Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Introduction: Don’t be uninformed
1 Corinthians 12:1  “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed…

Let me ask you: What do you know about spiritual gifts?

Let me illustrate:
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?  116 yrs, 1337-1453

2) Which country makes Panama hats?  Ecuador

3) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November, Russian calendar was 13 days behind ours

4) What is a camel’s-hair brush made of?   Squirrel fur

5) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Latin – Insularia Canaria “Island of the Dogs”

6) What was King George VI’s first name?  Albert. In 1936 he respected Queen’s wish that no future king be called Albert and changed his name to George.

7) How long did the Thirty Years War last?  30 yrs 1618-1648

I.          Christ is the head of the church and he loves her.
Colossians 1:18 “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

Ephesians 5:23 “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.”

Christ is the head of this church.
I recognize that I function under His authority and leadership.
The Executive Team meets with an awareness that we are to listen to        Him and seek his guidance for our ministry together.

The church is the bride of Christ
John 3:28-30 “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.””

Revelation 19:7 “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;”

Revelation 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Revelation 21:9 “Then came one of the seven angels…saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.””

Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

He is committed to his bride.
Christ paid for his bride with his own blood.
She is not perfect.  She is full of flaws.
But Christ will never leave his wife – Ever!
There are times of painful distance.
There are times of backsliding on our part.
But Christ will keep the new covenant with his much less than perfect wife no matter what.
He made an imperfect bride his own with the price of his blood.
He covered her with the wedding dress of his own righteousness.

Matthew 28:20 “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Hebrews 13:5 “He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

II.         He gave gifts
A.        The Spoils of Calvary
Ephesians 4:7-8 “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”…

The King returning from war.  Parade, along the road cheering crowds – gave out gifts = the spoils of the hard fought battle!

Do you see this?  Does it make sense?
Has it dawned on you that God has given you a cluster of gifts that he bought at Calvary?

B.        No one left out!
Each one: Romans 12:4-5;
1 Cor 12:7 – each one for the common good.
1 Cor 12:27 – each one part of the Body
Ephesians 4:7-8 – each one given grace
1 Peter 4:8 – each one has received a gift

Different kinds of abilities (gifts)
χαρισμάτων = charismata from charis “grace” abilities
Abilities that enable a person to bring glory to and serve God.

We Value: gift-based ministry

Different kinds of ministries – serving
διακονιῶν = diakonia – opportunities to serve
Jesus is in charge and I am called to “follow Him” in responding to opportunities to serve Him.  Ministry is using whatever God has given me to serve Him to meet the needs of others.”

We Value: Gift-based, team ministry

Different kinds of effects
ἐνεργημάτων = energemata = effects of God’s work
God is in charge and I am called to trust Him for the results!

We Value: intimacy with and dependence on Christ.
Leave the results to Him. No one is left out.

Free online – spiritual gifts analysis

http://www.churchgrowth.org/analysis/intro.php

C.        Do you see that using your gifts in ministry is a call from God?

John 15:16-17 ” You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” NIV

John 20:21-22 ” Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” NIV

Matthew 8:19-22 “And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.””

John 21:15-22  ”When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!””

Matthew 25:14-18 ““For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.“

Romans 12:5 “each member belongs to all the others”

Use your gifts:  Romans 12:6 “we have different gifts…use them”

Shepherd/teachers:
Story: Reinholdt Grambsch

D.        What does all this mean – to be a servant?

1.         Put others ahead of your own agenda

2.         Have the confidence to serve

3.         Don’t wait to be asked.  Initiate service to others.  Move into action.  The best way to change is to start.

4.    Serve out of love.  Perform small acts of service.  Your heart will catch up with your actions.

Do an attitude check: am I willing to do anything to serve God?

Benjamin Franklin vividly remembered a visit he made as a young man to see the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather and the life lesson learned. Franklin recalled:  He was showing me out of the house, and there was a very low beam near the doorway. I was still talking when Mather began shouting, “Stoop! Stoop!” I didn’t understand what he meant and banged my head on the beam. “You’re young,” he said, “and have the world before you. Stoop as you go through it, and you will avoid many hard thumps.” That advice has been very useful to me. I avoided many misfortunes by not carrying my head too high in pride.

