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Luke 14 & 18 (5/6/18)

Surrender

May 6, 2018 • Benham Brothers

Luke 14:33-34 - Saltless
•vs 34-35 - Back in Bible days they would use manure to fuel a fire.
•If they put salt in manure it would burn hotter longer.
•Once it lost its saltiness it would be thrown on the road, good for nothing.
•We are called to be salt and light.
•But the salt can lose its saltiness. How?
•vs 33 - By not being willing to fully surrender everything for the Lord.
•If we’re saltless we’re good for nothing.
•If we’re not willing to abandon everything for the Lord we’re the same.

Luke 18:19-27 - A NT pic of someone who refused to surrender.
•vs 18 -19 - Only God was referred to as “good” - only one other time in history had a rabbi had this salutation.
•The ruler wanted to know what he could “do” to get eternity.
•Eternal Life is not about DOING - it's about BEING.
•vs 20 - Jesus responded with the law to get him to see that he couldn’t “do” anything - He held up a mirror.
•So He quoted the last five commandments that involve doing things against other people.
•vs 21 - The ruler was dishonest with himself - he didn’t see himself as having broken the law and incapable of “doing” anything on his own.
•vs 22 - So Jesus asked him to “do” something.
•He left out the command to "not covet."
•The law said “don’t covet,” so Jesus asked Him to do something that a covetous person wouldn’t do.
•"One Thing" - surrender! Same thing Martha needed to do.
•vs 23 - He couldn’t “do” it.
•The rich in that day were seen as the people who could get anything they wanted.
•vs 24-25 - Hence the question at the end - “if even the rich can’t get the kingdom, then who can?”
•vs 26-27 - God's ways are opposite man's ways - the secret to getting is giving.
•This ruler needed to be poor in spirit, but he was rich in spirit - he thought he did and could do something to have eternal life.
•To get eternal life there’s only ONE THING you need to DO - surrender all!
•vs 28-30 - THE REWARD:
•Jesus says when we surrender everything to God we will receive more in the age to come but also right now in the present time.
•How?
•Notice what He said - it’s all about FAMILY!
•When you give up everything for Jesus you are grafted into a new family!
•You now have brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, who have houses and property.
•You’re now family with these people.
•How do you treat family? You share everything!
•All this increase is in the context of your newly extended family.

1 Samuel 16:14-16, 23 - An OT pic of someone who refused to surrender.
•Saul was ambitious - faith is living without scheming.
•vs 14-15 - Because Saul refused to fully surrender he couldn’t experience God’s peace.
•The evil spirit he experienced was “from God.” Why?
•So Saul would come back to Him. He should've asked for a prophet.
•vs 16-17 & 23 - But he asked for a musician (it was his friends' idea).
•He wanted all that guilt and shame to go away.
•He was more concerned about FEELING right than BEING right.
•So he "DID" something to make it go away.
•Without fully surrendering to God you can get TEMPORARY peace from the outside in (external things).
•Fully surrendering to God grants you PERMANENT peace from the inside out.
•Today churches are specializing in music - people feel really good temporarily but the permanent fix isn’t music - it’s surrender!
•vs 18:10-11 - at some point, if you don’t surrender, the external things that bring temporary peace stop working.

Why Genesis?

