What’s robbing your sense of peace and calmness in this crazy-busy world? Pastor Jon Adams teaches about the temporary peace the world offers and the immeasurably better peace that Jesus gives through His word and Spirit.

Sermon Notes for 05/13/2012:                         

The Longing

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

John 14:25-27 (ESV)

The Loss

Ken Boa defines sin this way:  a ‘culpable disturbance of shalom’.

In Jesus’ day, the Romans defined “peace” as “the absence of war”

In Jesus’ day, the Jews defined “peace”, it had a couple of meanings:

Common vernacular:   hello, goodbye, farewell, like us saying:  “Godspeed” or “God, be with you”.

Deeper meaning:  it meant positive blessing, especially a right relationship with God that produces “wholeness, security and even the refabricing of society”.

The Learning

Remember the Inward Teacher

“Butwhen the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father,he will bear witness about me.”

John 15:26 (ESV)

The Holy Spirit will not come on a church where there is no biblical body of truth.  The Holy Spirit never comes into a vacuum,  but where the Word do God is, there is fuel, and the fire falls and burns up the sacrifice.

A.W. Tozer

It follows that the outward preaching will be vain and useless, if it be not accompanied by the teaching of the Spirit.

John Calvin

How do you get this “peace”?

• K. . .eep
• I . . .t
• S. . .imple
• S. . .on

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1 (ESV)

Surrender your control and welcome His shalom.

Honor moms today and make God central in your life.

Communion Meditation for 05/13/2012:

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.

Philippians 4:6-7

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Romans 14:17-19

. . . they (the 12 disciples) want only his bodily presence, but will enjoy his actual presence through the Spirit   John Calvin.

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

Author: C.S. Lewis

Resign every forbidden joy; restrain every wish that is not referred to God’s will; banish all eager desires, all anxiety; desire only the will of God; seek him alone and supremely, and you will find peace.

Author: Francois Fenelon

What are you driven by? What are you striving for? We’re all tempted to stick our necks into some kind of yoke of striving that leads to little freedom and joy. Pastor Jon Adams contrasts that way of life with the yoke of surrender to Jesus, which leads to rest and peace.

Sermon Notes for 05/06/2012:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)

Who does this apply to?

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders . . .

Matthew 23:4

What does Jesus promise?

 . . . and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
 But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV)

The notes suggest the 51-year-old Petrino and 25-year-old Jessica Dorrell were intimate for approximately five months, from September or October until this past February. According to the notes, however, the university discovered 326 phone calls and 7,228 text messages between the two that date back to April 2011.

Why will you find rest in Jesus alone?

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:30 (ESV)

- Rest from the path of legalism.

- Rest from the path of license.

How do I get rest?

- Come to Jesus daily with your burden.

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)

- Take 1 day in 7 to rest

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Hebrews 4:9-10

- Submit to Jesus in obedience

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)

Communion Meditation for 05/06/2012:

Rest in this – it is His business to lead, command, impel, send, call or whatever you want to call it. It is your business to obey, follow, move, respond, or what have you.

    Author: Jim Elliot

Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

    Author: Blaise Pascal

Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.

    Author: Blaise Pascal

Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.

    Author: Blaise Pascal

God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.

    Author: Augustine

Sermon Notes for 04/29/2012:

Central Scripture for this message:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (ESV)

 God wants to give you a revised acronym for K.I.S.S.:

• Keep
• It
• Simple
• Son (Daughter)

Don’t be dependent on anything but Me!

You need a reset.

This is the message of 2 Corinthians 12:7-10: for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Power down:   It’s good to be weak. 

We have a problem: we don’t like to be weak.

The Goal of weakness = humility.

Paul’s position of weakness: he doesn’t choose to defend himself by “one upping” his accusers (the false teachers at Corinth). “I am dependent on God to defend me.”

The Reminder of weakness = a “thorn in the flesh”.

God allowed Satan to sift Job (Job 1:8-12) and likewise, God allowed Satan to sift or torment Paul with a “thorn in the flesh”.

What reminds you of your weakness?

Power up:  Be dependent on Me.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

Dependence on the sufficiency of grace.

What is grace? It’s centered in the person and work of Jesus.

Grace is sufficient.  The simple gospel (Jesus, Your work applied by Your Holy Spirit) is all I need.

The simple gospel is not only sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God and grant us forgiveness for our sins.  The gospel is the power source we need for any problem or need that we have.

Paul needed the power of God’s grace to face: insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.

It was only after Paul learned to believe and live in the sufficiency of God’s grace that he could say: “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

Sermon Notes for 04/22/2012:

Central Scripture for this message:

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

2 Corinthians 1:12 (ESV)

The simple gospel promises to help simplify your life.

