Michael's Blog

The Work of Christ on THE INSIDE (aka Inside Out)

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Here are my personal notes on this Bible Study

The Christian Life on THE INSIDE

Romans 10:9-13

9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Ephesians 3:14-21

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family  in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

So let’s look at the work of God on the inner man:

New Creation: 2 Cor 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Born again by the spirit: John 3:3-8

3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ”

4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Eternal life/Never Perishing: John 10:25-30

Can hear and obey the voice of God: John 10:27

25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all  ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

Washed and Sanctified and Justified: 1 Cor 6:9-11

9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Is capable of resisting sin: 1 Cor 10:13

13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

A treasure in the vessel of the body: 2 Cor 4:7

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this allsurpassing power is from God and not from us.

Empowered: Romans 8:11

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Final Thoughts:

What happens when you are changed from the inside out?

Philippians 2:1-11

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6      Who, being in very nature ◙ God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7      but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature ◙ of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8      And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9      Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10      that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11      and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Strengthens by the LAW OF GOD

Colossians 2:6-8

6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Announcements:

Sunday – Grads be in sanctuary at 10:15 am

Sunday – Be here Sunday night to give gifts to new 6th graders

June 2 – Pool Party at the giers

June 3 – Six Flags – Money is due this Sunday, May 23

Camp and WC Money due Sunday!

Judgmental Attitudes of Christians

Ok, so today I had an encounter that showed me how much church life needs to change in relation to judgmental Christian attitudes.  This knowledge given to me hurt me deeply today!   Climbing on my soapbox now.

For about 2 years now we have been homeschooling our children with a local Christian Homeschool cover.  Each friday I take the kids to co-op.  It has been a joy seeing our kids develop new friends and learn so much great stuff.  The relationships that I have built is another story.  I have developed no relationships.  As a matter of fact, I can count the number of people that actually know who I even am on both hands, but I would not need all the fingers.  No one took the time to get to know me, the new homeschooling dad.  #1, I am a dad (most of these folks are women), #2, I am new (pretty tight knit group), #3, I do not look like the rest of them (I am a youth minister, so I dress a little different, talk a little different, act a little different… I actually have more in common with the teens than the parents.)

I am not making jabs, but something was brought to my attention today that hurt deeply.  On the first Friday of each month is homeschool skate day and each month I am there with my kids.  I have been at this skate day at least a dozen times.   Each month I am there with my kids and I usually have my head buried in a book (been trying to finish my masters degree).  I do not necessarily look for interaction as I am able to get alot of studying accomplished while the kids are skating.  I do love it when someone talks to me though, makes me feel less invisible.  I can never find a place to sit unless it is one of the pylons where kids put on their skates or a corner near the exit.  I sit, get comfortable, and read.   Last month, the place was more crowded than usual and I found one place to sit (next to the prize wheel).  I sat their the whole time and then headed home, not knowing I was being stared down and judged very critically.  Now remember, I have been doing this for 2 years and no one knows me.

So today, the crowd was thinner than normal and I actually got a table.  I sat down with my iphone and a book and proceeded to read.  Then someone came over and introduced themselves with the comment, are you new to our group?  I said no and told her how long I have been doing this.  She said, “and I am just now meeting you?”  I tol her how I can never find a seat, so I usually find a corner and read.  She said, “were you sitting next to the prize wheel last month?”  I said yes.  She said, “I got several e-mails about you last month, worried about the guy by the door.”  I said, why?  Well, they said you were by the door and looked sketchy.  I said, “I looked like I do today (black t-shirt, jeans, converse), do I look sketchy to you?”  She said, honestly, no, but you do not look like the other homeschool parents either though.  I said, I have been doing this for 2 years and you are one of just a few people who has even bothered to get to know my outside of my church members.  I went on to tell her that I am a youth minister, about my family, etc.  We had a good conversation.   She apologized to me for the others in the group not being more welcoming.  See, this is The big problem, NO ONE HAS EVER TRIED TO GET TO KNOW ME!  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  This burns me up. See here is the thing, if people would have taken the time to observe closer, they would have see a christian t-shirt or to write love on her arms shirt.  They would have seen me reading the book, “Knowing God.”   Homeschoolers who gripe about the lack of social acceptance of their chosen educational path who are judging one of their own with no effort to get to know me.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe they need the same recognition as public or private schools!

Here is the deal though, if I, as a minister got judged this way, think about the lost who do not fit our cooker cutter mold.  I am sorry, but I do not ever plan to wear pullover knit golf shirts, dockers, etc.  That is just not my style.  I am not a typical 35 year old.  I am a 17 year old trapped in a 35 year old body (just ask my wife).  I do not like the typical church mentality, I think it scares off the unchurched!   When will we stop trying to fit people to the mold we want to start going to the lost like Christ did.  We have become the Pharisees and the Sadducees.   Christ went to the weirdos, misfits, and ostracized people of this world.  Here is the thing, what if I had been depressed, overwhelmed, feeling lost and abandoned.  All these people would have done is written a bunch of e-mails talking about the guy by the door and never would have done anything to reach out to me.    This is unacceptable behavior by people in the church.  It is time for us to start reaching out instead of slamming people down based on appearances (clothing, skin tone, tattoos, body piercing, whatever).

Now, please don’t get me wrong, I love our homeschool group (I wish we could keep doing it).  I love the group activities.  I love the faith based education.  The problem, they shot one of their own and do not even know it.

Well, I shall now climb down from my soapbox.  I apologize if I offended, but this needed to be said.