip less because they just did not deserve it? Raise hands. This is exactly what I am talking about. Any cat can scratch back. But agape love says, “You wronged me. Nevertheless, I am going to do something really nice for you.” Bad service, run ragged, maybe a single mom: give 50%. Shock her. If we act like this we will change the perceptions of Christians. The root word here in Greek is “useful”. I will do anything that will be of use to another. Love gives itself away to help somebody else. So, Gordon and Gail McDonald sit down in their seats near the back of the airplane. As the plane loaded up, a woman with two small children took the seat right in front of them. Behind her came another woman. The two women took the A and C seats and one of the children sat in the middle seat and the second child sat in the lap of one of the women. I figured that these were two mothers travelling together with their children—and I hoped the kids wouldn’t be noisy. He didn’t get his wish. The air was turbulent, the children cried a lot. Their ears hurt—it was a miserable flight. He watched as the two women tried to comfort the children. The woman at the window played with the child in the middle seat, trying to make her feel better—gave her lots of attention. I thought, “These women ought to get a medal for what they are doing.” Near the end of the flight, everything really went down hill. The child in the middle seat got sick. Stuff from the inner recesses of her body came roaring out of her mouth. Her diaper came loose and loosed out the contents of her diaper. A strong stench wafted throughout the cabin. Both stuffs were all over the woman, on her dress, all over the seat; on the floor. Repugnant. The woman next to the window patiently tried to quiet the child and clean up the mess and make the best of a bad situation. When the plane landed the passengers tried to exit the plane as fast as they could. The flight attendant came up with paper towels and handed them to the woman in the window seat, and said, “Hear ma’am, these are for your little girl. The woman said, “This isn’t my little girl. This is something we all can do. And it will set us apart from the rest of the world. ·SLIDE: LOVE REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. Love Catches People Doing Right And Makes A Big Deal Out Of It.. Instead Of Parading In Public Someone’s sins and short comings, Love Picks Out The Good And Talks About That. John Blanchard: The One-Minute Manager: “Catch them doing something right.” Need practice: some of us can criticize some one for 60 minutes. We have a hard time keeping compliments going for 60 seconds. March Madness just concluded. Many of you love basketball. Many of you women were forced to sit with your spouse and boy friend watching games during the last several week-ends. Heard the term “assist.” One person with the ball passes to another and he shoots and makes a basket without taking more than one step. Great John Wooten: basket ball coach at UCLA for decades. Won 11 or 12 Final four national championships. Outstanding coach to do that. Built character and values among his players. Principle: If some one passes the ball to you and you make the basket, he gets an assist on the score sheet. After the basket turn and point your finger and wink to the one who passed you the ball. “What if he’s not looking?” “Don’t worry. He’ll be looking.” ·SLIDE: LOVE ALWAYS PROTECTS Love shelters people from the storms of life—and does all in its power to stop gossip. GREEK: The word literally means to cover, shelter, or protect. Love is a retreat which shelters people from the storms of life. In other words, love does not delight in exposing the weaknesses of other people. In 1 PETER 4:8, Peter puts it so beautifully, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Love doesn’t rejoice in somebody’s mistakes and problems—and doesn’t go passing it around. 7th grade class. Roger’s pimple face: Mrs. Horne at Walnut Hill: “What’s wrong with Roger? Doesn’t he wash his face enough?” Face on fire with shame… Took me years to finally forgive her—the old hag. Zack Miller: “It’s O.K. Roger, it won’t stay like that forever.” We see a good illustration at the cross of Jesus. Up in Heaven God doesn’t say, “You know, those human beings are gross! What do you angels think about them? Especially that Roger Barrier. He’d bad.” No. We are not the subject of heavenly gossip! Isn’t that nice to know. Rather than sit up in Heaven and gossip with the angels about the sins of men, God just came to the cross and threw a mantle over man’s sins and bore their sin in His