Holding Ourselves Accountable

20000430a - Holding Ourselves Accountable!!! Mt. 28

Opening: (Responsible Agents)

Responsibility -- others can’t always do it for us.

How about spiritual responsibility? If we have responsibility in the mundane things of life, how about the bigger things? Have you con-sidered your responsibility to God?

TROUBLE THEN was what would they do with it?

Needed a clear sense of purpose!

Needed to take responsibility!

What if they didn’t?

TROUBLE NOW is the same!

What will we DO with the resurrection?

We’re to be people with a mission!

We’re to take responsibility!

What if we don’t?

RESOLUTION [Jesus’ “alls”…]

They were mobilized by a command from Jesus - clear.

Have you heard the command of Jesus?

Sometimes we can pretend we didn’t hear this call. Sort of like the child who suddenly develops a severe case of deafness when mom yells up the stairs ..

Say what? Ooohhhhhhhh. You were talking to me???

We need to believe, REALLY believe, that Jesus is Lord! Has all au-thority! Commands!

Not the great suggestion! He places demands on our lives! He may! He is in charge around here...

28:19a - not be transl "as you go", but "get moving!"

Do you have a high view of God? Have you read through the Scrip-tures and discovered the awesome, terrifying Holy One? Have you looked around the world, seen His works and let yourself to be awe-struck?

Sometimes being part of the church is too much like membership in a country club, except instead of a shared love for golf, we have a com-mon interest in God.

The Church is God’s organization, His vehicle to bring His word and His work into the world. The church exists not primarily for the benefit of its members, but for the benefit of those outside of it! Our mission is to bring the message of redemption to the world. (JI Packer)

They were mobilized by the heart of Jesus for all.

We need to believe, REALLY believe, that everyone needs Him. Illust - Sin: not really living as though people we say we love are lost without Christ.

Temptation of pluralism: Respect is right, but does not need to mean agreement or passivity.

Have you got his heart for people? (of Sovereignty):

“…this truth becomes courage-building, hope-inspiring, excitement-filling.... unless, of course, you believe that all the elect in our city have already been drawn into the Kingdom. And that is hardly likely.”

What about your view of people? If we believe that people are simply the part of a natural process of selection, the long distant cousins of lowly bacteria, we won’t be likely to want to radically give our lives for them? BUT we are each one created by God. Every one is of great value because God made and claims us!

Officer Tori Matthews of Humane Society got an emergency call: a boy’s pet iguana had been scared up a tree by a neighbor’s dog. It then fell from the tree into a swimming pool, where it sank like a brick…

Dove into pool with net, emerged with limp body.

Arizona Republic reported, she thought, Well, you do CPR on a per-son and a dog, why not an iguana? So she put her lips to the iguana’s.

"Now that I look back on it," she said, "it was a pretty ugly animal to be kissing, but the last thing I wanted to do was tell this little boy that his iguana had died." The lizard responded to her efforts and .. full recov-ery.

Tori M. didn’t see a water-logged reptile; she saw a little boy’s pet. We may never see the beauty in some people, but when we realize how much they mean to God, we’ll do all we can to keep them from drown-ing.

"Evangelism is the church’s most important, but least pressing, busi-ness." -- Robert Meneilly

They were mobilized by call/vision to be transformational.

“God’ll understand, because I have so much to do." Then my dad said, "Whatever you think God would want you to do, that’s what you should do."

Suddenly, I realized how selfish I was being with my time. Sure I was involved in a lot of good things. But I was also involved in a lot of stuff that was just about me, just for my own fun. God blessed me with ath-letic talent, but I was taking it a little too far. I knew I needed to get my priorities straight and start using my time and energy for God, not just myself. How do we stack up?

Was salvation a radically changing event for you? Or did you just add Jesus to your shelf of interests?

We need to believe, REALLY believe, that his truth is the thing that can transform our world! The truths held up by biblical Christianity are im-perative!