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SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO DROP YOUR EGO

SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO DROP YOUR EGO

Oct 18, 2020

Read Romans 12:9-21 

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:16)

 

Pride

  • Throughout Paul’s letters, he continually warns churches to flee from pride (Ephesians 4:1-2, Philippians 2:3)
  • This isn’t contained to just Paul. This is a theme throughout the entirety of Scripture.
  • Christian tradition and history ranks ‘pride’ as the chief sin.
  • CS Lewis said: “Make no mistake about it; pride is the great sin.”

 

Why is pride so bad?

  • Because pride cannot coexist with loving others.
  • CS Lewis said this: “Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, contentment, or even common sense.”
  • Pride tricks you into thinking you’re better than others and you can’t really love someone that you think you’re better than.
  • If there is a division to be found, pride is at the centre of it. Because that’s what pride does. Pride drives disunity.

 

How to drop your ego

  • One thing to know
  • One thing to do
  • One thing to pray

 

One thing to know:

  • For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. (Romans 12:3)
  • The key to sober judgement is knowing the basis for your self-worth: your identity in Christ. If it’s in anything else – pride will pop up.

 

One thing to do:

  • Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.(Romans 12:16b)
  • Black or white, rich or poor, male or female, young or old (add in any other category you’d like) – each and every person was created in the image of God and is loved by God. Each and every person is designed by God and has intrinsic value solely because they are God’s and loved by Him.
  • “We need not be ashamed to converse with the lowly in whom God died for.” – Matthew Henry

 

What does it take for you to associate with people who don’t look like you, don’t believe like you, and have a different opinion than you?

  • Who do you need to say sorry to?
  • Who do you need to serve?
  • Who do you need to invite over to your house?
  • What channel do you need to stop watching, which account do you need to stop following that keeps driving pride and creating disunity in your life?

 

One thing to pray:

  • Lord, help me to see others the way you see them.
  • Our lens for looking at people can get pretty foggy, pretty quick. But when we see them through the lens of God and his love shown through Jesus, pride and a ‘better than you attitude’ disappears quickly.

 

SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO DROP YOUR EGO

SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO GET ALONG WITH OTHERS

Oct 11, 2020

Read Romans 12:9-21

These verses are the basis of what practical living looks like for a Christian. They give insight to what love looks like in the life of a Christian.

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. (Romans 12:13-16)

Key thought in these verses:  Generosity.

 

4 Commitments to help you get along with others:

 

  1. We will be generous with our resources
  • “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need” (vs.13). Share means to be generous (Galatians 6:10).
  • Christians look out for each other.
  • We cannot do this with our eyes only on ourselves. Sharing can only be present when selfishness, envy, and self-pity has stopped.
  • 3 things this entails:
  1. a) eyes to see
  2. b) a willingness to part with what one has (Matthew 25:21)
  3. c) you must be okay with less

 

  1. We will be generous with our time
  • Practice hospitality (vs. 13). Practice means you try and try again. Hospitality is towards people we don’t know well.
  • Our hospitality always points people to God (Matthew 5:14-16).

 

  1. We will be generous with our words
  • Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (vs. 14).
  • Bless means to pray for those you find difficult. Seek the good of those who are tough to get along with.
  • Be generous with your words towards others who are less than generous with their words towards you.
  • Do not curse means don’t talk cheap or bad about others.
  • Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 5:44.

 

  1. We will be generous with our actions
  • Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another (vs. 15-16).
  • Develop sympathy for others. Come alongside others in both the good and bad times.
  • It’s harder to be happy for someone than it is to feel sorry for someone. When someone is happy over something, envy can be present inside of us.
  • Don’t make this about you. It’s about others.
  • The older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son teaches us how detrimental it can be to harbor bitterness or envy (Luke 15:28-31).
  • During times of mourning our actions speak more than our words ever can. It’s not about what you say, rather about what you do in those moments.

 

Pick one area of generosity (resources, time, words, actions) in which you can grow in this coming week. One area where you would say, “I will commit to building this aspect of generosity in my life.”  Pray about it and be ready for the doors God will open.

SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO DROP YOUR EGO

SERMON NOTES: 13 VERSES | HOW TO SURVIVE COVID

Oct 4, 2020

Romans 12:9-21

These verses are the basis of what practical living for a Christian looks like. They are the orthopraxy (right conduct) to the Christian life. They give us clarity to what Paul meant when he said, “cling to what is good”. (Romans 12:9)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

(Romans 12:12)

Three things to help you survive Covid:

  1. BE JOYFUL IN HOPE
  • Joy is more than feeling good after getting what you want or succeeding at something when you try. Joy is a state of mind; an orientation of the heart. It’s a resolved place of contentment, confidence and hope.
  • When we are joyful in hope we realize our joy is not about circumstance as much as it is about where our faith lies. (James 1:2-4; Acts 16:22-25)
  1. BE PATIENT IN AFFLICTION
  • Affliction refers to deep and serious trouble. It’s the state of carrying pain.
  • Patient means to persevere, to endure, to keep on.  (James 1:2-4)
  • Stick to your faith through the difficult times.
  • Learn and develop endurance so that we may be mature and grow in our faith.
  • Christians make it through – Christians endure. (Romans 5:3-4)
  1. BE FAITHFUL IN PRAYER
  • Faithful denotes two things: consistency and the effort needed to maintain a habit of prayer.
  • This isn’t optional for the Christian. This is something we need to work at and put the effort into.
  • Hebrews 4:16; 1 John 5:15; James 5:16
  • ACTS model of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication)

 

Prayer card available HERE.

 

Sermon Notes: 13 Verses | How to love God

Sermon Notes: 13 Verses | How to love God

Sep 27, 2020

Romans 12:9-21

These verses are the basis of what practical living for a Christian looks like. They are the orthopraxy (right conduct) to the Christian life. They give us clarity to what Paul meant when he said, “cling to what is good”. (Romans 12:9)

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  (Romans 12:11)

1.  Never be lacking in zeal

  • The opposite of never is always. Paul is saying zeal must be an enduring quality in our life.
  • Zeal has two outcomes:
  1. Diligence. Getting things done. A stick-to-itiveness. Don’t coast through life. Don’t put your life in neutral. Don’t coast in your faith. (1 Corinthians 15:58; Revelation 3:15-16)
  2. The ability to get worked up about something that needs changing.
  • What kind of things work you up? Trivial things or things that matter?

2.  But keep your spiritual fervor

  • The word “keep” implies that we can lose our Christian pursuit.
  • Spiritual fervor directly translated from the Greek means: “with respect to the Spirit boiling over”. Paul is saying, have so much of the Spirit moving and working in your life that He is overflowing from within you. (Galatians 5:22-23; Acts 1:4-5,8)
  • 4 Things the Holy Spirit brings into our lives:
  1. The ability to talk about Christ boldly. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
  2. Help when we are weak. (Romans 8:26)
  3. Hope in a hopeless world. (Romans 15:13)
  4. He helps us to experience the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

3.  Serving the Lord

  • This is where we put our focus. What the spiritual fervor and passion is for.
  • This involves being motivated to do what you need to do in making your Christian life work. It involves effort.
  • This is making God your end goal in all that you do. It is serving God with all you’ve got.
Sermon Notes: 13 Verses | How to love God

SERMON NOTES: 13 Verses- “How To Love Others”

Sep 20, 2020

Over the next seven weeks, we will be in a series of talks we are calling 13 Verses. The point of this series is to help people live, not just exist.

We were created by a good and perfect God who has an intention and purpose for our lives. When we discover what that is, we live the best life possible.