Citation: “Benjamin Franklin,” PBS (November 2002)

And is the overflow of your intimate relationship with Christ.

John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Introduction:
1.         Love fruit
2.         Making a difference – things that need to be done

Free online – spiritual gifts analysis

http://www.churchgrowth.org/analysis/intro.php
We so busy, busy, busy.  Running here and there.  No margins in our lives

“Issue one in our culture, Christian or non-Christian is the search for significance, which has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years.”     Paul Ford, lay mobilization consultant

What really matters? In the second half of life.  In the first half.  In the last trimester?

I.  His Focus – Fruit bearing!
Nothing like delicious fruit!  Making a difference!
In the process of discovering what has happened to you and who you are in Christ you will want to bear fruit in your life!

God wants us to be fruitful in His kingdom.
Jn 15:2  “bear fruit”  prunes so it will bear “more fruit”
15:4  “cannot bear fruit unless”
15:5  “he bears much fruit”
15:8  “by this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples”
15:16  “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain”

World’s definition of success: accomplishing, achieving, climbing ladders that don’t necessarily matter in the long run.

Significance: the process of accomplishment in the things that really matter in life in the long run.  The things that matter to God. We need to rethink the rest of our lives in terms of significance.

Here Christ says that we can define “significance” in terms of three relationships: Our relationship with him; our relationship with each other; and our relationship with the world.

Of utmost importance is that He tells us that simple truth about how to live lives of significance…make our relationship with Him first!

Fruit: What is he talking about?
Converts:
John 4:35-38 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.””

John 12:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Character
Isaiah 5:1-7     the Song of the Vineyard = Character
Galatians 5:25 Qualities
Others: Ps 80:8f; Eze 15;
John 15:17  Love one another w/ sacrificial love
John 15:27 w/ Acts 1:8  Impact
More Basic: 15:7-17
Possessing the divine life itself expressed in the characteristics of that life.  Union with God!

Am I fulfilling the mandate of my calling?

II.         Identity:  who is who in this analogy?

A.        God the Father is the Gardener – “My Father is the vinedresser”
Trains the branches, fertilizes, weeds, prunes, waters. He takes an active role in developing the life of the branches so that they become fruitful.

Called to Christ by the Father
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

The Father opens our hearts to pay attention to the Good News
Acts 16:14 “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia…The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

The Father gives people to His Son
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  (Effectual call)

John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and my father are one.”

The Father gives them new life (not a new religion)
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

The Father uses imperishable seed
1 Peter 1:23-25 “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

The Father places the branches of the vine exactly where He wants them.  He knows who they are and exactly what they need.
1 Corinthians 12:18 “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

It is the Father prunes the branches
John 15:2-3 “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Jesus does not say, “Every branch that appears to be in me” but every branch “in me”.   How can a person be ‘in Christ’ and yet be separated from Him like Judas was?  No amount of theological standing on our heads will erase this antinomy.

What I do know for sure is that we are all a mess!  We are sinners at every level of our existence.  We are weak-willed just like Peter.  He was so cock sure that he would take a stand for Jesus and die for him.  But within hours he denied Christ 3 times.

But during his life Peter was pruned by Christ.  He learned who he was “in Christ”.  Many times he was drawn up short.  He was rebuked publicly by Paul for not living consistently with the gospel.

So too, the Father disciplines all his children

Hebrews 12:4-7, 10-11 “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?…For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

There is also the pruning part of this passage . . . Jesus says that his Father is the gardener who not only cuts off unfruitful branches, but also “prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more” (15:2). When gardeners prune a plant, they are literally shaping that plant, deciding which branches to take away and which to leave. They are pruning with a vision for what the plant will become. They are forming the plant for maximum fruitfulness and/or beauty.