January 6, 2019 • Benham Brothers

NEW BEGINNINGS - a message of encouragement from God to His kids (the Jews and Jesus) about the new phase of life in which they were about to embark * God to the Israelites:   * The Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land.   * What message would God have for them?   * God downloaded five books into Moses, one of them went back to the beginning - Genesis.   * The Jews needed this book to create a solid foundation for their new life.   * Many scholars believe that the Israelites fled Egypt around 1450-1440 BC.   * They also believe Moses wrote Genesis around 1400 BC.   * KEY - Whatever God forms He fills.   * But there’s an order to how He does it:   * Illumination - Separation - Habitation.   * He did this with all of creation - the earth first and then mankind.   * Gen 1:1-2 - He created the heavens and the earth.   * But the earth was FORMLESS - God needed to FORM it.   * The earth was VOID - He needed to FILL it. * The Six Days of Creation are all about Him forming and filling.   * 1) ILLUMINATION: Gen 1:3 * 2) SEPARATION: Gen 1:4-9 * * light from darkness  * * waters below from waters above  * * land from water  * Illumination and separation prepared the way for habitation.  * 3) HABITATION: * vs 10-31 - Vegetation, Animals, Humans.  Day 1 - Heavens and the earth (nothing but water) - He lit it up and split it up! Day 2 - Sky - He separated the waters above and below Day 3 - Land - He separated the water from the dirt - vegetation was a part of this Day 4 - Stars - Gen 1:14-18 - Before habitation he had to create government so people could keep things separate.  Day 5 - Fish  Day 6 - Animals & Man  * EXAMPLE - ADAM: God did with Adam what He did with the earth. * vs 2:19-20 - ILLUMINATION - no helper was “found” - he was looking.  * vs 2:21 - SEPARATION - feminine was removed from masculine.  * vs 2:22-25 - HABITATION - and they lived happily ever after.  * FLOOD - when God brought the flood He set the earth back to its original form (full of water) - He removed Separation. (Genesis 7:21)  * APPLICATION:  Illumination - Separation - Habitation * 1) Walk in the light. Spend time with God in prayer and the Word.  * 2) Stay separate from the world. “Be holy for I am holy.”   * 3) When we walk in the light and remain separate we live in God and He lives in us.

Matthew 16:17-19 (2/4/16)

February 4, 2016 • Benham Brothers

• The disciples were expecting Christ to establish a new kingdom. • But He let them in on His plan - it was to build a church. • They knew what "ekklesia" meant: • 1) an assembly of Greek citizens that governed a city or district. • 2) the congregation of Israel when gathered for religious activity. • He didn't stop there - He let them in on the entire role of the church: • WHO - anyone who made the same claim as Peter. • WHERE - the "gates" represented power and authority - City Hall. • Gates of Hell represented the places where Satan exercised power and authority. • WHAT - keys represent access to authority. • The church would get access to God's authority. • The church could bind what was free (evil), and free what was bound (good). • CHURCH - "a religious governing body made up of Christians who exercise God's ruling authority on the earth." • This means there will always be a fight.

Mark 16:15-18 (3/15/18)

March 15, 2018 • Benham Brothers

* Christ’s last words on earth were a commission for believers to be Kingdom Advancers in this world. * vs 16 - it starts with belief. To believe is to “commit.” * vs 17-18 - Just as Moses had signs that accompanied him as well as the apostles in Acts, so will we as believers. * Signs represent to the outside what is true on the inside (like a skin disease). * Signs make the invisible visible. * Here are the signs that will accompany believers to show the POWER that’s inside them: * 1) We WILL cast out demons - this is a matter of AUTHORITY (the “right to use power”). * The power of God in us will overcome the power of Satan in others. * 2) We WILL speak in new tongues - this is a matter of CLARITY. * A believer will talk differently - it will be in a way others can understand. * We can also speak in prayer tongues if we’re open to the Spirit’s leading. * 3) We WILL pick up serpents with our hands - this is a matter of BRAVERY. * We won’t walk in fear - what others fear won’t affect us (there’s no mention of snake bite). * 4) IF we drink poison, it won’t affect us - this is a matter of IMMUNITY. * The things that are meant to harm us won’t because of the power inside us. * ** Persecution - when others want to harm us it won’t. * ** Purity - the stuff of the world won’t affect us on the inside (like a hose that’s on inside a mud hole). * 5) We WILL lay our hands on the sick and they will recover - this is about COMMUNITY. * Believers will be conduits through which God brings healing to others. * We not only have the power to do it but also the desire.