Equip The Saints

Saints from all over the world

·         Praise

·         Pray

Text scripture:

Eph 4:12

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

 *One  separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ.

Rom 1:7    To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My only point here is that the Bible calls those who believe and confess Christ as Lord and Savior are saints.

·         We can then understand better our text scripture in context Eph 4:12.  (read Eph 4:1-13)

1.    Paul reminds Ephesians who they are and what they are to be doing.

2.    Revelation given to Paul regarding building the Church (body of Christ, re-establishing The Kingdom Of God)

3.    We are to teach people, who teach people, who teach people, who teach people – etc. – Great Commission Mark 16 : 15-18

4.    If we are to be effective in “perfecting the saints, ” we must 1st realize who we are in Him, and what Christ has done for us.

·        We must realize – God’s plan to re-establish Kingdom depends on believers in Christ spreading the Church - perfecting the saints

·        We need to realize it will be done with - or without you and I.

Jesus told the disciples that the gates of Hades would not withstand The Kingdom Of God – NOTHING WILL STOP THE CHURCH!

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Explain Gate of Hades, being a real place real place)

This is a point many Christians lose sight of in a culture of declining morality.  They think the Church will be derailed. They don’t know forget that all along, God’s plan was to re-establish His Kingdom right over the top of Pagan religions that ran rampant in those days.

·        We will do it because we love Christ – He loved us first

  1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us  -

        John 3:16, Col 2  14

·         Christ sacrificed Himself for us – to preserve us, the only way we will be preserved is if the Church is established and The Kingdom is re-established

·         Think of this – Christ entrusted the establishing of His Church on earth to 12 disciples who did not have a clue until that final 3 years of Jesus life.

·         He trusted them and now He trusts you and me

·         If we are His servants – bought and paid for with his blood we must realize a few things:

We have a mission: Great Commission -  Mark 16 - 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

1.   After He told us what to do and He empowered us to do it:

Mark 16 (next verses) 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

What can I do to do my part in fulfilling The Great Commission?

1.   Know who you are In Christ (all in Christ scriptures are what He has done for you – sometimes said through Christ)

Romans 3:24
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 

Ephesians 2:13  At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. That has brought you near to God.

2.    Stay in relationship – meditate on scripture, Pray daily

3.    Get in a Bible TEACHING church or atmosphere as soon as you can.

Almost all churches believe in the Bible, but not all teach the Bible.

·         This is important so you can know who you are

·         Who God is

·         Know where you are in history

·         Find your gifts

·         Find your place

·         Help you find ministry opportunities

·         Realize that you may think you are overqualified for what you are doing – be faithful, don’t complain, do all the best you can!

John 3:1-18

• Pray
• Text passage John 3:1-18

John 3

Born from Above

1-2   There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."

-          Pharisees num. About 6000 in Israel

-          Very important to them to show outward religion (fasting, praying, ceremonial washing –etc)

-          Knew messiah coming

-          Very opposed to Jesus

-          Jesus very critical of them

-          Many theories on why he went at night but I think so no one would see him

-          Evidently, the Pharisees had drawn a conclusion about Jesus.

-          Called him teacher out of respect / I think he knew who Jesus was (John 7:50,51 & 19:39)

3     Jesus said, "You're absolutely right (about being a teacher – knowing more than you). Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."

-         No kidding

-         Very well could have taken the attitude of “don’t even try to think of yourself as equal, but I believe Jesus Knew Nic. knew who Jesus was.

-         Everything Jesus did pointed to God’s Kingdom & He wanted to get across not only to Nic. But to you and me that we must accept the salvation God is giving to us. Eph 2:8-9

4     "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"

  

 5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation,(Gen. 1:1) the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
 7-8 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
 9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
 10-12 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
 13-15 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert (a type of Jesus Num 21:6-9 )so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
 16-18 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (Message)

God’s purpose now is to re-establish Kingdom, in doing, He, sacrificed His Son to “buy back”

          - Jesus came 1^st time as a Savior, not a Judge

-         Jews in those days believed Messiah would judge mankind – they had reason to believe that (Psalm 98:9, Isaiah 3:13)

they rejected Jesus, so salvation had to come from non-Jews (gentiles)Jews did not see Church age (we are in now) – Gospel supposed to come through Jews:
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God ⁾did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

-          notice He does not save by love – He saves by belief - loves all unconditionally - saved or not: God will love us even going to hell.

He saves by Grace – His Grace comes by faith in His Word, Eph 2:8-9 – you must be born again (John 3) by accepting and relying on His Word
Ephesian 1:5-6 – He chose us to be adopted sons through (because of)Jesus
John 14:6 – way, truth , light
Heb 2:9-11   - Captain = Gr. archegegos >author >take the lead
Jesus makes it clear that only through Him can we enter into God’s family (children of)

 18 "^(AC)He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(AD)the only begotten Son of God.

- You never surprise God

                        - penalty is always (with God) pre-determined
(NKJV)

Romans 10:9-11

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."^[

The Last Sacrifice

• Text: Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
• Pray
• God demands blood in sacrifices – blood has to be involved

Hebrews 9:22-23 (New Living Translation) ²²And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. ²³ That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals

• God set system of sacs. for children of Israel so they could stay in  relationship with Him. Sacrifices were  temp. until  He solved permanently disobedience prob. / Jesus. This system set in place as soon as man sinned  -  Gen. 3:9
  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

a)  Goats, lambs, bulls, pigeons – remission of sins

Praise, food (grain) – worship / special ceremony, balance diet priests

b)   Circumcision – blood rite / signify God’s 1^st covenant : Gen. 17:10-11

c)   Heb 10:1-13 Message  Bible

1.    Jesus was last sac.

¹ The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. ² If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. ³ But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. ⁴ For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ That is why, when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer”.
 ⁶ You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.”
 ⁷ Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
      as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”^[b] 8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). ⁹ Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. ¹⁰ For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.¹¹ Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. ¹² But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ¹³

·        He pd. Price or debt for us – Colossians 2:11-15 (Message)

             ¹¹ When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.^{[c] 12} For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed^[d] the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

·        Pd our ransom (definition) – redemption of prisoner or kidnapped person, redeem from punishment (set captives free)

Jesus called Lamb Of God – John 1:29, Ezekial  45:15,

Rev.7:10 (KJV)

 ¹⁰And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb

• Lambs always are sacrificed when mentioned in Bible

• Jesus’ call was to be the last sac. – to be redeemer – reconcile man back to God – Scripture on Blood Of Christ (at least 25 direct)

1. God can’t be around sin -
2. if God’s Kingdom in man’s heart, that man must accept perfect sac. Of Jesus and have Him (who knew no sin) live in them

a)            for gift to be complete, must be accepted

b)            a gift must be free – salvation is ; Eph 2:8,9

3. Shed blood of Jesus then washes away their sin – God made sure;

 John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,

Romans 8:38 NLT ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Christ was the last sacrifice needed by God – he paid the price (forgiveness for our sins of the past, present and future