DAD'S DAILY BREAD

Sermon notes Pastor Graydon Cress

11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1

Where do you go to find joy? Do you pursue happiness from the world or does it come from the Lord? Finding joy from the world is good to a certain point. If your not careful that thing that brings you joy and comfort will quickly become an idol. Just ask yourself one question: Do you have to sin to get it or does it cause sin in your life if you don’t get it?? If the answer is true to either one of these then you have created an idol in your heart and you will be serving that idol until decide to confess, repent and change. The heart is an idol factory so you have to battle your flesh daily, to remove those idols, and put Christ back on the throne of your life!

Check yourself daily when it comes to what you do for joy and pleasure. As soon as you find yourself loving the gifts and the feelings over the Awesome One who gave it to you then you definitely need to change your perspective! There is only one place to find true lasting joy and peace and that’s from the Gospel!!! ECCL 2:10-11

The Gospel is our joy that NEVER fades! First God gives us strength for endurance and patience with joy. True joy comes when you see God’s work happening in the world! Watching so many people worshiping the Lord in the midst of so much pain was joyful! Despite the fact that what happened to Charlie was so sad! God will use it for His glory and that also brings me joy. PHIL 4:4 / HABAKKUK 3

We cannot always change our circumstances but we can control our attitude and the way we react to things. JAMES 1 / ROMANS 5

If you’re facing a trial or you have an idol in your heart don’t minimize it! Deal with it. Take it to God. Take it to the people God has put in your life. Don’t let the enemy keep you dwelling in darkness! We cannot be Christ’s light in the world when we are harboring darkness in our own lives! Confess, repent, and change! Jesus is our light in the darkness! PSALM 23

God gives us strength for joy in Christ through: HIS WORD, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND HIS PEOPLE. We were never meant to do this on our own! NUMBERS 11

If we are not reading God’s Word everyday then we are not tapping into His strength. Like an athlete that only shows up on game day and wonders why everyone is so much faster and stronger than he is. Or like a weight lifter that wants to gain weight but refuses to eat food… You can work out all you want but if you’re not feeding your body its not going to turn into lasting strength! Check yourself daily to see what sources you’re tapping into as you go through your day! You don’t have to muster up joy on your own. God freely gives to those who ask in His name!

Lasting joy comes straight from Jesus- who He is and what He has done! We have an inheritance! Are you going to inherit all the things of this world that are rotten and decaying or will you accept the free gift of salvation from the Lord and inherit eternal life? We have been delivered from darkness. Jesus is the source of our light and our strength. He gives us access to the Kingdom. We are redeemed and forgiven!! We were in darkness but now we are children of the light. EHP 5 / ROM 3 / JOHN 4:13-14

Jesus Christ is the only one that will satisfy that space in your heart! Stop trying to fill it with meaningless possessions and feelings that will only last for the moment! Surrender to Jesus now! Confess, Repent, and Change!!!!

Seek the true and lasting joy that can only come from our savior! The Gospel is our joy and it will NEVER change!! MATT 5 / PSALM 34

IN HIS NAME

22 This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [Jew or Gentile] who believe [and trust in Him and acknowledge Him as God’s Son]. There is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] [c]grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus; Rom 3 amp

Someone once told me that when you see phrases like “BUT NOW or therefore” you really need to pay attention! God is telling us something life changing and it’s something so big that you need to apply it to your life! Just look at the scripture above. I have read it a thousand times and everytime it’s something I have to accept by faith because it doesn’t make sense why someone would do that for me… The God of the universe gave up HIS only son so that we could have a right and holy relationship with HIM. It is something we cannot attain on our own. Paul made that really clear in the earlier chapters!

So therefore we are to accept all that glorious stuff by faith! It seems so unnatural at first. But once you truly accept it and let that glorious information set into your life, that’s when you actually begin to walk on God’ righteous path. God will always give you a choice! For me I have to choose hourly, almost by the minute… Who am I going to serve? There are really only 2 options. You are going to serve yourself or the one who gave it all so that we could live the life God designed for us. 

I have spent so many years serving myself! And I can testify that God’s way is the only way to true happiness and lasting peace! Still daily I have to battle as my flesh will put myself right back on the throne. But thanks to God’s word I can look at my own life and see how I’m doing… If I’m not living and breathing all the attributes of God and Jesus then have I really been saved? Whether you feel you can lose your salvation or not, I can use scripture to test myself daily. Are my actions matching up with my words? If you’re honest with yourself and want to please God I think that would be a question you ask yourself often. Not because you doubt the faithfulness of God but because you truly know how filthy and wretched you are. 

