(#436) Romans 13 - At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

Class Outline:

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Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  I am a Christian.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We make a difference by teaching the Word of God from God’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective. 

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

 

Welcome to Pastor Appreciation Day…a day set aside by the Barah Ministries congregation to honor twenty years of service…two decades of faithfulness to teaching the Word of God.  I can remember back to the beginning…to the first lesson provided from this ministry…taught from a dining room table here in the Phoenix, AZ area back in 1999.  The ministry was named from a Hebrew word, the fifth word in the first verse of the bible…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1…

 

GENESIS 1:1

In the beginning (not a beginning) God (Jehovah Elohim…the Lord) created (BARAH-ed) the heavens and the earth.

 

“BARA” … to speak something into existence…to make something from nothing.  Somehow I had the good sense, from my intellect, not from experience, to realize from the beginning what God is doing with this ministry and with me as a Pastor.  He would make something from nothing, just like He did with the heavens and the earth. When I look back at the Cross, I can see a God who keeps on demonstrating that He has the power to put a nothing like me up in front of a congregation, and then to turn that nothing Pastor and that nothing congregation into something.  He has demonstrated that ability, and the willingness to do it through the ages, and we are no exception to His plan.  I am enjoying the journey, even though it has been anything but easy.

 

God places Pastors into their positions…just as all authority is from God…Romans, Chapter 13, Verse 1…

 

ROMANS 13:1

Every person is to be in subjection to the authorities in power. Why? Because there is no authority in power except the ones that were put in power by God…and those authorities in power are established by God.

 

In Titus, Chapter 1, Verses 5 to 9, the apostle Paul discusses the need for leadership in the local church…

 

TITUS 1:5

For this reason (to provide leadership) I (Paul) left you (Titus) in Crete, that you would set in order (straighten out) what remains (of the church in Crete…handling my unfinished business)…and that you would appoint elders (Pastors and Deacons) in every city as I directed you…

 

TITUS 1:6 

…namely…if any man is above reproach…if he is the husband of one wife (at a time…not a polygamist)…having children who believe (in the Lord Jesus Christ)…a man not accused of dissipation (a man who is scattered and who likes to squander resources)…a man not accused of rebellion (not wild and disobedient).

 

TITUS 1:7 

For the overseer (Pastors and Deacons) must be above reproach (someone who does not bring discredit to the ministry) as God’s steward…not self-willed (arrogant)…not quick-tempered…not addicted to wine (an alcoholic), not pugnacious (quick to argue and fight…belligerent and combative)…not fond of sordid gain (not corrupt and self-seeking)…

 

TITUS 1:8 

…instead…overseers must be hospitable (warm toward strangers)…must

love what is good…must be sensible (holy and blameless)…must be just

 (fair)…must be devoted…must be self-controlled…

 

TITUS 1:9 

…holding fast the trustworthy message which is in accordance with the teaching of the Word of God…so that he will be able both to exhort in sound teaching and to refute those who oppose the Word.

 

The Lord recommends that those who are faithful teachers of the Word of God be paid well…and as far as I’m concerned, appreciation is a worthy payment…First Timothy, Chapter 5, Verses 17 and 18…

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 5:17

The elders (Pastors and Deacons) who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor (double payment)…especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching (Pastors).

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 5:18 

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and Scripture says, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

 

The Lord recommends that Pastors be paid.  In fact the Lord is saying that Pastors should be paid double, and He is saying that a congregation does not have the right not to pay its Pastor.  However, the Pastor does have the right to refuse payment. Well today will not be a day when I refuse your appreciation…I am grateful for it and I am grateful for you.

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries, this creation of our God that we keep on benefitting from because of His ability to do something with a bunch of nothings. 

 

When God makes something from nothing, it is the expression of His unconditional love.  Here’s the contemporary Christian music trio Phillips, Craig and Dean with HOW GREAT THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

HOW GREAT THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

Phillips, Craig and Dean

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Almighty God and Father…

 

…thank you for giving me the desire and the ability and the willingness to keep on shepherding the flock you have provided for me…thank you for shaping me into a man after Your own heart…one who will do all Your will…thank you for teaching me to give without counting the cost…to give of my time…to give of my counsel to mentor people in their walk with You…thanks for making me willing to give up personal resources you have given me to ensure that congregation  members have their needs met…thank you especially for leading me to teach the Word of God in its unadulterated version to equip and to edify the saints...and to provide the accurate gospel message to ungodly, unrighteous unbelievers…

 

…Father, teach me how to love as You do…teach me to forgive as You do…teach me to dispense grace as You do…and continue to direct my growth, my thoughts, my words and my actions…and bring them into complete obedience to You…

 

…I ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

 

There is no greater gift than giving.  Let’s begin this lesson by welcoming up Deacon Denny Goodall to give of himself and his wisdom for your benefit as he prepares you to give an offering.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 5:8

But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all of us…in that while we were yet sinners (as ungodly, unrighteous unbelievers), Christ died a sacrificial death for us.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

 

Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of love in The Christian Way of Living.  Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by sharing His body and His blood with us.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26 says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26

For as often as you eat this bread (His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.

