Plus One
-Introduction
-What a wonderful God we serve!
-1 John 3:1
-What a privilege it is to be considered God’s children! – 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; Gal. 4:4;
-So, as God’s children, we can gather together and offer our worship to Him. (Acts 20:7,
1 Cor. 11:17-34, etc.)
-As long as we offer that worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), it is pleasing to Him.
-What an amazing thought! We can do something which pleases the Almighty, Sovereign
God of Heaven!
-Pleasing to God
-Luke 2:14 (ESV & NASB) - We can look through the scriptures and we can find many who were
pleasing to God.
-The ultimate example of which is Jesus, of course. (Matt. 3:17; Matt. 17:5, 2 Pet.
1:17)
-Jesus pleased the Father by doing His will – John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38. In John’s account of
the Gospel we find many occasions where Jesus referenced the fact that He was sent
by the Father (over 30 times).
-We can also turn to the scriptures and find many examples of faithfulness and endurance.
We can find individuals – men and women – who were pleasing to God.
-Hebrews 11 – (i.e. Enoch – vs 5)
-Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17 (Col. 3:16, Ps. 119:11)
-It is an obedient and active faith – based upon the Word - that is pleasing to our God.
-2 Cor. 5:7 (Rom. 8:8)
-We’ll make our mistakes along the way.
-Alongside the examples of faithfulness, the scriptures also clearly portray the
mistakes and shortcomings of those who served God.
-We don’t want to take our mistakes lightly. But, we also don’t want to beat
ourselves up over them. Learn from them, correct them and move on.
-Col. 1:9-10
-One of the ways to please God is to carry out good works. Notice, these things do not
earn God’s favor and salvation. Yet, these are things that are pleasing to Him.
-Eph. 2:8-10
-Php 4:18, Heb. 13:16
-We are to worship and we are to serve – Rom. 12:1-2.
-God Rejoices
-However, here’s what I want you to think about as well. Not only can we please God, we
can cause God to rejoice.
-1 Tim. 2:3-4; parables of Luke 15 – Each soul is important to God and He rejoices (vs 7)
when a soul comes to Him through the Gospel of Christ!
-We need to give God reason to rejoice. We need to take the Gospel to those around us.
-We know this. Yet, we don’t do it as much as we should. There are a number of
factors that enter the equation; one of which, I believe is that we intimidate ourselves.
-Don’t think in terms of the world, our country, our state, our county, our city, our
neighborhood, our workplace, our families, our friends. Think in terms of one.
-Will you make this a goal for 2012? – Will you strive to bring one soul to God through Christ?
-Will you give God reason to rejoice?
-Plus One
-Invitation
Joplin – January 8, 2012 – a.m.