The “Mountain Rock Church of Christ” in Hershey, Pennsylvania (USA)

Sunday sermon presented by: Eddie Mayes (5/13/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

Nick’s Baptism (5/7/2012)

The Mountain Rock Church of Christ

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

Sunday sermon presented by: Glenn Geeting (5/6/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

GLENN’S NOTES:

Sermon- Spirit v Our Effort

Intro: GPS- Recalculating
How do we reconcile the Spirit’s work and our work?
1.2 Pet 1:3-4 Eternity in our lives
Goals- not about what you’ll do but who you’ll be
Challenging circumstances: ask God- change circumstances. God wants to change character
may involve keeping us in challenging situations.
Why pursue these things- because you get to- God offers a better life.
Why do you follow Christ? Just to escape hell. Or to become like Christ.

Do I have to stop… We’re looking to do the minimum. Not trying to be saved from the old you. God wants us to be a slave to righteousness. We get off course, but God wants us to live a righteous life. You don’t have to be that person anymore. Baptized- that person is dead. Ex. “God bye old Tom.”

Called to God’s glory, not just a ball of cells wandering around the earth following our genetic destiny. Called to God’s excellence.

Or decay/decomposition (Gr phthora)- what the world offers

2.V5-7
Make every effort (Gr spoude)- intensity, means quickly obeying what the Lord reveals is His priority
Danger- comparing with others rather than making every effort
Faith- (Gr pistis)- believing God’s warranty, Looking at life faithfully. God is in control and has made great promises.
Goodness/Virtue- Moral excellence
Knowledge- How are you doing at reading the book we’re studying together? Every effort?
Self-Control- self-mastery: eating, sexual desires, clothes (how many clothes do you need), play
Perseverance/steadfastness/endurance- patience, keep holding the weight up. “God get rid of that weight. Weight lifting- get stronger by exertion.
Ask God to make your life a little more difficult so you can develop perseverance? Care more about comfort than character.
J gives option- easy year but won’t grow, hardships but close to God/faith
(James 1:2-4) consider it pure joy when you encounter trials. Yahoo.
Godliness/reverence- in more awe of God than last year?
Brotherly kindness (Gr Philadelphia)- build family here, soft place to fall
Love- agape- the most excellent way, love not because of who you are but in spite of who you are. Be like J- nailed to a cross and still love.

3.v8 Want to be effective and fruitful? increase in these qualities. More than a few months ago?
Can’t leave footprints in the sands of time sitting on butt, Buttprints in the sands of time.
What do you work hardest at? Job, fam, friends. Character
“Obey me so that you won’t end up like me”- caught and not taught.
Single- focus on finding the right person rather than being the right person?
I can get focused on fixing things rather than being like God, being with God
Every effort- we make things so optional. “I’d probably go to heaven without those things.”
True, God doesn’t remove our freedom of choice, but the other option is eternity separated from God. So casual.

4.v9 Nearsighted and blind.
Isn’t this the cause of most of our sin- looking only at the immediate temptation and not ahead or at anyone else. Feel good immediately, ignore others and ignore eternity.
If we could just dangle people over hell for 15sec, perspective would really change- wishing they could die but they can’t.
If we could just get a glimpse of 15sec of heaven. Indescribable. Forever.
Did you forget what happened to you? Didn’t know God, unfulfilled. Not just saved from the penalty of our sin, but saved from our sin itself- don’t have to go there again. Not stuck.

5.v10-11 Eternal impact
There are times when I have doubted my salvation, some based on what God’s word says.
Don’t want glib reassurance, but conviction that lasts.
Insecure in your relationship with God? get zealous
Your effort does matter, eternally- get discipling, share faith God has given you, have the guts to study the Bible
Diligent/eager/zealous- Are we lazy in our approach to God? Entitled? Insecure?