 

Non-resident congregation members are invited to join in the sharing of the communion elements with the resident congregation.  Get your own bread and your own cup and celebrate with us.  We are one…in unity…we are in fellowship with each other…so let’s break the bread and drink the cup together in honor of our Lord. This is a celebration for which we set aside time.  We don’t do it on the move.

 

During The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the Lord Jesus Christ wants His believers to look back to the reality of His death on a Cross as a sacrifice for us…the Lord wants us to remember He has been resurrected from the dead…and Jesus wants us to look forward with absolute confidence that He will come again.

 

The Lord’s Supper Celebration reminds us that JESUS CHRIST IS GOD,

and that our Lord won the Creator-creature conflict through His work on the

Cross.

 

What does The Lord’s Supper Celebration mean to you?  

 

When I look back to the Cross I see a great God who made something out of what looked like nothing...He made the greatest statement ever by shedding His blood on the Cross while enduring the humiliation of crucifixion, the worst death in human history.

 

Barah.

 

God is using Barah Ministries to teach us about ourselves?  It’s something I knew intellectually from the beginning, but not experientially until recently…I am nothing.  In the movie Rudy, a priest put it well.  Rudy wants to get into The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. More than that, He wants to play football.  But he’s a midget.  He wants to walk on to the Notre Dame football team.  But first, He has to get in the school.  He asks a priest, “Have I done everything I possibly can to get in? Can you help me?”  The priest’s answer is classic.  The priest advised, “Son, in thirty-five years of religious studies, I’ve come up with only two hard and incontrovertible facts. There is a God…and I’m not Him.”

 

We are nothing.

 

And as Barah Ministries continues to unfold, all of us, even the world, is about to see what God can do with very ordinary stuff.

 

Our spiritual lives start with a very simple request from God…FOLLOW ME.  Matthew, Chapter 4, Verses 18 And 19…

 

MATTHEW 4:18

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers… Simon who was called Peter…and Andrew his brother…casting a net into the sea…for they were fishermen.

 

MATTHEW 4:19 

And Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, “FOLLOW ME, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

 

God makes us become. God makes something from nothing. And He doesn’t need our help.  As the Lord makes us become, He lets us know how different we are from Him.  John, Chapter 13, Verse 33…

 

JOHN 13:33

“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me…and as I said to the Jews…now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’”

 

Peter, the impetuous one, quick to speak…quick to put his foot in his mouth…chimes in…John, Chapter 13, Verse 37…

 

JOHN 13:37

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”

 

Peter is nothing.  But He thought he was something.  Galatians, Chapter 6, Verse 3 warns…

 

GALATIANS 6:3

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, and many do, he deceives himself.

 

We could never be Christ-like…we could never be Him.  When we focus on ourselves…when we think we are something when we are nothing…we get disappointed with ourselves and with our progress and with our inability, and many times we blame our inability on God.

 

The Lord is never bothered by our inadequacy…He never feels about us the way we feel about ourselves…He is confident in what He is making us.

Philippians, Chapter 1, Verse 6…

 

PHILIPPIANS 1:6

For I (Paul) keep on being confident of this very thing…that God the Father who began a good work in you will keep on completing it until the day of Christ Jesus (the exit resurrection of the Church…the Rapture).

 

Why do we keep being surprised when we do a self-inspection that we are

not Him?  Why do we worry?  Why do we want to be something instead of

 enjoying our status as nothings?

 

Let’s take a five-minute break, and when we come back we’ll enjoy The Lord’s Supper element, and we’ll continue to look at what God is doing with our nothingness.

 

BREAK

Five Minutes

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Enjoying the Elements

 

Obeying God’s command, we keep on celebrating CHRIST and His Cross on a regular basis…we eat to remember who He is as a PERSON…we drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made on our behalf as our sin substitute.  We are grateful for what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done for us.  Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…

 

MATTHEW 26:26 

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”

 

MATTHEW 26:27 

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”

 

MATTHEW 26:28 

“…for this is My blood…the blood of a new covenant….blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”

 

As you enjoy the bread and the cup, enjoy the memory of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well. Now and always, let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally and accepted fully by a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we can depend…and let’s keep on being transformed by His life, His death, His resurrection and His Word… and let’s enjoy His unconditional love.  Let’s do what He asks DAY BY DAY.

