(#431) Romans 12 - Your Actions are Perfect When They Reflect the Perfect Source

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

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

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Your Actions are Perfect When They Reflect the Perfect Source

 

What people should see when they look at you…what people should hear when they listen to you…is a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ. When people see and hear these things they will react in their souls…they’ll think, “This person is not like anyone I have ever met.”  Is that what people see and hear when they interact with you?  In today’s lesson, we’ll learn what others see when your actions are to be powered by God and by His thoughts.

 

Also today, as we do every month, we celebrate The Lord’s Supper…what does The Lord’s Supper mean to you?  As a believer in Christ, you are married to God…do you use the Lord’s Supper as a chance to reexamine your vows?

 

God accepts us just the way we are.  Here’s Hawk Nelson to tell us about it in his song…Drops in the Ocean.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

DROPS IN THE OCEAN

Hawk Nelson

 

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Almighty God and Father…

 

…we thank you for giving us a roadmap to spirituality…challenge us to obey you so that we take advantage of the path you have given us…

 

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

name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Your Actions are Perfect When They Reflect the Perfect Source

 

We continue our study of the final passage of Romans, Chapter 12, a passage that extends from Verses 9 to 21.  We have studied Verses 9 to 14 so far, and before we transition into the final seven verses of the passage, it might be wise for us to reflect a bit on what God is really telling us.

 

The Christian Way of Living is filled with actions…a set of DO’s and DON’T that our God recommends.  Christianity is an action-based lifestyle!  What sets Christian actions apart, however, making them completely different from worldly actions, is what is behind the actions.  What is behind Christian action is the Source of them, and the thoughts that drive them.

 

SOURCE – THOUGHT – ACTION

 

The Source is God…not you…the thoughts are the Word of God…not emotions…these are the things that make your actions divine.  The apostle Paul spent the first eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans getting us mentally ready, in thought, for the actions he is recommending from the Source, our God, in Chapters 12 through 16.  It is God’s expectation that Christian actions come from thought…and that those thoughts are from the Source of God as He reveals His thoughts in the Word of God.  In other words, your actions are perfect when they reflect the perfect source…God.  Your actions are perfect when they reflect perfect thought as it is revealed in the Word of God.  When your actions are from the perfect Source, driven by perfect thought, those actions have right motivation.

 

Satan, the enemy of God, tempts us to actions that are independent from God and devoid of thought.  For example, there are many Pastors who preach a false gospel…they make a false recommendation about what it takes to get to heaven.  There is one gospel called The Prosperity Gospel that claims that if you trust Jesus, pray the sinners prayer, or do some act of faith the Pastor is prescribing from the pulpit, you will be blessed with material blessings and health like you never could have dreamed.

 

What’s the problem with this false gospel?  Well it recommends action…but what is the Source? The Pastor is the source.  What are the thoughts that drive this action? The Pastor’s thoughts (inspired by Satan) drive the action.  The Prosperity Gospel deception turns God into a genie that is handing out the blessings of prosperity in exchange for our loyalty and worship.  God’s gospel is free of charge.  He gives us salvation without asking for a thing from us in return.

 

In the future, God will judge our actions.  For believers in Christ, that evaluation will come at The Judgment Seat of Christ.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 10 says…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:10

For we believers in Christ must all appear before The Judgment Seat of Christ…so that each one may be compensated for his deeds done in the body…according to what he has done…whether good or bad.

 

The evaluation at The Judgment Seat of Christ has nothing to do with our salvation, a matter that was completely settled the moment we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.  At The Judgment Seat of Christ, God’s evaluation lets us know the actions we did on earth that were pleasing to Him…the actions He outlines in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10…

 

EPHESIANS 2:10

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

 

The actions God is pleased with are the actions that He asks us to do… actions that reflect Him as the Source…actions that are driven by His thoughts as He outlines them in the Word of God.  So when God evaluates our actions…here is His assessment…First Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 10 to 15…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:10

According to the grace given to me (Paul) by God…like a wise master builder…I laid a foundation (for the Word of God in Corinth), and another (master builder…another minister) is building on the foundation.  But each man must be careful how he builds on the foundation.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:11