Ex. Val’s baptism- sense of eternity, purpose, supernatural intersecting with our meager world
Your life matters, your decisions matter

Valerie’s Baptism (5/1/2012)

The Mountain Rock Church of Christ

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

Sunday sermon presented by: Eddie Mayes (4/29/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan

Sunday sermon presented by: Glenn Geeting (4/22/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan

GLENN’S NOTES:

Sermon: Ch 6- Forget About His Will For Your Life

Intro- Greetings from NYC
Jack- fell off cliff, grabbed a branch, thousand feet. yelling for help.
HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? “HELP!”
Long time, about to give up.
Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, yes! I can hear you. I’m down here!”
“I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?”
“Yes, but who are you, and where are you?
“I am the Lord, Jack. I’m everywhere.”
“The Lord? You mean, GOD?”
“That’s Me.”
“God, please help me! I promise if, you’ll get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person. I’ll serve You for the rest of my life.”
“Easy on the promises, Jack. Let’s get you off from there; then we can talk. Now, here’s what I want you to do. Listen carefully.”
“I’ll do anything, God. Just tell me what to do.”
“Okay. Let go of the branch.”"What?” “I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go.”
There was a long silence.
Finally Jack yelled, “HELP! HELP! IS THERE ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?”

Galatians- serious misconceptions about the Spirit, endured suffering, and Paul called them to allow challenges to move them to surrender more fully to God’s Spirit.

1.Let Go of Control Gal 5:16-18
Forget about His will for your life!
We want to know God’s will for our lives. 5 year plan
God is more interested in following His lead today, this hour.
Ex G at gym, invitation card burning a hole in my pocket, felt prompted to invite one of the trainers (big, buff guy), struggled. Spirits immediate leading.

“Every exit is an entry to somewhere.”
God didn’t reveal specifics to Abe- just go.
Fear, paralysis- God hasn’t clarified His long-term will, so we either do nothing or do whatever we want to do.
What does God promise?
-He cares deeply for us
-Never to leave or forsake us
-Good and not harm

We are so focused on human effort- give more credit to discipling than God’s Spirit.
Flesh- Gr Sarx, decisions according to self, apart from God’s power
So arrogant to think it’s by our power.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu
Balanced life with a little God added in. Join in my life journey. J did not die so he could follow me, the Creator of the Universe isn’t content to be added in to our agenda.
Seeking semi-moral life and to go to church periodically- don’t need the Spirit.
Ex I had an active pure Christian dating life, then H came along- wanted to marry her
Needed to devote myself to one woman, not just add some Heather into this life..

Living by the Spirit, minute-by-minute influence in our lives
Imagine- bought treadmill, returned it 3 mo later, “didn’t work, didn’t lose wt” “didn’t it work?” “don’t know, didn’t turn it on”
Spend more effort fighting the Spirit than fighting our sinful nature.
Silly illustration- addiction to pornography, bitterness toward father, compulsive gluttony- then it isn’t so silly.
Means that you’d really repent of sin- can’t simultaneously submit to our sinful nature and God’s Spirit at the same time. In conflict. Opposed. Choose.

2.Let Go of our Sin, Gal 5:19-21 Obvious.
Define each sin.
Conquering our sin is not a passive process- we need to surrender every minute. Letting go of our sin requires great strength and force of will.
Study your sinful nature, know your weaknesses and make them your strengths.
The problem isn’t that we can’t identify our sin, but that we don’t want to let it go.
Not inherit the kingdom of God

Repent- metanoia. Need the Spirit to help us to repent.
We treat God’s Spirit like an add-on.
-Sweet! Jesus, do you want to join the party of my life with this sin, that addiction, this destructive relationship, and we’ll all just coexist together, or
-Sweet Jesus, You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I want to turn from all of the sin and selfishness that rules me. I want to let it go and walk with you. Only you. You are my life now. Help me walk away from all of the enslaving, worthless things in my life.
-Which describes you more?
Suffering is not holding you, you are holding suffering. Why drag those burdens around?
We have a hard time letting go of our suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, we prefer suffering that is familiar.
Walking with God is like crossing monkey bars. Need to let go in order to move forward

3.Let Go of Ourselves, Gal 5:22-25
Define each fruit. Patience (makrothymia- long tempered), Kindness (useable), Goodness (moral excellence),
“I’ve gotta be more…” Let go.
Examine self- what is the fruit of your life?
-invite HS to work on your heart, help you budget, with family, determine what you consume (food, alcohol, other substances), relationships
Habitual, continual, and active interaction with HS- sounds exhausting. It’s not, bec we’re not doing the work

Sunday sermon presented by: Eddie Mayes (4/15/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan

Sunday sermon presented by: Glenn Geeting (4/8/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan

GLENN’S NOTES:

Sermon: Ch 4- Why do you want Him?

