Today, we’re continuing our message series called “Bondservant.” A bondservant, serving the Lord lays their life on the line for their master. A servant is also a warrior or soldier for their Captain. Today, our message is entitled “Fight the Battle.”
Around the world today, there are many armed conflicts. Last year there were 4 conflicts with more than 10,000 deaths. An additional 10 conflicts had more than 1000 deaths and 18 conflicts that had more than 100 deaths. These physical armed conflicts are simply outwards symptoms of a spiritual battle. The unseen war between the kingdom of God and the dominion of Satan.
Every person, whether they know it or not is aligned with one side or the other in this unseen spiritual battle. On the side of the kingdom of God are believers, and those who are not believers are aligned with the dominion of darkness. The Bible talks repeatedly of our responsibility as warriors in this conflict.
1 Timothy 6:12a (NIV) Fight the good fight of the faith.
Today, we’re continuing our message series called “Bondservant.” When you’re a servant to a master, the master has tasks for you to do as you serve them. So, if you’re a believer here this morning, you are a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And Jesus has tasks for you to complete for Him in your life. In fact, those tasks are not just a part of your life, those tasks are your complete life. We have no life of our own outside of serving Jesus. …
Today, we’re continuing our message series called “Bondservant.” Our slide shows a chain representing that everyone is a slave or bondservant, serving a master. The question is who is your master, who are you a slave to?
Bob Dylan wrote a song called “Gotta Serve Somebody” and I’d like us to listen to the first part of the song. “Gonna have to serve somebody, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Everyone serves somebody and there are only two choices, the devil or the Lord.
If you’re serving the Lord, you know it. But most of the people who aren’t serving the Lord don’t know that they are serving the devil. The devil hides himself and is the ultimate puppet master. People worship and serve idols, things like money, pleasure, drugs, prestige, themselves. But behind all of them is the devil, who they are really serving.
The tag line in our slide is “free to be a slave.” Jesus came to set people free from serving the devil, free to choose Jesus as your master, free to be Jesus’ slave or bondservant.
Today, my message is entitled “Walk with the Spirit.” We’re going to be talking about the contrast between a person serving the devil and a person serving the Lord.
Romans 8:8-9 (NIV) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 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.
Today, we’re continuing our message series called “Bondservant.” Every believer or disciple of Jesus Christ, is His bondservant. He is the master, we are His slaves, according to the Bible. As master, Jesus is not a cruel tyrant, but a loving master.
In this series, we are going to discover how we can grow as disciples or bondservants of Jesus. We want to learn how to more useful to the master. God created you for a purpose. When you believe in Jesus and are saved, you begin a journey to fulfill that plan and purpose.
Today, our message is entitled “Grow to Spiritual Maturity.” Let’s think about physical growth for a minute. Physical life begins at conception. That tiny baby grows in its mother’s womb for 9 months and then is born into the world. That baby then grows, learns to walk, talk and do many other things. The baby becomes a child and begins its education, as it continues to learn and grow. Ultimately, the child becomes a mature adult, becoming a productive part of society.
In the same way, when a person becomes a believer in Jesus, the Bible tells us that they are born again and saved. That new believer, whether they are 8 years old or eighty begins their spiritual life as a spiritual infant. The new believer must than experience spiritual growth until they become a mature, spiritually productive disciple of Jesus. …
Today, we’re beginning a new message series called “Bondservant.” We’re going to be talking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to follow Him. Jesus said in …
Matthew 10:25a (NASB) It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master.
Jesus is the teacher and those who follow Him are disciples. What does it mean to be a disciple? A disciple is someone who learns from or is a student or apprentice of the teacher. The goal of a disciple is to become like his teacher. Not only is Jesus the teacher, but Jesus is also the master or Lord (kurios). A master has slaves, those who are owned by and serve their master. Those who are believers in Jesus are both His disciples and His slaves. Jesus said in …
Luke 17:10 (NASB) “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'”
Today, we conclude our message series “Living in Light of the End.” God has privileged us to live in the last days 2000 years closer to the return of Christ than the time of the apostles. Before us lie exciting and dangerous times, as the battle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness intensifies. I trust that this message series and the one immediately preceding it has better prepared us for the challenges that we will face in the future.
This morning, my message is entitled “The Ultimate Wedding.” We are going to look beyond the current spiritual warfare, beyond the sacrifices and martyrs of the last days, even beyond God’s cataclysmic judgments still to come. We are going to look at the end of the story and it’s a good ending, provided you are on the winning side of history.
To help us understand the end of the story, let me briefly tell you the story of the Bible in maybe a new way for you. The story of the Bible is at its heart, a love story. A love story between God and man. You see, God wanted someone to love, so in the beginning, He created people in His image. God created human beings so that He could love them and they could freely love Him back.
But an enemy came into the paradise that God had created for man. This enemy seduced the first people away from their first love and the relationship between God and man was broken. Mankind became trapped in a prison of sin from which there was no escape.
If the story has a villain, than we know a hero must come and that hero was Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to rescue His true love, the people He had created. The villain, Satan, killed Jesus, yet Jesus rose from the dead and defeated Satan. Jesus made a way for every person He loved to be rescued from the prison of sin by believing in and loving Him back.
Although, the villain has been mortally wounded, the battle rages on until the end of the last days when Jesus returns for His true love. The story of the Bible has a happy ending. Jesus and His bride get married and live happily ever after. Who is the bride of Jesus? It is the church, which consists of believers, those who love Jesus.
Ephesians 5:25b-27 (NIV) Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