own body. ·SLIDE: LOVE ALWAYS TRUSTS. Love is quick to give others the benefit of the doubt—not the slop. Bill Weber: “Too Many People Are Willing To Give You The Benefit Of The Slop.” Love believes in people. Think about Jesus Christ and the disciples. They were nothing too hot, frankly. The ones who were the most well known in the New Testament were all sinful. Peter was a notoriously faithless character who was continually falling on his face. James and John had a pride problem – they even sent their mother to see if they could have the best seats in the kingdom. We know very little about the others. But they were all sinners, too. Jesus Christ could have scratched His head and said, “Father, I don’t know how to tell you this but this whole deal isn’t going to work out. I have twelve losers. If you think I ought to come back to Heaven and turn this whole thing over to them, I’ll do it, but it looks a little shaky to me.” You know, Jesus knew the sins of the disciples better than anyone else and yet He believed the best about every one of them, didn’t He? He said, “They can do it” – and He sent them out into the world and they did it. What an important part of Christian love this is – to look for good in people and help them to recognize it, to let them know that you believe good of them, rather than evil. Love is a plus. It encourages goodness. It finds the best and exalts it. Stacy Smith: Remember for two things, great athlete and wild morals. Basketball practice: nylon stocking on his hear. Remember the look on Coach Dowd’s face. Stories about his womanizing (high school iizing) were legendary. Bachelor party for best friends: arrived with case of beer and pornographic movies. No hope for him. Ten years later: Farrell Ray: “Stacy teaching in children’s ministry in out church!” People who believed in Him led him to Christ. Cyber Slop Cyber bullying. Man betrayed by a friend. Posted story on face book. 15 friends unfriended him ·SLIDE: LOVE ALWAYS HOPES. As Long As The Grace Of God Is Operative, Then Human Failure Is Never Final. Love refuses to take failure as final. God wouldn’t accept it from Israel. You see love doesn’t run out. It doesn’t bail out and leave as soon as the first mistake is made. Love waits and waits and believes and then when believing begins to waver then it just starts hoping. When other people have given up hope for us and when we have become absolutely hopeless about ourselves, the Lord is never discouraged. Christ, because He is love, never gives in to dismay or gives up to despair. I am so glad I have a God like that, for when others give us up it is wonderful to know there is a God in heaven who goes on hoping and planning for our good. Prison Service At Florence. Bob Erler – “Catch-me-if-you-can-murderer” was leader. Once attacked by 9 men. face laid open by an iron bar and he knocked them all out. Mild-mannered, soft spoken – leader. Testimony from Indian. Been to prison 27 of 49 years. Cup of water on ball field – led him to Christ. Water came from Bob Earler. Christ took that minus person and made him a plus. ·SLIDE: LOVE ALWAYS PERSEVERES. No matter how fierce of hopeless the battle, love hangs in there to the very end. “Love endures all things.” is a Greek military term to describe being in the middle of a fierce battle and hanging in there to the very end. Tom and Mary (not real names) once came to me for marriage counseling. Marriage deteriorated over past several years. Decided it was all over. Came for counseling. Really did not want to put their marriage back together but they were about to get divorced for unbiblical grounds and were hoping to have their consciences salved. Began to tell me the sordid details. Mary said, “So, you see, there is no hope left, no love, nothing to build on.” Tom took his turn, said, “So, you see, there is no hope left, no love, nothing to build on.” Wanted me to say, “Well, you are right. No hope left, no love left, nothing to build on, I guess the only option is to get a divorce. Instead I said, “This really is serious. I guess you will just have to learn how to love!” That is not at all what they wanted to hear. So, I said to Tom, “God says you are to love your wife as Christ loved the church.” Tom: “I could not love her like that. No way.” Roger: “All right, let’s go to a lower level. The Bible commands us to love our neighbors. Since you sleep with her and she’s the closest neighbor you have, love your neighbor.” Tom: “No, I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that.” Roger: “OK, let’s go one step further, the Bible says, “Love your enemies….” You