Intro
What if I don’t see these things in my life? Remember that it isn’t your power that will do this. In God’s time, God’s way. He works at just the right pace.
Ex- move too fast, pottery is marred
It’s clear that you want to see the HS work in your life- wouldn’t have made it this far in the study if you hadn’t.
Ask God, he’s promised to give His Spirit.
Motives are key. The Big Why.

Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” Abraham Lincoln

Simon the magician. Used to doing incredible things, amazed by the power shown through Philip.
1.Ac 8:9-13 Set up for failure
We’re sinful creatures and we make “loopholes”
“The Great One”- wouldn’t it feel great to be called that? Like Wayne Gretzky.
Simon believes and is baptized. Just because we follow God doesn’t mean we don’t have to deal with our sinful nature. The Spirit will expose our sin and challenge us to repent.
Know your sinful nature, tempations
We don’t want to see our sin.
Ex G- repented of a lot, but didn’t get Pride

2.v14-23 Exposure- Deal with your heart- The Big WHY
Ex. 2 Christmas’ ago- bought Sandi- overpriced designer mutt, G&H bump over money, discipling time with Brett & Jeannie Miller, exposing questions. (Eddie can relate)
Simon offered money. What’s your price?
Simon- even willing to give up worldly possessions to see the Spirit move!
Why do you think Simon wanted the Spirit?
Seemed to want the honor of an apostle without the heart of a Disciple
Transfer into modern day- What would Simon’s motivation look like played out in our church?
Trying to Lead the Spirit- We’re seeking the Spirit, but OUR dreams and desires
Using the Spirit for our purposes- only demonstrates pride. The difference between being powerfully used by God and aggressively opposed by Him (James 4:6)
What if Simon could purchase the gifts of the Spirit? Becomes mercenary. Must be free gift- leads to gratitude and makes it obvious that it’s God working, not us.
Simon wanted to control the Spirit’s power, not vice versa.

Are you eager to see others growing and manifesting the gifts of the Spirit? Peter and Jn went to the other side of the tracks to give to the untouchables.
How should we deal with it when another disciples sin is exposed- soft place to fall, but don’t leave them down.
How much do you value the gift of the Spirit? Inestimable in Peter’s eyes
How could Peter jump to a conclusion so quickly? Spirit!
We’re so focused on the outside that we fail to deal with our hearts. Heart sins are lethal.
When was the last time you confessed a sin of the heart- greed, pride, lust?
Deal with sin at the temptation level- we’ve all got our issues and need a safe place to fall.

Who gets the glory for the things in your life?
Ex G- rebuke pride- caused a searching self-inventory and huge repentance in motivation
We fixate on the flashy manifestations of the Spirit. When a proud person shows humility, is this any less supernatural? When a person is genuinely patient or loving? (a miracle coming from Glenn)

Hear the warning- we can be doing religious things, but if our motive is messed up we’re in danger of perishing.

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.” Mikhail Baryshnikov

3.v24 The Response
Lifestyle of Repentance
Repent- change mindset- both a challenge and a hope (it’s possible)

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar

“QT”- don’t study the Bible, but let the Bible study you!
Ex. Encouraging- What are we good at as a fam? Madi- repenting
Repent- the challenge and gift. What is the Sprit challenging you to repent of today?
Lifestyle of a Christian.
Ps 139:14 why such confidence, v23-24

1 Cor 12:4-11
V7 for the common good.
Encouragement and service are miraculous manifestations of the Spirit
We focus on the flashy things. 1 Cor 12:31 a still more excellent way = LOVE

Football huddle analogy- often we get fired up with good plans, then go sit on the bench- don’t need the Spirit to huddle, need Him when we go out and play. What is your position- left out?
How would the church look if we were all “running the plays”?
How would the world respond?

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

What does HS want me to do right now? Think through the situations God has placed you in. What is He calling you to do through his Spirit’s power?

Sunday sermon presented by: Eddie Mayes (4/1/2012)

CLICK HERE for Personal Bible Studies

RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan