“Christ died for all, therefore all died”…is so because Christ was the representative of all when He died. The death that He died on the cross was in itself the death of all. Since Christ was the representative of all, therefore all may have been said to have died there on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem when Christ died.
Gresham Machen

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SERMON SEEDS F42 FOR 1/6/03

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#1 · January 6, 2003, 5:16 pm

Posted by: jpeters <jpeters@...>

WELCOME TO SERMON SEEDS FOR JANUARY 6, 2003

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2 Kings 4:10

STEADY UNDER PRESSURE

Life of Elisha, The Steady Prophet #5 of 9

There will be times in our lives that we will face pressure.

  • The pressure of persecution - 2 Timothy 3:12
  • The pressure of trials - James 1:2-4
  • The pressure of sickness
  • The pressure of some dying
  • The pressure of family problems
  • The pressure of church disputes
  • The pressure of financial struggles
  • And many more pressures

The prophet Elisha faced pressure as well.

Through his reliance on God, he remained steady under pressure.

CATASTROPHE - Vss. 8-23

A lady had taken care of Elisha's physical needs and Elisha promised the reward of a child. Vss. 8-16

The child was born. Vs. 17

The child died. The lady went to find Elisha. Vss. 18-23

Talk about pressure!

CHARACTER - Vs. 9

It was obvious that Elisha was a "holy man of God."

If we expect to bring to remain steady under pressure, we need to have a similar character.

CONCERN - Vss. 24-30

Elisha was genuinely concerned about the well being of this woman and her family. Vss. 25-26

He understood that the woman was hurting. Vss. 27-28

He sent Gehazi, his servant to help. Vs. 29

He went himself. He was willing to get involved. Vs. 30

Many people want to withdraw when there is pressure. We need to follow Elisha's example and get involved.

CRY - Vss. 31-33

Gehazi was unsuccessful. Evidently there was no prayer on his part.

Elisha got alone with God and the problem and cried out in prayer.

Crying out to God is of ultimate importance when we are under pressure. Jeremiah 33:3, Mark 11:22-24

CLOSENESS - Vs. 34

After prayer, Elisha got involved with a dirty problem. He was dealing with a corpse. He got close anyway. Often God will require us to get close to unpleasant problems in order for them to be solved.

CONTINUATION - Vs. 35

Elisha stuck with the problem until it was totally solved.

There will be times we will have to bear long with a problem until the pressure is relieved completely!

CONCLUSION - Vss. 36-37

The pressure was relieved!

The boy came back to life!

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Isaiah 36

WHAT WILL THE ENEMY DO?

1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Satan, your enemy, will do everything he can to defeat you!

When Hezekiah was king of Judah the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh, his servant, with a great army to fight against Jerusalem. The tactics and words of Rabshakeh show us what our enemy Satan will do to us.

HE WILL ENCROACH ON YOUR TERRITORY - Vss. 1-2

HE WILL MOCK YOUR ALLIES - Vss. 3-6

HE WILL BELITTLE YOUR STRENGTH - Vss. 7-9

HE WILL LIE TO YOU - Vs. 10

He is the "father of lies".

HE WILL INTIMIDATE YOU - Vss. 11-17

HE WILL DEMEAN YOUR FAITH - Vss. 18-20

HE WILL DEPRESS YOU - Vss. 21-22

The good news is that in God we have victory! Isaiah 40:28, 41:10, 1 Corinthians 10:13

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Isaiah 37

VICTORY OVER THE ENEMY

In Isaiah 36 Rabshakeh, servant to the King of Assyria was preparing to fight against Jerusalem, and had initiated a great attack through intimidation and propaganda. His tactics remind us of the tactics of Satan.

King Hezekiah behaved himself wisely and God gave him the victory.