should have seen the look on his face. But what happens when the rope gets further and further and further out and you’re starting to lose hope? What then? Okay, the last part of verse 7. ·SLIDE: LOVE NEVER FAILS. Love never withers, fades, nor falls away. Love blossoms forever. We can never get away from the call to love and compassion. The classic Greek presents the picture of a bad actor being hissed off the stage. Love never hissed off the stage. The other picture is of a fading flower with falling petals. Love never withers, fades, nor falls away. Love never loses its place. ·SLIDE: Barnabas Was A Plus Person. Sold a piece of property Vouched for Paul with the early Christians who were terrified of him. Took John Mark on 1st journey and he quit. Mark young boy lost cloak Time for 2nd journey: Paul refused to take Mark. Barnabus was a plus person. He added to people. He didn’t subtract from people. He stood by Mark. Sharp disagreement arose. 2 Timothy 4:11: Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. ·SLIDE: “Man doesn’t live by bread alone. He needs buttering up.”

Paul gives us a glimpse of man from God’s perspective. Without Christ, mankind is misguided, wounded and marred by sin. Suppressing the truth invites God’s tough love. Embracing the truth invites the full grace and righteousness of God. Our requirement is a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Tough Love: The Kindness That Leads To Repentance Romans 1:18-23 S-1698 As we move now deeper into the Book of Romans, we begin to get a view of man from God’s perspective. This is not a pretty picture. Paul shows us that Mankind without Jesus Christ is misguided, wounded, hurting, marred by sin—and Lost. The good news is that God has opened His heart in Christ to redeem man and restore an intimate relationship with them. He takes a dirty slate and makes it clean. DRAMA: A Clean Slate: Key is the ending, not the beginning. The real God is in the business of restoring broken and hurting lives. SLIDE #: Romans 1:18-19: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, SLIDE #: since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. SLIDE #: Romans 1:20: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, SLIDE #: being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. SLIDE #: Romans 1:21: For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. SLIDE #: Romans 1:22-23: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God SLIDE #: for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. In the opening chapters of Romans Paul placed the whole world on trial. We have all sinned and forsaken God to one degree or another: OVERHEAD SLIDE: The “Atheists and Agnostics” are without excuse (Romans 1). Good People are without excuse for their bad behaviors (Romans 2) Religious people are without excuse for their behaviors(Romans 3-4) The restoration occurs in Romans 5-8 with the saving glories of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:18-23 we see the action of God in unveiling Himself for the entire world to see. Then tragically, we see the horror of sinful man in forsaking God. SLIDE #: Let’s begin with the beauty of God’s revelation. God uses two things to reveal Himself to everyone in the world—an external and an internal witness: Conscience – Romans 1:19 Nature – Romans 1:20 SLIDE #: Romans 1:19-20: since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. SLIDE overhead #: General revelation is sufficient to know that God exists. Specific Revelation personally introduces us to God: His words, actions and Son. SLIDE #: Conscience—the God spot within every man and woman 1. Tells us that there is a right and a wrong – not the specifics – only generally. “Don’t let your conscience be your guide – use the Word of God.” 2. Capacity for God-consciousness – innate knowledge that God exists. Have to be educated to be an atheist. All simple people just know that God exists. Inbuilt vacuum longing to be filled with God. SLIDE #: Rita Carter: Mapping the mind: left temporal lobe SLIDE #: NATURE—the Intelligent Designer SLIDE #: Double rainbow here Wednesday night. It is a reminder that God flooded for man’s wickedness and saved man with an ark. SLIDE #: PSALM 19:1-2: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. SLIDE #: PSALM 19:3-4: There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. SLIDE #: Do they really sing? Yes! SLIDE OVERHEAD #: Strings singing and Multiverse Plates The more we study the universe in all its complexities, the more we see the Intelligent Design. Unmistakable evidence of God. Universe is the handiwork of