January 27, 2008 by PastorMark.

#300, Victory in the Valley, 01-27-2008, Pastor Mark Boucher

Text: 2 Chronicles 20

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January 20, 2008 by PastorMark.

#299,  Followship, Sunday 01-20-2008, Pastor Mark Boucher

Text: Matthew 9:9-13
Theme: What does Jesus call us into when He says “follow me”?

INTRODUCTION:

1. Go to Barnes and Noble and look up books on “leadership”, then “following”. Then look up “leadership” on Google, then “following”. – We crave to lead more than to follow.
2. Jesus had a plan for the world. His plan would be preceded by prophesies to give hope to the early generations.
   1. He came to die and rise again
   2. He came to invest His life in people who wanted to be transformed, who would be instruments of transformation. He didn’t come just so save people to get them into heaven.
3. One day, while walking He came upon Matthew.
   1. Matthew was a young Jewish man who broke the mold.
   2. He was a “collaboration compromiser” with the Romans.
   3. He was known as a “publican”. He sold out on he Jewish family, nation, conscience.
4. His life was about to change forever.
   1. Jesus said two words, “follow me”.
   2. “Matthew got up and followed him.” (v 9) There was something about Jesus greater than money, things and outward success.

Text: Matthew 9:9-13
What would you have done?
Most of us probably would have been paralyzed by a flood of questions.

• Just who are you again?
• Where are we going?
• What about my stuff, my booth?
• What do I have to do?
• What will I learn and become?
• Do I have to change? How?

What does Jesus call us into when He says “follow me”?

1. Jesus calls us into a relationship with Himself. (“follow me” – not a religion)
   1. He calls us to “be with Him.”
   2. “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”
   3. He calls us to be like Him.
   4. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me …”
2. He calls us into relationships with one another.
   1. Matthew became a part of a team.
   2. It wasn’t just “me and Jesus”. It was me, Jesus and His people.
   3. Love is His command.
   4. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12
   5. Our love for one another brings credibility to the message.
3. He calls us to a life of service.
   1. Jesus described his mission by saying, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve …” Matthew 20:28
   2. How do we serve?
   3. Jesus said, “I do what I see the Father doing.”
   4. Do what Jesus would do.

INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP:

Three prong focus of LAOG. (Intentional Discipleship for you)

1. A life of intimacy with God.
   1. Worship and the Word.
2. A life of loving relationships.
   1. Where we learn to live the Word.
3. A life of service.
   1. Christ in us and through us.

Will you follow Jesus?

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January 13, 2008 by PastorMark.

#298, God’s Masterpiece, Sunday, 01-13-2008, Pastor Mark Boucher

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Theme: God wants to create a masterpiece out of your life.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Change is the “buzzword” in politics right now.
   1. “I believe I can provide the economic leadership we need to make the change so desperately required.”
   2. “Inviting Americans to work together to bring about changes.”
   3. “Change we can believe in.”
2. My faith is not in a person or party.
3. God specializes in change, transformation.
   1. “God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to allow us to stay the way we are.”
4. We have a love/hate relationship with change.
   1. Change requires “work.”
   2. The good news is God provides all we need; we just need to cooperate with Him.
   3. Why does God want us to change?

Theme: God wants to create a masterpiece out of your life.
How does God create this masterpiece? How does He change us?

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Let’s consider the dynamic of how God changes us.

1. God works on you. (vv 1-3)
   1. We don’t naturally trust God.
   2. We are dependent as babies, but grow with a “self-willed” nature.
   3. We want to “hold the brush” of our own life.
   4. The one great problem: we’re dead (in our sins (v 1)) and we don’t know it.
   5. Dead people can’t communicate with the living.
2. “Dead in sin” hearts can’t communicate with God.
   1. “I was dead once. I didn’t like it.” – bumper sticker
   2. God works on you (to bring you to life) through life’s experiences (as a pre-Christian)
   3. God works on us through conviction – the drawing power of the Holy Spirit.
   4. We have a great need: we naturally follow the world
   5. The Holy Spirit does battle with the spirit of will,
3. God works in you (vv 4-9).
   1. God works in you to you alive in Christ (v 4).
   2. When you say yes and let go of the brush …
   3. The resurrection of our spirit is a miracle like the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
4. He raised us up in Christ; we are seated with Him (v 6); we have hope and a future (v 7).
   1. We can claim no merit to this miracle.
   2. All we did was humble ourselves and receive.
   3. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works so no one can boast.
   4. God works in you to make you like Christ.
   5. “Just barely alive” isn’t good enough for God.
   6. He makes you alive to give you a new life.
   7. Lazarus was not raised to be a “dead man walking.”
5. Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
   1. “When you have your new suit on, remember who paid for it!”
   2. There are 3 types of paint God uses most to change us.
   3. The Word.
   4. Prayer.
   5. Trials.
6. God works through you (v 10)
   1. We are God’s workmanship.
   2. We are His prized possession (the first things He points to in His house).
   3. We are the craftsmanship created in Christ.
   4. God wants to reveal His Son to the world.
   5. What is the main lens through which people see Christ through us? Good works, which God already prepared for us to do.
   6. We are to live a life of mission.
7. God is not just interested in our character development, but also our outward actions.
   1. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