I don’t like pruning.  It isn’t bad to cut off truly dead branches. But usually pruning involves cutting back live branches, taking away beautiful. Usually, the plant I begin to prune looks quite fine. When I’m finished, it is downright ugly. I often feel rather sad when I’m done with a pruning job, even though I know it’s necessary for the health and fruitfulness of many plants.

I like being pruned even less than I like pruning, however. In my experience, God’s pruning is rarely like a haircut, painless with immediately positive results. It’s more like what happens with plants. God takes away, often with some pain on my part, aspects of my life that have been fruitful. Sometimes I can’t see why God is doing this to me. Sometimes I feel angry with him. Sometimes I feel afraid or sad. But, in retrospect, I can see how God’s pruning helps me to be more fruitful for him.

Jesus Christ is the Vine: “I am the true vine”
Last of the 7 “I am’s” in John
= the right stock.  Every nursery person knows impt of right stock
= Jesus Christ is the only source of spiritual life.

ILL:  Life in the vine!  Burned, all is lost, dig into ground for living root, brought into the light and grafted in!  Under the Tuscany Sun, 2003 starring Diane Lane
While on vacation, a just-divorced writer buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will be the start of a change for the better in her life

The Son cleanses
John 13:10-11 “Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.””

John 15:3  “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

The Son nourishes us by His teaching.
John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

The disciples are the branches: “You are the branches”
Last words to the 12.  Important words.
John 13-17 is Christ’s farewell message.
They have been grafted into a right relationship with Jesus through faith.

15:3  “you are already clean”  = forgiveness. Not perfect but clean
If there are a 1000 steps between people and God, God has taken all of them toward us except one.  The last one these men have taken.  They’ve received Christ.  They’ve opened the door of their lives to him.  Therefore, they are branches.

III.        The Mandate of this Passage: Abide in Me!
The Christian life is simply one of abiding in Jesus, letting his words abide in us, and bearing much fruit.

A.        Meaning
Drawing our life from Christ
Sharing our life with Christ
Total association – share our lives intimately with him.
To stick like glue to Jesus.
Opening ourselves and our inner world up to Him.
Their willingness is weaker than they think.
Fortunately, He never leaves or forsakes them.

Remain in Me.  11x in Jn 15; 40 in John; 27 x in Jn’s letters
1.     Accept Him as Savior.  A faith commitment
2.     Persevere in faith
3.     Continue to listen to him, be teachable and pliable.

Seeking to bring every thought into conformity with Him
Stressing the impossibility of bearing fruit without abiding in him.
Branches do not have a conscious will.  Abiding is natural.
The Father prunes
The Son cleanses and nourishes But the branches must chose and make an effort to abide in Cx.
Seeking to spend time with him, to share his thoughts, emotions, intentions and power with him.
To be a conduit for his life to flow in and through us.

http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/video/hanks02.asp

~The Lord Jesus loves the church…every little part of the church
~ Ministry is the overflow of intimacy with Christ.
Yes, God uses our gifts in ministry even w/o intimacy          being   the best.

The power of art of heal and comfort.
They go out into the world and touch other people. You have to be responsible for every piece of art of you do.
Use your power to touch people well.!

Art is out of your heads…you are just a conduit.
Takes a weight of responsibility off my shoulders…let it flow through me.

B.        The Exchanged Life
Abiding in Christ:
“If Christ does not enter your kitchen, there is something wrong with your kitchen.  If you can’t take god into your recreation, there is something wrong with your play. We all believe in the God of the heroic.  What we need most these days is the God of the humdrum, the commonplace, the everyday.”             Peter Marshall, Sr.

Introduction:
1.         Driving apology
2.         Story about HS senior basketball player – David Chubbs Stillman

I.          Jonah’s Complaint, 4:1-3
This is not the end of the story.
Jonah is very displeased.
Literally: “it was evil to Jonah with great evil”
Clearly his repentance at the end of Chapter 2 is not complete.

