It
happened in Dublin Ireland a group of men had gathered together for a time of
prayer / confession, consecration & renewal.
A)Among the men was Grattan Guinness, Henry Varley,
& DL Moody
B) At a silent moment in the time of Prayer Varley
said in a quiet voice & w/ deep humility The
world has yet to see what God can do with & for & through a man
who is fully consecrated to Him
C) That little remark greatly moved Moody. Well 2 days
later as he sat listening to Charles Spurgeon, Varleys statement was echoing
in his mind
1)
His
heart was being stirred Moody had this Revelation
Varley said A man, that
means any man. Varley didnt say that he had to be educated, or brilliant, or
anything else! Just a man!
It was then that Moody decided that he wanted to be one of those men & it was then that he discovered something that he had realized before listening to Spurgeon it dawned on him that it wasnt Mr. Spurgeon who was doing the Work : It was God
And if God could use Mr. Spurgeon then he could use
the rest of us !! And that being the case why shouldnt all of us lay ourselves
at the Masters feet and say Lord here I am Use
me !! / Send Me have your way Lord w/ Me!!!
D) From that day forward Moody was never the same he went on to
become one of the greatest evangelist in the History of the Church!!!
When
talking about Moody or Spurgeon or the Apostle Paul they discovered something
that is Pivotal for Christian service
A)And for Success in the Christian life Pivotal for really becoming what God wants you to become & experiencing what He wants you to experience
B) They learned the importance of what I would call the Exchanged Life
1) It is that life that Paul is making reference to
here in Gal 2:20 RD 2X
C)Paul lived an
exchanged life!! Last week JUSTIFICATION
1)
Paul exchanged HIS SIN for CHRIST RIGHTEOUSNESS
2 Cor 5:21 For He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. NKJV
A Sinless Jesus became sin- filled
so that sin filled people could become sin free !!!
The
Exchange that took place in Pauls life didnt end there See the more that
Paul grew in Christ Knowledge of Christ
A)His understanding of the Lords will for his life that Paul realized there was a whole lot more to be exchanged
B) He was able to
exchange his Weakness for Christ Strength
1) His Ignorance for Christ wisdom
2) His prejudice and hatred for Christ love
3) His insufficiency and inability for Christ
Sufficiency and ability
4) His lack of resources for the abundance of Christ
resources
C) In the rest of our
time this morning I want us to consider some elements of this exchanged life &
the [Ramifications it can have on our lives]
1) I want to do so by breaking down 4 Powerful statements that Paul makes in this ONE VERSE
D) In doing so we will
consider: Our Position / Our Power
/ Our Method for living / and Our Motive
for Living
1st Our Position: V20 I have been crucified with Christ;
A)We touched on this last week so I am not going to spend a lot of time on this point but we noted that in Romans Ch. 5& 6
Paul shares a deep spiritual principle concerning our linkage to Christ:
B) Paul shares that
everything that happened to Christ Literally - happened to us spiritually
1) He died Literally / we died
spiritually
C) Christ Literally
died for our sins
But when He died we spiritually died with Him so that as believers we are
dead to sins Penalty!!!
1)
In
other words: God the father is not going to punish us for what Christ has already
paid the price for ! PAID IN FULL
D) But we are not only dead to sins penalty but we are also dead to sins Power
Rom 6:6-7 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be done away with, - [rendered in active]
that
we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from
sin.
So Positionally we
have been Crucified with Christ
A)Problem is Practically we are still very much
alive !! Which is why it is so important that we learn the importance of this exchanged life
B) See Christ didnt just die He also rose He
lives when He rose Literally we rose spiritually - to walk in a
newness of life
1) We now have the
opportunity for a whole new way of LIVING
C) See
Christ is ALIVE He is living not just sitting in heaven waiting
for us to get there watching & hoping that we make it
1)
But
He is active on our behalf to AID us / to HELP us / to TEACH us
/ to EMPOWER us for all that He calls us to
Gal 2:20 it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
A)This is an Amazing &
Mysterious statement Christ
lives in us !!
