Rossville Christian Church
Sunday, April 11
- How Great Thou Art
- At The Cross (Love Ran Red)
- Intro:Who knows what this is? Right a driver’s license, it how we identify ourselves when we drive or you might have a military ID or a state ID. Most of us have a Social Security Card. All ways to Identify ourselves. Isn’t it funny though that none of us carries a Jesus ID? What is it that makes you, you? Do you try to be like a popular person or dress with the latest fashion? You know the world is so busy telling you who you are and what you should do and what you should wear that we have totally missed what the Bible says in
Genesis 1:26 NIV Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”PrayerHow many of us have heard the term Imageo Dei? Does anyone know what it means? That’s right, image of God! You were created in the image of God, to be similar to Him, not to be Him or to achieve and God status, but to love like He does, to build like He does, to encourage like He does and to live like He does. We are supposed to become a little less like our sinful selves and more like our Savior Jesus Christ, that is why He talked about the vine and the branches in John 15, lets go ahead and turn over there.BranchesJohn 15:1–2 NIV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.A. AbideJohn 15:3–7 NIV You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.1. To remaina. There is a choiceb. Choose to remain2. With Expectationa. God pours outb. Don’t remain just becausec. Let God work in youd. Grafted branches take on the characteristics of the vineBeing a kid in school, had to start talking and acting like the others. Took on the characteristics of what i thought was my people. Now, what I realized is the only unchanging character is the character of God and I want to be like Him!B. Keeping CommandsJohn 15:6–8 NIV If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.1. Bears FruitGalatians 5:22–24 NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.a. Becoming like the vineb. This is the outward acceptance of the Spirit withinc. It will change you2. How I knowa. Do I look like the vine or the worldb. I was dying laying there on the groundc. Once He took me in I couldn’t helped but be changedi. It was my confirmationC. Being like the vineJohn 15:9–10 NIV “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.1. If youa. This is a covenantb. There are conditionsc. Must remain in Him/Be like Him2. Look, act, talk and love like mea. There is a desire toPeople ask is it hard to follow all the rules. I respond by saying it is devastating not to. Every time I fall or sin, there is such a tear in my heart. I have found a better walk with less stress, anxiety and shame. However, I still have the flesh and it is contrary to the Spiritb. No longer becomes about have to but want toc. Realize the Joy that’s thereMy Dad and working on cars, taking his time and being meticulous. I am impatient at best had a hard time following him. But now I understand why he did the things he did and I now find myself doing the same things. Its the same with God.JoyfulJohn 15:11–12 NIV I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.A. Love one another1. So much better than fightinga. Divisiveness is of SatanJohn 10:10 NIV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.b. That’s what he sought in the garden - Be like Godc. What He seeks today, divide that body, get their minds off Christ2. Peace gives us joyJohn 15:13–15 NIV Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.a. Peace amongst the familyb. Being like minded to the goal of growing the kingdomMission: Focusing on Christ as we reach Kaw Valley with authentic worship, genuine service, unconditional love and unarmed truth.And our vision: Going Out and Elevating withinAll focuses on joy of loving each other.B. Friend of Goda. No longer jockeying for positionb. Highest honorJohn 15:16–17 NIV You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.c. Our achievement now in the Kingdom is to loved. Mankind has been chosen, nothing more to gaini. nothing to fight overii. Follow the Word, all else is nothinge. That’s now my identity, who I amJohn 15:14 NIV You are my friends if you do what I command.Other WorldlyJohn 15:18–19 NIV “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.A. World Hates You1. So much time looking like the worlda. Act like themb. Entice like them as if the Word didn’t have power1 Corinthians 1:17 NIV For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.2. Trying to get people to like mea. So I try to make them happyGalatians 1:10 NIV Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.b. Not who God made us to beJohn 15:19–20 NIV If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.B. Persecuted1. Am I seeking to prevent thisa. by looking like the world or acting like themb. Didn’t Jesus call me to persecution2. I must seek to be different than the worlda. My identity is eternity not hereb. I seek to comply with that imagec. I will win God esteem and joyJames 1:2–3 NIV Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.Remember my first real trials at my job. Preaching the Gospel and bringing people to Christ but I started getting into trouble. I was written up twice. However, when my mentor told me to look at Jam 1:2-3 I changed my attitude, it meant I was on the right path.i. I had to seek better waysii. But in the end it was joyful to be persecutediii. I couldn’t stop it was my identityJohn 15:23–27 NIV Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.C. The Helper1. You are not alone in the fighta. You have the Holy Spirit to mold and shape youb. He gives us power and authorityc. Grants protection2. Will help to sculpt our identitya. Begin to cut out the bad stuffb. Encourage us in the good stuffRomans 15:13 NIV May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.c. We have a Spirit of boldness withini. Have to let it outii. have to allow it to change usiii. God is the God of freedom not roboticsiv. Won’t force Himself, we have to choose itv. What the battle of the flesh is all about3. Have to choose the Spirit over the fleshGalatians 5:17–18 NIV 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.a. Find your identity in the Spiritb. You wont be perfect but you will be changedc. That’s where love comes fromConclusion:That’s where our identity if found. Never in what the world tells us but in the teachings of Christ. The world will tell you, you are enough and a good person, the Bible tells us we are depraved and need a savior. The world tells you, You do You, Jesus says die to yourself and come to me. The world turns its back on you but the Word never changes and says God is in love with the broken you, the you that’s not good enough and you know what, He still calls you worthy, that’s the duality of God’s love! He sees me in an unbeatable broken state and yet, not having been the cause, comes and corrects the wrong by dying for us and lifting us into eternal joy and peace. That’s why my identity is no longer found in the world but in God alone!Pray Genesis 1:26NIV2011
John 15:1–2NIV2011
John 15:3–7NIV2011
John 15:6–8NIV2011
Galatians 5:22–24NIV2011
John 15:9–10NIV2011
John 15:11–12NIV2011
John 10:10NIV2011
John 15:13–15NIV2011
John 15:16–17NIV2011
John 15:14NIV2011
John 15:18–19NIV2011
1 Corinthians 1:17NIV2011
Galatians 1:10NIV2011
John 15:19–20NIV2011
James 1:2–3NIV2011
John 15:23–27NIV2011
Romans 15:13NIV2011
Galatians 5:17–18NIV2011
- No Longer Slaves
- Way Maker
Matthew 28:19–20NLT