HE SOUGHT GOD'S HELP - Vss. 1-5

HE SECURED GOD'S ENCOURAGEMENT - Vss. 6-7, 21-33

HE SUBMITTED HIS CARES TO GOD - Vss. 8-20

HE SAW GOD'S DELIVERANCE - Vss. 36-38

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MATTHEW 5:3

FIRST THINGS FIRST

#2 - SERMON ON THE MOUNT

There are things that must be done first before other things can be done. There are basics that must be done first before more elaborate things can be accomplished.

The best pianists had to first learn the notes and then the scales.

The fastest typist had to first learn the keyboard.

The very artistic skaters didn't start with fancy routines. She first had to learn how to skate.

There is an expression that goes "first things first".

We begin with the first verse of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins by putting "first things first".

He says in Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the verse upon which the whole Sermon on the Mount builds. This is the first step to becoming a Christian. This is the first step in living the Christian Life.

In our text, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is telling us that the secret to living righteously and to be being truly "happy is by being poor in spirit".

As you can well guess, being poor in spirit does not mean to be poor spirited. Jesus isn't encouraging a bad attitude.

And Jesus isn't talking about physical poverty.

Our spirit would be our attitude.

The word translated for poor here is the word used for someone who is so poor he has to beg. I have known poor people who didn't have much, but were able to survive. The person described here by Jesus is so poor that he has to continually ask for help.

D. A. Carson said 'Poverty of Spirit then, is the personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy.' D. A. Carson, The Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1978) p. 16 quoted by R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount - The Message of the Kingdom (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001) p. 19

You realize that you have no righteousness good enough for God. You realize that you do not have the resources to live righteously within yourself. Your only hope is to cry out to God for help. This, my friend, is true humility.

The spiritual beggar:

Knows that he is nothing

Knows that he has nothing

Knows that he has to ask God for everything

There are at least three areas that are affected by being poor in spirit.

SALVATION

Who did Jesus come to save?

He didn't come to save righteous people.

He came to save unrighteous people and to make them righteous. Luke 5:32

He came to save those who were lost in the degradation of sin. Luke 19:10

If Jesus came to save sinners, you must admit that you are a sinner to be saved.

If Jesus came to save the lost, you must admit that you are lost.

To truly be saved you must begin by admitting that you are a poor lost, sinner! You have to be poor in spirit realizing that you have no hope of forgiveness in yourself.

As a poor lost sinner, you turn to the Savior, the Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, who died for your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21

You turn to the Savior and place your faith and trust in Him for eternal life. John 3:36

John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Jesus told a story about two men in Luke 18:10-14, One showed his pride. The other showed his humility. The one who humbled himself before God was the one who was righteous.

It is the person who humbles himself towards God and turns to Christ by faith, poor in spirit, broken, knowing he deserves nothing, that is saved.

SALVATION

SUBMISSION

A Christian who is poor in spirit is submissive to God.

He realizes that he has done nothing to save himself.

He realizes that he can do nothing in his own power.

He realizes that apart from Christ he is nothing.

What causes us to fail to be submissive?

What causes us to not be poor in spirit?

It is our pride.

  • It is our pride that makes us think that we are so important

that we worry about what others think of us.

  • It is our pride that often causes our feelings to be hurt

because we think that we should have things our way.

  • It is our pride that makes us worry about ourselves and our

own wellbeing. We look out for #1!

  • It is our pride that causes us to make financial decisions that

make us feel good.

  • It is our pride that causes us to play with "toys" and to

Entertain ourselves instead of pleasing God.

  • It is our pride that causes us to be critical of others.
  • It is our pride that makes us refuse to change what we know

that we should change.

How do we become "poor in Spirit"?

  1. Compare yourself to Jesus and nobody else.

    2. When we compare ourselves favorably to others we usually end up feeling pretty good.

    When we compare ourselves with the Lord Jesus we will come away humble.