Question: How does He live in us !!!! ? / Ans thru
His spirit
1 Cor 3:16
16 Do you not know that you are
the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Rom
8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
1 Cor 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
B) Radical thought
of all the places in the universe for the spirit of Christ to dwell / Chosen to live in our hearts
C) Christ by His Spirit IS living in Your heart and THAT is
the secret to your service for God / success in the Christian life
1) That is the secret to over
coming sin ! That is the secret to being used
/ that is the secret to being able to do what God
commands
D)The
Secret is in learning to live that exchanged life Learning to exchange all that you are not for all that He is!!!
1) Learning to let Christ
live his life thru you & Have his way with you !!!
Hudson Taylor said of those whom God uses in a mighty way
All
Gods giants have been weak men and women who did great things for God because
they believed that Gods spirit was with them & in them.
A)Listen your ability to live for God & do great things for God to make an impact in this life Have nothing to do with who you are!!
And HAVE everything to do with WHO IS
IN YOU!!!
B)There is a popular saying today WWJD What would Jesus do?
1) Good thought In
any situation that I find myself in asking the question what would Jesus do how would He handle this
C)Then trying to imitate what we think He would do !!
The
Problem with that idea is it puts pressure on me to try and be like Jesus and
if that is something I am trying to do in my own strength
A)That can be frustrating
because I can try as hard as I want to, but in my own strength I am never going
to be like Christ love like Christ
B) So what can happen if
I am just trying to imitate him I can get incredibly frustrated because what
I find is I just cant consistently do
it
C) I would like to do
what Jesus would do but the reality is I cant !!!
A
better & more biblical saying I think would be this using the same letters
WWJD It would be What WILL Jesus Do!!!
A)What does Jesus want to do thru me in this situation!! That I think is a good description of what Paul is saying here when he says
It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives IN ME !!!!
B) Think of it this way:
I love those guys who do caricatures Cartoon drawings great now I can sit
there & watch a guy do that for hrs
1) Then pick up a pencil & TRY
TO imitate that But to be
frank I cant draw a stick figure let alone real art { My mother /
brother
C) It would be useless
for me to imitate the work of a real artist but if I could have infused the spirit of his skill into my brain & hand
1) Then he could draw that same picture thru me !!!!
D) That is what Christ
has done by placing his spirit in our hearts and instead of me trying to
imitate Christ
1) He by His spirit and thru His grace works in &
thru my life to accomplish his will & purpose !!!
Now
that analogy works for me because I cant draw at all but some of you are
real artist You could easily imitate that ART work
A)And the same thing is true for all of us in the Christian life we all have areas that in our flesh we do well & are confident in
B) So it is easy to rely on the
flesh - It is easy to just react the
way that we think would be best
1) and not really rely on the Lord to strengthen us or
guide us in that area
C) Some of you are really
good at your Jobs / so you really dont feel the need to look to the Lord for
help or for direction
2) You have done it for yrs You have succeeded you
have always handled problems in a certain way why change / why stop /why ask
D) See it is easy to do
that start separating areas of our lives this area I need the Lord so we
are very reliant but other areas we are not
1) Listen that is not the crucified life that Paul is
talking about here He says It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in
me
Yes it is His
power but it is also His direction / His purpose for my life
A)See what if the Lord is
wanting to do something new !!! What if He is wanting to make a change that in
the long run is going to benefit
..
B) But because you are
comfortable in your present situation that you are not open not even
listening not seeking Him
1) That is not the
crucified life Paul said it is no longer I
who live but Christ who lives in me
C) His Power for my life
/ His Purpose in my life !!! What do I want to do !
D) Problem:
SO how do I move from me to Him in everything
1) This leads us to
consider Pauls 3rd statement in
our text The Method how do we do
this How do we live this Exchanged life?
and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
Method
: This exchanged life is a life of FAITH!!! 3 words that tell us how this
works : Believing / Depending / Minding
A)1st BELIEVING Believing that Christ is really in me !!!!
