Luke 14 & 18 (5/6/18)

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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.

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

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• 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)

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