Treasure

Matthew 13:44-46 44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
2 Men: (1 describes you today)
1 – Seeking
1 – Stumbled upon it…
Both found a treasure. Just like you.
They each had the same response…
1 – They were excited.
2 – They sold EVERYTHING…Made a commitment!
3 – They obtained the treasure.
Do you think they would have obtained the treasure had they not paid the price?
What do you think your price is?
Jeremiah 29:11-13 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
The price is that you seek God with ALL YOUR HEART!

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

What does the word believe mean?
• Believe (M-W.com)
o : to accept as true, genuine, or real
o : to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something
• Know
o : to be aware of the truth or factuality of : be convinced or certain of
• Faith
o : something that is believed especially with strong conviction
• These sound extremely similar
• Do you think that believing, knowing, and having faith in Jesus is enough?
• Let’s look at some people who believed, knew, and had faith in Jesus.
John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Who is Jesus talking to here?
• Jews who believed him…knew the truth.
Hold to
• : to make liable or accountable or bound to an obligation
• : to give firm assent to : adhere to strongly
• : to maintain a grasp on something : remain fastened to something
Quote:
• James 2:17b faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
• James 2:26b faith without deeds is dead.
Jesus was telling these people here that belief is not enough, knowledge is not enough, talk is not enough. He was telling them that you have to put your money where your mouth is. There are no words, beliefs, or knowledge that can save you. The only thing that can save you is knowing/believing the truth and DOING IT!!! HOLDING TO IT!!!........THEN the truth will set you free. Like our quotes from James, if you aren’t finding out the truth by studying the bible and working to obey (refer to definition of “hold to”) then you won’t be (and you aren’t) set free (you aren’t “saved”).
Don’t let another day go by that you aren’t trying to HOLD TO Jesus’ teaching. Get with Ashley or me and set up a study today! Put your money where your mouth is and do it!

Walk as Jesus Did

What pops into your head when I say, “religious person”?
• Good to an extent, but also a hypocrite…sometimes…
If you are religious, are you a hypocrite? When are you? When aren’t you?
We all have sin, so what is the difference between a hypocrite and a Christian?

2 Tim 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

• What do you notice about this list?...Lovers of stuff, sin, self, etc….self-focused.
• Hypocrites have a form of Godliness because they are religious, but they deny the power of being religious because they love self and not God.
• You may say that you love God, but what does it mean to love God?

1 John 5:3 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
You see, what you obey and do determines what you love and whether you are a true Christian or just a religious person.
Rom 6:15-16 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Obedience leads to righteousness, not belief, not religion.
You are a slave to something even if it is to yourself.
Let’s choose to be a slave to God and receive life?
How can you obey God if you don’t know what his commands are? Let’s study the bible!!

1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

WE MUST WALK AS JESUS…YOU HAVE TO HOLD TO HIS TEACHING!!!

Changing your Picture of Jesus!

Q: Who is someone you respect or admire?
A: Ghandi, Joan of Ark, Nelson Mandela

Q: Why?
A: Courage, Conviction & Purposeful life

Q. How does the world view Jesus?
(Petting the Lamb, not relatable, distant, great teacher)

Luke 4:14-21 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Q: What do you notice about Jesus in this passage?
A: Revolutionary - Socially & spiritually; powerful, full of faith, confident, assured of his calling!

Q: What would you like to change today in society?
A: Racism, divorce rate, greed poverty, etc ...
Q: What is working? What is not?
-Only Real following of Jesus can work!

Q: What would you like to change today in religion?
A: Hypocrisy, image, homosexual marriages, sexual molestation by priests, etc ...

Luke 4:22-30 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "
24"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy[f] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."
28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Q: What do you notice about Jesus here?
A: Confrontative - he spoke his convictions and detested the racism.

John 2:12-16 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

Q: What do you notice about him here?
A: Radical - he acted on his convictions

Q: What prevents people today from acting on their convictions?
A: Fear, laziness, wimpy etc ...

John 11:28-37 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

35Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Q: What do you see here?
A: Compassion, sympathy, love & sensitivity

Q: What prevents people from being this way?
A: Pride, selfishness etc...

Conclusion:
My old picture of Jesus = wimpy, thin, picking flowers, singing to sheep.
My new picture of Jesus = an incredibly bold, courageous and caring man.

Practical Atheism

What do you believe concerning Christianity? What is a Christian?

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
— Brennan Manning

This statement describes what I like to call “Practical Atheism”.
What is Atheism? Therefore how would you describe “practical atheism”?
Example:
• Saying that you believe in God, but not doing what he says. (1 Jn 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.)
You are basically saying with your actions, “God you don’t exist.” Or “I don’t really believe what your word says is true.”
I am not saying that we don’t or won’t make mistakes, but in Hebrews 12 God lays out the excuses and the call to what we are supposed to do.
• Heb 12:1-4 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
• Cast everything off…hindrances and sin
• You haven’t shed your own blood trying to avoid sin or do the good you should.
Ways that we can cast everything off and really follow God and practice “Practical Theism”. Also, give a call to study the bible and be a part of our family.
• Prov 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
• John 13:14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
• Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
• Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.