River Church NOLA
Sunday Aug 31 Anniversary
  • Look What The Lord Has Done
  • Set A Fire
  • Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
  • Revelation Song
  • Intro
    9 years today.
    Week 3 of a series called World Outside of Our Window. We don’t just build church for us. We believe we are on a mission to be better ourselves, but to touch the world outside of us. There is a natural gravitational pull towards selfishness so we have to intentionally focus outside the windows. If we don’t, we will think about ourselves. We are spiritually nearsighted.
    I grew up with glasses. I was nearsighted… which means you can’t see far away. It’s the only illness where they name it after what’s not wrong with you. It’s like going to the doctor with a broken arm and he says your legs work. I was near sighted but couldn’t see far off. You can see up close but everything out there is a blur.
    That’s the way we get in life. Whenever you can’t see something, you don’t feel responsible for what you can’t see. If you are blurred out, I can’t see you so I don’t feel responsible for you. That’s why Jesus said “Open your eyes.” Put on the glasses so you can see the fields.
    You can tell if you are near sighted by your prayer life. If God answered all of your prayers were answered, would it change the world or change you? I don’t want it just to change me… I want it to change the world too.
    This is why we share a message like these in The World Outside Our Window. Most of our messages are targeted for you right here. We want to take you on a spiritual Journey.
    Know God
    Find Freedom
    Discover your purpose
    Make a Difference.

    Why do we share our faith?

    1. We share our faith because God has called us to be His Ambassadors.

    We talked about this before. Ambassadors go from one nation to another and represent that nation. We learned in the first message that God has a plan for the world, and it’s you and me… He doesn’g have a plan B.
    Check this out.
    2 Corinthians 5:14–20 “Either way, Christ’s love controls us. (Compels us)
    He said Jesus love compels him. I don’t share my faith with others because Jesus makes me. I want others to experience what I have experienced. Jesus changed my life and I want others to experience that.
    It’s like going to a great restaurant … you want to tell someone. Or maybe you won the 900 million PB, you want to tell someone. If you won that… see me after church.
    When Jesus changes our lives we are so grateful for Jesus did we want to tell someone.
    Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
    We no longer live for our selves. If you ever wondered what it means to be a Christian, there it is. We no longer live for ourselves, we live for Jesus.
    16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.
    IOW we don’t see people as just a natural person who lives 80 years and dies. We see them as eternal beings who will live forever somewhere. It’s easy to see people from an earthly point of view.
    We see about an earthquake killing thousands and we move to the next channel… or app.
    We see the school shooting, with several dead and many more wounded… and go to the next story.
    These are real people and we don’t view them from an earthly standpoint as just physical beings that when they died, it was over. We don’t each one will live forever somewhere.
    At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
    17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
    Weve talked about this before. The hate goes out and the love comes in. You are a new person, recreated in Jesus. Whatever you were before you accepted Jesus, is changed.
    The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
    You are a new person beginning a journey of faith.
    18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.
    Reconciling is a financial term that means bringing the balance to zero. Jesus brought yours and my sin balance to zero.
    19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
    Then he gave us the mission to help other people bring their balance to zero too.
    20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!””
    Here it is again.
    2 Corinthians 5:14–20 NIV84
    14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
    That’s the first reason we share our faith.

    2. We share our faith because people need the Lord.

    What I mean by this is that heaven and hell are both real. If someone dies without accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they will spend eternity in hell. We don’t like to talk about these, but heaven and hell are real places. They are not Metaphors. People actually go there so people need the Lord.
    You all know this verse.
    John 3:16 NLT
    16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    John 3:17–18 NLT
    17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
    John 3:17–18 “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
    IOW, God doesn’t send them to hell. God doesn’t send anyone to hell. Hell is a place where people who want to pay for their own sins can go. The problem is our sin problem is too big to pay off, that’s why Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice and paid the sin debt for those who choose to follow Him.
    I have had people tell me that they could never serve a God who sends people to hell. My response is me neither. God doesn’t send people to hell. He sent Jesus on a rescue mission to save us and prevent us from going to hell on our own.
    18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
    Those who don’t believe have already been judged. They already were in trouble. they already had a sin bill to pay. Jesus steps in and said that he would pay for their sin. But if they reject him, they send themselves to hell.
    Some people don’t want to share their faith because they heard that God has already picked out who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. That is error. It’s not in the bible. God does not predestine people to go to hell or heaven.
    Someone whose son was a drug addict and someone at a church told them that he was predestined to be a drug addict and there was no way he could be saved. That’s just wrong. We believe that God can set anyone free. That particular guy has been drug free for 20 something years. God can and does change people.
    The Bible is clear… check this out.
    2 Peter 3:9 NLT
    9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
    God doesn’t want anyone to perish. He wants everyone to come to relationship with him. Everyone in Greek means… everyone.

    3. We share our faith because people want the Lord

    People are not as anti god as they say.
    Try this. When someone says they don’t believe in God, say, I know… but don’t you miss him? Most will say yes.
    Why is that? Because God created humans in His image… body, soul and spirit. He put eternity in your heart. That spirit part of you is constantly looking for God.
    Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT
    11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
    IOW, you can’t take that out of who you are. That’s why people all over the world are looking for God. They may be bowing to a totem pole but they are looking for God. They just don’t know they are looking for Jesus.
    A lot of people don’t like church. Maybe you don’t either. And that’s because there are two different brands of church out there. There is the mean… hateful group that makes you live up to things you can’t live up too.
    Listen, God will lead people to where he wants them to go… they don’t have to get there before they know God.

    4. We share our faith because I once was lost.

    I used to be lost and you were too. But a guy named Jon invited me to go to a gorup called Campus Life. Jon would not give up on me and some other guys.
    Pete said that once you are a Christian,
    1 Peter 2:9 NLT
    9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
    We are standing in front of the gates of hell.
    One Life movie - man that saved so many kids out of Checoslavokia … he sobbed because he wished he had rescued more.
    We are keeping people from being gased.
    That’s why, so let’s look at how.

    How do we share our faith?

    1. We live an attractive life.

    The reason people get saved, is that they want something you have. I wanted what a man named Jon Elder had. Thats why Jesus said…
    Matthew 5:13–16 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
    You are no longer useful to God. If we are not making things better in our culture, Jesus is saying we are of no use to him. What good are you if you are not making things better.
    14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
    People say my faith is private… that’s not what the Bible says. People say, two tings you don’t talk about… politics and religion. That’s not in the Bible. We are to talk about our faith.
    We are to let our light shine so people can see the Lord in our lives… so they can experience God’s love.
    Matthew 5:13–16 NLT
    13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

    When we share our faith Let our life be so attractive that people who know us but don’t know God, will want to know God because they know us.

    2. We value people … all of them

    All people. If you are a Republican, you have to love Democrats. If you are a Democrat, you have to love Republicans. You have to love those who are different than others. We don’t have the luxery of hating people who don’t agree with us.
    I am not saying to not have strong convictions… I am not saying to not participate in politics. Do all of that. Just don’t be like most people that are participating today… don’t hate. Love them. You don’t have to accept them, but you do have to love them.
    Look at this story…
    Luke 10:25–29 “One day an expert in religious law (some type of scholar…) stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
    This is the great commandment.
    29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?””
    Jesus then told the story of the Good Samaritan. The hate and toxic spirit has got to stop. The man was on the side of the road because people tried to exploit him.
    Tell the Good Samaritan story. the religious people avoided the man. But the Samaritan man came and loved him enough to help him.
    It’s the same today when we encounter people.
    Luke 10:25–29 NLT
    25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

    Every person we encounter is either … A victim to exploit A problem to avoid A person to be loved

    Write this down.

    When we share our faith, we don’t have to be like them, but we do have to like them.

    Don’t be like them. But we do have to like them. That’s different than many practice today. People want you to be stronger… to maybe yell more. You will never win an enemy to Jesus. I don’t look at anyone as an enemy. I want to see Jesus change everyone.

    3. We enter their world

    1 Corinthians 9:20–23 “When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ.
    But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
    Paul didn’t compromise he beliefs. Don’t compromise.
    22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ.
    Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.”
    1 Corinthians 9:20–23 NLT
    20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. 22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
    Jesus and Paul were so good at this.
    Jesus asked a lot of questions.
    Jesus asked 307 questions. People asked him 183 questions. Jesus only answered 8 of those. He was 40 more times likely to listen than to speak. Look what Paul did in Athens…
    Acts 17:22–23 “So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens,
    Notice he didn’t say, you are a bunch of heathens.
    I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’
    Paul goes, oh, you are looking for him. I know Him. And I can help you find him.
    This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.”
    Acts 17:22–23 NLT
    22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

    When we share our faith, we don’t have to agree with them, just try to understand them.

    Tell me more about that… why you believe that?…

    4. We Choose the right approach

    Have you ever been at a parade and people are out there with a megaphone telling people they are going to hell. That’s not the right approach.
    The Bible has an approach for us to use.
    1 Peter 3:15 “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.
    IOW, fall in love with Jesus. Live the abundant life Jesus came to give us.
    And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”
    Do it with…
    1 Peter 3:16 “But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.”
    1 Peter 3:15–16 NLT
    15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.
    IOW

    We will be positive not negative.

    It’s not turn or burn. We will give the good news.

    We will be patient not pressing.

    I don’t push. People will do what you push them to do… but it’s not real.

    We will show unconditional love.

    The kind of love Jesus has.
    Here is the essence of this last one.

    When we share our faith let’s connect before we correct.

    Let’s connect. You cannot correct without connection.
    People want God, they just have the wrong picture of God.

    4 pictures of God

    A locked Gate.

    God can’t be reached

    When Paul was reaching the people in Athens, he was saying God is close. Jesus is close.
    Some people think of themselves like a garbage can and believe that God is

    A Garbage can.

    This is the belief that God is turned off by your sin, and that you will never be good enough…

    I’m not good enough.

    He came while you were sinning.
    The fourth picture is

    God is an endless ladder

    I can’t get god enough.

    There is nothing I can do to be good enough. They think they have to change to get to God, but listen. We get to God so he can change us.
    The real picture is

    A door with Jesus knocking

    Revelation 3:20 NLT
    20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
    You just have to open the door to Jesus.

    Just open your heart’s door.

    Heads Bowed and Eyes close.
    For those who know you… commission us to be your ambassadors.
    If you are here and you don’t know God… and God is tugging on your heart…. Put your hand up and say cont me in.
    Salvation Prayer.

      • 2 Corinthians 5:14–20NLT

      • John 3:16NLT

      • John 3:17–18NLT

      • 2 Peter 3:9NLT

      • Ecclesiastes 3:11NLT

      • 1 Peter 2:9NLT

      • Matthew 5:13–16NLT

      • Luke 10:25–29NLT

      • 1 Corinthians 9:20–23NLT

      • Acts 17:22–23NLT

      • 1 Peter 3:15–16NLT

      • Revelation 3:20NLT

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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