- What is “simplicity”?

Simplicity begins inside of you and impacts your choices and the people around you.

Simplicity (haplotes): “1) singleness, simplicity, sincerity, mental honesty 1a) the virtue of one who is free from pretence and hypocrisy”.

Thayer Bible Dictionary

Simplicity is not simplistic: It’s learning to align your heart and your life to Jesus: without hypocrisy; without doubt.

What are the challenges to simplify?

- The Complexities around you.

- The Complexity inside of you.

Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Colossians 3:22

- The Complexity attacking you.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3

How do you begin to simplify?

- The gospel alone cuts through the complexity of your heart.

Too many things interrupt your awareness of Me. I know that you live in a world of sight and sound, but you must not be a slave to those stimuli. As soon as something grabs your attention, talk with Me about it. Thus I share your joys and your problems; I help you cope with whatever is before you. This is how I live in you and work through you. This is the way of Peace.

Sarah Young, Jesus Calling, April 17 (iPhone/iPad app)

Some questions to ask yourself about the motives of your heart:

• What do I think most easily about?
• Where does my mind go when I’m free?
• What am I proudest of?

Some questions to ask yourself about where your dependence lies:

• What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go bad?
• What consumes your prayers?

- The gospel alone helps you recalibrate your decisions.

- The gospel alone can change your behavior.

Communion Meditation for 04/22/2012:

Principles to begin to simplify at The Vine:

• No one should serve alone. The ideal is to serve in the context of your community (small group) at The Vine.
• If you’re only trying to build “community” or “learning” in a group or ministry, it is incomplete.
• Christ needs to be central in your life in all your ‘circles of community’.
• Life circumstances impact your space to serve others. For example, Viners should serve those who have little space in their lives, like single parents, working moms, etc.

It is lamentable that we have so little, and that instead of taking faith for the rule of conduct, people amuse themselves with trivial devotions that change daily.

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

He that giveth let him do it with simplicity.

Romans 12:8

Superficiality is the curse of our age. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

We practice frugality so that our resources (time, energy, thoughts) may be devoted to seeking and serving God, instead of impressing others and gratifying ourselves.

The Reading Room @ the Water’s Edge
www.watersedge.tv/readingroom.htm

It is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it to God.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 130

The main thing that we learn from a serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues is that we fail. If there was any idea that God had set us a sort of exam and that we might get good marks by deserving them, that has to be wiped out. If there was any idea of a sort of a bargain – any idea the we could perform our side of the contract and thus put God in our debts so that it was up to Him, in mere justice, to perform His side – that has to be wiped out.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 126

You know that you, who are servants of God, are dwellers in a foreign land; for your City is far from this city (i.e., Rome).  If then you recognize your City, in which you shall dwell, why do you prepare here fields and expensive displays and buildings and dwellings, which are superfluous?  The person who prepares these things for this city does not intend to return to his own City.

from an early 2nd century writer in Rome, Shepherd of Hermas

Communion meditation for 03/18/2012:

Scripture … habitually put the joys of heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about “pie in the sky,”…. But either there is “pie in the sky” or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.

C. S. Lewis

Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well adjusted lives. His purpose is far deeper: He wants to make us like himself before he takes us to heaven. This is our greatest privilege, our immediate responsibility, and our ultimate destiny.

Rick Warren

You will not be in heaven two seconds before you cry out, why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary? What was I thinking? Why did I waste so much time, energy and concern on what wasn’t going to last?

Rick Warren

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

C. S. Lewis

One of the most staggering truths of the Scriptures is to understand that we do not earn our way to heaven. …works have a place–but as a demonstration of having received God’s forgiveness, not as a badge of merit of having earned it.

Ravi Zacharias

Joy is the serious business of Heaven.

C.S. Lewis

Feel free to share any of these podcasts from our March 2012 Women’s Retreat featuring Judy Mills from Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.

Session 1 Podcast: Open and Filled

An overview of Titus from the perspective of how Christian women live in community, focusing on the primary role of mentoring. Focusing then on their individual walks with the Lord. We cannot give away what we do not possess, at least in some measure, ourselves.

Session 2 Podcast: Overflowing the Real Me

Two fold: the me as a new creation in Christ, but also not pretending I am something I am not, but being honest and authentic.

Session 3 Podcast: Protecting the Real You

Addressing our concerns about opening up with another person and setting a standard of creating a safe place where confidences are kept and grace, not judgment is given.

Testimony: Stacy

Communion meditation for 03/11/2012:

One dimension of this convenient spirituality is our total insistence on ideals and intentions, in complete divorce from reality, from actions, and from social commitment.  Whatever we interiorly desire, whatever we dream, whatever we imagine:  that is the beautiful, the godly and true.  Pretty thoughts are enough.  They substitute for everything else including charity, including life itself.

Thomas Merton

Why would I wait til I die to come alive?

Lyrics to a John Foreman song

What the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us is not a false peace which enables us to avoid the implacable light of judgment, but he grace to courageously accept the bitter truth that is revealed to us; to abandon our inertia, our egotism, and submit entirely to the demands of the Spirit, praying earnestly for help, and giving ourselves generously to every effort asked of us by God.

Thomas Merton

You’re packing a suitcase for a place
None of us has been
A place that has to be believed
To be seen

U2

Here is the essence of perfect sincerity in our conduct – to care for nothing by God’s judgment on our actions, not to vary out attitude to suit the company we are in, not to hold one opinion when alone and adopt another in conversation, but to speak and act as in the sight of God who can read our inmost thoughts.

Brennan Manning

Scripture references: Hebrews 11:4-7,12:2; Genesis 5:23-24

Therefore, a resounding NO to the belief that morality should be inspired more by duty than delight. Hebrews 11:6 teaches, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.  For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  You cannot please God if you do not come to Him looking for reward.  Therefore, faith that pleases God is the hedonistic pursuit of God.

John Piper, We Want You to be a Christian Hedonist

In a nutshell, the wager is: If God exists (and Christianity is true) and you choose not to believe, then you lose everything. But, if God exists (and Christianity is true) and you choose to believe, then you gain everything.

Blaise Pascal

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain (Psalm 119:36)
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18)
Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11b)
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love  (Psalm 90:14).

John Piper, One Way to Avoid Vain Repetition

Communion meditation for 03/04/2012:

Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: Compromising the Case for Christianity

Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attempt very little and they always fail. All giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence to be with them.

James Hudson Taylor, James Hudson Taylor Biography

The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.

R. C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries

Faith, mighty faith the promise sees and rests on that alone: laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall be done.

Charles Wesley, Wesley Centre

Protecting the Real You

Addressing our concerns about opening up with another person and setting a standard of creating a safe place where confidences are kept and grace, not judgment is given.

Overflowing the Real Me

Two fold: the me as a new creation in Christ, but also not pretending I am something I am not, but being honest and authentic.

Open and Filled

An overview of Titus from the perspective of how Christian women live in community, focusing on the primary role of mentoring. Focusing then on their individual walks with the Lord. We cannot give away what we do not possess, at least in some measure, ourselves.

In verse 3, “by faith”:    This is the first of 19 uses of “by faith” in this chapter. All of the others relate to a parade of characters from the Old Testament who trusted in God. But this first one goes back to Genesis 1, to the biblical account of creation. “The word of God” here does not refer to His written word, but to His spoken word.

Bob Deffinbaugh

Communion meditation for 02/26/2012:

Faith arises when a person lets himself be convinced by God, and so attains certainty which is objectively grounded and which transcends all human possibilities in its reliability.

Kasemann, as quoted by William Lane, Hebrews, p. 328

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

C.S. Lewis

It is often supposed that when people stop believing in God, they believe in nothing. Alas, it is worse than that. When they stop believing in God, they believe in anything.

G. K. Chesterton

It is the very time for faith to work, when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith. As long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily (if I may say so), as when all natural prospects fail.

George Mueller

The disciplines do not dispense grace.

Dallas Willard

The Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him.  He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Communion meditation for 02/05/2012:

The more you know him the more you will want to know him. The better you know him the more you will want to serve him.

The deepest thought a person can ever have is his conception of God’s character.

Dan DeHann

There are pseudo-atheists who think that they believe in God, but who in reality deny His existence by each one of their deeds.

Jacques Maritain

I believe that the real difference in the American church is not between conservatives and liberals, fundamentalists and charismatics, nor between Republicans and Democrats. The real difference is between the aware and the unaware.

When somebody is aware of that love—the same love that the Father has for Jesus—that person is just spontaneously grateful. Cries of thankfulness become the dominant characteristic of the interior life, and the byproduct of gratitude is joy. We’re not joyful and then become grateful—we’re grateful, and that makes us joyful.

Brennan Manning.

In our generation, the arts, in music, in philosophy, in drama, everywhere you turn, man is coming to see that man is less than he knows he should be.   Our generation sees this, but the problem is not new in our time.  Ever since the fall rebellious man has been this way.

Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, p. 166