God turned from anger toward the Assyrians but
Jonah turned to anger.  Jonah had only recently been happy with the compassion of God that rescued him.  Now, God has been compassionate to the Ninevites.  God turned from anger but Jonah turns to anger. And we will see that true to character God is patient with Jonah.

A.        The characteristics of God
~ Gracious – God’s attitude toward those who hold no claim on him.
~ Compassionate – (Heb. hus, concern [NIV], be sorry for [NEB], pity [RSV, RV]) is the key attitude. Jonah had become completely indifferent to the fate of everyone outside Israel.

~ Slow to anger – patient
~ Abounding in love – Hesed = God’s loyal love toward those in a covenant relationship with God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction”

Lamentations 3:22-24 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.””

B.        Jonah blatantly rejected the goodness of God and disregarded his responsibility to reflect the character of God.

Jonah wished calamity on the enemies of God’s people.

When applied to his enemies, the goodness of God depressed Jonah. How could Jonah return to Israel and announce that God was not going to judge the nation that had been such an enemy of the godly for so long?

Interestingly, Jonah told God his true feelings.
Some of us try to hide our true feelings.

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties (cares) on him, because he cares for you.”

C.        What is the goal?
John 1:14, 18 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

John 14:7-9 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

1 Peter 1:15, 16 “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Galatians 4:19 “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”

Colossians 1:28,29 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.  To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

Ephesians 4:13, 15 “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,..Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”

Colossians 1:27 “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Do you see what God is up to in your life?
He is working all things together for good in your life and the central essence of that goodness is that you become conformed to the image of his son.

II.         God’s Response, 4:4-8
A.        A penetrating question:
“Are you right to be angry?”
Not a confrontational “push back”
A wise question.

B.        A revealing object lesson
The pouting prophet erects a hunting blind to set back and see what God would do.

Question:  Why did Jonah move outside the city and build a hut on an overlooking mountain?  He wanted nothing to do with the repentant Ninevites!

Out of compassion God provided a vine!  (impossible to know what it

Genesis 22:7-8 “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.”

Genesis 22:13-14 “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.””

Philippians 4:19-20 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

God provided a worm:
“During the period of a sirocco the temperature rises steeply, sometimes even climbing during the night, and it remains high, about 16-22 F. above the average . . . at times every scrap of moisture seems to have been extracted from the air, so that one has the curious feeling that one’s skin has been drawn much tighter than usual. Sirocco days are peculiarly trying to the temper and tend to make even the mildest people irritable and fretful and to snap at one another for apparently no reason at all.”

III.        God’s Challenge, 4:9-11
A.        God’s Challenge – “Do you have a right to be angry?”

B.        The Drama King’s Response – “I’m so angry I could die!”
He knew His God well (4:2). His appreciation for God’s love for Israel had evidently so pervaded his life that it crowded out any compassion for people who lacked knowledge of and relationship with Yahweh.

C.        God’s rebuke, 4:10-11
God dealt with Jonah as any ordinary person.
He exposed him to the pleasures and discomforts that everyone faces and made him see that his theology made him no more compassionate than anyone else.

Jonah’s compassion extended only to a plant but not to people.
God’s compassion extended not only to plants and animals but also to people. The 120,000 people that God cited as the special objects of His compassion were probably those who for various

reasons could not care for themselves (babies, the mentally incompetent, et al.).

“Not to be able to distinguish between the right hand and the left is a sign of mental infancy.”
Story:  I’m sure that My sister, Linda and her husband Wayne, looked like the Beverly Hillbillies last summer…No one would help them!

God has compassion on helpless people. Spiritually they are those who do not know God, those who are “lost.”

Animals: Attitude toward animals – 2 extremes.
Treat them inhumanely feeling superior, or
Elevate them to the level of persons
If God has compassion for animals, how much more should we?
How to reach out to  lost people!

How you can help change the world together: Ways to Maximize

1.         Pray! – for open doors / clarity
2.         Become a “character…witness” – Jonah’s grade:  F
3.         Build friendship relationships = two-way street!
4.         Invite them to outreach events, church, Bible studies
Encourage them to come to a Bible study.
Stronecroft training this next week.