God. SLIDE #: Temperature of sun – 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Earth is 93 million miles away. +/- 50 degrees, and all life on Earth would cease. Why is the sun 12,000 degrees? Who not 24,000 or 2,000 or any number you pick? SLIDE #: Why Earth 93 million miles away? Why not twice as far? SLIDE #: Why is the axis of the earth at 23-1/2 degrees? Produces seasons. SLIDE #: Air we breathe is 21% oxygen. If the Earth’s crust were ten feet thicker all the oxygen would be trapped in the crust as in most other planets. Why 21%? Why not 10% or 1% or 50%? Then if light a match the entire Earth would be ablaze! See stars – where there is a design, there must be a designer. Come across pocket watch on ground. What a marvelous product of chance! All the pieces came together and it runs properly! Ridiculous! There was a watchmaker. See a new building going up. All steel means and girders fell into place by chance. No – someone designed and built it. See this marvelous human body – beating heart, soul, fingers, toes, etc. By chance? No – human designer put it all together! God gives evidence – Conscience and nature – to show that He exists and that He is supreme being. Man who rejects or ignores God is without excuse. Man takes light he has and suppresses it! SLIDE #: mankind’s Suppression SLIDE #: ROMANS 1:18: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, SLIDE #: Romans 1:21: For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Picture is that man takes the truth about God, puts it in a box with a lid, slams down the lid and then sits on the lid! Conspiracy of silence against God. Why we can’t sing carols in public places at Christmastime. Great resistance against Bible reading on public occasions. No one wants to give God glory or thanks or even admit that He exists. Man Has Rejected The Internal Witness Of His Conscience. One of the greatest contributions of Jews was to introduce to the world the concept that we are responsible for our actions. This is called our conscience. SLIDE #: One of the most influential Jews in history is Sigmund Freud—the father of modern psychology. Freud was well aware that the Jews brought responsibility into the world with the Mosaic Law. Here’s what Freud said, SLIDE #: “The Jews carry the burden for the historical super-ego.” Super-ego is Freud’s word for what we call conscience. Then he makes very profound statement (and this certainly explains the rest of Freud’s life). SLIDE #: “Therefore the Jew alone can remove it.” Sigmund Freud considered himself to be messianically called to undo the work of his Jewish forefathers. Freud hated Moses – that’s why he wrote the book “Moses and Monotheism”. Moses is the one who made man aware of his conscience and his moral responsibility. Therefore Freud dedicated himself to undo and to reverse Moses. SLIDE #: Moses and Freud are mutually exclusive. Moses, the Jew, brings responsibility into history. Freud says that the “super-ego” – the conscience – must be smashed and crushed – and if you have mental illness… hang-ups… it’s because of your conscience. The way to solve mental problems and hang-ups is to crush your conscience. In other words, “It’s not my fault!” SLIDE #: Psychoanalysis teaches us that the reason we act like we do is because of things which happen in the past which are not our fault – Therefore we are not responsible – We can reject our conscience. Folksong from Anna Russells: SLIDE #: I went to my psychoanalyst to be psychoanalyzed To find out why I killed the cat and blacked my husband’s eyes He laid me on a downy couch to see what he could find And here is what he dredged up from my subconscious mind. SLIDE #: When I was one my mommy hid my dolly in a trunk So naturally it follows that I am always drunk. When I was two I saw my father kiss the maid one day, And that is why I now suffer from kleptomania. SLIDE #: At three I had a feeling of ambivalence towards my brothers, And so it follows naturally that I poison all my lovers. But I am happy. Now I have learned this lesson that is taught, SLIDE #: That everything I do that’s wrong SLIDE #: is someone else’s fault. We are doing everything in our culture to kill our collective conscience. Exodus 32: Don’t blame me. Man Has Rejected The Witness Of Our Conscience and Of God’s Revelation In Nature. Modern man says – All by chance. God says, “No way it’s an accident. I designed it all.” The issue has never been God versus evolution. The issue is Intelligent Designer versus Chance. SLIDE OVERHEAD #: Evolution is a theory that fails to prove or even describe how we got here. Evolution works on the macro level. Evolution does not work on the molecular level. Charles Darwin could only observe animals and insects. He had no electron microscope to study the micro level. Things don’t evolve on the molecular level. Little motor that drives cell movement spins at 10,000 rpm. Made up of rotor and engine. 