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

DAY BY DAY

Godspell

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

 

God doesn’t require us to be special.  Especially, He doesn’t care if the world sees the value in you.  He isn’t really concerned if you see the value in yourself. We are special in His eyes.  We must learn to see ourselves as He sees us. God has always thought we were something, because we are His.

Here’s Crystal Lewis to sing about it in her song…COME JUST AS YOU ARE.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

COME JUST AS YOU ARE

Crystal Lewis

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Taught Us What He Can Do With Nothing

 

Peter is a great example to us of who we really are…Peter thought he was something when he was nothing…Luke, Chapter 22, Verse 31…

 

LUKE 22:31

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift all of you apostles like wheat…”

 

LUKE 22:32 

“…but I have prayed for you (specifically, Peter)…that your faith may not fail…and that you, when once you have turned again (once you have been restored)…that you (lead again and that you) strengthen your brothers.”

 

LUKE 22:33 

But Peter said to Jesus (in self-righteousness), “Lord, with You I am ready

to go both to prison and to death!”

 

LUKE 22:34 

And Jesus said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

 

How different we are from the Lord?  We are different from Him in every way!  A message to Satan…the enemy of God…you could NEVER be like the most high.  Remember Satan’s boast?  Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 14…

 

ISAIAH 14:14

“I (Satan) will ascend above the heights of the clouds (taking over the function of God)…I will make myself like the Most High.”

 

The Lord Knows we are nothing…but it is not His way to discard us.

Instead God turns us into masterpieces…works of art…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10…

 

EPHESIANS 2:10

For we believers in Christ are God the Father’s workmanship…created in union with Christ Jesus for good works…which good works God the Father prepared beforehand (in eternity past) so that we would walk in them.

 

The Lord is engineering out of us all thinking that we are something when we are nothing…so that our works bring glory to Him and not to our flesh.  First Peter, Chapter 5, Verses 6 to 11…

 

FIRST PETER 5:6

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time…

 

FIRST PETER 5:7 

…casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

 

God considers our problems to be His responsibility.

 

FIRST PETER 5:8 

Be of sober spirit…be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

FIRST PETER 5:9

But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

 

FIRST PETER 5:10 

After you have suffered for a little while, the God and Father of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in union with Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

 

FIRST PETER 5:11 

To God the father be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

Why is it that all works God gives us to do seem so impossible?  Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 37…

 

LUKE 1:37

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

 

Well it is my pleasure to stand before you as a nothing…full of flaws…over and over again…day-by-day…year-by-year…proclaiming the excellency of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

 

I appreciate you…I appreciate us…I appreciate Barah Ministries…and I appreciate everything that God has put in my path to shape me into the something He always knew He could make me.  I look forward to what He is going to do for those of us who have the perseverance to stick with Barah Ministries and to stick with Him with whom we have much to do.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

As human parents, we are often emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental.  We tell our children exactly what we want them to do, expecting that they will do it.  Quite often, they do the opposite.  And when they do the opposite, they come to us asking for an exception to our request. “I know I didn’t do exactly what you asked…but please, please, please…can I do it my way?”  Our emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental sides kick in, and we allow them to go against our requests.  By doing this, we teach them to ignore our requests.

 

Many people, therefore, think God will act a similar way.  God tells us exactly what we must do to be saved, and many don’t do it, but they think that in the end God will be emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental...and that He will let them into heaven if they seek to get into heaven their own way…by works.  Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 4…

 

ROMANS 4:4

Now to the one who works (for salvation), his wage (for his work) is not credited (to his account) as a favor (from the grace of God), but (his wage is credited) as what is due for the work.

 

God isn’t emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental.  In Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 21, the Lord says…

 

MATTHEW 7:21

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven...but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter into the kingdom.”

 

What is God’s will in the matter of your salvation?  Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9 says it is not God’s will…

 

SECOND PETER 3:9b

The Lord is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of, but instead He is patient toward you unbelievers…not wishing for any of you to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all of you to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

God makes a simple request…Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone

in your household who also believes.”

If we ignore God’s request, there are consequences… John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

So if you want to get to heaven, it’s probably just best to do what God asks you to do.  John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…

 

JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”

 

We have an amazing God. Here’s June Murphy to praise Him in her song…HOW GREAT YOU ARE.

 

CLOSING SONG

HOW GREAT YOU ARE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

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Thanks for listening!

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