Read Romans 12:9-21

About the Book of Romans

  • Was written in approximately 57 AD by the Apostle Paul
  • Paul didn’t plant or start the church gathered in Rome but had spiritual leadership in that church.
  • Rome was the dominant economic, political, and military force in the 1st century. Strategic city and a strategic church.
  • The Roman people were polytheistic. Meaning they worshiped many different gods.
  • Stands in deep contrast with the Christian claim that there is only One God. That Jesus is the way, the truth the life, and no one gets to the Father except through Him.
  • In Rome, it was the social norm to worship multiple different gods. Each home, each city, and each temple would have different sets of gods for the people to worship.
  • To deny the Roman gods’ divinity was rebellious, and there was an enormous social cost to Christians (abuse, imprisonment, isolation, and even execution).
  • The book of Romans is a book that helps Christians be Christian.
    • And there is at least two important parts of a Christian being a Christian:
      • How a Christian thinks,and;
      • How a Christian lives.
      • The theological terms are orthodoxy(meaning right thinking) and orthopraxy (which means right practice).
    • This series focuses on orthopraxy(how to live right).

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:9-10)

Love.

It’s no surprise when describing how a Christian should live Paul starts with “love.” The Old Testament, Jesus, and Paul declare this is the defining characteristic of Christian living (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Matthew 22:37-39).

Love must be sincere.

Sincere means without hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when we believe or say one thing and do something else. Paul’s reiterating here that Christians are both to function in right belief and right living.

Hate what is evil.

There are three categories of evil:

  1. the devil
  2. the world
  3. the flesh

To hate evil means:

  • To hate the devil and his obsession with sewing confusion.
  • To hate the systems in our world that promote the distortion and silencing of God’s voice that allow evil to go unchecked and even become normalized.
  • To hate the struggle with evil that happens internally. To hate our own sin.

Cling to what is good.

The word ‘cling’ is the same word Jesus described a man and woman becoming ‘one’ at marriage (Matthew 19:5).

Paul is saying that we are to become so familiar with goodness that it becomes second nature. That ‘goodness’ and ‘you’ become inseparable.

Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

When Paul says ‘one another,’ he is referring to Christians being devoted to other Christians. We are to be committed to our brothers and sisters in Christ in a love that looks much like a healthy family.

Paul here is echoing something Jesus said:

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35).

The people who attend Hope City church aren’t to be strangers to you who happen to be Christians. They are your family. By being a part of this church, you are choosing them as your family.

So what does it look like for you to be devoted to the other believers at Hope City? What does it look like for you to increase your devotion to ‘one another’?

  • Coming back to church in-person?
  • Joining a small group?
  • Joining a serve team?
  • Setting a regular time to pray with others from your church?
  • Financially partnering with one of our local or global partners?

 

SERMON NOTES “Values To Live By (Part 2)”

SERMON NOTES “Values To Live By (Part 2)”

Sep 13, 2020

We all value something. Values are the guiding principles that steer our life. They are the core ethics and principles that are the desired end state for how we want to live our life.

What do you value?

 

VALUE FOUR: PEOPLE FIRST

  • We choose to invest in the potential God has placed in others. This is helping people develop into passionate, stable Christ followers. (1 Corinthians 10:24)
  • This is about deference. It is about respect for others. (Romans 14:1-7)
  • How are you at helping others succeed?
  • What lift can you bring to someone today?
  • Hope is one of the greatest things we can bring into people’s lives. (1 Peter 1:3-4’ Psalm 39:7). We need to distinguish between optimism and hope.

 

VALUE FIVE: UNITY

  • We choose a culture of peace by getting along, showing respect and presuming the best of each other.
  • 3 aspects about unity:
    1. Unity is a choice – Romans 14:19
    2. Unity begins in the mind – 1 Corinthians 1:10
    3. Unity is intentional – Ephesiasn 4:1-2

 

VALUE SIX: TALK AND TELL

  • We seize every opportunity to talk and tell about Christ and what He’s done in our lives. (1 Peter 3:15)
  • You are a walking billboard for Jesus and what He can do in someone’s life.
  • Do you have a “let me in there” mentality? (Acts 21:13)

 

VALUE SEVEN: FUTURE ORIENTED

  • We can’t stay here. You can’t stay here.
  • This value screams, “God always has a next for you.”
  • Isaiah 43:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

What you value matters. How you steer your life matters. May you be known for living out values that matter.  May you be someone who lives for things beyond the temporal. May you honestly say these are values I want to live by.

Click HERE to get a digital copy of our “7 Values To Live By.”

Click HERE to read Part 1 of this series.