God’s word will continue to show you things in your life you need to eliminate. The true question is, are you going to get rid of all that sin or are you going to just continue to live however you want?? That is the question I battle with everyday and without scripture there to encourage and guide and strengthen me I don’t know where I would be today. God saved me from a life of destruction and pain. And He deserves my allegiance!! God please grant me the strength to change. Get rid of the sinful things in my life so I can freely live a life that brings you glory!

APPLICATION:

Think about the attributes of Christ often! REMEMBER WHAT GOD SAVED ME FROM!! Test myself daily by looking at my fruit! Is my tree empty and wilted and slowly shrinking back into the dirt or am I producing juicy fruit! Fruit that is delicious and attractive. The kind of fruit people drive out of their way to find and enjoy. It’s really that simple. Your fruit will expose what your heart truly believes and who you’re serving! We are sinful humans so don’t be surprised when you find yourself serving something or someone other than God but don’t stay there!!! Repent and do a 180 degree turn and RUN in the opposite direction and right into your fathers arms. HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU so dont waste anymore of your life serving yourself! It’s a daily choice and a daily battle but once you finally have the peace and happiness that only God can give you, you will never want to go back! Father, please have mercy on me. I am so unworthy! Give me the strength to be better! Thank you for saving me when I didn’t, and still don’t, deserve it!! YOU ARE AN AWESOME GOD!! THANK YOU!!

IN HIS NAME

Sermon Notes Pastor Koby Orr

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; Col 1:9-10

The word of God is the only anchor we need to tether ourselves to Jesus. Ask myself this question, “AM I A FOLLOWER OF JESUS”? What does my fruit look like? A true Christian is a CHANGED Christian! The Gospel should change the way we live every second of our lives.

1. The Good News of Jesus changes the way we think. (vs 9)
   • The spirit must first enable us! Rom 8:6-7, 2 Cor 5:17,
   • We must choose to engage. Col 3:2
     • APPLICATION: We need to be Christians, We need to be intentional! READ the Word, PRAY the Word, MEMORIZE the Word. Remember that our sinful flesh hates the things of God. You need His Spirit. He is our power to resist! Make Him your most important priority!! Is my heart always fixed on God?
2. The Good News of Jesus changes the way we act. ( vs 10)
   • God has to liberate us! We are meant to be a visible invitation to the Gospel. We are set free from sin! He is our master. He gives us power to resist!
   • We have to choose to do what is right! Rom 6:12-13 God gives us the power we need to resist the flesh and the enemy!
     • APPLICATION: Remember who God is and what He actually deserves. God is not made up in my mind. He is the God of the bible, He deserves our obedience! BE OBEDIENT! Remember what He has done! “WHO AM I THAT GOD WOULD BE MINDFUL OF ME?” How we act will show us what we truly know and believe about God!

Instead of just confessing Jesus, live out your confession. Make your life a mission for Jesus. Don’t seek the same things everyone else does for hope and comfort. Ask myself daily “Am I a follower of Jesus?” What is my fruit saying about my relationship with Jesus? ( Col 1:10, Matt 7:17-18, Gal 2:20, Phil 4, Matt 7:21. YOUR WORDS NEED TO BE ACCOMPANIED WITH ACTIONS!!! Do I truly know Jesus or do I just know about Him?? Does my fruit match the words coming off my lips?

CALL TO ACTION: Stay Humble, Stay Fruitful, Repent Daily!!

A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A CHANGED CHRISTIAN!!!!

IN HIS NAME

23 You who boast in the Law, do you [repeatedly] dishonor God by [q]breaking the Law? 24 For, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written [in Scripture]. ROMANS 2

This scripture is very convicting! All the years that I had been living, to only please myself,  just flood my thoughts. I think about all the different possibilities and different ways my actions made Christ look bad. How long I lived only to please myself not thinking about the carnage I was laying in my path… Reminds me of the passage from earlier…

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Ro 2:4

I don’t deserve anything I get from the Lord! Living a life of blasphemy and lies… The more I dive into scripture the more I see just how wretched I am! I AM WITHOUT EXCUSE!!! No longer will I take advantage of God’s grace!! God’s grace is truly unimaginable! Cannot comprehend Him! LORD PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME!!

