Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
To begin the new year we are kicking off with messages that are evangelistic in both object and nature.
“The Answer to Eternity’s Most Important Questions” is the theme for this series.
Today we are talking about The Call to Come and the Call to Go.
Text
Mark 3:14-15 (AMP)
14 And He appointed twelve [disciples], so that they would be with Him [for instruction] and so that He could send them out to preach [the gospel as apostles—that is, as His special messengers, personally chosen representatives],
15 and to have authority and power to cast out demons.
Scripture Reading
Mark 3:13-19 (AMP)
Prayer
Father, we accept this day as a day that you have made.
We rejoice and are glad in it.
We bow down and worship before you.
We rise up to praise you and go forth to proclaim your greatness and goodness to others.
We come today bringing our tithes and offerings that we might not only invest in, but be involved in, your redemptive work of sharing the good news of your love to all mankind.
Bless this congregation of believers Lord.
Bless each one who gives to your work.
Accept these gifts and bless them to your honour and glory.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
We can respond to the words of the Bible by coming to Jesus just as we are and by encouraging others to come just as they are.
But we cannot come to Jesus and remain exactly as we are.
He produces radical changes in those who come to Him and experience His transforming presence.
Jesus’ transforming power is demonstrated most dramatically in the changes that come about in the disciples, who later became apostles.
In the days following Jesus’ ascension, they were brave and courages proclaimers of a message that brought upon them the hostility both political and religious leaders.
Luke declared in Acts 4:13 (AMP)
Threat and Release
13 Now when the men of the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court) saw the confidence and boldness of Peter and John, and grasped the fact that they were [a]uneducated and untrained [ordinary] men, they were astounded, and began to recognize that they had been with Jesus.
An apostle must first be a disciple, and not all disciples will become apostles.
A disciple is a listener, a learner, a follower.
Twelve of Jesus’ disciples became His apostles.
The word apostle translated means “one sent forth.”
Thus an apostle was a representative of another who went on a mission.
Apostles have some parallels with our modern ambassadors.
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul spoke of apostles as being the gifts of the Spirit to the church.
We cannot limit this term to the original twelve, however there are not as many apostles as people would have you believe today.
It is interesting in the account of the calling of the twelve that Jesus appointed them “to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach.”
Becoming born again is only a starting point.
If we are to become the servants, the helpers, the apostles of Jesus Christ, we must “be with Him.”
The disciples became apostles.
The disciples who sincerely worshipped Jesus Christ and stayed with Him went forth be His witnesses.
These twelve men, originally so helpless and so insignificant, became the helpers of Christ, of God, and of the church.
These men who became known as apostles were originally receivers.
They were self seekers who had a vested interest in following Christ.
But by being with Him, they were changed into givers.
They started their pilgrimage as reservoirs and ended their pilgrimage as streams.
They went from being spectators to participants and eventually partners of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus Christ calls us to be with Him before He sends us out to be His blessing to others.
- Jesus calls all to come.
- He invites us to Him so we might experience the cleansing of forgiveness.
Through His death on the cross, Jesus dealt with our sin problem.
He offers to us forgiveness that is free, full, and forever.
Every person needs to be clean before God.
B. He invites us to enter into a family relationship with God.
No one likes to be an outsider.
No one enjoys being alienated and experiencing loneliness.
Jesus Christ came in order that all people might enter into God’s family.
He wants everyone to experience the sense of belonging that comes to those who are members of God’s family.
C. He invites us to come to Him for fullness of life.
John 10:10 (AMP)
10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
Jesus intends that we experience something more than birth into God’s family or enrolment in His school.
He wants us to experience wholeness.
2. Jesus calls everyone to companionship.
After inviting people to become believers and disciples, Jesus selected and called them into companionship in which they might become apostles.
We are to respond to Him as Lord and Teacher and Shepherd and Friend.
Before the original disciples could become apostles, it was necessary that they “be with Him.”
- Only by being with Jesus could the disciples get aquatinted with God.
Later Jesus was to say in John 14:9 (AMP)
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me yet, Philip, nor recognize clearly who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
Jesus came to introduce God to people and people to God.
He came to manifest the character and purpose of God. He wanted His disciples to be with Him so they could truly become acquainted with God.
- It takes time to get acquainted with someone.
2. We must listen to someone to get acquainted with them.
3. We must carefully watch someone to get deeply acquainted with them.
These disciples desperately needed to get acquainted with the God who Jesus Christ was revealing.
To experience this they had to be with Jesus.
How long have you been with Jesus?
To what degree are you watching and listening to God in order that you might come to a greater relationship with Him?
B. Only by being with Jesus can we learn how to live by faith.
- We have to learn to trust God.
2. Many of us want to trust in ourselves or in circumstances.
We want to walk by sight and common sense.
3. Many of us want to plot our own course and then let God OK it.
We want to jump off the cliff and depend on God to rescue us.
4. Jesus teaches us that God is good and wise, that God is at work for good in all things and that He is always reliable, and that God does not always work according to a human timetable.
Jesus helps us know that God will always show us what is right.
C. Only by being with Jesus can we learn the way of love.
Jesus wanted to teach His disciples to love God supremely and to love others with the same measure they loved themselves.
Most of us live self centred, selfish lives.
We confuse lust with love.
Jesus taught and demonstrated the way of love.
He always had a persistent, unbreakable spirit of goodwill toward others and an unflinching desire for constructive action on their behalf.
The security and development of others was always uppermost in His mind.
By His example, as well as by His teachings, Jesus showed His disciples what it meant to live by the principal of love.
They could learn this only when they were with Him.
How much time do you spend with Jesus?
Are you in the process of learning to live by the principal of love?
D. Only by being with Jesus could His disciples learn the importance of absolute obedience.
Jesus was obedient to His Father and sought at all times to carry out God’s will in His life, even to the point of dying on a cross.
He sought to install within His disciples the desire to so love God that they would always be obedient to His commands, for He knew that the evangelisation of the world would be dependent on their obedience.
When a person dies to self, they will be raised back to life again.
This is a principal that remains true for us today.
Conclusion.
Have you come to know Jesus Christ through the forgiveness of your sins?
Have you come to know God as Father and His family as brothers and sisters?
Have you spent time with Jesus in order that He might place His mark on your mind and heart so that others can see His presence in your life?
It was after considerable teaching and growth that in Acts 11:26 (AMP)
26 and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For an entire year they met [with others] in the church and instructed large numbers; and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
In Antioch they became Christians as they let Jesus change them into His own image.
God needs you to be obedient, because others need what God can do through you.
Determine today that you will be with Him so that He can make you all He wants you to be, let Him use your life as the raw material to shape into His image.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2021 IS A YEAR OF REFORMATION
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Refinery Life Church Australia
