Embracing Christ - Part 1
Text: John 15:16
Introduction:
Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, said, “I want you to represent me on the earth.” Think of how precious and awesome that is that – that God, who created all things including man, would choose us to represent Him on earth!
Question: Why would God choose you?
Answer: Because He sees something in you!
This message is designed to inspire you to take a look at how special you are to God and raise your awareness to the times when He gives you opportunities to shine for Him.
I. God Wants You – We live in an era unlike any other in the history of mankind. There is such opportunity for spreading the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ! So many doors have been thrown open worldwide! But... in America, this message is just as needed. Our lives must be a witness that Jesus Christ indeed makes a positive difference.
A. You must be a child of God – You must have a relationship with the creator of the universe.
1. You need to see Him answering your prayers.
2. You need to experience his mighty peace.
3. You need to hear His gentle voice telling you what to do with your life.
4. You need to know Him, seek Him, depend on Him, to be afraid to turn away from Him.
5. You need to know that He is your only source.
B. He wants your willingness – God wants you to want to serve Him.
1. God has a great plan for your life and it’s not for you to sit around and be satisfied with a life of mediocrity.
2. God has more... for you!
3. God wants you to be willing to get out there and change lives, to make your world a better place.
• There is no greater testimony to unsaved people than a changed life for which there is no natural explanation!
4. God wants to have communication with you, to hear your praise and worship towards Him.
5. He has built within you a yearning for Him and if you will respond to it you won’t be disappointed.
C. God wants us to show the world the way – He is still calling people to be great gospel preachers, to carry the gospel message to far away lands as missionaries and to touch our neighbors with His love.
1. With the insecurities of the national economies around the globe, the rising cost of living and the impending disasters of spectacular proportions that people are experiencing everywhere, people are searching for answers.
a. They are hungering and thirsting after truth.
b. They want a lifestyle that works
c. They want answers
2. We know the only Way that works! – God wants us to help them find the One who can protect them and provide for them when nothing else is working.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
II. Making Jesus Lord – He wants to be... you know. (Read Matthew 16:13-20)
A. In Matthew chapter 16 Jesus was asking the disciples who men said that He was. (Verse 13 “...Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”)
1. The fisherman, former tax collectors and religious zealots who made up His disciples answered according to what they had been hearing other people say.
2. Jesus made His point when He asked them, “... but whom say ye that I am?” Peter responded by saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
B. Today many people offer opinions about Jesus – cerebral, intellectual, theological, theoretical, academic answers they have learned from books or from what they have heard others say. (Even non-Christians can do that)
1. Something that I think is worse is when He is nothing more than, a Son of God, Savior, Prince of Peace, King of kings, Lord of lords – JUST A CLICHÉ. (Nice words without any meaning)
C. Jesus asks us today the same question He asked the disciples, “...whom say ye that I am?”
1. Who is He to you?
2. Is He merely a tradition? A continuation of family culture?
3. Is He merely a stranger on an ancient cross killed 2000 years ago for reasons that are an absolute puzzle to you? (Don’t be afraid to admit this)
4. Jesus wants to be Lord of your life.
a. He can’t pour out His power on your behalf if you fail to let Him be Lord!
III. “Jesus is Lord of my life?”- What does that mean?
A. There are several examples in the Bible of relationship experiences between servants and lords. One case is found in Matthew 18:23-35.
1. In this example the principles of forgiveness and the results of unforgiveness are taught.
• A servant owed his lord a lot of money. The lord decided to forgive the servant and then the servant went out and collected a debt from someone who owed him much less. His lord found out about it and immediately sold the servants family into slavery to satisfy the debt that had once been forgiven. (This servant was owned by his lord and was a slave)
B. In contrast to the slave there was also a “bond servant”. The bond servant was free to quit but chose to stay and serve his master. He was paid wages but was much more than a hireling. HE WAS GREATLY DEVOTED TO HIS HUMAN LORD.
1. God gives you a free will. You have the choice. You allow Him to be Lord or you choose to leave His Lordship and return to a life of sin and independence.
2. Today you may feel the need to make the ultimate decision of becoming a “bond servant” to Christ.
a. This is a different level of commitment than just confessing Him as your Savior.
b. This voluntarily commitment gives God ultimate control of your life!
C. The Lordship of Christ means that we stop living for ourselves – giving up our selfish, lonely, egotistical lives and we enter a life of service to our Master.
1. We live to please Him.
2. We are totally dependent upon His will.
3. We place our lives before God as an offering and a sacrifice for His bidding and service.
• Years ago, in my pre-teen years, on my face before God between the altar and the pulpit, I willingly became a “bond servant” to my Lord as I responded to His love and answered the deep call and yearning in my heart to preach. That day, Jesus became my Lord...
Luke 9:23
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
• Saying that Jesus is Lord means that He is your owner and that you are His humble and obedient servant.
I. Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
• When we give ourselves to Him, He gets all that we are – spirit, soul and body. He also gets everything we possess – material goods, talents, education, earthly position. HE HAS ALL RIGHTS OVER US.
• We become administrators or “stewards” of our lives and possessions – caretakers of all that He puts in our hands according to:
I. Peter 4:10
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Altar Call: Are you willing to do this? Will you take your relationship with God today one step farther and place your life exclusively in His hands?
God is calling us to a higher level this morning...
• What if we gave God 15 minutes every morning before we started our day this year?
• What if we took a moment and asked God quietly to show us what He would have us do when we had to make decisions this year? Etc…
