Click on this link to find the audio to this sermon if you missed it.
http://audio.cbcnashville.org/index.php/site/listen/275
Here is the main verse for the sermon from 02/21/2010
1 Corinthians 1:17
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Here are a few thoughts I jotted down so we can get the discussion started:
We have church wrong:
* man pleasing is a major problem in our lives
* We must think about what God thinks about us more than what man thinks
* Paul was liberated from the fear of men
* Being bold for the Gospel is not a license to be an angry prophet jerk
* We are choking and exhausted by worrying about what others think of us.
The singular ministry of the church:
* The message of fulfilled happiness is not the Christian faith
* Unhappiness results from pursuing happiness
* Desire to be popular strips the Gospel of its power in our lives and ministry
* Christianity is content based not feeling based
* How did we make the Gospel into a self improvement remedy?
* The power of the cross is it's power to offend
* If I offer the lost something other than the substitutionary work of Christ in the Gospel I will damn them.
* Stop looking for evangelism openings or angles in conversations because they are always there in every conversation.
What was most meaningful for you and your main takeaway for a Cross centered life this week?
For me, the pursuit of personal happiness in my life is robbing all the power of the Gospel in my witness. What witness, actually! My happiness is in the way of the Gospel.
What say you?
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I thought about how pursuing happiness (as opposed to holiness) results in unhappiness. That was a great idea to ponder in the sermon yesterday. How often do we spend time pursuing our own pleasures and desires only to be unfulfilled in our souls.
ReplyDeleteJesus remedy, "Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal."
Word.
La girl, I thought that was one of the real take aways for me of the message as well. Its one of those statements that just hits you hard. Every time I try to pursue my personal happiness it will only slip away and leave me unhappy.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me was that there are so many people around us as we go through our daily lives without the moral compass to guide them, longing for answers, like the man in the ballpark. So many wasted opportunities for us to be obedient. Jesus said that if we follow Him, He will make us fishers of men. Are we being fishers of men? Are we truly following Him? Am I?
ReplyDeleteRhonda, that is such a good point.
ReplyDeleteDo we have compassion for those around us?
Do we understand that we have EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness and yet those around us are perishing every day?
Do we love the lost or do we love ourselves?
We prove that we love ourselves more every time we let a conversation opening slip by, engage with an unbeliever without a plan and a prayer, and blindly walk through our day with no thought or prayer about who shall we meet today as a divine appointment. They can not hear without a preacher. I'm that preacher for whomever I meet with our talk to today regardless of their position before Christ. We never outgrow the Gospel so the Gospel should be our speech in front of EVERY person we meet today. Let's do this thing with no playing around!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouraging word Mark. It was good to think about praying to God about opportunities that we have.
ReplyDeleteMy prayer today: I love the gospel for it is the power of God unto Salvation to everyone that believes. I pray that you will help me to open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. I was blind and naked and poor and you gave me Christ; help me to remember the life that the gospel brings to others. They are sheep without a shepherd....blindly living in darkness. I love them Lord.
Mark. I got this from a career age young man in MO. "I've been listening to your podcasts and the gospel is ripping open my heart and making me really accurately examine my heart and where I am. I have come to some truths that I have been blind to and not sure how I missed it until now. Via your messages, and really even not your message but the message of Repenting from Repentance, I have been laid open and am exposing my sins that I have been blind to." Dude.
ReplyDelete