APPLICATION:

What do my wife and kids see when they look at me? Do they see a godly man trying to guide his family in walking with Jesus? Or do they see a selfish person that only wants to please himself?? Lord please have mercy on me. Help me to actually believe by faith that I can actually be forgiven for the things I have done. Sometimes the weight of my past gets hard to let go… if that makes sense… Focus on doing only what I can control and let God handle the rest. Always remember those little eyes are watching me!

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Rom 8:6

IN HIS NAME

5 But because of your callous stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are [deliberately] storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will pay back to each person according to his deeds [justly, as his deeds deserve]: ROMANS 2

With all this talk about storing up wrath for yourself, I thought I should do a deeper search into that. I want to know if I’m storing up wrath and if so how much. The idea of storing up wrath is an ironic twist on the usual metaphor of storing up blessings or treasures. 

From what I can gather in my short morning study is that it all comes back to repentance. They’re not talking about a physical hardness but a hardness of the heart. Spiritual hardness that comes after years of being your own lord and doing what you think is right… And refusing the gift from God. A refusal of His forgiveness. And as John Macarthur says they cling to their sin! Lord may that never be me again!!!

APPLICATION

God’s word DOES NOT CHANGE! So I am not surprised that everything always comes back to repentance. Am I a walking and talking lie? That serves God with my lips but then serves myself most of the week? OR  Am I actively battling the sin that only wants to kill, steal and destroy everything I have. I know how wretched I am! I know just how much I need Jesus!!! So therefore I should be walking in repentance every single second of my life!! Lord please forgive me for all my sin! All the ways I put myself over you! Please help me to walk out my repentance by leaving everything from my old life behind and focusing on You!

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ROMANS 8

IN HIS NAME

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, ROMANS 2:4a

To me this is one of the scariest places to be. The hypocrisy and stubbornness and just utter betrayal is just black and white. But when I’m truly honest with myself I feel like I’m doing that all the time… Woe is me. I’m so unworthy!! If there was a list of people that deserved the wrath of God the most, my name would be on the very top!!! The whole point is to push me to repent!! Not just stay in disobedience and sin…

not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ROMANS 2:4b

Isn’t it cool that every single problem, every question and emotion and action can be explained in scripture. Living and active to teach and train and guide! Thank you Jesus for making a way for me to get to you!!! On my own I would be dead and alone chasing my tail in a dark room somewhere… But you have a plan. Please help me to walk in repentance everyday for the rest of my life!

APPLICATION

Live out repentance everyday. Find the sin and the action associated with it and do the opposite. Keep the holiness of God as the main focus as I go through my prayers and my day. Walking in repentance means to change. Let actions speak for themselves. Trust God knowing that He is sufficient! He can fill my cup with everlasting life!! Please Lord have mercy on me. Help me to change the thing that doesn’t bring you honor! Stop trashing our testimony with things that don’t bring people to Jesus. Eternal focus!!! Spreading the gospel is the goal. His plans, not my plans!! Be a living and walking example to my family because it all starts with me.

In His Name.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing [as their Creator], God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, 29 until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, Romans 1

Reading this passage brings up many different emotions and feelings. Being stuck here for the last few days I believe the spirit is wanting me to remember what It felt like to be alone. Remember the loneliness and the feeling you have when you are separated from the ones you love. The ironic thing is that when you are using drugs and living in sin you just want everyone to leave you alone and let you do what you want. But once that actually happens and the only voice left in your head is your own, that is when the wheels begin to fall off the wagon. You’re left with the toxic and diluted mind of a severely addicted person whose only life mission is to please and satisfy himself. Thank You God for having a plan!

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3

Reading and feeling and allowing myself to experience those past feelings really builds a sense of sadness for those still struggling with addiction. It is such a scary place to be and the worst part is most people are too sick to even see it. My heart hurts for the men and women and the families struggling with addiction.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Romans 1

This section starts with some pretty gruesome sins then it ends with this list. Good reminder that God sees all sin as “gruesome” so I should have that same attitude about my sin! Thank you Lord for your grace that is new every morning!!

APPLICATION:

Don’t ever forget where I came from. Remember that sin will always take way more than I’m willing to give. Live out everyday in repentance. Doing my best to walk in the opposite direction. Surround myself with people that want to be holy because He is Holy! DO NOT COMPROMISE! Especially when it comes to my mind. Be careful what I give time and space to…

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8

That verse pretty much sums it up. Thank you Jesus for Your unending love and your grace and mercy that my mind just cannot comprehend! You are so awesome! Thank You Jesus!!

IN HIS NAME