5 amino acids no one can explain by survival of the fittest or natural selection. Someone had to design this—and then make it happen. Many men have rejected the witness of nature. ●SLIDE #: man’s idolatry ●SLIDE #: ROMANS 1:23: and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Four signs of idolatry: Man, birds, animals, reptiles: Note the downward progression. Study idolatry and discover that all four seem to take place in that order. Most base form of idolatry is honoring the snake. I do not believe that it is by any accident that we name our cars as we do. ●SLIDE #: We once named them after men: Lincoln, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Studebaker, Edsel, Hudson. ●SLIDE #: Next generation named after into birds: Studebaker Hawk, Ford Falcon & Eagle. ●SLIDE #: Now we name them after animals: Cougar, Impala, Mustang, Pinto, Jaguar, Rabbit – even a Greyhound bus. Then Ford came out with the cobra. ●SLIDE #: Now we have the Dodge Viper. ●SLIDE #: We even buy our insurance from a gecko! No one in the car industry read Romans 1. It just works out that way. It’s a sign of depravity. ●SLIDE #: Starbucks logo is the Queen of Heaven. Simmerranus—who else but the queen of heaven could charge $5 for a cup of coffee? ●SLIDE #: Oscars tonight. Give them an idol and deify them. The American entertainment industry looks a lot like the Roman pantheon in Paul’s day: the gods and goddesses were capricious, immoral sexual perverts. Three of the top five movies are about homosexual cowboys (Brokeback Mountain), a transsexual (TransAmerica) and an arrogant gay author (Truman Capote). Gracing the tv and movie screens of our society are the god’s and goddesses of our day. ●SLIDE #: We accept their moral teachings; we listen to their politics; watch their fashions; imitate their addictions; and obsess over their marriages and divorces—most of which never succeed. ●SLIDE #: We say we have no idols; but, we have American Idol. We give them our time (sometimes all night) and our money (this is a multi-billion dollar industry). SLIDE #: god’s Tough love SLIDE #: Romans 1:18-19: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven OVERHEAD SLIDE #: Two Greek words for wrath. Thumos – uncontrolled, explosive rage; Orge – settled, consistent, rising indignation which finally bursts. Along with the tough love of God comes the patience of God. God is holding back much of His wrath—like water behind a dam. Water is released a little at a time. Sometimes the dam breaks. Waited 120 years before sending the flood. God doesn’t operate on man’s time-table. Some of His wrath is being revealed while much of it is being built up. SLIDE #: At Calvary the tough love of God was fully revealed against sin. Note – is being revealed. This is present tense in Paul’s day. Look at the degenerating Roman culture. This whole passage is a most interesting social commentary. Wrath of God is functioning in our society right now. The wrath of God is visible in any society where men are suppressing their God-consciousness. So often Americans wring their hands and say, “If our country doesn’t reform and repent, we are going to experience the judgment of God.” In light of what Paul wrote here, what do you suppose Paul would say if you dropped that remark as you were drinking coffee in the living room? “If things don’t get better, Paul, America is going to experience the judgment of God.” Paul would probably calmly put down his coffee cup and say, “Friend, if you’ll look out the window, there is the wrath of God already.” See sky-rocketing divorce rates and crime rate and warped children – this is the wrath of God! – legalized gay “marriage” in several states, over three decades of legalized abortion, atheists and courts successfully declaring “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance to be “unconstitutional” and trying to get “In God We Trust” removed from our money, TV shows like “The Book of Daniel”, currently airing on NBC Friday nights which portrays a drug-addicted priest, his adulterous wife and children, his drug-selling daughter, his homosexual son, and his regular conversations with Jesus who actually appears to him and just sort of remains enigmatic about all of it. ●SLIDE #: 50% of all 1st marriages end in divorce. 78% of all 2nd marriages. 