Eph 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
B) That is a radical thing morning devotions He is right there
1) Where ever you go He is with you!!!!
C) If I really believed that wouldnt I pray about
everything ?
2nd
DEPENDING -It is marked by a dependency
Realization I cant do it
Matt 5:3 "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
A)Poor in Spirit - . Utter Dependency= All of the Blessings & resources of the Kingdom of God open for that person
1) Gods grace & Provision /
Gods blessings & Resources are going to overshadow / that persons weakness
B)Business partnership with Bill Gates Bring what
you have to the Table - $1000.00 / 10 Billion
C) God says Bring what you
have into the Relationship Time / Talent / Problems
1) Here is my Power My Grace
E) So when we assume that attitude of being Poor in spirit { His resources are UNLOCKED FOR US !!!
Moody: When God wants to move a mountain, He does not take a bar or
iron, but a little worm. The fact is we have got too much strength. We are not
weak enough. However it is not our strength that we want- because one drop of
Gods strength is worth more than all the world.
3rd
MINDING : Setting our minds on the
things of the spirit !!!
Rom
8:5-6
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.
A)How do we set our minds on the things of the Spirit ? Starting my day in the Word with the Lord !!!
1) Allowing His word to fill my mind Makes a difference in my Day I go into it much more sensitive to His voice than when I dont
B) Throughout the day: Meditating on those things{ Journal
1) Sensitive to the spirits voice: Turn off the radio & pray you do it
2) Lunch go spend some extra time do it
Col 3:1-4
If then you were raised with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the
right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
C) Heavenly minded put off the old man / put on the new List the
characteristics of each
1)
Something that happens naturally when I believe that He
is in me
2)
When I acknowledge I need Him for everything
3)
When I make the time to seek Him He begins to work
D) Isnt great when see reactions Change: Before situation angry suddenly you are calm wow I didnt blow up this time !!
1) DONT STOP PRAYING
So that is
the Method Now lets BRIEFLY talk about the Motive ?
Final phrase - Gal 2:20 who loved me and gave Himself for
me.
A)Why do I want to live the exchanged life For Power
/ have purpose ?
No not really Because He loved me & gave
Himself for me
This morning I was talking about
how the Lord will sometimes call us to make a change in our lives We need to
be open
A)Well the Lord is presently doing that here at CCV !!!
B)
About a year ago the Lord impressed upon my heart that He wanted us to build a greater sense of COMMUNITY
here at the Fellowship
1)
Busy lives / Busy society We dont want to have a
busy Church
2)
Church an OASIS FAMILY COMMUNITY
C)
Thinking yes Lord at the New Facility
great spend the day
D)
The Lord
said what about now !! But how? Parking ! Lack of facilities
God spoke clearly to my heart that
we were to put a stronger emphasis on home groups { few but not an emphasis }
A)Home
groups are great for building relationships
great for growing in the word in the gifts - & in ministry
B)
Home groups are a great setting for couples to grow
spiritually together
{
though not exclusively for couples}
C)
Home groups How when ? Already something every night ?
1)
Change in the Mens & womens ministries Instead of once a week
Once a month / 6 weeks
D)
Starting in Late August: Home groups Meeting Fri / Sat / Sun nights
1)
Bible study whole church studying the same thing together / singles etc
E)WE
believe the Lord wants to use these home groups to strengthen our Church in
several areas Neat work of Prep for when He moves us
Change is hard but also
exciting: Israel Cloud moved pack
up camp Move { break up comfort zones Rephidim Oasis palms }
A)They
had a choice grumble and complain & be miserable/ or get excited God
is moving us to a new spot new place Closer to promised land
B)
We have the same choice I would love to see all of
you sign up to be in a home group God work in you / God use you in that
setting
1)
Teachers
/ Worship leaders / Passion for missions Evangelism
2)
PRAY
& FILL OUT THE FORM Early August