CONCLUSION:

1. Some of you say, “God can’t use me. I’ve held the brush all my life.”
   1. He can still paint a masterpiece with a dark backdrop.
2. Some of you say, “I’ve been away from God too long.”
   1. Sometimes you just need to let God find you, wash you off and put you in circulation.
3. God wants to change you and bless the lives of others!
   1. “Let go of the brush.”

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January 6, 2008 by PastorMark.

#298. Getting to the Source, Sunday 01-06-2008, Pastor Mark Boucher

Text: Jeremiah 2:13-19
Theme: God wants you to experience Him as the source of your life.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Story of the building in Stockholm.
2. Jeremiah was called by God as a young man (20)
   1. He ministered over 40 years to Judah.
   2. The nation was growing dim.
3. At the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, God gave him a special message.
   1. God summarized the problem visually by pointing out two problems.
   2. Text: Jeremiah 2:13-19
   3. The spring had been forsaken.
   4. Their cisterns replaced the spring.
   5. They sinned by what they did and did not so. As a result of these sins they experienced a back-slidden life.
   6. Theme: God wants you to experience Him as the source of your life.
4. Don’t give in to the temptation to replace God.
   1. Replacing God doesn’t look like total rejection.
   2. Israel still had the temple, law, meetings, ceremonies.
   3. In America we are trying to “marginalize” God.
   4. We want to move God from headline to a footnote.
   5. God has His place … just not in our government, schools, politics or personal lives and choices (We try to keep Him in the box)
   6. I’ve thought a lot about my own heart’s temptation to replace God as the source of life … and asked questions.
5. How do we replace God?
   1. Go to the beginning … (Genesis)
   2. God made Adam and Eve.
   3. God made them to depend on Him for all their needs.
   4. There came a time when they stopped trusting.
   5. They were tempted to doubt His word.
   6. “Did God really say, “you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1)
   7. They were tempted to doubt his love.
   8. “God wants to keep you in the dark”
   9. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, “knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)
   10. “He doesn’t love you enough to let you have the best.”
   11. Does life become better or worse when we try to replace God?
   12. Did Adam and Eve fall up or down? They welcomed a sinful nature which brought guilt, shame, alienation, fear.
   13. “I’ve never seen a person turn away from Jesus and be happy. I’ve never seen a person turn to Jesus and regret it.” ~ Billy Graham
6. What happens to us when we try to replace God?
   1. We become slaves. (v 14)
   2. “for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” (2 Peter 2:19)
   3. “wickedness will not release those who practice it.” (Ecclesiastes 8:8)
   4. We experience defeat after defeat.
   5. Towns are burned and deserted. (v 15)
   6. The men of Memphis have shaved the crown. (v 16)
   7. The foul water makes us sick.
   8. We say, “that’s just the way life is.”
   9. We’re empty, irritable and we complain to God. Our backsliding rebukes us. (v 19a)
7. What can we do?
   1. Take spiritual inventory. (v 19)
   2. “ ‘Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” (v 19)
   3. Go back to the spring. (repent)
   4. We convince ourselves that we can’t go back to God.
8. The prodigal was still loved by the Father when he left and while he was in the pig pen.
   1. The spring hasn’t moved.
   2. Make God your source of life.
   3. Seek Him and drink in His Word.
9. You have to want Him – He won’t feed you intravenously.
   1. Don’t just drink at church.
   2. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink …” (John 4:13)
   3. Become a “self-feeder.”
   4. The living water is the presence of Christ within.
   5. “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13)

CONCLUSION:

Don’t stay in the cistern. The people of Jeremiah’s day didn’t listen. Enjoy the source of life.

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