THE GREATEST GIFT REQUIRES OUR GREATEST GIFT - PART 2
We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or be used for a sermon group discussion.
Sermon Title: THE GREATEST GIFT REQUIRES OUR GREATEST GIFT - PART 2
RECAP OF PART 1:
The greatest gift given to us is Jesus!
The greatest gift we can give is ourselves.
God has specifically given us the gifts of:
· Forgiveness
· Being made right with God
· Righteousness
· Eternal life
Curiosity is the key to seeing these gifts.
NOTES:
Today’s keyword = Confidence
Set the stage-
· Israel wanted a king
· God was displeased
· Saul was chosen
· Samuel anointed Saul
· Saul to be presented to the people
1 Samuel 10:17-22 NLT
17 Later Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the Lord at Mizpah.18 And he said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has declared: I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you. 19 But though I have rescued you from your misery and distress, you have rejected your God today and have said, ‘No, we want a king instead!’ Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by tribes and clans.” 20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 21 Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! 22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”
And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”
Hiding is the oldest coping mechanism {See Adam & Eve in Genesis 3 - Run & Cover}
Question:
Does this still exist today?
Do we still run from God and His presence?
How do I know if I’m hiding or running from God?
God has little prominence in your life
You have difficulty with sustained prayer
Your shame and guilt causes you to run from God
You are afraid of God and who He is in your life
Worldly influences have more power than spiritual practices
You are angry with God due to experiences in your life
Open sin is present and persistent
Addiction is used to comfort pain and dull emotional power
Anger is a sustained and real force in your life
You struggle with regular church attendance and participation
You avoid reading His word on a sustained level
Have a hard time putting God first in your daily routine
You have a chronic judgmental and unforgiving attitude towards others
You are mistreating other others, especially those close to you
Your behavior does not match your words
Very little resilience during times of adversity.
Everything else is a priority before God.
Several points to ponder:
God has always been trying to repair the breach between us and Him
We were not designed to see evil or nakedness
God never intended that our sin nature would drive us away from Him
Our natural bent is to turn from and cover up anytime God comes looking for us to love.
There is a great difference between our spirit and our flesh (sin nature)
The greatest conflict for us to overcome is that God‘s love compels us to reach out to Him, but our sin nature wants to move away from Him.
Question: Why do we run and hide?
When we don’t want to dig deep or be comfortable in God’s presence or fulfill God’s purpose for us - we hide…
But…
Curiosity asks - “Why am I running from God and hiding our full self from Him?”
Three major influences of the fleshly nature that drive us from God and each other:
1. Shame
Cowering away in fear
Insecure stance in life
Easily offended
Confidence level is low
Self-worth damaged
2. Negativity (Blame, Attack)
Self-blame - blame others
Think and say only the negative
Negatively bias
We react
Become defensive
Deflection
3. Self-protection (covering from shame)
Fig leaves covering broken self
Need to defend against perceived attacks
Push others away
Protecting wounded parts of us
These can only be fixed and we can stop running and hiding by a transformation of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
He wants to do a deeper work as we give more of ourselves to Him.
He wants us to live in:
The peace of God
Healing of our broken hearts
Transformation of our thoughts
Trust for his work in us
Reality:
Your level of spiritual walk will determine the level of fleshly influence that will manifest.
That work requires us to be overcomers by approaching Jesus boldly and confidently.
Ephesians 3:6-12 NLT
6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. 7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. 8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. 10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 10:19-25 NLT
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Takeaways:
1. God has always made the first move in our redemption
He covers the three main enemies of our soul:
Satan -
Luke 10:18 NIV “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
1 John 3:8 NIV “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”=
World -
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”John 17:13-19 NLT
“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”John 16:33 NIV
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”The Flesh -
Galatians 5:16-17 NIV
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”Galatians 5:25 NIV
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
Our goal is holiness!!
To be like Jesus1 Peter 1:13-16 NLT
“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”2. Hiding from God is futile
Hiding from Him robs us of the wonderful blessings God has for us, but exposure to Him brings us the best for us.
1 John 1:5-7 NIV
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”Psalm 139:7-12 NLT
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.3. God is encouraging us to approach him with confidence and boldness
Light causes a great confidence in darkness
Remember:
Fear and shame drive us away
But… love drives out all fear
Perfect love is God’s presence
To experience Him helps us to grow in confidence
God is encouraging us to build confidence by coming boldly to Him.
Boldness and Confidence Strategies:
Run to God’s light in confidence
Don’t run away
Be a part of the church
Don’t isolate
Experience fellowship
Expose yourself constantly to the Word/Worship/Prayer
Ignite his presence
Be open to discipleship
Learn and grow from others
Impart your wisdom to others
Recognize God everywhere
Brought in your limited scope of view
Treasure God and His presence
Matthew 22:37-38 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Count your blessings
Practice gratefulness
Embrace your spiritual giftings
Be a part of growing and blessing others
Heal from trauma and abuse
He is close to the brokenhearted
Overcome, shame, fear, guilt, regret
Correct view of self and God
Discussion:
What did God use in this sermon to speak to your heart or situation?
What scripture stuck out to you and why?
Did any of the listed ways people hide from God resonate with you?
What Boldness and Confidence Strategies do you already follow and which ones can you improve?
Are there any areas in your life where your confidence depends on something or someone other than God?
What should we ask God for in our prayer time to help us apply this message?
The most important decision you will ever make!
If you’re ready to trust in Jesus for salvation and eternal life we encourage you to process this decision with a strong believer and when you’re ready say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, Amen!
We would love to know if you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Let us know here.
Pray Together
We hope you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!