1. Make prayer a priority

2. Make worship a habbit

3. Make sacrifice an expectation

May 6, 2012

April 29, 2012

Jeremiah 29:11

"For  I know the plans I have for you," declares th Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

     1. This wasn't written for us.

          The writer wasn't thinking about us  hundreds of years in the future

     2. This was written for us.

          God Was Thinking about us

     1. God knows the plans.

     2. Plans for us to prosper and not be harmed

           -Prosperity comes from:

                  *when we obey God's comands

                  *when we recognize it's from God

     3. Plans for us to have hope and a future

Even in God's judgment he saw redemtion!

Romans 12:1-16

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 

 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;  not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion



1.  Learning to view in God's mercy

2.  Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice

3.  Do not follow the pattern of this world

4.  We are one body with one purpose

5.  What's you gift

6.  Love must be sincere



1. We want to serve God

2. We want to serve Each Other

3.We want to serve The Lost

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

  --Jesus always did ministry to prove a point.

         The POINT is Jesus is the Son of God! 

-Jesus did prform a miracle, just not the way we would have done it

       Jesus wanted to teach

         1. Help them in their faith

         2. Give them a opportunity to declare their love for Jesus

         3. And share in the ministry

         4. Prove His authority as the Son of God

FAITH is an action word!



Faith is  only proved when acted upon!

   2. Jesus is worthy of our praise

     The pharisees were noticing what was going on and they did'n't like it.

       - The pharisees saw Jesus as blasphemous to God

       - The didn't like that He was calling himself Gods' Son

       - Jesus wasn't anythin like the relegious groups

       - The pharisees didn't like that Jesus was more popular

    The disciples were coming against relegious people who were very angry

Yet they could not help but declare His goodness

  What are we willing to lay down to praise Him?

       - Our hopes and dreams to follow his

       - Idols

       - Future

       - Pride

 Jesus want to give us Life!

"What Will You Do With Jesus?"



 The  Uncomfortable Truths



1.   We need to be saved.

2.   We can't save ourselves.

3.   Sometimes Jesus doesn't save the way we think he should.

4.  Jesus alone can save.

Bystander #1: A Casual Observer (Simon of Cyrene)

Bystander #2: A Herdened Skeptic (A Roman Centurion)



--One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village,
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village,
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.

Then for three years
He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn't go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles
From the place where he was born.
He did none of the things
One usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three
When the tide of public opinion turned against him.
His friends ran away.
He was turned over to his enemies.
And went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross
Between two thieves.
While he was dying,
His executioners gambled for his clothing,
The only property he had on Earth.
When he was dead,
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone,
And today he is the central figure
Of the human race,
And the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliament that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
Put together have not affected
The life of man on Earth
As much as that



Rejection hurts

Why Jesus was rejected

     1. Jesus claimed to be God

           -Where do you stand on this, consider the following

                A:  His complete fullfillment of prophecies

                B:  His uncompromised character

                C:  His miraculous power

                D:   His avoidable death

                E:   His verifiable resurrection

                F:   His faithful followers

     2. Jesus didn't fit what they wanted

          -His kingdom was spiritual, not political

          -He didn't keep their relegious traditions

          -He associated with the wrong people

          -He was a threat to the authority of the relegious leaders

     3.Jesus demand life changes