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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Acts 18:1-18a

Theme: 6 Things God Gives to Keep Us Going and Growing

Notes:

Six Things:

1. Faithfulness
2. Friends
3. Fellowship with Christ
4. Fruit
5. Favor

Fruit

• God gives us the privilege of serving others
• Service is a privilege–not just a duty
• Just as every member in a healthy human body is contributing to the good of the body, the same is true of a healthy church body
• Service is:
  • Hard work
  • Inconvenient
  • Humbling
  • Honoring to God
  • Loving your neighbor
• The majority of God’s harvest is brought in by everyday, unnamed servants
  • Example: 1 Samuel 25:14-17, the servant who informed Abigail

Favor, aka Grace

• God meets the needs of those in His service
  • Matt 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.”
• God divinely ordains what is best for His servants
  • Paul just happened to be dragged into court before Gallio, a man known to be a just judge who could not be bought

Live It Out!

1. Thank God for the privilege of serving Him and serving others
2. Thank God for the favor that supplies our physical and spiritual needs
3. Where do I start?
   1. Start serving and see what God does

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Theme: Thanksgiving Faithfulness

Thesis: Maintaining gospel optimism in a pessimistic world

Notes:

Gospel optimism anticipates good–because it trusts in God and His goodness.

1. Rejoice always
2. Pray continually
3. Give thanks in everything

Live it Out!

1. Am I finding joy in God’s plan for me?
2. Am I praying for God’s work?
3. Am I thankful in what God is doing in your life right now?
4. Daily rehearse the truths of the gospel
5. Depend on prayer “not my will, but Thine”
6. Develop a heart of thankfulness and rejoicing

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Acts 18:1-18a

Theme: Ministry can be difficult, draining, and discouraging–but the Lord gives us six things that keeps us going and growing

Notes:

Six Things:

1. Faithfulness
2. Friends
3. Fellowship with Christ

Four Things Christ Assures Us Of

1. He sustains our passion
2. He comforts us with His presence
3. He assures us of His protection
4. He reminds us of His saving purpose

Live It Out!

1. Seek to know Christ better every day
2. Seek to be changed by Him every day

God desires us to keep growing–not just keep going

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text:  Acts 18:1-18a

Theme: 6 Things God Gives to Keep Us Going and Growing

Notes:

1. He gives us Faithfulness
2. He gives us Friends
   • Paul understood the power of godly friendships
   • That Paul trusted God did not obviate his reliance on the friendships God gave him
   • From Scripture we find no references to any relatives
   • Paul’s family that we see in Scripture are his brothers and sisters in Christ
   • He mentions them often in his letters
   • Exodus 17–Moses, supported by Joshua and Hur
     • God is the hero of the narrative–but He uses Joshua and Hur to
       • help Moses and
       • gain victory over Amalek
   • God designed us for community–from the beginning–before the Fall
   • Examples of God’s design for community:
     • Family
     • Israel
     • Church
   • Paul is not a lone wolf/John Wayne/individualist hero–he relies on the relationships God provides:
     • Silas
     • Timothy
     • Priscilla & Aquila
   • These relationships keep us from the ditches of:
     • Despair–“This can’t be done”
     • Pride–“Look what I did”
   • Regarding friends: “You tend to attract what you are”
     • Your best friends reveal who you really are
   • We often think too highly of our own ability to follow Christ without help
     • Sin and brokenness will both blind us to our own sin and brokenness

Live It Out!

1. Believe in the need for godly friendships
   • You need them
   • Others need them as well
2. Build godly, heart-level friendships intentionally
   • Take initiative–be the first to reach out
   • It is uncomfortable–but it is worth it

References:

• Reset, by David Murray
  • (this book is aimed at men;
    he has co-written a companion book with his wife aimed at women called Refresh)
• 2 Peter 3:15, “…our beloved brother Paul….”
• Galatians 2:11, “…I opposed him to his face….”

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Preacher: Cliff Swanson

Text: Romans 1:17

Theme: Reformation

Notes:

Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door on October 31, 1517.

When people read the Bible, understand the Bible, accepts what the Bible says and repent.

The Lord Jesus Christ saves them.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9-13, John 3: 16.

Christ gave himself up to save us.

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Acts 18:1-18a

Six Things God Gives to Keep Us Going and Keep Us Growing

1. 1. He gives faithfulness
      • Hebrews 11:1, 6
      • Galatians 5:6
      • 1 Corinthians 4
      • “Most of us are 99-percenters”
      • When we serve people, they are not our people but God’s people
        • We are just stewards

Live It Out!

1. Seek Spirit-empowered faithfulness
   • If you do not, you will either quit or trudge along in joyless ministry
   • You will receive no reward
   • And God will not be glorified

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Acts 18:1-18a

Thesis: Ministry can be difficult, draining, and discouraging–but the Lord gives us five things that keep us going.

Notes:

Context: Paul’s visit to Corinth–much different than his visit to Athens

• Athens was a city of ideas & philosophy
• Corinth was a city of commerce & pleasure

Paul’s ministry in Corinth was quite difficult–and yet so fruitful.

The Spirit ministered through Paul–and to Paul

Ministry Is Difficult

• “I will show you how many things you must suffer for my namesake” –Acts 9:6
• Some people think ministry is like a vending machine, but it is much more like farming in hard ground
• Those interested in instant gratification will not minister long

Ministry is Draining

• Serving Christ will have a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual  cost
• Ministry is WAY easier if you just don’t care–but serving without caring isn’t actually ministry at all

Live It Out: Why not give up?

1. Because of the reality of the resurrection — 1 Corinthians 15
2. Because God’s strength is greater than our weakness — 2 Corinthians 12
3. Because Christ’s love motivates us — 2 Corinthians 5

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Philippians 1:19-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8

Theme: Death: To Die Is Gain

Thesis: In order to view death properly, we must see life biblically.

Notes:

“A person is not ready to live unless he is ready to die” –Steven Cole

Paul wrote to the Philippians from prison in Rome.

Each one of us–Paul, Jeremy, you, and me–is expendable
–and yet God delights to work through us, despite the fact He does not need us.

Am I so comfortable with this life that I feel no longing for the next life?

However, seeing death as gain does not mean to hate this life.

2 Corinthians 4:16, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away,
our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13, “…that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope”

The Right View of Life In Christ

1. I am here to glorify God by experiencing and extending joy in Him
   • Not just to experience joy in Christ–but to share and spread that joy to others
   • “Joy apart from God is idolatry”
   • Not to say we cannot enjoy family, work, or recreation
     –but we enjoy them as gifts that God has given, not ends in themselves
2. I am here to magnify Christ through both life and death
   • When we cling to this the way unbelievers do, then what is so great about Christ?
3. I am here to serve others for their spiritual progress and joy of faith
   • God has left you here for a purpose–and for a time
4. I am here by the sovereign will of God
   • Psalm 31:15, “My times are in your hand;
     rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!”

Death is gain because its the pathway to the fulness of eternal life

• 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, “…a tent…a building”
  • Tent: a temporary dwelling [this life]
  • Building: a permanent dwelling [the next life]
    • “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy,
      the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” –C.S. Lewis

Death is gain because it ushers me into the presence of God

Death is gain because it frees me from my corrupt body and world.

Death is gain because it cannot hinder God’s will or work

• We are freed from propping up ourselves or others–apart from Christ–because Christ “needs” us

Live It Out!

1. Live life by and for Christ, without fear
2. See death biblically instead of the way the world does