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is already laid,

which foundation is Jesus Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:12

Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones (divine good works)…or if any man builds on the foundation with wood, hay, and straw (dead works)…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:13

…each man’s work will become evident…for the day (The Judgment Seat of Christ for believers) will show it…because the quality of each man’s work is to be revealed with fire…and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:14

If any man’s work which he has built on the foundation remains (gold, silver, and precious stones…divine good works), he will receive a reward for these works.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:15

If any man’s work is burned up (wood, hay, and straw…dead works)…he will suffer loss of rewards…but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

 

As Christians, our actions are teaching the angelic creatures in The Supreme Court of Heaven…First Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 9…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:9

For, I (Paul) think, God the Father has exhibited us apostles last of all (as a reflection of Christ’s sufferings)…as men condemned to death…because we have become a spectacle to the world…both to angels and to men.

 

The actions that matter in the Christian Way of Living are the actions that are the perfect reflection of the perfect Source…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Romans, Chapter 12, Beginning at Verse 9…

 

ROMANS 12:9a

Let unconditional love be without hypocrisy…

 

Let’s let our love be genuine, backed with actions and not just with words… First John, Chapter 3, Verse 18…

 

FIRST JOHN 3:18

Little children…let us not love with word or with tongue…but let us love in deed and truth.

 

Let’s remember that it is God at the source of our actions.

 

ROMANS 12:9b

Abhor what is evil…

 

Believers in Christ reflect God as the source when we deplore evil…Psalm 97, Verse 10…

 

PSALM 97:10

Hate evil, you who love the Lord…the Lord who preserves the souls of His godly ones (any believer in Christ)…He who delivers His believers from the hand of the wicked.

 

ROMANS 12:9c

…cling to what is good.

 

Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 8…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:8

Whatsoever things are true…let your mind dwell on these things…

 

The Word of God teaches us what is excellent…and it slowly changes us into the thinkers the Lord Jesus Christ planned for us to be in eternity past…thinkers that reflect His goodness.

 

ROMANS 12:10a

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…

 

Be willing to be tenderly affectionate toward one another…First John, Chapter 3, Verse 14…

 

FIRST JOHN 3:14

We (the apostles, but also believers in Christ) know that we have passed out of spiritual death into spiritual life because we love the brethren unconditionally. He who does not love unconditionally abides in death.

 

Unconditional love is an absolute reflection of God.

 

ROMANS 12:10b

…give preference to one another in honor…

 

Philippians, Chapter 2, Verse 3…

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:3

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit…but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…

 

ROMANS 12:11a

…never lack zeal…

 

Don’t be lazy…sluggishness is not a reflection of our perfect God…

 

ROMANS 12:11b

…always be filled with spiritual fervor…

 

Be on fire for the Lord!  Acts, Chapter 18, Verse 25…

 

ACTS 18:25

This man (a Jew named Apollos) had been instructed in the way of the

Lord…and being fervent in spirit…he was speaking eloquently and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus…

 

ROMANS 12:11c

…always serve the Lord…

 

Reflecting a spirit of service if a perfect reflection of God…the greatest among us will be servants of others…reflecting the goodness of the Lord. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 23 and 24…

 

COLOSSIANS 3:23

Whatever you do…do your work heartily…as if you are working for the Lord rather than as if you are working for the approval of men…

 

COLOSSIANS 3:24

…knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Jesus Christ whom you serve.

 

ROMANS 12:12a

…rejoicing in hope…

 

Every Christian has a magnificent future…looking forward, not backward is a reflection of God.

 

ROMANS 12:12b

…persevering in tribulation…

 

In the words of a Lou Rawls song…“time will take care of everything… there’s no need to rush and get ourselves all worried.”

 

ROMANS 12:12c

…devoted to prayer…

 

Colossians, Chapter 4, Verse 2 says…

 

COLOSSIANS 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving…

 

No matter the result of prayer…it is the perfect result from a God who has all the information…

 

ROMANS 12:13a

…contributing to the needs of the saints…

 

Relieving the burdens of others, as if it is routine duty, reflects the Lord.  As we give to others, God never fails to give to us.  Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 19…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:19

And my God will supply ALL your needs according to His glorious riches…for you who are in union with Christ Jesus.