2/3 of all children today will spend some time in a single parent home. ●SLIDE #: If you were born after 1970 (35 years or younger) you will find statistically that you’ll have more spouses than you’ll have children! ●SLIDE #: After the breakdown in the family, children are 4 times more likely to drop out of school, 11 times more likely to commit suicide, 30 times more likely to be sexually abused. Wrath is for discipline and punishment for sin. But it is also for a divine purpose. ●SLIDE #: READ REVELATION 16:9 and 11: They refused to repent. OUR “TAKE AWAYS” ●SLIDE #: ●Parents, help your children find God in nature and in their inner consciences—then guide them into the special revelation of Jesus Christ. Remember that good parents often allow their children to suffer the consequences of their actions. If we don’t discipline our kids, the world will. We can protect them for awhile, but one day they will run a red light and discover that the law is not optional. ●SLIDE #: ●Suppressing the truth invites the tough love of God; embracing the truth invites the full love and righteousness of God. ●SLIDE #: ●The tough love of God is only understood when we have a deep relationship with God through Jesus Christ. ●SLIDE #: Average dad spends 14 minutes per day with his children. ●SLIDE #: Christian dads spend 17 minutes per day. We are three minutes better than the world. Tragedy is 10 of those minutes were spent in discipline. ●SLIDE #: We are raising a nation of children whose concept of a father is someone who doesn’t know me and I don’t know him who enters into my life to discipline me. ●SLIDE #: “Provoke not children to wrath.” Quickest way to wrath is to discipline child you don’t know. STORY: mom punishing me for bs when relatives were at our house. OK because we had a good relationship. Every problem in our world— Every crisis, has one purpose. Every broken marriage Every etc, God did not cause them. Man chose them. Satan sent them. But God can use them. He is getting his world back. He is bringing us to repentance. He is preparing us for Heaven.

The simple message of the cross is a stumbling block to nonbelievers. The formula for a divine transaction is found in Romans 4: faith plus nothing equals the righteousness of God. What God simplifies, man complicates. Romans 4:9-25 S-1705 Recognize high school and college graduates. (HS picture) Cowboys; Red necks; macho jocks; cheer leaders; egghead brainy types, freaky nonconformist; geeky computer nerds? Let’s take a survey—not by the group you were in, but by the group you wanted to be in. We know which group is at the top of the heap in many high schools: the jocks and cheerleaders. Return at 10 year reunion and the geeks and eggheads have all the money. In High school, it is all about acceptance. No one wants to be a loser, left out, excluded. It is built into our nature to want to be loved and included. Cell phones and the internet have overtaken our lives. Why? It is all about acceptance and connection. We don’t have to stand in line to get to talk to someone. We can stay on line, or on the phone with a friend. In many ways we never grow up. It is not just High school, Life is a longing to be accepted—fear of being rejected. Romans 4 is all about belonging. It is all about acceptance. It is all about moving into the family of God. Considering deeper dimensions of life, we long for those same needs to be met in an intimate relationship with the eternal, open and vulnerable God of our universe. Things like: amplify these and make them attractive Acceptance—“Accepted in the Beloved” Approval—“There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus” Attention—“Behold I am with you always” Comfort—“The God of all comfort who comforts us” Encouragement—“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Security—“I will never leave you nor forsake you” Support—“I will hold you in my right hand” : Community of relationships in Christ AN OVERVIEW OF ROMANS Romans 1-3—No excuse: atheists; agnostics, good people, religious people. All sin and fall short. We saw that salvation is not by religious rites or works – Not by circumcision or baptism or partaking of the Lord’s Supper or by law or works. It is justification by faith alone! Only way to win the game with God is simple Faith. Want to go on to Sanctified, victorious Christian life in Romans 5, 6, 7, 8 – but it’s almost as if Paul says, Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Want to be certain that you understand justification by faith. Romans 4 is the last time Paul will emphasize that nothing but faith saves! Romans 