    James 4:10 - Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

  2. Surrender your "rights" to God.

    3. When you have no "rights" there's no reason to get upset with anything. Romans 12:1

  3. Live to please God.

    4. Warren Wiersbe - "The person who is poor in spirit is not disturbed by the attitudes or criticisms of others, because he lives to please God." Warren Wiersbe, Live Like a King (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1976), p. 37

    Deuteronomy 10:20

  4. Look continually to God and not to yourself to fulfill every need. Be a humble beggar before God!

Realize that unless He provides it, your not getting it. Psalm 123:2, Matthew 7:7-8

Psalm 123:2 - Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

SERVICE

The person who is truly poor in spirit is available to God, even though he realizes that he in himself is nothing.

John MacArthur mentioned some men who were greatly used of God, and yet were poor in spirit.

Consider the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 6:1-8

Listen to the words of the great King David. 2 Samuel 7:18

And remember what Peter said when Jesus gave him a miraculous catch of fish? Luke 5:8

Luke 5:10 - …And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. John MacArthur, Kingdom Living Here and Now ( Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1980), p. 46-47

You know it's really easy to make excuses not to be used of God.

And most of the excuses we make can be traced back to our pride.

The great men of the Bible who were used by God were men who recognized their inability, but then allowed God to work through them.

Are you willing to do the same?

Are you ready to be used by God?

Put first things first and become poor in Spirit!

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Mark 4:35-41

THE STORM

DIRECTION FROM THE MASTER - Vs. 35

DANGER FROM THE STORM - Vss. 36-37

DISMAY OF THE DISCIPLES - Vs. 38

DECLARATION OF PEACE - Vs. 39

DISAPPROVAL BY THE MASTER - Vss. 40-41

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Galatians 5:22-23

CHAMPIONS OF THE SPIRIT

(This will probably work best as a Sunday School Lesson. I would hand out notes, so the class can follow along and also have the Scripture references for future use. This lesson also lends itself well to discussion. You can ask them to figure out how each example exemplified that particular fruit of the Spirit. For instance, have them share how Mary demonstrated love, or Joseph longsuffering. Have the class think of other Biblical examples besides the ones you have given.)

This passage gives us the "fruit of the Spirit." In the Bible, there are people who demonstrated each part of the fruit during some portion of their lives.

LOVE - MARY - Luke 10:38-42, John 12:1-8

JOY - PAUL AND SILAS - Acts 16:19-25

PEACE - DANIEL - Daniel seemed to be always at peace when in difficult situations. Daniel 1,2,5,6

LONGSUFFERING - JOSEPH - Genesis 39-41

GENTLENESS - RUTH - Ruth 1-4

GOODNESS - ONESIPHORUS - 2 Timothy 1:15-18

FAITH - STEPHEN - Acts 6-7

MEEKNESS - MOSES - Numbers 12

TEMPERANCE (SELF-CONTROL) - DAVID - He had two opportunities to kill his enemy Saul and didn't. 2 Samuel 24 and 26.

Sermon Seeds C-1

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Colossians 3:1-9

HEAVENLY MINDED = EARTHLY GOOD!

You've probably heard the expression, "He's so Heavenly minded that he's no earthly good." Indeed there are people who seem to be so religious that they have no practical value here on earth.

This kind of Heavenly mindedness, is not what the Bible teaches. When a person is truly Heavenly minded, he will live out his Christianity in such a way that he will do much earthly good.

THE FACTS - Vs. 1

We are risen with Christ because we died with Christ. (See Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:1-14)

Christ sits on the right hand of God. He is in control.

THE FOCUS - Vss. 1-2

We are to seek things above, the things of Christ.

We are to seek things above, not the things of this earth.

THE FUNERAL - Vs. 3, 5-9

When Christ died on the cross I died with Him. Vs. 3

Therefore, I should put to death the things of the old life. Vss. 5-9

When I do this, and go on to put on the new man in Christ, my life will certainly show earthly good. (Vss. 10)

THE FUTURE - Vs. 4

When Christ appears in glory, we appear with Him. This motivates us to live for our Savior now!

Sermon Seeds C7

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