 

ROMANS 12:13b

…practicing hospitality.

 

We are to vigorously pursue being hospitable to strangers…a perfect reflection of the Lord…Luke, Chapter 10, Verse 30…

 

LUKE 10:30

In reply Jesus said, “A Jewish man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.”

 

Luke, Chapter 10, Verses 33 and 34…

 

LUKE 10:33

But a Samaritan (from a tribe who hated the Jews)…as he traveled…came where the Jewish man was…and when the Samaritan saw him, he took pity on the Jewish man.

 

LUKE 10:34

The Samaritan went to the Jewish man and bandaged his wounds…pouring on oil and wine on them. Then the Samaritan put the Jewish man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

 

The Lord thinks these actions are directly from the Source of Himself and from His own thoughts.

 

ROMANS 12:14a

Bless those who persecute you…

 

Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 4 and 5…

 

EPHESIANS 2:4

But God the Father, being rich in mercy, because of His great unconditional love with which He loved us…

 

EPHESIANS 2:5

…even when we were spiritually dead in our transgressions…made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…

 

ROMANS 12:14b

…bless and do not curse.

 

Proverbs, Chapter 20 Verse 22…

 

PROVERBS 20:22

Do not say, “I will repay evil” … wait for the Lord…and He will deliver you from evil.

 

Let’s take a five-minute break, and when we come back we’ll take the offering and we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper.

 

BREAK

Five Minutes

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Your Actions are Perfect When They Reflect the Perfect Source

 

God expects us to give, but He’s not really interested in us taking credit for the giving.  Rather, He expects that our giving reflect good stewardship…an excellent use of the resources He has given us.  In Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 1 to 4, the Lord says…

 

MATTHEW 6:1

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them…otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

 

MATTHEW 6:2

“So when you give to the poor…do not sound a trumpet before you…as the hypocrites (the Pharisees) do…both in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you…they have their reward in full (from men).”

 

MATTHEW 6:3

“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…”

 

MATTHEW 6:4

“…so that your giving will be in secret…and your God and Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

 

Let your giving impress God, not men…and you’ll be rewarded by God, not men.  Let your giving, not only today, but also always, be a reflection of your love for your Creator, the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with this week’s offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 12:10

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake…for when I am weak… then I am strong.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Created the Perfect Marriage

Being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ means we are in union with Him from the moment of our salvation…and being in union with Him means we share everything that Jesus is, everything that Jesus has, everything Jesus does…in us, there is a new creation…and one of the magnificent things we share with the Lord is His resurrection from the dead.  Here’s Christ Tomlin to tell us about that amazing life in his song…RESURRECTION POWER.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

RESURRECTION POWER

Chris Tomlin

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Initiated the Perfect Marriage

 

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 mean to you?

 

The Lord’s Supper Celebration is a reminder of the sacred covenant between the Groom…the Lord Jesus Christ…and His bride…The Church. Every believer in Christ in this age is part of The Church…we are Church Age believers…the only group of believers in divine history that are indwelled by the entire Trinity.  Indeed, as Chris Tomlin pointed out, we have resurrection power resident in us.

 

At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ initiated the perfect marriage.  Ephesians, Chapter 5, Verses 25 to 27…

 

EPHESIANS 5:25

Husbands…love your wives unconditionally…just as Christ also loved the church unconditionally…and gave Himself up for her…

 

EPHESIANS 5:26

…so that He might sanctify her (setting her apart for privilege)…having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word (the gospel message)…

 

EPHESIANS 5:27

…that the Lord Jesus Christ might present to Himself The Church in all her glory…having no spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing…but that she would be holy and blameless.

 

Christians love killing Christianity.  They kill it by turning Christianity into a series of “you gottas” … a bunch of beliefs…a series of doctrines…a system…a religion…that robs Christianity of its vitality and dumbs Christianity down into the nothingness of a “do-do” life.  You gotta do. You gotta do. You gotta do. You gotta go to church…you gotta give to the poor…you gotta feel sorry for your sins…you gotta do a bunch of actions…you gotta take care of the hungry…you gotta recycle…you gotta live a good life.