4 reads like a legal document. Lets make it simple. READ and EXPLAIN ROMANS 4: focus on FAITH verses. I am going to sum up Romans 4 in a simple formula. A SIMPLE FORMULA FOR A DIVINE TRANSACTION OVERHEAD: F + 0 = R Where F = Faith in Christ 0 = nothing R = righteousness As I speak this morning some of you will feel a strange stirring inside—that is Jesus Christ Himself stirring your inner soul to come into a loving relationship with Him. Give you an opportunity to respond to His prompting latter this morning. Now let’s explore this truth about finding acceptance and belonging with Jesus Christ. WHERE “FAITH” EQUALS FAITH IN CHRIST READ ROMANS 4:17b: *”The God who gives life to the dead” Refers to the time when God promised to produce many descendants and even a world-wide Savior through the loins of Isaac. Then before Isaac could even have any children, God told Abraham to sacrifice him on an altar. READ ROMANS 4:23-24. The Lord said something special in resurrection. His resurrection is the proof of our justification! READ ROMANS 4:25. On the cross Jesus Christ paid the debt for our sin in full! His resurrection is our receipt. : ●The amount of our faith has very little to do with it in the initial stages. Jesus told us that even if we have a tiny faith—like a grain of mustard seed—we have enough. You can surrender your life to Christ with very little faith. You can do it today. ●Christians will experience doubts occasionally. Trust Christ and immediately Satan begins to attack and to assail. Even John the Baptist doubted Jesus: “Are you the one or shall we look for another? Jesus (didn’t scold him for doubting) said, “The lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear,” etc. Every Christian doubts at times – but as he grows in maturity, doubts become fewer and less frequent. Doubts don’t cancel out faith. Faith enables a man to overcome his doubts and to answer them. : ●Faith is a cold-blooded choice to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rational choice. Julie doesn’t need this—the emotional closeness with Christ is all she needs. WHERE “0” EQUALS “0” What Might People Add To The Formula? Circumcision is a sign and a seal. Sign of a covenant between God and Israel. If you were circumcised, you were automatically right and accepted by God. Man comes onto the office of Ray Stedman – Bible in hand. “I’ve been reading the Bible,” he didn’t know a lot about it, but he asked, “Will you circumcise me?” Stedman gasped, “Why?” “Well, I’ve been reading in the Bible about all these folks who were circumcised and it seems that if you want to know God you have to be circumcised. Faith comes not by religious rites. Circumcision doesn’t save. Abraham was justified by believing the promise about Jesus fifteen years before he was ever circumcised. Talking to Tom Austin – nine year old – “If you were in the desert with your brother and only a little water left. You’re just about to die. What would you do?” “Drink the water.” “No, just a little, no hope of living.” “I don’t know.” “Baptize your brother and yourself – otherwise you’ll go to Hell.” Circumcision was like a wedding ring. It is an outside symbol of an inside change. The modern equivalent of circumcision is baptism. Baptism doesn’t save. It is a symbol of our salvation! Baptism is an outward symbol of something that’s happened on the inside. If you are still regarding baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or mass, or christening, or confirmation, as having anything to do with God declaring you righteous and making you fit for Heaven, then you are totally insecure in your relationship with God. Need a personal relationship with Christ based on a personal encounter of surrender by faith. The Law: all sorts of special behaviors and requirements Suppose I say to you, “If you get off your pew and start flying around the sanctuary, I’ll give you $5,000.” You’d have to say, “Forget it. No one can do that in their natural strength. You are asking me to do that which I can’t do.” The promise of the law is: Do all of this and live! But the promise that comes with the law is useless. No one can live up to it! WHERE “R” EQUALS RIGHTEOUSNESS. (“credited to him as righteousness”; “The just shall live by faith.” “I will give him a white robe and tattoo my name in his forehead.”) Righteousness is a justified standing with God. Righteousness is a gift which enables us to interact intimately with the Living God. : Don’t mess with the formula. READ GALATIANS 1:6-12: 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! OVERHEAD: different gospel = hetero which is