Friendship Bible Coffee ministry of Stonecroft Ministries.  There is a Stonecroft training event in Neenah this coming Wednesday at 12 noon.  Call Lauri 920 202 3034 luncheon jan 13 at 12:00 at ridgeway country club in neenah cost is $12.00. Guest speaker LeeAnn Steffens “finding Fulfillment for Starving Heart”

5.         Always be ready to share a verbal witness
When was the last time you shared the story of how you came to faith with someone who is not a Christian?
Do you know how to share the gospel clearly?

Illustration: the Brit Hume story this week.

Hume said about what he thought would be a 2010 sports story was that Tiger Woods would play again in the Masters and do well because he is at the top of his game.  But he said he wasn’t so sure about his personal life, that he’d likely lost his family.  Then Hume said about Woods: “He’s said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn your faith — turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’”

6.         Develop an intellectual witness!

7.         Get involved in ministries of compassion? Serve! 4 hrs 4 Him
Jonah 4:11 “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Help in the nursery
Help in Kids Connection
Go on a short-term missions trip! – Jonah!
Habitat for Humanity projects
Doctor, nurse + many other healthcare areas ($ or volunteer)
Healthy Living Clinic
Big Brothers / Sisters
Awana Club
Red Cross blood drive
Community Service organization
Invite newcomers into your home.
Help manage the Friendship Café – outreach opportunity!

PADS provides emergency shelter to the homeless
The goal of the PADS program is to provide hospitality, food, and emergency shelter to homeless people from October 1 through April 30 from 7 p.m.–7 a.m.

Has my heart grown cold and callous?

Why do we take a love offering once a month? last month:

Children and Youth – Under-resourced children and young people
Senior citizens living in nursing homes, assisted living
Homeless and under-resourced households – shelter and food
Physically challenged – Individuals who struggle with a disability – encouraging relationships, helping hand
Poverty – Reaching out to those who lack of resources
Jail or Prison – Incarcerated men, women and teens in our area need to experience the love of Christ in their lives through visits and letters. They also need assistance when re-entering into society. Consider various serving opportunities that bring hope and support to these ind
Unplanned pregnancies – Assist women who are alone and pregnant

Prayer meeting at Oakbrook in the Friendship Café.

Jonah Preaching – Repent
(The 1st Step to a Changed Life) Jonah 3
Ed Riddick, January 3, 2010

Introduction:
Books:
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
Scattershot – A Memoir My Bipolar Family

How are we to cope?
Is there hope?

I. The God of 2nd Chances – The God of New Beginnings!

But often of the ruts we find ourselves in are ones we’ve driven into.
Some of the traps that we are caught in, we’ve set ourselves.

That’s the case for Jonah.
Jonah is simply Jonah – how could he be anyone else?
How could he get outside himself and become what God
Intended?
God’s will was clear to him.
He deliberately chose to move in the opposite direction
The loving Father God has pursued him
The watery grave that Jonah found himself in was beyond his ability to get himself out of.

How we view ourselves and our circumstances has so much to do with whether or not we stay locked up year after year.
And, to add an even more sinister component – we lock others into the same distorted view of reality – especially those we love the most!

Do you remember what changed the direction of Jonah’s life?
Do you remember what moved the hand of God in Jonah’s life?
Jonah 2:7 “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.”

God was already there!
But Jonah opened himself up to the reality of God by turning to Him for help.

Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer is making room for God in your life.

Psalm 33:20-22 “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”

Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”

Psalm 62:5 “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.”

Prayer is waiting on God = to pause and soberly consider our own inadequacy and the Lord’s all-sufficiency and to seek counsel and help from the Lord and to place your hope in Him.

Dale’s story…Godly heritage…(dad – Memorize the Word gp)
Came to Christ…gone through a divorce…now walking with Christ, wife is a Christian teaching Sunday School, children know Cx.