 

Christians have a way of distorting everything by thinking that we have to interpret what God is saying to us in His Word.  When we interpret, we add to God’s thoughts rather than just learning what He wants us to do and then doing it.  In the process, we strip God’s Plan for Mankind of its meaning, and we become entangled in what the bible calls “the yoke of slavery.”

 

The intimacy of The Lord’s Supper is designed to kick over our Legos…to take us back to the Cross…to remind us of the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  When we reduce Christianity to “you gottas” we kill a marriage between us and The Lord.

 

In marriage, the two become one flesh.  In the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we are reminded that we are one with the Lord.  This is an established and irrevocable fact.  The question we ask ourselves during The Lord Supper Celebration is whether or not our thinking is the same as the Lord’s…are we on the Lord’s page? The Lord’s page is love…unconditional love.

 

Satan’s page for us Christians is divorce.  Satan wants to destroy us…to obliterate our unity…to attack and to separate… to kill the one family, one marriage, one flesh idea. The destruction makes us lose track of the meaning of life, and the meaning of intimate things like The Lord’s Supper. Fortunately for us, God is more powerful than His enemy, and He does not allow the destruction to devastate us.

 

What does the Lord’s Supper mean to you?

 

As I think about the Lord’s Supper, I realize that Satan’s thoughts may have been at the core of the destruction of my marriages here on earth…but I have a marriage to Christ that can never be destroyed…the marriage to my groom…The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…an eternal union…a perfect marriage that was initiated as the Lord hung from a Cross.

 

When you look back to the Cross, do you see the perfect marriage being initiated by your Groom…a marriage that at its very core is built on the foundation of the sacrifice of unconditional love?  I see it, and it's a pleasure to be reminded of it during this celebration…a reminder not to kill the marriage with “you gottas” … instead to feed the marriage with “I wannas.”  The biggest “I wanna” for me is “I wanna” be totally pleasing to the Lord.

 

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

 

 

 

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.

 

When a person evangelizes to you, they are presenting a gospel message for your consideration.  They know they cannot “convert” you, although the pressure you feel might make it seem that’s what they want to do.  Most are simply giving you the facts to consider…facts that you may or may not know…facts that you may or may not want to accept.

 

If you have ever had Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door, they are

evangelizing to you.  If you have ever had members of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints come to your door, they are evangelizing to you.  Unfortunately both of those groups are inviting you to share eternity with them in the Lake of Fire, because neither of these two religions believes that Jesus Christ is God.  I have family members who are part of one of those religions, and in spite of my best evangelism efforts, they don’t want to hear a thing I have to say.

 

Many parents are leading their children to an eternity in the Lake of Fire.  If you want to assess whether or not you are a good parent, just ask yourself a simple question…are you influencing your children to have a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…the Sovereign God of the Universe? Jesus is the only way to get to heaven…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 gospel message…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.”

 

If a gospel message makes it sound like you have to work to get to heaven, it’s probably a false gospel message.  Second Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 1 warns…

 

SECOND PETER 2:1

But false prophets also arose among the people…just as there will also be false teachers among you…who will secretly introduce destructive heresies…even denying the Master (the Lord Jesus Christ) who created them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

 

Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 6 says…

 

ROMANS 11:6

But if salvation is by (means of a free) grace (gift from God)…and of course it is…it is no longer on the basis of your works…otherwise grace is no longer grace.

 

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.

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 36 warns…

 

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.”

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 17…

 

JOHN 3:17

For God the Father did not send God the Son into the world to judge the

World…but God the Father sent the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him.

 

Take the free gift of eternal life right now!  There’s no time to waste!  God wants you.  If you want to go to heaven when you close your eyes in this life, simply tell God the father you are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, placing your total confidence in Him, and you will be saved.

 

God the Father demonstrates His unconditional love for us. Here’s June Murphy to tell us about it in her song…DEMONSTRATED LOVE.

 

CLOSING SONG

DEMONSTRATED LOVE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

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