really no gospel at all = allo Butter Pecan Ice cream cone: get me heteros: Julie brings me another butter pecan cone. Get me heteros: she brings me carrots—not ice cream at all. I spit out carrots when I wanted butter pecan. Greek word “allos” would be more appropriate. She brought me “allos.” You are not believing the same gospel at all. You have turned to a monstrosity. “Eternally cursed” = “anathema” READ GALATIANS 1:10: Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. READ GALATIANS 1:11-12: I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Mormons F + 14 things = third heaven The MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS REALLY Simple. God simplifies; man complicates. Complex religions with all the things we have to do to find God, perform before God, check off lists One inch formula in a complex universe E=mc2 Einstein: “God made the universe simple. If you cannot explain it in simple terms then you are not speaking the language of the universe. Einstein worked on a unified theory of everything. OVERHEAD: WNF, SNF, EM, G: Strings included gravity String theory: twang it and get proton, electron, quarks, mesons, pi mesons—sparticles. 11 dimensions: universe unstable in 10, collapsed and expanded with our four—6 distorted space time and rolled up. Math to describe it now down to a one inch formula. F + 0 = R is simple. The minute our religion gets complex, or hard to figure out, we are moving further and further away from God. Use the formula with your friends. THE SIMPLE PICTURE OF THE MESSAGE How many know John 3:16? How many know John 3:14-15? – READ JOHN 3:14-15 In John 3:14-15 Jesus referred to the uplifted Bronze Serpent as the perfect picture illustration of salvation by faith. Go to Numbers 21. In Numbers 21:4-9 we see that faith in the uplifted Christ is the only remedy that God has provided for dealing with human sin! READ NUMBERS 21:4-5 Dangerous thing to mumble and murmur against the Lord. He hears our murmurings and doesn’t appreciate it at all. (That’s another sermon.) READ NUMBERS 21:6 God sends fiery serpents to punish them. Imagine, sleeping in bed and waking up to find poisonous snakes covering the floor of your tent! Getting up, step outside – snakes as far as the eye can see. Can’t move without stepping on one. If bitten by snake – death. They’re doomed to die. Jesus referred to this as a picture of sin Old Testament picture of what sin does to us. Sin is coursing through our spiritual veins racing directly toward our spiritual heart. The wages of sin is death. READ NUMBERS 21:7 Repentance abounds – we’ve sinned. God knows that only a surrender heart can enter properly into fellowship with Him. READ NUMBERS 21:8. “Just look at the uplifted serpent and you’ll be healed. Seemed like strange request – but Moses obeyed. What good will that do? God is teaching faith and belief in the Word of God. Bitten, life ebbing away, look, new life. READ NUMBERS 21:9. Many dying that day. Imagine man at back. Can’t understand – how is looking going to save? Isn’t that just like a preacher. Here I need his help and he asks me to do what I can’t understand.” Can’t see how just looking is going to save me. But, it is so simple. Anyone can do it. Looks and lives. Another man – I wish Moses had come sooner. Too far gone to be saved. If he’d just come sooner I now I’d be saved, but there’s no way now. But, it is so simple. Anyone can do it. Looks and lives. Third man, also dying. Poison gets closer and closer to his heart. “Can’t understand this, but I know that Moses is a man sent from God. If Moses says all I have to do is look, well, I can’t understand it, but I’m going to look.” As hr drops to the ground, he looks up and is saved. READ John 3:14-15. Just as people got new life from looking at Moses’ serpent in the wilderness, you can gain new life from believing on the cross where I’m soon to die. We all are bitten by poisonous snake – sin is in his spiritual bloodstream. “I’m soon to be lifted up on the cross to die, just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness – if you’ll look to the cross and believe, you can find new life – you can be born again.” May not understand. May think you’ve sinned too much. Just look to the cross and believe – saved.

Peter teaches how deeply Jesus values you and showers you with unconditional love, grace, joy and blessing for the good purpose of blessing others. Imagine the audience in 1 Peter. They hear these words and realize wherever they go, Jesus is goes them. Discover who you are in Christ and live in that power. Preached at Casas Church. Used by permission.