How desperately we need change! Do we recognize our desperate need?
For years, the opening of “The Wide World of Sports” television program illustrated “the agony of defeat” with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure.

What viewers didn’t know was that he chose to fall rather than finish
the jump. Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast, and midway down the ramp, he realized if he completed the jump, he would land on the level ground, beyond the safe sloping landing area, which could have been fatal. As it was, the skier suffered no more than a headache from the tumble. To change one’s course in life can be a dramatic and sometimes painful undertaking, but change is better than a fatal landing at the end.
Craig Brian Larson, Illus for Preaching and Teaching, Baker, p.15

Faith is the bird that sings while it is yet dark.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”, p. 949

Hope “Hope is nothing but a constancy of faith.”

Hope
“The essence of confidence…is not so much in the competence of our own knowing, but in the faithfulness and reliability of the one who is known.” Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (London: SPCK, 1995)

What do you want God to do in your life in 2010? In others?

II. True Repentance Defined!
One of the things that hinders change in people’s lives is sin!
Living independently of God
Going our own way –
The Frank Sinatra syndrome: “I did it my way!”

Message:
Jonah 3:4 “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!””

The Ninevites response
Jonah 3:5 “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”

Faith
Faith is the only requirement to be right with God.
150+ verses and 2 entire NT books say that personal faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross is the only requirement to be right with God.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

What could be overlooked is the simultaneous other side to the coin of genuine faith – the importance of repentance

Repent / Repentance = 50+ times in NT
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Those who repent repudiate self-justification and pretense!
All of their doing was sin!
Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me for I am undone!”

Metavoia =
change of mind toward their sin
change of mind toward God
And a change of direction”Let them give up their evil ways”

The life changing message – Repent
Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Luke 24:45-47 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Greek: (metanoeo)
meta: after (implying change)
noeo: “to perceive” nous: “mind”
Literally: a change of mind
But in Scripture this means more than simply a change in intellectual thought. It means a change of disposition and attitude that results in a change of direction!

This change affects the whole person.
Matthew 3:7,8 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance”

John discerned their repentance was not genuine.
The early converts when giving their profession of faith would stand and face the west and make the following public declaration:
“I renounce you, Satan, and all your works and all your ways.”
Not:
1. Just sorrow or a bad feeling about being caught.
There is a difference bet/ sorrow and being truly repentant.
2 Cor 7:9-10 “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

2. Not penitence – an attempt on our part to make up for something we’ve done. Restitution is necessary sometimes. But…

3. Is not reformation. My efforts to change myself for my glory or good.
Is a change in three ways: (Luke 15:11-32)
1. Mind
2. Heart
3. Behavior
Result: always in personal terms and is a completely new direction to the person as a whole and a return to God.
1 Thess 1:9 “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God”

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

James 4:9 “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;”

A Spirit created sorrow of heart for sin.
Not sorrow about being caught! Sorrow / grief over sin!

“It is simply impossible for someone to meet the Lord of glory in the full revelation of His majesty and not be grieved by particular sins.” Job, David, Isaiah, Peter

The cross says
”No mater what your sins, unlimited mercy is available to those who turn to God through Jesus’ merits.”

The purpose of life is to be near to God and have him near to us.
But without sincere repentance there can be no face-to-face fellowship with the Father of lights.

Here’s the 2-sided coin…
Acts 20:21 “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Ninevites are undergoing fundamental change in their lives and it begins with faith and repentance.

Let me go a bit deeper:
When Christ comes into our lives the all-seeing Lord searches every nook and cranny of our heart.
He searches out root sins
He searches out branch sins – those others sin in us

ILL: Anger is a secondary emotion! There is almost always a primary emotion behind anger!

He seeks an on-going repentance in our lives!
Self-defense is foolishness>
But self examination aided by the Holy Spirit is everything!

III. Never Underestimate What God Can Do
3:6 “when the news reached the King”

Luke 1:34-36 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.”

Matthew 19:24-26 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

Matthew 17:18-20 “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.””

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”